4D Fdn II: Final (Sheng-Si)

In this post, the following would be included:

  1. Proposal
  2. Artist Statement
  3. Research Paper
  4. Project
  5. Document
  6. Reflection and individual roles

Proposal

  • Programme Purpose/Objective

The main purpose of this installation is to allow participants the chance to take a step back to evaluate their lives so far. The installation aims to evoke recognition of the fast-paced lifestyle Singaporeans have in general. It also allows participants to reflect on the qualities of their life experiences and authentic connection they have with the things that truly matter in life. It also questions them on the meaning of their lives so far – if they were to die in this instant, what sort of legacy would they have left behind, and would it be something they could be satisfied with

  • Programme Rationale

Singapore is a fast-paced society and there is rarely any time for people to slow down and truly appreciate life. We thus felt it was necessary to remind participants to take a breather and rethink the value of their lives.

  • Programme Details

The installation comprises 2 rooms, both of which are expected to work independently as well as together. The first room is a narrative recreation of Singapore’s fast-paced life, and will end in the ‘death’ of the participant. This is followed by the second room which allows for the participant to do a self-reflection of his/her death.

  • Artistic Direction

Life experiences differ from person to person, and we wanted to be as inclusive as possible to whoever that would be viewing it. The installation thus has a mixture of both literal and abstract elements. This allowed us to create a more poetic narrative that was more flexible, allowing participants to slip into the character portrayed.

We will be making use of sound, videos, voice-overs and props to create the desired atmosphere. To ensure that participants are able to understand the installation, we decided to make only the voice over explicit while the rest of the mediums will be kept abstract.


Room 1

As mentioned earlier, the first room is a narrative re-enactment of Singapore’s fast-paced lifestyle. The room is set up with 3 projected screens adjacent to one another.

In this room, we use the metaphorical representation of water as life and merge it together with scenes of the protagonist’s life. The protagonist is never explicitly shown, allowing participants to insert themselves into the narrative and relate the events with their own lives.

The three screens are played in sequence and document the growth of the character from a toddler to a teenager to a young adult respectively. Interlaced with the scenes of the character’s growth are scenes of coloured water droplets being dropped into a tank full of water. The water represents life, and the different coloured droplets represent the memories, experience and feelings associated with each growth stage.

The first screen narrates the toddler stage. The tank of water starts of transparent to represent the character’s innocence and purity. Her first memories, which are represented by yellow droplets are seen penetrating the surface of the water before spreading outwards. The screen then shows clips of a young kid playing with toys and having fun in the playground. The screen then fades back to the now yellow water in the tank.

The second screen starts playing as the first screen continues showing the yellow colours fusing with the water. Red droplets are added into the yellowed water, and is then overlapped with scenes of the character’s slow submission to teenage pressure and rebellion. She is stressed from studying and is too absorbed by commitments which result in negligence of her family. The screen fades back to the water, which is not a mixture of yellow and red. The water is now turning darker and murkier, symbolising the chaos and impurity in her life.

The final screen starts playing as the second screen continues showing the yellow and red tainting the water. This is overlapped with scenes of the character descending into a downward spiral in her life. She starts smoking, and is increasingly distant with her family. She is then seen fainting as the fast pace of her life has finally caught up with her and her health. She dies, and only realises the important things in her life during her last moments, when it’s already too late for her to change anything.

The screen turns black. Black is an irreversible colour, which means that the addition of other colours will not change it. Her life is over, and there is no turning back.

Room 2

While Room 1 focuses heavily on using videos, Room 2 shifts towards the usage of props and performance to create a reflective mood for the participants.  In this room, a mock ritual for the dead has been set up.

