-Greek goddess of memory, who was considered one of the most powerful goddesses of her time.
A short film to accompany Daphne Guinness’s perfume beautifully explored the visuals of scent.
“I wanted to explore how I perceive scent visually,” says Daphne,
“scent is directly related to memory”
“It is something of a sensory path, evoking snapshots of one’s past as you smell it. It has the power to transport you from the room in which you stand, to a place buried within the depths of your memory. I wanted to illustrate that scent can take you on a journey.”
Smell
Everyone has a unique “smell print”. There are no two people smell things the same way because each of us has scent blind spots, which means specific odours we can’t pick up on. For example, that room spray smells like violets to you but like herbs to your friend. You can both be right. Good smells make people happier. Smelling a fragrance you perceive as pleasant has a positive effect on the mind.
Our scent cells are renewed every 28 days, so every four weeks we can get a new “nose”, but our sense of smell weakens with ageing. A woman’s nose is hypersensitive when she is pregnant, so pregnant women’s weird food cravings may be caused by their heightened sense of smell.
Smell and MemoriesSmells get routed through our olfactory bulb, which is the smell-analyzing region in our brain, and it is closely connected to our amygdala and hippocampus, brain regions that handle the memory and emotion.
Smell Memory Kit (SMK)
http://smellmemorykit.supersense.com/
The SMK has been invented and developed by the famous smell scientist Sissel Tolaas (SSSL) in close cooperation with SUPERSENSE. Sissel Tolaas started her work in the 1990s, and she has spent seven years collecting 7,000 scents around the world. Now, her work is helping people make memories. The concept behind the SMK:
“WE THINK it is time to start creating the tools for the most effective and most emotional snapshots ever. Capturing and preserving your dearest and most important memories in a much deeper way than ever before, using your sense of smell.”
http://smellmemorykit.supersense.com/
The newly opened Smell Memory Lab at the SUPERSENSE palace in Vienna.
This is a story about Vania and her long-lost friend Smita. After high school, they separated because Smita decided to fly to London for university study. However, when they accidentally met each other again, things changed……
-Genre
Thriller&Mystery
-Storyboard
We tried to generate the storyline by following the 3 Act Structure. And Special thanks to Christina for creating the storyboard.
Task 1 – Sequencing Images
Production
-Process
We kept changing different locations, attires and props. And we had a lot of experimental shots to help us find out a better angle or a better movement to tell the story. The shooting process wasn’t that simple, but we did have a lot of fun! Special thanks to our talented actresses Esther and Vania!
-Reference:
Leon-the Professional (1994), which is one of my favourites movies. I can watch it over and over again, and never get bored. It tells a story between a professional hitman Leon and a 12-year-old girl Mathilda.We can see the photo of the victim from the reflection of his sunglasses.
Focus on the shoes of the character; we can also see the position and distance between the room of Leon and the room of Matilda’s family. Close-up shot for the clock to show that something gonna happen.
We see the hand of the hitman first instead of seeing his face.
Rule of thirds
Some other techniques we used in our photos, such as
Two-point perspective/Medium shot
Long shot/Horizontal line
Diagonal line
We used colour images to show the present and B&W images to show the flashback; used close-up shots to show the details or convey the feeling and emotion of the character; used long shots to show the environment.
-Challenge
As there were too many coincidences and disconnections happened in the first storyline, after consultation, we tried to make some changes in our storyline to make the story more logical, clearer and smoother.
When we were not able to find a proper ‘gun’……
We borrowed a glue gun from Jingyi. 🙂
And photoshopped it into a real one!!! Special thanks to Christina for her magical work. 🙂
Problem solved!
-Photo Story
Task 2 – Sequencing Images with sound
-Process
-Sound
I have to say that the sound does help the video make sense. Sometimes, it can tell the story itself even without the image. The part of choosing and editing sound was another difficulty that I faced during this assignment. It took me a lot of time to find a right sound from the tons of resources online. For some specific scenes, we also recorded the sound ourselves.
-Reference:
I got inspiration from this movie clip of The Godfather that we watched in class, a sound of a passing train was thundering outside when Michael was in the toilet to represent the terrible thoughts were occurring in his mind and racing heart. Meanwhile, the train sound also helped to emphasise the tense atmosphere. The same sound returned when Michael sat back down at the table, and it became louder and louder, then, he pulled out the gun.
I used the church bell sound at both the beginning and ending part in my video to convey the audience an information that someone is dying, actually, there was no church bell in my video. In addition, I also used the clock sound effect at the beginning to show that Smita was on her mission, and when she got brainwashed, she was just like a cold-blooded killing machine.
