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[surrealhmses]

Week15 Reflection

Looking back at this semester, as Darrin said, this class took me out of my comfort zone. I’m glad I have these blog posts to look back on this really important time. I haven't tried to make this kind of surreal animation before. And I put a lot of effort into making an animation because it was very exhausting compared to the video. 

Fortunately, the idea was crazy and abstract in a strong and creative way. First of all, compared to the animations of the previous few weeks, the most noticeable improvement was that getting the pace, gravity, and speed of the animation right. I learnt the physic and principle of animation from my researches a few weeks ago and teachers’ feedback. Secondly, I brought surreal HME into my animation in a good way which as Shaun said I put the right colour in the wrong place or the wrong colour in the right place. Also, I put the wrong texture for the trees or the figure’s face. There were easily identifiable surrealist eye icons in the animation because surrealism likes eyes. Thirdly, not just the sound effects were weirdness and time alignment but also the background music was playfulness which pushed the animation to surrealist. 

However, there are many things that can be improved in this animation. For example, The ending was cut out so it ruined a bit of experience. I will extend a few seconds in the end, instead of letting the music stop suddenly. In the style of animation, I hope that I can create elements about Chinese myths and combine them with cyberpunk style to heighten visual experience so that it can have a stronger sense of surrealism and futurism. It is very common to see surrealism artworks are illogical and recombination. I will disassemble the bodies of monsters and weird beasts in Chinese myths and re-combine them with technological things. 

On technical researches, I have been using AE and touchdesigner this semester. In this project, I played a lot of special effects on AE and experienced functions on touchdesigener by watching tutorials and websites. To create amazing elements and effects by using these two software which made my animation successful. I think my technical skills have improved a lot after this semester, and I am happy to continue to explore more and make some interesting animations or videos during the holidays.

There were a lot of great works on the class's presentation. What inspired me the most was Sanghyo's work. Not only did he make the incredible work, but he also simulated a 3D exhibition that can be experienced online by the audience. He created an entry and considered different light settings for the exhibition. The choice of having lights on the ground pointed at the cube screens can make it much more real. I think it is good for me to consider how environmental factors and details work with my work to heighten the multi-sensory experience of the audience. Especially during the epidemic, these situations push us to solve new problems. This is very meaningful for future projects in different workplaces.

Overall, I appreciate this class had some opportunities to do researches about these things even though they were very tiring. Because I didn't have much experience with writing researches. I encountered a lot of difficulties but I also learned a lot from my teachers’ feedback. As I continue in my RMIT study, I will constantly be having to build on my knowledge and develop new practices. 

[surrealhmses]

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Week14 Reflection

This week I still keep making my project to get the final feedback before the deadline. From this week’s feedback, Shaun suggested I change the ending a little bit. I can have all these eyes disappear at one time rather than using fade out to black at the end. For the audio part, Darrin suggested I find a sound effect to support animals at 00:35. Then the sound effect at 00:45 seems too loud. He didn’t hear the sound in the building part.

The changes I made

I added gradient ramps for eyes at the end to change their colour blue to red. Also, I animated the eyes to close at the end and then cut into the black. I adjusted volume by following Darrin’s feedback. I reduced the disappearing sound effect and turned up the ocean sound volume for buildings. Moreover, I added a sand sound effect to support animals disappearing at 00:35.

On Thursday class, I showed everyone my final project. I was glad to know that everyone can feel the strangeness and weirdness of the animation, both visually and in audio. As Patricia said, the egg ladies were surveilling people and the animation reminded people of where the wild things live. This means that the style of animation also responded to the theme in some ways.

[surrealhmses]

Week13 Reflection

The feedback from this week consultation, the animation was stronger than last week. From the design and filming point, I got wonderful things in there. I have done a great job of applying the feedback from the previous 3 weeks. Shaun suggested I change the font because it didn’t match the HME I described. Then, to speed up the rain and take out the particle effect. Also, I need to make this animation longer. He would like to see more suns and eyes in the animation.

For the audio part, Darrin liked the first half of the sound design. But he suggested there will be better if it has a specific sound for the birds and fishes around the 34-second mark. I also need to be aware that the sound effect of the sun dropping from the up. The sound effect of them shouldn’t repeat. Try to find an advanced and quick sound effect for this part. For now, it didn’t quite match actions because the shape of the sound is at a different rate. Thirdly, to find the dissolving sound for the 44 seconds mark because the sound effect at this part was way too violent for now.

The changes I made

First, I replaced the front of the title and used a strong contrast colour. I speed up the rate of rain. Then I created more animation, showing more sun falling from the top, and adding eyes to the sun. The eyes also flowed out the molten slurry, creating an atmosphere of the volcanic eruption. In the end, the sun flew away like a spaceship. And the background changed to the building at the beginning from the explosion of the universe.

In the audio part, I replaced some new sound effects. I also adjusted the speed to make them match the pacing and timing of the animation.

1. It is a new groovy font trio called Lucidity. Embracing the psychedelic era combine with a modern touch. Lucidity font family came with open type features such as stylistic alternates & ligatures. I think this font is very close to the acidic style I want to show in the animation. The font is a fluid shape, and the bright and strong contrast colour can give the audience a strong visual effect that can make people feel psychedelic, dreamy and strange.

