- “What exactly do you do?”
- James Bond: “Oh, I travel… a sort of licensed troubleshooter.”


How to be Like James Bond are a series of experimental design interventions that use appropriation to investigate people's extrinsic motivations. How can we explore and disrupt the social norms using James Bond, the ultimate people-knower, as a cultural probe?

In collaboration with Gerardo Guerrero and Zoe Padgett we deconstructed the film Diamonds Are Forever into specific research tasks. Each was performed using disguises, new names, constructed back stories, the white pages, voice changing apps, strangers, and Tiffany & Co. We created a mission to direct our interventions: find the diamonds.

http://www.wikihow.com/Be-Like-James-Bond





KEY PLOT POINTS IN DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER
We designed a set of interventions based on the Diamonds Are Forever plot line.

EVENT 1: Bond gets his mission: Find out who is smuggling diamonds and where are they?
INTERVENTION 1: Get a mission, a trap, a target, a plot. Find the diamonds. Begin!

EVENT 2: Bond gets his new identity as Peter Frank
INTERVENTION 2: Take on new identity in order to gain access, and collect information.

EVENT 3: Bond meets Tiffany Case as Peter Frank and collects the diamonds, travels to L.A.
INTERVENTION 3: Strangers meet

EVENT 4: Diamonds disappear taken by bad guys. Bond and Tiffany are looking for them
INTERVENTION 4: Hunt for an object, contact characters and places that might have the diamonds.



ASSUME NEW IDENTITY 1
We swapped identities for the afternoon. By changing names, clothes, personal histories, and what we would normally eat and drink, we immersed ourselves in one
another’s persona.

We wanted to examine how taking on another person’s characteristics would affect others’ perceptions of each of us, as well as our own awareness of ourselves.

TRAP: Engaging ourselves, people who know us and with strangers, eliciting reactions based on our assuming another's name, clothing, and backstory.

WE LEARNED: How difficult it is to become someone else and maintain their personal traits while engaging in everyday experiences within everyday locations. We trapped each other by asking questions,learned to deflect, and often repeated our new names out loud as a personal reminder. We also learned the limits of how well we knew each other; we struggled to answer more intimate questions about the person we were attempting to embody.

Publicly, people accepted how we presented ourselves as the truth whether or not they knew us.




ASSUME NEW IDENTITY 2
We became “Bond Girls” aka Tiffany Case to gain access to Tiffany & Co’s diamond counter.

TRAP: In order to gain access to the diamonds and the assistance of the sales associate, one of us pretended to be shopping for an engagement ring. We prepared by dressing up and establishing background stories. The saleswoman, Whitney, gave us an in-depth explanation of the diamond buying process and the Tiffany & Co. history, believing it was likely we would come back and purchase an expensive ring.

WE LEARNED: When employing a disguise and lying about one’s identity, the more details you can muster the better. Initially, Whitney seemed quite tense and suspicious of us. Yet, as we told her more details about who we purported to be, she began to give us more and more of what we wanted, eventually ending up in a more private, higher security room and to try on a $78,800 ring.





THE RENDEZVOUS
We organized a time and location for two strangers to meet and we became spies, watching their every move. Afterwards, we gathered information on the meeting from each of them.

TRAP: Both of our “spies” were told they were going to meet someone special at a sports bar. They happily obliged, one perhaps expecting to meet a special lady. When they arrived and went to the planned meeting spot, they realized that the person they were meeting was just another man in the same position as they were. Since they knew they were being filmed / participating in the project, they played out our scenario even after the initial disappointment.

Luckily they got along. It seemed like they could have hung out together for quite awhile.

WE LEARNED: Two people who are asked to participate in a situation that can be somewhat awkward and undoubtedly uncomfortable can navigate the situation far better when given a beer and something to watch. Pressure from those who are asking a person to perform and the duress of having a camera pointed at them makes people do many things they may not want to do.






INCOGNITO CALLING

People usually pick up their phone if it rings. We called people with same name as the characters in Diamonds are Forever. The “script” included the person’s name and the caller indicating their name as one of the movie characters. We then went on to ask about “the diamonds” or indicate we were ready to pick up the diamonds. If they picked up they were trapped.

TRAP: The real-life name twins, James Bond and Peter Franks were contacted by “Tiffany” and told that the diamonds were ready to be picked up. Tiffany Casey was contacted by “James” and asked when he could stop by to pick up the diamonds. The first round of phone calls lead us to the wrong people. Tiffany was no longer Tiffany (so she said) and had no idea about any diamonds. Peter Frank’s brother answered and provided us/Tiffany/complete strangers with his brother’s new number possibly because we mentioned diamonds and we sounded nice.

WE LEARNED: Most people do not pick up blocked number phone calls in order to avoid annoying/uncomfortable situations. Catch people off guard they will go along.

However if you get the right number and mention the correct name (all found online) people will begin to speak with you. It was important that we didn’t take on a sales tone but rather a familiar friendly voice. If you provide more information, for example indicate something of value or an object you will gain more trust and more information.





CONCLUSIONS

SOCIAL NORMS
Utilizing basic social norms and patterns we trapped people in awkward and undesirable situations, often while completely unaware of their participation. People who do not have time to ponder or refuse your requests often just do them, seemingly in order to make you stop bothering them. Manners and politeness govern how people act with strangers. Exploiting the social laws that dictate how people “should” act allowed us to make people do things that they would not do in other situations.

IDENTITY & DISGUISE
Exploring identity and disguise was another rich point of learning for us. We didn’t realize how much preparation it takes to be convincingly someone other than ourselves. As we navigated the ways one can start to change their identity, we realized that “the devil is in the details”. As stated before, developing a thorough persona is crucial to establishing trust and confidence in your audience. While attempting to become one another, we were caught off guard when pressed to answer personal questions about ourselves. This was great practice for our identity coup. At Tiffany’s, we were readily prepared with a detailed story and the outfits to back it up.

PERSONAL INFORMATION
We used personal information found online to lead us to our targets and set up the traps. The information accessible is surprising and not much is needed to get a foot in the door. When calling Peter Frank’s brother we had a correct name which was enough to not end the conversation, allowing us to gather further details like his new phone number. Another door was opened.




CLASS: LAB CORE C: INTERVENTIONS

Instructor: Benjamin Hooker, David Leonard

Art Center College of Design / MDP