Petree Process Book

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Process BookSAMANTHAMAK


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How can interactive design create a sense of community

for a family divided by distance and cultural barriers?

01

THESISQUESTION


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For those of you who dont know, I come from a

fairly large family from a very specific place, Cam-

bodia. Yet due to some rather troubling history the

larger scope of my family is dispersed across theworld. It has taken my family an entire lifetime to

find each other again, which leads me to my ques-

tion: How can speculative technology and interac-

tive design create a sense of community for a family

divided by distance and cultural barriers?

Technologies such as video chatting and social

networking have enabled us to communicate with

others that are distant from us, but they have theirlimitations. My exploration looks to fill in the gaps

and speculate ways to improve the quality of long

distance interactions that will strengthen family

bonds.

SUB-QUESTION:How can families with very

different economical resources, infrastructure, and

technological literacy use this technology? Such

as families in 3rd world countries with little to no

electricity.

SUB-QUESTION:What types of inputs will allow

families to experience and archive these memories

and interactions?

RESEARCHBACKGROUND

My exploration looks to fill in the gaps


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Schedule

02

PROCESS


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FEBRUARY

4

11

18

25

4

Technological Audit

Research & Analyze Audience

(Behaviors, Needs, Learning)

Concept Function & Capabilities

Blog Post

6

13

20

27

6

Week 1 & 2 Presentation


Interface Research & Audit

Update Research Book

Scenarios


Moodboard & Inspiration

Blog Post

Scenarios


Naming & Branding

Gathern Content

Low Content Wireframes

Site Map


Gathern Content

Blog Post

Low Content Wireframes

Site Map

Gathern Content Update Research Book

High Content Wireframes

Blog Post

SCHEDULE

MARCH

High Content Wireframes High Content Wireframes

Visual Directions

Blog Post


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Midterm Presentation

Visual Directions

Video Inspiration & Style


11

18

25

1

8

Technological Audit

Research & Analyze Audience

(Behaviors, Needs, Learning)


Blog Post

13

20

27

3

10

Spring Break

Visual Directions Application

Video Brainstorming

Develop Script

Spring Break


Develop Storyboard

Develop Script

Shoot footage in Dallas if needed


Select Background Music


Animate Designs

Shoot Footage

Record Voiceover

Blog Post

Animate Designs

Shoot Footage

Record Voiceover

Animate Designs

Shoot Footage

Blog Post

APRIL

1st draft formal presentation


Continued Development

Poster Development


Poster Development

Blog Post

SCHEDULE


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2nd draft formal presentation


Poster Development

15

22

29

10

17


Poster Development

Blog Post

17

24

9

13

18

Final Presentation


Final Presentation


Blog Post

Degree Project 100% Done Senior Show OpeningMAY

Campus Show Opening Process PDF Due

Senior Show Closing Commencement

SCHEDULE


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Week One

03

PROCESS


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9WEEKONE MINDMAP

My focus this week has been on breaking down

my initial question and begin thinking about

possible areas for exploration.

Mind Mapping


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One solution that I've been throwing around is

this idea of an actual family tree. Most Cambo-

dians in rural areas know how to grow things,

it's a basic life skill. What if a digital tree could

represent and archive a family's interactions?

The more engagement a family has the more

the tree grows.

Family members can relax under the tree and

share stories. The tree will automatically recordthe story and a leaf will be produced once

its been told. What if this tree could produce

digital acorns that act as user profile? Each

family member has their own acorn or an acorn

that's associated to them. What if these acorns

were the more mobile version of the tree that

also has recording abilities? You could take an

acorn out an about to show family members

other aspects of your life. Additionally, if familymembers in a different country has a question

the acorn would maybe glow and drop out of

the tree for you to hear the question. Of course

it will automatically translate the question so

everyone can understand it.

The Digital Tree

WEEKONE CONCEPT


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11WEEKONE TECHNOLOGICALAUDIT

Ancestry.com relies heavily on building one's

family tree based on user input and pulling

data from a collection of government docu-

ments.

