Month: February 2020

Exercise – Character Swap – Project Two (2330)

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Hansel and Gretel

  • characters
    • Hansel and Gretel – the children of a poor woodcutter, left to fend for themselves in the woods by their stepmother after famine strikes and family is unable to support them. Hansel is the naive boy character, easily falling for tricks, Gretel is the skeptical and cautious girl, smart and observant
    • The Witch – manipulative antagonist who lures the children in with food and sweets with the secret goal to fatten them up to eat them
  • setting
    • 1812-ish Germany, in a forest
  • conflict
    • children left to fend for themselves
    • an evil witch plans on killing and eating them, just evade danger
  • resolution
    • Gretel sees past the Witch’s tricks and feigns stupidity, allowing her time to trick the Witch into the oven, leaving her to roast and die. The children steal the Witch’s wealth and live happily back with their father, their stepmother passing away while they were gone.

 

The Great Gatsby

  • characters
    • Nick Caraway – the unreliable narrator, claims to be impartial and unbiased, is not, prefers to stay silent over causing a fuss
    • Jay Gatsby – the unbelievably rich neighbor of Nick in the West Egg, longs for Daisy in the East Egg, they have a past
    • Daisy Buchanan – ditsy cousin of Nick, previous lover of Gatsby, unhappily married to Tom, relents about being a smart woman in such a world, kills Myrtle on accident
    • Tom Buchanan – husband of Daisy, traditionalist, friends with Nick and Gatsby, cheats on wife with Myrtle and tells Nick
    • Jordan Baker – Nick’s love interest, Daisy’s good friend
    • Myrtle Wilson – Tom’s love affair, killed in freak accident by Daisy (Gatsby accompanying her)
  • setting
    • 1920 New York, the East and West Eggs
    • Gatsby’s mansion
    • Tom’s mansion
    • Nick’s humble home
    • the Valley of Ashes
  • conflict
    • Gatsby longs for Daisy and is unable to reach her. Once Daisy’s cousin, Nick, moves in next door, Gatsby sees an opportunity. Gatsby and Nick quickly become friends and the tensions of Daisy’s married life and Gatsby’s constant flirting and attempt to win her back result in an accidental murder.
  • resolution
    • The victim of the crime blames Gatsby for the loss of his wife, seeking out and finding Gatsby and killing him as well as himself. Nick moves away, Daisy resumes normal life with Tom.

 

Character Swap

  • the characters
    • Daisy Buchanan – faux ditz, secretly depressed and lonely, unhappily married, remorse over past, does not take responsibility for her actions, spiteful, protective of family, dependent, observant
    • Gretel – impulsive, childish, ultimately outsmarts antagonist, cautious and skeptical, smart/witty, observant
  • Daisy in a 1812 German forest (after being kicked out of home)
    • Daisy would take the hit of her stepmother kicking her out very very hard. She would overthink every internal flaw within herself instead of seeing that the stepmother’s motives were not out of hate, but irresponsibility and neglect. Obviously, her high-profile lifestyle would be entirely upended in the harsh forests of the time. She would trip and fall, stumble and stagger all across the land. Once approaching the strange house, Daisy would quickly latch onto the kindness the Witch fakes, becoming quickly acquainted and probably asking for help in any way for herself and Hansel. Once the Witch tried to trick Daisy and Hansel, she would quickly become protective over Hansel and immediately doubt the Witch’s motives, becoming cautious from this moment on. She may not kill the Witch, but both would inevitably escape and return home, possibly without any wealth. It is unlikely that Daisy or Hansel would change much as a result of this experience.
  • Gretel in 1920s New York wealth districts
    • If she is young girl in the hustle and bustle of a reformed world after the First World War, she would undoubtably be overwhelmed. Living under the stern fist of Tom, life would be regimented, but comfortable. Gretel would appreciate the life she is given, it may be tough as a kid and some creativity may be stifled by discipline, but she would be a strong and powerful child. However, if she was of age and married to Tom, having the same experiences as Daisy would have, the story is different. In this case, Gretel would be content in her life with Tom, happily acquiescing to his painfully toxic masculinity and not worrying about her past, certainly not letting it trouble her. As she reconnects with Gatsby, the meetings would be purely of friendship and any moves Gatsby would try to make on Gretel would be politely declined. As Gatsby would inevitably push harder and harder, Gretel would stand her ground and if it got too out of hand, request aid from her husband. The main conflict of The Great Gatsby would be completely thwarted by Gretel’s ability to be a healthy and happy human being. Life would continue in a state of “above average, but not perfect” until their lives naturally end.

