Forrest Gump – Clockwork Orange

Clockwork Orange

The quote i picked out was actually “When a man cannot choose, he ceases to be a man.” But the screenshot I took from the movie came with the previous sentence so… please just ignore that part 🙂

 

Idea 1

When a man is not recognized and respected as one, his existent is similar of that of a chicken. We commonly know chicken as a ‘brainless’ animal and uses it as an insult to call others stupid. A waiter’s job is so serve the customer. In this case the waiter is serving chicken meat, meat of his own kind, What i am trying to communicate is that he might as well be a chicken, a livestock. Doing whatever he is told and not a thought of his own.

 

Idea 2

Here, I broke down the quote in to its key words.

1. Choose

The first definition that appears when I google the word ‘Choose’ is – to pick out (someone or something) as being the best or most appropriate of two or more alternatives. I immediately thought of chess and games where you make appropriate choices for your survival and victory.

2. Ceases

It means to come or bring to an end. So I used ropes to bind the player to prevent him from playing.

3. Man

The man in this quote refers to mankind and not the male gender specifically. When one ceases to be a man, then what is he? An animal? Livestock? Monster? I made used of the chicken from the previous idea.

This idea end up being too complicated and cryptic. Also it would be better if the imagery is related to the movie.

 

Idea 3

Idea no. 3 is base on the context of the movie. The protagonist went through a torturous experiment to fix his notorious behavior and after that, whenever he had a thought or will to harm anyone ever so slightly he would get a terrible nauseous headache.

The elements in the background – the cage and the iron maiden are signifies the torture and restriction. There are hands applauding the “puppet show” because the experiment in the movie was approved by the society as a cure to bad behavior. The person controlling the “puppet”‘s movement is Beethoven because his 9th symphony the second movement was used to control his emotions. So it is like Beethoven is conducting his movements.

The cage and iron maiden in the background were a little excessive because the puppeteer concept already implies control and restriction.

Here is a titbit – Beethoven’s Symphony no. 9. Perhaps listen to it while looking at my design. Hahaha. 🙂

Continuing…

Selected idea

This is the selected idea but I have to finish the story; it only tells the part where the man cannot choose. The part where he ceases to be a man is still missing. So I thought to combine the anthropomorphism idea to degrade the status of a man.

Selected idea iteration 1

The half-chicken half-man is not very obvious. The chicken’s head is too small.

Selected idea iteration 2

Since I cannot replace the head of the man with the head of the chicken as it would be too small to be identified, I placed a chicken in the background and link it to the “puppet” with the rooster’s tail attached to him. In this way, viewers can tell that he is becoming a chicken.

Selected idea iteratioin 3

I thought maybe it is quite hard to relate to the rooster because in the previous iteration; the tail cannot be seen. So I added one more rooster in the background, this time showing parts of the tail.

Selected idea iteration 4

Then I thought I should show the entirety of the chicken. But it looks out of place and odd.

Selected Idea Final

I went back to iteration 2 because I thought seeing the head and tail of the rooster at the same time on 2 separate bodies would tie them together more distinctly than the others. To emphasize the degrading status of being a man, I added the rooster’s crown onto the “puppet”.

Final in 190 x 250mm

(I had another Idea to “demote” the man into a woman because there was the topic of rape in the field. But thought it might be too offensive.)

 

Comments:

See the thing is if you can tell that he is a puppet, there is no need for strings! 😀Design is resolved! A success!Good use of negative space?

Next: https://oss.adm.ntu.edu.sg/ytan149/forrest-gump-beauty-and-the-beast-2017/

Gaia’s Ikebana – Final

Top View
Front View
Back View

 

Shin is represented by the branch (dominant); reaching skywards.

Soe is represented by the blue paper strip (Sub-ordinate); man-made material. It brings the Shin and Tai together, literally men being between the heavens and the earth.

Tai is represented by the cone (sub-dominant); brown for the earth. Also the use of the ice cream cone relates to ice cream (because ice cream melt and I cannot use it for the ‘Ikebana’); is to refer to the cool weather during spring.