-Video
It also took me a lot of time to choose photos and arrange them in a ‘right’ sequence because our story was a little bit complicated, . For the part of ending flashback, Smita got all her memory back at the moment she hit her head and saw the watch around Vania’s wrist. I decided to shorten the duration of each frame to show that everything was back together into her mind in a flash.
I used a bunch of roses to symbolise ‘love‘, a gun and a target icon to symbolise ‘death‘. When I was searching the visual elements online for the keyword ‘want‘, I suddenly changed my mind when I found the image of this gorilla, because I could see both craving and desperation in his eyes for love and death. I really love it. So I used this gorilla to symbolise ‘want’ instead of using a brain or grabbinghands. And there was a reason why I chose a gorilla over a human because humans are greedy and complicated, they always want more.
I tried to put the gun and the target along the 1/3 line by following the rule of thirds.
This is the second draft that I created.I shifted the position of the hand with the gun to the top left corner to create a diagonal arrangement. And it was also the farthest position from the gorilla in this composition, because I wanted to show that death is his last choice. But, he is not afraid of death, that is the reason why I put the gun towards the centre point of the target.
However, everything looked too dark except the target icon in this draft. I wanted to emphasise the words ‘love’ and ‘death’, so I inverted the colour of the target and changed another background of bloody rose.
Principle of design: diagonal arrangement, rule of thirds, contrast
Final Design:
Quote 2: “I am a princess.All girls are.” – A little princess 1995
ALL GIRLS: mirror, different types of hair/dress/shoes
I wanted to compose a ‘crown’ myself by using a castle and flowers to make it more interesting, and the word ‘all’ reminded me that I had to think about what things that everyone can get it easily. So I used clouds in a castle shape for the top part of the crown, instead of using an image of an actual castle.
This is the first design that I came up with. I used the self-made crown to symbolise ‘princess‘, used different types of shoes as the background and a mirror as the face of the ‘princess’ to symbolise ‘all girls‘. But I thought the background was a little bit complicated and distracting.
Final Design (Second design):
For the second design, I used clouds to fill up the top part of this composition to show that ‘all girls‘ in the world are the princess. In the end, I chose the second design as the final one, because it looked more harmonious and visually attracted me more.
Principle of design: rule of thirds, repetition, white space
Quote 3: “I came here to make the world a better place, but I think I broke it.” – Zootopia 2016
MAKE THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE: Policeman, Hero (Superman, Spiderman, Batman……)
In this composition, I used an exploded earth to symbolise ‘world‘, and an image of shattered glass as the background to symbolise ‘broke‘, and I combined the upper body part of Superman with a rabbit head to represent the one who was trying to save the world or ‘make the world a better place‘, but failed. I was trying to arrange all the elements in this composition by following the rule of thirds. And I used negative space to represent the universe, at the same time, it also helped to make the dominant elements stand out.
Principle of design: negative space, rule of thirds, contrast
Final Design:
Quote 4: “I just know I’m hungry…All the time.” – 17 again 2009
HUNGRY: mouth, teeth, stomach, plate, spoon and fork, food, snacks
TIME: clock, hourglass, sun and moon
I used a brain to symbolise the keyword ‘know‘, a spiral clock to symbolise ‘time‘ which also created a dynamic movement in this composition, and mouths to symbolise ‘hungry‘. In addition, I used spoons and forks to represent the second hand and minute hand of the clock to emphasise ‘hungry all the time‘. I placed the spiral clock behind the brain to show that ‘my mind is being trapped into the feeling of hungry’, and I used negative space to show that ‘my mind is going deeper and deeper into this feeling’.
This is the first draft that I created: Put the mouths in a diagonal arrangement to show that ‘hungry all the time’, from day to night.
The second draft:
One difficulty I faced in this composition was the choice of the visual element for ‘hungry’. In order to emphasise on the keyword of ‘hungry’, I decided to use teeth in the end. I duplicated the teeth pattern and adjusted them in different sizes and orientation, then placed them randomly around the edges of this composition.
Principle of design: negative space, scale, dynamic movement, repetition
Final Design:
This is the composition that I chose to print on my tote bag.
Part 2-Silkscreen
Print the chosen composition on 2 pieces of transparent sheets.
Coat the silkscreen with P5C blue emulsion, and put it into the dryer. When the screen is completely dry, paste the transparency on it.
Put it into the exposing machine for 18 seconds…..sorry for the blurred image.
Wash off the unexposed parts. !TADA! My design shows up! Then, mask the edges of the screen with tape.
Here comes the printing part, which is one of the difficulties that I faced during this project.
Before printing on the tote bag, I did the test printing on newsprint.
