Month: February 2020

Narrative Style – Storyboard – Project Two (2330)

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Instruction

Create a storyboard with 6-10 frames as a draft and template for your final.

 

Purpose

Find the best way to convey the theme and feel of your story. Experiment with different compositional shots.

 

My Interpretation

I decided to focus on composition rather than style for this step. I explored closeups, extreme closeups, mid shots, and more wide shots as well as canted angles, over the shoulder, and playing with Fibonacci spirals and golden ratios. I plan to play with changing the frames within the frame, as setting the frames themselves ajar is not an option. I expect to do this by zooming in and out with the composition as a whole, framing the empty space with black.

Face Off – Progress on Models – Project Two (2130)

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Instruction

Continue work on model iterations and materiality testing

 

Purpose

Find which material works best and test out ideas.

 

My Interpretation

After completing the Bristol crab hand masking form, I decided I’d need to reinforce the material or use something stronger such as chipboard. I used the Bristol form to create a net out of chipboard. The adhesives used would simply be tape. I also tested out various color iterations on the (now) scraped first model of the form to see how it would look, and in the future plan to go with a monochromatic blue color scheme to mimic my partner’s piece. I wanted the open claw portion where the pincers meet to be the lightest blue, implying a source of light could belong there, the blues getting darker as the distance from the object increases.

Narrtive Style – Story Iterations – Project Two (2330)

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Horror

Mystery

Science Fiction

Instruction

Create three iterations on your story template using three different genres.

 

Purpose

Explore and research genre and how tone, mood, and setting can influence the same core story and transform it into something entirely different and new, even changing the narrative.

 

My Interpretation

I decided to use the genres of horror, mystery, and science fiction as I feel they fit best within the potential for my story.

Narrative Style – Art Style Exploration – Project Two (2330)

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Instruction

Explore and research possible art styles for your final submission to be in.

 

Purpose

Understand the fundamentals of the style you’re choosing to represent and be able to properly recreate the style with your personal story.

 

My Interpretation

I knew with horror being my selected genre that I wanted to learn into the twisted aspect of it all. I explored older dis of art, specifically gothic and Romanesque. Gothic was a nice place to start, but far too plump, flowing, and colorful. The general feel of it was more religious and ethereal than what I aimed to produce, so I moved on. Romanesque style painting was deliberately flat, had confusing and impossible geometry, a lack of proper human anatomy (thin wrists, strange hand forms, unnatural symmetry) and inclusion of words, text, backgrounds. The overall compositions were often more faded, usually only one vivid color, often red or gold. The contrast was extreme and usually the compositions and a whole were relatively dark. These elements combined and slightly twisted could definitely create a horrific scene that I want to pursue.

Face Off – Beginning of Model Drafts – Project Two (2130)

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Instruction

Create a model or representation of your masking form. Does not have to be final.

 

Purpose

Begin understanding the geometry of your project and how it melds to your body. Explore shape, material, and functionality as much as possible. Work towards a a final product.

 

My Interpretation

Using Bristol and tape, I created the form of the fiddlers crab top claw, shaping it to my right forearm. I created this form as a sort of guide to create a flat net because I plan to use chipboard, glue (with tabs), and paint as the final materials. Unfortunately, due to time restraints, I have decided to ditch the mechanical aspect of previous iterations of the project so I am able to turn in the project on time.

Narrative Style – Story Mind Maps – Project Two (2330)

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Instruction

Create mind maps for the three genres you will apply to your genre-less story.

 

Purpose

Apply conflict, add characters, and create a narrative arc where people change and they’re is a resolution.

 

My Interpretation

I decided to pick the genres of mystery, horror, and science fiction.

For mystery, the conflict arises in a person finding themselves living in a dulled out world, only the festival of color being vivid, but they detest it. The realization of this strange behavior shocks the character, leading them, to investigate themselves as, in a parallel B plot, another investigator catches wind of rumors being spread that the yearly summer festival is haunted by a ghost. The resolution is when both parties develop their own clues and the reader makes the connections that the main subject of the story was a ghost who died at the festival one year, the investigator finds nothing but this information.

