The Nomads Map

Click here to see the original size and download, print, etc.

This is the map I created by taking lines from the national borders of the world map and made what I'm calling as "The Nomads Map".

Using a transparent paper, I put it on the world map and drew pieces of lines from the country's borders. Then, I changed the position of the paper (turned upside-down, went to another place in the world map) and drew another piece of line, and so on.

The concept was to break national borders to create a new map. In this map, I'm showing that this project shows part of the nomads map and that the map goes beyond the frame.

News

Hm... what shall I say about it... Well, I don't think it is funny.

European art causes controversy
An art installation at the European Union Council building in Brussels, which is meant to poke fun at European stereotypes, is proving to be highly controversial.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7827762.stm

Handed in! Phew!

I've been absent from this blog in the last week. Basically I was finishing my piece to hand it in on Wednesday (21/01), so it was a crazy marathon finishing that for the hand in and I was absent from anything apart from the Adobe Flash, Adobe AfterEffects, my camera and my Critical Evaluation essay. Basically I had one week for the post-production of the video, which is a really short time, especially because I've never worked with video editing before. So I was making it until the Tuesday night (which I had no sleep at all) to be able to fit the schedule and not miss the assessment. Those who knows me knows that this is atypical for me. I usually take the last two days just to make the finishing adjustments. This project was quite unusual in many ways.

Nevertheless, I'm back to life again. And if I say that I finished the project, I said wrong. It is done for the assessment but there are still things I'm going to change and get better to put available online. The deadline for it to be completely and beautifully done should be on the 11th of February, as previews planned.

I'll try to put a first sight available here, so you can take a look at what I handed in and what I need to change and get better.

About the project

This project is my final project of the Master in Interactive Media, at University of the West of England, Bristol.

It is about stories of nomads, people that are constantly moving and leaving things behind. It is a collection of stories by people from and in different parts of the world who wrote about what they have ever left behind.

I’m trying to show and communicate in this project that not only people who move from place to place should be seen as nomads, but we all should see ourselves as nomads, as foreigners, as we do not have roots and we are not attached to any land, and we are in constant movement, no matter if it is by moving from place to place or just because time goes by. Therefore we are all moving forward and leaving things behind.

“(…) The foreigner lives within us: he is the hidden face of our identity, the space that wrecks our abode, the time in which understanding and affinity founder. (…) The foreigner comes in when the consciousness of my difference arise, and he disappears when we all acknowledge ourselves as foreigners, unnameable to bonds and communities.” (Kristeva, Stranger to Ourselves, 1941, p 1)

My aim in this project is to focus on individuals rather than their nationalities and to break national borders. To see people not by where they come from, but as another human being.

To achieve that, I sent notebooks abroad to people in different parts of the world with the question “What have you left behind?” and asked them to fill in a page and pass the notebook to another person. After one month, I collected about 130 testimonies from people from different countries, from different social, cultural and educational backgrounds.

After collecting the data, I developed a website to present this content I’ve received, and also to try to communicate my point of view.

What have you left behind? - story of nomads by nomads
www.whathaveyouleftbehind.com

Test/Simulation + First layout

This is part of the test I did yesterday (with no proper tripod, bad light and bad crop) but just to see how the animation will work and to help me planning for the proper shooting tomorrow.

This is the loading part.


This is after loading (building up the website, but there will be a "skip intro" for the returning users).


The idea is to have something like this:

The map will be the video and all the other element will be above it.
I'll explain the things about this test (like sizes of button, interaction between the elements, etc) soon.

I'm now preparing the things to film tomorrow. But at least you can get a sense of the website.

The project is getting a shape now. I'm very pleased and positive with the final layout. Using the proper lighting, tripod, etc, I believe it's going to be very interesting and beautiful really.

Shooting... Test

I did a test of shooting/record today to prepare to shoot on Wednesday. This means that I need to buy some material tomorrow and spare material in case the pen ends, the map is ripped, or whatever.

By the way, I've never imagine that rip a paper for the layout would be so difficult. No because the paper is hard or anything, but the piece I'm ripping can't be completely difform. It has to be just a bit, and this "just a bit" sometimes makes me waste more paper than I should. But I got the way now. It is basically draw a line in pencil of the size (more or less) that I want and rip it very slowly. Worked quite well.

Oh, another thing that is ridiculous to think of is that I have to prepare my nails to film, otherwise it will be more on focus than it should. It's ridiculous, isn't it? To think that when there is so much to do. The price of being a hand's model. Hahah. :P

Anyway, some things I've noticed that I have to do:
- Put blue tack at the back of each small paper even if it's for just one picture.
- Cut the paper in it's fiber, for the larger areas of the piece
- Mark the pages of the notebooks for me to open it, otherwise the blank pages will appear much more than the interesting ones.

