Portfolio Update 2017

Check out my updated portfolio/website 

http://sophiemcintyreart.wixsite.com/creativetech

Shared Playgrounds: Week 13

This week consisted of binding the children's book, finishing off my contextual and conceptual statements  (I was incredibly sick last week so I couldnt get them done in time to be included in the process book with the rest of the groups statements), catching up on the final weeks of blogging and setting up our display for submission.  

3 stages/days of binding using mag bind: 

1. Once you have designed the book layout in Indesign, making sure to leave a white border otherwise known as the bleed so that you can trim the edges to be perfect once it is all bound. Next Print pages onto chosen paper stock (250gsm), bone each page where you want it to fold, glue the backs of each folded page to the next to create a stack of pages at double thickness 500gm. Now glue the spine for more durability and leave to dry overnight in between two boards with a weight on it to make sure the pages secure well.

2. measure how thick the stack of pages are to determine the spine width (9mm for this book) . when you know how thick the book is you edit the cover on InDesign to have the correct spine width then print. Bone where you want the cover to crease. Glue onto the back of the first and last pages in the book, making sure not to glue the back cover all the way to the spine. You need to leave an unglued strip (same measurement as the spine) so that you can open the book fully once it is finished. leave to dry again over night. 

3. Now for the fun part of trimming the dried book in the eclectic guillotine make the edges perfect. 

I wish I had photo documentation of the process, however I was so engrossed in it that I forgot. However I may be able to go back and take a couple photos of the final trimming stage before I post this blog, as I am yet to do that. Also it would have been quite hard to take photos of the first two stages since my hands were continuously covered in glue. as well as that it was so hard not to get glue on the illustration side of the pages, so there was a lot of concentration needed. 

set up for submission and showcase in progress. We have stayed true to the vibe of our project and gone for the most playful and childlike display. Very imperfect and colourful....photo of finished set up to come. 

To be included in the display: 

dolls and packaging prototypes 

posters and banners - With Doodle Dolls logo and tag line, photos and main points of research around child poverty, and textile waste.

Process book - 80 pages which include: market research, business plan, Xchallenge info, statements, Creative process with dolls etc

Doodle Dolls 2.0

the children’s book made by Kat and I 

Kat animation and halloween edition doll for interaction and play paper

Kylies app for her Interaction and play paper

...and many child related embellishments (not too much hopefully so as not to distract from the main message. 

Shared Playgrounds:Play Testing

Below are the results from the play testing we did with our first two Doll prototypes; Spidey and Benjamin the Helicopter pilot. I think it was really crucial to get feedback from out potential target market and I am really thrilled with what they said about the Dolls. The adults seem to be really on board with the fact that they are sustainable and charitable. and the children love how soft, colourful and imaginative they are. after all children did design them so they speak to the imaginations of other children. they are not tainted by adults conditioned to make things ‘normal’ and or ‘accurate.’ It celebrates the irregularity in life. maybe if more children's toys were like this they wouldn't grow up thinking figures like barbie and Ken what they need to strive for in order to be normal. there is no such thing as normal, and if there was the world would be very plain and boring. Celebrate individuality. 

Play Testing:

In order to play-test the dolls, they were taken to the AUT city campus childcare centre, where they were presented to 15 children, aged 2-5, 10 mothers, and 5 childcare teachers.

The following is a part of the script recording the initial reaction to Doodle Dolls. Due to child privacy laws, the names of the participants have been removed:

Doodle Dolls (DD): shows doll to class with children and parents sitting

Parent 1: Wow they are wonderful! what are they made of?

DD: Recycled felt

Parents (in unison): Wooooow!

Parent 2: How lovely. That’s amazing that it helps children in need

DD: Who wants to hold one?

All children put up their hand, except for the boys, who upon seeing Spidey scream SPIDER-MAN!!! And start acting like they are spraying webs from their hands.

Child 1 Grabs Ben the Pilot doll and hugs it tight with a big smile on her face…

Child 2 Reaching for Spidey: Can I hug it?

Child 2 Hugs Spidey tight and rocks back and forth while sucking thumb.

DD to Child 1: Do you like it?

Child 1: Mmmhmm. I like it cause it’s soft and, and like a monkey

Child 2 Starts nibbling Spidey’s legs.

