Un-reality: Murder Mystery Ideas

We decided that it's a good idea to have the book Perfume by Patrick Süskind and its movie adaption Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Tom Tykwer. reinforce our ideas for the game. We need some kind of link between the actual game and the book though.

The concept pitch went quite well, and we agree with Maggie about the needed link between the book and the game as well to blur the realities. She suggested perhaps a copycat killer who reads the book and repeats crimes in a similar fashion, or perhaps a character from the book comes to life. We prefer the copycat killer, but we'll need to look around for more options to find the best solution. This is good because we're still in the developmental stage for setting up a more solid idea of what we'll be doing.

We're thinking that if we're going to use the copycat killer, maybe the invitation in to the game could be a direct link to it. I'm thinking a mysterious journal, that's seemingly empty. The only line on the first page is "Let there be light." And the rest of the journal is written in invisible ink, where a candle or heat source such as a microwave is needed to reveal the writing. This is the murderer's journal notes. It's an idea that we could consider. If we do this we could use lemon juice to make the invisible ink. Any other acidic substances can be used to make invisible ink as well, but lemon is apparently the most effective. (McNally, 2010)The lemon would give off an invigorating smell which is likely to make the player feel refreshed and pumped about playing the game. It's also the most simple option because with heat the lemon juice would turn black/brown. (RuthJ, 2011) Of course there would be safety concerns, so the safest option would be a simple candle so that you can sit the candle on a stable surface. This way there's less of a chance for anything to get burned.

Since I'm the only in the group who has read the book, I think it would be good to show the rest of the group the movie adaption because it follows the same plot only with very few alterations, and it would take too long to finish reading the book as well. So I'll bring that in on Tuesday and we could all watch it and let ideas grow and solidify our foundation blocks.

Here is a trailer of the movie: (memoubuenrostro, 2008)




And here's one of my favourite tracks from the movie. Beautiful! Will probably buy the album for the soundtrack. (BrusNekoSolo, 2011)





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References:

BrusNekoSolo. (2011). BSO El Perfume - 17. Perfume - Distilled. [Youtube Video] Retrieved September 30, 2011 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OuOSozbMNk

McNally, C. (2010). Why Does Lemon Juice Make Invisible Ink? Retrieved September 30, 2011 from http://www.ehow.com/facts_7313493_lemon-juice-make-invisible-ink_.html

memoubuenrostro. (2008). PERFUME - The Story of a Murder Trailer 2 HD. [YouTube Video] Retrieved September 30, 2011 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ES_rfgjeTuE

RuthJ. (2011). How to Make Invisible Ink Using Lemon Juice. Retrieved September 30, 2011 from http://www.ehow.com/how_2304278_make-invisible-ink-using-lemon.html

Un-reality: More concept-making

Brainstorming was done today to branch out from our main idea of exploring the scent and how it relates to the world we live in. At this time I was worried that we would pin down on one thing too quickly without consideration for other ideas but at the same time I was also worried about not progressing far enough to get a solid concept at a suitable time for optimum productivity. These fears were banished as it appears we are on track with developing our ideas. Since the lecturer said that today should be considering more options rather than sticking to one thing.

I think for my group from this viewpoint of what we're supposed to be doing is right on time. Not too late, not too early. We do have a foundation of what we're like to find out more about, which is scent and how it affects people. So this makes it easier for us to branch out from this main idea.

Some ideas we have so far is to confuse the senses by contrasting them to smell. For example, something absolutely disgusting like a dead rat infested with maggots smelling like fresh apples covered in morning dew. Or perhaps a durian, which smells like cat feces but tastes delightful.

Another is about pleasure and vanity. This one is more about the senses in general rather than just the sense of smell. Here the idea is to appeal to all the senses at different stages to make the person feel extremely good. Then right at the end you reveal the cost of their pleasure and vanity: for example, starving slave children making chocolate for you which they have never tasted, and never will, in their life.

