Researching

The style of this motion graphic is based on a kind of shadow-play (also called shadow puppetry), it is an ancient form of storytelling and entertainment using opaque, often articulated figures in front of an illuminated backdrop to create the illusion of moving images.

Because the technique is immature in ancient time, the lights keep flickering makes, that it makes the style I want to use on the motion graphic. And the background of the motion graphic is a kind of textured paper, that is in order to presents the atmosphere of ancient china.

The moving image inspired by Korean folk paintings, the artist create the work that integrates digital technology with tradition art. Moving images are installed in a folding screen-like frame. The work focuses on the expressive depiction of nature, in particular lotus flower and animals. The objects in movement create an illusion as if the artwork is alive in cyberspace.

For Project 3: Exhibition Design

Introduction

I am going to create a motion graphic for the exhibition design, and projected it onto the wall in a small room, the purpose of this project is going to present the facial expression which formed by a set of vector drawings.

Basic Structure

The structure of the huge face was based on the facial makeup of the Beijing Opera, and the small parts of the face comprise a mix of anything in the world, that is in order to present the combination of ancient and modern to the audience.

The inspiration and style of the facial expressions come from Beijing opera; it is a form of traditional Chinese theater which combines music, vocal performance, mime, dance and acrobatics. And by the characters in the opera, their stage costumes, and their eccentric patterns of Beijing opera masks (facial makeup), which are certainly exaggeration of the true lineaments. I am very interested in this, because its unique style, for example like, its music is mysterious and grotesque, the makeup in it is almost an art in itself, and its unique music; this is what I need to make the conception original and special.

How does that works
I will place 2-3 projectors in the studio, then the audience walks into there and seeing the motion graphic which has several huge faces appear on the screen.

Beijing Opera

Beijing Opera of China is a national treasure with a history of 200 years. In the 55th year of the reign of Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty (1790) , the four big Huiban opera Troupes entered the capital and combined with Kunqu opera, Yiyang opera, Hanju opera and Luantan in Beijing's theoretical circle of the time. Over a period of more than half a century of combination and integration of various kinds of opera there evolved the present Beijing Opera. Beijing Opera is the most significant of all operas in China, and it has a richness of repertoire, great number of artists and audiences, that give it a profound influence in China and plays a large role in Chinese culture.

Beijing Opera is a synthesis of stylized action, singing, dialogue and mime, acrobatic fighting and dancing to represent a story or depict different characters and their feelings of gladness, anger, sorrow, happiness, surprise, fear and sadness. The characters may be loyal or treacherous, beautiful or ugly, good or bad, their images being vividly manifested.
The repertoire of Beijing Opera is mainly engaged in fairy tales of preceding dynasties, important historical events, emperors, ministers and generals, geniuses and great beauties, from the ancient times to Yao, Shun, Yu, the Spring and Autumn Period, the Warring States Period and the dynasties of Qin, Han, Sui, Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, Qing. Some of them also were adopted from the literature and classical novels, which are well known among the public but may not be an accurate account of history.

The types of facial make-ups in Beijing Opera are rich and various, depicting different characters and remarkable images, therefore they are highly appreciated. Moreover there are numerous fixed editions of facial make-up.
Since Mei Lanfang, the grand master of Beijing Opera, visited Japan in 1919, Beijing Opera has become more and more popular with people all over the world, and it has made an excellent contribution to cultural exchange between China and the West, to friendly association and to improvement of solidarity.

EXHIBITION DESIGN_MOVING IMAGE

Concept_1: Beijing Opera
For the project 3, I am going to create a moving image piece for final exhibition design. I’ve got following 3 concepts for moving image design.

The audience may place his head into the installed position and seeing a huge face appears on the screen.

the inspiration and style of the facial expressions come from Beijing Opera.

The sound effect plays the selected tunes of Beijing Opera( Jingju ).

Concept_2: Abstract of light
I am going to create a kind of stop motion animation that uses a combination of light with stencils and long exposure photography to tell the story of all around the city at night.

If life is catwalk, run like a dog. I am trying to present a kind of life style at night, the drunks, the clubs, stray dogs and so on.

And I want the animation to have a dream like quality exploring the reality and space at night.

Concept_3:Optical Illusion

An optical illusion ( also called a visual illusion) is characterized by visually perceived images that differ from.