Other Children: Let me have it! My turn!! It’ my go!

Child 1 and 2 Refuse to let go

Parent 2: Come on <name withheld> and <name withheld> time to share

Child 1 and 2 Reluctantly let dolls go

Child 3 and 4 Begin role playing with the dolls which lasts 5 minutes.

Teacher 1: Okay <name withheld> and <name withheld>, how about letting <name withheld> and <name withheld> have a turn.

Child 3 turns to Child 5: You can have it if you want…

Child 5 Grabs Ben Doll and folds it into a cushy ball and rolls it down some small steps

Child 6: Grabs and hugs Spidey

Parent 3: Wow they are the perfect size to hug!!

Child 6: Lays Spidey on the floor and begins to stab it with a Hot Wheels car.

Child 5 and 6 get distracted.

Child 7 Manages to grab both dolls: I LOVE both!

Much more of this continues over half an hour…

DD starts to leave

Parents and Teachers: When are they going to be on sale?

Head Teacher: Trust me, we will be instant fans and customers as soon as they are released. Please come visit us again with more dolls or to read your story books.

Taken directly from the process book - Full credit to Amanda Brown and Katrial Worrall. I needed to quote directly from what they had written since it is mostly quotes from the playtesting research done at aut child centre. 

My creative audio composition inspired by the 7 Chakras. It is a through composed piece that conveys the emotive qualities of each chakra.

Best heard through good quality headphones at a loud (yet comfortable) volume - preferably with eyes closed and no distractions. 

Also for some reason the sound quality is not as good on soundcloud. but unfortunately i'm not how else to upload it onto tumblr.

Hope you enjoy it as much as i enjoyed making it (yes i know it is far from perfect but to be honest i'm happy about that because its real and I made it) :D

Creative Audio week 12

Editing and Final Touches: 

From the beginning I knew I wanted to incorporate the particular nature sounds that are associated with each chakra into my composition. I thought they would add to the over feel of the song and make it more layered and vibrant without over complicating it too much. Im glad I found research (apa referenced in an earlier blog) that indicated what natural sounds best represent each chakra because it gave me more visuals to inspire my musical creativity. 

Adding nature sounds to enhance the ambiance and help to transition the sections. 

Below is a screen shot of how I edited the sound levels to make transitions smoother and create dimension and dynamics with crescendo and decrescendo. 

It made sense for me to produce my creative audio piece in Garageband because i mainly recorded using real instruments and my midi input...so a more complex program would have been unnecessary. Also I am not very intuitive with technology so it would have taken me more than 12 weeks to get used to an unfamiliar program and that was not my personal aim for my project. My aim was to create a compositional auditory story that conveyed the emotive qualities of the 7 chakras. And to challenge myself to break musical rules and explore my musical self and capabilities. It was important for me to use real instruments as much as possible instead of electronic sounds because that is what makes me most inspired and happy. 

The beginning of this semester was a real challenge for me because there was so much freedom that the possibilities where overwhelming, resulting in me being unmotivated to start.

.....However when I let go of the pressure I was putting on myself I really enjoyed it. I am really happy with my final outcome because it shows that I was not worried about the final outcome...but the experience of evolving musically. 

Shared Playgrounds: Week 12

below are screenshots of the front cover and the first to illustrations I did for the the children's book Kat has written. I chose to lay the title out weird, wonky and colorful to fit the style of the book...and also so that it would fit nicely in the small space Kat left for the title. The font was chosen because it matches the logo font. The grey colour was chosen because black would be too harsh and when I tested what it would look like to have the text colourful it seemed to detract from the illustrations. The illustrations are the most important part of the story so they need to shine. Also the grey tones were airdropped from the greys on the characters so as to obtain cohesion. I chose to arrange the text in fun different ways according to the size and shape of each illustration. I think it adds to the playful nature of the story. It is imperfect and wacky. 