The room is darkened as much as possible, and a table is setup at the end of the room. On the table lays different objects that are related to death. They include red string, candles and flowers commonly used for offering. In the center of the table lies a dirtied glass bowl. This is a connecting element for the 1st and 2nd room, and is representative of an empty life vessel. Life, symbolized by water, has been drained out, and only the ugly stains of the black contaminated life has been left behind.  Behind the table stand a mirror that reflects the face of those who enter the room, and is meant to prompt participants to look at themselves and self-reflect.

As participants enter the room, a short performance is also put up. A male and female stands on either side of the table. They have a short dialogue about the character in the previous room.

Dialogue:

Ziyu

“She didn’t have to die this way.”

Alfred

“But at least she was doing what she loved.”

Ziyu

“But what does that amount to?”

Alfred

(Turns to audience)

“Have YOU lived a fulfilling life?”

Ziyu

“Or are you just chasing after happiness that is only temporary?”

After this short dialogue, an usher will come in to encourage participants to have a silent self-reflection for a duration of 1 minute. The narrative her is kept short as the main highlight here is the participants’ own involvement in the room.


  • Target Audience

Students of the School of Art, Design and Media and NTU aged 19-30.

  • Logistics / Budget
Filming Location Things we borrowed Things we bought
Foundation drawing room 1 Projector Black and white cloth
Critical Room 1-14 Bamboo sticks Fake candles
Gladys House/Room & Living Room Black cloth Batteries
Hall 15 2x Speaker Bell
NTU’s playground 3x Laptop Fresh flowers

Presbyterian High School

1x Long mirror Secondary School textbook
Foundation 2D Art Room Fish tank Black Garbage Bag
Starbucks Tables and Chairs Food colouring
NTU North Spine open area Ladder
Foundation 3D Room
Product Design Spraying Corner

The full list of equipments:

  1. 2 projectors (School)
  2. 2 loud speakers (Ziyu)
  3. 3 laptops (Jo, Darren, Gladys)
  4. VGA adapter (Ziyu)
  5. Black and white cloth (Bought)
  6. Bamboo sticks (SC room)
  7. Long mirror (Foundation Drawing Room)
  8. Twine strings (Bought)
  9. Red Strings (Alfred)
  10. Candles / Fake candles (Bought)
  11. Batteries (Bought)
  12. Classic Candle Holder (Jo’s House)
  13. Bell (Bought)
  14. Fish tank (Loan from friend)
  15. Plastic bowl (Gladys)
  16. Water suction tube (Alfred)
  17. Mounting board (Ziyu)
  18. Cardboard boxes (Song Yu)
  19. Tables/Chairs (School)
  20. Black garbage bags (Bought)
  21. Fresh & dried flowers (Bought & Ziyu)
  22. Food colouring (Bought)
  23. Acrylic paint / Chinese black ink (School)
  24. Ladder (School’s cleaner)
  25. Masking/ clear/ black tape (Bought)
  26. School uniform/ textbook (Jo Inng / bought)
  27. Classic Alarm Clock (Hall 4)
  28. Hospital segregation cloth (School)
  29. Hospital Pillow/ Blanket (School)
  30. Phone with family picture (Gladys)
  31. Art File/Art Friend plastic bag (Gladys)
  32. Easel with drawing (Foundation Drawing Room)
  33. Stationaries / Foolscap paper (Gladys)
  34. Toyota Car (Gladys Bumper Car)
  35. Cooked food w/ utensils (Gladys House)
  36. Post-it Note (Gladys)
  37. Warm Lighting Kit (Gladys)
  38. Bata Shoe (Zoey)
  39. DSLR 600D / 18-250mm Macro-Zoom Lens (Gladys/Darren)
  40. Tripod (Darren)
  41. Cigarette and lighter (Heng Tong)
  42. Black spray and artifact (3D Room)
  43. Foam board and cutter (3D Room)

Artist Statement

Print

Shēng – sî (生死) which means life and death is an installation to commentary on the way we are living and if we have lived life to the fullest. It consists of three screens projected by projectors to segregate the protagonist’s different stages of life and using the ink in the colour yellow, red and blue to symbolise the state of mindset she was in. The ink can be seen dropping into the water as different scenes of her life are being played throughout. The last scene would be an overlay of black ink to show that she have passed.

