EMOTION PROJECTION
.A JOURNEY INTO EMOTION AND IT’S PORTRAYAL.
.BY SHARNIA KING.

Converting my comic from a physical form to digital was interesting to adapt to the different technological media I was able to include. jQuery opened up possibilities that I never thought were possible, making it more interactive and engaging.
changed the format of the story somewhat to make it more engaging. Instead of multiple frames per page/image, I developed the images into one frame per page. The theory behind this was there would be more focus on the individual emotion in the frame. The physical version had similar emotions grouped together in a single image. I wanted the individual emotion to project and create more emphasis and feeling to the viewer.


The storyline shows a stray dog that is living on the beach, surviving from day to day. The dog is seen in different places, wandering throughout the beach. The dark colours within the page are mean to bring out emotions of sadness, seeing the dog lonely and abandoned. The storyline then shows the dog being rescued by an older man. The images are lighter and the emotion is considerably happier as the dog is seen living happily. The story then takes on a darker scene again as the dog gets sick and dies.

I used brightness and contrast to highlight the high and low points within the storyline. In times of darkness and depression, the images were toned darker, because the feelings and emotions being portrayed were darker. In lighter times of good and happiness, the images are clearly lighter. This effect helps portray the emotion within each image.  

A contrast of media materials was used within the images of the comic, using line art to create the image of the dog, but real photos taken on Lyall Bay beach. This contrasting produced a good effect that I haven’t seen too often in comics, one that I wanted to pursue through to the web comic version. However I did update the landscape images and added filters to make them slightly more comic styled, to join the image as a whole.
 

I used a range of frame sizes because I didn’t want to be predictable and stick to the conventional method of choosing one frame style and size. As I was portraying different things in each image, I wanted to further develop the idea of things changing. This relates to the idea of using different contrasting elements and a variation of media techniques to portray the same story.


This journey that I have been on has tested me in both personal and professional ways. It has not only be a project that is based on emotions and portraying them in work, but for me it has also been about trying to portray my own emotion to the viewer and for them to feel something also. The dog was based on my own dog, Charlie and seeing my dog in the story made it very real. This story is not real, but it felt real. At times I had to take a step back from the project and continue to think as a viewer, something which I had not previously been able to accomplish successfully. This was the first time I was able to do that, and was a milestone in my journey as a designer.



.REFERENCES.
This is the reference I used for my final version of the web comic. It is a free, open source code which I modified. I also have the reference for the code at the top of each page of code, on my blog, and also as a separate text final within the hand in folder.
Basic jQuery Slider plug-in v.1.3
http://www.basic-slider.com
Authored by John Cobb
http://www.johncobb.name
@john0514
Copyright 2011, John Cobb
License: GNU General Public License, version 3 (GPL-3.0)
http://www.opensource.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.html

Previous Attempts – these were not used in the final version of the web comic, but I did attempt to use them.
http://www.menucool.com/slider/javascript-image-slider-demo1
/*! jQuery v1.7.1 jquery.com | jquery.org/license */ 

SlidesJS 3.0.4 http://slidesjs.com
(c) 2013 by Nathan Searles http://nathansearles.com
Updated: June 26th, 2013
Apache License: http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

Powered by Blogger.

About

I am a designer, currently studying Design Innovation at Victoria University of Wellington. My focus areas are website and mobile media development, interaction design, 3D modelling and animation and audio-visual space. My blog shows my journey through each project as well as my learning experience through university. What do I want to be when I grow up? I have no idea. But I love what I'm learning. Although there have been many bumps along the road in this journey and despite the fact that there are going to be many more, I wouldn't have it any other way.

Labels