Streak

Streak – An experimental film, 2017


Concept / Theme

‘Streak’ captures the vibrance of an urban city fueled by lights and how the city truly comes alive at night. Using the medium of photography, I wanted to capture and create the manipulation of time by ‘stretching’ the captured image and combining it with effects to evolve an image into something new and refreshing.


Inspirations / References

Koyaanisqatsi (1982 experimental film by Godfrey Reggio)

  • The film consists primarily of slow motion and time-lapse footage of cities and many natural landscapes across the United States. The visual tone poem contains neither dialogue nor a vocalized narration: its tone is set by the juxtaposition of images and music.

TimeLAX 01 by iVideomaking

This is a very interesting approach to a moving city in Los Angeles through timelapse.

  • Another example of the use of timelapse to create the feeling of the city being alive and moving.

Kaleido-lapse by Young Elephant (Sai)

Another great example of what I hope to achieve for my own video with the use of mirror effects to achieve a kaleidoscope effect.

Initial moodboard from Pinterest

https://www.pinterest.com/alazmir/media-art-nexus-timelapselong-exposure/

Lucas ZimmermannTraffic Lights 2.0

Photo by Lucas Zimmerman

Photo by Lucas Zimmerman

Photo by Lucas Zimmerman

 

Photo by Te-Wei Liu

 

 

Photo by Mark Burban

Photo by Andres Caldera

 


Process

It took me several nights spanning across a few weeks and a lot of patience to capture these timelapses. In order for me to get the streak effect, each shot/angle had to be experimented based on how long I wanted the shutter to be open in order to capture the moving light.

So, for example, I take about 9 seconds for each picture. I set my timer for about 20 minutes, which will roughly give me about 133 photos. If importing into Adobe Premiere Pro with a 24fps sequence, I can achieve about 5 seconds of moving visuals.

Importing

Import (Image Sequence)

Marking the beats of the song

 

 

Marking beats

Overall timeline of project

Sequence Timeline


Prototype

This was the initial test of the visuals, testing out the resolution, quality as well as the speed of the clips. The visuals are raw and have no added effects applied to it.


Methods

The effect that was widely used throughout the video is the ‘mirror’ effect which essentially reflects the image to form a more sophisticated shape/form. All of my editing (compiling timelapses, arranging of clips, applying effects) is done in Adobe Premiere Pro CC and tweaking of colours of certain images is done in Adobe Lightroom.

Reflection city tutorial by Artbeats Inc.

Mirror reflection video effect tutorial by Justin Odisho

Kaleidoscope effect tutorial by Alex Edwards


Current

 


Future Plans

As of now, I hope to get all the clips sorted from start to end by next week and also to tweak and tighten up certain transitions in between different clips to make it more cohesive. There is also room for me to continue experimenting with different effects and possibly overlaying certain elements to bring out the idea of the city being alive.

 

Project 3: Genre and Narrative (Piper)


Artistic statement


Jamie was only a regular reporter until his best friend Sam suddenly decides to go missing. No one knows where she went. Her friends have no idea, and the police don’t seem to care. Distraught and angry, he pours himself into a useless search, turning up nothing but empty trails. Just as he was about to give up, a mysterious source turns up with the information he is desperately seeking. Right upon his doorstep.

He follows the clues, taking him to the strangest, weirdest places. Fuelled by his obsessive need to find out the truth behind Sam’s disappearance, it finally leads him to the entity behind it all. The Piper.

But was it all worth it?

 


Original Story


  • Based on the folk tale, The Pied Piper of Hamlin.
  • Story talks about how the town of Hamlin is terrorized by a frightful plague of mice
  • In their desperation, they hire the Pied Piper
  • Using his pipe, he entices the rats to follow him to a watery death
  • However, was refused payment for his services
  • Decides to lure the children of the town away with his music, never to be seen again.

Pre-Production Phase


Crafting the script

Elements we wanted to bring from the original tale:

  • The Piper and his ‘Pipe’

Things we changed:

ORIGINAL PIPER
VILLAIN: The Pied Piper VILLAIN: Pip, our Celebrity
POV: Third Person – Narrator POV: First Person – Jamie
VICTIMS: Rats, Children VICTIMS: Sam, Pip’s Fans
MODUS OPERANDI: Pipe MODUS OPERANDI: Snapchat
MOTIVE: Revenge MOTIVE: Unexplained
  • Storyboarding in this case was not very effective.
  • More emphasis is put on the script itself.
  • The storyboard provided a guideline rather than being a production bible.

Production Phase


Location Scouting:

CRITERIA FOR OUR LOCATIONS:

  • elaborate, suitable backgrounds
  • chilling, mysterious atmosphere
  • fit the flow of the story
  • easy commute
  • accessible and quiet for filming

After much discussion and google searches, we decided upon five final locations.

PIPER (2)

Filming Process

PIPER (3) PIPER (4) PIPER (1)


 Post-Production Phase


 

PIPER (5) PIPER (6) PIPER (7) PIPER (8) PIPER (9) PIPER (10) PIPER (11) PIPER (12)