Because the headline font style I chose was too conventional, it looks more like a children's font. The change I made was to remove the style of cc glass and found a font called ‘Wishfulwaves’which is close to ‘Lucidity’ on the font website. Although the liquid style font may be more suitable for the style shown in the example, I considered that the way the font appears is smoke, so I chose a font style that looks deformed by the wind. And I also used different colours to make the two font layers have a strong contrast effect.

Aiyari Studio. 2019. "Lucidity Neo Psychedelia Font Trio". Accessed October 12, 2021. https://www.behance.net/gallery/74557553/Lucidity-Neo-Psychedelia-Font-Trio?tracking_source=search_projects_recommended%7Cpsychedelic%20font

[surrealhmses]

Week12 Reflection

The pacing and timing of the animation are much better than last week. The next stage is to get the visual finish and keep everything simple. it would be better to make the animation longer around 90seconds. Shaun suggested I take some elements that I had and reuse these assets or change these content.  

For the audio part, it is getting a lot better than before. I can still have things faster like the head popping up, add more sound effects such as swoosh sound to support a couple of little things. Although these things are surreal, I can still make the sound real and emphasize the whole thing more surreal.

1. This tutorial is teaching how to turn any images into watercolour painting in touchdesigner. To get a more theatrical effect of melting or evaporating, I have followed this tutorial to turn my background into a water painting at the end of the animation.  What I expect is that when the figure and other elements have disappeared, the trees erupt in the air like water vapour and then transition to the end will be an unexpected moment. I also need to know how to adjust the speed of eruption because the initial speed in touchdeisgner is relatively slow. I need to consider using chop components to adjust the speed to match the timing. Then import the file into AE for further editing, such as fading in and out.

In the previous weeks of research, I considered combining the watercolor effect with pixel sorting. However, Shaun suggested that I should keep the animation simple, so the background only keep a single effect as the final result.

2. Claire Droppert has created a new series of images that depict the silhouettes of animals appearing in clumps of thrown Holland beach sand. The Sand Creatures series focuses on nature in an unexpected way. you can see dolphins, snakes, lizards, and other animals in the Sand Creatures II collection defy gravity and float through the air in her photographs. The explosive and at times powdery scenes of the grainy sand being thrown into the air can be taken as a manifesting life form, and they become sand creatures. The “Gravity Project” highlights natural elements set in nature but unencumbered by the force that keeps them grounded.

Desert is also a common element in surreal works. It is not only a part of nature but also the feeling of the desert is absurdism and reality-distorting. I got some desertification inspiration from her project. Between the water part and the sun part, I considered adding particle effects for water and when animals flying back. I also realized that just adding some effects may not be able to achieve the heightened sensory experience. So I need to find some sound effects to support them, such as the sound of a strong wind blowing through the wilderness.

Droppert, Claire. 2019. "Gravity Sand Creatures II". Accessed October 10, 2021. https://www.behance.net/gallery/82838979/Gravity-Sand-Creatures-II

[surrealhmses]

Week11 Reflection

From this week feedback, I realize the sound design didn’t respond to the visual part. The background music is quite slow, constant and is running paroral with the animation. Everything happened at the same kind of rate and pace. Surreal music should be more destabilized. For the visual part, it is good to see the animation improved since last week. But the movement of the animation is still quite slow. What I need to focus on in the next step is to look at the physic and movement of animation and to move things appropriately.

1. Kujawski (n.d. para.11) wrote that in his blog “ My rule for other animation is that if you hold on something for longer than two seconds, the viewer is probably getting bored or wondering what’s supposed to be happening.” Because what I am trying to communicate needs to be given the proper amount of time, but not so much that viewers/users lose interest. I need to consider the timing of each step. The better way to do this is to increase the speed of the animation to make it look more natural. 

Moreover, I might build pacing or tempo to surprise the viewer. Building from a moderate pace to a faster pace can help act as a hook. Curious viewers stick around to see where the action will lead to. But the animation that speeds up the time does not mean that all speeds are adjusted faster, but to consider the acceleration of motion and physical time, inertia, etc to make the whole animation look more natural.

2. Animation is a time-based art form. This tutorial is giving some tips about the timing and spacing of animation. This video showed the extremely light object would take much more frames to animate. However, the heavy object would have less frame to animate and a very fast timing because of the weight. I have to keep into consideration the type of object, its weight, the gravity force, the type of contact surface, etc. A good way is to use the stopwatch to time the object doing the shot. To think about how this object moves and how fast it reaches a certain position.

For my animation, I will increase the speed of the flying creatures by considering their weights and gravity. To make the water flow more naturally, I would increase the weight and speed of wave wrap and slow down when it almost fills in the screen. Also, when the character's head pops out, there can be a pause and bounce. But these are all based on visualization, and when I start to animate, they may have some changes and still need to be adjusted.