Uh ……………… what happened ………………….
Because there were a lot of empty spaces in my composition so that I had to put more black ink on it. Thank you for the help of my lovely friends, it was clear to see that the results became better and better.
Finally! I am glad that I got a perfect printing in the end 🙂
Part 3-Final Submission
Part 4-Reflection
I really enjoyed this project because I learned some new skills in Photoshop and had a fun in the process of silkscreen. I think the most difficult part of this project was the choice of visual elements, and how to compose them in an interesting way by using different principles of design. It was hard, but it was a good experience for me to practice and expand my design thinking and skills.
Ikebana (生け花, “arranging flowers”) is the Japanese art of flower arrangement, also known as kadō (華道, the “way of flowers”). The history of ikebana dates back to the 6th century when Buddhism reached Japan, the floral offerings were used to worship at Buddhist altars. A tradition over 600 years old, it is still alive and well, and continues to be practised as a cultural Japanese art form in modern days.
Different from Western floral arrangements which put flowers in the centres to make round shapes, and everything well-arranged without any spaces. Ikebana uses empty space and asymmetrical forms, simplicity and graceful lines are the most important keys. In order to create a sense of harmony, the choices of container and space around the arrangement are crucial as well.
Ikebana makes use of natural materials, bringing the beauty of nature indoors, and helping us to calm the soul. Therefore, the practice of ikebana can also be a meditative process by taking the time to carefully look at the materials and focus on the arrangement to express ourselves. The time spent in communication with the leaves, branches and flowers provides a respite from the stressful and busy lives in nowadays. In addition, some of the modern styles of ikebana (avant-garde ikebana) have evolved with using glass, iron and other materials instead of flowers.
If you look at your tongue in the mirror, you can see it’s covered in little bumps. And in those bumps are taste buds. When you put something in your mouth, they send a message to your brain to give you information about whether the food is salty, sweet, sour, bitter or umami (a meaty, savoury taste).
The sensation of taste can be categorized into five basic tastes:
Sweetness-is a basic taste most commonly perceived when we are eating foods rich in sugars; always regarded as a pleasurable experience.
Sourness-is something with an acidic taste, such as lemon juice, vinegar, green fruit; or someone who is resentful or angry.
Saltiness-is a taste produced primarily by the presence of sodium ions; tastes bitter with an excessive amount.
Bitterness-is the most sensitive of the tastes, such as black coffee, or Chinese herbal medicine; and always be perceived as an unpleasant experience.
Umami– a word from Japanese. It is a pleasant savoury taste and has been described as brothy or meaty.
However, taste is a product of more than just buds on your tongue. It’s a combination of the look, smell, sound, texture as well as the heat or coolness of the food.
Smell and taste are intimately linked, and the smell also provides us with the specific information on the flavour of food. So that is the reason why it is hard to enjoy our meals when we have a cold.
By the way, fat has become our sixth sense of taste. And hot and spicy feelings are not actually a taste, they are pain signals sent by the touch and temperature receptors in the brain.
I chose the second sketch model as my final model. At first, I had no idea about the material for the cone. After searching online for spring fruits and veggies, I decided to use banana, strawberry and broccoli to compose a cone shape. And I also wanted to use their scents to show the sweetness and freshness of spring. However, it made the whole model too complex. Less is more, according to the principle of Ikebana which is about minimalism, Cheryl helped me to simplify my model by removing the ‘cone’ part, and placing the asparagus(cylinder) and shuttlecock(cone) at the corner of the chipboard to create a void and put everything in a diagonal arrangement (can be seen from the top view). And the branch also became a part of the model as the dominant.
Here is the final model, it looks much better! Thank you, Cheryl!
Dominant: Branch
Subdominant: Asparagus & Shuttlecock
Subordinate: Bird nest & Yellow flower
Colour
White, green, yellow, brown
Element
A branch with some tender leaves (broccoli) and a bird nest(dried grass)-birth of new life；
Asparagus-Spring vegetable；
Shuttlecock- people start playing outside to enjoy the warmer weather as well as the new look that Spring brings;
Yellow flower-represent Jasminum Nudiflorum, as a decoration to show the vitality of Spring;
Chipboard-use the earth tone base to act as the ground.
The word I got from the Pandora’s Box was Cantilever. I have searched on Wikipedia about this word: A cantilever is a rigid structural element, such as a beam or a plate, anchored at only one end to a (usually vertical) support from which it is protruding. Cantilevers are widely used in construction, such as in bridges and buildings. After a preliminary understanding of what is cantilever, I composed 2 sketch models on week 2.
