REFINED CONCEPT STATEMENTS

We have been working with our initial themes for a little bit, and now we started to refine it into concept statements. I am still working on these, as I think it might still need more work. The themes from my last blog post are now narrowed down to what i want to say in my animation. The concepts are given below.

New ideas comes from new perspectives.
We will always come up with the same solutions, unless we challenge ourselves to look at the problems in a different way. From a different perspective. And that is what generates new ideas.

Don't throw away your potential for making a difference.
We have a tendency of forgetting we have the power to fix, change and solve the problems which we face.

We get caught up in the routine and start looking at things the same way. We see the limitations of other people as ours. But we have to break out of the routine and stop looking at other peoples limitations as something which limits our potential. It is only then we could make a change in our lives.

Be careful of what you do, because it is significant.
In an age where anonymity is at the heart of the most frequent form of communication, people forget everything we say has an implication.

We express our ideas and say what ever we want on the Internet. Because we think that no one monitors it or no one knows about what you say on it. It only takes one time of getting in to trouble for us to learn lesson.

Challenge people to be better than who they are now.

THEMES THAT SPEAKS TO ME

We are slowly starting to explore themes which we think are important to us. Sometimes identifying something important to us might be a little difficult than we think it is. But if we actually look into ourselves by asking question such as those on the first blogpost, we can identify some of the things that matters to us.

Communication, taking initiative and curiosity are some themes which interests me a lot. Therefore i have started making little statements out of these, which i will make concept statements out of. Here are some of them.

The lines below the main statements are other ways of saying the same statement. The reason for these statements are that, if you could rephrase your theme in a different way, you could possibly see other interesting variations/concepts which might have a lot more potential then our first statement.

Clear communication is crucial

Clear communication is the most important

Clear communication is essential

Clear communication is vital

Simple communication is mandotory

A straight forward message is the key

Explicit conveyance is necessary

Plain communication is indispensable

Direct communication is invaluable

Honest communication is critical

Clear communication is decisive

Every action has a reaction

Reaction is the result of a previous action

Action results in consequence

Action causes results

Action evokes change

Every actions has an impact

Input equals output

Every action has a feedback

Every action has a response

Every action has an outcome

Change happens through actions

Curiosity takes you places

Curiosity leads to new answers

Intense desire to know leads to adventure

Interest will lead you to adventure

Questioning is adventurous

Spirit of inquiry takes you to new places

Curiosity directs you to new places

Curiosity guides you to new ideas

Curiosity sparks adventure

Taking risks will lead to adventure

Curiosity evokes new experiences

I CAN IMAGINE

Last Friday during our class we went to the Architectural Salvage of Sarasota. The Architectural Salvage is a place where objects from the past are stored. Old furniture, books, photos, electronics, etc. Our mission was to find objects that speaks to us. Something that captures our imagination and brings back some memories. We were given some statements which we are supposed to further develop. These were: 

• I can imagine that this object was found...
• I can imagine that the original owner of this item...
• I can imagine when this item became obsolete...
• I can imagine that when making this object...

 I found many objects which I thought had a story behind it. I am going to share three of them in this blog post.

1. The fountain.


I can imagine that the fountain was found in a previous residence of a Sultan. His garden to be specific. He was fascinated by nature and in his residence would be a beautiful garden in which the fountain was placed. The fountain would have been surrounded by a pon of goldfish which was a gift form the Japanese Emperor of that time. 


Every evening the Sultan would let people come into his garden and enjoy the beauty of it. Many people would bring their kids along with them to this magical place. The kids were fascinated by the goldfish in the pond and they would spend hours watching and feeding them. Many also would take photographs of themselves with the sultan with the fountain in the background of the photograph. 


When the Sultan first wanted the fountain made, he called would have called upon the most talented sculptors in the land to make the whole sculptor in metal. But late he would realize that the metal did not go along with the beauty surrounding the fountain, hence he would ask his sculptors to to put a thick layer of plaster over the metal. The faded orange which we can see now on the sculptor is due to the metal at core of the sculptor being rusted away. 


Soon after the death of the Sultan, there would have been a major change in the political system of the country. The age of the sultans would come to and end and the age of democracy would have been born. With that, the fountain, the Sultans residence and the garden went in to the history. All that remains is the fountain and thousands od photographs from that era when people were taking photographs with the fountain in the background. 

2. The suitcase


I can imagine that this suitcase was found in the basement of a three storey mansion which belonged to a business man who loved traveling. There would have been several different suitcases in the basement but this particular one was his favorite. He must have taken it to all his adventures around the world as a business man marketing incandescent light bulbs. He would never separate the suitcase from himself except for the duration of the flight. Reason for which it being that the security would not let him carry light bulbs as a carryon item. 


The business man would have pasted stickers and labels of light bulbs from all over the world on this very special suitcase of his. He would only carry this favorite shirt, jeans and the prototype of the bulb in the suitcase. He never puts anything else in to it. Only those three items. 


Even though he knows (from experience) that he would not be able to take the suitcase asa carryon item he would always try, and hope that he would be able to take it with him on one of his flights. But he would have never been managed to, and yet he would not have given up on trying. 