3. The animation shows us the way of how our minds work. For Surrealist/, Artist or Writer, this is work outside of the box. I can imagine how this talent can or will use their craft to astound the common man. Firstly, there is a piece of smooth background music. Secondly, the sudden sound. machine sound and the click clock complex compounded time surprising the audience.

What I got inspiration from it is the sound design. It made me realize that I can make some tempo to be more surprising. For example, when the water suddenly reverses in my animation, I can add some 'dangerous 'sound effects to make some unexpected changes in the sound design. I also need to pay attention to the speed of sound effects. Adjusting the appropriate speed and position of the sound so that it can respond to the visuals.

Bibliography

Kujawski, Corey. n.d. "Easing, Excessiveness, and Pace in Motion Design". Accessed September 29, 2021. https://blog.hansoninc.com/easing-excessiveness-and-pace-in-motion-design/

TED-Ed, “Animation Basics: The Art of Time and Spacing-TED-Ed” YouTube video,6:42, January 29, 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRVhtMxQWRs

V LINE WORKS, “Surreal Animation” YouTube video,1:57, September 10, 2009, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDnt-JnatxY

[surrealhmses]

Week10 Reflection

According to the feedback from last week, I have revised my project many times. I realized that I need to do some research on the characteristics of surreal works to help me re-recognize and better understand its mechanism.

To make the animation simplify. Shaun suggested I remove or hide some elements and layers such as the shatter effect for the fish tank. If this is not working, try to add more elements to it. Second, try to adjust the speed and pacing of the animation because it seems too slow. Third, it is nice to see more creepy creatures and integrate with the scene in the future.

1. There is a rapid rhythm of electronic music and some slow ethereal background pure music. The two pieces of completely different music synthesis are weird. So I will try to put and edit some digital and dream-like music together to create unexpected and illogical effects.

Music videos that have a surreal style are those influenced by the surrealist movement. Surreal music is designed to be unnerving and illogical, containing the element of surprise and unexpected juxtapositions. Because they are meant to be expressions of the unconscious mind. Although it is a random editing way for music, I should pay attention to whether the rhythm of the music was in line with the animation or not too chaotic as it would ruin the animation's aesthetic and become a piece of noise.

2. Gallo (n.d. para 6) said that“Photographers and artists follow the rule of thirds, a guideline to compose images that make them visually appealing. The rule applies to effective communication, too. Simply put, in short-term memory we have the capacity to remember only three or four things.” In most of surreal works, there should be aesthetically wonderful, quirky, whimsical, funny, and all the other things that resonate with humans, but if the underlying meaning is lost because too many things are moving, then it just becomes confusing and creates cognitive overload.

So I removed some layers and effects from the animation, keeping each scene element of the animation between three and four.  It is good to make it easier for the audience to remember the important things and relate to the theme of the story. But if removing elements detracted from the surreal sensory experience. I would instead add more elements, or redesign the elements to have a more bizarre feeling.

3. Shmoop (n.d. para 5) posted that “One of the defining stylistic characteristics of Surrealism is the juxtaposition of imagery. The Surrealists like to put together crazy things that we wouldn't normally associate with one another. They might compare a head to a shoe, or a door to a snake, or a cup to a tree.” This let me know that surrealist works feel strange because their events and images often don't conform to the laws of rationality. I need to associate my animation with different thoughts, ideas, or images. Sometimes these associations are bizarre.

But this does not mean that all strange things belong to the surreal style, but it cannot be denied that there are overlap parts between the surreal mechanism and the strange meaning. Although they are strange things, they should have meaning. So in the new version, I use the eyes as the windows of the building. I deleted the original sky background and designed trees with animal fur and fingers. I intend to convey that humans and nature are closely related.

Bibliography

Dawid, Michalczyk, “Psychedelic Dimensions - ambient music + surreal and abstract art” YouTube video,5:47, March 23, 2011, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0V1qEjbAIg

Gallo, Carmine. n.d. "The ‘Rule of Three’ This A Quantum Physicist Uses To Simplify Complex Ideas". Accessed September 23, 2021. https://www.carminegallo.com/the-rule-of-three-this-a-quantum-physicist-uses-to-simplify-complex-ideas/

Shmoop. n.d. "Surrealism Characteristics ". Accessed September 21, 2021. https://www.shmoop.com/study-guides/literary-movements/surrealism/characteristics

[surrealhmses]

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Week10 Work in progress/milestone

Type: animation 

HME: psychedelic and odd style

Content: Three stages will be shown in the animation to present the life of nature as fragile and short. The changes in different stages will also affect the girl. It shows the influence of the world on nature is related to humans.

1. Surreal works warped sense of reality because they subverted our common sense. They look odd and illogical. So I tried to create and animate elements in an unusual way.

- Discordant proportions of elements and the character 

- Trees with animal fur and they are applied inflate effect 

- Strange creatures made up of fish and bird parts

2. Most works of Dalí have used the theme of the eye as an instrument to talk about the dreams born from psychoanalysis and to obtain a strong, penetrating, and realistic visual impact.

Collage adds to the dimension of the pieces and can further illustrate a point.