I'll post here the simulation soon. I'm preparing what I recorded now.

Storyboard

I'm planning the storyboard to record the film and take the pictures on Wednesday in a studio. My friend, generously is going to help me in this and open her studio to me.

It's the first time I work with video, especially being the big part of the website, so there are some things that I really don't know what to expect and how to make it work effectively. So, at this moment I need to work collaboratively and get some help.

I need to plan everything not to waste time. So, this is how I'm planning (click to see it bigger).

Although the part of constructing the website seems to be very long, everything will be fast-forward. I'll try to make as much reduced as possible and even cut some parts if necessary.

Here is the the layout when I stop making the page, and actually start the website.








I'll post a simulation of the final layout here soon.

Loading... test

While I was making a test for the video, I had some ideas for the loading.

The idea is to make the loading while the books are "arriving" in the scene. During the animation, the paper can change for "Loading... don't leave this website behind", "Loading... almost there", ... until "Done! Click to continue".

This way, from the loading the user sees that the project is about real notebooks, he/she already emerge in the aesthetic of the website (rough, handwritten, world map in the background). The concept of this loading is that we wait for the books to arrive to have the website. The website is made of all these books. At the same time, with the world map at the background, the concept is that I sent notebooks for different places in the world.

Layout

I'm working on the layout and I'm showing here the way it is going.

As I said in another post, I was thinking about showing a sentence while the video (of me drawing the map) was running. The background for the sentence was due to the transparency problem. I need an area to put the sentence on. So, In a talk with my tutor, she said that it was possible but maybe not the best solution yet. That is true and after sketching more I realised that it would be too digital for such a tactile/rough aesthetic I'm creating.

More sketches, thinking, and dreaming about layout:












And then I had this idea that I feel much more confident now:
The idea is that starting the video, I take a notebook, open the black ribbon, write "what have you left behind?", open it and leave at the top left of the screen (this will then become a jpg over the video) - at this point I already show the real notebook to users - and they can associate with the sentences that are going to appear. That will be the space to appear the sentences from testimonies while the video is running (I'll try to match the timing of the video with the timing of the sentences).

As soon as I put the book there, I take a piece of paper and write the button of the website "map view", "nomads view", etc. and put in the right place on the layout. This will also become the upper layer: the video will run below the book and the buttons.

I think it might work and can become a very interesting visual (some inspirations: Be Kind Rewind website - not online anymore - but the image is here: http://inspiringwebsites.files.wordpress.com/2007/11/be_kind_rewind.png / Billy Harvey Music http://www.billyharveymusic.com/)

Kept reading testimonies for the last... 6, 8 hours…

I was reviewing and cutting the sentences all over again. Done now. Time to relax a bit.


This drawing was just to relax my mind and stop looking sentences and sentences for a bit. And also to test my new toy: a tablet. :)

Take a first look on the testimonies

I cut parts of testimonies of the books and put it in a sequence. Although I'm still working on it and there are still testimonies to insert (especially the ones in another language), you can have a look here:

Click here to watch!
http://www.marianamota.com/whathaveyouleftbehind/second_cut.html

This is just a test of sequence of images (not layout!) to see how the sentences work in sequence. The layout will be very different from this. To know more about the layout, take a look in the previews posts.

QUESTIONNAIRE
Your opinion is very (very!) important to me:

1. When did you stop watching (number of slide)?
2. What was the atmosphere of these slides? Emotional, playful, happy, positive, melancholic, boring,...?
3. Tell me 3 adjectives about what you've watched:
4. Were there any specific slides that got your attention? Why? (no need to put number if you don't know, just tell me what was about)
5. Any comments are welcome:

Thanks!!! It's just that I have seen so many times theses testimonies that I loose the notion of how the atmosphere of that is and I need your fresh opinion. :)

Here or by email: marianamota@marianamota.com

The constant exchange with the audience is what makes this project so special to me and what makes me constantly enthusiastic during the process: Books arriving gradually (each time I receive one I get really excited about the content and gives me energy to go on); people's feedback (not just when I ask, but I've been receiving emails that makes me really happy when I know that someone is following my thoughts); working collaboratively (this project put me in contact with other professionals and students with whom I exchanged knowledge and opinions).

The most difficult part in the process is to abandon good ideas in order to get the best solution for a particular situation, to leave some ideas behind.

Cutting, editing, matching...

I cut parts of the testimonies and tried to put in a sequence. I realised that if it is showed randomly it doesn't really work, some testimonies looses its strengh.

It's just like in documentaries. I was getting what is most valuable and different from each testimony, but always concerned in respecting each of them, not contradicting what the person wrote when his/her sentence was out of the context.


The sentences will appear while the video of me drawing the map (breaking borders) is running.