Below are photos of the finished packaging prototype. Amanda kindly took helped with creating the cover this week. I have been battling with an undiagnosed illness. I have needed to take days off to go to the doctor and get tests done and of course have time to rest and recover. A couple of my symptoms include vomiting and vertigo, which when I am experiencing them there is little more i do except lay in bed. This is because the vertigo makes my vision so blurry that I cant work on anything. Fingers crossed I get some answers and feel good enough to complete the rest of my work in time for submission. It is very unpredictable so I am working hard whenever I am not feeling too sick. I think Amanda did a great job at finishing off the packaging I started, especially considering it was so last minute. I think the design is really bold and eye catching and it is totally the direction i was going to go with it.

I think using a photo of the child who created the character on the inside cover is a nice touch, as the customer will be able to put a face to the child who is benefitting from their purchase. It makes it real and personal. I think if this concept were to become a business in the future there would need to be some discussion and research done around whether or not it is safe to put a photo of the child out there. But I guess it would be up to the child and their guardians. 

Below is a photo of the pretend story Amanda wrote as an example of what we would put on the inside of the box. We believe it would create a really personal and special touch to get the children who created the original design to tell us the story behind their character. It gives the dolls more personality and life and would allow the buyer to understand more of the inspiration and history of the child and their imagination. 

Shared Playgrounds: Week 11

This week I went to the bindery on campus to make a prototype of the children's book to get experience with the binding style I thought would be best suited for a children's book. I chose a style unofficially called “Mag Bind” because it could still lay flat when made with high gsm paper/card. 

Below is a photo of the electric Guillotine that is used to cut perfect edges on your book all at once...even if you have an extremely thick book. it is very precise and satisfying. 

Also below is the logo and website Amanda got made. It was her opinion that the logos I had previously designed were not up to scratch for the vision she has for her Doodle Dolls “business.” I am not a graphic designer but in my opinion this outcome is very generic/unmemorable...and not very pleasing to the eye. I was also under the impression that something more colourful, or at least more playful would be deemed appropriate for doodle dolls, since it is a children's doll business after all... and children LOVE colour! For some reason the way the word Dolls is positioned under Doodle is really awkward on the eyes. the D’s in that font create an odd shape stacked on top of eachother and having a drastic slant on the right side is really distracting. My eyes don't know where to focus. I do however understand the thought behind the font choice ...trying to be child-like, but i think there would a lot more font options like this that would look more professional as well as childlike and playful. As I said im not a graphic designer but these are just my observations...and maybe im being more critical because my many logo prototypes were very harshly critiqued. which is okay because constructive criticism is what we need to learn and grow, however I think it was slightly rude to dismiss my designs altogether and get an external person to produce something (that isn't much better) considering this is a collaborative uni project and i am entitled to have input and to also create things that may not be completely refined. I think being extremely attached to a concept can lead people to get carried away and see uni projects as fully established businesses (in very few cases are). This should be viewed as a great opportunity to make mistakes, see what works...what doesn't and explore many options. It is the best chance for people to safely put forth their concepts and see what kind of approaches and ideas your collaborators  have with it. 

https://www.doodledolls.co/

Creative Audio Week 11

Progress:  Throat Chakra (Vissuadha)

Techniques, influences and why:

Referring back to what i said last week about the unintentional cultural influences...I would say that this section really makes me think of the amazon. This makes sense to me since the inspiration was to create something that sounds expansive and tranquil using flute and the nature sound of birds. 

I this section I played around with some note progressions that I liked in the key of G major using the flute noise in Garageband. The words to inspire this section were tranquil and expansive. so I thought I would keep it simple while having some really extened notes that sound like they are pulsating (for lack of better way to describe it). then I decided to add a layer of clarinette to give it more texture but still have it be a very similar sounding instrument. finally I completed it with some bell like synesthesia accents to add to the tranquility of it. 

The Influences for this first section/chakra…

I SPEAK -  Is the mantra you say to encourage your throat chakra flourish. 

FLUTE - Is the instrument that is associated with the throat chakra because it is all about the throat. It creates a very breathy sound, you can almost hear the voice...so it is perfect to represent communication. 

KEY OF G MAJOR - The key that represents this chakra 

COMMUNICATION - Communication flows effortlessly when ones throat chakra is in balanced and positive. 

BIRDS  - is the natural sound that represents this chakra. Birds are known for singing. they constantly communicated to one another through individual bird calls/songs. 

