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We created a living, beating heart within Hunt library. We used paper for the heart, string to suspend the heart and create all the veins webbing to the shelves, and garbage bags to darken our work space. First, the animation was chosen because it offered enough space between iterations for it to seem like the blood was traveling outward. Once we had the animation, we needed to give it some audio. To create the perpetual heartbeat, we used Audacity to slow down the heartbeat to the same BPM as the circles the moment they appeared in the center. We used iMovie to merge the two together into one video that could be looped so that we didn't have to physically restart the video each time. 

As for the construction of this piece, problem-solving was a must. Initially, garbage bags were not in the plan for our piece, however the space we chose was too brightly lit from the natural light. Also, the garbage bags further emphasized the idea that we could persevere regardless of the dingy materials we had. Plenty of tape and string was needed, as well as a careful and cautious hand so as not to tear down any of the delicately positioned string. One challenge we faced (which was not anticipated earlier) was that the projector could not be pointed straight at the heart at the same level which the viewer would look at our work. Yet, any major stray from the direct path destroyed the circle projections we wanted. We arrived at a solution by using a mounting clam to lift the projector a foot or so higher than the viewer, only angled slightly downward onto the heart. The finishing touch was to hide our laptop and speaker (which played the rhythmic heartbeat) and to create a paper trail of old notes leading to the heart. 


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