I can imagine how he made partitions inside the suitcase. He would half the inside of the suitcase with black styrofoam of 11mm. The bulbs would go on the very top left corner of it with the safety bubble-wrap around it. Right below the bulbs will be his favorite pink shirt pressed and folded neatly in a japanese fold. And his favorite black jeans would cover the other half of the suitcase, neatly pressed and folded with the pockets facing upwards. He made sure he always arranged it in this order. 


I can imagine the introduction of LED's which probably would have been the primary cause for the business man to lose his job in the incandescent light bulb industry. With that probably ended his journeys with his suitcase too. 

3. The Buoy


I can imagine that this buoy was found under a bed in a small fisherman's hut which used to be owned by an old man. The buoy was probably stored under the bed, with his other marine gear such as ropes, poles, roars and anchors. All very old and rusted. The buoy and then anchors probably were the only gear which was out in the open under the bed. The others would be stored in a wooden box which he inherited from his father. 


I can imagine that the original owner of the buoy being someone who was an owner of a big boat. Probably in the range of 150 to 200 foot. The size of the buoy helps me to understand that this was not used by a small boat. The vessel probably must have been primarily used for  Yellow Fin Tuna fishing. 


The old man must have come to own the buoy only after seeing it float in the open water on several occasions after being hesitated to take it for several times. The buoy must have been too big for his 15 foot boat so he used it as a place marker for his bait cage which he would anchor at the edge of the reef. 


The big dent on the buoy must have been from a significant accident the old man must have had. Probably while in the harbor with the buoy, a bigger vessel must have had collided with it. The buoy probably saved the old mans life that day. 


I can imagine the old man taking the buoy home every evening and storing it under his bed. It was probably his old age that would make him leave the buoy at home after several years of using it. Due to his stubborn personality he never had a wife or kids who would have inherited his belonging after he died.

TO LOOK INTO OURSELVES

We just started our concept class for this semester and I think that this semester might be the best semesters of all! This concept class is super interesting. This is going to be the class in which we will be developing the concepts for our thesis. So this is a very important class. At the moment we are talking about stories and how to write stories that matters to us. And one way of writing a story that matter to us is to look in to ourselves and to develop a better understanding of ourselves. 

We got a couple of question to start the conversation with from our professor. And those are listed here, along with my responses to them. I got to say that these questions are very personal and sometimes not the most comfortable questions to answer on a blog. But here it is. Hopefully you will get some insights in to my personality and who I am by the time you are done reading the answers. 

1)  What is one thing that always warms your heart, and puts a big smile on your face?    

It has always made me smile and feel good when someone appreciates something I did. Especially when that something is just a very simple. So when someone appreciates the simple things I do, it always puts a big smile on my face. 

2)  How has someone significantly influenced your life?   

My dad. He is the most inspiring person ever. He is someone who never stops working. He is old and retired now, but still he would wake up early in the morning before anyone else and get to work. I dont know where he brings out the motivation to do all he does. Or how he finds so many things to do. And the most amazing thing is that he finds pleasure and peace by doing work.  He has always been a positive influence for me. 

3)  If money were not a concern, and you know that you would be very successful at it, what job would you choose?   

A Motion Designer. Even if money was a concern I would do Motion Design. My passion is in this field and making cool looking stuff which has an impact on other peoples lives makes me happy. I believe in working in a field which makes me happy. 

4)  What is your biggest 'pet peeve' and why do you think it bothers you so much?   

I am bothered when people dont care about things. It can be something simple or something very complicated. It annoys me when people dont care about stuff. I think when people do that, they start building up ignorance and ignorance plays a major role in creating problems. 

5)  What was the last thing that happened to you that truly made you cry? 

I had a major misunderstanding which resulted in me crying. I really dont want to go in to details.

6)  What is the one thing that you find completely addictive?  

Listening and mixing house music. I can spend hours and hours listening and mixing some good house music and not think about anything i have to do. It is the most addicting thing ever! And i love it. 

7)  If you could be smarter, what is the one thing that you wish you could truly understand?

Peoples stupidity. Im not saying everyone is stupid. But many of the times i have a very hard time understanding the stupid things which we do.

8)  Describe the most terrifying nightmare that you have had.   What do you think it meant?

I do have nightmares quite often. One which i can remember is dreaming about someone close to me drowning. I dont think it meant anything. Or may be what it meant was that i need to keep in contact with the people who i care about.

9)  What is the most disturbing image you have ever seen?    

I have seen a lot of disturbing images and experienced a lot of different things in my life. Some of which was through the internet or movies. But the things from the internet and movies are not necessarily really connected to me in a direct manner.

I think the most disturbing event or images I have seen is right after the Tsunami of 2004. Right after the catastrophic event me and my dad were on our way to my moms island since there where some of my relatives who were badly effected in the event. I was on a speed boat back to my moms island and I saw dead bodys and household stuff floating in the water.   It was then that I realized the how massive of an impact it had on everyone, including me.

That whole event has been the most disturbing thing which i have experienced in my life. 

10)  If you could fix one of the world's problems, what would it be, and why?   

I believe it would be to solve the problems of inequality. And I dont mean to say that one person is has to get the same amount money as a everyone else but I am talking about inequality in its simplest form. Every human being is equal in nature and hence must be treated as any other human being. Everyones dignity is the same.