EXPANSIVE, CALMING, TRANQUIL, ALLURING, COMPOSED-  Are all words to inspire the vibe of this section.

Below is a screenshot of my progress with the Throat Chakra (Vissuadha) -section 5. 

Im not sure that I am going to have enough time to compose the final two sections/chakras: Third eye and Crown because I still need time to edit it all. I am okay with this being the case because it is already around 4mins long and I am really happy with what I have created. I think it sounds finished. Also a 7 section song was a goal I tasked myself and not a requirement for this paper. The main purpose was to learn and explore what audio could be and I have achieved that and am proud of what I have produced. 

to add to this I have a lot on my plate with studio at the moment (my group is very ambitious and determined) so I am putting a huge chunk of my time and energy into that. I think when you are working on group projects and solo projects at the same time, the group ones tend to take up more of your time because you have you meet up and be present and you don’t want to let anyone down by not pulling your weight or producing to the same level (this is the case for me anyway) ...something to reflect on. 

One last thing (not an excuse) is that I have been experiencing some health issues for a couple months and they have gotten a lot worse in the last couple of weeks (highly impacting my ability to function, work well and be present at uni) I have had several doctors appointments and blood tests done but the results are still unconfirmed. I didnt want to apply for an extension because dragging out a due date will actually impact other assignments and plans I have made, many involving my health. Also I thought that I could live with the sickness i am experiencing and still get through uni...be it with difficulty. it has only been in this last week that I have been too sick most days to work but at this point it is a bit late to apply for an extension anyway. Lesson learnt is that I should have been more communicative with my tutors about my struggles instead of pretending they are don't exist. 

Shared Playgrounds: Week 10

Book Layout: 

I helped Kat to colour 1/2 of his illustrations in photoshop. They proved to take quite a while to do. 

Next I took to Indesign to create the layout before printing. This was quite a challenge for me because I had not used Indesign prior to this. Luckily I remembered that the uni printers leave close to 1 cm border when printing so I made sure not to design to the edge. It is also smart to leave a boarder anyway incase you ruin the edges by getting a bit of glue on them or something. because you always have the options of trimming it down at the end, but you can never add more paper, only take away...like a haircut hahaha. 

Kat and I have been creating a children's book based on the characters in a few of the children's drawings we'd received for our prototypes. The idea behind it is that the children whose characters feature in these books would receive royalties from the sales. This is what we call Doodle Dolls 2.0. We are imagining ways the children can profit other than the Dolls. Because the children’s characters have so much personality we thought it would be a perfect way to bring them to life even more. 

Kat chose 7 drawings from the ones we got from Amandas friends and wrote a short story about the “land of Doodle Oodle, where drawings come to like.” Kat wrote it in a poem like rhyming style, that suited the quirky nature of the illustrations. 

I am really impressed with Kats approach to make the illustrations only semi digital because it obtains the essence of being hand drawn (like a child would) but with a professional and more refined aesthetic due to the digital colouring. 

Katrial quoted that; “I made the conscious decision to use a lot of yellow and blue in the illustrations; as yellow is commonly associated with happiness (Zentner, 2001), and blue with calmness (Kalmus, 1935).”

Ref:

Katrial Worrall, 2017 

Kalmus, N. M. (1935). Color consciousness. Journal of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers, 25(2), 139-147. https://doi/10.5594/J05386

Zentner, M. R. (2001). References for colours and colour--emotion combinations in early childhood. Developmental Science, 4(4), 389-398. https://doi/10.1111/1467-7687.00180

Creative Audio week 10

Progress: Heart Chakra (Anahata) 

Techniques, influences and why:

I think that my technique of finding a common note in the keys of the section I’m ending on and the section I’m beginning (modulating to)...and using that note to end the section and begin the next is really helping with the cohesion of my overall piece. eg, E major and F# major both have F#, G#, B, C# and D# in common. So I would be able to end the Solar Plexus section on one of those notes/chords and begin the Heart section on the same note/chord. 

This section is all about love so I wasnt afraid to make it a little cheesy. Guitar and wind are the dominant sounds I went for with piano playing the same chords as the rhythm guitar in the background to give it more substance and dimension. I chose to keep it quite simple with a few guitar licks to give interest and add emotion into this section. I am please with how soft and romantic it has turned out. 

