3. Brainstorming

Brainstorming various deconstructive methods.

Looking at different ways to divide up a book, and put it into different sections.

This will be very useful when turning the book into a model, as eachpart of the model will need to show different things so i will have to know what i want it to show.

I am coming up with various different ways of representing the ideas/feelings conveyed in a book at all times, and i've drawn them wherever possible. Visually representing the themes and characters in charts and colourscheming them.

A closer look: Sherlock Holmes

At the British Library, a 40 minute task to read, summarise and model narrative techniques in a single book was given to everyone.

I selected an old favourite: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, and in particular a chapter titled 'The mystery of the red-headed league'.

I made notes digitally at the time instead of in my sketchbook as it was faster, and this is what i wrote:

'decided to choose 'the adventures of sherlock holmes', in particular my favourite story 'the mystery of the read headed league'.

Dr watson is used as a framing device for the stories, and it usually opens with him setting the timeframe. The story usually opening in baker street, bringing in the character with the problem, sherlock holmes doing some cold reading on the visitor kind of like a parlour trick, and then explaining how he did it.

A large part of what draws you in is being behind what sherlock holmes knows, and feeling as if you're playing catch up.

The story describes a complex ruse that is used to get someone out of the wayto commit a crime. A monetary bribe is used. The victim is a shopkeeper, who is confused (and doesnt know that he is being used), because he had a lucrative job writing out the english dictionary daily at the red headed league. His only qualification for getting the job was being a redhead.

What he didnt understand was that the league didnt exist, and whilst he was out, his shop was being used (by his assistant) to tunnel into a bank to steal millions in gold bars.

I suppose you could do a literal representation of playing catchup, like having something in the model that moves that you cant catch, or an idea (written or pictured) that you can only see half of, or something that is half buried that takes a long time to get out.'

On page 1&2 of my sketchbook, i added to this model ideation by adding that there is something in the model that you cant find, or that you are given clues to by interacting with other parts of the model. I also thought to add that the model could show something that you have to pull out to expose.

Whilst i was reflecting on my identification of Dr. Watson as a framing device, i made some new observations.

1. That the narrative moves from reflecting in the past to present time periodically in order to ceate suspense, and a sense of us being in the dark.
2. That sherlock holmes is also a step ahead of Dr. Watson himself, which in a way normalises our ignorance, and doesn't make us feel stupid.

How to invoke each of these parts?
TYPE A. literal representations
TYPE B. metaphors



I created a flow-chart of the narrative, and made some examples of modelling techniques based on the two types that i identified previously.

This lead me on to thinking of different ways of splitting up a book, and categorising it, as you have to split something before you can put it back together. There are so many dofferent ways of doing it, and brainstorming this would not only help me look at different ways to organise the text, but possibly also inspire me to find different ways of modelling them.

I also am going to research different narrative techniques and story types.

Day 1: The British Library

We received the brief, and took a look around a couple of exhibitions at the British library.

What caught my attention was the display of old music books, and i took a few photos and made some notes.

The first manuscript that i looked at was titled 'The old hall manuscript', and it is one of the most important and substantial collections of early English polyphonic music. It was mainly compiled by one scribe between 1415 and 1421, with additions in several other hands from the early 1420's. I noted down the reference number: Add. MS 57950, ff 12v-13r

Why i chose this book:

Reading music is different to reading books. It is always linear/chronological, and the picture it conveys is different to that when words are read.

It is huge and hand-notated. Ive written music before and it takes forever, and can be messy without the aid of music software, but these are done with a special pencil, perhaps one that is thick and square to make inputting the notes more efficient. The notes are very neat and uniform.

I had a look online for such pencils, but i couldn't find any under the search 'music manuscript pencil' or similar searches. Perhaps it is no longer needed with the development of music software.

I also noticed more ornate books, with fancy binding. The words on the pages look so neat that they could be printed and although it is dated before the invention of the printing press, it could have been done with a stencil or other hand tool. There are beautiful illustrations on the pages which look hand-coloured. There are also some notations that i don't recognise.





There is a book next to it which is slightly cruder, called Purcell's autograph score-book. Contains welcome songs and informal vocal pieces. There is a song inside called 'sound the trumpet, beat the drum' which was written in 1687 for James II.

I noticed that in the exhibition, there were a stack of identical folding chairs in a corner. They were the same ones that that i wrote about in the previous project in the British Museum. Again, they were in a dark corner right at the back of the exhibition. I now understand perhaps that it was because they didn't want to detract from the exhibits, or have something ugly in an obvious place, but perhaps they could have put a notice next to the 'no mobiles etc.' sign saying that chairs are available in the corner..



Also at the exhibition were various interactive books.

A huge illustrated book of birds was open in an exhibition, and next to it was this interactive book which not only gave additional information, but also allowed me to see the content of a book that is so old that in order to preserve it, people aren't usually allowed to touch it.



Each page is hand painted, and the birds are life-sized.

I also took some video footage of different exhibits that i found interesting.