Moving on to the next room, we created a scene of a funeral with life performers to conduct a mock ritual for the audience.In reference to South Korea’s “Mock Funeral”, this allows the participants to experience a life after death and to have a moment of reflection in conjunction with the three screens that they have watched previously.

(I have also posted it on an individual post where you can view from, here.)


Research Paper

For this project, we aimed to tackle and address the issue of leading a fulfilling lifestyle in a modern context. We observed that many youths face the similar issue of being overwhelmed by school work and other commitments, and often had little quality time with things in life that truly mattered. (BBC, 2007)

In our research, we came across one particular trend that had a huge impact on our artistic direction.

Due to high societal pressure and escalating suicide rates, the ‘Near Death’ movement has become increasingly popular in South Korea. This movement aims to address this issue by giving participants the chance to detach themselves from their fast paced lifestyle to reflect on their lives. As such, multiple ‘Fake Funeral’ services have been conducted across the country. In this particular one, they are lectured by a philosophical guru and invited to write out their own eulogy. After that, they will be placed in a coffin for 30 mins to experience death. The act of being enclosed creates a deafening space of endless darkness, and the atmosphere allows the participant to evaluate their lives from a objective and detached point of view.  A lack of self-reflection usually leads to people feeling lost and depressed, and this death meditation in the enclosed space forces them to look within themselves for answers that they have been seeking, but thought they didn’t have.

Another work we came across was Christian Boltanski’s The Heart Archive. Occupying a space in a museum on the uninhabited island of Teshima in Japan, this artwork collects heartbeat sounds from all around the world. Participants are invited into a room where they listen to the sounds of their own heartbeats through a headset. After that, their heartbeats recordings are saved and used in subsequent set ups of the art piece. The heartbeats are immortalized, and remain as fragile remains of their existence on earth.The work makes one contemplate on bereavement and what we remember during our existence on earth. As you take part in the installation, it evokes a sense of uncanniness which acts as a mirror of what lies ahead and our future and our nonexistence in it.  The artwork questions the impact left behind by each individual whose heartbeat sounds have been recorded, and we believe the fragile and faint nature of the recordings makes one ponder on the meaning of their lives, and how many people they have impacted. It also relied heavily on symbolism and non-literal ways of portraying the theme, which we found interesting.

We believe these two artworks were greatly valuable and conveyed an important message. We thus decided to reference these two particular artworks/movements in terms of artistic style and content.Bibliography

Bibliography

  1. Life in the fast lane ‘speeds up’. BBC. BBC News, 2 May 2007. Web. 4 May 2007.
  2. “Fake Funerals in South Korea.” Vice. Vice Japan, n.d. Web. 21 Apr 2016.
  3. Demetriou, Danielle. “Boltanski’s hearts don’t skip a beat.” The Japan Times. The Japan Times, 6 Aug 2010. Web. 4 July 2013.
  4. Waters, Florence. “Christian Boltanski: The Heart Archive, Serpentine Gallery, review.” Telegraph. Telegraph, 12 Jul 2010. Web. 6 Aug 2010.

Project

The full actual presentation including room 1 and 2.

The full video that was played in room 1.


Documentation


Reflection and Individual Roles

 In this project, I learned a lot regarding how much work and thoughts are put into an installation. From choosing a location to creating the content, and then being able to source out the suitable equipments, all these has to be considered in depth to avoid making mistakes and losing precious time. With that in mind, we too have to give ourselves ample time to buffer in case of unexpected scenarios, like in one of our case the partition were able to hold up with just strings in our heads, but in reality could not, thus we had to borrow the bamboo sticks from somewhere else to create a stand to drape the cloth over.

