This project was completed by Helen Fleming and Emme Brent in spring 2023 for unit 2 of ENGLIT 1201 Digital Narrative and Interactive Design. The purpose of the project was to use Arduino and physical media to represent a scene from a children's book. This repository was created to document our process of creating this assignment.
For our children's book, we decided to do The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis, published in 1950. The book we specifically used for reference was the read aloud edition published by HarperCollins in 2005. This book tells the story of four children who were sent to live with an old professor in the English countryside during the London Blitz in World War II. While there, the youngest, Lucy, discovers a wardrobe that leads to the magical world of Narnia. Her first time entering this world, she finds a lamppost that seems out of place and becomes a landmark of the way back to the wardrobe, and she meets a faun named Mr. Tumnus. After this trip, there is a process of Lucy trying to show her siblings Narnia and get them to believe her, with varying success. The children do all eventually end up in Narnia and have great adventures there, defeating the White Witch and becoming royalty. Both of us have very fond memories of reading this book as a child and experiencing the excited feeling when Lucy goes to Narnia for the first time and discovers a secret magical world, then subsequently feeling her frustration as she tries to show her siblings and was dismissed. We wanted to recreate this experience for the user of our porject: both the magic of getting to Narnia for the first time, and the uncertainty of whether you will be able to see it again.
| Directory/file name | Description |
|---|---|
| Images | This directory contains images and some short videos we took throughout our project. If relevant, they have been included in other files in this repository and given context, as well as alt text description. |
| finalCode | This folder contains the final version of the code used by the Arduino for our project. The code is a mix of code adapted from tutorials and original code by Emme; credit is given to the tutorials in the codeHistory file. |
| DNID Arduino Project Works Cited.docx | This document contains the works cited for our referenced children's book, tutorials used, and 3D printed asset designs. |
| DemonstrationWithPaintedDoors.mp4 | This video was taken after we filmed our [video](unit2 project vid.mp4) explaining and demonstrating our project. Since filming that original video, Helen painted the coats on the back doors of the wardrobe, and we wanted a video including them. Though the change was small, we felt that it was the final touch that our project needed. Because our project didn't fundamentally change, the original video we filmed is still a proper representation of our project and none of our narration would have changed, but we also wanted to document the project working with the final visual look. If mp4 doesn't load properly, an MOV version of the video is in the Images directory. |
| codeHistory.md | Though we didn't maintain this repository throughout the process of developing this project, Emme did keep track of different versions of the code that we used and the tutorials that we referenced, as well as some of the challenges we faced in getting the project to work. This file includes those different verions of the code, explanations about the changes made, and our process of overcoming challenges. |
| physicalMedia.md | This project was not just about coding: there was also the use of Arduino hardware, and the building of a scene using materials of our choice. This file documents the process of building the physical components and contains pictures from throughout the process. |
| unit2 project vid.mp4 | A video demonstration of our project including explanations of why we chose this book and this moment to represent, a tour of the wiring and scene, and a demonstration of our interactive components. If mp4 doesn't load properly, an MOV version of the video is in the Images directory. |