One idea that Edrian came up with is doing a murder mystery in relation to scent. The "how" in this idea isn't figured out yet, but at this stage we don't need to know that at present. We can sort that out at a later date further down the road of development. This is the most popular idea among the group thus far, so it is highly likely that it will be further developed.

The previous day we did a bit of individual research. Jason found this really interesting research paper about the relationship between scent and humans and what their effect is on the person. The most interesting thing presented in the paper is that just by placing a pleasant aroma in a casino caused a 45% increase in gambling. I thought it was interesting how strongly scent can affect out decisions. For example, in one part the paper talks about how some unlabelled shampoos were tested for being the most effective. With the scent in tact, the worst shampoo with the best scent scored the highest ranking and the best one with a scent that wasn't as good as the others was ranked last. After removing the scents however, the one that smelled the best before came last and the one that smelled worst before came out on top as the most effective shampoo. (Fox, 2011)

I read about an approach to perfume-making in my part of researching as well. It's where the scent is made to "evoke an atmosphere"; an approach in perfume making begun by the Guerlain perfume house which revolutionised the perfume world. (Lyttelton, 2007) I think this is an approach to creating the scents that we could use, though it depends very much on our plot.

However, it is definite that we can't make scents with a full set of top, middle, and base notes as it takes hours for the entirety of the perfume to unfold all its layers. Basically the top notes are the introduction of a perfume. The first scents you catch, which then move aside to reveal the meat of the story (the middle notes) and finishing with a finale of base notes. So it would be better to opt for a linear perfume, which stays the same scent throughout its lifespan as we don't have that many hours for a complex scent to unfold. Maybe we could have the different stages of the story be made from different notes from the top, middle, and base range so that the narrative in a way mimics the structure of a perfume?

Also, I think it may be a good idea to base our game on Patrick Süskind's novel, Perfume, and its movie adaption Perfume: The Story of a Murderer directed by Tom Tykwer. It could be a place to draw in major inspirations to inform our work. It's a very intriguing book as well as a gorgeously executed film with an enchanting soundtrack to match.




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References

Fox, K. (2011). The Smell Report: An overview of fact and findings. Retrieved September 29, 2011 from http://www.sirc.org/publik/smell.pdf

Lyttelton, C. (2007). The Scent Trail. London, Great Britain: Transworld Publishers.

Un-reality: First day

Today's the first day of the new project. The brief is really open and you can pretty much tailor it to your tastes. The idea is to create an alternate reality; blurring the line between worlds I think is another way to put it.

There was a brief mention about putting groups together for fresh combinations of people today. Luckily for me I hadn't planned out who I wanted to work with in advance like I usually do, so I really did get a group together where I haven't worked with any of them before. As mentioned in various previous blog posts I pick my groups based on my perception of what colour they are in terms of how people work in groups. The main ones are yellow, blue, and orange. Putting together a group is based on balancing these colours. Somehow we randomly got a good balance. Two yellows, two blues, and one orange. Fine combination for getting work done.

With this new group the atmosphere is light and fun. We got a bit brain dead at the end with concept making, but I'm happy with what we've got so far and we seem to be working together quite nicely.

At the moment we're really interested in working with and exploring the realm of smell. It's one of our senses that we don't really pay conscious attention to even though it affects us strongly on a subliminal level. So now we know what we want to do for this particular project we just need to figure out how we want to express/expose this aspect of reality we've chosen. This will be sorted out tomorrow when we make our concept more solid by pinpointing what we want to do with this reality of scent. At the moment we're not worrying about how we're going to make the actual thing yet though, I think that should be worked through next Tuesday or Wednesday.