While the service allows families the ability to

archive new memories and a space to house

different types of media, these features are not

the focus.

Overall, it's very fact driven and somewhat

individually focused. I feel it under-emphasizes

the human dimension of emotion, the power of

shared experiences, and collaborative making.

Ancestry.com


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Week Two

04

PROCESS


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14WEEKTWO RESEARCH

I believe it's a natural tendency for most people

to look to the past in order to gain perspective of

one's life and one's future. Family is such a familiar

thing that I'm always going back to. My parents

came to this country with very little. The only keep-

sakes they really have of the home they left are the

memories they hold in their hearts.

Everything I know about the people that came

before me and where they came from has been

through oral storytelling. While, this method is

effective, it still leaves second generation kids like

Background & SolutionDevelopment

myself with an incomplete picture of the past. We

now live in a time where we have the means to

change this. We might not be able to go back in

time, but we can document the parts we do have

with the technologies that exist in order to create a

more holistic story of our family's history.

What I didn't realize previously is that the mo-

tivation is already there and I have a number of

examples to confirm this behavior. With the social

platforms that already exist such as Facebook

and Instagram we're already collecting (examples

below). For second generation kids the saying "a

picture is worth a thousand words" is very true and

extremely effective in filling in the gaps. It's a matter

of creating a space that can house and archive this

data that will allow for more meaningful exploration,

discovery, and learning.


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The other day my cousin who grew up in Boston

began posting photos from his childhood. This

is the first time I have ever really seen a photo of

him as a kid. It's an example of this behavior of

wanting to discover and share the past.

Collecting

WEEKTWO RESEARCH


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I think this is the first instance, ever, that

cousins in two different countries attempted to

communicate with each other. Usually the con-

versation happens between America & Cam-

bodia or America & Thailand. This happened

between Cambodian & Thailand relatives.

Connecting

WEEKTWO RESEARCH


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Photo of my uncle in high school (left) and his

son who is a Cambodian-Elsavadorian Amer-

ican (right). This is an example of this desire

to want to compare and understand how the

people close to relate

Comparing

WEEKTWO RESEARCH


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While I believe this system can be expanded to oth-

er family types, my focus is on second generation

family members of foreign born parents who are

technologically literate.

A part of me has developed this concept with my

nephews and nieces in mind. I'm sure that at some

Audience

point down the road, they'll want to look back

because we all do. Multiple times. Life is tough

as is, my hope is that they don't have to struggle

as much in understanding their place in the larger

scheme of things.

WEEKTWO RESEARCH AUDIENCE


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Week Three

05

PROCESS


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Direct Interactions

As I've discovered in my research, second gener-

ation family members are more comfortable with

indirect means of interaction. When direct inter-

actions do occur, they're often very situational.

Although I'm creating an online system, there'sdefinite opportunity to inspire individuals to get off

the computer and initiate direct interactions.

Luckily, the nature of this system is that it's organic.

It requires some participation from family member

because it's never complete and always evolving.As humans we relate everything to ourselves. I be-

lieve our natural instinct to want to find patterns in

almost anything is enough to inspire interaction.

NEPHEWSONTHE DART

WEEKTHREE FUNCTIONS& CAPABILITIES


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Because our lives are tied to the places in times in

which we lived through it's important to be able to

see the relationship between one's life and what

was occurring nationally. Jessie and I explored this

concept once before in our Union Station timeline

(image below). Union Station in the 80's was aban-

Timeline of Events UNIONSTATIONINTERACTIVETIMELINE BYJESSIEREN AND SAM MAK

doned, in aligning the timeline with national events,

it helped to form a more comprehensive story that

instance in time.

WEEKTHREE FUNCTIONS& CAPABILITIES


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Week Four

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PROCESS

26WEEK FOUR SCENARIO


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SRF SEIDENSTRASSE

In order to give my scenarios a bit more focus,

I've decided to hone in on developing threeconcepts: the past, the present, and the future.