For our topic, which is about life and death, we decided to make it more relatable to the students of ADM and included scenes of of drawing in the wee hours which many of us could see in the shoes of the character. It is also a topic that is close to my heart as my family is very important to me but I am not always able to come home to spend time with them due to school, and thus made my weekends very precious.

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For my part, I firstly thought up of the idea with the ink spreading effect when it drops into the water. I thought it fits well in the whole concept that we were discussing, and was well received by the group as well. The following sections, though we all worked together and helped out when someone needs them, we were still mainly in-charged of different things. For Ziyu and me, we were taking care of the logistic part. We planned out the floor plan for the rooms that we have selected, and went off to decide what we needed for the room.

We had to make sure we knew where the items were, how much they cost and also what time the shop closes. This is extremely important as you don’t want to make a empty trip because the shop have already closed, or over spend on things that you could have saved elsewhere.

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The setting up of the room was relatively easy since we already have everything decided on what we have to do, and it was only the execution of the plans that we have already laid down. We had a buffer day to make sure everything was in place of when we were going to present, and that if there was anything missing or not working, we could solve it within that time frame.

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Actual Setup


LAST BUT NOT LEAST, THANK YOU RUYI AND MY LOVELY CLASSMATES FOR THE WONDERFUL SEM ♥

4D Fdn II: Artist Statement (Sheng-Si)

Print

Shēng – sî (生死) which means life and death is an installation to commentary on the way we are living and if we have lived life to the fullest. It consists of three screens projected by projectors to segregate the protagonist’s different stages of life and using the ink in the colour yellow, red and blue to symbolise the state of mindset she was in. The ink can be seen dropping into the water as different scenes of her life are being played throughout. The last scene would be an overlay of black ink to show that she have passed.

Moving on to the next room, we created a scene of a funeral with life performers to conduct a mock ritual for the audience.In reference to South Korea’s “Mock Funeral”, this allows the participants to experience a life after death and to have a moment of reflection in conjunction with the three screens that they have watched previously.

Project by: Alfred, Darren, Gladys, Jo Inng, Valerie, Ziyu

4D Fdn II: Visualisation for expanded cinema

Are we really living? 

In this setting, we created a commentary towards the take on life, on how fast paced you are, of how much you are constantly moving, constantly working, constantly trying to do more.

Are you really living life to the fullest? When was the last time you stopped and look at the sky? The last time you took a big breath not because of the large amount of work, but of the smell morning brings?

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2

3

Equipment: 3 projectors, sound amplifier.

  1. You see Fast paced people walking (orchard road, CBD area, north spine)
  2. The sound is jarringly loud, the clutter of life feels as though they are trying to grab you into their scene.
  3. A black screen hits you without warning and the sound stops.
  4. Your ears are trying to get used to it.
  5. A series of peaceful and relaxing video appear, sunrise, slow paced people walking, etc.

What would you regret most if you died now?

What does happiness mean to you? A high rank in your career, money to spend without a care in the world or a beautiful house?

Close your eyes and imagine that you’re at your own funeral—a bit morbid I know, but there’s a reason for it. Now think about what you’d like people to say about you. What kind of a life do you want to lead? People die with all kinds of regrets. Don’t be one of them.

In a website we found which asked people what they regret the most, these are 20 that was listed here.

  1. I wish I’d cared less about what other people think.
  2. I wish I had accomplished more.
  3. I wish I had told __ how I truly felt.
  4. I wish I had stood up for myself more.
  5. I wish I had followed my passion in life.
  6. I wish our last conversation hadn’t been an argument.
  7. I wish I had let my children grow up to be who they wanted to be.
  8. I wish I had lived more in the moment.
  9. I wish I had worked less.
  10. I wish I had traveled more.
  11. I wish I had trusted my gut rather than listening to everyone else.
  12. I wish I’d taken better care of myself.
  13. I wish I’d taken more risks.
  14. I wish I’d had more time.
  15. I wish I hadn’t worried so much.
  16. I wish I’d appreciated ___ more.
  17. I wish I’d spent more time with my family.
  18. I wish I hadn’t taken myself so seriously.
  19. I wish I’d done more for other people.
  20. I wish I could have felt happier.