Things that interest me about scent is its ability to stir up memories and make a person think of something without them knowing the real cause for it is the scent. (Dowder, 2011)

An example of this is how scent is used in marketing. By using how scent works with memory in the brain, marketers are able to manipulate it to produce a strong sense of product association. Basically, when people smell, the scent goes straight to the emotional and memory center of the brain. So the smell is connected strongly to the emotions it causes and according to their memories that have been associated with a particular scent. (Scent Marketing Institute, 2011)


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References


Dowder, S. (2011). Does what you smell determine what you buy? Retrieved September 28, 2011 from http://money.howstuffworks.com/scent-marketing.htm

Scent Marketing Institute. (2011). Scent Marketing Institute | smi. Retrieved September 28, 2011, from http://www.scentmarketing.org/

CD

For the CD I went for a really minimalist look. I made a really simple stencil of this logo that I plan to use personally. It's basically an equilateral triangle, that's also the alchemical symbol for fire. I value the strength that it represents. So this on the CD is just a simple symbol to say that this is mine and this is my work.

This will be the last blog for this project since I've finished everything for it.

Add Ribbon

Final touches were added today. With the halves joined together the only thing left to do is to hide that crack between the two halves. Since the theme is sustainability, it would be a good idea to have a dig around the house to look for any usable material.

Luckily for me in my house there's a actually a huge stash of arts and crafts material accumulated over the years. In one bag there's a whole lot of ribbon that I bought ages ago that I never ended up using. There's exactly enough for my boxes too. So I used that to hide the cracks. The ribbons were glued on as well, this hardens the ribbon making it strong and keeps it in place.

Stick them together

Results were favourable after drying. Sides became exceptionally strong and the glue drying clear gave it a really nice, shiny finish. They also closed up a lot better than before due to the glue holding the sides in place. Even if they move out of place a little you just need to put your hands on opposite sides and push in very slightly all around the circle. Then the sides would hold in place and the box would lock effectively. Before strengthening, sometimes the box would pop up and not lock properly, with the glue painted on this problem has been solved.

I sliced off the area then joined the halves together with double-sided tape. That worked out surprisingly well, I was so pleased with that. Before I was thinking of just gluing them together, but since the halved don't perfectly match together it may prove difficult. Then I found some tape at home, which helped out very much and worked very effectively in what I wanted it to do.

Strengthen Sides

Strengthening of the sides was done today. First, I paint the glue over the sides first.


Then I let the half sit on a surface and paint the glue over the area that won't be sliced off giving it that extra bit of strength.

So far so good. Now I have to wait for this to dry and see how it turns out.

Thin Card - Fold

Folded up the crease patterns today and here's all my halves of each box. 10 in total.

I haven't sliced the bottoms yet. In stiffening fabric, one way is the paint glue or a mixture of water and glue over the fabric. This makes the fabric really hard and the glue would dry clear. I've decided that to add strength to the sides I would paint glue over it as a prevention against ripped sides. I'm thinking that maybe I don't have to slice off the entire bottom either. I think maybe only slice off a small area in the middle and leave the rest on. That remaining surface would be a good place to join the halves together without having to make an extra band to put them together. The advantage to this is that since you'd still have that area on the side as a separation on the inside, you can now use the packaging to put two CDs in, which I think is good for my theme on sustainability.

Thin Card - Cut

This blog entry is going to be particularly short. The day was spent drawing out the 10 crease patterns with the template and cutting them out in preparation for folding the next day. Not much development today.

Thin Card - Make the template

These are templates for each part of the crease pattern. Three parts in total. I made templates out of the thick card I had left over to speed things up. This would be much much faster than drawing out the crease pattern out full 10 times on the thin card since a lot of measuring and compass work is involved.

This is what they look like when separated. You use the big circle first, then have the one with arms laid over that and finally the thin circular one in the middle to get your sides.

This is basically the final pattern. I'll draw out a smaller version of it to put in my journal with the actual measurement on the side to show the design. Will put these pictures along with it too.

Thick Card - Ways to fold it properly

To get around the card thickness being too much I tried two ways to get the card to fold properly.