I am trying to make a bit of an experiment, to make a ‘weave’ (literally rods/tubes woven in and out of each other), add some animation and have a rather cool ‘optical illusion’ type effect.

Sound Effect
The music and sound effect of this animation is rhythmical, and graphic changes by the sound effect and music.

Reference:
http://vimeo.com/18289150
http://vimeo.com/22912569
http://vimeo.com/20230217
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peking_opera
http://www.michaelbach.de/ot/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZerH2Ac9tg

EXHIBITION DESIGN

Julia Yu Tsao

Graduate Thesis Project, Fall 2009

Media Design Program, Art Center College of Design

Animatied in Maya

Curious Displays functions simultaneously as a form of design research and as a proposal for a new product, a future display technology.

desginer's description: The project explores our relationship with devices and technology by examining the multi-dimensionality of communication and the complexity of social behavior and interaction. In its essence, the project functions as a piece of design fiction, considering the fluctuating nature of our present engagement with media technology and providing futurist imaginings of other ways of being.

The interactive audio-visual installation 'Lightrails' was a project that Strukt created together with unheilbar architektur for sound:frame Festival taking place at the Project Space inside the Kunsthalle Wien.

'Lightrails' is a light sculpture with the intention to re-define and re-interpret the exhibition room. An easy but effective mapping technique was used to create seamless projections on both sides of the object. Light-beams were triggered by the visitors and ran through the room, following the surface created by the sculpture. Each "reflection" of the light-beam was accompanied by sound. The speed and brightness of the beam was directly influenced by the force the visitors used when triggering the beam stepping on pedals on the floor. This also influenced the volume of the sound-effects. The audio signal was played back on a surround sound system that allowed a spatial positioning of the sounds and created a truly immersive experience.ounds to create a truly immersive experience.

The Edo Period

The Edo period, from 1603 - 1867 was a time of peace and prosperity for Japan. It also saw Japan isolate itself from the rest of world and brought about an unexpected change in social hierachy and class definitions.

The Arts And Ukiyo-E

Today, one of the most famous influences that remains from this time was the development of the arts. The genre of painting known as ukiyo-E originates from the Edo era. Paintings were based on pictures of what was known as 'the floating world'.

Due to better living conditions and the growth in personal wealth, money was spent on indulging the senses in ways that had not been accessible to the public before. Ukiyo-e paintings reflected these new 'hobbies' and in modern terms may be considered to be artistic pornography.

The ukiyo-e style of art continued to grow in popularity and soon many different subjects were depicted in this style.

The method of painting later evolved into using hand-colored woodblock prints to create the image. Perhaps the most famous of the ukiyo-e artists is Hokusai. His most popular series,36 views of Fuji mountain, which includes 'The Great Wave' to your right, has been reproduced many times and is recognized world wide.

This is the famous "In the Hollow of a Wave off the Coast at Kanagawa", often known in the West as "The Wave".

Mount Fuji in Clear Weather. This often also known as "Red Fuji".

Book: The illustrated Night Parade of A Hundred Demons

This is the first book of Japanese artist Toriyama Sekien's famous Gazu Hyakki Yakō series, published 1776. These books are supernatural bestiaries, collections of ghosts, spirits, spooks and monsters, many of which Toriyama based on literature, folklore, other artwork. These works have had a profound influence on subsequent yōkai imagery in Japan.

My animation adapted from a story of this book. the charecter called Dodomeki, She is a girl who was a thief. One day she saw a rich woman in the market. She followed her,and just when she reached out her hand, she suddenly felt a great pain in her arm. She ran to the riverside and found her arm grew lots of eyes. As she stole more and more things, there were more and more eyes on her body.So she had to wear long robe and cover a cloth on her head.She was afraid, but couldn't stop, and turned into a moster.

A monk heard of this monster, and he had to destroy it before it collected 100 eyes.The monster appeared as a beautiful lady, but the monk used spell to show its original look. The monster's 98 eyes shot rays of sparkling lights and numbed the monk. Just as it nearly got his eyes, to the monster's surprise, the monk hurt his own eyes and blinded the monster with incense ashes. At last, the monk's sacred light shot through the 100-eyed monster's chest.At last,the monster turned into ashes.