Degree Show

Come and see a variety of young artists' work displayed at the variety of places around Canterbury city! 

Rain Room - Barbican

At the Barbican - Rain Room

The first step under the rain really puts you outside of your comfort zone as you don't really trust it not to get you wet at first but then once you take that first step in it is a peculiar feeling having control of the rain.

An amazing installation that has only encouraged me more to go all in with my current design of bringing the exterior into the interior. It creates a fascinating reaction from people.

adding other senses

Adding to the snow and the magical surroundings I wanted to use sound and scent to really enhance the 'feel' of my piece. To really grab the attention get people drawn into to my fantasy world.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYhQMAtaKls

This piece of music is a well known magical sentimental piece to the fantasy world.
  
And smells I thought about the best smelling and most exciting thing that you would smile when you were a child was sweets. I believe that sticking with this childhood excitement of using sweets with compliment the the childish fantasies of the classic fairy tales stories my store design holds.
I want to try and use the sweets as part of the winter wonderland theme and blend them in with the surroundings as well as I can. For example sugar as snow, clear boiled sweets melted down into icicle shapes hanging of branches etc... 

Snow

As I am going for the winter theme I had to find a way to create a snowy surrounding and also wanting to add more effects into my installation on creating a moving snowing effect.

Something like this I felt would work well projected across the trees.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=S7LpYFhb1JU

Adapting

From here I really thought I would go all out and think how I could interact the this idea to the public. I thought about putting on a show whilst people wandered around, or introduce fairy like dancers on rope swings so can be seen throughout the whole of the inside. Really rummaging around all the ideas I could think of until I thought.about what about just taking the main elements from a few fairy tales and combining them with what I already have.

Alice in Wonderland - Food/Drink that have the 'Eat Me'/ 'Drink Me' signs on them

Narnia -  A large wooden wardrobe that leads you into a magical world

Wizard of Oz - The red shoes

This is when my store turned from a clothes store, to a shoe store!

Fairy tales

Thinking about theatres has led me to think of traditional famous stories and that is how I came about the 'fairy tale' idea. Introducing fairy tales would be a strong part of the stores design as are the memories of fairy tales from peoples childhoods. Taking peoples childhood memories and putting it there in front of them will automatically increase interest.

'Alice in Wonderland'

 

'Narnia'

'Wizard of Oz'

Again looking closely at the Secret Cinema and how they include actors in on their experience is something that got me thinking how and what else could I bring to my store design/idea to really enhance the customers experience.

Here is again the link for the Secret Cinema.

http://www.secretcinema.org/

And here is a video of Secret Cinema's Shawshank Redemption

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4rJ3Y6P4h0

Using photo shop to enhance the colours and hopefully when I create the website for this store design I will able to use these images on there.

Atocha train station, Madrid

After the trip in the woods I knew this is the direction I wanted to continue my FMP in. The course of nature obviously will provide the season settings of the store and its clothing it displays.

I looked tp see if it was possible to have real trees and plants inside the building and have them flourish.

I looked at the Atocha train station in Madrid, this place holds a tropical garden inside.

Trip in the woods

Seasons

Rain Forest Cafe at MGM Grand Hotel and Casino

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk

Lookinng at Rain Forest Cafe got me thinking how such a simple think like trees and plants can create such an amazing atmosphere. Then I started realized the most beautiful places in this world are natures doing and that no matter what season it was mother nature always managed to show her beauty. 

Realising this I knew that I must make my shop include natures scenery and from here is where I decided on the woods as my centre peice. Trees always look beautiful when they are rich with green leaves, blossom or bare with snow sitting lightly on the branches.

This is when I took a wander in the woods with my camera and some items of clothing and start 'displaying' thes items as if they were on show for sale.

 

Continuing with my FMP

I have come a lot further in this project since the last time I updated this blog but I will share each step I have taken and why I chose these routes.

Looking at the shops today and the lacking in their ability to flourish in such difficult times just shows that something really needs to be done to bring back those customers. The best possible thing I can think of is to make sure the the shopping 'experience' is enjoyable, so people would rather go to a shop rather than sit at home on-line shopping.

I researched around to see what was already being done and see how some companies have focused on improving the whole experience for their customers involved.

This particular one I found took my curiosity and I think it is an absolutely brilliant idea! -

http://www.secretcinema.org/

It is a secret cinema. This is an exciting way to watch and not only that but also be involved with some of your favourite movies. They get you to dress up and become apart of the theatre they are creating around you, you help re-enact the film you are also watching on large screen. Exciting!

This is a new revolution for the cinema, since pirate copies have come about the traditional cinema experience has been damaged. So obviously the cinema is feeling the pressure and raising their prices which is then creating a vicious circle as people wont want to pay more for something they could watch at home for very cheap/free.

This new idea of the cinema is like a breathe of fresh air! You can't just sit at home and enjoy these new fun exiting experiences you have to pay and go somewhere.

Here is a video for the famous Shawshank Redemption -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4rJ3Y6P4h0

And here is an article that explains what it is all about -

http://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/esmagazine/secret-cinema-how-to-get-25000-people-to-pay-50-for-a-film-ticket-without-knowing-what-the-film-is-8390489.html