If given 1 light, I would let it hang from the top of the middle of the cubic room on an extended wire. It would swing around constantly (with a mechanism to keep this up)
I feel that there could be many associations to this visual, and the interpretation would depend on the audience.
Moreover, there would be interesting shadows cast on the walls, and the scene is ever changing.
If given 10 lights, I would put it in a circle on the ground, igniting some sort of cult-like vibes.
If given 100 lights or more, I would pile them up on the floor, with all lights off except for 1. Don’t mind the stock photo with the watermarks, but here’s one for illustration purposes:
PAVILION
For the pavilion, I spent some time wondering what is iconic to Singapore, and I would say there are many. A lot of them are landmarks and architecture. When I thought of food items, like the White Rabbit candy or haw flakes, as Singaporean as they are, I still also personally relate them to my childhood in Indonesia, hence it doesn’t feel as explicitly Singaporean to me.
Looking at my friends’ choices, I was thinking of not choosing the same things, so in the end I came up with the traffic light!
This is something I closely relate to Singapore. The order it brings, allowing for an actual space to cross instead of jaywalking, making it efficient so people would actually use it (unlike in Indonesia), reflects Singapore’s orderly image in a way. The blinking green man and the beeping sound is something that is overlooked, but I feel is close to Singapore.
The inclusion of the beeping sounds would in addition create a soundscape, which I think would be really interesting!
The Lion King musical opened on Broadway in November 1997. Based on the 1994 Walt Disney Animation Studios’ animated feature film of the same name, it is one of the biggest, longest-running musical productions in the world.
I went to watch The Lion King musical last August, and it was my first actual musical experience, which I had been looking forward to since forever. And I can say, every single cent was worth it. Sure, I knew the story and the songs well, but the musical brought this beloved animation to life in such a way that I never imagined would be so enchanting.
The elaborate sets, the props, the costumes, the stage design, they all culminate in an entertaining and memorable show. At almost every moment, I loved how they translated the moments on screen to a spectacle on stage.
Click here to experience a 360 degree view of its opening scene.
P E R C E P T U A L
A musical is a stage, a performance. I feel that it employs many different mediums to deliver a story, a show. The medium is not only the acting and the music, there is also the stage design – everything from sets, props, costume, makeup, etc, and the external marketing and publicity plans.
The audience, while they are only seated in the comfy chairs, are perceptually engaged in numerous ways, mainly through sight and hearing. In Lion King, most of the audience would know of the story from the original animation. The directors of the show then has this challenge to present the story in a completely different way through song and dance. With the advancement of technology, sets are brought alive on stage through movement and lights.
A R C H I T E C T U R A L
I feel that architecturally, this production was very rich, and it did not disappoint. They were designed in a way that would support the story, but also created a visual masterpiece. There was a good balance between elaborate and simple, and even the simple sets were as effective.
The costumes and puppetry were also the highlight of the show. It is one thing to bring a theatre to live, but it is another thing to bring an animal kingdom to live on stage with human actors.
I loved how they did not restrict themselves to simply replicate real life, but they did it in a style that was both pleasing and culturally expressive.
Overall, every single detail contributed to enhance the space by tenfolds, creating an out-of-the-world experience for the viewers, who feel like they were transported to another realm, another dimension.
C U L T U R A L
The Lion King was written based on the Pride Lands of Africa. The musical showcases the African culture through the artistic department. The Swahili language is also featured, with accurate representation in the actors themselves.
The colours leaned towards a majority of warmer tones, which invokes a sense of warmth in the audience, and this also relates to the sun, and the overall atmosphere of the African setting. Other than that, there are also vibrant colours that enliven the scenes. Overall, the colours used in each dance piece, each scene, were carefully coordinated to create different moods which matched the settings of the different scenes.
I M M E R S I O N
Other than the show being really big in terms of scale, with almost life size costumes, tall giraffes, large elephants, there are a few other features of the musical that helped to create an immersive experience for its viewers.
Breaking the fourth wall – the performance was not limited to the stage. In multiple parts throughout the show, performers zoomed through the aisles, or danced amongst the audience. This brings the audience themselves closer into the heart of the performance, and experience the dancers and costumes in closer proximity. The whole theatre becomes the stage.
The actors also interacted with the audience and addressed them, engaging them and making them feel like a part of the performance, which makes it feel less of watching a screen, a framed stage. There were also jokes that were specific to Singapore, which I felt was entertaining as the Singaporean population that watched it felt a deeper connection – it was also something funny and memorable.
G E O R G E S M É L I È S – L E V O Y A G E D A N S L A L U N E
I can’t recall when I first encountered Georges Méliès, but I was reintroduced to him and his works through the movie Hugo, which was directed by Martin Scorsese. I’m not entirely sure how accurate the information presented on Méliès was on the movie, but it did give quite a bit of insight of how Méliès was said to work. I felt that the reproductions of his sets and some behind the scenes of his films gave an apt visual to the documentation of his processes.
One of the forefronts for science fiction, Méliès started off as a magician, an illusionist. When he encountered the Lumiere Brothers’ film, which at that time showed only scenes of real life with motion, Méliès immediately saw its potential to experiment further. I feel that he brought over his interests from creating illusions in real life, to creating illusions on screen. This was novel at the time, and pushed the boundaries of filmmaking.
