Evaluation

The FMP this year has changed me a lot as a designer compared to how I was last year. The freedom that I was given on this FMP made this project extremely enjoyable for me because I was free to pick my own narrative as opposed to being given one. Even though the FMP was exciting, I experienced a few problems at the beginning, which made me really stressed, but I was able to overcome those problems and find solutions to them. 

At the beginning I struggled to find a good narrative that I could use since I realised my first idea did not really work as well as I thought it would.

My initial idea was about growing up in London and the experiences I had in the area I grew up in; including the sounds that could hear and how they affected me. After this, I discovered this wasn't going to work as a strong narrative so I abandoned that idea and thought about what I could do. I thought about one key word that stayed in my mind which was ''Sound' and I thought about what it would be like if I widen my idea and look into sound in general; looking into what it does, how it is used and how it affects us. My main focus was how it affects us, so I went on the internet to see if there are any article concerning the subject and I saw a video called "4 Ways Sound Affects Us". That is how I found my narrative. 

I carried out as much relevant research as I can. I looked into how sound affects the brain, such as people with Alzheimer’s disease and how they regain their memory from listening to music. I thought it would be necessary to look into the science of the brain and how it is affected by sound.

Strengths:

One of my strengths during this project was my planning when it came to developing my animation. I spent the beginning of the project modelling my animation so I can finally put them together into one final animation and it worked out really well, In fact, doing this saved a lot more time because I started off with modelling the complicated things such as the mouse and the speaker since they took around 52 hours to render non-stop. 

Another one of my biggest strengths in this project was my independence. I was quietly confident in developing my work and all the work that I did was independent, from my research to my development work.

Another one of my strengths was my problem solving. When it came to making the display with the LED strip lights I have problems with cutting and soldering the strips together since some of the LEDs wouldn’t light up so I find a way which didn't require soldering and it still worked effectively.

Also my ability to challenge my self during with project has definitely been my strengths. The thing I had chosen to do and create was really a test of the skills as a designer; which included my patience, planning, problem solving and using creative and out-of-the-box thinking. This was because I wanted to do something that not a lot of people were doing so that it set me apart from everyone.

If I had more time:

If I had more time I definitely would have spent more time looking into tutorials and finding ways building the LED display to play animations and video. I eventually did but the equipment required can only be shipped from the USA and it was far too late to order it since the end of the project was already near.

What new skills have I learned?

During this project I have gain a lot more skills that I had in the year. Through this project I have found my own personal design style and a newfound interest in electronics and combining electronics with animation and graphic design.  
 

Making My Sound-Reactive Display

FMP 2016 - How Sound Affects Us (Part 2)

Developing My Animation

These are screenshots of my animation. I made the animation from scratch using a storyboard I drew. I have been inspired by H5 thurought my project because I thought I thought it was a very effective of showing my narrative.

TOUR OF THE CUPBOARD

                     

I used Cinema 4D to create 3d tour of the cupboard. It was really simple
to build so that wasn't an issue. I created this animation because I wanted an idea of what I can do with the space 1 have been given. I wanted the feeling of expererincing the space so that I can know what to do with it and where to place things.

The 4 squares on the door of the cupboard are supposed to represent my
illustration which place on the outside (or inside of the show)

Alternative - The Cupboard

 This is the space I was given to present my final piece

FMP 2016 - How Sound Affects Us (Part 1)

It is not completely done because I am still working on some parts of it
such as rigging and animating. But this is what I have done so far for
it. The audio isn't that great.

 I was heavily inspired by H5's animation.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcY9TiSH5P

3D MODEL OF HOW IT IS GOING TO LOOK

Plan for my final piece

3D MODEL OF MY FINAL PIECE

 

In my sketchbook I explained how this was how I wanted my final piece to look like. I talked about the kind of problems I would then have to face if I was going through with this design. Which was sound-proofing the building, how much it will cost and how much space it will take. I also talked about the feedback I received and the alternative I was given. 

 

Plan for My Final Piece

 

This is a sketch of how I want my final piece to look like. I drew it in its exploded view so I can clearly see how I'm going to put in together. The structure is going to be made of PVC pipes because it is light, very strong and easy to connect.

I had to calculate the aveage height of a person fro the shortest to the average tallest because I want people to be able to walk into it.