- Eye is the main element 

- Collage style - Sky image for eyes

3. The feature of psychedelic art are highly distorted and bright colors. In surrealist works, we can also see a large number of repeated overlaps and unconscious messy lines that express dreams. 

- Trees and distorted face/ transition – fade in and fade out 

- Gradient color - I tend to use gradient color for most part of my animation. When the story has strong changes, the gradient color changes from one scene to another can help me capture the audience's attention.

4. Surrealist recording is music that bears no resemblance to acoustic instrument sounds. 

- To edit music in a random and illogical way. Music seems to stop and start without regard to flow but in jarring transitions. I chose ethereal and psychedelic, but also a little electronic. It is kind of a combination of strange lyricism and unconventional, psychedelic music. 

- Paradoxical and unphysical musical space

Can these indicators be easily recognised in the resolved work? Do these concepts and rationale provide enough clarity in your work to justify a conclusion and significant milestone in your progression?

I think they can all be recognised, but I think I can do better. I can also heighten the surreal sensory experience in terms of colour in the following days. These concepts and rationale provide enough clarity in my work but there are a lot of technical problems encountered when actually creating, and I need to constantly modify and find feasible solutions.

Milestone 

- The third stage 

- Glowing suns with smiles

- A melting background or building 

- Sound design for the third stage 

- I'm thinking about keeping the flower or not. The red words in excel are elements that are still in progress or have not been started

[surrealhmses]

Week09 Reflection

From this week's feedback, my work isn't surreal and heightened multisensory enough. Although my work has many cute and good elements and happens a little surreal, it does not enhance the sensory effect of the audience. The work should be odder, expecting and subvert reality. I might take out of some cute and add really surreal things in it. The current music flattens out a lot of weirdness. Darrin suggested I look at some surreal music works and find a sound that responds to the surreal.

1. Digitalization has completely revolutionized the way once animation was done. It has helped in speeding the animation process and even added more creative possibilities. Despite the use of abrupt, limited animation, The Rocky and Bullwinke Show was very popular in the 1960s.

In the first fifty seconds of the animation, you can see that repeated waving hands, and mouth movements of the cheering crowd are animated. The background and expressions are not be animated at all. It shows one of the features of limited animation - repetition, using the same elements over and over (both objects and their movements) can create style, warmth, even personality, and reduce the workload. 

So for my animation, when the expression of the figure changing, but not moving any of the other visible parts of her head. I may just change the eyeball movements or may change the facial expression. But I think the emotions expressed here are limited. Maybe the audience cannot feel the rich emotions from a certain action alone, so I need to coordinate the animation of the music and background elements and pay attention to the path, timing of the animation to enhance the audiovisual effect of the whole picture.

2. The animation is constantly changing, and the music is also changing very fast. Both visuals and music are compelling and unexpected. I can feel there is electronic noise. The reason why it is surreal is that it's something very familiar being presented in a shockingly different way it's almost hard to comprehend it. Every transition of music is unexpected juxtapositions. I might consider some 'electro-acoustic' music, and I will re-edit music in a random and illogical way. Music seems to stop and start without regard to flow but in jarring transitions. Also, the examples I thought of have a combination of strange lyricism and unconventional, psychedelic music. But I need to be careful that not any weird music is a surreal thing but there certainly is quite a big overlap between unusualness and surrealism though.

3. The third stage of my animation is about the theme of global warming. The background and other objects in the third stage will melt and disappear like ice. To make the melting scene look more surreal, I do not intend to create a melting effect normally but focus on the characteristics of extraction and evaporation.

This tutorial is about how to create a pseudo pixel sorting effect in TouchDesigner using only TOPs and a feedback loop. Add a level after the subtract to adjust the darkened image. So I plan to make part of the screen looks like glitch art/pixel sorting. Pixel has been rearranged into a new order and then move in different directions automatically. Each pixel sort produces a unique image, and it helps me to create even more of a sci-fi and odd vibe. At the same time, because the melted ice is fluid, the scene may be difficult to achieve better results if just used pixel sorting. So I am also considering whether to combine watercolour effects in touchdeisgner.

[surrealhmses]

Week08 Reflection 

From this week's feedback, I need to readjust the composition setting and the colour space, pay more attention to the timing, aesthetics, pace, colour, line, etc. Shaun also suggested I can look at limited animation with ‘cutesy' aesthetics. So makes it easier for an audience to associate meaning and emotion to the genre aesthetic. The challenge for me is making it work in a heightened way.

1. Limited animation is a subgenre of animation which was popular in the 1950s and 1960s which reduced figuration in the backgrounds and linework of 2D animated films that evolved through minimalism and into a pre-manga structuralism. The biggest difference here is that limited animation removed some of the artistry from the production process. Full-animation features twelve to eighteen unique images per second. The result is smooth, fluid.

Duffy (2015, para 61) wrote that “It increasingly stressed character design, and the degree of detail and the density of information. became as important as line, implied depth, and implied mass… Limited-animation tends toward the production of "soulful bodies," that is, bodies where spiritual, emotional, or psychological qualities appear inscribed on the surface.” Therefore, I should pay more attention to the aesthetics and pace of the limited animation such as the character details, outfits, and timing of the figures, allow the audience to have a strong connection with the character and story.