P E R C E P T U A L
A lot of Georges Méliès’s films are fantastical, they are fictional dreams brought into reality, with early VFX that brought what was once impossible into vision. He was already doing this in his performances as a magician, and his mind as an inventor helped him demonstrate his illusions, however the camera and film helped him bring his work to another level. He was able to have more control over the final piece, without the limitations of a live performance.
He cut the films and pasted them back together, pioneering film trickery, or effects as now known, he had crew to paint over each and every frame, he built a whole glass enclosed studio, he housed over 20 000 costumes, he was over the top and it was awesome.
Bringing his stories across, the viewers are able to enjoy the effects created, and their emotional states are invested since they are introduced to a new form of entertainment.
The films were not made with the point of replicating reality, so there is a fun element to it, with the expressions and body gestures of the actors amplifying the scenes with their interactions with the sets and props.
This is especially more so because the movies were silent, with no dialogue. Hence, the narrative had to be delivered through visuals and music alone.
A R C H I T E C T U R A L
In his glass studio, he created elaborate sets that are many times almost dream-like. These are very similar to stage design. It is as if they were for stage performances and theatre, but recorded instead. These were what early sound stages were like. This way, he was able to explore the mise-en-scène and cinematography of his works.
In such a limited space, Méliès was able to create a sense of depth and volume by playing with planes and scale. By using elevated, depressed and overhead planes, he was able to redefine the space according to the kinds of settings he was going for. This creates a believable space in which the viewers could imagine the three dimensionality and the extension of the space beyond the frame.
C U L T U R A L
At the time, films were only starting to get popular after its invention. Even though the Lumière brothers stated that the cinema was an invention with no future, they were proved wrong as it has now developed into one of the most prominent mediums of expression in history, with advancements continuously being made and boundaries continuously broken and redefined.
I found this a good short read on the early start of cinema, and what the culture was like, defined by different takes by different artists, inventors and filmmakers.
In Le Voyage Dans La Lune, the culture of theatre and fantasies was showcased through the idea of heading towards the moon and finding extra terrestrial creatures.
I N T E R A C T I O N
While films do not create an immersive physical space for the viewers, I think that when done right, it could create an immersive mental space, when viewers are engaged in the film and can feel themselves in it. I think that Georges Méliès was able to do this in this film, as he made people and sets and movements that were understandable and relatable.
I also feel that the sense of wonder also creates another effect that engages the audience’s imagination, just like how one could be engaged through the words in a book.
MUJI’s core principles and founding philosophy is based on traditional Japanese values of simplicity and self-restraint, revolting against the influx of the branded imported goods that flooded 1980s Japan.
MUJI isn’t flashy in its green efforts. Unlike brands that show-off their green activism and are surface-level, MUJI focuses on actually making sure its operations are good for the environment, living up to the company’s integrity.
For years now, MUJI has launched programs that subtly remind its consumers about their impact on the environment. This ignites an introspective response.
For example, they sold canned salmon made from the less desirable parts of the fish and U-shaped spaghetti, a by-product of producing straight cut spaghetti.
TheReMUJI program also encourages consumers to think about the waste they are producing. There is a Japanese saying, “Mottai-nai“, which reminds us to not let anything go to waste.
STAGES OF CAMPAIGN
1. Promoting the idea of gaining strength from using MUJI Products.
MUJI offers a wide range of products and these products provide strength to customers in different ways. We highlight this through posters or videos.
2. Promoting the idea of how Earth has given us life and taken care of us.
In line with MUJI’s efforts, the second stage of this campaign involves a larger-than-life electrical plug and socket – with no apparent explanation.
The socket would be located in MUJI stores.
We were thinking that maybe an actor in an Earth costume with a plug would walk around in public spaces.
However, this is too flamboyant and we are thinking of doing a sculpture/installation instead. A giant, simple but weathered globe with a giant plug appears in public spaces near MUJI stores out of nowhere.
The globe can be transported, and when plugged in to the socket in the MUJI store, the globe could light up and create a beautiful spectacle.
This promotes the idea of lending strength back to Earth through mindful consumerism. Generic goods can be good for the environment and its people, and through this metaphor of recharging, we’d like to show that as MUJI’s products lend strength to its consumers, it is also lending strength to Earth by being kinder to the environment, and they are also encouraging its consumers to lend strength back to Earth by being more mindful.
3. Electronic waste drive
This part is a more novel, extra idea, but in line with the iconography of the electrical plug, we could also have a drive ongoing, where people can drop off their faulty or used electrical plugs and receive a discount for MUJI electrical plugs or power cables (which are supposedly made responsibly).
Electronic waste makes up a huge part of our trash and by collecting and displaying the electrical plugs in a large acrylic tank, hopefully it would remind or raise the awareness in consumers to rethink their electronics usage or at least dispose of electronic waste responsibly.
There could be displays to educate the consumers on how to dispose of electronic waste responsibly and some facts on electronic products and waste.
Lastly, this ties back to the company’s ideal of producing as little waste as possible and being good to the environment and its people.
In part 2 of our exploration, we adjusted the variables in terms of instructions and the setting of the props. We approached 5 more pairs of strangers to try our experiment.
We had participants from various backgrounds: old, young, local and foreign.
It was really interesting to see how each pair came up with expected or unexpected methods to accomplish the goal, and also how they respond to each different setting.