One was slicing out the parts that join the pleats together and seeing if that would still keep the shape together. If this one worked then I would have to cut out a band to hold the sides in one piece. I think very fortunately this method failed. If it worked, I would have to do a lot more work for it and it would take too much time.

The second method was a pain and good thing it didn't work either. It was perforating each folding line. THEY'RE ALL FOLDING LINES. What this did was even though it made them fold more easily when you try to collapse the pleats to close it the folds would rip in a way that was very ugly and ruined the look of the box.

Will have to use the final option, which is thinner card that is more flexible. It would be more suitable for folding and strength, I believe, would be fine even though it won't be as strong as that thick card.

Pattern on Thick Card

Drew out the final crease pattern I had on the thick card, cut it, and proceeded to fold it.

The card was way too thick to fold properly. Ugly creases that aren't supposed to be there shooting everywhere, surfaces warped unintentionally; TOO THICK. Not suitable for folding. I'll either need to find a way to make this card work, since it's pretty strong and great material for a box, or something more flexible than this to fold the boxes properly.

Test fabric

The original plan was to make the boxes out of stiffened fabric. I became doubtful that fabric would be strong enough though, but tested out stiffened fabric anyway. Above is a sample of fabric that was tested.

Actual fabric stiffener is expensive, so I looked around for other alternatives. One is a mixture of starch and water, which I used on the sample above. There were other alternatives too but they were more for hardening fabric after it was made in to your project rather than for preparation of the fabric to make it in to something else.

The fabric did get harder, but it wasn't strong enough for my liking. So I think it would be better to use card instead. It also has more of a connection to sustainability and the human presence.

Sliced bottom

Bottomless tato viewed from the top.

What it looks like inside.




I had an idea on how to fix the problem about the pleating not being the same. I thought, why don't I draw up a standard tato design and just slice off the bottom afterwards? This way the pleating at the top would still be perfect for all my aforementioned requirements while still being bottomless.

So I spent the day designing a new crease pattern to fit the CD inside and changed the height of it so that it won't be really bulky when the two halves are joined together.

This still isn't perfect though. I found that when I sliced off the bottom the folds on the sides began to rip a little. It might be because printer paper isn't good paper for strength. Either way, there has to be a way around this.

Patterns without a bottom

I had two different crease patterns to create a tato without a bottom. They're similar to each other, the only difference is the angle of rotation. I had to test that out because this pattern I created is NOT an ordinary pattern for a standard tato. In terms of basic structure I made it similar to the helix structure, which is a longish rectangular strip. This would give me something without a bottom. Then in the top area I gave the design the angle of rotation to close up the box, therefore the trap in a tato box.

The first design has a 45degree angle of rotation and the second one's angle is given when you connect the bottom right corner to the division at the top. The patterns I designs for these are also in my journal. See those for more clarity.

The 45degree one didn't work. It couldn't match up and close at all because the angle was too small for the number of pleats (17 pleats) to fit around the entire circle.

The second one worked but I'm not please with the result. First of all the structure was incredibly weak and the hole was disappointingly small. It's ugly too. I think the differences between this one and the beautiful standard tato is because in this one the pleating doesn't run down the sides of the box. Meaning that the angle of rotation begins at a different point and the size of the pleats would be different, completely changing the look and how well the self-lock property works.

I need to find a way around this.

How many pleats

First step is deciding on the number of pleats. Judging from the two standard tato patterns I folded, which are the 17 and 32-sided tatos shown in previous blog entries, the less sides you have the more strength you get in the trap and the better it closes. More sides gives you a bigger hole, more aesthetically pleasing rotations because of how many pleats there are, but you get a weaker structure because in the pattern you will have narrower triangles that aren't so good for strength.

Pictured above from left to right are tatos folded from crease patterns I designed myself: 12-sided, 24-sided, and 15-sided. The design is drawn out in my journal as well as further developments towards my final product.

