The Process

Code Experiments    

The laboratory

Experiment 1: The Image Shuffler

'Psycho' storyboards
Saul Bass (1960)

Experiment 1:

Image Shuffler

This experiment is an initial exploration of dynamic non-linear shuffling of images as a reflection of memory.

The image shuffler is a program that randomly displays an image from a library of pictures. The generative properties of the code allow for an infinite runtime while also ensuring that each viewing is unique. The result hopefully mimics the unstructured and nebulous nature of non-linearity in our memories, while challenging the viewer to create closure from the sequence of unordered images to create meaning.
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Using cells of Saul Bass' storyboard for 'Psycho' as a placeholder, I wanted to explore the storytelling power of a series of randomly shuffled images.
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I think this experiment successfully conveys the idea of a linear scene presented non-linearly. The clear communication of a linear story shuffled at random is owed mostly in part to Saul Bass' visual style and composition.
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See it in action here!

Experiment 1: The Image Shuffler

'Big Tex'
Chris Ware (1996)

Experiment 2:

The 'Kuleshov Effect'

This experiment is a more deliberate attempt to recreate Lev Kuleshov's short film demonstration, known as 'The Kuleshov [koo-luh-shawf] Effect'. A key feature in the demonstration is the use of the same main image paired with an unrelated image in a shot-reverse-shot. This results in different emotional readings of the main image and the spatial relationships between the images.

The pattern of having the main image, followed by a randomly selected shot, challenges the viewer to contextualise the two ideas against each other. This introduces new ways to reinterpret the narrative told in the sequence of images.

For this iteration, I have decided to use Chris Ware's comic 'Big Tex' to investigate whether we can use comics to the same effect.

I don't think using comic panels is successful as a video doesn't have the affordances of time required to understand the rhythm and details in each panel.
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See it in action here!

Experiment 1: The Image Shuffler

'Psycho' storyboards
Saul Bass (1960)

'Grey with Questions'
Sherry Hale (2019)

Experiment 3:

Text and Image

This experiment extends my exploration of closure and narrative found in randomised sequences of images by incorporating text to create another layer of the story.

In addition to the shuffled images, the text is also scrambled, creating a 'parallel combination' (McCloud, 1993). The text and image tell independent stories, but the spatial proximity inevitably influences the viewer's interpretation of one another.

I have overlaid Saul Bass' storyboard with Sherry Hale's 'Grey with Questions', a redacted poem. The poem is written by way of striking out surrounding words, leaving only the resulting poem remaining. This poem reflects the notions of erasure that I have been exploring, while also practising the idea of closure and putting together disjointed sequences of words to reconcile meaning and story.

I think the innate narrative qualities of text definitely elevate the immediate storytelling qualities of the storyboards. The punctuation also helps the viewer place words in order, relationally to each other.
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See it in action here!

Visual Development  

How do I look?

Isometric view

'Stream of Thought' is a project that revolves around randomly shuffled visual sequences. Taking that into consideration, it is important to establish a visual style that is consistent across all my artwork. I have decided to render my artwork in the isometric perspective since it is a set of rules and constraints that allows me to portray three-dimensionality. A consistent visual style will let the images as a collection be read as a series, and therefore be decoded more quickly than if there were multiple different perspective grids competing against each other.

Inking

After drawing my first thumbnail sketches, I began to ink the artwork. With the theme of consistency, the outlines are all uniform in width, and I have a limited colour palette. The colour palette of orange, black and white is high-contrast, bringing attention to the forms of the subject.

Detail

The previous artwork didn't convey a sense of space due to the lack of visual context. Using Saul Bass' art in 'peur du noir' as a reference, I have re-drawn the scenes with figure-and-ground as the key style. By using two colours to create a third, I am able to create depth and maintain a striking silhouette while omitting the outline.

Figure-and-ground

While visually striking, removing one of the colours would convey figure-and-ground more strongly. When comparing the blue and red artworks in isolation, the blue artwork had a stronger figure-and-ground effect. I have kept the light shading and gradients for the background elements to suggest depth and hierarchy.

Vector

After I had reached a style frame that I was satisfied with, I began to translate the bitmap artwork into vector illustrations to prepare for animation. I made some slight changes to the colour palette, while keeping the tonal differences between the solid blue and the lighter blues in the original artwork.

Colour coded spaces

While the visual hierarchy of the two-tone worked well in separating the foreground and the background, it didn't communicate the vagueness of memory. Memories need to be decoded before we can contextualise them, and my visuals should reflect that aspect. I have introduced a second colour to add visual distinction between the place of memory recall and the memory objects.

New colours

The combination of teal and orange were too saturated and high in contrast. Although it worked in visually separating the two spaces, it wasn't a good colour combination. I decided to find a less saturated and more harmonious colour pairing. The pastel-leaning hues lighten the images, adding to the dream-like quality of remembering.

Visual Development  

It's aliiive!

Minimal animation

The scenes move with minimal animation. This is to create a moment-to-moment quality of these vignettes. The animations don't quite loop, to subtly hint at progression, rather than trapped in time.