D: Dominant
SD: Sub-dominant
SO: Sub-ordinate
3 views of Model 1:
Front view-the sizes of SD&SO are quite similar.
Side view-the widths of D, SD&SO are similar……
Top view-SD cannot be seen; the size of SO is too big.
3 views of Model 2:
Front view-the sizes of SD&SO are similar; the length of SD is longer than 1/2 length of D; the left side of the model is too flat.
Side view-the sizes of SD&SO are similar; the width of SD is longer than 1/2 width of D; everything is centralized.
Top view-SO cannot be seen; D&SD are shifted.
The feedback I got on week 2:
Keep rotating 3D sketch model while assembling it, make sure D, SD & SO can be seen from all angles;
Avoid similar sizes of SD&SO, and SD&SO won’t be shifted from different views;
No flushing, avoid flat looking of the 3D sketch model
With these points in mind, I tried to improve the two models above and explore some more different composition of Cantilever on week 3.
3D Sketch Model 1:
2D Analysis of Model 1:
3D Sketch Model 2:
2D Analysis of Model 2:
3D Sketch Model 3:
2D Analysis of Model 3:
3D Sketch Model 4:
2D Analysis of Model 4:
The feedback I got on week 4:
Avoid putting everything along the central axis, try to make the model more interesting
Think about the materials that I am going to use
I decided to choose Model 4 as my final model.
Final sketch model：
Final adjustment:
The thickness of SD&SO are quite similar, SO should be cut in half. And after that, I decided to place the SO along the principal axis of SD.
Shift SO&SD to the left 1/3 point of the length of D.
Materials
Dominant: Chipboard
Sub-dominant: PVC sheet
Sub-ordinate: Rectangular ring
Considering the future application of this model, I decided to use chipboard(D), glass(SD), and metal wire(SO) as my materials at first. However, during the final model making process, I wanted the SD to be double layers, so I used transparent PVC sheet to replace the glass as it was in lighter weight and easier to cut.
My idea was inspired by Mash Bar. Mash is one of the smallest bars in Amsterdam, the designer used chipboard all around for the interior to create a cozy and warm atmosphere.
The main materials I can see from the bar’s interior are chipboard, metal, glass, and fabric.
FINAL MODEL
Application
1. Note board with a LED glass clock
The control buttons are placed at the edge of the note board. As the glass board is double layered, the user can put a paper in between and then write notes on the glass board.
2. Table
When you are not using the table, you can lift it up for more space. And now, it becomes a glass note board again…
Foundation 2D Project 1 process-Mark making experiment
For the second and third week F2D lessons, we experimented with different techniques and tools to do mark making on paper! It was a process of discovery and exploration.
Tools I used for the second week: Leaves/Rocks/Roller/Paint brush/Monoprint/Soapsuds
-Leaves
The first tool I experimented with was different kinds of leaves, which was the tool that I posted on week 1. At first, I coated a leaf with block printing ink and stamped it on the paper.
Then I tried experimenting automatic technique, I dipped leaves in Chinese calligraphy ink, dabbed and swirled them on the paper without conscious control, just allowed my hand to move randomly across the paper.
Experimented with the same tool but different techniques, I tried monoprint technique with leaves.
-Rocks
The second tool was rock. I tried different mark making ideas by playing around with a rock, such as zigzags, loops, and scribbles.
-Soapsuds
I also experimented with soapsuds mixed with Chinese ink.
-Paint brush
Moving on, I tried playing around with a paint brush. Compared with leaves, paint brush was definitely a tool that easier to use and control. I tried spinning it on the paper to express the emotion of “glee”.
-Roller
The last tool I used was a roller. After coated the roller with block printing ink, I tried stamping and rolling it on the paper.
I had a lot of fun during the first experiment exercise and really enjoyed it. I will try to explore and experiment more mark making ideas with different tools and techniques after researching on emotions.
I decided my six emotions on the third week.
– Aggression
The idea was inspired by action movies. I used two palette knives with block printing ink to draw on the paper by using their sharp tips, edges and diamond-shaped bottom surface. Tried to create a scene of an intense fighting.
-Isolation
The idea was from a literary work called ‘Robinson Crusoe’, as the word ‘isolation’ reminded me of a small island in the ocean. The colour of dark grey also assists to emphasize on the feeling of fear and hopeless when someone is isolated and disconnected from the world.
This is the second attempt, I was trying to move the focal point to the left side by following the rule of thirds, instead of placing it right in the middle of the strip.
-Embarrassment
I think it is a feeling like the skin is being pricked by thousands of needles, and also comes with some feelings of fear and stress.
I was trying to emphasize the sense of pressure by cutting off the parts without black paint at the top and bottom.