Something else that I recently discovered whilst listening over the whole piece so far is that each section makes me visualise a specific country. The countries that I think of when I listen to it are roughly:  1. Root = Africa 2. Sacral/Naval = Scotland (celtic)   3. Solar Plexus = America maybe?  4. Heart = Hawaii/island  This was very unintentional but I like it:) 

...I wonder if these are the countries others would think of if asked when listening to my composition. and would they think of any of these (unintentional) cultural influences without being asked that question.

The Influences for this Section/chakra…

I LOVE - Is the mantra you say to help connect you to your Heart Chakra (Anahata) 

SOFT STRINGS (GUITAR)  - Is the instrument that is associated with it because they are expressive, lively and grand...which all convey the essence of creativity and sexuality (the core of this chakra)

KEY OF F# MAJOR - The key that represents this chakra 

LOVE & HEALING - is what is heightened when your Sacral/Naval Chakra is working well/in balance.

WIND/AIR  - Is the natural sound that represents this chakra. Wind/air can be very soft and soothing. It can also hold a lot of emotion in it. 

SOOTHING, GENTLE, EMOTIONAL, SOFT - Are all words to inspire the vibe of this section.

Below is a screenshot of my progress with Heart Chakra (Anahata) - section 4 

Shared Playgrounds: Week 9

LOGO DESIGN -

As a group we discussed that we wanted the branding to be colourful, fun, childlike...to convey the concept business....

Below are just some of my logo designs. all prototypes with the intention of further developing the one the group and other uni thought best. 

> the idea behind this one was to convey the collaborative aspect of this business, between the children (represented with the pencil - their drawings) and us; the creators of the dolls (represented as the eye of the needle and the string which spell out ‘Doodle Dolls’) 

> these next few are all simple versions of what previously designed. The feedback from the groups was that the pencil was misleading and basically “not suited.” I was instructed to stick to only text but keep it playful and childlike. 

> this one was designed by request to not have script font, because it is too hard to read. The feedback on this one was that the felt balls look like MnM’s. 

> This is another wacky script one.  

> I like the use of felt in this one because it incorporates our use of material without having a picture, and gives it nice texture. I believe that it is legible enough. It is also gender neutral. If i were to refine this one  would try to include more of the orange that is on the tips of the D and L or take it away altogether because it is distracting to only have a little bit of it. 

> This is another felt one with a different font, I really love this font because it almost looks like string. However it could pose legibility issues for some people. 

> This is another felt one, but with the use of felt pom poms. 

I designed many more but I didnt want to post them all here because that would result in the world's longest blog haha. Sadly Amanda did not agree with the direction I was taking the logo and made the executive decision to give the task to someone else :( I know that they are not refined but at that stage I was just trying to produce many options to then further refine some. I also took on board all feedback I received from people. However it turned into a continuous cycle of get request for a certain thing to be changed and then when I did it still wasn't right/good enough. The positive is that I learnt a lot from the process and I feel more confident using photoshop. 

Creative Audio Week 9

Progress:  Solar Plexus Chakra (Manipura)

Techniques, influences and why:

This week I started out by writing a very poised, confident and controlled violin melody in the key of E major, influenced by the qualities of Manipura. 

This is a link to just the viloin part of this section. https://soundcloud.com/user-929711757/violin-for-manipura

I felt as though it needed more of a fiery, free/ not so controlled energy to it. The vision of a roaring fire kept popping into my mind. I decided that an electric guitar solo would best convey this vision whilst still being a string instrument (as this section is about the violin) 

I began learning how to play guitar around age 6 because my dad played guitar. Throughout my life I have continued to play guitar here and there but never took dedicated lessons (unlike piano). I would say I am better than the average person who knows a few chords but I am not practiced enough to play a solo or pick very well. Since this is the case I called on the help of my boyfriend Kimiora, who can play the guitar a lot better than me. I got him to play a solo using the notes in the key and melody that I had previously written. I told him that I wanted it to sound free and wild like a fire. I think the result is very representative of what I think the head strong side of Manipura would sound like. 

