Composition
The composition week started with understanding elements of design and then moving on to principles of design. Elements of designs are the basic ingredients of a composition. These include lines, dots, color, texture, shape, form.
While principles of design include Pattern, balance, unity, scale and proportion, Emphasis, Rhythm. Repetition of anything is a pattern. Balance is all about how your elements weigh in the visual. There are two types of balance symmetrical and asymmetrical balance. Rhythm is created by the repetition of elements of design Rhythm relies on variety, not consistency. Emphasis is all about highlighting the most important area in your design.
To understand this better. We were asked to create few compositions using specific dimensions of dots and lines in a 20cm*20cm square.
I started by sketching whatever came to mind using lines and dots in a square grid. After ideation sketches, it became a guessing game, I would try to guess the principles of design dominant in each. I liked a few more than some.
Since the compositions I drew had many elements, I tried a few compositions with very few lines and dots. It was challenging but fun. I cut out pieces of lines and dots and painted a square black to compose these compositions. This seemed easier and ideas were flowing faster as compared.
Finally sat down to select my final 3 best compositions depicting principles of design using elements of design.
Composition and colors
Once I was better at understanding the principles of design using lines and dots. I then moved to more complex elements like shapes and colors to depict these principles.
We were provided with a set of words and asked to represent them using shapes and colors. A few of those words were Bitter, flight, shallow, friendship, fear. I tried to write down feelings associated with each of these words. Took some keywords and following it, using basic shapes, I scribbled out a few ideas.
Selecting out these, I tried to paint it using poster paints and cut them and place them in a 20cm*20cm grid.
For me, this composition reflects friendship. This reflects that as children we would bond over games and always make room for new people without any judgment, no matter the differences.
Following that, we were asked to take an 8cm*8cm square window and place it over the grid to identify the major gestalt laws and principles of design.
Principles of design:
Gestalt Laws:
Composition through Video
To understand colors and composition a little better, we were asked to create a movie in a group of nine people, using abstraction as a means to depict a story. The movie had to be about any transition. We had to compose and record the music for the video as well without using any conventional musical instrument.
The video is about reaching a point of satisfaction using the medium of flavors. Each flavor has a characteristic unique to them. It is about their identities, what they signify, and how they influence each other. The team members included Khyati, Hemashri, Himank, Antara, Animisha, Ashi, Shruti, and Bhoomika.
Process
As soon as we were allotted our groups, we started our brainstorming session. We were going about the pandemic, cultures, seasons. One idea that stuck with us was food. Initially started with the idea of cooking a particular dish through ingredients. We talked about simple dishes like chai and sambar, using everyday ingredients, we wanted to develop them into characters. But slowly discussions proceeded, we moved closer to an idea we all related to mid-night snacks and the satisfaction we get from it. It seemed interesting to show this journey through flavors. We started relating each flavor to colors and emotions associated with them. Then each of us chose a flavor to do a bit further study on it. We scribbled many ideas and moved to plan frames. This is where we started using our learnings of principles of design the most.
Behind the scenes
We started shooting our frames and assembling them. Then one by one, Khyati and I started compiling the videos using adobe premiere pro. None of us were much skilled with the software. It took us time to learn and assemble each video.
We also tried creating backgrounds for some characters, using colors we associated with the characters. However, once we started editing it, this threw away the visual balance, and hence, we chose to go with animations.
Also taking in the limitations of shooting ourselves, I got the opportunity to learn to combine or overlay two videos. I needed to show a hand in one video with no one available to shoot along. This took me quite a while to understand not so clean but I did manage to do it.
Once a few videos were compiled, we all started brainstorming the music for our characters, recorded voices such as cracking of an egg, screaming sounds and dragging sounds. Hemashri provided us some with wonderful voices. I think we were all definitely judged by our families :p
We sent our music to Himank and Antara who compiled it for each video. Once each audio file was complied, It was stitched to the video. Exporting the video took some time but we finally reached there. This project did put us out of our comfort zones and challenged us to try something new. Working in groups sitting in different parts of the country was definitely new for all of us. Not only learning but was a great bonding exercise as well.
