Intro : I started working on the planning of the project in September 7. I came up with many different project topics. Mostly focusing on communication – love and community. The first topic sentence i worked on was “love encourages people to call someone home “. Secondly I worked on ” there is always limited communication“. However, both of the topics didn’t satisfy my personal emotions. I moved to a third concept which incorporated with the term Estranged “how technology gets us estranged”. And as my last failed attempt happened with “how bad communication gets us estranged”. After brainstorming for few weeks, I realized is all I want to talk about is being Estranged. Because that’s actually what I really wanted to tell people about.
Estranged : (of a person) no longer close or affectionate to someone; alienated.
Questions : I asked myself few questions in order to start getting deeper in my own feelings and emotions.
“what am I running away from?”
“why do I feel estranged?”
“why do I want to be away from other people?”
Answers : I came up with few answers, specifically 7 different answers. 7 different words that hurt me the most since today. 7 words that made me overthink every second of life.
Trust – Caring – Support – Lies – Family – Changes – Religion
Concept Inspiration : Even before building this project, even before starting thinking about it. I had been listening to this one song by Guns N’ Roses every day at least 10 times. It was a bad obsession. The song is called “Estranged” and it is one of the songs that I’ve ever found myself in. The song touched my heart in a way that it woke up many feelings that i’ve been trying to figure out. Feelings that I couldn’t explain for years. Not just the lyrics, but also the music video was an inspiration in my project.
Lyrics From The Song:
Well I jumped into the river
Too many times to make it home
I’m out here on my own, an drifting all alone
If it doesn’t show give it time
To read between the lines
———————————————————
I’ll never find anyone to replace you
Guess I’ll have to make it through, this time – oh this time
Without you
I knew the storm was getting closer
And all my friends said I was high
But everything we’ve ever known’s here
I never wanted it to die
GIF’s From The Music Video:
Product Inspiration : The inspiration of the product came all the way from back home, Turkey. In the area where my summer house is located – under sea sponge harvesting was a major job in 1920’s. The helmet that is worn by the harvesters would have a hose in order the breathe. So it is representing my urge to be surrounded by comfort of home, while being attached to community in a really dependent way.
1920’s Turkish Diving Helmet Image :
Audio Narrative : In order to tell this personal story of getting Estranged I wanted to create an audio narrative which can be listenable when the helmet is worn. The audio narrative was planned to composed by sound effects – songs and voices of different people.
Sound Effects:
Under water – Breathing – Heart beat – Ship horn – Waves
Songs:
Guns N’ Roses – Estranged
Guns N’ Roses – It’s Alright
Voices: The voices inside the helmet- are going to be produced by people who had the biggest impact in my life. The expected voice inside the helmet is really pressuring and depressive in order to feel the loneliness in the dark seas.
Friends – Family – Me – Girlfriend
Bill Of Materials:
Paper Mache:
12″ Balloon – Metallic copper paint – Black paint – Embroidery hoops
Technology / Arduino :
Arduino UNO – MP3 Shield – WS2812 Led Strip
Tech + Code: The project is powered by an Arudino UNO. Inside the helmet there is planned to be a speaker and LED strip. The LED strip is coded in order to react according to audio narrative. Which will make the helmet an experience stage.
Libraries:
<SFEMP3shield.h> | <SimpleTimer.h> | <FastLED.h> | <SDFat.h>
Code :
Work In Progress : After spending a lot time on the concept- I started building the piece however, today October 12, the piece is still on work in progress in many ways.
Helmet Finishing + Windows + Paint + Audio Narrative Finalizing + Code Finalization
Github: Images from sketches, Images of product, Code, Presentation, Audio Narrative can be found in my Github repository for the project “Estranged”.
” https://github.com/emres13/Estranged-Project “
One Final Question: Whenever I work on a project, I always end up having more question in my mind. This time, oh this time, it was….
” Seems everything we’ve ever known’s here
Why must it drift away and die ? “
Thank You,
Emre Sardogan.