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L O U I S E H A Y C O C K S / / L O L W E E Z . G D N M . O R G

When looking at josh on the surface I was looking at what he likes mostly. I Felt that this surface was a big part of him and makes him the person that everyone sees him to be. as a housemate he is constantly talking about this scene of his when he goes out with his friends. This little world consists of dramas, music, fashion and vogueing. Josh tells me that he likes to be “bouji” sometimes when he goes out and other times he gets absolutely off his face on various substances. There Are a few particular nights out that he has told me about such as a night known as 'batty bass' which has its own style and isn't like the normal club scene in London - its a mix of the house rave scene mixed in with the gay scene. He has told me why he acts “bouji” at these events sometimes is because he dances in this vogue style and not many people can dance like that and at this particular event he said that they hired vogue dancers to join in because of the way him And his friends danced. because of this he feels like they are well known at 'batty bass'.

Looking at the surface I had a few different ideas for what

Josh's environment could be like. Firstly I had the idea of a walkthrough magazine where the outfit changes at the turn of every page. I felt that on an everyday basis this related to josh in more than just one way. For example, sometimes i personally feel like he dresses like he has walked our of a magazine, he also works for a magazine (he does the styling and helps do the fashion side of things). On top of that he changes his outfit more than twice or three times a day.

Another idea I had was to heavily involved this club scene that he always talks about because I felt like his friends meant a lot to him seeing as he doesn't let many people close to him and seeing as how when he isn't focusing on his career he is usually out partying hard. From this i wanted to pick out what I thought the main aspects of his life from the surface. For example, the fact that a lot of his time he is clubbing, smoking weed or involved in the fashion world. I even began to develop an idea which I created a synopsis for. The synopsis is as follows; 'a messy and chaotic environment which has been made this way by the crowds of

people and the amount of drug abuse. There is loud music with lots of bass that makes the whole environment shake. His style is a bit dark and creepy but seems to be very realistic in a surreal way'. Originally I pictured a runway which lead to one of his raves. From here you'd be pointed in the direction of the bathroom (since this is where most of the drug abuse and dramas happen - from what josh has told me).

In a way I felt this was right because this surfaces area is what I felt him to be about in an odd way but after looking back at my rough ideas I realised that I had not looked deep enough into why he acts the way that he does. This is what I found to be most challenging because he is such a closed book and never mentions his past much. I tried to figure out for myself why he hides himself a lot and what made him this way. I wasn't sure if it was habit from hiding the fact that he is gay from people (he only came out recently, a few years ago, if that) so it may be out of habit that he hides his true self from everyone. On the other hand I thought that the was a possibility that he is really scared of what

other people think of him and so he puts this shield up to protect himself from the world, no one in particular. Either way I could not work it out for myself for sure and he is very difficult to talk to, especially when talking about himself. When I did ask questions about him I noticed that he'd put this wall up and exaggerate himself slightly - I call him a bit of a "queen" because of this.

When I was thinking of ideas i immediately thought that the real josh is so hidden that it's all quite fake and unrealistic. In a way he reminded me of a clown a bit because even though clowns have the face of happiness there is also something quiet tragic and lost about them. They hide themselves behind this mask and put on this fake smile for people's entertainment and in a tragic way I felt that josh was a bit like this, fun on the outside but deep down he is a bit lost in himself and not actually as happy as he makes out to be.

SYNOPSISSYNOPSISFURTHER

There are layers that hide josh. The first layer being the city that he is hidden in, then there’s the one entrance that you go through and here you follow a path up to the second layer - the tent. Everything is black and white on the outside because to josh, even though this is the game that he is playing his surroundings don’t really have that much of an effect on him. Inside the tent it’s more colourful, the posters surrounding are there to sell himself to the person playing. The people are little game board counters, as they have no direct effect on him and are just other players. Josh is represented by a counter, which is larger than the others and placed in the middle of a carousel with a crown on top of his head.

The focus is himself and what he is hiding himself behind. On this carousel his friends are closer to him than the objects because he hides behind his group of friends identity and if very influenced by them, more influenced by them than any magazine or object. His friends represent this subculture that he seems to be heavily involved in. There are things he uses to protect himself and his identity which is very personal and then there are things that I feel he uses to elaborate himself. Its like a board game where he is piece on the board and it’s all about him, he plays his way through life, working his way up in his career and competing with other players. These other players are part of this game he is playing however they don’t have any duct effect on him because they don’t know the real him, no one does.

ASSESTS

These are some of the materials/textures that iI used in 3DS max when creating my 3D objects/buildings. I didn’t have that many textures overall because I felt that the attention should be focused on Josh because I feel that he is the center of his own world. For the font I chose to use a font with a very circus feel to it because of the entertainment factor that Josh holds to the outside world - he covers himself with his humour and by making people laugh, they like him more. I also created these posters which advertise “the event” because I feel that in a way he tries to sell himself to people but in the way that he sells his humour so that people enjoy him.

MY 3D ENVIRONMENT

1. What was your favourite part of the environment?

The bridge connecting two of the tower blocks on the outskirts of the tent is one of my favourite pieces because I recognise similiarites between that bridge an a bridge connecting two buildings in covent garden and kingston, areas which i visit alot.

2. Would you change anything?

i would make it so that you couldn’t walkthrough objects , buildings and off the map.

3. Is it easy to use?

yes i feel that it is quite easy to use, although i would say that the camera does move a little bit too fast sometimes and this can confuse you.

USER TESTING

4. What is your favourite 3D item and why?

the white picket fence because of the attention to detail, you can see the grain of the wood which i feel is quite impressive.

5. Do you feel like a certain personality shines through at all?

maybe the personality of an inner city clown?

RESULTS

EVALUATION REVISIONPLANI found this project to be quite a challenge and very

frustrating at points. What I found to be difficult was to learn to think in 3D. What I also found to be frustrating was understanding how to research ethnographically and to use this research in a visual way. However, even after trying to dig deeper into a persons history and personality was very difficult for me because I felt that I was being very cheeky asking certain things and questioning certain aspects.

Overall I am quite pleased with what I managed to produce in the time frame I was given. What I think is the most important thing that I need to take from this is how to use my time in the most effective way and also to try not to always come back to the surface when researching. I’m mostly pleased with the fact that I have been able to take something that isn’t visual at all and create something that does relate to the person, even though the person themselves may not quite understand it. This abstract way of thinking was the hardest part for me.

With the actual environment itself, I do feel that a lot of touching up could be done and that a lot could’ve been added to it - it could’ve been a lot more interesting and interactive. However I do feel like I’ve managed to show that his personality is not what it seems to be at first glance but when you look closer and get past this illusion that he has created for himself there lies insecurities.

If I was given the chance to redo this I think I would correct certain aspects/mistakes of my environment to make it smoother and more professional. For example, I’d make sure that the character play was smoother and that they couldn’t walk through the tent. Also I would’ve liked to have made it so that when you walk through the tent you cannot see through it and see the sky still - I would’ve liked to have kept it as an enclosed space. I’d also like to perhaps make it more interesting seeing as because of the given time frame I had to create something quite simple and not very interactive really. I also would’ve liked to have maybe even looked into sound design and maybe even go as far as to create my own sound. I even feel like using josh as my influence, it was very difficult to really get to the meaning as to why he acts the way that he does and to get in touch with his past.