Pop-Sci Core77 Design Challenge/ Description MEMORY 7/16/03

Description of Design

Digital Movie Polaroid Humans can remember thing very vividly as we recall sight, sound, and smell. Nevertheless, we employ artificial media to help us a little to recall them in crystal clarity. Media can be imbued with memory, be it a photograph which stirs memory, video which makes you relive memory, a sound or voice recorded which recreates memory. What if there was a hybrid media that was half video, half photograph? My first camera was a Polaroid; they were different from a traditional photograph, instant and seemed more touchable/ interactive. The Polaroid photograph is the perfect form to embody a new memory media. A blue-sky solution would be to record a mini movie, of maybe 30 seconds, which is long enough for a moment but not long enough for an event, all in a Polaroid media form. There are the functional requirements of the media. Take the picture, pull it out and see the movie you just took, you would have a play button to replay or pause the movie, as well as a speaker for sound. Another design opportunity emerged from the Polaroid tradition of flapping a developing photo. Where I saw an opportunity for this was to recharge a movie/memory. So, in the media is a peizo electric joint, which when you flap the picture creates electric energy from kinetic energy and recharges the movie. So, if picture fades to black just flap it to recharge it and bring back your old memories, or put it back into the camera to recharge it as well. The screen uses a high-resolution flexible E-ink low energy screen. The camera has the same characteristics of a traditional camera, lens, trigger, flash, so people will know how to instantly use it, but it’s not a traditional camera. It’s got its own unique look. The form has a character to it, a playfulness, the form expresses a sense of humor. It looks kinda goofy and its fun to look at, and hopefully makes you smile. A thirty second movie can record a funny encounter, a speech, a kiss, maybe a fleeting moment. A video you have to put in the tape/video camera/DVD sit down, and watch it. You can see a photo daily but it becomes something in a frame you never hold close. Then you have the great Digital Movie Polaroid media that you can pin up on a wall and handle easily, even write on. You don’t have to put in a frame or on a TV. A Digital Movie Polaroid is useful beyond just parties and social events, the camera can be taken outdoors to pan across a beautiful vista to capture an entire mountain range, or catch the last 30 seconds as the sun sets. There is this video quality to it but its still a photograph too. A moment captured, not a moment recorded.