Forest Gump: Final Compositions


F I N A L L Y   D O W N

T O  T H E   F I N A L I S E D  C O M P O S I T I O N S


In this brief, we were required to create four different compositions based on four different chosen movie quotes and have one composition silk-screened onto a tote bag successfully.

compositions

My compositions were mainly inspired by surrealism and the use of everyday objects to create an entirely different world of its own and allow others to be intrigued by the choice of objects used to represent different elements.

Read more about my thought process and 
artist references here!

All four of my finalised compostions include the use of similar objects but in a different way. Some objects like the hands, are morphed into another object itself to give an additional personal meaning to the everyday object. Elements like water and cups are repeated in the compositions as they portray the meaning of life/moments/feelings to me.

Most of my compositions were made with a combination of halftones and vector objects with the exploration of layers and contrast differences –

| CHUNKING EXPRESS

I remembered Chungking Express as a memory filled film, where many different emotion were involved especially ones that make me feel like curling up into a ball on my comfy bed. It made me want to bottle up these feelings I felt and remember it for life. In fact, the quote that I picked from this movie aptly described how I was feeling.

“If memories can be canned, would they also have expiry dates, if so, I hope they last for centuries”

Elements used in this composition: sardine fish, cup, water, humans, splashes, hands

Cup – symbolises a can that stores life’s precious memories and feelings

Sardine Fish – cans reminded me of sardine fishes and I made it big + popping out of the cup to represent the huge factor in our lives that leave a great impact on us. Sometimes, there are too many moments and memories that we want to protect and remember for life but there is to much to remember them all

Water – overflowing water represents the amount of memories we create in a lifetime but not can be etched in our head forever. Water in the cup represents how these memories and feelings can be so full of life and energy

Human Divers – Reminding viewers of the human aspect so that they will have more connection to it and it also seems as if these humans just want to drown themselves in past memories that make them feel good

Hands – the hands replaces the regular fin and tail of the fish. They add a more human touch to the composition and also how hands hold onto things. In this case, it is holding on to memories

Progression of Chungking Express
Chungking Express Final Composition

|| BOYHOOD

Boyhood was a slow long movie/documentary that revealed its story bit by bit. The story didn’t hit me all at once but rather in pieces. At the end of the movie, I felt different, I felt like I have watched something that made me feel reflective about life and how a simple story could make me feel this way. Sometimes, that is how a moment makes us feel. Even the simplest moments can take over and seize us.

“You know how everyone’s always saying “seize the moment” I don’t know, im kinda thinking it’s the other way around, you know like the moment seizes us”

Elements used in this composition: waves, cup, water, humans, splashes, hands

Cup – symbolises one’s life

Waves – my representation of a moment seizing us just like how a wave can seem so harmless but is actually very harmful and powerful. Waves can even take away lives. Thus, when I read the quotes I immediately thought about waves.

Hands – I morphed hands into the waves almost as if the waves can grab or hold on to your life. They add a human touch to the composition

Water – the water in the cup seems to have its own life of its own and is very active. This represents the unpredictability of life and its moments

Humans – again, there are humans in the composition to give a human touch to the composition. In this composition, they are going in the direction of the wave almost as if the wave is about to engulf them

Progression of Boyhood
Boyhood Final Composition

||| HER

Her, was an extremely different kind of movie. It was strange yet intriguing. Although its something that I would have never imagined before, I could still understand his love, pain and other emotions well through the mood of the movie and its various shots. The movie had a unique touch to it and is definitely memorable.

“Sometimes I think I have felt everything i’m ever gonna feel, and from here on out i’m never gonna feel anything new, just lesser versions of what i’ve already felt”

Elements used in this composition: cup, water, humans, coffee filter, toilet paper roll, hands

Cup – the wine cup symbolises life and its emotions/feelings.