Although limited animation is less fluid, anime maintained the illusion of motion by the cuts and. rhythm of images. While full animation can be beautiful and breathtaking, limited animation attracts viewers by stylized editing, bold still-shots, cool poses and dramatic effects.

2. Jane long drew historic photographs by using the whimsical possibilities of digital tools. She used highly saturated colors and crisp lines create hyper-real, giving them life within imaginative and playful environments.

Long (2015, para 3) explained that "I wanted there to be some ambiguity about the images. Things that are almost real or not quite right. That's why I like to place them in a slightly surreal context. But I think it should be up to the viewer to determine if the characters in my images are good or bad, light or dark…" Surreal in HME is a more subjective feeling for audience. Everyone has different feeling because the surreal work is breaking the rules and unexpected.

For example, there was a fish tank next to the girl, and the fish jumped out of the fish tank and passed through the ring of fire. She warped sense of reality because she subverted our common sense. Her work is bold and graphic as she adding vivid colour for old image completely changes our perception of images. So they become unreal because they are more enticing than our actual reality.

Bibliography

Duffy, Rich. 2015. "Anime’s great deception – The difference between anime and cartoons". Accessed. September 10, 2021. https://www.tofugu.com/japan/anime-vs-cartoons/

Twisted Sifter. 2015. "Jane Long Colorizes Old Photos and Adds a Surreal Twist to Them". Accessed September 7, 2021. https://twistedsifter.com/2015/08/jane-long-colorizes-old-photos-and-adds-surreal-twist/

3. This tutorial is about how to add smoke effects to fonts. Generally speaking, the feeling of surrealism is dreamy and unreal which mean the elements in it are combined in a strange way that you would not normally expect, like in a dream. So I combined the smoke clip with the title and added special effects such as distortion, blur, linear wipe, etc.

For the city sky background, I think the use of smoke as clouds and the animation of fonts floating out of the smoke can strongly enhance the visual experience. But I found that the typography of the title seems to be general, which makes the animation unnatural. To make the font appear more natural when the smoke appears, I need to choose a bold, rounded typeface and reduce its transparency.

[surrealhmses]

Semester break & Week07

Work progress update

1. Set up a schedule and keep updating 

2. Complete the storyboard and estimate its approximate length

3. Complete the illustration elements of the first and second stages and try to animate

[surrealhmses]

Week06 Reflection 

This week we discussed emotion and mood. Moods tend to be much more long-lasting, going for hours or days, whereas an emotion may only last minutes. Second, emotions are about something specific, but moods are much more diffuse with no identifiable object. 

For most of the animation, we learn a set of postures and expressions, piecing together an emotional scene. The colour is essential to short animation to inspire the intended powerful emotions. But I realized that I needed to have a clearer understanding that how colour affects the HME and what emotion they can bring for my audience not just postures and expressions of characters.

1. Ben Ridgway’s animations are hypnotic explorations of nature and mechanics that take viewers on a journey that is hard to describe. In his works, there are various patterns that are repeated and scaled, just like mirror images in a kaleidoscope. He centres on time, cycles, abstraction, illusions, and the concept of infinity to present a feeling of psychedelic. 

When people see abstract forms in motion and there is no story or narrative, they use other parts of their brains to process what we are seeing. So I also can explore these ideas through making imagery that is inspired by nature, biomechanical forms, and ephemeral forms in motion. I will try to use mirror image, symmetry, zooming and other effects to express the emotional changes in different stages of my story, presenting psychedelic and surreal effects. 

2. Knowing the moods and feelings of pure colors, tints, and shades are some of the most basic color variations can better achieve my HME. Fugate and Franco (2019, para 36). mentioned that "Therefore, despite the fact that the intensity of "black" was high and differed from that of "red," resampling the same data suggested that we would find black to be consistently paired with fear about half the time." This somber color has been tied to death and all things evil and bad. It evokes strong feelings of anger, aggression, fear, and sadness.

Therefore, at the end of my work, which presents the storyline of the final natural demise, I prefer to use black or somber colors, which form a strong contrast with the vibrant colors of the previous scenes. But some people might associate positively the black with this attractiveness and elegance. So when I use black, it should be combined with sad, deep music to present my HME.

3. Tailor brands (2020, para 30). mention that “our eyes are much more accustomed to seeing gradients than flat designs in our everyday lives, and with a gradient logo, you can make your business that much more alive in the minds of your audience.” Design and place the gradient color to reinforce this eye movement. It used lighter and darker areas of a gradient color scheme to move the eye from a starting point, to the main call to action. The eye will go to the lightest areas of color first then move to darker spaces. 

I tend to use gradient color for most part of my animation. The change between hues and light and dark areas helps shift focus across the screen. When the story has strong changes, the gradient color changes from one scene to another can help me capture the audience's attention.

Bibliography

Fugate, Jennifer Marie Binzak and Courtny L. Franco. 26 February, 2019. "What Color Is Your Anger? Assessing Color-Emotion Pairings in English Speakers". Accessed August 27, 2021. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00206/full

Reflector's 6/2 Maia News. 2015. Ben Ridgway - Cosmic Flowers Unfolding (2013). YouTube video,2:00, https://youtu.be/bhX3SakEqf4.

