Final Project

Routine Moments-

These simulated environments are an invitation to pause and really look at everyday conventions, suggesting absurdity and vacancy in constructions of normalcy and comfort. They are my own take on the sort of environment/ASMR themed videos all over YouTube (which can range from simulating a cafe on a rainy day to specific universes from books or films). Unlike those videos, mine are somewhat unpleasant, as I was reflecting on mental health struggles and emptiness in the routines that I use to get myself to get out of bed, to get work done, and to occasionally convince myself to leave my room.

A few general notes:

The quality of the videos is purposefully grainy; I took a video of a video as I thought it would add an interesting effect that better reflected the themes of my project. I also liked how the grating repetition/loop of these environment videos combined with the

The Desk Study is based off of hours spent studying at my desk and struggles with focus, depression, dissociation, and screen in general (they feel like they're searing into your eyes sometimes...). The static sounds replicate a fogginess in the brain (for me, this particular white noise immediately makes me depersonalize/zone out due to sensory overload) while the static bursts pull you back to focus, presence, and 'reality'. 

The Morning Coffee video is a similar concept, as I was thinking of the need to drink the dark, bitter liquid as a fuel almost like a car. There is more of a sense of simulation in the art style of this one, particularly outside the window, through which the pixelated, abrasively neon landscape and identical houses are too bright and too colorful (again, based off sensory sensitivity and my dislike of direct sunlight, especially as it reflects well off of this suburban sort of area where there is little irregularity to break it up or provide shade). 


I'm very new to digital art/animation, but this was a good way to get to know these mediums a little better and I hope I continue to learn and improve. (Note: I purposefully leaned into being not good at digital art in this project, as it aided with creating a slightly off, even irritating version of these spaces.)

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