For horror, the conflict is in man vs. beast. A town is terrorized by a terrible monster (human or otherwise) that sees in grays and vivid colors only. It hunts within the gray, the areas removed from the vivid world. The monster often finds itself coming across the color festival, becoming scared and fleeing from what it deems as dangerous (too many hunting humans). Resolution lies in the beast being killed.

For science-fiction, the world is destroyed and our main character is a survivalist learning the ropes of this newly changed world. Aliens have invaded and have taken the minds of many human, making them slaves who only serve the purpose to find more human slaves and work. The slaves/aliens have learned that humans are drawn to thriving civilizations, so they create fake scenes of grandiose fun and joy (the color festival) to trick unsuspecting humans into the area where they can attack and enslave them. The resolution lies in the explanation of this new world, a bittersweet continuation of humans living on regardless of adversity.

Exercise – Character Art Styles – Project Two (2330)

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Instruction

Using on of you characters from the previous character swap, draw them. From this drawing, spin a wheel to re-draw the character in a new art style. Repeat.

 

Purpose

Iterate the same character in different styles and identify what matches the most and the least with their context. Explore emphasizes their features and what thwarts it. Allow yourself to learn about various art styles and what make them unique.

 

My Interpretation

I decided to go with the more flamboyant character of Daisy Buchanan for my subject of this exercise as I figured she’d have a more rigid character to pull inspiration from (compared to Gretel as an alternative). I was given the arts styles of futurism, minimalism, de Stijl, and art nouveau. After initially designing Daisy in her traditional 1920’s flapper garb, going into futurism was an exploration of how to reject her organic form in replacement for sharp, hard supportive-like structures that hide her form. Futurism focuses on color and movement and firmness in the present with hope of the future. The next arts style was simpler, literally. In an effort to reflect how minimalism only shows the most important aspects of a subject, I only included the essential parts of Daisy’s character, namely her hair, her over-the-top clothes, and her pearl necklace. For de Stijl, I was forced to abstract the form, focusing on a set of three colors (not including black and white)  and straight lines creating rectangles and squares. I attempted to create a human shape and colored clothes and designs on tops of it accordingly to help emphasize Daisy. Finally, using art nouveau to represent my character felt relatively natural, a side profile with emphasis on ornate backgrounds and flowing hair on top of a plain, solid-colored face. A good reflection of how Daisy is as a character, flashy and impressive in her surroundings, but unremarkable in herself.

Face Off – Model Iterations – Project Two (2130)

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Instruction

Create 10 or more iterations on a design for your masking form.

 

Purpose

Start thinking of how the form will interact with them performer, the scene partner, and the space. Explore different ideas to see what fits, what is possible, and what matches the tone for the performance the best.

 

My Interpretation

As me and my partner previously agreed, I will be modeling my right arm based off of the metaphorical side of the Cancer sign, the crab. I started by looking into different crab forms that fit half of the Cancer sign, a bulbous rounded end with a sweeping long tail. The first four forms (basic, Mr. Krabs, stone, and fantasy spiked) were trying to hone into that shape as a whole, the entire pincer being a mimic of the sign. In the next three iterations, I looked for other pincer shapes in nature (ants, beetles, and lobsters), and although that didn’t go anywhere in particular, the idea to devolve the form into the human shape and create a slow transition started there. Finally, I tries a different kind of crab, the fiddler crab. These crabs have once giant pincer that has a perfect curve that mimics the tail of the Cancer sign. With that in mind, I began iterating within this specific design, first making it geometric to allow for more connection to the constellation look of the stars, then changing the colors and pattern. I decided to end with the geometric and color shifted redesign, the dots (imitating stars) creating the circle that was lost in the shape of the pincer.