Vibrations

I thought it was interesting how sound as a vibration can change an object’s state temporarily, an can cause an object to almost become animate It got me thinking of how I can animated a speaker with ball-bearings bouncing using Cinema 4d, I’m curious to see how different tracks being played affect the way that the objects move.

Visual Sound Experimentation

I began experimenting in Cinema 4d with the sounds of music that I hear. Similar to the previous work. I used the Volumiser in Cinema 4d so the shape responds to the sample music I downloaded. I wanted to generate ideas on how I can take sounds and form some sort of visual from it.

How Sound Affects Us - Negatives

The Sounds I Heard As A Child Vs Other People Around The World

I made the poster on the right based on my childhood in London and me hearing police cars driving past my house because something happened. There was crime in the area that happened a lot and reports of gang fights and knife crime and I would see an area with police line which blocked my route to school so I had to change my route.

The design is simplistic, with the police line going along the face of the design. The pattern of circles is to represent the Doppler Effect; Which is a noticeable change in the frequency of sound, light or water waves as the source and the observer move. I experienced this sound every few months, and it made me feel a bit intimidated and scared because it happened mostly at night.

I thought about different places in the world that have it a lot worse. I thought about the places where children constantly hear bombs going of and screams of terror. These heart-breaking experiences can traumatize a child greatly.

So I thought about how I can visually present the sound of the explosions.

Submarine - Sonar

I made this as a way to show how we also use ultrasound for navigation by our use of submarines. This piece shows different frequencies of the sound.

The Lyrebird

Publish Post

How the Lyrebird can mimic any sound to attract a mate.

How Nature Uses Sound

How Animals Use Sound To Locate, Communicate and Kill

I looked at how animals such as bats rely more on sound than their eyes. Bats use ultrasound to hunt their pray. How it works is that the produce a blast of ultrasound which bounces onto an object or prey and the waves bounce off of the prey and back to the bat. In the direction that the bat is receiving the ultrasound, that is where the prey is located.

 Dolphins use clicking sounds in order to identify prey. Dolphins make a wide array of sounds, including clicks, moans, chirps,creaks, barks, squeaks, yaps, mews, and whistles.
 Dolphins use clicking noises in echolocation, which bounce off objects underwater. This allows them to navigate, identify prey and friends, and avoid obstacles and predators. Dolphins use whistles to maintain contact within their pod or when meeting other pods of dolphins. Their whistles may signal danger, a call for help, or simply identification. Scientists think that each dolphin has its own signature whistle, sort of like our names. Whistles may also help dolphins hunt cooperatively and coordinate migratory movements.

 source of info: http://www.gma.org/marinemammals/communication.html

Sperm whales have the world’s largest biological sound machine housed within their 10-ton heads.
It has been said that this sound that the sperm whale produces can be tweaked into a deadly weapon. Here the image shows the Sperm Whale using the loud blast of ultrasound to stun its prey. 

The Lyrebird

 

 

Birds use their voices to make sounds for all sorts of reasons, such as: claiming territory, seeking mates, begging for food, calling their chicks or mate, staying in touch with flock mates, scolding an intruder of the same species or different species, announcing the presence of a predator, singing a duet with a mate and many other reasons.
Sound is a great form of bird communication because it can carry beyond where birds can see. In some cases, sounds can travel over a mile or several miles under the right conditions. Also, if you are a bird that lives in a thicket, it helps to use your voice to stay in touch with your mate or with the members of your flock.
Source of info: http://www.wildernesscollege.com/bird-communication.html

The bird in the image is the Lyrebird. This bird can imitate the sound of anything it hears. The purpose for this is to attract a mate. It can make sounds from car alarms, camera shutters, and even a chainsaw. It can even mimic the sounds of its fellow bird, even fooling the real bird. And the more complex the sound, the better chance of it attracting a mate.

Alzheimer And The Power of Sound

I looked at how sound affects our brains and I was amazed to discover that people who suffer from Alzheimer disease who have listened to certain sound or song have had some of their memory regain. To me that is amazing because it shows just how powerful sound really is. If you were to imagine a man in Alzheimer who doesn't know his wife's face and hears the song they danced to when they were young and is able to remember that, it shows that sound can be more powerful than just showing someone a photograph.