The number of sides here were chosen for ease in dividing 360degrees in a circle equally. The 12-sided one didn't give a hole to allow for a finger trap, it was the strongest though. 24-sided was way too weak and 15-sided still didn't really give a big enough hole for a good trap. So I decided to just stick with the 17-sided tato even though it can't divide evenly with 360degrees.

Now that pleat number is decided, I need to modify the crease pattern so that:

-It fits the CD inside
-Doesn't have a bottom so that two sides with a trap on it can be joined together to make a full trap

CD Packaging: How to modify

Drew up a total of eight modifications, which are my developments, today.

There were some really adventurous developments and some not so adventurous ones. I went for the development that had a balance on both being fun and being doable. This is the finger trap modification for a standard tato box.

Basically, you have the main parts of a standard tato on both side, which gives you both sides of the trap. The challenge here is making a crease pattern that lets both sides have a closed end while leaving a hollow between for the CD. It must also be strong and sturdy, making the middle part a particular concern in the strength of the structure.

More things to decide on would be how many pleats I would want in the tato in relation to the hole for the trap, the strength of the whole thing including how well it closes up the box, and how all that works with the CD inside.

CD Packaging: Crit session

The crit session went quite well. I'm set on the right track to finish over the break. Now, it will be focused on getting down my crease pattern.

A modification that was suggested to me by Nick Burridge, our lecturer for this particular project, is modifying a standard tato box so that it can open on both sides with the CD lodged in a small compartment in the middle. This gives you a proper double-sided finger trap. I like it because it's fun and devious, which means now you have to struggle for a few minutes to reach your CD. In relation to sustainability, this turns the CD in to a great toy even after it doesn't store CDs anymore, and it shows how humans trying to manage their resources for sustainability is a long, hard road. However, with perseverance and iron willpower I think people can do anything.

Note that I won't set on doing that yet, as I still need to consider other possibilities of modifications first before fully settling on one development to turn in to a final.

CD Packaging: Developing - Do the math

After folding up the designs the time is now ripe for learning how the math works behind each design in order to manipulate angles and measurements at will. In my journal I will make little sketches of how I would modify the designs and make it my own, these planned modifications would be my official developments. Now I just need the math to know exactly how to make the modifications.

For the crease patterns I've chosen, there are three categories as mentioned before:

- Pleats
- Helixes
- S-curves


PLEATS

Above is the crease pattern for the 32-sided tato with my added annotations showing the basic math and method to modify pleated crease patterns. Click on it to see a larger image.

I'll summarise the method here. Basically you have your circle, then you divide it into the number of pleats you want. Decide how big you want the base to be, the height, and length of pleats. Then in the height area choose whichever bottom corner of the section you prefer and draw a perpendicular line up to the top of the height area. When the line hits that point, begin your new line and bring the end of it at the division of a segment you drew up in the first step at the edge of the circle.

To understand the math in pleating a total of five crease patterns were studied to find the similarities to help figure out the math behind it. Pictures of the folded models can be found in my previous blog. I used Philip Chapman-Bells' 32-sided tato (Chapman-Bells, 2008), 17-sided tato (Chapman-Bells, 2008), pentagonal petal tato (Chapman-Bells, 2009), and octagonal tato with modified bottom. (Chapman-Bells, 2008) I used an octagonal tato box crease pattern from Jorge Jaramillo to study pleats as well. (Jaramillo, 2009)

I found the Chapman-Bells models to be the most comprehensive in understanding the math. The 32-sided, 17-sided, and Jaramillo's octagonal tatos are "standard tatos". This is where I figured out the basic math for it and from the pentagonal petal and Chapman-Bells octagonal tato with modified bottom with the modifications helped me understand how to add modifications to standard designs. This understanding of I believe would help me greatly in creating my own modifications. I also found that with tatos, if you stick your finger in it your finger gets trapped inside. I think this is fun, and the box could be turned into a simple finger trap. The reason why it can trap fingers is because the flaps are arranged in tangents around a point (radial geometry) and they point downwards slightly. So it works like the arrangement of eel's or shark's teeth where it's easy to get it, but difficult to get out.


