EXP 1 Submission

The Strategy
The letter and number combination for my island is N and 5. I have used 3 strategies to reveal and conceal my letter and number combination. The three strategies are placement of objects, shadows and the shape of the terrain. On the macro scale, I have shaped the island to be in shape of an N and 5 by creating rivers running through and around the terrain, with smaller islands around it. In some parts of the terrain I have strategically placed objects- natural and man made to shape up my letter and number. As for the micro scale I have used the vegetation to create the letter N and number 5, for example, small sticks stacked to form an N or rocks placed together to form a 5. I also used the shadows of the trees to create the letter N, which I think was the most difficult thing to achieve. Also for one of scales for my number 5 I have placed 5 barrels in my terrain, the reason for doing this is that I think it is a very subtle way to reveal the number as the viewer is expecting to see the number 5 instead of 5 shown through items. 


The Trailer

5 scales
Letter: N (Vivien Chan)
Number: 5 (z3466375)

Letter N  

 Micro to Macro

Number 5

Extra images of the island

Strategy Statement (Draft) and Draft images can be found below:

Drafts Link

CryEngine File
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/hwwfnb8io880adt/g8ohjDAlP1

Week 6

Reflection on lecture (Movement)

In this lecture we watched a few trailers from different movies, this helped a lot in terms of gaining inspiration and insight into how to create a trailer and the different angles to use. Some of the trailers basically gave away the whole plot of the movie and I felt that the movies that provided less was more successful because it leaves the view curious as to what will happen. For my trailer of my island I want to leave the viewer in suspense, so I feel showing less will actually benefit what I want.

Week 5

Write a paragraph describing your strategy for the concealing and the revealing of your letter / number combination, to be embedded into your island.

My strategy for concealing and revealing my letter (N) and number (5) combination is to have a mixture of some numbers and letters being very obvious to the point where it is impossible to miss but others will be more subtle and hidden. My reason for doing this is I wanted to explore the different techniques of revealing my letter and number ranging from macro to micro. I want some of my letters and numbers to be created using the natural form of the island, for example, shadows, rock formations. This will really push how creative I can be and after some experimentation it is quite difficult to achieve letters/ numbers made out of shadows, I will have to further experiment and explore what I can use in CryEngine. Some other letters and numbers will be used out of man- made objects, for example, 5 crates and the letter N made out of planks of wood.

Complete a full draft of the outcomes required for EXP1. See the OUTPUTS section of the EXP1 brief for what is required; a full draft includes all of those outputs. While each of the outputs might not be finished they do need to present a clear indication of the strengths and opportunities of the scheme.

Reflection on lecture
 This lecture was on the subliminal and we were shown a lot of examples of subliminal messages in commericals, movies, posters, tv shows etc. This gave me inspiration on how to reveal and conceal my letter and number in my island. I found the symbols within logos very interesting and it was one of the things in the lecture that stood out to me the most, for example, I never noticed there was an arrow in the FedEx logo. These examples in the lecture will help me to further come up with ways to reveal and conceal my letter and number.

Week 4

Fishermen at sea by JMW Turner
[http://0.tqn.com/d/arthistory/1/0/y/h/jmwt_mma_01.jpg]

Before:

After:

Progress pictures:

Lecture Reflection:

• Concept --> Edmund Burke - The sublime is connected with terror- beauty + terror = frightening because it is unknown what is within the nature.
• Wanderer above a sea of fog by Caspar David Friedrich --> "We see no face, so it is impossible to know whether the prospect facing the young man is terrifying and exhilarating.."

The two points above from the lecture helped me understand more about what the sublime is about and looking at nature from a different perspective. I have always seen nature as something beautiful, not as frightening or to be associated with terror. This has inspired me to create an island that will not only encapsulate natures beauty but also create a sense of the unknown and to portray nature in a different way from the norm. 

Week 3

Claude Lorrain

 Seaport at Sunset, 1639
[http://www.artcyclopedia.org/art/claude-lorrain-seaport.jpg]

William Gilpin

 Mountains and Lakes, Date unknown
[http://www.tate.org.uk/art/images/work/T/T09/T09539_10.jpg]

Capability Brown

 The Grecian Vale, Date unknown
[http://www.gardenvisit.com/assets/madge/stowe_grecian_vale/original/stowe_grecian_vale_original.jpg]

Humphry Repton

 Whitton Seat of Samuel Prime Esqr. 1796
[http://sciweb.nybg.org/science2/Onlinexhibits/exhbtcata.html] 

JMW Turner

 Vesuvius in Eruption, 1817 
 [http://volcanism.wordpress.com/2009/09/26/saturday-volcano-art-j-m-w-turner-vesuvius-in-eruption-1817/]

West Lake; Hangzhou

[http://www.chinatourguide.com/hangzhou/west_lake.html] 

[Video]

Reflection on lecture
I think the one concept that I feel relates to my work is when Russell talked about Lancelot 'Capability' Brown and his work Blenheim Bridge. This specific work conveys the concept and imagery of nature taking over architecture. For my work I want there to be a lot of vegetation interacting with the architecture. I want there to be a connection between the two.
 

Week 2

1. The Ten Peaks at Moraine Lake in Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada. 

[Reference: http://outdoorphotographybyjackbooth.blogspot.com.au/2011/01/canadian-landscape-photography.html]

The landscape above has a reflective lake that mirrors the snow covered mountains. The photograph was taken at dawn so there is a warmer colour to the image.

2. The wave, Arizona

[Reference: http://www.wanderpress.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Arizona_The_Wave_with_reflection.jpg]

 This landscape has dramatic flowing contours in bright orange, pink, red and yellow. There is barely any vegetation such as trees or grass, this gives the landscape a very bare and minimalist feel. 

3. Na Pali Coast, Hawaii

[Reference: http://hawaiiw.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/hawaii-landscape2.jpg]

This Hawaiian landscape has a lot of lush vegetation/ rainforests and  sea cliffs. The mountains on the right side of the image are rugged grandeur of deep, narrow valleys that have been a result of volcanic eruptions.

4. Mungo National Park, Australia

[Reference: http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2008/02/20/MungoNationalPark_wideweb__470x322,0.jpg]

The sand/ rock formation has a unique ripple characteristic that extends from the top to the floor of these mountain like formations. There is a warm glow to the sand/ rock (evident in the image above). You can also see the different heights of each formation, ranging from tall to almost flat. There is also bare areas, which is seen at the right of the image.

5. Guilin, China

[Reference: http://nexttriptourism.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Natural-scenery-in-Guilin-in-China.jpg]

The middle of the flat grass land are tall mountains covered in grass or some sort of vegetation. There is a river that flows through the land and in between the mountains. The vegetation of this land has a very consistent colouring.

Custom Island

Second Island

 

Terrain texture

It's a bit hard to see the textures from these screenshots because of the fog. When I removed all the fog my whole landscape was very dull and black, I will figure out how to fix this soon. The texture looks good when viewed from above but when zoomed in it is quite blurry, a lot more experimentation will be done. 

Reflection on this week's lecture

This week's lecture we were shown a lot of different artists works. Different artists were categorised under different headings like real vs. unreal, hyper-realism and CGI. This lecture helped me gain inspiration on the concepts that certain artists have and their purpose for creating their works. Artists such as Jana Sterbak allowed me to see the vast possibilities that you can do with the everyday objects, or in her case food, around you to convey concepts and to show the audience something that is different from the norm. We were also given an introduction to GeoControl, which we were able to experiment with further during the tutorial.