Project 2 | CD Studio
Week 1
September 29th, 2021
What have you identified as important pieces of information relative to your topic?
Allergic reaction — visualizing things that are hidden/invisible
I was assigned with allergic reactions and my first thought was, “I’m allergic to people.” Maybe not all people, but do some people just “give me the hives.”
A bit of center but I think over the last year, we’ve seen so many hate crimes, especially within the Asian American community and it still shocks me on how people can be so horrible. Pushing people into subway tracks, stabbing people in broad daylight, being slashed in the face. There were so many terrifying and absolutely infuriating events that my blood boiled and I could feel my body reacting in a response. But I want to digress before I get off track, would these reactions be similar to an allergic response?
I don’t have allergies but it’s interesting to see how the body can response what you consume to also events and emotions. In some cases, you can become physically ill from hidden/invisible things. Maybe in a physical sense, being allergic to particles in the air is one, but also entering a room with bad energy or feeling the hatred off someone, you can have a physical response to that as well such as the hair standing on your arms.
Tying in my first train of thought, I was thinking about how being scared is a reaction, but not an allergic one. When you’re walking down the street late at night, and someone gets close- your body knows. Your heat race jumps us, you can get heated, your senses are on overdrive. You just have a physical reaction and need to get out of that situation or never put yourself in there.
How do we detect things that aren’t there? Especially hidden/invisible ones. It seems like the body just knows when it’s not safe, physically or mentally. Perhaps it just trains us to be never placed in that situation again. I took the above photo today when I was walking home. It just felt kinda right for this topic.
Week 2
October 4th, 2021
What narrative sequences are you exploring in communicating important information about your topic clearly and effectively? Explain their structure and merit through texts and images.
As I’m exploring my topic this week and watching Ted-Ed videos break down complex topics, I am starting to see why and how cartoons break down complex structures much more easily than realistic interpretations do. For starters, it’s hard to explain something you cannot see and using cartoons/graphics and symbols are an easier way to explain a concept. Also, when ideas get too complex, cartoons are able to tone the complexity down and make it more approachable. When talking about something such as IgE antibodies, visualizing the antibody also makes it memorable in what it does.
For example in the above video, the immune system is imagined as white paper circles that are able to attack others. By being able to visualize this, you can imagine what they do when in reality, there is little chance we will ever actually see a white blood cell attack a foreign substance in person.
The art style can also be more inviting and approachable this way. This Ted-Ed video screenshot has a completely different style of the below. Just looking at the first one, you can tell it’s going to be educational. In the second one below, it’s hard to tell if this is educational or not.
For storytelling, I also like the second person narrative of storytelling because I think it gives you more power to go through scenes quicker as you are controlling the the story. Also in this example above with Arnold, I thought using characters is also effective because it gives a subject for the audience to focus on and storyteller can revolve about what is happening to them. This can be true in a first person perspective as well. During the McCloud reading, the narrative is written in first person where I thought was effective as he was the character that was explaining concepts such as spacing, time and more. However when events are happening to Arnold above (he’s gonna get sick), it is easier to stay in second narrative.
In the McCloud reading, I like how he numbered how much action to action scene transitions there were to consider how usually people approach a subject and I think using this method could translate well in a video as well. The other note I thought was interesting was the passage of time that came through in a white block. It’s not possible to do that in video aside from when you transition. In a way, it’s similar, if there is a quick transition, there isn’t much time passing but that might not always be true. In that way, some properties of comics don’t translate to video as well as characters and narrative does.
As I’m preparing for my video, I believe I’m going to write in second person because similar to Meet Arnold, I think I’ll have a character sneeze and we’ll pan into that. Having second and third narrative gives you more power to zoom in and out while a first narrative narrative of explaining might take a lot of time to build up.
October 6th, 2021
Which narrative structure do you plan to employ and why? (What did you learn from teaching others about your topic?) How might you leverage channels of information to aid understanding in a compelling and meaningful manner?
Revise your story narrative based on the feedback you received.
After our speed dating session today, I found that certain key information should still be explained and not assumed. While most people knew that white blood cells were to attack others, someone had asked me why and I had no idea. Even though my topic isn’t exactly about the immune system, I should have explained why or alluded to the reason white blood cells are able to attack foreign substances to keep us safe. I felt like if I could have worded it slightly differently, my speed date wouldn’t have asked that.