Also the park had an incredible playground that attracted a lot of children. So the use of ice cream and biscuits is for the juvenile impression.

 

 

 

 

Right View
Left View

The white cotton ball (sub-ordinate) has a soft appearance representing the Sakura flower buds during the Spring season. Because during my trip there the flowers were all barely opened and were mostly white and very few pink. 

The layered of pink and green piring wafer biscuit adds the colours of the park to the ‘Ikebana’. It also helps unify and bring harmony to the entire sculpture.

The overall arrangement was meant to emphasize on the line of the branch. Even if the elements are pointing in different directions, the blue strip helps direct your sight to the line of the branch by twirling around it.

Elements can be shifted more to the edge for viewing of all angles.

 

Gaia’s Ikebana – Research

Ikebana

ike, meaning ‘alive’ or ‘arrange’ and bana meaning ‘flower.’ (Fresh, FTD. 2017. )

A traditional arts from japan that is practiced for more than 600 years. It originated from the Buddhist ritual of offering flowers the spirits of the dead. By the middle of the fifteenth century, with the emergence of the first classical styles, ikebana achieved the status of an art form independent of its religious origins, though it continued to retain strong symbolic and philosophical overtones.” (“Ikebana International”. 2017)

As time passed, ikebana became a major part of traditional festivals, and ikebana exhibitions were held periodically. Rules were prescribed, and materials had to be combined in specific ways. In these early forms, a tall upright (indication of faith, to the heavens) central stem had to be accompanied by two shorter stems; the three stems represented heaven (shin), man (soe), and earth (tai). (“Ikebana International”. 2017)

Strives to create a harmony of linear construction, rhythm, and color. (“Flower Arranging | Godai Katsunaga”. 2017)

Minimalism, shape and line, form, humanity, aesthetics, and balance. (Fresh, FTD. 2017. )

 

Principles of Rikka arrangements

Example of Rikka arrangement

Rikka symbolized the mythical Mt.Meru of Buddhism and reflects the magnificence of nature in its display. (“Flower Arranging | Godai Katsunaga”. 2017)

  • mountain peak (ryō)
  • waterfall ()
  • hill (qaku)
  • valley behind the mountain (bi)
  • town (shi)
  • in (“shade”)
  •  (“sun”)

Moribana Style

I find that the dominant, sub-dominant and sub-ordinate is very obvious in this style.

Taken from Fresh, FTD. 2017.
Taken from Fresh, FTD. 2017.
Example of Moribana Upright Style
Example of Moribana Slanting Style Taken from https://imffa.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/ikebana.jpg

D – Branch

SD – flower stems and baby breath

SO – White Flowers

I like the Ikebana’s composition like the above ; with a branch hanging precariously to the side. It seems to defy gravity – standing with no support at all.The different direction in which they are pointing that creates a much more interesting arrangement. Also the curvy branch is in contrast to the stiffer and rigid flower stems to the left.

 

 Spring

March – May | 5 – 20 degrees Celsius | Cherry blossom blooming

The mood board is made of images that I took from my Japan trip in Spring of 2016. (How lucky I was to picked the Spring season.)  The tones during spring are very cool. The earthy pastel shades reflecting the soft and mild weather.

Sketch of final sculpture
  • Branch is brown obviously… (shin)
  • Flat cylinder to be blue (soe); a reflection of the sky (water body, although the pond wasn’t blue at all…) and to match the colour scheme. Planning to make it out of man made material e.g. my leftover metal netting from Project Pandora or some leftover paper from FYP two years ago. Probably the blue paper because of the scene (Park) I am trying to set. Paper is man made but still natural – also related to trees.
  • Green cone to represent the grass and bushes. (tai) Thinking of using a fruit or something related to the earth. But if I use a fruit (green apple) it will probably become a sphere? Then the sculpture will become more like the sketch on the right.
  • Pink for the SOs as the flowers. I am thinking of using mint for the cool temperature and weather. But are there any pink mints???
  • (I did the upright style in the end; the slanting style is quite difficult and I wanted to have the shin soe tai represented distinctly)

References

“Flower Arranging | Godai Katsunaga”. 2017. Godaikatsunaga.Com. http://www.godaikatsunaga.com/?page_id=195.

