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Installations

posted 02/23/08 by Rick Webb

We’ve been doing more and more work in the installation space. Installations are really just physical manifestations of interactivity in our minds. Okay, well, scratch that. Where we can add value to installations is bringing interactivity to the table. We all know the score. It’s the “minority report” scenario. Interactive marketing is moving off of the screen and into our lives. It’s all around us. Digital billboards, sure, but digital billboards that we can talk back to. This is a big part of why and how we think of ourselves as a marketing R&D company. There are frontiers here to be explored. New insights and discoveries to be made in terms of how the marketing conversation moves into the world around us.

Here are some recent posts from our employees about Installations:

Changing screen resolution from the command line on a Mac

posted by Nick Bonadies
Nick Bonadies
Nick Bonadies

IT Specialist : Boston

topics: Internet Culture, PHP, Games, Software, and Alcoholic Beverages

 on June 20, 2008 at 02:03 PM
filed under: Installations
So recently I was working on a mirror
McLeod Residence Mirror
McLeod Residence Mirror

The Barbarian Group and McLeod

topics: Installations, Processing, and Barbarian Labs

and I ran into a problem setting the correct display resolution for the tv that makes up the “reflective” surface of the mirror. Basically the computer would think it was smarter than me and set a stretched resolution instead of a native one on reboot creating more of a fun house mirror effect than anything else.
To solve the problem I knew I was going to have to script something so I started poking around in applescript and quickly realized that there was no library to change the resolution, and I’d have to default to using click actions and menu items. Needless to say, this is terrible idea so I gave up on applescript and started looking around for some command line tools.
I found cscreen, but the project has been closed up and the developer took down the app. Shucks. Then I asked the venerable Adam Miller
Adam Miller
Adam Miller

Developer : Boston

topics: Technology Industry, Creativity, Ruby on Rails, Agile and Scrum, and HTML

for a hand. After some google-ing we found this post in which a guy shares his code for a small C app to change the resolution. A few moments and a compile later and we had an app! An app that is super simple and works really well, in leopard even!
Here is a zipped up copy of Newscreen, remember its command line only, so you’ll need to put it somewhere on your hard drive and use it from terminal, Mac only.
Here’s a usage example: newscreen -h 1440 -v 900
The other beautiful thing about this is that you can set custom resolutions. For instance, I have a Mac Mini at home that I use as a media hub and it’s hooked to an HDTV. The Mac Mini doesn’t have a decent recommended resolution for the TV so I was able to use this tool to set a custom res, and again it worked like a charm! Now it looks great and actually fits on the screen.
Oh and standard disclaimer here, this works for me but might not for you. Use at your own discretion, this is provided as-is no warranty implied or otherwise at all, ever. And I’m not responsible if it destroys your computer or files. Or if it murders anyone in your family.
UPDATE: as pointed out in the comments, this is intel only! for now. I’ll see if I can compile a universal version later.
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Relevant TV

posted by Bruce Winterton
Bruce Winterton
Bruce Winterton

Partner, President : Boston

topics: Media Planning, Agency Collaboration, Consumer Packaged Goods, Entertainment, and Rock and Roll

 on June 08, 2008 at 08:06 PM
filed under: Installations
CBS Outernet announced last week the launch of GameStopTV, an in-store digital video network using high-definition screens. I am usually pretty annoyed with in-store TV channels because they are so, well, annoying. In this case the content is absolutely relevant to the retail experience and as such is a natural extension of the shopping experience. Awesome.
I wish my local Shaws would learn something from CBS. God, standing in-line to buy ground beef tonight I had to endure three back-to-back television ads for tampons. Ugh.
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Real World Interactive

posted by Bruce Winterton
Bruce Winterton
Bruce Winterton

Partner, President : Boston

topics: Brands, Strategy, Internet Video, Rock and Roll, and Media Planning

 on April 21, 2008 at 09:17 AM
filed under: Installations
We here at The Barbarian Group sometimes state the obvious, that we are experts in interactive, and people are sort of like, ho hum. Interactive is such an overused word but so rarely executed. What we mean when we say interactive is that we are great at making things that people interact with, as in, they do something and it responds to their actions, and visa versa. The result is a deeper and more engaging experience and when it’s brought to them by a brand then there is a positive connection to the brand. It’s that simple.
Now, what we have begun to do quite frequently is apply this philosophy to installations, or “real world interactive.” A billboard you control from your phone. Stadium signage that reacts to the music played on stage. A wall that responds to your presence. Saturn Nextfest Grass Wall
NextFest Grass Wall
NextFest Grass Wall

Saturn for Goodby Silverstein and Partners

topics: Processing, Installations, Creativity, Case Studies, Motion Graphics, Agency Collaboration, and Design

is a good example. A 70 by 20 foot wall of digital grass that responds to your movement, as if you are an insect making your way across somebody’s lawn. It’s fun. We want to do more.
A friend of mine sent me this example from just across the river in Cambridge, MA: Hyposurface.org Has anyone seen this in action? Would love to find more examples.
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Video Objects

posted by Philip Stockton
Philip Stockton
Philip Stockton

Art Director : Boston

topics: Banners and Rich Media, Rock and Roll, Flash, Animation and 3D, and Design

 on April 14, 2008 at 02:14 PM
filed under: Installations
w-h-i-t-e-v-o-i-d is developing some really cool software to project video images on physical objects.
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