Final

A Perfect Disguise

For our final year project, we have to build a miniature set of anything we can think of! I decided to go with the classic dollhouse. The requirement is for the base of the set to be 15 X 15 platform and of any height we want it to be, which we then have to photograph and photoshop as needed. When brainstorming, I had alot of wild ideas in my head, but out of them all, I decided to go with a classic dollhouse, with a twist. I believe as a child, we all have had one point in our lives when we would obsessed over dollhouses. I keep those memories close to my heart and I wanted to create something about it. The house was made from a foam board that I got from Hobby Lobby and I wanted to have a pink dollhouse because that's my favorite color. I started 'installing' the siding of the house by cutting and folding some construction papers into the desired thickness and length. I thought it turned out good so I did the same technique for the roof. I made sure my little house has windows for a better lighting for the photoshoot later. I also used real hinges so the door can be opened and closed easily, without damaging the house. After I was done with the exterior, I continued on the interior of my house. I had a few ideas of how I wanted my interior to be. But I wanted something different. I do not want to buy toy sets and just set them inside, so I thought to create a more interesting dimension, I'd print them out and make them look 3D. It's budget-proof too! Just for the record, I spent about $15 for this project. After I was finished with the interior, I made sure everything was in place and it was ready for a photoshoot. 

For the photoshoot, I used some hot lights and an external flash that was attached to my camera. I also played around with the filters to see how different the color could be. It was my first time doing a real photoshoot with special lights so I struggled a little bit. I also realized that the house was a little too enclosed that not much light can get in, even though it has windows and door. If I could go back and repair my house, I'd definitely made the walls detachable for my own convenience, especially during the photoshoot. Nonetheless, after about half an hour of photographing, I was finally happy with the pictures I got. Shoutout to Min and Evan for their help! Yay teamwork! After that, I went through the 300 photos I took and start choosing my favorites. After narrowing the photos down to about 10, I picked out the best 5. And then I edit them according to my theme and how I'd like them to be. I enjoyed the photoshop process because my imagination is my limit.

Finally let us talk about the concept of my project. I was inspired by the singer Melanie Martinez with her song 'Dollhouse'. The song is a about a family that appears to be perfect on the outside looking in, yet it is far from it on the inside. I love the meaning behind the song and I thought I'd do something similar. So the house is really pretty and dreamy on the outside, just like  how we'd a expect a dollhouse to look like. But on the inside if you open the door and you take off the roof, you will see something very different and very opposite of the outside. The interior has normal furniture you usually see in; a couch, books, fireplace, a bathroom with shower, fish bowl, vases and all kinds of normal stuff in a house. But you can also see red and black splatters on the wall and everywhere in the house. The red splatter does not necessarily means blood, it just a metaphor of nasty or bad things. Personally, it is about how everyone has their problem and you're never going to truly see them. There is always going to be a front to everything, a perfect front. You think that things are perfect because the way they look, but everyone and everything has difficult times that they go through, that they sometimes do not want people to know, they'd rather hide it behind perfect settings. I took me a few weeks to get all of this done but I was really happy with the outcome.