Final Statement

This project has been such a process. We explored so many aspects of design. Starting by using non traditional tools  to create marks, turning these marks to create a visual motif representing our haiku poem, and then taking those symbols and creating a relationship between the the three by using motion. 

windy winter rain

my big silly umbrella 

tries walking backwards 

 Beginning this entire process by picking a single poem was pretty interesting. Working in partners we chose a poem that could be read in many different ways. I took this poem in a more silly way. This struggle and awkward situation of when your umbrella decides to blow away from you or walking down the street in the gross rain with a big umbrella. My partner, David, took the poem in a more confrontational or more of the struggle between the the person and his/her umbrella. After choosing this poem we were assigned to choose objects that related to our haiku poem. We decided on objects from natural to represent the winter as well as objects such as the umbrella and shoes.  
  After we made these marks it was then when we had to try to create thumbnails that were drawn previously relating to our poem. This was probably one of the most difficult steps. Trying to find certain shapes in a mass of marks and digging through them like a scavenger hunt. Then taking an analog method to create our motifs and scanning them in. i really liked my end product of my motifs. I also learned that even when having something good, doesn't mean it always works. I created two different little "men" with their umbrella for my haiku, in which one was very beautiful, but that didn't go with this quirkiness of my haiku. I ended up going with a short little man as I refer to him, with shorter legs and kind of crazy arms and a big umbrella. This motif represented my poem best and went with my other motifs most successfully. 
  Little did I know that these motifs would be turning into a motion graphic. Using Flash was the most challenging part for me. I get frustrated when I know nothing about something and having specific ways putting the motifs together made the task even harder. I discovered that Flash is one of the those programs were you must just sit down and work on it and work on it, down the road I figured things out. I got a lot of help from my classmates (which I am very thankful for!) and I conquered a difficult task for myself. I appreciate my final video that much more now.
  This project really embodied once again all of the process and outcomes a designer can obtain with just one idea. Taking this one poem and turning it into a motion video and creating a book out of all of our marks. I think it was a good project that embodied all of what we have learned so far this year from our other projects. Using our visual communication knowledge to create a visually pleasing and interesting sequence of shapes to tell a story. 

Motif Animation

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(i am still going to continue to upload my animation, hopefully it works soon!)

This leaves the shadows behind... which should not be there! But this is my motif animation. I hope the SWF file I leave (Jamie) has the text in the correct typeface! It is correct on here hopefully, so I am sorry if that happens again. I don't know what happened or where the problem was. I unfortunately found music to include with my animation, but itunes would not allow... the song I found was a jazz song, to put off the feeling of this playfulness. Having the rain and umbrella in this that  situation sounded like a bit of a fast paced jazz song to me. A song called I'll Remember April  I found, I think would have worked out well!