I made this in Cinema 4d and Illustrator.
The message behind this artwork is that sound opens up places in the mind you didn't know you had. The message behind the vector of the brain is that it is as if the person has a healthy brain that functions as it should and you can see the neurons and brain activity in the background reacting to the sound and music.  

Sad Satan

I was watching a video about the Deep Web. If you have never heard of it, it is defined as the part of the World Wide Web that is not discoverable by means of standard search engines, including password-protected or dynamic pages and encrypted networks. Using web browsers like Tor Brower allows people to anonymously hide all of their information. This new found privacy was taken advantage of and opened a part of the web where the most evil people can perform their horrific acts and still be untraceable. It is infamous for its 'Red Room'. A Red Room a room where a hostage is filmed on a live-stream with people watch and a person (any member of the public) pays by Bit-coin to become the 'director' and they instruct the people at the Red Room to do whatever the person who is paying is telling them to do. It is also a place used for drug dealing.

My idea (the distorted brain) was influenced by a game on the deep web called Sad Satan.  is a horror game in which the player navigates a maze made out of various shadowy hallways as distorted music and audio plays in the background. It also includes real raw sounds of the screams of victims at redrooms.
What I found interesting about this was that I was watching a YouTube video of a gamer playing the 'clean' version of the game and people in the comments section were saying that they could still hear the sound of the game minutes or even hours after they had quit the video. People who have played the real game from the deep web itself felt trauma as the sound they could still hear was reminding them of the grotesque images that they have seen. 



So I created this brain in Cinema 4d to create a cage and x-ray effect, I chose to do this because of how they feel as their brain is subconsciously looping the sound in their heads almost as if they are trapped in their own personal torment. 
I distorted the brain in Photoshop and I noticed how the brain automatically tries to make out the image and you can almost see faces in the image.

The Human Body

Here I made the human skeleton in Cinema 4d. The idea was about how sound affects the human, body, how it affects our behavior and our movement. I looked at house different music makes you behave. For example, listening to heavy-metal music like Slipknot might increase your heart rate and make you do a lot a sharp and fast movements. Whereas listening to music by the likes of Eric Clapton, Bob Marley and Willie Nelson might make you want to relax and listen to the lyrics.

Sound

This is the first visual I made to kick start my project. This is basically a poster to start the topic of how sound affects our brain and emotions. I used Cinema 4d to model the brain and I experimented with typography and layout. I added the word 'Visuals' on the poster on top of the brain because it thought about how the brain can create visuals into the mind, it is a subconscious thing that our brains do.

Proposal

FMP 2016

This year , I want to do and create something different. I spent a lot of time thinking about a narrative for my FMP, and it was not easy. I thought about how this FMP should be something that will highlight you as a designer. I knew i wanted to create something out of the box from what other people are doing. I didn't want to make just a zine or animation because that is something that I used to do a lot last year so I have grown bored of that.
I had a hard time thinking of  a narrative for my FMP that would be strong. So I spoke to a teacher who asked me what I usually do in my spare time and I said I just sit at home and play my guitar and he said I could do something that is related to guitar and I thought about it and how I can widen this idea. 

What is my narrative?
1st idea:
My first idea was how I grew up in an area in London and how I was affected by the sounds of police cars constantly.
2nd idea:
Using the 'Sounds' from my London idea I changed the topic to sound in general and titled this project 'Visual Sound' and wanted to create visuals of different sounds from different places around the world.

My target audience?
My target audience is the general public because sounds affects everyone, when we talk, it creates vibrations which is a frequency. 

Final idea:

Sound: And its Effects on Everything

In this project I want to explore sound and how it affects everything around us. I want to explore how it affects our emotion, bodies, memories, brain activity etc.
I also want to explore a certain location and how its sounds makes you feel a certain way. For example, a busy and noisy street with loud talking and road noises may make you feel uncomfortable whereas an open nature place with the sound of a rushing water and birds chirping gives you a feeling of tranquility.
I want to explore how sounds affect our minds. I believe that sound is more powerful than a photograph. For example if you remember a funny or crazy moment you experienced with friends and a certain song or sound was playing at the time; By listening to the music, you can almost relive that moment and smile to yourself. It is amazing how the brain can produce visuals and having sound can create a virtual environment. This way that the brain responds to sound affects our emotions is the most amazing way.


My deliverable:

My idea for my final deliverable, I want to make a virtual environment that will make my narrative clear to my audience.