Toilet Paper Roll – the quote says that sometimes “you’re never gonna feel anything new, just lesser versions…”. In that way, a toilet paper once used will never be the same again. The next roll you encounter will look similar, but you will never be able to get the same thing back again, just possibly a different version of it. The rolling effect also symbolises how life will just keep rolling on and there will be more emotions/feelings to deal with

Water – the water in the cup seems to have its own life of its own, it has bubbles, splashes and even something similar to a whirlpool. It represents how quick a moment last and sometimes when its gone, the feelings of that moment goes with it and one will never be able to get the exact feeling back again

Coffee Filter – where the essence of the coffee comes out from but in this case, marbled water is coming out and they are my representation of feelings

Humans – additional human touch to the composition. Human is entering its own feelings

Hands – morphed into the base of the wine cup as if it is holding on to “life” but in a subtle way

Progression of Her
Her Final Composition

|||| THE IMITATION GAME

The Imitation Game was an eye-opening movie with intellectual scenes and reminders of why we should never doubt someone of their capabilities. We should never judge one based on their looks or on just one incident. We should learn to be patient and believe in others.

“Sometimes it is the people that no one imagines anything of who do the things no one can imagine”

Elements used in this composition: cup, water, humans, traffic light, desert and mountains, galaxy

Cup – symbolises life and its moments

Traffic Light – represents imagination because no one will imagine a traffic light as a stirrer in a cup and have a mountains on top of it + galaxies on the side

Desert and mountains – represent different worlds, something imaginative

Galaxies – symbolises dreams and a different reality

Water – Life’s moments and its struggles

Human – added human touch to composition. In this composition, the human is seen drowning and has the traffic light piercing through her. It is a scene that no one will ever imagine

Hands – hands are morphed into the traffic light shades on top to represent how our hands are part of the things we do in life and how they affect our moments and struggles

Progression of The Imitation Game
The Imitation Game Final Composition
silkscreen process and final product

The silkscreen process sounded very complicated to me when I first heard about it. However, I was also filled with excitement to try it out. The thought of printing my own composition on a tote bag also made me want to do it well so that I’ll have a new tote bag to carry out.

PROCESS

The process consists of several parts but we were guided well with the help of our work study. We were each give one screen to expose and had to make sure we took care of it well.

We were first told to label our screens so that we don’t accidentally take the wrong screens or spend time figuring which is ours. Then we had to slightly rinse the screen and pat it dry before going into the dark room.

The Dark Room

After layering the light-sensitive ink onto our screens, we had to light it dry before pasting on our transparency print of our composition onto one side of the screen to let it get exposed. After exposing, we had to use the water spray jet to wash off the exposed ink in order for our composition to appear.

Transparency print of first composition
After exposing the screen, the design is ready to be printed!!
First try print, newsprint paper
FINAL PRODUCT

We were required to go back another day to re-expose our screens and get it printed onto our tote bags. Lucky for me everything went quite smoothly on that day besides accidentally tearing a small bit of my screen on the side. Thankfully, it was not a big problem as it could be covered with tape.

I did a few test prints before eventually printing into my tote bag!

Silkscreening on tote bag

AFTER THOUGHTS – I thought that the the whole process was an interesting experience and I’m glad I got to learn something new through this. I was always curious about the silkscreening process and wanted to try it out for myself. So I guess this experience is a strike off my to-try list smile

End Product of Tote Bags
final products for submission
4 finalised compositions for submission

Ready for critique

After critique thoughts: This project allowed me to explore alternative ways of putting together compositions and coming up with designs. Although it was challenging at the beginning, I eventually narrowed down my concept and it became easier to work from there. A challenge I faced was attempting to make the 4 compositions look consistent throughout and re-using the same elements in each of the composition.

I received overall good feedback after the critique and was very happy to receive such a good response from my classmates. I’m glad that my compositions were understood by others and was slightly relatable. On the whole, I am glad that my hard work has paid off and this project has been quite an experience for me!

Click here for more about my process and here for more research!

THE END.

Final Work: ‘My Line is Emo’

After 4 weeks of research, exploration and narrowing of ideas, my lines of emotions have been executed 
and finalised.
CONCEPT

| As sensitive person, I feel that my emotions are never defined or absolute, they seem to co-exist and hard to describe |

 It’s almost as if my emotions are made up of different elements and joined together to form a unique emotion of its own.  

Hence, I incorporated the use of layers to convey different elements that make up a particular emotion of mine. Through the use of layers, I was able to better convey emotions from my personal point of view and allow room for exploration. I found out that layering helps to add depth to my lines, create empty spaces and give a varied use of values even in single line.

OBJECTS/TOOLS USED

I utilised daily objects that can found in my home as mark making tools for this project. Using them helped me to connect to my personal emotions and emphasise on my daily emotions better.