These three elements are intertwined and vital

components in creating a holistic story.

As a side note, since so many of us are visual

people, I've pull examples to help explain and

visualize concepts. These inspirations are tools

and by no means the solution to my project.

Scenarios

My first scenario focuses on showing the

timeline of a family member's journey. In the

example below, as you scroll through the

photographer's adventure on the left, the point

on the map to the left moves as the storyline

progresses. For my family tree, there's opportu-

nity to create more of a storybook like timeline.

Adding the national news layer will help fill in

missing gaps, but also provide global insight of

the experience.

The Past

WEEKFOUR SCENARIO

27WEEK FOUR SCENARIO
http://seidenstrasse.srf.ch/http://seidenstrasse.srf.ch/http://seidenstrasse.srf.ch/http://seidenstrasse.srf.ch/http://seidenstrasse.srf.ch/


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Lastly, the future will be focused on an individ-

ual exploring the system, using the advance

search feature to pull up specific family datapertaining to their interest that will be visual-

ized in some fashion, then drawing a conclu-

sions based off of that information.

Back to the Future

As of now, this scenario will be more of an exp-

loration as to how family members can contrib-ute and request content more directly. I know

this sounds pretty vague right now mostly

because I'd like to push the idea of how we're

uploading media, but still in question as to

how right now. I know it's difficult for my mom

to want to talk about some aspects of the war.

It can be extremely painful, so much that my

sister has sworn to never ask her about the

subject again. Maybe there's a different way to

approach these moments

The Here & Now

WEEKFOUR SCENARIO


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My next step is to go ahead and start gathering real and specific data to

work with and begin developing low content wireframes. In writing thispost I've sort of realized how large this could get so I just need to remind

myself to narrow. It may be a situation where I just keep the idea within my

site map and focus on very short, but vital moments.

NOTETO SELF

29WEEK FOUR INTERFACE RESEARCH


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I believe motion is extremely important in

developing an interface. It's a large part of thisproject that I'm wanting to explore. After doing

an audit and thinking back to the MX project

this idea just because more apparent to me.

I need to be thinking in motion so on top of

developing the wireframes I should be doing

motion experiments.

Below are some examples of interfaces I've

gathered in my research that somehow aligned

with the ideas in my head.

Interface Research

UNIVERSERIES

In my head I've been envisioning how to

visualize my family tree and here's an example

I found that's pretty close to what I've beentossing around.

Main Space

WEEKFOUR INTERFACE RESEARCH

30WEEK FOUR INTERFACE RESEARCH
http://cinema-series.orange.fr/evenement/universeries/en/http://cinema-series.orange.fr/evenement/universeries/en/http://cinema-series.orange.fr/evenement/universeries/en/


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REI PROJECT

MYPROVENCEFESTIVAL

WEEKFOUR INTERFACE RESEARCH
http://www.rei1440project.com/http://www.rei1440project.com/http://www.rei1440project.com/http://www.rei1440project.com/http://www.myprovence.fr/snapshots2012/en/http://www.myprovence.fr/snapshots2012/en/http://www.myprovence.fr/snapshots2012/en/http://www.myprovence.fr/snapshots2012/en/http://www.myprovence.fr/snapshots2012/en/http://www.myprovence.fr/snapshots2012/en/http://www.myprovence.fr/snapshots2012/en/http://www.rei1440project.com/


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32WEEKFIVE SITEMAP


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This site map has really helped me organize my

ideas and the experience I want someone to have,

but I'm stalled. I just want everything to make sense

conceptually and logically. After talking to Marty, I

Organizing Experience

should keep it simple as it should be then use the

wireframes to accompany the explanation of the

features.

