With my rough sketches of the book, I kept the details quite vague save for what I knew I definitely want to include. This was so that I could discover more things to include along the way that I could instantly visualize in that space as I was making it.
I made the book frames and most of the objects from popsicle sticks as they were strong but easy to break apart. For the fake ‘paper’ pages of the book, I had used the scrap scaffoldings for holding board game pieces and cut them down into strips to fill the wooden frames (this was harder than I had expected. The scaffoldings were very tough to cut).
There were some objects that were made from little things that I had collected (for no valid reason, honestly speaking), such as a contact lens bottle that I turned into a small bubble tea (left), and the lid of the contact lens bottle that I turned into a goldfish bowl (middle). The little doll (right) was made of air-dry clay.
After I finished making and painting all the objects, I did a rough assembly of them with masking tape to see what it would look like without actually gluing them down yet.
As planned, the objects are stuck onto different pages, but will slot together to form a room when the book is closed.
FILMING THE BOOK
I decided to make my film the process of gluing everything together to really create the book. I thought that this would be more interesting than simply filming the finished book and it would be quite enjoyable to see it all come together slowly.
I put emphasis on assembling objects that came in sets, such as my desk (with my laptop that has an image of The Scream by Edvard Munch open) and my bed, with the moon lamp and doll that I have in my actual bedroom.
I used a variety of different camera angles, with consideration to the cinematography to show the different objects.
There were a lot of mishaps during the filming, notable a lot of objects tumbling off because the glue didn’t dry fast enough or pages falling on their faces because they couldn’t stand up by themselves.
The white background was achieved by draping my curtains over a table.
A lot of plans had to be changed during filming, though it was a great feeling to see the book completed, adorned with my different comfort items.
When editing, I manipulated the colours in order to make them more consistent (the book was shot in front of a window and it got dark).
For the audio, I decided to record myself trying to recall the poem One Art by Elizabeth Bishop (a poem about losing things, be it physical objects or memory) from memory and edited to sound like it was from a telephone conversation or an old voice recorder. I thought this would be an interesting way to incorporate text/words into the book, and create a nice contrast between the visual of things being created and the audio about losing them.
The final film can be viewed here:
The YOU ARE HERE project has been a fun exploration of different artists and mediums, with fascinating insight into how to create emphasis and meaning out of everyday things. It has been an intimate look into what matters to me, why they do, and how that defines who I am. It has been an enjoyable exploration of my own identity and how I can express them through beautiful and personal art as well as reflect on my decisions.