Pseudophone

A live, director-controlled phone for film sets, built in two weeks of prep and fixed on set within minutes of each request.

Role: Creator; Props Assistant and Playback
Team: Solo, with feedback from props and producers
Timeline: 2 weeks of prep, then the 4 month shoot, 2018
Tools: GameMaker Language (GML)Android SDKAndroid StudioJavaScriptMobile UI

Problem

On-set phones showed either a still image or a prerecorded video. A video has fixed timing, so if an actor paused or the director wanted the call to come two seconds later, the take was lost or the graphic had to be re-rendered. Real iOS and Android screens weren’t an option either, because of clearance issues.

I was hired as Props Assistant and Playback on Burden of Truth. The job was to make phone screens. The real problem was that the director had no control over timing, and every change cost time on set.

Key decisions

I. Make every on-screen moment a setting, not a video.

Three incoming-call screens for Gerardo with different wallpapers, beside a text conversation with Gerardo and a message being typed — Each moment on screen is a setting, so timing can change between takes.

Calls, texts and notifications became parameters: caller name, ring delay, message timing, number of notifications. A director could say “two seconds later” and the next take had it. The trade-off was polish: a live app couldn’t match a pre-rendered animation frame for frame, so it had to look convincing in-camera instead.

II. Design it so someone else can run it.

An incoming call from Gerardo on a phone, beside the line This graphic was made in less than 30 seconds and checks for Interactive, Easily modifiable and Full creative control — The props master learned to configure it in about 20 minutes.

The props master could configure scenes without me. That meant clear labels, sensible defaults and nothing hidden. A set moves too fast for a tool that needs its author standing beside it.

III. Replace a sensor guess with a deliberate gesture.

A tilted phone with a darkened call screen beside its gyroscope ranges: X from -35° to +35°, Y from -55° to +55° and Z from +35° to +90°, under the line From feature request to implementation in 10 minutes — The tilt ranges that blacked out the screen. When head movement set them off mid-take, the blackout became one-way.

Raising the phone to the ear blacked out the screen using the gyroscope, like a real call. On set, actors’ head movements made it flicker back on mid-take. About 10 minutes after the director asked for a fix, I shipped one: the blackout became one-way, and restoring the call screen needed two thumbs held at the bottom for 2 seconds. Real use showed that guessing intent from a sensor failed, so the input became deliberate.

Result

Pseudophone ran throughout the shoot and grew with each request from the director. Actors said it let them stay in the scene, and one kept playing with it between takes.

On-set phone screens the director can change between takes: Static graphic to live control
From director request to fixed build on set: 10mins
Change a character's name on the fly: 20seconds

What I’d do differently

Design the remote side first. Every change ran through my laptop, which made me the bottleneck for every request.

Build for iPhone as well. Android-only limited which scenes it could cover.