Adding onto explanations and storytelling, I also did find that after the third round of speed dating, I was able to explain my topic better and as a result, get better feedback. Telling my story three times had strengthened my confidence in my explanation of allergies and from people’s reactions, I had definitely explained it better the third time than the first. (This could be relatable to your storyboard, or anything that requires communication as well) Other helpful feedback I had received were about color — I thought green in biology would be associated with mucus but not always. In the general sense, green is usually indicative of good — which isn’t good. I symbolized green to be the color of bad germs but it wasn’t always clear. I would need to deepen the color or play around with it further.
Another stylistic choice I am playing around is with the idea of characters. I’m trying not to have too many main characters and don’t want to cartoonize all of what I do. I thought I could give red blood cells, germs, and red blood cells less “character” and more simplistic by adding only eyebrows and using movement. Using characters to storytell is a technique I always utilize and I want to explore different concepts for storytelling, perhaps in a broader sense. I also talked about this with my speed dates, there is more room to do so when explaining types of allergies, significance (1 in 5 people have allergies) and ways to prevent allergies and medication. They had also mention I could use more motion to do this instead of faces.
In addition to adding the significance, I thought back to the David reading in how it is important for there to be a reason for what you are explaining. I liked the statistic example/figure he brought up. Design needs meaning, there shouldn’t be a reason for what’s happening for no reason. I found this visual example clever and helpful to illustrate this point. Moving forward, this propelled my decision to add the significance of allergies for a literal reason for why allergies is important. For my design style, I’ll be thinking more about what aspects of my video have to offer and what they do to add to my video.
Week 3
October 11th, 2021
What visual styles might you leverage to communicate important information about your topic to others? What approaches are feasible and appropriate, given the length of this project?
I had touched upon this before but cartoon visualizations do a great job of seeing what we cannot see. This especially rings true in science and mathematics. A few STEM peers had previously told me how much they value accurate illustrations of certain concepts/objects in their science textbooks because they brought the subject to life. They especially appreciate this diagrams during med school because it helped their visualization and memorization as well. As my topic is also related to health and biology, I started to think about what made some drawings memorable and easy to follow. In grade school, I saw images like the below frequently.
The cartoonfication of a cell was memorable in it was an odd shape and the sections of the cell were clearly cut out. Each part was labeled (although not in this photo) and certain odd shapes were more memorable. I’m pretty sure the purple one is the mitochondria — the powerhouse of the cell. I think using fun colors also made it more approachable. The neon green and bright blues definitely reminds me of a crazy science experiment. This visual style might not be as appealing right now but as a child, it definitely caught my attention so much that I still remember it today.
Relating this back to my project, I’ve been also thinking about how I would like to approach the animation. I’ve been thinking about drawing it out through Procreate because I like sketchy feel of the drawings that wouldn’t be the same in AfterEffects. However, I’m also thinking I could take a different approach and use a very minimalistic/clean style with simple shapes in AfterEffects as well.
In the scope of this project, Procreate might be harder with the scenes I draw out. However, I still want to give it a try once for program, compare the two visual styles and get some feedback with my peers.
Week 4
October 19th, 2021
What steps do you plan to take to refine/improve your design approach based on the feedback you received from the review session?
I was worried that my script was going to have too much jargon but from what I received from feedback, it wasn’t too bad. However, my peers had noted that it would be important how it was executed. They also agreed that my ending was weak and so I decided to wrap up with the significance of allergies and it came back together. On the flip side, I also enjoyed reading my peers narratives because I think it gave me more of an idea of how I would like mine to be structured/animated.
In the end, I decided to go with Procreate. I’ve been struggling to think about how AfterEffects and Procreate plays a role in my design career and I think I want to go with Procreate. Hand-drawn animation something I’m stronger at and I want to embrace in more.
With that, I started watching more youtube videos and stumbled across these simple animations for music. I really liked how they were really simple and had a certain subject with a calming background and simple motion. I felt like this was in scope too.
Then I started thinking about how I could do this as well. I started with a tissue box, something we might be familiar with during allergy season, and animated it simply.
