Week 1 | Brainstorming

Before the new school semester had even officially begun, we were encouraged to start thinking about what we wanted for our final project - the Television Commercial (TVC). But what was more important than the actual subject matter itself, was our personal motivations for this project.

For my past projects I tried to challenge myself to detailed interiors and dark atmospheric lighting but now I wanted to do something that would highlight my strengths which would be something more organic with warm colour schemes and bright lighting for the environments.

The Setting

I knew immediately that I did not want my TVC to take place in the contemporary world as I wanted something that could allow for much more fantastical visuals.

This led me to narrow the setting down to two options: Ancient Greece and Fairy Forest

Ancient Greece

Terracotta neck-amphora (jar)

ca. 530 B.C.

Attributed to an artist near Exekias

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Ancient Greece had this very classic appeal and I thought I could use the unique style of the paintings on ancient vases for my animation. I was especially interested in Greek mythology and came up with some ideas of a product that could've helped in those situations, for example:

Idea 1 | Three Golden Apples

Atalanta's eclipse

1938

Charles Meere

National Trust S.H. Ervin Gallery Collection, Alan Renshaw Bequest

There is a saying among the internet that throwing an apple to a woman in Ancient Greece would be considered a marriage proposal. Although the origin of this belief is blurry, there are myths that include apples and marriage, specifically that of Atalanta and Hippomenes. When Atalanta announced that she would only marry a man who could beat her at running, Hippomenes received three golden apples from Aphrodite, the goddess of love, so that he could distract Atalanta by dropping the golden apples every time Atalanta caught up to him. This helped him win the race and her hand in marriage.

I thought I could use the basis of this myth to create a commercial that was similar to that of those for engagement rings except with golden apples instead.

Idea 2 | Heat Protector

The Sun or the Fall of Icarus

1819

Merry-Joseph Blondel

Louvre Museum

In the myth of Icarus, when Icarus and his father, Daedalus, were escaping imprisonment by wings that were held together with wax. Icarus flew too close to the sun, causing the wax to melt, and fell to his death.

I wanted to invent a product that could protect the wings from the heat of the sun and prevent his fall, though I had not thought about the specifics of how this product would look like or function.

Others

Although those were the two ideas that seemed to be the most feasible, there were also other products that I had thought of for this setting, such as:

- a perfume made of Aphrodite's blood

- a blindfold or a contraption that turned a person's head to protect them (in reference to the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, and Medusa)

- a siren song translator that revealed the true viciousness of sirens (in reference to Homer's Odyssey)

Fairy Forest

The Quarrel of Oberon and Titania

1849

Sir Joseph Noel Paton

National Gallery of Scotland

The other setting that I was especially excited about was a forest environment containing fairies (and other magical creatures). I wanted the fairies in this setting to be inspired by insects such as butterflies, bees, moths and dragonflies, which meant that they would have to be very small. The products will have to be made out of organic materials and the size of fairies will have to be kept in mind which could lead to interesting designs.

I had several ideas in mind such as:

- a plaster made of leaves and tree sap that conduct magic to heal magical injuries (eg. a broken unicorn horn)

- a pollination gun that could help fairies pollinate flowers

- an anti-stick product that could make fairies repellent to sticky things (such as honey, tree sap, pollen or even spiderwebs)

- a product that could help fairy wings stay waterproof in the rain so that they can continue to fly

The last two ideas seemed to have the most potential so I expanded on them.

Idea 1 | Non-stick Spiderwebs

For this product, I decided to focus on the problem with the highest stake - getting stuck in spiderwebs. With the threat of being eaten by a spider, the TVC could become much more exciting. But this meant that the solution to this problem had to be just as engaging. Instead of something like a gel or a spray, I was inspired by the fairies in Disney's Fantasia (1940), to have a liquid, that nullified the spiderweb's stickiness, spread onto the spiderweb like morning dew, in order for the fairy to escape. This would make things much more visually interesting.

I wanted the product itself to be a flower that secreted this non-stick liquid onto the spiderweb. That way, it would look pretty and decorative enough to be worn like an accessory but acts as a preventive measure in case its fairy owner gets stuck in a spider.

The one thing that I have yet to figure out is whether the default of the flower should be closed with the liquid coming out when it blooms or open by default, to curl up into a bud that shoots out the liquid like a gun.

Idea 2 | Waterproof Wing Net

Metallic Crystal Embellished Chain Dress

Paco Rabanne

To a tiny fairy, one raindrop would seem enormous and surely completely soak its wings, rendering them useless. That is where this product comes in. I wanted to have something that could form a barrier between the wings and the rain yet still be light and flexible enough for the wings to continue fluttering. That's when I came up with the idea of a net - more like those meant for fashion than the fishing nets - that could fit a fairy's wing and produce sunbeams that would repel all the rain.

Finalised Idea

I ended up much preferring the setting with the fairies as it matched the vibes I was going for and presented the two ideas from there to my lecturers. That was when I got the feedback that both the ideas were actually solving two similar problems and gave me the suggestion of merging them together. Instead of making a product that could make spiderwebs non-sticky and another to make wings waterproof, I could just have one product that made their wings invincible.

I still really liked the dew effect from the first idea so I decided to use the same product of a flower secreting magical liquid, but instead of using it on a spiderweb, it could be applied onto the fairy's wings. This liquid would then be able to make the wings both waterproof and non-stick, protecting the fairy from both the rain and the webs.

Tone

When I first came up with the idea of a fairy-esque setting, it was initially because I wanted a commercial that was calm with beautiful visuals. However after coming up with my product ideas, I realised that a lot of the problem scenarios were high-stakes with a lot of action so I decided to go for a more comedic route. This way I will be able to play a lot more with the cuts and make it more engaging while still keeping the beautiful visuals.

What Next?

Finally, with the ideas all sorted, I can now finally start on my sketches and design for this product. Hopefully for my next post, I will be able to post a lot more of my drawings and type much less. Thank you for reading!

16 January 2022