Theses Proposal Projects

Maral Minassian | July 10, 2009
Parsons MFADT | Theses | Class of 2009
Professors: Christopher Kirwan, Mark Stafford


First and foremost I would like to send you greetings from Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Today is the last day of my OSI fellowship and work for the NGO Mental Health and Society. I am looking forward to an excellent year of hard work and achievements and I hope to learn as much from your instructions, experiences and advice as possible.

During my stay in Bishkek, I had several thoughts about my theses project. I narrowed them down into two.

First Idea:
A film that shows 2 different scenarios of its star, Erbol.

The first scenario is Erbol, a young Kyrgyz 30-year-old man who works at The World Bank in Washington D.C. The second scenario is Erbol, a young Kyrgyz 30-year-old man, responsible for the trafficking of heroine between Kabul and Almaty.

Erbol’s present life will appear first in the movie, and gradually the past will be revealed. With the revelation of the past, we understand the reason for Erbol’s present profession.

The scenario with Erbol working at The World Bank reveals the past of his mother. Erbol’s mother was suffering from depression. She entered a psychiatric hospital in Bishkek where she met social worker, Aigul. Aigul helped the mother recover, work hard and provide a brilliant future for her son.

The scenario with Erbol as a drug trafficker reveals another past of his mother. Erbol’s mother was suffering from depression. She entered a psychiatric hospital in Bishkek where she was given a wrong diagnosis and therefore took wrong medication. She became completely mad and died in the hospital 1 year later. Erbol grew up in the streets and found the drug business very rewarding.

My interest:
My interest in this kind of story is the emphasis on the turning points in our lives – in how a very single decision or event can produce a drastic change to our existence – not only a change – but the very nature of our today is sometimes because x thing happened in y way, at some point in the past.


Medium:
The medium can be a mix between motion graphics and live footage – in an abstract manner following a specific style. There might be an interaction at some point where the user can choose to select which scenario of Erbol’s life they wish to see first.



Second Idea:
A machine similar to an ipod that works as an audio-visual translator. What happens is as follows:

Christopher goes to Dubai. He doesn’t know a word of Arabic. The plane lands, he takes his suitcase and grabs a cab. The cab driver cannot speak English, but Christopher has his translator machine.

The visual part:
Christopher chooses the “from English to Arabic” among the languages menu and types:
“Hello, I would like to go to hotel Al Shams please”

The machine translates the above into Arabic but using Latin letters that Christopher can read:
“Al salam alaykom, ourid an azhab il foundouk Al Shams”

Christopher reads the message out loud; the driver understands and takes him.

If the driver talks back to Christopher, the machine hears it and translates it to English so Christopher reads and understands what the driver has said.
Christopher answers back in the same manner and so on.

The audio part:
The machine has the capacity of hearing as we mentioned above. So Christopher can choose to talk to the machine instead of typing – so he tells the machine:

“Hello, I would like to go to hotel Al Shams please”

The machine replies with the following sound: “Al salam alaykom, ourid an azhab il foundouk Al Shams”

The driver hears the machine, understands and drives Christopher to his destination.


I have reached this point with both ideas and would really appreciate feedback from you in order to continue.

Thank you very much and hope to see you very soon in New York City.

Best,
Maral