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POV (Point Of View)

HEADSET

Making Time: ~90 min

Age Group: MS/HS

Project Designer: Rebecca Zakheim

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Our phone cameras have become one of our most important tools while we’re apart. With our phones we are able to see the world and talk to people we can’t be with right now. With a phone stand that records video from where our eyes are, we can share our world at home as we see it with each other!

Follow these steps to build your own personalized POV phone camera headset using only tools and materials that you already have at home.

Project

Overview:

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Prepare

Your Workspace:

Set up your work space. Clear a surface on a table top where you can work. Make sure you have some scrap material covering your surface to keep it clean (magazines, newspaper, cardboard, plastic trash bag...) Make sure to ask other people who are using the space if it’s OK for you to set up there!

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Gather Supplies:

A pencil, marker or pen.

Scissors and a kitchen knife

Stapler and/or tape (duct tape, packing tape or masking tape work best).

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Gather MORE Supplies:

A ruler or something with a long straight edge (a hardcover book can work)

Recycled cardboard (an empty cereal box, food packaging, or a package box)

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NOW LET’S BEGIN

MAKING YOUR HEADSET

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Making the holder

The first step of this project is making the part that will hold your phone.

Your phone!

The thickness of your phone (plus a little extra)

Hole for camera

Hole for microphone

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Step 1:

Place your phone in the center of your cardboard and outline its shape.

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Step 2:

Hold your phone up on its side to see how wide it is and draw a line next to it.

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Step 3:

Repeat until you have:

3 lines above your phone outline,

2 lines below your outline,

2 lines to the left of your outline

2 lines to the right of your outline

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Step 4:

Using the straight edge of book or a ruler, extend the lines you drew so that they match the bottom picture.

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Step 5:

Draw in the shapes of the camera and microphone holes. These holes are important because they will make sure your videos are clear and easy to listen to!

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Step 6:

Use the shape of your pinky finger to draw two ovals -

Each oval should be about an inch away from the end of your case.

(One inch is about the distance from the tip of you finger to your knuckle.)

When you cut these ovals out they will be holes for your headset strap.

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Step 7:

Using a pair of scissors, cut out the shape of your headset

(highlighted in green in this picture)

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For the next step you will need:

Your cut out headset,
a knife,
a pen
scissors.

You should now have this:

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Step 8:

Cut out all the areas highlighted in green. For the areas in the middle of the cardboard, you will need to poke a hole in them first.

Remove the cap from your pen and use it to carefully make a hole somewhere in the shape you are cutting out. Then use your scissors to cut out the rest.

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When poking holes in your cardboard, it is easier (and safer!) to have the part of your cardboard you are making a hole in hanging over the edge of a table. That way your pen can go through the cardboard without drawing on anything!

Use one hand to hold your cardboard steady on the table, and use your other hand to hold the pen and poke it through the cardboard.

TIPS ON POKING:

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Step 9:

For the next step you will be scoring the cardboard.

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Scoring cardboard means to cut halfway through the cardboard with the tip of a sharp object in order to make it easy to fold. We are using a knife for this step.

It’s extremely important to use a straightedge on the lines you drew while scoring if you want your score to be able to bend...

Important skill:

Scoring

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...Go slowly and carefully, making sure that your cutting tool is not going all the way through the cardboard, and that your hand is not in the pathway of the blade.

Be careful not to get all the way through the cardboard.

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You will be scoring along all the lines you’ve drawn.

Be careful not to cut all the way through the cardboard!

Note: To protect your furniture, put another piece of cardboard underneath the piece you are cutting. This will create a barrier between your knife and the table underneath!

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AFTER SCORING:

You should now have something that looks like this:

Flip your piece over the so the side you didn’t score is facing up.

The scoring you did on the back of the cardboard will make it easier to fold the flaps over your phone.

BACK

FRONT

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Step 10:

With the cardboard flap on top we will make a headrest for your phone.

Bend the cardboard up at your first section until you have a right angle, like this:

Fold the rest of the cardboard back down at a slightly bigger angle like this:

Tape your cardboard down.

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Step 11:

Fold your bottom flap up towards the middle. Then, fold your left and right flaps over your bottom flap to hold it in place. Make sure your corners are perfect and then tape them one at a time.

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Almost done!

Your headset should now look like this:

Put your phone inside gently to make sure everything fits.

Now just the headband is left!

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Making the headband

The next step of this project is making your phone holder wearable with a headband!

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Step 12:

First, we need to cut strips from cardboard!

Using a ruler or the side of a book, find a long piece of cardboard and draw straight lines about 1” apart from each other. If you don’t have a ruler you can use 2 or 3 fingers to measure about 1”.

Make sure your cardboard corrugation looks like this on your strips:

(Don’t know what corrugation is? See next page)

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If possible, you’ll want to cut the strip of cardboard with the corrugation going in this direction because it will bend much easier.

corrugation...

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Step 13:

Thread one of your strips of cardboard through the holes you made in the back of your headset.

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Bend the cardboard to make a ring, and test to make sure that it fits around the circumference of your head just right. There should be some overlap for taping your head band closed.

If it is too small (no overlap), tape another piece of cardboard on and test the fit again.

Your headband should fit tight enough that it doesn’t move around by itself.

Once it fits, tape your headband closed. If you have extra cardboard you can cut it off.

Remember to put your phone holder on the band before taping it closed!

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Take one or two more long strips of cardboard that you cut.

They will need to be long enough to go over the top of your head to hold the headband up.

Staple them to the headband to make an X.

(I only used one, but you can use one or two!)

Step 14:

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Use a marker to draw where you are going to tape your strip to the headband (just in case it moves).

Take a piece of tape and use it across the cardboard to hold your piece in place.

Take two more pieces of tape and use them to hold your tape in place by wrapping them around its ends.

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Step 15:

To make it easier to find the record button when your phone is in your headset, cut out a small piece of cardboard and tape it onto your headset. You want it to stop right before the record button so that your finger can follow the cardboard to where it needs to press.

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Now that you have your headset made, test out where your camera is positioned.

Put on your headset and record yourself writing the same message on a long piece of cardboard, starting from the bottom and working your way towards the top.

Make sure not to move your head while writing!

If you like how your video looks, you are calibrated.

If you don’t like how your video looks, make adjustments to your strap and holder until your video is up to your standards.

CALIBRATION

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It’s time to make some videos from your POV!

What are some interesting aspects of your life that you would like to share from your point of view? Can you teach a skill with you new head gear? Document every minute of your life from now until eternity. The possibilities are endless!

Good Job!

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Find more cool drawing, collage, writing and building projects at

beamcenter.org/anywhere !

Beam Anywhere projects aim to only use tools and materials you have at home.