Assignment 2 further exploration

I actually tried changing the item of a water-bottle to a bag. I also removed the writing table.


However when I asked around for a second round of feedback, most of my friends did not realize the purpose of this sign. They got the gist of 'don't put your bag on the chair' but they did not 'see' the lecture chair.

The issue of 'not leaving your belongings behind' is in fact not prominent. most of the people whom I asked did not mention about this issue so I think my sign did not really carry the gist of 'don;t leave your things behind'.

Actually, in my personal opinion, the purpose of this sign would be depicted clearly if placed in the right context (i.e. lecture theatres).

This is a possible consideration for my final work. I feel that a series of signs containing different items (bag, water bottle, pencil case, files, etc.) would work best. But for the purpose of this assignment, I would be choosing the one with the water bottle as it is the commonly recognized item between guys and girls. For the bag, guys may not recognize this as a bag but more of a plastic bag or some other carrier (if so, the idea of don't leave your belongings behind may be brought up in this design.)

Assignment 1 exploration

After the feedback I got from the tutorial, I tried experimenting with other colours of the red mushroom. however, I felt that the reds i tried with do not really balance with the vibrancy of the yellow of the moon.


For this design, I did not want my name to be brought 'up-in-the-face' but rather 'there-but-not-there' kind of feeling, so the letter 'n' and 'g' is kept very subtle but after looking at it for some time people will realize that it is an image of ' T i n g '.

Assignment 2 (Less is More)

For this assignment, we are supposed to create a sign to be put in school/public context. It can be a sign to represent a location or an action.

I decided to do a sign that says "no chopping of seats in lecture theatres". I was kinda "inspired" to do this because I have a friend who hates people chopping seats.

This is the original picture I took in the lecture theatre.


Here's my abstraction process (you can click on the pic to enlarge it). Basically I used simplification and zooming-in to focus on the main objects. I chose to develop on the waterbottle because I think that it is the most common object that people use to chop their seats.

However, some feedback I got was that people might think that the sign is telling them not to leave their belongings behind. So I am considering to change it to a bag instead (because people are really unlikely to leave their bags behind).


Here's the final design. Of course there will still be improvements. I am considering removing the writing table because the main message I am trying to convey is not to place items on the chair to chop seats.

I think this sign can be pasted on the chairs in the middle of the lecture theatre, because it is rather irritating for people to walk into the middle especially when the lecture has started. So people should not chop seats that are in the middle of the lecture theatre (well, that's just one possibility).


I feel that this assignment is quite neutral to me (meaning that it is not really enjoyable nor is it very dislikeable). But I feel that it is quite interesting in the sense that we can simplify an object so much and still keep the main essence of it. Everytime I draw something, I tend to focus on all the details of it. Now that I have learnt some abstraction processes, I realised that with only a few details, the audience can actually understand what the object is.

Lecture Exercise 4 (Camera Angles)

Me and Chloe exploring different camera angles in school...

Ext. Long shot #1: This first picture is taken from the ground. It gives more depth to the walkway and gives the picture an interesting feel. It also places more emphasis on the ground.

Ext. Long Shot #2: This second shot gives a more overall view of the setting. Extreme long shots are used to give a general impression rather than specific details.


Long Shot: Long shot kinda consist of the full body of the character, together with some details of the background setting (in this case the setting is in school). This shot allows us to introduce the character to the audience.


Medium shot: Medium shots focus more on the expressions and interaction of the character. The setting is not really important because MS are usually used in the middle of the story (when the setting has already been established). I think this shot is really useful in conveying the character's feelings or actions to the audience.



Close up: This shot is rather intimate and focuses on the expressions and feelings of the character. It brings the audience a step closer into the mind of the character. This shot can also be used to give the audience a very uncomfortable feeling.


Canted Angle: This angle gives a kind of uncomfortable feeling. This kind of angle is usually used in portraying horror scenes or getting the audience to anticipate something weird to happen. In this picture, it makes me feel like something is tailing the couple.


Low Angle: This angle portrays the character as stronger and more powerful.



These are the shots which we had experimented. There's a few which we missed out:

Extreme Close Up: As the Ext. close up shots usually only show the eyes/mouth of the character, it can be quite intimidating and sometimes exaggerating. I think that this extreme close-up shot can be very useful to express anger or happiness provided the actor can express himself/herself well.

High Angle: this angle makes the character look powerless and weak.

Fibonacci Spiral n Rule of 3rds

I just want to share some images on the fibonacci spiral and rule of 3rds :) I was looking through deviantart and flickr and found some really nice pictures.


The house is placed on the upper section (if u split the image into 3 horizontal sections).

Note that the person on the right balances the guitarist. Once again this image can be split into 3 vertical sections.

The sky occupies 2/3 of the picture (if u split it up into 3 horizontal sections).

These 3 images made use of the rule of 3rd. It could be intentional or unintentional but the composition of the images managed to capture my attention and made me fall in love with the pictures.

Next I have some examples of the Fibonacci spiral.

I particular like this image of the dog because it is really difficult to capture an image of an animal which can give u good composition like the fibonacci spiral.


The last image show some overlap of samples in the lecture.

Assignment 1 (Me, Myself and I)

Finally~ here's the digitised final version of my work.

I decided to set the context during the night, as night time gives the most peaceful and calm feeling which I really enjoy. Basically the whole concept is about me living in my fantasy world. I tried to make it more fantasy-like by having the ladder up to the moon (for my letter "g"). I think it creates some kind of fairytale effect.

Today's critiques:
- Colour of "T" (mushroom) is too outstanding.
- the "n" is not very obvious
- the moon can be round

Well, I'll consider and experiment my picture with other colours, and play around with other designs (such as the moon being a full moon instead of a crescent).

However, I'll have to do my assignment 2 first!

Lecture Exercise 3 (Semiotics)

Our task is to work in groups of 2/3 to come up with an iconic and indexic image for any item.

So me and Ailin decided to try the abstraction method on a piano.

Here's what we had drawn.


Our idea is to put a sign on a door signifying that it is a piano room. Basically iconic is something that resembles the actual thing. So we drew an actual piano. Next we tried to reduce it into something simpler by removing the small details such as the piano keys. After which we stumbled unto an idea to use musical notes to represent the wheels of the piano.

Enlarged:


we kept the main curvy shape of the grand piano and added in 2 quaver notes below it. The overall shape resembles the piano this by looking at it people will likely know it is a piano room.

From this exercise I have learnt that abstraction is not an easy thing to do. We have to omit lots of details and at the same time keep the essence of the original item so we do not drift too far.