Link to the song:
Concepts
I knew this song about half a week ago before choosing the song. The moment I listen to the song, I felt a lot of freedom and added to my favorite song. The part I played in class has a strong rhythm that I want to dance with. The whole song is very retro, which can remind me of 1980s old cinema and KTV. So, I decided to compose some retro and classic elements in my sound visualization project. My initial thought was to put a huge disc in the middle and put other retro items surrounded, but this was overturned in the mid critique, for a huge disc is too awkward and can’t emphasize other parts. So, I decided to change the disc to a small part of my project. Disc, in my concept, means classic and old. Because now seldom people use the disc to play songs, it can give me a feeling of the passing era. This song also creates a feeling of freedom, so I choose the word “party” to represent this freedom. I tried to create an atmosphere that everyone sings and jumps freely at a party, and not be restricted to anyone and anywhere. I also tried to link the party and disc together, which means that this party deserves to be memorized and be put into the disc.
I used many Gestalt theories in my project.
Proximity
The many “Y” in the middle part forms a projector lamp, which can highlight the letter “R”, which represents a dancing person.
Continuation
There is many “A” running through the whole graph, which can link party and disc together and make it as a whole.
Symmetry
The disc uses symmetry. By rearranging the word “disco”, I tried to let “D” in the upper part and bilateral symmetry, which can give me a feeling of steady-state and can let lower part looks more symmetry, for lower parts are not absolute symmetry in letters.
Process
I don’t know many functions of AI at first, so my first draft doesn’t contain too much technique. I just created a huge disc and put some shapes on it, for I wasn’t figuring out which elements I’m going to use yet.
After the mid critique, I began to find some symbols in the last century’s film poster, trying to find some typical figures. I looked through countless posters, can’t find anything symbolistic but found a feeling of unlimited. Unlike today’s posters, the old ones are bolder to use more patterns to behave. This is the reason I chose the word “party” and made it become a real party.
Then I attended the workshop held by LA and fellows. It is really helpful! That night, I began to work on the project. I moved the disc to the corner, used “T” to create a light, used “R” to create dancing people, and used “Y” to create the outline of light. Then I used “A” to link them together and added an abstract “P” to make the project more artistic. I intentionally left some part of “A” out of the graph to give people a feel of an extension.
Conclusion
In the final critique, the instructor pointed out that when looking at my project, everyone will pay emphasize on the disc and then move through the line “A” and finally reach the central part. This is somewhat unbalanced and I need to let my piece be more integral. But I regarded my symbols as a success while listening to the music over and over again.