MODULATIONS: I already knew that commonly songs don't have more than 1 or 2 modulations/key changes at the most...if any. So to attempt to change the key for each section....7 TIMES is crazy and not recommended, as it would make it near impossible to have the piece sound cohesive. 

Since im not restricting myself to recommended ways/musical rules I decided to stick to what I researched to be the musical Keys associated with each of the 7 Chakras...so with each section not only do I change key but I also use completely different instruments, and create a new melody AND vibe. 

time will soon tell is this is going to turn out to be a jumble of random clashing sounds or a unorthodox yet strangely satisfying piece to listen to. My hope s that with each section it molds and evolves into the next...resulting in a emotional musical journey...like a sound story :)  

The Influences for this first section/chakra…

I DO - Is the mantra you say to help connect you to your Solar Plexus Chakra (Manipura)

VIOLIN - Is the instrument that is associated with it because they are expressive, lively and grand...which all convey the essence of creativity and sexuality (the core of this chakra)

KEY OF E MAJOR - The key that represents this chakra

WISDOM & POWER - is what is heightened when your Sacral/Naval Chakra is working well/in balance.

ROARING FIRE  - is the natural sound that represents this chakra. fire has a lot of power. you can try and control it but it has a mind of its own and will do what it wants to do...which connects to the mantra of this chakra which is I DO. 

CONFIDENT, FRESH, CONTROLLED, ENLIVENED, POISED- Are all words to inspire the vibe of this section.

Below is a screenshot of my progress with Solar Plexus (manipura) Chakra/section 3

Creative Audio week 8

Progress: Sacral Chakra 

Techniques, influences and why:

This section flowed out of me easier and as a result was a lot of fun. I think it was due to the fact that is was not the first section... I already had something to work from. At first I was a bit apprehensive to work on this section because I was to be using Big Pipes and Trumpets as the instrument ... which I have never played nor do I have the real instruments. I thought It would be hard to produce a quality trumpet sound without an actual trumpet. This turned out to be true, however because I have decided not to follow musical rules it didn't really matter. I am happy with how this section has turned out because it is very lively, grand and creative...which to me really embodies what I feel Scadhisthana would sound like. 

I also decided to layer this section with clapping because it was a way to transition the beat in it to be more energetic and happy. I also feel like clapping in a song really lifts it up..giving it a ‘rejoice’ quality.  

This section makes me really happy and inspired. 

The Influences for this first section/chakra…

I Feel - Is the mantra you say to help connect you to your Sacral/Naval Chakra (Scadhisthana) 

Big Pipes and Trumpets - Is the instrument that is associated with it because they are expressive, lively and grand...which all convey the essence of creativity and sexuality (the core of this chakra) 

Key of D Major - The key that represents this chakra 

Sexuality and Creativity - is what is heightened when your Sacral/Naval Chakra is working well/in balance. 

Ocean, Rain and Waterfall - is the nature sound that represents this chakra. water is all about flow ...flow of energy.... creative energy...sexual energy. 

Grand, Open, Energetic, Lively, Bouncy - Are all words to inspire the vibe of this section. 

Below is a screenshot of my progress with the Sacral/Naval Chakra (Scadhisthana) 

Shared Playgrounds week 8

This week one of the things I worked on was a packaging prototype. 

I thought it would be really fitting to create packaging that looked like a book, to convey the storytelling aspect of these Dolls. The owner opens up the packaging (front cover) and is presented with a doll that has a story of its own...but an unfinished one that opens up the owner to a world of imagination. 

The packaging is also designed so that its something to hold onto, not to discard straight after opening. And will be made out of recycled materials. 

Monday Critique: We got a lot of good feedback from the critique on monday. People loved our imperfect childlike aesthetic. However there was some concern, mainly from Ben Kenobi (our tutor) regarding how ambitious we are being with what we are aiming to achieve in 12 weeks. He said it seems “risky.” I agree with him, however we are going to work hard to get as much done as possible to a quality standard and see where that leaves us. We have made a priority list and a Doodle Dolls 2.0 that will have things like a children's book to create prototypes for and project the directions Doodle Dolls could possibly take.

Shared Playgrounds: Week 7

My First Doll Prototype!

Katriel and I made the first doll prototypes using scraps of merino wool sourced from AUT’s Textile & Design Lab. 