Fresh, FTD. 2017. “The Art Of Ikebana Flower Arranging”. FTD.Com. https://www.ftd.com/blog/design/ikebana.

“Ikebana International”. 2017. Ikebanahq.Org. http://www.ikebanahq.org/history.php.

Dominant, Sub-dominant & Sub-ordinate Part 2

Composition 1

Top
Front and right
Left and back

 

 

I planned out the dimensions to avoid making similar volumes. The circumference of the sphere is around 1/3 of the base of the cone. The height of the cone is 1/3 < x< 1/2 to the diameter of the cylinder.

Sketch Analysis

 

Composition 2

Front
Top, Left and right respectively

 

The diameter of the cylinder is 1/3 < x< 1/2 to the sphere. The diameter of the sphere is 1/3 < x< 1/2 to the cone and the heights are all also 1/3 < x< 1/2.

Although the proportions were approved, I can’t help feeling that the cylinder and cone are fighting for dominance. Perhaps I should lengthen the cylinder more.

Sketch analysis

Other sketches:

My Line is Emo: Final

My story for this project is my admission into NTU ADM.

Surprise

It started when I got the acceptance letter from NTU through email. I was expecting a rejection letter like most of my applications and could not believe what I was reading. “Congratulations” it wrote. I was in disbelief. Not sure whether it was real or I was just seeing things; I had to get confirmation from a friend that it was real. She said it was and there was this burst of emotion after she too congratulated me.

Tenseness

There was still a few weeks before the official opening of school. I got really stress and tense over the thought of going back to school. Firstly because I graduated from a design school, I knew vaguely what lies ahead – the late sleepless nights and the spending on overpriced materials. Secondly it was because it is University School of Art, Media and design, everyone here is definitely elite to be admitted into the school. Why out of all those people did they chose me? I am not talented at all. To stand on the same level as everyone there really pressurized me.

Translating this feeling onto the strip, it was like many needles poking at certain points to keep me in place and match myself to others.

Jolly

I participated in the orientation camp with much doubt. I did not think it was going to help me with making friends. It would be awkward was what I thought. However, turns out, it exceeded my expectations. ADM orientation camp was the most amazing camp I ever been in my entire life. The results that the seniors produced was outstanding. It blew my mind.

I used bubbles because it reminds people of the times they had fun. Bubbles are always fun. I have never met anyone that hate bubbles. Also it is such an adorable word that is impossible to say it in an angry tone. I also tried to create a rhythm to the arrangement of bubbles to look as if they are dancing – like what we did at the end of the orientation camp.

Bitterness

Sadly, I was late for my first presentation of my university life. I worked really hard to make sure I did everything on time and ended up being too sleep deprived I overslept. I felt bitter about the situation. It was unfair – the same feeling of being discipline as an innocent child. So to directly translate that feeling I dipped a cane in ink and whacked the crap out of crepe paper.

Regret

“I should’ve not slept.” “I should’ve slept more.” “I should’ve slept beside the alarm.” I thought of many things that I could have done that would have saved my 20% presentation grades. But time cannot rewind and no matter how much I want to fix my situation, it cannot become what it was before. Thus, the strip is patched all over with a torn print.

Care

I went home and cried to my family about what had happened. The black parts represent my troubled soul. If you look closer you can see the hairy texture as if it is reaching out for help. And the white paint smooths the texture down; representing the comfort and care my family provided me. 

My Line is Emo: Development

Love

Concept: I want to show the feeling of being loved by another. The love you feel in a hug; being embraced when you feel down. There is this ‘warmth’ that feels up inside you as if transferring from the hugger to the hugged. The phrase ‘Love brings light into your life’.