Narrative Style – A Story Without Genre and Genre Research – Project Two (2330)

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A Story Avoiding Genre

The day starts as any other, another mundane weekday, another gulp of water as they roll out of bed. They take their vitamins, the usual. They make a cup of coffee, the usual. They get dressed, the usual. They leave home and begin walking to work.

Everyday is the same for them, hardly anything changes and plans and routine dominate the day, spontaneity is tacky and shunned. They see the same people, do the same work, get the same paycheck, spend the money on the same things. Life is systematic, planned, mechanical, and dull.

The day is gray. Overcast. The colorless clouds blanket the earth holding rain just waiting to fall, there are no shadows, there is only just enough light to make out the off-white concrete path they walk on. The path winds adjacent to a muted river, dulled from human intervention and industrialization, it is unremarkable despite it’s size and power. The reeds that hug the bank are uninspiring browns and beiges eroded from the river, even the green grass seems dusty. However, they continue to trek through the filtered world and they are ecstatic. The wonderland of washed out colors intrigues and excites them, swaggering down the street in a gleeful jaunt, a skip in their step. The in-between and the transitions of contrast, saturation, and value from something to near nothing is a pleasant sight to them. The lack of anything is a rare sight to see.

The town’s home days festival is in the midst of being up for the summer season once again. Bright reds and sharp whites line the cloth roofs of tents, suspended by poles and trees alike. Stark blue and violet flashing lights spin and flash on a mechanical ride that would surely make anyone’s stomach twist. Fresh green bills from children’s pockets are exchanged for unnaturally yellow lemonades and pastel pink candy floss. Metallic orange carts ride high into the newly lit sky accompanied by the deep black support beams to keep the rider’s safe. They happen to cross paths with the festival as they commute. The vivid livelihood disgusts them. A crinkled nose, a turned cheek, and a lifted chin locked onto them until the sights and sounds of the festival are well out of view. Back to the mundane. Back to the same. Back to the comfort. This is how they like it.

 

Reimagined

  • Slice of Life – a story about a non-binary person simply walking to work, nothing of note truly happens except the mundane world is intriguing to the subject of the story and the bright and vivid world is seen as wrong and uninteresting
  • Mystery – a story about someone (something?) traveling through a gray universe, everything dulled and boring to outside readers, but in this world, color and vividness is rare and disapproved of, the reader must find out why as the story unfolds
  • Horror – a story about a creature who can only see the world in grays and genuinely despises anything joyous, a twisted and evil thing that aims to destroy saturation in the hopes to make everything gray, to make everything comfortable, to make everything the same, to give no one a choice
  • Science Fiction – a story about how a futuristic/parallel universe earth is shrouded in a “disease” of gray, where people are drawn to the mundane and resistance forces are using value of traditionally beautiful and fun things to try send remind those infected in hopes to restore the world to a better previous state
  • Historical Fiction – a story about a person in the past who was colorblind or who genuinely detested colors and vivid forms of life, a highlighting of their crazy outlook on life and how it impacted them and others

Exercise – Masking Trial – Project Two (2130)

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Instruction

Create a masking form within 30 minutes. Your partner for the project will be modeling it.

 

Purpose

Explore simple masking forms as a foundation for the rest of the project. Investigate and observe what covering certain areas of the body/face does to an outside observer.

 

My Interpretation

As me and Fabian (my partner pictured above) talked, we explored the conversation of our own faces quite a lot and why we present ourselves the way we do. We eventually reached the topic of eyebrows due to my eyebrow piercing and his mother waxing his eyebrows when he was younger. With that idea in my head, I started to think about eyebrows as a whole, how they communicate so much information and how hard it is to read someone when you can’t see them. I decided to lean into this and entirely cover the eyebrows up to the forehead, contouring the lines to match the curves of the forehead, nose, and eye sockets. If i had more time, I would’ve designed more on the front facing flat side, but unfortunately I had to just leave it blank and geometric.