Using fade in and out, I think I could move and change different scenes more easily now. I can also focus in on a subject or zoom in and out in an area. This way it’s not too distracting for the voice over as well. I guess now it’s just about keeping the attention of the audience but also informing them.
October 21st, 2021
What are you learning from the making of the video that is informing the actions you’re taking?
I think I’m learning the importance of the voice component. I had only recorded a small bit of my narrative so far but it keep me in check with the sound. The voice narration should come before animation in case it doesn’t sync up. I also found that the narration helps you stick to your storyboard/ideas.
However, I don’t know if it’s my working style or poorly planned storyboard, but I noticed I always end up reimagining screens when I actually start working (including IxD storyboarding and prototyping). There’s a disconnect between the narrative and actually storytelling. For me, it’s quite difficult for me to keep drawing what I had envisioned because it’s always changing and I’m always forgetting. I think this reflects in my work. In a way, that’s why I also wanted to try different art styles because I’m constantly re-envisioning my story.
Going forward, I am going to try to set up the structure more. I like keeping it flexible incase I want to change styles or a story, but I think I need the narrative to guide me forward.
Week 5
October 26th, 2021
What are you learning from refining your video that is informing your fine-tuning?
Continuing from my last medium post, I’m still having trouble coordinating with my storyboard. As I draw it out, find that there are other methods of telling my story instead. This following is an example. I had wanted to show that the white blood cells memorizes the pathogens/foreign substances. At first, I was going to directly have them attack the substances but thought that the Wanted posters would be more fun. I drew the entire scene out and realized that I would have a harder time explaining what the biological parts that are happening instead.
Afterwards, I had shown this in my critique to others. They really enjoyed this scene so I wanted to rewrite this part and some of my narrative to include this instead.
In addition, I am also struggling with the scope. With Aftereffects, once you receive feedback, it’s usually minor adjustments that have to be made. However, with Procreate, most of the time I had to redraw the scenario again, even if the scene is small. For my allergy intro, I am making a shift from adding tissues on the screen or pulling them out and it’s harder to redraw the whole thing. On Aftereffects, it would slightly easier to have morphed it. For these scenarios, I’m having trouble adjusting and keeping to a time schedule.
Week 6
November 1st, 2021
What are your key takeaways from the second project? How might you apply what you learned in the future?
Ahhhhh, honestly, I had a very hard time with this project because of a few factors. Outside of the project, I was having trouble time managing and the project scope. I kept pushing off deadlines and not following a schedule.
When I happened to follow the schedule, it didn’t always work either. I would end up redrawing or redoing the script to fit my visualizations better but because I was extremely flexible about my style and story, I went back and forth too many times. While I liked having two routes to choose from, it wasn’t practical in the long run.
Moving on, I’m also understanding the value of research in communication design. For this project, I had rewatched a few youtube videos that I had referenced in the beginning. While watching to learn the style, I also noticed that great animations doesn’t necessarily mean that the idea is explained well. I found that some videos wouldn’t go in depth as much and lost a lot of details. In the end, I had a medical school student fact checked my work to ensure I had the right details.
However, strangely enough asking her to look over my script had made it this easier for me to animate. Perhaps it was because when she had corrected some of my works, it was set in stone in my mind. These were the facts and before, with so many explanations skipping over the details, I wasn’t sure what I could include or not. My takeaway from this area was that having someone with a little expertise in the field would help enormously. In addition, this caused a stop in my script development. If I didn’t stop adjusting my words to explain the process in the best way, I might have done research for much longer.
For the next project, I want to make sure I follow the schedule and deadlines set from the assigned guidelines and myself. I also want to understand that research can be ongoing but at a certain point, you need to move on.
On some levels, I found this project very difficult. Without a team, you set standards for yourself and when you paused, there was not a lot of motivation to push you further aside from feedback or the professor. In this way, it was difficult to work on your own and I realized being at a standstill is really worse than not having done no work at all.
On the flip side though, while working alone, I do feel like my drawing style is coming along as well as my AfterEffects ability. It’s not something I feel like I am the best at but it is something I am becoming comfortable doing and also enjoy when I have a set vision in mind. I’m glad I’m figuring out my strengths and weaknesses.