Idea: I am thinking of using the contrast in texture to represent the troubled soul and the ‘love flame’. Textured or crushed paper to represent the troubled soul. Smoothness of paint to represent the ‘love’ flame. In this case, I could try to make my own paper as suggested during consultation! The problem is that with the gloomy weather going on, I am not sure it is going to dry in time for submission… (i could also pressed the paper onto some coins or something to create creases?)

Results: 

Crepe and tissue

I pressed twisted black crepe paper into the damp paper before it dried. But the colour ran and turned blue.

Eggshells

I tried dyeing the eggshells black with Chinese ink but because it was water base the ink was washed away; barely even stained it.

Peanut Shells (black)
Peanut Shells (white)

I chose the peanut shells because out of the three, the peanut shells came out the most bumpy and rough. Also the texture is reflected on the back. So even though the peanut shells are not black/white, I can use the back of the paper.

Testing 1

At first I wanted to use a single colour ( white on white)  and focus on the texture difference. Since I only have one white handmade paper, I did a black only test.

Testing 2

Then I tried colour mixing.

Testing 3

Then i realised that when I rolled the acrylic paint over the paper I could lift the pulp – texturizing it even more.

Surprise

Concept: I rarely get surprised but when I do, I feel it in an instant and then its gone. It is an explosive feeling and you scream. After the moment of shock everything is back to normal. One BAM! and then nothing.

Idea: In translation it would be 1 big splatter on a smooth surface. Is this where I can use transparency??? I could use different objects to create the splatter. Water balloon? Plastic bag?

Results:

Black Splatter on white paper

Single colour spat looks quite boring.

Black and white splatter on white paper

Mixed of black and white because I felt perhaps surprise is not always ‘bad’ (black). It is more like a mixture of both positive and negative feelings.

Black and white splatter on transparency

To emphasize the “One BAM! and then nothing.” feeling. I decided to use transparency.

Joy

Concept: If surprise is one big explosion, Joy/ecstatic would be many tiny explosions. Or explosions of various degrees. Feeling ecstatic is when you feel so much joy and excitement you want to do a little victory dance.

Idea: This emotion is not violent – gentle explosions. I could make tiny burst of paint with the use of bubbles. It explains the emotion but is not special or anything because I have seen others done it already.

I could directly translate the victory dance though. That sounds interesting. With something that looks like feet??? Toy feet. Fingers. Toes. An object related to victory? A trophy or medal. Something I am ecstatic about? My figurine! But I rather not ink it though… Or you know I could do both! 🙂

Results:

In the end I did not try to create a ‘Victory Dance’ piece but I did try to incorporate rhythm to the arrangement of bubbles to make it look as if  its ‘dancing’.

Iteration 1
Iteration 2
Iteration 3

Regret

Concept: When I feel regret I desperately want to travel back in time and fix my mistake. But since time travel is impossible, I try to fix it the best I can but it does not work and it’ll never be the same. It is like taping torn paper together. The paper is still torn; the tear cannot be mended back to the way it was before.

Idea: Naturally the idea is to tear up a print and put it back together. Creating empty spaces on purpose to patch up later. So the question is -what kind of print? I could use fabric, it also cannot be mended even after you sew it back together. (too simple to just sew fabric back together? not interesting.) Maybe something structured, something regular. After it is destroyed and patched up it becomes irregular… Perhaps a grid will work? It would make it looks distinctly wrong than just a random paint smear. Possibly combine the two?

Results:

I thought maybe patching up a grid would make the message more apparent – mending a ‘perfect’ structure.

Grid patching with solid lines
Grid patching with lines of varying gradient

However, I did not feel the regret in the results. It looked more like confusion. The previous strip I did had much more impact than these two.

Fear

Concept: Fear when watching a horror movie. The moment the music indicate a jump-scare is coming up I get scared, my heart beat increases and I cover my eyes.  At the same time I want to know what the ghost or demon looks like. So in the end I cover my eyes and watch the movie at the same time; peeking through the holes between my fingers.