We were instructed by Donna that we could use rejected knitted garments as the base and placing the loose felt onto it in the pattern we wanted to then be fed through AUT’s felt loom . The knitted garments were perfect as the allowed the felt to fuse securely to it. 

We found that felt is a particularly suited material to use when wanting to create from recycled scraps because you can use the method of ‘carding’ to blend felt to get your desired colour. Its the perfect merge painting and textiles, Which is ideal for us since we are aiming to preserve the paintily/sketchy quality in the dolls that the original drawings have. 

Below are images of the process I went through to sew Spidey after felting its colours and pattern to the base. I trimmed the edges to create a neater pattern. 

I then hand stitched it inside out, which was quite slow and would ideally be done on a machine in the future. 

Some feedback I received regarding the design is that it would be fun to have bendable wire in the centre of Spidey's legs so that they could be bent it shapes, much like pipe cleaners. I think this is a really good idea, given that it was done well to insure it be safe for child to play with (not have a wire come out and poke someone in the eye or anything to that effect) 

Creative Audio Week 7

Progress:  Root Chakra 

Beginning this piece was quite challenging because I had some very specific ideas of what I thought it should sound like and no idea of how to actually accomplish it. At the same time I didnt want to conceptualise the music too much because I wanted to go into with a playful and explorative mindset. I wanted to create something that wasn't confined to “rules and preconceived ideas/ways” of creating. 

Before this week I have been unconsciously restricting myself to what I think I should do and what I think sounds “professional.” What I worked on and submitted for formative assessment was made with too much concern for what people who listened to it would think. I was not confident enough to be playful and make without careful consideration.

After the mid semester break I decided to say “screw it...Im going to have fun and make something from the heart no matter what it results in.” and here is the beginning of that!

Below is a screenshot of my progress with the Root Chakra (Muladhara) 

Techniques, influences and why:

The Influences for this first section/chakra...

I am - Is the mantra you say to help connect you to your root chakra (Muladhara)

Drums - Is the instrument that is associated with it because they create a solid grounding sound (a lot of the time) 

Key of C Major - The key that represent the root chakra - it is common, universal and centred. 

Basic Trust - is what you feel when your root chakra is in alignment. 

Thunder - is the nature sound that represents the root chakra because like the drums it is very guttural. 

Synchronized, harmonised, grounded, based, being - Are inspiration words to keep in mind when creating this section. 

Technique....

This first section/chakra represents basic trust. It is in the key of C major with Drums being the instrument associated with it. Having this in mind I thought I would start with a very basic and primitive sounding drum beat. I wanted the beat to dominate and ground the listener. 

Even though drums are the instrument connected to the Root Chakra I didnt want to only have drums in this section. The reason for this is I felt it needed to have a heavy vibration to it because intense vibrational music makes me feel very grounded and present and thats what you feel when your Root chakra is perfectly aligned/balanced . 

To create this quality I played around with a bunch of different ambient sounds composed on my piano and transferring it to Garageband through my midi interface. I discovered that when I changes notes very slowly it created a foundation that started to layer and build to a fuller vibrational sound. 

I also used crescendo as a tool to build the intensity and emotion before transitioning into the next section. 

Creative Audio Week6

Formative assessment this week. I cant believe how fast it has gone. Up till now I have been experimenting with different sounds and techniques. I am gaining a better idea of what I want to continue on with and work on for my final piece. a couple days ago I was giving myself a hard time because I thought I should be well into producing my final creative audio work by now. But then I realised that it is just as important to experiment and be playful with sound first so that you don't automatically go for the obvious/what you would naturally do. It has also given me time to develop my concept more. In the past when writing/playing music I don't think about it much ...I just play what i think sounds interesting and appealing. This time I have developed a different approach that is has a mixture of intense structure that is almost mathematical contrasting with complete freedom to do whatever I want within each section. 

Below is a photo of the 7 sections (representing each of the 7 chakras). This is as i said before in the early stages since I have been experimenting prior. As you can see I have labeled each instrumental line with what chakra it represents as well as what note or chord to focus on eg. heart chakra has guitar and is F#. Im thinking I might try modulate it...instead of having one key. 

This is the chart I made to inform me in different ways when I create sound.