梨神 PEAR GOD

 

Closeup

 

 

Exhibition

@  School of Arts, Design and Media, NTU


 

 

MEDIA WALL

LED

15m by 2m

Media Art Nexus NTU

 

Actual Exhibition

@ North Spine, NTU

 

 

 

SWATCHBOOK

 

APPLICATION

iPad Pro

iPhone 7

 

 

 

 

Motif Development

Based on my concept, “new door god”,  I planed to design a door god poster. It contains a main god in the center and several elements surrounded.

 

Main God

I chose to use Apple and Steve Jobs as my main visual representation. Replacing the logo to a pear shape adds a subtle pun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Steve Jobs as fortune god(left) and general(right)

 

 

Ritual tools

Referencing from how Chinese people worship their ancestor and god, I created Apple-related sacrifices and Ritual tools.

iPhone sacrifice

Imac on a sacrifice plate

iPod attached to a candle stand

iPhones tucked on bronze incense burner

Amulet

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Servants

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mock-up

This is the first try-out with all elements, based on traditional fortune god door poster.

 

 

Moodboard

Door God patterns

Door gods or Menshen(门神) are divine guardians of doors and gates in Chinese folk religions, used to protect against evil influences or to encourage the entrance of positive ones.

 

Category

  • Expelling evil spirits
  • Blessings
  • Military officer
  • Civil official

The patterns often attract my attention when I pass by. It made me think that something supernatural is guarding the house.

Old Door Gods preserved in Chendejyu Shrine Museum , Tainan City, Taiwan

 

Moodboard 1

Inspired by Ai weiwei‘s Door gods posters, I want to add some current elements that are more relevant to our generation. Nowadays, there are many new ‘gods’ that we worship to, like Steve Jobs, Elon musk or Jack Ma.

Ai Weiwei, Menshen

Ai Weiwei and FAKE design office’s Door Guardians for 2011 (image from theepochtimes.com)

AI WEI WEI, Guardian Christmas screen saver artwork
copyright: Ai Wei Wei

Culture keeper 2015, illustrated by Min Liu

 

Moodboard 2

Inspired by a Chinese illustration artist, Song Xiaqi, based in Shanghai. His illustration embraces the tradition and re-touches it with contemporary feelings.

I like how he uses thick strokes and the way he treated each graphical elements.

 

门神 by Song Xiaqi

门神 by Song Xiaqi

 

Moodboard 3

Another approach is go for abstraction. Since the banner is very long and narrow, abstract patterns will give a strong visual impact.

猴年吉祥 Good luck for the Year of Monkey, illustrated by DO ON東

 

Panel testing

Based on Aiweiwei’s work, I created a rough styleframe to see if the elements work together on a long narrow panel.

The Creature

The Creature

2017

Experimental film

3840×480 pixels

 

About

An experimental film which describes a life cycle of various abstract forms, from birth, maturation to death and allows audience to judge what creature they look like by imagination.

With the help of chemical reaction of putting food coloring in milk, the coloring molecules are pushed away to different directions continuously by milk molecules, which creates an unexpected “color explosion”. The autonomous chemistry not only creates chaos and but also serendipity and inspiration.

 

 

 

Media wall @ North Spine, NTU

Photo by Solomon Qeuk Jialiang

THE CREATURE

Title:

THE CREATURE

Theme:

Illusion

 

CONCEPT

It is an experimental film which describes a life cycle of various abstract creatures, from birth, maturation to death.

With the help of simple chemical reaction in milk, it also allows audience to experience an immersive visual-journey.

 

INSPIRATION

PSYCHEDELIC REVIVAL, Moment Factory

  • Multimedia entertainment studio, Montreal
  • Specialising in the conception and production of immersive environments combining video, lighting, architecture, animation, sound and special effects to create remarkable visitor experiences.

Filming acrylic paint swirls in milk
  • Kinetic movement
  • Vibrant color

 

 

METHODOLOGY

Because of the nature of dish soap, it will push away the paint molecules to different directions continuously, which creates a color explosion.

The autonomous chemistry not only creates chaos and but also the freedom of imagination and inspiration.

 

Experiement by ValincoTV

 

Experiement by artFido

 

 

TESTSHOOT
  • Acrylic paints
  • Oil/dish soap
  • Milk
  • Cups/tray/sucker

 

 

COMPOSITION

I used Adobe After Effects to compose my shots, which is designed for motion graphics design mainly.

After the initial shoot, I realize some problems immediately:

  • The final output canvas is too wide;
  • It can’t contain one HD footage;
  • The color is washed out and not vibrant enough.

Mirror Effect

The good solution is mirroring the same footage.

Approach 1

By only flipping once and feathering the edges, the visual becomes like a lively and organic thing, a brain, a face and a creature.

 

Approach 2

By flipping 4 footages, it creates a nice pattern but doesn’t look like a live thing.

 

MOODBOARD

I decided to go for approach 1 which is more organic.

Reference from 3d model design as well as sci-fi movies, like <The Thing>, <Alien> and <Prometheus>.

Mood of mystery,  alienation and isolation.

Taotie(饕餮)

It reminds me an ancient creature from Chinese culture called Taotie, which is often casted on bronze vessels dated back thousands of years ago from Shang and Zhou dynasty.

In ancient Chinese mythology, taotie (饕餮) is one of the “four evil creatures of the world” along with Hundun (渾沌), Qiongqi (窮奇)and Taowu (梼杌).

It has a very symmetrical deign with prominent facial features standing out.

 

Taotie on a ding bronze vessel from late Shang era

 

 

INITIAL STYLE-FRAMES
  • Single cell – complexity – single cell
  • Inverted the color.
  • Background is black now

 

 

MORE SHOOT

 

I’m using food coloring instead this time. Because it has more saturated color in milk

 

I tried to avoid more than 3 colors, or it will turn out too messy and formless.

 

FINAL COMPOSITION SCREENSHOTS
Treatment process

 

 

FINAL

 

 

Music Options

After consulting, the choice of music seems to be a problem. The current one is a bit club-sounded. It needs more strangeness and Alien sound elements.

So I decided to browse more music options, here are 5 selected scores that I think is suitable.