Fear is one of the greatest emotional blocks we as humans have. The general reaction to what we as a people do not understand is to fear that thing. Fear must be overcome to grow emotionally but it also must be understood. The three postcards presented are organized under the topic of fear, presented through each assigned focus. The chosen destination has a personal attachment related to the chosen topic, as I greatly feared this location when I was child.
The first postcard represents fear through repetition. As a child I would see signs saying, “No Trespassing” at entrances to wooded areas and wonder if it was a warning of something dangerous within the area. In the presented image that single warning has become a loud scream, a shout declaring this area to be off limits, dangerous. Someone took the time to present these warnings to the world, however many of the signs are titled as if hastily attached to the trees. This person knew enough that they had to be quick with their numerous warnings, or fall pray to what they wish to protect the world from.
The second postcard represents fear through transformation. A worn path leads deeper into these woods, a path made clearly against the posted warnings. This was the first time I actually entered this path. The picture presents my childish thoughts, what I believed to be in this forbidden terrain. Behind the forest, past the normal, lies a dark void of the unknown. The foreground is clearly that of a wooded area, but something is wrong. The surroundings are not quite right, the mood dark and alien, the area warped by the fear of what I never dared to see.
The third postcard represents fear through concealment/revealing. Near the woods I so greatly feared was a small house surrounded by large. These trees hid the house from the sun. The red tint to the air masks the house and changes it from a peaceful place of living to an ominous housing of dread. The dark windows prevent anyone passing by from peering into the house and knowing what it hides. That is, save a lone window. The window reveals an inhuman figure that stares back at the viewer, recognizing their presence and responding with hostility. The message on the house speaks true to us all, telling us what we all know deep down.
Project #2: Flash Animation
Storyboard
Fear is one of the greatest emotional blocks we as humans
have. What we must understand is that
many of our fears, our nightmares and phobias, are much worse in our
imagination than they are in reality.
All we truly have to fear in our life is the idea of fear itself. Fear exaggerates itself and only leads to
more fear. The animation presents a
character wrought with fear on a stormy night.
Through the character we understand his fear and then fear for him, only
to find that his fears and our own have been exaggerated.
The animation opens presenting a character at peace, asleep
and unbeknownst to what is about to come.
While we are asleep we are at our most vulnerable, usually in a state of
subconscious bliss. Whenever an unknown
violently shatters this state we are thrown back to reality, sometimes only
partially, to face what has awoken us.
While in this mood of half survival instinct and half dream
consciousness we are more susceptible to our imagination running wild. We imagine some dark source to have awoken us
from our slumber, threatening our life and requiring swift action to
thwart. In this mindset we think that
the worst has come for us, but in reality it is nothing more than a harmless
bump in the night.
When we act as witness to events filled with
fear, subjects overcome by fear or fear overcoming ourselves, we usually tend
to be ignorant to truth. The truth may
not be all too apparent to us, but we tend to look more toward the negative
side within these situations. The end of
the animation addresses the fear within the viewer, having them believe in
their ignorance that the worse has come to pass upon our protagonist. Within the finale we see that even our fear
for an individual can be blown out of proportion.
Project #3: Movie
Storyboard
Your big idea is fear. You used very aggressive, gloomy tactics for conveying your message. I think this works well for your big idea. I think that your second postcard is the most successful. It conveys your fear of this location in a creative way. It is nice that your text relates between both of the images it is used in.
ReplyDeleteThe big idea of these postcards is pretty clearly fear.
ReplyDeleteI think your most successful postcard is the third card. I definitely get the creeps from looking at the image itself. However, I would have liked the text to fit into the image a little better. I can tell you made an attempt at this with angling the text appropriately, but it still just seems like a text overlay.
I would say your least successful postcard is your second one. For some reason, I personally find the resulting image calm and peaceful. I am not sure how you could address this.
For your first postcard, I think it could have been interesting to change the text on some of the signs to have different or more serious warnings. This is not necessary, though. This idea just comes out of my own curiosity on how this would change the piece.
Your Big Idea is represented really well by the images alone, which I appreciate.
ReplyDeleteYour technological proficiency is really nice, especially in the second one. Everything is seamed together really well.
However, I wish the creepiness and darkness could have been exaggerated more in the third postcard. I'm feelin only slightly disturbed...
1. Fear
ReplyDelete2. Fear of a place.
3. Postcard #1 - Does the repetition of the sign mean stay the hell away? I think that by repeating the sign you over emphasized your point, and it strayed away from idea.
Postcard #2 - Is a fantastic image, I like this idea of being swallowed by the woods and disappearing without a trace. Excellent image.
Postcard #3 - The change of color did enhance the fear element, yet for me this not a dark enough image. The ghost is too in your face, and could have been wispy and interesting.
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ReplyDeleteI really enjoy your three images. They all come together as a whole. I like how you use subtle changes to distort and recreate, yet it makes such a large difference. I think they are all equally successful, but the second and third images are the strongest. I think your big idea of fear comes across well especially with your pattern of subtle changes.
ReplyDeleteI like that your first postcard deals with how we deal with someone else's fear. Where your other two deal with "inflicting" fear on us. Especially, the last one with the creepy face in the window. I do wish you would have embedded the words a little more into the roof. I am not sure how well the second postcard works. I think the black hole looks more fun exciting. I would have gone in there without a second thought.
ReplyDeleteBig idea= fear
ReplyDeletei think you work technically really well in photoshop. your postcards to portray fear very well, maybe they could even be darker though.
i think the second postcard is the most effective. its really pleasing to look at. one suggestion would be to make the third and first postcards darker and more mysterious.
Chrissss! Your images are creepy and I like it because it totally connects to fear. The images are very subtle which helps a lot. Your concept is obviously portrayed very well, as far as fear. The last image words are very bold and I think it really works to show the fear, along with your ghost, which is subtle and not much changing. Good job!
ReplyDeleteHi Chris! Your big idea is fear, and you have chosen a place you were afraid of as a child. The first image works really well to caution the viewer and make me feel as if there is definitely something to be afraid of. The second image is interesting, but I think that it could have had more mysterious elements than just the black hole. In the third image, I think that the text placement is really effective in drawing your attention to the ghost in the window, and I associate the red with words like ‘caution’ and ‘stop’, so that integrates into your big idea very successfully. In fact, you have red in both the first and the last image, so I think the second image could have connected even more if it had red in it.
ReplyDeleteP.S. How are you?
DeleteI'm doing great Gayle!
DeleteThe first postcard works well but I feel like could have been more interesting using an alternative or another use of repetition. It is also a good set up for the alternative, mystical trail which the adventurer can also pass through. It has an ambiguity about it which makes it interesting and I like the affects you applied to it. I kind of like how the text on the third postcard is on a not so spooky house. It makes you wonder what about that house on the inside is so creepy which is conceptually interesting.
ReplyDeleteYour postcards did a good job at projecting the idea of fear!
ReplyDeleteThe first postcard was interesting because of the over-emphasis of the sign. I think the craft could have been better on the signs in the foreground, but the other signs look great. I also think if would have been interesting if you changed the text on the signs to something a little more thought-provoking.
The second postcard was the most realistic, but it almost seemed magical rather than scary. I think you could have emphasized the color change more in order to create a darker atmosphere. Im really impressed at how you got the swirl in the background though!
The third postcard seems almost like an amusement for Halloween. The person in the window is definitely creepy. I think if the text was less bold and more subtle, it would feel creepier.
Overall I thought the three postcards were very cohesive. I enjoyed the fact that every postcard had the same color scheme of greens, reds, and blacks.