Tailor brands. 2020. " Gradient Logos: Why You Need These Controversial Colors". Accessed August 27, 2021.https://www.tailorbrands.com/blog/gradient-logos

[surrealhmses]

Week05 Reflection - 01

This week I realized that methodology is also very important, helping us analyze and Methodology clarifies the research inquiry and why the inquiry is imperative. It clarifies the beginning stage of the research, the bearings of the research and the conceivable ramifications of the research when it is finished.

On the proposal presentation, Shaun suggested that I should closely link futurism and psychedelic, focus on their mechanisms, philosophy, psychology, and effects on the audience in the project work. They can optimize my project and make my project more specific and clear.

1. As the Henry(2012, para 6). said, “The Futurists created a style that was bolder and brasher in. its visual impact than Cubism, and also forged a new connection between the compulsive innovation of new styles in painting and the innovative world of new machines and inventions outside the painter’s studio.” Most of this commonplace future thinking is about the near future, they wanted to use their imaginations to make the world a better place.Therefore, I should use future thinking in my project that enables me to think. beyond what is to the many ways things could be. The background setting of my project may be in technologies that don't exist yet or dramatic changes to social norms, detailed scenarios. Emphasizing exaggerated and subversive features in the project to enhance the sensory experience of the audience. i realize if I can us moving objects constantly multiply themselves and let their form changes like rapid vibrations.

2. Some futuristic art and surrealistic art look fairly similar, challenging classic art. techniques and representations of the human form and the natural world. But they are also quite different. Litilluminations(2013, para 5). mentioned that “Surrealism doesn’t deal much with the machine or violence, while Futurism is heavily steeped in these.” Focusing on progress and modernity, the Futurists represents an energetic celebration of the machine age.

Although the war and violence of futurism are resisted, people are full of confidence and interest in the other side of futurism. Because in the rapid development of technology and the advent of the space age, we need Futurism to open up newer horizons.

3. Surrealist works often remind me of futuristic styles. I searched for some. common information about the two works and tried to add futuristic elements to my work.TheArtStory(n.d. para 3). mentioned that “A key focus of the Futurists was the depiction of movement or dynamism. The group developed a number of novel techniques to express speed and motion, including blurring, repetition, and the use of lines of force.” 

In surrealist works, we can also see a large number of repeated overlaps and unconscious messy lines that express dreams, but the futuristic is the three-dimensional graphics and lines and has the characteristics of vitality. To integrate with both two, the project can get some overlap and repeated cubism effects and better use of metallic texture, which gives the screen more depth.

4. Design thinking is a problem-solving approach to help me understand the goals, rapid prototyping, and generate creative ideas. The design-thinking framework follows these larger buckets that fall into the 6. phases: empathize, define, ideate, prototype, test, and implement. All these processes are highly iterative and can be iterated from any phase a satisfactory product is delivered.

The core phase in the design thinking is the Prototype, and it turns ideas into. action. At this point, looping back to my user research is immensely helpful. For example, I need to review whether the project conforms to the target user experience studied at the beginning and whether the original design idea is clearly presented. What else do I need to know about the user in order to make decisions or to prioritize development orders? What new use cases have arisen from the prototype that I didn’t previously research?

The outcome of each phase should be sound enough to serve as a guiding principle throughout the rest of the process and to ensure that I never stray too far from my focus.

Bibliography

Adams, Henry. April 24, 2012. "Futurism Is Still Influential, Despite Its Dark Side". Accessed August 21, 2021. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/futurism-is-still-influential-despite-its-dark-side-74098638/

Litilluminations. May 4, 2013. "Futurism vs Surrealism". Accessed August 21, 2021. https://gendermodernism.wordpress.com/2013/05/04/futurism-vs-surrealsim/.

TheArtStory. n.d. "Futurism". Accessed August 21, 2021. https://www.theartstory.org/movement/futurism/.

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Week05 Reflection - 02

5. Wes Wilson was the first to introduce the popular psychedelic font which made. the letters look like they were moving, and Victor Moscoso used the vibrating colours effect to achieve that specific psychedelic aesthetics in his artworks.

Psychedelic art is subversive and liberating that can bring us the liquid font and. vibrating colours effects. I got inspired by the concept of vibrating colours can create the 'psychedelic' effect. The vibration is achieved by taking colours from the opposite end of the colour wheel, each one having equal value (dark to light) and intensity (brightness). So I hope my audience feel fantastic and surreal, through Bright and/or highly contrasting colours or weird fractal patterns in my project.

6. The video features a sort of fractalic zoom through minecraft-like boxes of reality. The animation is increasingly dynamic and chaotic, as our perception of the world keeps re-orienting itself to the changing relations of the objects on the screen. 

Psychedelic art is still with us nowadays, but it is more mind-expanding. Multi-perspectivism and multi-dimensionality are fundamental motives of psychedelic aesthetics and philosophy. I intend to deconstruct the emotion of my character into colourful vibrating splashes of colour which. reconstruct again into vibrating pieces of psychedelic flesh. But if people watch the psychedelic video for too long, they will feel dizzy and uncomfortable. I need to keep the duration of the psychedelic effect within reasonable limits.

