Adm Library – Initial Research and Development

Observations
The library is a quiet and peaceful place for study and browsing of books. People of different nationalities, age and faculties come here. However, there was this one thing that struck me. Most of the people there were using earpiece or headphones while they were doing their work. They seem really comfortable and undisturbed in doing their work as compared to those who didn’t wear their earpiece, they were conscious to their actions and sudden sharp noises. This kind of led me thinking – if you put on your earpiece, will you be self-conscious of your actions as compared to when you take them off?

Initial ideas

A globe made out of books and lights to symbolize Universal Knowledge. Is to be hung up at the empty area near the fire reel. Not really feasible in my opinion.

Placing a typewriter near the computers to make people aware about how modern technology has changed and sometimes we take conventional methods for granted. Most feasible.

Portal book which kinda represents a game of sorts. Etc. solving this puzzle will lead you to this, so on and so forth. Least feasible.

Inspiration

Proposed Idea
Drawing inspiration from the above video, i propose to set up a typewriter tentatively (subject to change) on the table at either these two spots before the studying area.

Similarly to social media confession pages, i aim to create an ADM library confessions, using a conventional typewriter (Topic of interest). The subjects will then put on the earpiece (probably connected to a phone or media device) and press to play a typewriter soundtrack. He or she will then proceed to type out their confessions on the paper provided, leaving it there when finished. The twist is that the soundtrack will stop halfway, thus leading to a silence which is intruded by the typing sound of the actual typewriter.
From there, people will either continue unknowingly or stop typing as they are affected by their disturbance of the silence in the library.

Additional Info* A stack of papers and instructional sheet will be placed next to the typewriter to aid usage.

Purpose

An interactive experience to determine a person’s self-consciousness and the blindness to surroundings when putting on a earpiece.

Will people try it?
I don’t know truthfully but i believe the antiquity of the machine and the curiosity of people will get the better out of them!

-Stay tuned-

February 21, 2017April 20, 2017

Evocative Objects – Sound Design Preliminary Ideas

Evocative Objects

Project Brief

A new project which revolves around the creation of a sound artwork which couples with a physical everyday object found around school.

Idea

Creating a myriad of sound that plays / fills in the quietness from the moment a person puts a coin into a vending machine and when it dispenses out the item.

Imagine when you press a button to call for that delicious beef burger you really want… the sound of a mooing cow is silenced suddenly by a sharp “Zing!” of a sharp metal knife… Your beef burger then drops to the dispensing tray.

For this sound piece, i would like to emphasis on the problems of animal cruelty and global warming that we face globally.

http://www.peta.org/features/10-shocking-peta-videos/

The link above brings you to a page in which shows how animals are treated cruelly and inhumanely in production factories. I believe that we consumers should at least have some knowledge and insight into where and how we are getting our food.

Presentation

As this project is not something that i can achieve technically, I would like to head in the direction of interactive media. I intend on illustrating a vending machine similar to the above picture and then maybe annotating buttons onto the machine so that when the user interacts with it, a sound will play alongside with the food dispensed. As this is something new, i am excited about how it’ll turn out.

Inspirational Artworks

The Happiness Factory – Coca Cola Commercial 2007

An old but gold commercial which features the journey of how a coca cola bottle gets dispensed in a vending machine. At first, i was planning on using this similar idea – creating a soundtrack that conveys a journey of the coke can. However, i believe that this is too expansive and that the sound has to relate to the object directly.

Wintergatan – Marble Machine

“if you had a machine like this in 1500… You would called a god of music or a wizard… ” – random Youtube comment

This video gives me this sort of magical and awestruck sensation every time i watch it. I was amazed by the fact that someone had the engineering capabilities to create such a product masterpiece and the fact that it produced such beautiful sounds with only the use of hand held rotor and marbles just seals the deal for me. This is a true inspiration so please check him out,

Dato Duo

As a fan of electro dance music, i love the sound of synthesizers. One thing that really inspired me from this product is the ease and simplicity of sound creation. Just a few pushes of the buttons and tweaking with the knobs, there you go. A really clean and solid soundtrack is produced. Kudos to the inventors.

February 8, 2017March 14, 2017

Motions – Singapore Short Story

MOTIONS

A short documentary about the life of my dad and the unique insights into his perspective of a society that is going through the motions.

(Please turn on subtitles/CC for a better viewing experience)

Challenges & Reflections

For this project, i wanted to convey my dad’s story through a short documentary film. This is because i believe that he has many interesting stories he has when he was a kid and he would never fail to tell them to me over dinner. I chose film as the appropriate medium as the visual and audio narration encourages viewer retention through the story and flow of the film.

At the start, i really had difficulties in coming up with the concept of the documentary. Sure it was about the childhood stories of my dad but that was too general. My mental block lasted quite long until the second consultation with Michael. The project was then narrowed down and encouraged that a learning point or perspective was to be like a take-away from the video. That was when i started to go on the right track.

Sometimes when you have really no clue on what to do, the best thing to do is to start doing something. Anything. Some inspiration is bound to strike you when you are doing something. This happened to be while interviewing my dad. Before the interview, i wasn’t sure of how it was going to turn out. Unexpectedly, during the interview, i slowly started to see the flow of the film coming together. I was amazed that my dad managed to talk for 30 minutes without stopping! That was the turning point of the project.

I chose to make the film slightly longer as i wanted the audience to be engrossed in it. I wanted a slow and steady flow for the video with my dad telling his stories at the start and then followed by his perspectives on the change of quality of life at the back.

Research

I stumbled across cinemagraphs – still image with several moving elements
It has this really atmospheric and subtle vibe

Thought i could give it a try with Kampung scenes.

Thought it set the mood quite well!

Interview Questions

How was life like in the kampong as a kid?

Are there any interesting stories back then?

What are some of the things you miss from the old days?

Singapore has grown over the years so what are some of the changes you may or may not have issues with?

How are the changes affecting your life?

Were you happier in the past or the present?

How do you feel about the younger generation?

F. A. Q

Why is the video so long?

I wanted the audience to be fully engrossed and engaged in the film’s slow and steady pace.

Where do you get the kampung footage from?

I shot the footage from Kampung Buangkok. Some of the still black and white pictures were taken online to serve as a visual stimulator for the story.

Why didn’t you use more visual imagery for the video?

I could not find any other old photos of my dad’s kampung life. These were all that i can scavenge.

Hope you enjoyed!