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FINAL MESSAGE FRAMING

The Dextra strength glove is intended for all of the construction workers on board the mobile war forts around the world. Not only have we worked hard to provide them the strength they need to maneuver materials and build might forts, but we have also given them defensive capabilities against potential enemies from other forts. The additional strength capabilities will give greater speed and efficiency which the world has never known before. The monitoring systems will give the user a clear sense of the materials they hold through temperature and pressure, and they will also allow users to view objectives and navigate to most effectively communicate and operate at a more efficient pace. 

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FINAL OUTPUT

Finished my prototype and presentation. While I do not like it at all aesthetically, I am happy with the story I developed around it and my actual presentation. It was made with cardboard and duct tape because I happened to have those two materials lying around and they were easily malleable while still being sturdier than my Lego Mid-fi prototype. 

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TECHNIQUE VIDEO RESPONSE

I enjoyed the video on lengthening time in writing, I think it could be very helpful to story writing for me in the future. Capturing moments like that immerses the viewer and makes seemingly small moments into big, grand ones. The video on how to write descriptively was also helpful, because while I’ve generally been good at that in the context of essays and reports, when it comes to writing creatively, I’m far less good and I never really knew why. Seeing these videos sort of opened up creativity and writing for me which is beneficial for my Frida Video. While this is a bit late, the idea of using different techniques to adapt around your constraints was very helpful. For example, we had no one to portray Frida Kahlo, so me and my partner used her hand as a vessel for Kahlo and her inspirations, as well as actions. Being creative means exploring within the confines of your constraints to the highest degree, and that’s why these videos were so helpful.

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SELF ASSESSMENT

With this semester, I wish that I had been better about posting things on time, but it can be hard to keep track of things to do with a class that, although great, only meets once a week. I feel satisfied with my creative outputs and enjoy reading them today and seeing what little things I was creating or worried about that week. I was a little disappointed with my final prototyping product but I really enjoyed creating the story behind it. I was disappointed because my fellow classmates had so many practical, and aesthetically pleasing ideas that were both creative and helpful and mine was a sort of ugly, fictitious device. Outside of that, I feel proud of the creator movie I made and the other items that went with that. Overall, having class once a week was both a good and bad thing. Bad for me in that my study/work habits would forget to do things on time, but good because it was a nice thing to look forward to at the end of the week. I enjoyed my time and my major takeaway was learning how to be creative in a process. 

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ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY FRIDA KAHLO

LINK TO GOOGLE DOC: 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xBlEbLrXPgD-icdYBhmSPvWBY9UVE3N6VIJ4cQwI36c/edit?usp=sharing

1. Barnet-Sanchez, Holly. “Frida Kahlo: Her Life and Art Revisited.” Latin American Research Review, vol. 32, no. 3, July 1997, p. 243. EBSCOhost proxy.library.nyu.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=9711053185&site=eds-live.

This article was written around the time Kahlo personal journals were published, and focuses on her from a mostly feminist perspective, citing how Kahlo used her platform to break down traditional barriers on portrayals of women and their expression. The article mentions that her creative process was mostly just about her and the narrative of her life.

2. “The Real Frida Kahlo.” Smithsonian.com, Smithsonian Institution, 31 Aug. 2007, www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/the-real-frida-kahlo-162956523/ .

This article talks about Frida’s unpublished letters to her family and friends. The letters offer a glimpse into Kahlo’s thoughts, her impressions of new and exotic places and her relationships with loved ones.

3. “Frida Kahlo Biography, Art, and Analysis of Works.” The Art Story, www.theartstory.org/artist-kahlo-frida-artworks.htm.

This page was useful because it contained most of Frida Kahlo’s major works and what made them significant. It offered detailed insight into the potential meanings of the paintings as well as the context behind them such as what was going on in her life at the time and what may have inspired her.

4. “Frida Kahlo.” Frida Kahlo - The Complete Works, www.frida-kahlo-foundation.org/.

This is the official website of the Frida Kahlo foundation, which made it helpful because the information is as direct to the source as possible. The site had a detailed biographical section as well as her complete works.

5. Hughes, Kathryn. “The secret diary of Frida Kahlo.” The Telegraph, Telegraph Media Group, 3 Apr. 2014, www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/art-features/10997667/The-secret-life-of-Frida-Kahlo.html.

This article shows the diary of Frida Kahlo which contains many drawings that reflects Frida Kahlo’s life and thoughts. It is interesting because people perceive Frida through her paintings but her diary reveals a lot more about her.

6. Kettenmann, Andrea, and Frida Kahlo. Frida Kahlo, 1907-1954: pain and passion. Taschen, 2016.

The author incorporates important parts of Kahlo's life with the descriptions of her paintings/drawings. This gives readers some insight on Frida's life in relation her drawings.

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FINAL PROJECT: STORY FRAMING

The year is 2078. The world’s powers have coalesced into a few, large scale power-states that are constantly at war with one another. Over-usage of resources has left the world sapped of most of its resources, and it has slowly devolved into an arid, lava-covered waste. Amidst the fields of lava and desolate, mountainous landscapes, are humongous, mobile structures, rivaling the size of modern cities today. But these are not cities, they are large bases and forts which are constantly combatting with one another. Construction to maintain these forts needs to be performed around the clock, nonstop. Stone and rock from the surrounding lands must be mined and brought to the forts to maintain them and expand their size and weaponry. The troops who work on these elaborate and huge construction projects are equipped with powerful gloves, called Dextras (dextra- means “right hand” in latin). The gloves themselves are meant to give the wearer super-strength and come equipped with sensors which display heat and pressure. Of course, because these structures and the surrounding lands are constantly at war, the gloves are equipped with lasers to combat other troops from other forts who happen to be after the same resources as the other squad. This dual use as a weapon and as a construction tool makes the Dextras absolutely invaluable for the mobile forts of 2078.