Bibliography

Cyriak, “Hooray For Earth - "True Loves" (Cereal Spiller Remix),” YouTube video,3:39, May 22, 2011, https://youtu.be/Mf6JCpJjdiY. 

Dačić, Anika. October 31, 2015. "Do You Know What Psychedelic Art is?". Accessed August 21, 2021. https://www.widewalls.ch/magazine/psychedelic-art

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Week04 Reflection - 01

From this week’s classes, I realized how I need to better connect researches with my work, and I need to clarify my target audience, genre, and what my project can bring to the audience. I am still exploring the surreal multi-sensory experience, trying to apply more inspiration to my project, helping me clarify the overall style of the project, and establishing a mood board.

1. Surreal artwork attempts to create an altered overall design that introduces a component that may not be there in real life. To bring the audience a dreamlike and unreal feeling in visual, my idea is going to model the flower and fish tank elements with the texture of metal or glass, designing them in ways that don't exist in real life or that aren't common. And 3D software that has a powerful material mapping function can help me achieve this.

Artincontext(202, para 24). said that ''Hyperrealism is achieved by using a clear reference and replicating it. Then, particular features such as shadows and textures are enhanced to create a hyper-realistic effect. '' It also used Jalf Sparnaay's example of Sandwich Ham-Egg to show how light, texture, and shadows can be changed tend to go beyond what is seen and to enhance the reality that was initially portrayed so it creates a false reality.

2. In Surrealism, the eye occupies a central place and becomes the main subject of many artists’ works. To apply this mechanic, I might focus on the change in the eyes or pupils of the character. I can also use the eyes as a screen or mirror to show disasters. In the animation's multi-sensory experience, I must exaggerate this effect to the fullest to make it clear to our audience what emotions are being conveyed. So depending on the stage of the story, the eyes may have dreamy colors and strange shapes. If the emotion is negative, the eyes may be bloodshot, the pupils may be infinitely small, or there may be some unknown creature in them.

Dali Universe(2019, para 30). said that ‘‘For Dalí, the eye was also an instrument. A visual element for analyzing the Cosmos that, thanks to modern physics, can be observed as “finite space”, a space that contrasts with the “infinite” one of the Dalinian universe.’’ Most works of Dalí have used the theme of the eye as an instrument to talk about the dreams born from psychoanalysis and to obtain a strong, penetrating, and realistic visual impact.

3. The reason why surrealist works are always strange, unusual, and illogical might relate to the prefrontal cortex. In my projects, I might improvise patterns, doodle randomly, or pick colors randomly for my project. Because in the seemingly messy and illogical animation, the audience can't guess the next plot which can bring them surprise and deep impression.

As Arthur (2014,1) observed, ''During creative acts, it may be useful to suppress prefrontal control to some extent and simply be guided by the stray thoughts and feelings of the moment.'' He used the example of musicians' improvisation to illustrate the operation mode of surrealism and creative moments, which require the prefrontal cortex to be shut down and carry out ideological activities outside aesthetics and morality without rational control.

Bibliography

Artincontext. August 6, 2021. " Hyperrealism Art – The Best Hyper-Realistic Paintings and Artists". Accessed August 14, 2021. https://artincontext.org/hyperrealism-art/.

Dalì universe. December 23, 2019. "Dalì and the eye: the instrument for seeing paranoia.". Accessed August 14, 2021. https://www.thedaliuniverse.com/en/news-dali-and-the-eye-the-instrument-seeing-paranoia.

Shimamura, Arthur P. April 5, 2014. " Surrealism, Creativity, and the Prefrontal Cortex ". Accessed August 14, 2021. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/in-the-brain-the-beholder/201404/surrealism-creativity-and-the-prefrontal-cortex.

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Week04 Reflection - 02

4. Surreal artwork tends to create a real and fictional intertwined space with this sense of imbalance. To applying the surreal sense of imbalance, the artist used cheap materials to build small houses and then combined the flowers together. Finally, he synthesized them together to form a microscopic vision. In the process of modelling and recreating photos of buildings, he tried to present absurd reality.

This combination of chaotic logic created the feeling of an apocalyptic world and inspired me to combine the things of nature with the human body in my animation. To use imbalanced animals, plants, and daily life objects to construct a surreal landscape that expresses disappearance and hope. For example, I can enlarge the fish tank on top of a person’s head, or make a part of a human body is a plant.

5. Blake Kathryn focused on specific, select details to challenge her practice by adding complexity which integrates personal musings to deliver a narrative or emotion behind the work–subconscious pulls, daydreams. There are also complex elements, strange creatures in my animations that combine with geometric shapes to subvert the traditional way they look. I would use a vibrant and metallic palette like Blake Kathryn to present in her surreal artworks.

As Blake Kathryn said in her interview ‘The visual result, in my work at least, is often a dark touch of surrealism with a utopian coating through subject matter and a pastel metallic palette.’ Blake Kathryn’s 3D dreamscapes have the power to transport viewers to a neon-hued alternate reality by using rich colour palettes, glossy androids.