We realise that many of them are of relationships and thought that we could tackle on it more.

4

Equipments: 2 Projector, Sound amblifier, table, black rose.

The sound would be of people reading out what their regrets are, similarly like listening from the point of view of the dead.

Since the sound is so in your face, we thought that the other elements could be more symbolic, and that is why we added the black rose and even moth on the screen since they are traditionally taught to be “your relative visiting you”. 


No phone zone.

We unadmittedly are addicted to the little pieces of metal we have in our hands. Taking that into account, we wanted to make a commentary about that issue.

No Phone Zone logos

  1. Before you enter the room, there would be a box to deposit your phone, there is also a number lock for it just in case you don’t feel safe with it lying around outside.
  2. You enter and you see people’s faces hanging around the room, and even pasted or projected on the wall.

It is a really in your face style that shouts out to people HEY LOOK AT MY FACE. Have some real human interaction.

Thank you! 😀

4D Fdn II: Appropriation (Allie Mac Burroughs)

  1. Why can’t artist simply make his own content? Analyse why and how the remake critiques the original. How do the artists view their own works in relation to others?
  2. Think hard about the material interpretation, motivation of the artist, viewing and social context and the reaction to all.
  3. Is it ok to copy and reuse materials of others in contemporary art? It is a necessary evil to critique a particular issue or status quo.

alliemcburroughs

In 1933, Walker Evans creates a photographic series depicting a family of workers during the Great Depression. Some of these images, such as the untitled portrait of Allie Mac Burroughs, became an icon in the history of photography, as well as symbol of the Great Depression.

In 1981, appropriating artist Sherrie Levine exhibited in New York her photographic series called After Walker Evans. Levine photographed the famous series of Walker Evans directly from an exhibition catalogue.

In 2001, another artist, Michael Mandiberg scanned and posted online the photos that Sherrie Levine appropriated from Walker Evans. He also created a website entitled aftersherrielevine.com, where the photos appropriated by Sherrie Levine once protected by copyright become available for further appropriation by any user of the website.


This fact applies entirely in the instance of appropriators such as Levine or Mandiberg and helps us understand that they do not, in fact, really go against the Foucaultian understanding of the author’s death. It is true, however, that their work seems in fact to reinforce and reaffirm the artist’s authorial function rather than undermine it. ‘Who is speaking’, namely whether it is Levine or Mandiberg, is, indeed, not only important, but imperative. Levine and Mandiberg are Foucaultian followers in as much as they prove through their undertaking that the author is nothing but a function of the text, a label, or in Agamben’s terms, a gesture.

The appropriators use the Foucaultian distinction as part of their tactics. The author function is, according to Foucault “characteristic of the modes of existence, circulation and functioning of certain discourses within a society”. He works also as a sort of projection “of the operations that we force texts to undergo, the connections that we make, the traits that we establish as pertinent, the continuities that we recognize or the exclusions that we practice”. The appropriators have assimilated this lesson by acknowledging the fact that by changing the name, one changes the way we operate on the texts, the connections and exclusions we rush to create.

 

4D Fdn II: Project 02, Sound and Image

Binaural recording

It is a method of recording sound that uses two microphones, arranged with the intent to create a 3-D stereo sound sensation for the listener of actually being in the room with the performers or instruments.

Baby don’t leave me (Horror) #1

Synopsis:

(Ext. A rainy night) (Int. Dark home)

A father opens the door to the room where his daughter is crying, he stops and stares for a second and went back outside.

While doing so, he receive text messages from his wife who was worried of him, she seem urgent.

He didn’t reply them and proceed to load his gun.