-Disgust
The idea was inspired by nature. I used tissue with black acrylic paint to represent the rotten stuff. Then I paste some dried, finely cut leaves of tea on the strip to simulate the scene of swarms of ants gathering around. This kind of scene makes me disgusted when I see it in real life.
-Amusement
Blowing bubbles was one of the things that I loved to do when I was a child. I think it was full of joy and brought me a lot of happy memories. Also, the circular shape is an element of joy. Therefore, I was trying to convey the emotion of ‘Amusement’ through an amusing way, which was blowing bubbles directly onto the strip with a straw.
-Torment
Torment is a kind of feeling with severe mental or physical suffering. Personally, I am a person who is prone to headaches. When I got a headache, I would become irritable because I cannot do anything even fall asleep. All I did was scratch my head vigorously. Therefore, I decided to use scratches to convey the emotion of torment.
Definition: A feeling of anger or antipathy resulting in hostile or violent behavior; readiness to attack or confront.
Self Interpretation: Angry feelings and associated with violent action, which remind me of weapons used in the ancient wars. The tools I used were Chinese ink, and palette knives with their sharp tip and edges.
The tools I used were Chinese ink, and palette knives with their sharp tip and edges.
Disgust
Definition: A feeling of revulsion or strong disapproval aroused by something unpleasant or offensive.
Self Interpretation: Things make me uncomfortable or make me tremble when I see it. Like vomit, rotten food, and dead animal or insect body, and swarms of flies or ants are attracted and gather around.
The tools I used were tissue with Chinese ink and a bag of dry tea. The final result also looks like the bacterial infection.
Amusement
Definition: Anything that amuses; pastime; enjoyment
Self Interpretation: The Circular shape is a kind of fun element. I was trying to make this mark through an amusing way. So the thing I did was blowing bubbles directly onto the paper strip with a straw. Tried to create an atmosphere of happiness and enjoyment with different sizes and opacities of bubbles. The splashes around also helped a lot.
The tools I used were Chinese ink mixed with liquid detergent and a straw.
Isolation
Definition: Far away from others or little in common with others
Self Interpretation: Different and distant from others and helpless, like a small island in the ocean. I placed the ‘island’ on the left side of the strip by following the rule of thirds.
The tools I used were tissue, Chinese ink, and a sponge.
Embarrassment
Definition: A feeling of self-consciousness, shame, or awkwardness
Self Interpretation: A feeling like being pricked by thousands of needles, and also comes with some feelings of fear and stress.
The tools I used were Chinese ink and cleaning brush.
Torment
Definition: A state of great physical or mental suffering; agony; misery.
Self Interpretation: A feeling of suffering or torture; like a fierce wild animal with unhealed wounds and being imprisoned in darkness.
I used a penknife to create the scratches on the paper covered with black acrylic paint.
Everyone has their own interpretation of emotions. Doing research is definitely one of the most helpful ways to open our minds. Besides, there is also another way to help us get inspiration, which is observing life. Art comes from life. : )
Rinko Kawauchi, a photographer from Japan. Kawauchi as a photographer has developed the skill to create poetic moments and purity from everyday objects. As I decided to choose an apple as my object. So I was also trying to achieve what she does in her images to create a beautiful picture out of an ordinary object, with a light, pastel tone and shallow depth of field. That is also the reason why I chose the plain white background.
I have also inspired by another Japanese photographer and director, Mika Ninagawa. She is known for her vibrant and brightly coloured photographs. In her works, I can see that she is an expert of using high saturated colours. Her unique photography technique creates a fantastic world and the result is extremely wonderful.
Apple was the first one appeared in my mind when I was thinking about an object to represent myself. For me, apple is not just a kind of fruit, it is one of the necessities of my daily life since I was a child. It does accompany me for quite a long time.
I have been obsessed with the choice of colours of the apple. Comparing to the red one, I decided to choose a green apple instead in the end, as colour also help to convey the message. Red is an intense colour, it is not only associated with meanings of love and passion but also some contrary meanings of rage, danger and temptation. Green brings with it a sense of hope, health and growth. In addition, green apples usually taste sourer than red ones. I want to use it to show that I am trying to step out my comfort zone and accept the sour in my life.
For the location of my world, library is a place that is significant to me. During my childhood, I spent most of my time to go there to study with my friends. Therefore, I decided to take photos of the library in NTU.
Here is a part of experimental photos that I did not choose as the final images. I have tried various vantage point. I cannot see clearly what I want to express through these images.
Smells get routed through our olfactory bulb, which is the smell-analyzing region in our brain, and it is closely connected to our amygdala and hippocampus, brain regions that handle the memory and emotion.
