Hodderdodder

The Hodderdodder requires the user to interact in an animated physical way.

The Hodderdodder has a large crank handle emerging from it’s right side. The crank has 3 functions:

• It enables the narrative of the visuals to be intimately controlled by the user; turn the crank forwards and the movie plays forwards, turn the crank backwards and the movie plays backwards, turn it fast and the movie plays fast, turn it slowly and it plays slowly.
• It mechanically spins a piece of frosted plastic that displays an image which is projected onto it.
• It mechanically spins a vinyl record that is fixed to the side of the screen axle. A playhead that rests on this vinyl transmits this analogue audio to an amplifier.

The Hodderdodder developed from discussions concerning interface that have an integral reliance on the user to physically manipulate their elements in order to control or enable a system. The original designs for many of the systems we currently use often relied on the user to physically operate them and correctly interpret abstract concepts through tectonic representations. We want to reclaim this lost tactility.

The first concepts for the Hodderdodder came from discussion of the ‘zoetrope’, ‘card/string’ optical illusions and ‘what the butler saw’ machines of early 20th century micro-cinematics. This presence of physical control, irregularity, and user immersion in these systems attracted us. Our thoughts were initially to create a device that displayed silent moving images to supplement the way we would display our videos.

After exploration through test rigs and further discussion we decided that the Hodderdodder was not only an embellishment of the act of moving images but could be expanded to incorporate audio experiences.

At its core the nuance of the Hodderdodder is the audio/visual representation of media. The appeal of the Hodderdoda curiously emerges from aspects of its operation: it looks bizarre, it takes a massive amount of physical effort to operate, you have to concentrate on, and interpret the images that it displays, all the parts vibrate and are misaligned, you get blinded, and the sounds conflict, (in that they are both mechanically regulated (chain mechanism) and disharmonious (vinyl)) .

The fact that you can watch better quality images, with considerably less effort, by clicking a virtual button on a screen, is precisely the point.