33WEEKFIVE CONCEPT


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34WEEKFIVE WIREFRAMES


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Week Six

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WIREFRAMESXFORMALSTUDIES


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39WEEKSIX WIREFRAMES SCENARIOONE


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SHARE EXPLORE CONNECT PROFILE

Petree

T I ME

TRAVEL

S E A RCH

CO NCE P T

ARR ANGE

FAMILY

AGEGE ND ER LO CATI ON

RELATIONSHIP

40WEEKSIX WIREFRAMES SCENARIOONE


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Petree

T I ME

TRAVEL

S E A RCH

CO NCE P T

ARR ANGE

FAMILY

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Scenario Two


Petree

TIME

TRAVEL

SEARCH

CONCEPT

ARRAN GE

FAMILY

Christie Mak



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Petree

TIME

TRAVEL

Christie Mak



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ADD CON TEX T

AUTO PLAY

Christie Mak was born in 1968 inPosat Cambodia.


Petree

Christie Mak

TIME

TRAVEL



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SHARE

ADD CON TEX T

E XP LO RE C ON NE CT P RO FI LE

Petree

AUTO PLAY

Christie Mak was born in 1968 inPosat Cambodia.

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WEEKSIX WIREFRAMES SCENARIOTWO


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SHARE

ADD CON TEX T

EXPLORE CONNECT PROFILE

Petree

AUTO PLAY

We would sleep by the side of the road anddrink any water we could find. We were kidsso we didnt know any better.

BLURB BY CHRISTIE MAK 02:32PM MAY 23, 2008

What was happening

in America?Press enter to find

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WEEKSIX WIREFRAMES SCENARIOTWO


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SHARE

ADD CON TEX T

EXPLORE CONNECT PROFILE

Petree

AUTO PLAY

We would sleep by the side of the road anddrink any water we could find. We were kidsso we didnt know any better.

BLURB BY CHRISTIE MAK 02:32PM MAY 23, 2008



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SHARE

ADD CON TEX T

E XP LO RE C ON NE CT P RO FI LE

Petree

AUTO PLAY

48WEEKSIX WIREFRAMES SCENARIOTHREE


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Scenario Three


Petree

STORIES SNAPSHOTS BLURBS QUESTIONS

Blurb or quote here.Blurb or quote here.

Blurb or quote hereBLURB BY CHRISTIE MAK 02:32PM MAY 23, 2008

Blurb or quote here.



CONNECTIONS SEARCH



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Petree







CONNECTIONS SEARCH

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WEEKSIX WIREFRAMES SCENARIOTHREE


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Petree







CONNECTIONS SEARCHPlaces we call home.

Press enter to find



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Petree


CONNECTIONS SEARCH

52WEEKSIX WIREFRAMES SCENARIOFOUR


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Petree

TIME

TRAVEL

SEARCH

CONCEPT

ARR ANGE

FAMILY

Kiev Ou

Scenario Four



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Petree

C ON NE CT IO NS S EA RC H



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Petree

C ON NE CT IO NS S EA RC H

55WEEKSIX FORMALEXPLORATION


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One visual directions of the main Petree space

I've been wanting to explore are objects push-ing into the z-axis. I needed to figure out the

best way to go about representing this space

and if I'd be able to pull it off before I go any

further. The first thing that came to mind was to

build it in Cinema 4D, but After Effects also has

the ability to extrude and light shapes. Below

are some shots of this exploration.

While I love the way these guys look, I have tobe real. I know i've been wanting to find a rea-

son to useC4D, but it may not be appropriate

right now. I need to also consider my workflow.

I don't know my machine will be able to handle

the rendering especially if and when we hit

crunch time. I think I'll be able to do what I

need to do in after effects. It was nice to play

around while it lasted.

Formal Exploration


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Week Seven

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PROCESS

57WEEKSEVEN WIREFRAMES SCENARIOONE


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The timeline focuses on telling the story of a

family member throughout time in context to

world events.

Scenario One


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WEEKSEVEN WIREFRAMES SCENARIOONE


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SHARE EXPLORE CONNECT PROFILEP e e

Christie MakPURSAT, CAMBODIA



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1967


1968

7



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1967

Koy Sineath born to Koy Sakun & Koy Hac in

Posat Province, Cambodia.

BIRTHFEBRU A RY 12 ,1967


1968

7


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1982

64



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I would sleep during study hall because I worked

the night shift at Wendys.