He walks back in as the cries of the baby increases, he fires multiple shots, the baby stops crying, his ears suffered the ringing, dogs were barking from the sudden noise.

He shots again, the ringing stops.

The dog and the thunderstorm continues

(Fade out)

Noise used: 

  1. Heavy rain
  2. Baby crying
  3. Foot steps
  4. Whatsapp notification
  5. Door opening and closing
  6. Gun reloading
  7. Gun shots
  8. Dog barking
  9. Ear ringing

Mood

The moods that I wanted to portray:

  • Dark
  • Gloomy
  • Annoyed
  • Frightened

Reasons behind the edits

I wanted the audience to be able to go into the minds of the 1st person who in a way could have been so annoyed by the baby’s screeching wails and that led him into killing it. I understand that it would be hard to portray psychosis into a 90 second sound clip, but I would like to try to at least lift up the skirt on that matter and allow the listeners to be transported into the scene. That’s the ultimate goal.

Moodboard

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Software Editing

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Warhead (Comedy/War) #2

Synopsis:

A guy enters bathroom.

As soon as he starts peeing, the sound of gun and war starts playing.

An announcement of bomb awaits his poop.

He flushes and washes his hands.

He switched the shower head on and as soon as the water hits, the sound starts.

He exits and sighs.

Noise used: 

  1. Background dripping toilet dripping sound
  2. Peeing
  3. Flush
  4. Background gun shoots
  5. Bomb announcement
  6. Poop splashing upon water
  7. Washing of hand
  8. Foot steps
  9. Shower
  10. Sigh

Mood

  • Dark comedy
  • Monotonous (in contrast with the war)

Reasons behind the edits

I wanted to conjure up an commentary of the war that people are getting sick and tired of it. In a way of comparing war towards the activities people do in their bathroom, it is lowly and not something people are delighted to discuss. The sigh at the end wraps up the feeling I wanted to portray, and sort of like a relief sigh that it is over.

Recording Sounds

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There are also sounds of the atmosphere in the toilet which was the constant dripping of the water which I felt was very important to create a realistic sound clip.

Editing

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Below is one other sound that I recorded and found really interesting, the horns from the karang guni, even though I did not use it, I wanted to share some discoveries that I would not have taken noticed if not for this project.

Hears (lol) the end! 🙂

4D Fdn II: Project 01, Alter Egos (The Mad Hatter)

(Look at the moving header on top, woo cooooooooool)

Assignment Brief:

Choose one character from the list created (below) which trigger a special response in you. Develop characters that resonate to you. The aim is to build a provocative and active picture of what you are looking for and how you see the world.

Video Analysis:

The video starts off with Alfred minding his own business and then gets shocked that his “other him” appeared, this introduces the fact that something was wrong with eccentric Alfred (crazy person talking to himself wth!) He was then given a gift from himself, laughed and then quickly got angry. This creates the confusion and turmoil in him and the audience that he could just go off like a snap and that was it. Then he told himself to leave, and the scene cuts.


The Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp, 2010)

When first appearing in the film “Alice in Wonderland”, the Mad Hatter appears to be just a crazy character, but as the story unfolds, you discover his loyalty, jovial expressions, eccentricity, hot tempers and so much more layers of him. From a one-note kind of character, you see how dynamic he can be and it creates an interesting outlook in contrast from what was expected of him.

In the story, he seems to be trapped in his own mind, and delusional of the happenings. But that does not deter him, he strived on and overcame the many obstacles that are ahead of him.

This could come out wrong, but it’s his weirdness that attracted me to him, being able to do everything overboard, and totally be in his skin seems lovely. Being normal is too overrated, it’s the peculiar people who people look at, good or bad, people get attracted to you. I desire that freedom, and the burst of creativeness he embodies, and decides to choose him as the alter ego to recreate.


