Research Presentation
To add more depth to our Worldbuilding Project in English, we were asked to research a topic related to our story that would ultimately be integrated into our narrative writing. Because my group’s story revolves around a society of amputees, I decided to research the psychological impacts of amputation. This research served not only as a way to become more informed about the subject of my writing, but also as a way to add more realism and nuance to the characters in our story.
Below is an outline of my final research and takeaways, which I used to give a presentation on my topic.
Surreal Composition Project
The Surreal Composition Project challenged us to create a visual related to our Worldbuilding Project by editing multiple images together in Adobe Photoshop. Similar to our Funny Image Compositions Project in Digital Media, we used layer masks and blend modes (among other features) to combine various images into a custom scene. However, this project required us to create a scene with a purposeful meaning that has a connection to our Worldbuilding Project, which presents a greater artistic challenge. For my composition, I decided to create a graphic representing some of the emotional challenges that amputees face, as the main cast of characters in my group’s Worldbuilding Project are all amputees.
Artist Statement
My Surreal Composition was inspired by the complex psychological consequences of amputation, and how these challenges would shape an amputee-only society. Utilizing layer masks and a combination of various blending modes, I melded together an image of a leg amputee, an elegant room, an unraveling head, and a cracked sheet of glass. The central message of this piece is that the loss of a part of one’s body can cause an internal unraveling, one that is difficult to put back together. I positioned the glass so that the origin of the crack lay atop the prosthetic leg, establishing it as a point of emphasis and the source of the subject’s pain. I also blended the unraveled head with the torso of the figure, communicating the internal turmoil of the amputee.
As my Worldbuilding Project revolves around a society entirely composed of amputees, my surreal composition was made to convey the internal struggles that the characters will face, and how that would contribute to societal structure and conflict. In general, I’m glad to know how to properly work with Photoshop to blend images together and create a specific scene and message through individual images. I look forward to future projects, both academic and personal, where I will be able to use these skills for photo editing.
Worldbuilding Pitch Video
The Worldbuilding Pitch Video gave us the opportunity to revise and refine our Worldbuilding Pitch Presentations, showcasing a more polished and concise version of each group’s narrative. The video had to be no more than 5 minutes long, and required a scripted voiceover accompanied by relevant visuals. My group decided to produce our video using Adobe After Effects, and we combined our own character illustrations with images found online to produce a rough animation summarizing our story’s plot.