State of Emergency

State of Emergency

My final work is an attempt to create an illusion of Horizontal Parallax Only. It is supposed to reflect the unravelling situations in the world today. After the hard work of composing those primitive objects to form the word PANIC and the exploration of the possibilities in Maya, it came down to the artistic choices to make this concept work.

I decided to use plain texture with cold tone tint on the main subject to illuminate it from the background. The 2D mapping background was my own photograph of an old railway workshop. The rusty corrugated iron wall provided a semi-realistic sense to the scene whereas the floor was more abstract. It reflective surface displayed the positions of the original shape even though the viewer is in the readable a spot.

I was not really sure that how 3D models from an online library would collaborate with my design until I browsed it and found a models of an eye ball. It was modified eye colour and added blood vain. I put it symmetrically on each side. A model of a skyscraper was imported to the scene as tower for the eyes. Although they became strong figures, they are quite far away from working area. Hopefully they will not distract the subject in print.

Those eyes were animated to keep an eye contact with the camera to give a feeling of paranoia as if being watched. By that time I discovered how to use keyframe animation in Maya, I wanted to explore more with shape. So I created transparent spheres as eyelids and made them blink when the camera moved.

The main lighting that cast the shadows is from straight above the composition. Like the reflection on the floor, it is the stationary map that exhibits where the objects actually are whether they form the word in the viewer’s eyes. This is the illusion of 3-dimensional space to create 2-dimensional mirage. Ironically, the physical matter of the work is just a 2D print in 3D environment.

The installation will definitely have an impact of how the audience will experience the work. If it is hung in a narrow space that people can only walk pass, the time they see the word PANIC will be limited. On the other hand, if there is more space in front of the print, it can be animated more freely by the viewer’s perspective. This is a good example of the temporal aspect of hologram that is the interaction between the work and viewer.

It will be interesting to see how viewer will interact with this image. I am eagerly looking forward to seeing the final print.

2 thoughts on “State of Emergency”

  1. The idea is the animation happens when you move around the hologram print. The camera could move around the scene and animate as a loop but that would be more like linear 3D work.

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