The other kind of fear that I want to portray is phobia, such as trypophobia – a proposed phobia (intense, irrational fear, or anxiety) of irregular patterns or clusters of small holes or bumps. When I see a trypophobia triggering image or object, shivers run down my spine, I get goosebumps and my hair stands.

(I am going to try both and see which is looks more interesting)

Idea:  irregular horizontal lines? But horizontal lines means peaceful, even. Jaggered horizontal lines? Fan out lines to represent peeking out through fingers? For the second interpretation I could include the basic shapes – cluster of circles, trembling lines and vertical lines.

Results:

I was trying to depict my fear of worms. Using strings dipped in ink to create the curve squiggles and satay stick to make the ‘handprints’. Iteration 1 looks quite interesting but it does not go along with my story.

Iteration 1
Iteration 2
Iteration 3
Iteration 4
Iteration 5

Anger

Concept: Natural reaction of anger is to lash out. The image of parents disciplining their child is what comes to mind. It is a form of ‘love’ but many would agree it is mostly out of anger and disappointment than love. It is a destructive and controlling emotion. When you are angry you are not in the right set of mind. You urge to shout, scream, punch etc to vent your rage.

Idea: My first thought to translate this feeling is to just directly do the same on paper. To cane the paper. Use hanger or belt? Feather duster. Ruler. Then the medium would have a hazy background representing the absence of common sense. The point would also result in a textured surface? Instead of using paper I could use tender fabric? Is there even such a thing? Tissue paper perhaps? Butter paper? No butter paper is not white/black. Tracing paper. I could use some crepe paper; they are easily torn.

Result:

Caning on crepe paper on the floor
Caning on crepe paper suspended
Caning on tracing paper suspended

 

Next Post: https://oss.adm.ntu.edu.sg/ytan149/?p=488&preview=true

My Line is Emo: Some Idealization and more Experimentation

At this stage I was still pretty confused with what I wanted to do. So I made multiple patterns with different objects that I found around my home. Thus almost all of them look like ‘fabric prints’, with no actual narrative and composition. 

Tenseness

During consultation everyone agreed that this depicts the feeling of Tenseness. To portray the emotion, I used satay sticks dipped in Chinese ink then carefully press it onto the paper at different angles. It looks like war zone with spears sticking out of the ground everywhere or a laser security system. We interpret the diagonal lines as twisted or warp state of mind; something is not right kind of feeling.

Surprise
Surprise (Rejected)

I see surprises as an explosive emotion. The shock you feel happens in an instant; then it fades away. The second piece was rejected as it does not fit the description as well as the first.

Regret

When I feel regret, I desperately want to turn back time and amend my mistakes. But since there is no such thing as time travelling, the only thing that I could do is patch things up the best I can. However no matter how well you try to fix it, it’ll never be the same again.

I tore a piece of print I made smearing Acrylic paint with a plastic bag. Then paste it onto the strip while purposely leaving empty spaces to be patch up with bigger pieces.

Love

I made this piece with the intention of positive emotions. Using a satay stick, I spread the paint in a wavy motion diagonally. Mixing the black and white, sometime more black and sometimes more white to show the happiness and disappointments in love.

Attraction (Not really)

I tried connecting two blotch of paint from different ends to depict attraction. Maybe it is too direct? Too simple? There is no narrative behind it thus it is somewhat boring.

Disgust (Rejected), Love (Suggested)
Disgust (Rejected), Love (Suggested)

I thought these pieces described Disgust because of the veins and holes in the paint. But others do not agree because of the fluidity of the veins, how gentle it looks and the gradient from the mixed paint.

Disgust (Rejected), Joy (Suggested)
Joy (Not sure)

At first I thought this could show disgust because of the multiple ‘holes’; trypophobia triggering. But I guess the concept is not strong enough because normally we associate bubbles with joy and happy children trying to pop them. I also think the bubbles create a dreamy effect which could also show Tranquility.

Irritated (Rejected)
Annoyance (Rejected)

These are what I imagine my mind to look like when I feel irritated or annoyed. Being irritated is like hearing this continuous buzzing that would not stop and would keep building up in your head until you burst out in anger. Being annoy is also the same concept but much stronger than being irritated. Both were rejected because of the lack of dynamics, narrative and composition.