HI G H S CHO O LM ARCH 1 0 ,1 9 8 5

1985

4

65



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1993

2

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Petree is focused on exploration. Family mem-

bers can sort organisms in the dish by age,

gender, location, and even relationship. Theconnection feature lets you see snippets of

content relating to an individual beginning with

the most basic details such as where they live,

and how many sibling they have. This scenario

is focused on the curiosity of a kid raised in

America who is interested in learning more

about his cousin in Cambodia.

Scenario Two

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WEEKSEVEN WIREFRAMES SCENARIOTWO


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Arra nge

Organisms

GENDER

RELATIONSHIP

LOCATION

AGE


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Chour OuBATAMBONG, CAMBODIA

Arra nge

Organisms

GENDER

RELATIONSHIP

LOCATION

AGE

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AGE

Chour Ou

2 Batambong,

Cambodia

I LIVE IN

NUMBER OF SIBLINGS

YEARS OF AGE

10

7105WEEKSEVEN WIREFRAMES SCENARIOTWO


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Type your comment

Eric Sy

What are those things?

July 3, 2012

Chour Ou

Thats our bed and our kitchen area.

July 3, 2012

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Storytelling is such a major part of family and

being able to tell multiple perspectives of amoment in time is extremely important. If you

haven't already guessed, this scenario is fo-

cused on collaborative storytelling. The exam-

ple below doesn't match this statement, but it's

an example of being within the explore space.

Scenario Three



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Arra nge

Organisms

GENDER

RELATIONSHIP

LOCATION

AGE


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WEEKSEVEN WIREFRAMES SCENARIOTHREE


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Diana: Did dad ever watch movies when he

was a kid?Mom: Youre dad didnt watch movies, he

watched cows and buffalos.

M OVI ESMA R C H 10 , 2013

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WEEKSEVEN WIREFRAMES SCENARIOTHREE


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Diana: Did dad ever watch movies when he

was a kid?Mom: Youre dad didnt watch movies, he

watched cows and buffalos.

M OVI ESMA R C H 10 , 2013

Places we call home.Press enter to search.



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78WEEKSEVEN MOTIONTEST


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These are very basic and quick tests to help me

start thinking is motion.

Motion Test

VIEWHERE

VIEWHERE

7905WEEKSEVEN VIDEOCONCEPT
https://vimeo.com/61712197https://vimeo.com/61712197https://vimeo.com/61712197https://vimeo.com/61712197https://vimeo.com/61713500https://vimeo.com/61713500https://vimeo.com/61713500https://vimeo.com/61713500https://vimeo.com/61713500https://vimeo.com/61712197


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I plan to create three short videos from theperspective of the individual using Petree. They

will be dialogues between two or more peo-

ple about what they experienced after using

the system. Each video will begins with "Dear

[Insert Name Here]".

Video Concept


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Week Eight

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PROCESS

81WEEKEIGHT FOCUS


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My focus these past weeks has been on producing

the promotion piece for the timeline scenario. I

think doing so will help me gauge realistically how

long it will take me and adjust from there.

Weekly Focus TIMELINESCRIPTFROMSKETCHBOOK


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TIMELINESCRIPT

Dear Grandpa,

I wish we could have met. Mom doesn't remember what you look

like. Did you know she crossed the border into Thailand with phuand ming (cambodian for aunt & uncle)? She made it to America al-

right. She told me once that you were kind. I bet you were as funny

as she is. I bet you were loving as she is. If you're anything like her,

then I know for sure that I'd like you to.

83WEEKEIGHT MOTIONTEST


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This past week I've been focusing on exploring

motion and building out the timeline video.

Below is one example of how I'm imagining the

organisms to move.

