Surreal Enigma - Process Journal

SURREAL ENIGMA

Design Brief

SURREALISM & SIGMUND FREUD’S DREAM THEORY

On Surrealism

Surrealism was a movement in visual art and literature, flourishing in Europe between WWI and WWII. The movement was a reaction against what was claimed to be the destruction wrought by the “rationalism” that had guided European culture and politics, which had culminated in the horrors of WWI. In First Manifesto of Surre alism, André Breton declared the movement as a means of reuniting conscious and unconscious realms of experience, which makes the world of dream and fantasy would be joined to be rational world in “an absolute reality, a surreality.”

On Surrealism & Freud’s theory

Both Freudian psychoanalysis and Surrealism are based on the unconscious mind. While psychoanalysis attempts to explain that the human behavior is influenced by the feelings from the past that have been stored in the unconscious mind, Surreal ism attempts to influence the thinking of the human mind by evoking the feelings of the unconscious mind by the use of visual arts. Drawing heavily on theories adapted from Sigmund Freud, André Breton–the founding father of Surrealism saw the unconscious as the wellspring of the imagination.

IDEATION IDEATION

Sigmund Freud

André Breton

Animated Content

In Sigmund Freud’s The Interpretations of Dreams, there are two layers of meaning of your dreams: manifest content and latent content. The manifest content is the actual literal subject matter of the dream while the latent content is the underlying meaning of these symbols. The latent content of a dream is the hidden psychological meaning of the dream. The GIFs will feature the literal subject matter of the 6 most common dreams (manifest content) that are put in a fantasy dreamscape in order to highlight the unexpected, illog ical juxtaposition–a prevalent characteristic of Surrealism.

Loosing teeth Fail an exam

denture, teeth falling out, dental extraction forcep (?)

an exam paper (with a F) coming out of a printer, printer releases smoke, and grading stamp.

phone screen of a dating app interface, right hand swip ing screen and wedding ring sparkle on left hand.

a toilet being locked, toilet plumber, a fountain with water pouring out.

Greek statue, loose button falling down so then he’s naked, hands taking images with phones. an hourglass and a crying head statue.

IDEATION IDEATION

Visual Direction

Key character

The key character that connects the GIFs is gonna be the fantastical dream scape inspired from Rene Magritte paintings. It will also highlight the unex pected and illogical juxtaposition of Surrealism.

Type treatment

A wavy, funky sans-serif font for the title of the series. The typeface will be used isometric feature to create shapes and also easy to make distortion effect to highlight the spirit of Surrealism movement.

The visual direction for this project is inspired from my favorite Surrealist artist–Rene Magritte. However, I don’t want to entirely re-create his style, only capture the vibe of his paint rendering, which is clean and sharp. To highlight the spirit of Surrealism, I decided to emphasize on the notion of juxtaposition and uncanny vibes of the subject matter (mostly still life). The shading method and color palette of Magritte are gentle, therefore, I want to change it into something bold and to emphasize the concept of the fantastical dreamscape depiction in our dreams.

MOOD BOARD

MOOD BOARD

Dreamscapes

Bold Colors

Process Work

SKETCHES

Process Work

STORY-

BOARD

SOLUTION

The combination of compositions and subject matters resemble the iconic juxtapositions seen in René Magritte’s paintings, giving the audience the freedom of interpretation while still having a constrained meaning in each GIF.

With the use of gradual transitions between GIFs and soulful melody, ‘Surreal Enigma’ represents an entrance to the fantasy world of dreams, freeing the mind from rational and utilitarian values.

Being late Infidelity

Losing teeth

Fail an exam

FINAL COMPOSITIONS

Cannot find a toilet

Naked in public

Not only offered an opportunity to accumulate more experience with animation but also helped me learn about concept development on an in-depth level. I love researching to develop a solid foundation for my concept, which broadens my knowledge in various aspects besides design. As someone who used to be uncom fortable with animation, the project transformed my weakness into an interest and challenged my curiosity while exploring new facets of design.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Digital Design Phoebe Nguyen Animation Series Process Journal