Next course of action: 

The next step I am going to take is to think about the narrative and composition of the emotions. What is the story behind my strip? How does it describe the emotion? What part of anger do I want to represent in my strip?

Also the use of materials/ medium in my concept. Maybe explore the different kinds of paper? Handmade paper was suggested in the consultation to achieve a very textured paper. For anger perhaps I could just texturize the paper by beating the crap out of it?

Other rejects:

Next Post: https://oss.adm.ntu.edu.sg/ytan149/my-line-is-emo-development/

Pandora: Final

Zing

Definition – energy, enthusiasm, or liveliness.

Synonyms – sparkle, relish, eagerness.

My intepretation – A fancy word for magic. With a touch of wonder.

Front, Side, Back and Top view respectively
2D Analysis

The idea was to raise curiosity and wonder in the viewer. Levitating the marble piece on a flimsy looking wire mesh seemed to be an impossible feat. I imagine the viewer to be amaze and curious to find out how the structure could stand on its own.

When viewed from the side the Zing happens as they will realize it is being held by a piece wedge between the wire mesh and the marble. Even with the magic unveiled it still is unbelievable because of the lightness of the dominant and sub-ordinate being porous and transparent respectively.

Possible Applications:

Creeping Plant Pot
Clock Tower

Pandora: Final (Not)

With the use of actual materials, the Zing becomes much more distinct.

Front view

In the front view, the sub-ordinate is missing. Only the Dominant and sub-dominant could be seen so it seems that the sub-dominant is floating (at an angle). But how? Strange…

Side view 1
Side view 2

Even from the side view you can hardly tell what is actually going on. You see the sub-ordinate peeking out from the back but it does not answer your question of how the sub-dominant is floating.

Back view
Top view

The sub-ordinate can only be seen clearly from the top and back view. This is the ZING part where you go “oooooohhh~” and be amaze that a mere wire-frame can support such a ‘heavy stone’.

(If I have time, I will try to fix the tilted ‘marble’ block. Because now the entire structure is very loosely attached. Looks like it will fall over any minute.)

Pandora – 3D Sketch Model Part 2

Process Model 3:

This is an improved version of process model 2. Following the comments from the previous session, I changed the dimensions of the Sub-dominant from a tall cuboid to a thin rectangle. I also tried to make it 1/3 the size of the Dominant; the ideal size. But turns out an exact 1/3 is not as aesthetic as I expected. A 1/3>x<1/2 would be more appealing. 

Front

Both the Sub-dominant and Sub-ordinate are placed at the 1/3 of the Dominant. The Sub-dominant being close the the bottom also creates some tension.

Back

Having the Sub-dominant and Sub-ordinate jut out the side of the Dominant allows them to be visible from the back. A sneak peek of the Sub-dominant and Sub-ordinate raises curiosity and wonder. (the Zing factor)

Side

Then when you view it from the side, you realize how the whole thing is being connected and how the Sub-dominant is being held up.

2D Analysis of Process Model 3

Process model 4 (Chosen):

In this iteration, I was going for the same concept as the previous model (process model 3) – aiming to raise curiosity and wonder from a certain view. This time from the front.

Front

A tiny gap between the Dominant and Sub-dominant is intended. The suspension of the Sub-dominant makes the viewer wonder “How?”.

Side

Seeing the Sub-ordinate peeking out from the side; you think “Oh! What’s this?!”. It makes you want to find out more.

Top

Then when you turn to another angle you get your answer. The Dominant and Sub-dominant is connected by the Sub-ordinate.

2D Analysis of Process Model 4

Materials:

I decided to use materials of different weight to display the Zing effect.

For Dominant
For Sub-ordinate
For Sub-dominant

 

 

 

 

The Dominant will be a volume made of frames versus the Sub-dominant made of solid opaque material; makes one question “How?”. Then the Sub-ordinate will be made transparent to make the Sub-dominant seem as if it is really floating.