Some objects found at home

 A more detailed list and description of items used can be read in my ‘Process and Research’ post! 

FINAL LINES OF EMOTIONS
SADNESS
Before being cropped:
Looking at the piece from right to left, the amount of in-between white spaces decreased. The left is darker but seem to draw thinner as if the emotion of “sadness” was felt less. It also made the piece look like a progression and caused a clear change of values throughout the piece. The dots created by the face charcoal mask were almost playing with the space, allowing more space on certain parts, as if the other parts of the piece represented breathing space.
Cropped/Final:
I chose to crop this part out as I feel it has a good balance of white and black parts. On the right corner of the line, you can tell that its slightly more blended out with the white water colour. The blended out texture gave the line a nice end when seen from left to right, as if the emotion is evolving and changing into something else. On the left, there is more empty space which sort of conveys a progression and also brings out the contrast. Some dots can be seen more obviously on the top, bringing out the use of shapes in contrast to the implied horizontal lines, made by the dragged out paint and drizzled charcoal mask.
FEAR
Before being cropped:
I wanted Fear to be represented by haphazard looking lines/lines that varied from each other. Thus, for the first layer, I created lines that went in different directions as if they were colliding. Some lines were not exactly straight, but slightly curled up. I felt that that brought out the uncertainty felt in the emotion of fear. Some lines are not as impactful as the rest showing some contrast and exposing more white space into the line. Circles of marbled nail polish were added on top randomly, almost as if they were clashing into the movements of the line. The use of a geometric shape represented how things are known to go in circles; never-ending, just like my fears. The difference in the circle motifs are mainly seen in their colours, bringing out a different value of light to dark tones. I thought that the final product gave me sort of a mysterious creepy feeling that can sometimes be felt in the emotion of fear.
Cropped/Final:
I decided to crop this portion of the line because I felt that the circle motifs were more prominent in this area which helped in bringing out the factor of creepiness and unpredictable happenings. The drizzle in this area was in a more haphazard motion which made me feel like things were more chaotic. They created a change of direction in addition to the already clashing lines. Some of the lines here are also less harsh than in other areas which made me feel that sometimes fear can come and go really quickly. The background of this line is also completely white bringing out a clear contrast to the lines, circles and drizzles used in this emotion. This final line made me feel like there is no start and end to fear because there is no clear/distinct darker area on the left/right/top/bottom.
ANGER
Before being cropped:
Looking at this line after it was done, I felt like it looked very patchy as if it was trying to convey some feeling of indecisiveness. The patches were made by broken eggshells and sequins (sequins because I experimented with it during early stages and liked the effect it gave). The darker tones of this line is not as strong and harsh because it was the second layer of print transferred, giving it a slightly faded and grainy texture to it. I liked how the values of this line is varied throughout as it sort of added to the idea of moodswings never quite being the same. The overall look of this line is a little messy which a factor that makes me frustrated and irritated. For the second layer, I used cut-out circular pads to imprint circle prints randomly around the paper. They ended up giving a slightly blurry effect making the sides look a little 3D. As it was printed on randomly, it still left ample white space around making the line look less of a pattern and further emphasised on the contrast. The ends of this line is slightly less crowded and vivid compared to the middle almost as if it conveys the idea of anger being built up.
Cropped/Final:
Deciding where to crop this line was slightly challenging for me as I thought every part of it was quite essential to convey the feeling of anger and frustration. I eventually chose this area as the final line as it most effectively showed the blurry sides of the circular pad imprints, in contrast to the almost empty background at the back. After seeing how that worked out, it made me feel how sometimes anger isn’t caused by a single situation but rather can be a built up of other elements as well. Towards the end of line on the right, the dynamics of the line changes slightly, almost trying to convey a different side of anger and frustration. I felt that, that turned out quite nicely, conveying the idea that anger often changes when the heat of the moment is over. There are some sort of lines formed towards the right of this piece and it looks like movement lines as the sides are quite blurry almost as if the circular pad imprints are travelling/bouncing around the paper.
SURPRISE
Before being cropped:
The emotion of surprise was initially the most challenging for me as I tried to associate objects to that feeling of amazement. However, I ended up having the most fun doing this line. I initially had the idea of overlapping the lemon prints but I ended up just imprinting them more spread out and surrounding most of the paper. I spread out my motion and thus the dark tones of this line is also spread out. Because of that, some lemon prints were more prominent than others, almost like the rest of the lemons were like an after effect of being surprised – less impactful and faded. The empty space in this line was still evident despite it being slightly more overcrowded compared to the other emotions. The chili prints were slightly darker so they looked like they were above the lemons like they were being separated by a plastic sheet in the middle. The emotion of amazement and surprise can be of different levels depending on how rare it happens and how focused I am in what I am doing. As I wanted to include a layer involving movement, I continued to spray the line with dry shampoo, giving the line blotches of white patches that faded out and added grey bits to existing prints. The middle of the line is darker than the sides and it sort of shows a progression of the emotion.
Cropped/Final:
I chose this part of the line as it was more crowded, and more elements were clashing and overlapping. To me surprise can sometimes come less frequently compared to other emotions and so this overcrowding effect became a surprise to me. It was like something different and it amazed me. the white bits of this line is more evident towards the middle of the piece before it immediately continues with a much darker lemon imprint, showing the big contrast. Although the lemon slice is quite overcrowding, bits of it are slightly faded out in contrast to the dark chili imprints. The final piece of this line felt as if the start of the emotion was more overlapped and concurrent before slowly separating and spreading out towards the right of the line.
JOY
Before being cropped:
The emotion of Joy was very interesting to create. The only trouble I had was not knowing what daily object to use to convey happiness because so many things made me content and happy. I made use of the layering once again but this time round, the layers fused together quite nicely resulting in a effect I was not expecting but loved it a lot anyway. I like how there’s a good contrast in the tones of this line, conveying the idea of vividness especially in Joy. The flim strips were placed randomly but all almost going towards the same direction as if trying the reach the ultimate goal (of contentment and joy). The lines lead the eyes to the ends of the paper and draws me in to observe the emotion even more. The middle part of this line is darker and sudden so I thought that this showed how happiness can sometimes flow in all at once leaving us speechless and lost for words. The cabbage imprints turned out to almost resemble seashells which many associate with contentment and happiness. The right side of the line is a lot darker and rich before reaching a lighter side on the left. I liked that it sort of showed different stages of happines.
Cropped/Final:
The cabbage imprints of this portion, particularly look as if it was part of the film strip. It added an element of dialogue to the line. From that, I could relate to my perception of joy as a lot of it involves the people around me and the activities done with them which all involves a dialogue. As said above, the abrupt dark tone in the middle sort of shows the stages of joy and happiness. I like how the cabbage print came out even more strong and vivid after the layer of film roll was added. Great contrast can be seen even when the light tone of this line is not actually white. This piece feels kind of like a story because the lines from the film strips gives a direction and the cabbage imprints look like they are travelling across the paper.
LOVE
Before being cropped:
I liked how this line turned out more faded and lighter compared to the rest of the emotions even though this line has far lesser white space. At a glance, the line gets darker towards the left of the paper. The flowers kind of convey the growth of love because almost every relationship (friend or partner) starts from being strangers. They also help to bring out the contrast of this line. The flowers are placed almost in a straight line which helps lead one’s eyes from one end of the line to the other and also makes the line look minimalist and simple. The added white paint represent my loved ones. Even though they are not abundant, they are important and stand out in my life just like how the white bits stand out in this line. The more complicated white imprints are actually from my dog’s paws but because he is so furry, they did not appear like paw prints at all. I guess that brought out the realness and authenticity of love.
Cropped/Final:
I chose to crop this part of the line as it had the main elements of the piece and clearly showed different but similar looking elements in a line. I liked the contrast produced by the prints of the flowers and how it ended light and most defined towards the right of the line. As if love has blossomed and will continue to stay simple yet powerful. The elements of this line is spread out and feels calming to me as if it is not in a rush. To me, love is soft, light and slow but yet impactful underneath. It is almost surreal and thus, I wanted it to look most different from the rest of the emotions.
AT ONE GLANCE

When put together —

After putting them together and seeing them in sequence, I felt as if there were a story and dialogue going on within my lines!

More detailed exploration and process can be found here!

HAD A LOT FUN CREATING NEW PERSPECTIVES TO 
MY EMOTIONS!