Motion Progress

VIEWHERE
https://vimeo.com/62779702https://vimeo.com/62779702https://vimeo.com/62779702https://vimeo.com/62779702https://vimeo.com/62779702


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Week Nine

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PROCESS


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86WEEKNIGHT WIREFRAMES TIMELINESCENARIO


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Timeline Revision



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Timeline Revision



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Timeline Revision



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Timeline Revision



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Timeline Revision



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Timeline Revision



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Timeline Revision



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Timeline Revision

94WEEKNIGHT MOTIONTEST


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This sample video is still very rough. I need

to re-record to make the overall feeling of the

audio to be not so somber.

The background track is Postcard From 1952

by Explosions in the Sky. The build on the end-

ing half gets a bit intense so I plan to avoid it.

Motion Sample

VIEWHERE
https://vimeo.com/63247295https://vimeo.com/63247295https://vimeo.com/63247295https://vimeo.com/63247295https://vimeo.com/63247295


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Week Ten

12

SPRINGBREAK

96WEEKTEN SPRINGBREAK


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Enjoying the warm weather in Austin. Degree

Project will be back shortly. I plan to stop by

Dallas and collect anything else I'll need for my

videos such as photos, voiceovers, etc.

#KCAIATX


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98WEEKELEVEN ANIMATING


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Still working on animating the various elements

for my first video. It wasn't best use of my time

to try to upload all the clips to vimeo so I've

attached screenshots of my process below. I've

re-recorded my voiceover breaking and have

broken up the various elements of my system

for after effects. I'm about 85% sure i''ll be able

to finish this up by Friday.

Weekly Focus

99WEEKELEVEN SCRIPT MOLOCULESCENARIO


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This week I've also been trying to work on the

script and screens for the Present scenario,

which I like to call the Molocule Scenario. It

focuses on the curiosity of child through the

connection feature of the system.

Molocule Scenario


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101WEEKELEVEN WIREFRAMES MOLOCULESCENARIO


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Molocule Scenario



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Week Twelve

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PROCESS

112WEEKTWELVE TIMELINEVIDEO


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Here are some quick summarizes of my process

and videos so far...

Promo 1 is a dialogue with the past. There's

some odd audio static happening in the back-

ground of my voiceover that I want to fix, but

it's near the bottom half of my priority list right

now. I also originally animated too quickly so

some parts have been time stretched within

final cut pro and may seem a bit laggy. I'm

working out this issue presently.

The Past

VIEW HERE

113WEEKTWELVE MOLOCULEVIDEO
http://vimeo.com/64522333http://vimeo.com/64522333http://vimeo.com/64522333http://vimeo.com/64522333http://vimeo.com/64522333


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Promo 2 focuses on the present. Petree creates

a space that inspires the curiosity of a child and

provides a space for them to fulfill their interests.

The Present

VIEW HERE
http://vimeo.com/64035211http://vimeo.com/64035211http://vimeo.com/64035211http://vimeo.com/64035211http://vimeo.com/64035211


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Week Thirteen

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FINALARTIFACT

116WEEKTHIRTEEN PORTFOLIO


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So we've made it to the end of the road. I've de-

cided to build a long web poster to help explain

what Petree does and to make it feel more like a

finished product. I currently have the piece living

on my personal portfolio site and on Behance.

The Final Week

BEHANCESITE

PERSONALSITE
http://www.behance.net/gallery/Petree/8281309http://www.behance.net/gallery/Petree/8281309http://www.behance.net/gallery/Petree/8281309http://www.behance.net/gallery/Petree/8281309http://samanthamak.com/PETREEhttp://samanthamak.com/PETREEhttp://samanthamak.com/PETREEhttp://samanthamak.com/PETREEhttp://samanthamak.com/PETREEhttp://www.behance.net/gallery/Petree/8281309


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Resources

16

RESEARCH

119RESOURCESAND THANKYOUS

Thank Yous


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Thank Yous

Voiceovers

Neo Nguyen

Sochebopa Em

Sino Em

Randy Sy

Diana Mak

Sarun Mak

Photographs

Sochebopa Em

The Mak Family

The Sy Family

The Ros Family

The Em & Rodriguez

Petree Process Book

Documents

Transcript of Petree Process Book