Face Off – Research – Project Two (2130)

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History of Masking

  • Origins
    • face masks
      • rituals and spiritual sacrifice
        • representing a deity or a person who is connected to such things
        • unifying sign of worshipers
        • protection of identity
      • hunting, battle, and feasts
        • protection of vitally important face area
        • limited consumption rates
      • simply ornamentation
        • theatre
          • representations of others
          • actors and performance
        • decoration
        • sign of status and wealth
    • body masks
      • clothes
        • protect the body
        • can be stylized and designed
        • societally accepted
      • armor
        • for protection in battle
        • sign of bravery and class differentiation
        • heavy, limits mobility
        • keeps user safe, intended for defense
      • augmentations
        • body enhancements
        • extended arms and legs (stilts)
        • aid for ease of use
          • glasses
          • grip-gloves
          • hearing aids
          • body modifications (piercings, tattoos)
      • replacements
        • amputation
          • prosthetics
            • wooden fingers (ancient Egypt)
            • wooden legs (peg legs – seafarers)
            • iron hinged arms and legs (~1500)

Ideas for Narrative 

  • The Origin Of Cancer (the Zodiac Sign)
    • focus on shape of sign ♋️
      • emotional/sensitive/gentle
      • caring/supportive/nurturing
      • trouble with self-discipline/need to be distinguished
    • crab imagery
      • claws/pincers (hands)
      • exoskeleton (body)
      • legs
      • flat head and long eyes (face)
    • emphasis on water
    • history of development
    • constellation and time of year
    • PERFORMANCE
      • highlighting origin of the constellation and it’s realization into what it is now
      • the development into a crab
      • how the characteristics of a Cancer came to be
      • end in collaboration, making the Cancer zodiac sign with two hands (♋️)
  • Ancient Greek Mythology
    • focus on the hubris of humans versus imperfect gods and goddesses
    • stories of eternal punishment or reward
      • Arachne
      • Sisyphus
      • Tantalus
    • explanation of natural world around us
      • Pan – panic, pan pipes, reeds
      • Dionysus – reason of debauchery/insanity, wobbliness of being drunk
      • Prometheus – fire, clay humans

Ideas for Masking

  • crab head mask
    • textured and modeled like a crab – red and white splotches
    • oblong shape, sharp edges, long eyes
  • crab claw/pincer hand

    • textured and modeled like a crab – red and white splotches
    • curved claw shape
      • smooth outside
      • sharp, jagged inside
      • able to move in accordance to hand
  • exoskeleton/hard outer shell
    • textured and modeled like a crab – red and white splotches
    • emphasis on strength and rigidity of shell
  • removed hand
    • mechanical hand mechanic that is larger (or smaller) than the user’s own hand
  • reversed/confused hand
    • similar to removed hand but the mechanics are purposely messed up
      • one finger moving does not properly correspond to the others moving
      • multiple fingers bound together to move mechanics

Face Off – Narrative Exploration – Project Two (2130)

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The Narrative

We plan to focus on the origin of the Zodiac, specifically the sign of Cancer. We aim to recreate its beginnings as well as major aspects of it’s creation and transformation throughout history. The main aspects of what a Cancer is, how they act, and their strengths and weaknesses will also be highlighted. This performance will resemble Ancient Greek performance, done in an ampitheatrical style, an audience sitting in and listening to masked performers taking on and acting as things they are not, recreating stories that have been passed down for centuries.

 

Who

The masking used will be for two performers, putting on a show for an audience who is sitting in to learn about the Zodiac, specifically the creation, history, and origin of the Cancer sign. Only the performers will be interacting directly with the masking, at most, an audience will only be able to see or touch the exterior of the project, not use it.

 

What

The part of the body I plan to mask is the hand or possibly both hands. I aim to mimic the shape of a geometric crab pincer that completely goes over the hand. Not only will it resemble a crab’s true anatomy, but it will also be functional with working mechanics and a snug fit within the piece. It will integrate human interaction with a non-human exterior, possibly having the four main fingers bound to the top pincer and the thumb responsible for the bottom one.