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MEDIUM-FI PROTOTYPE

This is a “looks-like” prototype. It would be impossible to make a works like or feels like. While I love the way this looks, I think for the final I’m going to take the Professor’s suggestions and just work on improving the structure by making it more official, such having the thing be just one color. I like the glass screen and fake display on the back of the hand, hopefully I can continue to improve and make it more official for the final coming up. 

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INPUT 11

This week I signed up for classes, including a script class at Tisch. After this semester, I will have done the main IDM core classes, and so I’m going to try to expand and take more classes that I wouldn’t have thought of when I first came to the Engineering school. With regards to movies, I think i have a great visual sense, but when it comes to stories and writing I am totally blank and have never really given it much thought, so I’m looking forward to learning what I can and hopefully enjoying writing. 

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INPUT 10

This week I had to read Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness for a quiz in my class, The Environment and Literature. I had read it before in high school, but what i enjoyed more was the film based off of it, Apocalypse Now. I had seen the movie before I read the novel and appreciated it more, for its direction and storytelling. What it does especially well, especially for a film based off a novel, is retain the theme and progress of the story without compromising too much in terms of timing. The reason many book-movies fail is because they condense too much and you miss out on the essence, but in Apocalypse Now, it is preserved perfectly, there is a real sense of decay and hopelessness. Stuff like this makes me want to make movies. The book isn’t bad either, though. 

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LOVE LETTER

Dear oven mitts, 

I want to thank you for being the inspiration behind this upcoming process. You have helped me and countless others bake delicious things through your heat protection. I wanted to expand that idea of safety and security while handling precarious things to a futuristic, dystopian world, where wars ravage the globe, the environment is dying, and humanity’s response is to construct ever more sturdy and elaborate forts and structures for protection. Who would’ve thought that oven mitts would bring me here: amazing. Just as you protect us from our own furnaces, you protect the future from whatever wars may come its way. 

Love Nic

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TED: Storytelling Videos Response

I watched the video of JJ Abrams and the allure of mystery. I chose him particularly because I’ve enjoyed much of what he’s directed, with the original Cloverfield movie probably being my favorite. In this talk he explains the importance of mystery in narrative, and how it engages and draws in people in a unique way. We are naturally curious beings and giving us one little morsel after another tantalizing us is an effective way of keeping us on edge and anticipating whatever’s next. This is especially important for someone like me who has a terrible attention span and can’t finish 90% of the shows i start, which is why i’m more of a movie guy. AS this relates to my prototype, I don’t see it affecting my narrative much. While my tool is one that would enhance construction applications such as lifting and measuring different readings and of course, shooting lasers, there can’t be too much mystery to this in the future. I image it to be an industrial wasteland, but there are many parts of the country where this is a reality, so there’s not much of an interesting story to construct there. If anything, however, this talk was very enjoyable and I could definitely see it being beneficial in fictional writing in the future, if i do any. 

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PROTOTYPE SKETCH

So I finally came to a good conclusion on what to do. I looked around at practical life and I think that an oven mitt that tells temperature could be a good idea for the future. This isn’t very utopian or sci fi enough, but the basic idea of having a prototype that detects heat could be a useful thing to adapt and make more sophisticated. 

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Creative output/ Starting Lo-Fi Prototype

I’m bouncing around between several ideas still but through physically applying I’m sort of narrowing it down. I love the idea of wired headphones that don’t tangle, but there exists a sort of spool to fix that. I had another idea for a calendar cube, but that seems too simple. I have another idea for a hummingbird drone that would follow you, but drones already exist and I don’t know what special functions it would serve that a drone can’t already do. I’m a bit stuck at this point but my research is continuing everyday and so are my sketches

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PROTOTYPING THOUGHTS

There are so many potential methods that can be used when it comes to physically creating a fictitious product. After the tech demonstrations, I think the 3D printer is what most appeals to me. It and the software that goes with it, CURA seem to be very easy and fun to use. The laser cutter machine also looks cool, but I see less practical use for it and more decorative use for it. 

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FUTURE DYSTOPIA/UTOPIA Project

I really don’t have much in terms of a physical concept to make at this point, but I do have very general ideas of what I want to actually do. I’m definitely leaning towards a more Utopian, optimistic product. It obviously has to make life easier in some way, even if it’s improving something that doesn’t necessarily exist yet. I am still very very early in planning, so more research and thought is definitely needed, but I do want to make something more lighthearted that brings a smile to the user. 

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Constant Input 9

This week I just mostly focused on writing an essay for my writing intensive class, The Environment and Literature. The objective of this essay was to compare the themes of Grapes of Wrath to the film adaptation of the novel. Initially, I wrote that the film did not reflect the themes properly because it was too watered down and lacked digression as well as the horrors that made the original so interesting. After my teacher critiqued this initial draft, I completely changed sides and worked on strengthening my main points. Because while the film did make things more digestible and pleasing, the main themes of coming together through adversity and nature stand true, albeit in a less brutal depiction. 

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SELF ASSESSMENT

Overall I wish that I’d paced myself better for the first half of this class. I found this difficult because I’m doing several core IDM classes this year which takes up a lot of my time. Having this class once a week is nice but it makes me forgetful of keeping updated on things, and I really wish I’d done a better job at that. With regards to the midterm project and movie, I’m very satisfied with both me and my partner for the creative Frida Kahlo doc we did. It wasn’t much, and I’d like to have done more, but given the time we had and resources I felt good anyways.