VR
Title: Polarity-Loneliness and Solitude
2022/10/03
Belgian-American poet, May Sarton, once said:" Loneliness is the poverty of self; Solitude is the richness of self".
Somewhere in my 20s, I discovered that being alone doesn't mean being lonely. It was since then I began enjoying eating meals on my own without anyone's accompany, which I would not be able to endure before. Being solitary, I started living in the moment, enjoying every single moment of my life, and appreciating the little things that appeared in my life.
Since this is a valuable experience and a chance for self-reflection, I want to document my transition from experiencing loneliness to embracing solitude in this VR project.
Scene 1:Loneliness
In scene one, I want to visualize my experience with loneliness. I feel like loneliness is like a grand house in the middle of the sea, above which is the night sky.
When I was feeling lonely, what I was scared of is the passing of time. I felt like the time passed slowly, and they were not well spent. That's why I wanted to incorporate the sand glass in the scene. The sand glass is the representation of the passing time.
I also put a girl in the sand glass. The girl was dancing ballet, or more specifically, practicing ballet positions.
I got this inspiration from my childhood memory of practicing Chinese folk dance. I used to do drilling on basic hand and leg gestures over and over. The since the they are not continuous movements, there is a long pause between each position. I would have to hold my body still for each gesture. That was when I felt like the time passed so slowly. I want to use the pause of ballet positions as a metaphor of the time passing slowly and are barely endurable.
To achieve that, I may need to create customized model animation in 3D modeling software.
Scene 2: Solitude
I want to emphasize the contrast between scene 1 and scene 2. To achieve that, I decide to remain the layout of the architecture from scene 1 to scene 2. I use a lighter color of the skybox to create a different mood. When I started embracing being alone, started paying attention to my surroundings. Most of the time when I look outside dorm, I would notice the beautiful sunset. From this view, I get a sense of inner peace. Reflecting on this personal experience, I decided to corporate the warm sunset color into my scene.
In this scene, I use the passing of a train to represent the passing of time. I got this inspiration from the animation film Spirited Away. In the film, the train is a one-way trip that represents one's life from the time of birth to one's death. I intend to use this metaphor not only to visualize time but also to expand the duration of time from the first scene, which focuses on the moment, to a greater scale, that is, the overview of life. This helps me reflect on how I want to get alone with myself and appreciate my everyday life.
For the human figure, I would use the same model from scene 1 and add a dancing animation. I prefer using a clip of ballet dancing for my animation, as aligned with my previous scene.
Some other elements that I may use or may not:
scene 1:
audio: multiple human voice: from whispering to screaming back to whispering to silence
scene: water wave from mild to intensive to mild
Other references:
Audio + head sculpture: my concern, my mind.
Pauline: I love this concept, and I find it really meaningful. I think it's a really good concept also to use VR for, since it involves fantastic and symbolic scenes. What are you thinking for the music? Can't wait to see more!
Cole: You have a very cohesive theme and seem to be very aware of how you want your assets to connect together. It might be tricky to find all these assets if you aren't wanting to make them but should be doable and I am excited to see it!
Jannah: I absolutely love the personal and deep fell of this. I also like the analogy of the sand glass in the first scene, as well as the inspiration taken from "Spirited Away" in the second one! Good luck :)
meera: i always saw vr as a means to escape our lonely or limited world. i think this concept is very cool cause it challeneges that very thought.
Theyab: This is really a good idea in which someone could actually find inner peace and meditate when looking at the sunset.
Wendy: It's an interesting concept and I like the reflection in water.
Jiapei: I really like how both personal and universal your concept is. The references that you gave also works well for us to imagine what you are trying to create. I wonder how the transition between the two scenes will take place though. Looking forward to your final work!