 

When

This augmentation is only to be used in performance, story telling, and historical recounting of the Cancer zodiac sign. Any other recreational use is not tied to the narrative of the Zodiac, though it may happen anyways. 🙂

 

Where

The masking is to only be encountered from one of two states: as a performer using it directly, or as an audience member observing it from a designated distance. The performer places in over the hand and uses it in random with the scene partner, and the audience simply observes unless directly interacted with.

 

How

The augmentation is slipped onto the hand or hands of the performer, previously being fitted properly so the inside mechanics fit only to the right person. The bending, snapping, and clenching of the pincer(s) will be a result of the clenching of an extended hand to a fist within the form itself. The mechanics, in theory, will be completely concealed.

Dynamic Page – Progress – Project One (2330)

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Instruction 

Further progress on the project to reach a final deliverable.

 

Purpose

Reach towards finishing the project.

 

My Interpretation

Instead of goin in through the mouth, I decided to zoom in/out on the figure of a person themselves. The four states being a human face, a brain, a thought bubble, and the same person but from a farther distance. By following the form of the craft the narrative the new idea provides is that of someone thinking of themselves… thinking of themselves… thinking of themselves forever. Either zooming in or out the narrative is still the same, the face open to their brain inside, the brain opens to a thought bubble inside, and the thought bubble opens to a distanced shot of the same face that opened to the brain. To allow for continuity, I changed the background of each phase to match the previous one (if zooming in) or matching the next one (if zooming out).

 

Hidden In Plain Sight – Progress – Project One (2130)

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Instruction

Work on the final deliverable.

 

Purpose

Reach a finished product and prepare for installation.

 

My Interpretation

I took the critiques from the previous post and decided to add more movement to the words in my project. I changed the shape into this flowing and descending wave-like shape. I painted the chipboard as close to the color of the walls of the Fine Arts Library to allow for further subtlety and I included a literal “break” (in the form of a tear between the final two phrases) that is unpainted, secretly including the answer to the poem/riddle within itself. Also, as a small joke to myself and to truly grasp the concept of taking a break, between painting the words “A hearing.” and “A waiting.” I literally stopped working to make a smoothie and take a pause to relax before continuing to paint the rest.

Hidden In Plain Sight – Concept Statement – Project One (2130)

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Concept Statement

Instruction

Finalize a concept statement to accompany your installation.

 

Purpose

Give description to your project and tie everything together. focus on gestalt principles, materiality, and general essence/core/feeling of the work.

 

My Interpretation

I edited my previous concept draft down to much tighter, much more to-the-point version that highlighted important aspects of the installation without spoiling everything about it.

 

Dynamic Page – Draft – Project One (2330)

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Instruction

Create a draft of your final project for critique.

 

Purpose

Finalize and idea and get a basic idea on how the final presentation of that idea will be communicated with paper craft.

 

My Interpretation

I wanted to “fly into” the mind of someone, specifically using their mouth as an entry point to allow a glimpse into their thoughts (in this case, a flower, but not for any particular reason, more of a placeholder until I had the right idea) and exiting back out through the mouth. This created a cyclical process that could be worked with. In my critique it was brought to my attention that I have ignored the previously mentioned zooming in/out aspect of the form of a 3D hexaflexagon, and I was suggested to explore that aspect again. Also, the idea of going into the mouth of a person implies going down into the throat, stomach, etc., not necessarily the head and subsequently the thoughts of that mind.

Hidden In Plain Sight – Test Installation – Project One (2130)

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Instruction

Create a draft of the final installation in the space.

 

Purpose

See how effectively your concept is conveying. Critiques from other classmates will be given.

 

My Interpretation

I placed my draft model on the ledge area above and across from a chair one floor lower, best visible from sitting in the said chair to view the installation. I made the letters the same color as the wall with the intention in my final project to have the letters be negative space within the rounded shape that contains them. Each phrase has a line to itself and each is offset to show movement. After the critique, noted to curve the words themselves, match the color to the background and incorporate a literal “break” into the structure of the words were given and strongly considered.