HELIXES

This is the crease pattern for the octagonal helix which was the best for understanding on how to create a helix structure with paper.

I understand how to modify it, but it's hard to put it in to words. Here's an attempt at putting it in to words. Decide how many layers you want in the helix as well as how many sections, the angle of the layers and helix as well, and the diameter of the helix. Make the collapse area first and on one side link the straight lines to layer angles and helix angles on the other side. Do the same thing with the diagonal but opposite to the straight line. So if on one side The straight line is connected to a layer angle you have the diagonal connection to a helix angle. Add in horizontal lines according to how many layers you need and finish off by adding in the top and bottom sections.

For helixes only two crease patterns were studied. Both are Chapman-Bells' models. One is a one layer helix (Chapman-Bells, 2007), and the other is a multi-layer octagonal helix (Chapman-Bells, 2006).

My favourite thing about these is that they can compress into very flat shapes which makes them wonderful for space-saving.


S-CURVES

For S-curves I used the crease pattern for the onion to understand how they work.

It was easier to work out than I thought it would be. They work very much like how pleats do. Basically before you get you straight line at the division you can control your curve to be as extreme/curvy as you want as long as it stays inside its own sector.

As for S-curves I thought they would be harder to figure out so included is a bowl which uses various S-curves. (Chapman-Bells, 2007) The model above, which is the onion, is the main one that helped me understand the construction of S-curves. (Chapman-Bells, 2008) Others also used to understand S-curves are the smart waterbomb (Chapman-Bells, 2007), and seven-sided tato box with curves. (Chapman-Bells, 2008)

They have a lovely, sleek aesthetic look about them.







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Chapman-Bells, P. (2006). The Octuple Helix Compass Rose Jar. Retrieved August 30, 2011, from http://origami.oschene.com/archives/2006/03/11/the-octuple-helix-compass-rose-jar/

Chapman-Bells, P. (2007). Lead Foot Melvin and the Smart Waterbomb. Retrieved August 30, 2011, from http://origami.oschene.com/archives/2007/03/24/lead-foot-melvin-and-the-smart-waterbomb/

Chapman-Bells, P. (2007). Peppermint Drop Bowl. Retrieved August 30, 2011, from http://origami.oschene.com/archives/2007/06/01/peppermint-drop-bowl/

Chapman-Bells, P. (2007). The Spiral Data Tato -- A Curiously Complex Origami CD Case. Retrieved August 30, 2011, from http://www.instructables.com/id/The-Spiral-Data-Tato----A-Curiously-Complex-Origam/

Chapman-Bells, P. (2008). 7-Sided Tato Box, Open Top and S-Curved Sides. Retrieved August 30, 2011, from http://origami.oschene.com/cp/7-tato-box-open-top-with-curves1.pdf

Chapman-Bells, P. (2008). 32-Sided Tato Box. Retrieved August 30, 2011, from http://origami.oschene.com/cp/32-sided-tato-box-straight-sides.pdf

Chapman-Bells, P. (2008). Eight-sided Tato Box, Stackable. Retrieved August 30, 2011, from http://origami.oschene.com/archives/2008/02/13/beaver-dams/

Chapman-Bells, P. (2008). Meditation XVII Box. Retrieved August 30, 2011, from http://origami.oschene.com/archives/2009/01/11/with-apologies-to-mr-ekiguchi/

Chapman-Bells, P. (2008). Onion. Retrieved August 30, 2011 from http://www.box.net/shared/uqzdegu684

Chapman-Bells, P. (2009). Kaki Self-Lock Pentagonal Tato Box. Retrieved August 30, 2011, from http://www.flickr.com/photos/oschene/3206757676/in/photostream/

Jaramillo, J. (2009). Petal Box CP. Retrieved August 30, 2011, from http://www.flickr.com/photos/georigami/3193396658/