Turntables

In a camera obscura such as the one in Bristol, the panoramic image captured from outside is projected downwards onto a circular viewing screen. People standing around the circle can all view it at the same time.

Now replace the ‘viewing screen’ by a white bar table and the ‘camera’ by a projector mounted within a lampshade to point down on it. Mask the projected content with a circle so that the image exactly covers the table.

Project a QR code linking to a web page enabling people to choose content from a menu.

Show trailers for the films at Encounters International Short Film Festival. Now it’s a Video Turntable.

Or show poems on it at Ledbury Poetry Festival. Plus clips from Cocteau’s Le Sang d’un poète. Not to mention the interactive Pool of Poets. Now it’s the Poetry Turntable.

Will turntables change the way we watch movies?

Viewed in the round, and round-framed, turntables are a console for round games. We mounted an infra-red camera beside the projector to detect the presence of people on the periphery and of hands within the circle, so that the projected content can respond. In the Pool of Poets above, for example, the faces of poets appear out of a projected pool to stare at those standing around it.

Want to help build better, more easily installed, more responsive turntables? Or develop  round content — maybe interactive round content — for them? Please get in touch.

Tags: Camera Obscura  Circle  Festival  Projection  Turntable