  • 5 Literature / Fictional Characters
  1. The Mad Hatter – Alice in Wonderland 2010 (Movie) (Description above ^)
  2. Dor (Father Time) – The Time Keeper (book)
  3. Tengo Kawana – 1Q84 (book)
  4. Christopher Boone – The Dog that Died in the Night Time (book)
  5. Charlie Kelmeckis – The Perks of being a Wall Flower (Book/movie)

Dor (Father Time) – The Time Keeper (book)

Dor in the story is someone who was at the losing battle with time, and through his life he learned to live life no counting by the minutes, but by the moments. He was struggling in this aspect of himself that even caused the death of his wife. He in the end learned his lesson and was given a second chance to redo his mistakes.

Tengo Kawana – 1Q84 (book)

Tengo is a normal human being with nothing interesting happening in his life, until one day a second moon appeared and tumbles his life into a set of strange adventures. Being always trapped in his monotonous comfort zone, he is forced to step out and although really hard for him, is a great character development for him.


  • 5 Public Figures (Actors / Politician / Sports Figures / Etc.)
  1.  Steve Garrigan – Kodaline (Music Artist)
  2. Steven Chow (Actor)
  3. Jim Carrey (Actor)
  4. Matthew Perry (Actor)
  5. Hugh Laurie (Actor)

Steve Garrigan – Kodaline (Music Artist)

Steve from the music band “Kodaline”  is someone who is creative, and out of the box which can be seen in his music videos. You can see what the band is trying to tell from it, like not being the chosen one for love and other matters. I love their songs.

Steven Chow (Actor)

Steven Chow is a Hong Kong actor who strikes on his funny characters, but at times show his soft side. Although being funny is his strong stride, it could be a form of defence to cover what other feelings he is hiding.

Jim Carrey (Actor)

Jim Carrey like Steven Chow is someone who is really funny, but in different context. He is also very eccentric and crazy at many of his appearance. He could also somewhat be using it to avoid showing the other side of him.


  • 5 People I know or have known
  1.  My Dad
  2. My brother (Allan)
  3. Elson
  4. My Grand Father
  5. Mira

My Dad

The breadwinner of my family, although I don’t show much of my affection to him, I respect and adore him, he is someone who doesn’t complain when things get tough and money gets tight. His perseverance is surely commendable.

My brother (Allan)

Always creative and ready with his tools, he has a undying spirit to try things out and learn new ideas. I admire this characteristic of him and hope to cultivate it in me as well.

Elson

My best friend Elson, although a hot tempered like me, he is extremely caring and knows what he wants in life and would do whatever to achieve it. Although he might be stuck sometimes, just a slight push would send him to start again, he’s a hard worker. 🙂

4D Fdn II: Narrative Continued (Ex. 2)

The Chorus (2004)

I chose one of my a favorite movies for this assignment, “the chorus” directed by Christophe Barratier. It is an adaptation of the 1945 film A Cage of Nightingales

Summery

The plot involves the widely successful orchestra conductor Pierre Morhange, who returns to France when his mother dies. He reminisces about his childhood inspirations when he and his former classmate Pépinot read the diary of their old music teacher Clément Mathieu. In 1949, a young Morhange is the badly behaved son of single mother Violette. He attends the boarding institution for “difficult” boys, Fond de L’Étang (“Bottom of the Pond”), presided over by strict headmaster Mr Rachin. New teacher Mathieu brightens up the school and assembles a choir, leading to the discovery of Morhange’s musical and physical talents and a transformation in the children.

Theme

From the movie, I feel it touched a lot about human interaction and relationships, there is a recurring direction of the film which I interpret it as “everyone need someone to believe in them”.

  • The music teacher Mathieu believing in the rebellious class. Vice-versa the class believing in him back to protect them from the headmaster.
  • The janitor trusting that the kids didn’t hurt him on purpose.
  • Morhange’s talent discovered by Mathieu even after being tremendously difficult to deal with.
  • Pépinot believing in Mathieu to care for him as a guardian.