My objective with this project is to make a narrative experienceable in a highly imaginative and captivating manner. As a designer in the field of storytelling, I hold a deep passion for writing stories and expressing them through various mediums such as drawings, videos, photos and others. To achieve this goal, I first created a mind map that revolved around the core principles of storytelling and creativity, with a focus on immersion, which I believe is of utmost importance. To simulate the phenomenon of maladaptive daydreaming, I used the software Blender to construct a virtual reality environment.
According to the Sleep Foundation, "maladaptive dreamers may dissociate from reality to completely immerse themselves in their daydreams, and may even unconsciously act out the behavior or speak dialogue for the characters in their daydreams." This phenomenon is often expressed through the act of staring blankly at walls for extended periods of time, lost in one's own daydreams. It was this concept that inspired me to envision an empty white room with stories displayed on its walls, serving as a simulation of this type of daydreaming.
Solo project
Duration: 2 weeks
Grade: 10/10
I chose to retell the story of Ragnarok, which is the end of the world according to Norse mythology. This project was born from my fascination with the nature and history of Scandinavia, which is rich with captivating and intriguing tales. In the past, the ancient Norse people would tell their stories on stones in a unique and creative manner, and I sought to emulate this style by drawing the story of Ragnarok using Photoshop. My initial idea was to display these drawings on paper attached to the walls of a room created using Blender. However, a classmate suggested that this approach might appear messy. After receiving feedback from another classmate, I then came up with the idea to correctly simulate the disorienting effects of daydreaming by transforming a conventional room into a cave. In this cave-like environment, the drawings would appear as if they were drawn directly onto the walls, just as they did in the past.
In the final stages of the project, the rendering process for the Blender animation was anticipated to take several days, which presented a challenge as I only had a limited time frame of two weeks to complete the project. This posed a significant challenge, as I was determined to deliver a product that met the expectations of my instructor and effectively showcased my creativity and storytelling skills.
Initially, my plan was to incorporate movement into the experience by having the light source in the virtual environment move from one story image to the next, culminating in a fully animated display of the fiery end of the world in the Ragnarok story. However, due to the time constraints, I was forced to make some compromises in order to complete the project within the allotted time frame.
As a result, I decided to alter the design and instead have the light in the virtual environment fade in and out on the story images, while the fire was transformed into a still image. This change allowed me to deliver a final product that was still impactful and immersive, while also meeting the tight deadline.
To enhance the overall experience of the story and make it more captivating, I decided to incorporate audio into it. In order to achieve this, I sought assistance from a friend who was kind enough to lend their voice and read out the story that I had penned. Subsequently, I added music and appropriate sound effects to the audio recording, in order to elevate the overall atmosphere and bring the story to life.