6. I found that Aniela Sobieski’s works like Rene Magritte’s, often dealing with visual puns and the relation between the representation of something and the thing itself. Hiding the natural shape of the human physiognomy, the artist maps classic still lifes and sparse landscapes in her artworks.

I am also considering whether to combine the eye shape of the character with the flower in my animation so that people can't tell whether it is a flower or a human eye. Visual puns can increase the attractiveness of the work and allow the audience to better understand the main idea of ​​the project.

Bibliography

Iloboyou. n.d. " Landscapes And Still Lifes In Aniela Sobieski’s Unique Portraits ". Accessed August 14, 2021. http://www.iloboyou.com/landscapes-and-still-lifes-in-aniela-sobieskis-unique-portraits/.

The Chainsmokers, “The Chainsmokers - Side Effects (Lyric Video) ft. Emily Warren,” YouTube video,0:20, July 7, 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7nt1f2Szn4.

Zjam.org. n.d. " Dust Floating in the Air Was Once a House ". Accessed August 14, 2021. https://www.zjam.org.cn/Site_En/Exbition/ExbitionDetail.aspx?etid=2696.

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Week03 Reflection

In this week’s presentation, I realized that I need to further search for the meaning of surrealism and figure out what ‘surreal’ does. So for future study, I need to be careful not to deviate from the term of surreal, and not to try to exchange items such as immersive or calm.

Surrealism desire to break free of reason and subvert the tradition. The goal was not to promote so-called normal psychological lives but to liberate thought, language, and human experience from the oppressive boundaries of rationalism.

The reason ‘surreal’ comes from psychological intention is that surreal experience represents in people sought to channel the unconscious as a means to unlock the power of the imagination. It is a thought to reveal unconscious thoughts and desires. For example, our dreams to be coded expressions of unconscious fears, desires, and conflicts that could be deciphered and potentially resolved through analysis. In surreal art installations or works, people sometimes use symbols for objects or concepts to disguise the true nature of dream-thoughts.

Because I want to pay more attention to the themes of nature and environment in my works, I researched the relationship between the surreal and nature.

The artist combined nature elements, animals with architecture to elusive imagery of dreams, myth, and fantasy. His works subverted the traditional expectations of the landscape genre and created strong visual contrast.

He mixed his shots with photos and rationalizes the things that shouldn't exist together to create surreal digital works by using Photoshop. Some of his art is an extension of himself and an impression of a mood, or a message from his perspective.

His works may not be entirely about environmental issues but some of his works make me realize the close connection between nature and living things, and indeed give me some inspiration about the combination of the natural landscape and living things or human beings in my works.

Stuart's work from last week's post also made me aware that 3D could be used in my work. Because I only have a basic knowledge of 3D so far. I will probably explore more 3D skills of Nomad and Maya, which will be easier for me. 3D modeling can help me create realistic, exciting visual effects, and the viewer will feel more connected to the design.

Bibliography 

Cramer, Charles and Grant, Kim. March 24, 2020. "Surrealism and Psychoanalysis". Accessed August 6, 2021. https://smarthistory.org/surrealism-and-psychoanalysis/.

Ebert, Grace. January 8, 2021. "A Massive Octopus And Floating Fish Comprise The Imaginary Universe In Ted Chin's Surreal Composites". Accessed August 6, 2021. https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2021/01/ted-chin-surreal-composites/.

Mann, Jon. September 23, 2016. "How the Surrealist Movement Shaped the Course of Art History." Accessed August 6, 2021. https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-what-is-surrealism.

Moma.Org. n.d. "Moma | Surrealist Landscapes". Accessed August 6, 2021. https://www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/themes/surrealism/surrealist-landscapes/.

Stada Media. n.d. "The Importance Of 3D Modeling & Animation: Why Use 3D?". Accessed August 6, 2021. https://stadamedia.co.uk/the-importance-of-3d-modeling-animation-why-use-3d/.

Chin, Ted. n.d. "Digital artist and professional photographer Ted Chin discusses the journey and mindset which lead him to create "Teds Little Dream"". Accessed August 6, 2021. https://www.cultureofcreatives.com/interviews/ted-chin.

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10 Digital artworks by Stuart Lippincott

Stuart’s works are visually surreal and he shows us a strange series, feeling out of a sci-fi movie. Because he combines space and future elements form surreal landscapes. What Paul wants to express was the theme of the coexistence of nature and humans in the previous post, but Stuart shows me are more like the destruction and darkness of nature and humans.

Using Cinema 4D, the futuristic and surreal concepts of his 3D creations are shown in dramatic lighting and mysterious shadows. His works describe the concept of ‘giant’. Monoliths rendered with great use of light can visually let people think of religion.In addition to giant objects, he also created some tiny characters in his work. The contrast of monoliths and the tiny characters create a sense of scale that makes the scenes especially impressive. Creation is limited, and the unknown and vague things are only part of the author's expression. However, the scenes and characters he created leave a lot of space for imagination.