Nicholas Boay Kai Xun

Hi, I am Nicholas

Open Source As Culture / Culture As Open Source Summary

The definition for “open source” is describe by dictionary.com ” made freely available and may be redistributed and modified.”

Open Source Community:
https://opensource.org/community

Open source originate being a hobbyist activity. Individuals participate in open source at their free will, creating or inventing anything of their interest without restrictions. This opens up new doors of opportunities for creative outcomes. Peer production in open source provides individuals more opportunity for creativity, collaboration within the community, sharing knowledge and information, as well as to make improvements to existing source codes.

However in 1970s, the introduction of copyrighting , causing many restrictions to the open source community, especially the benefits of a open source culture provides. Sharing, learning, improvement to original content and creativity are restricted. For instance for a proprietary software, when a software is flawed, it can only be modified by authorized personnel, rather than a community of open source programmers.

What is Copyrighting?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uiq42O6rhW4

Visual and audio explanation of what is open vs closed source?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3rfp6JDzjk

As a respond to the limitation of copyrighting, many efforts are made to re-establish its benefits for open source. For example, Linux was build as an operating system with the inclusion of open source. Governments from Africa, Brazil and China adopt policies that encourages sharing and building. Web pages such as Wikipedia is opened for public to contribute information freely. There are many more software, products and services that value open source rather than copyrighting.

What is Linux?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsWQUOEL0N8

Create a Wikipedia Page (open source)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_k_VbCDm2Y

 

Ego In Different Setting – Minimalistic Illustrations

EGO IN DIFFERENT SETTINGS

Visual Representative Style: 2D Illustration

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PROCESS

Image Creation Process

  • Finding reference pictures
  • Draw it into outline
  • Finding Color References
  • Adding Texture (grains, grunge)

1 . Finding References

Reference pictures are key to me as I am unable to do freestyle drawing that can translate into great illustrations yet. As such I use reference picture to outline my vectors for the characters in my composition.

2. Illustrating it out

I also need to ensure that the composition flows frame by frame like in terms of its setting and style so that it make sense to the audience.

 

3. Finding The Right Color  

After establishing I want in the composition, I would look up colour references such as Adobe Kuler, artist works, then explore even more till  I find a colour that suits the message I want to bring across.

4. Adding Texture To The Composition

Adding texture was due to me being inspired by Mimi comment, where I was thinking how do I add more stuff to the image without making it lost its style. As such, adding texture was the way to go!

Texture That I Downloaded Online To Incorporate Into The Artwork

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Failures, Problems and Obstacles I Faced:

 

  1. Trying To Keep The Style Consistent:

    There are many frames that are out of style as I ideate in the beginning. Doing minimal illustrations was something I never done before, therefore my default way of doing things has always been adding more things as opposed to lessening the elements in the composition to tell the same message.

As you can see below, the styles are inconsistent from picture to picture. The mood is different, the elements are not consistent at all due to different environment and setting. So it has post quite a challenge for me to keep the style consistent.

 

 

2.  Finding the right image references to draw my characters out:
Some vectors just don’t fit the composition no matter how I try to manipulate its form or illustration, it just doesn’t seem to ring well with the mood and style I want to portray. Sometimes it can be the visual style doesn’t is unable to fit the minimal theme. (Or maybe, I am just too inexperienced and therefore will need much more practice)

 

3. Balancing Visual Elements So To Keep The Overall Style Consistent With Other Composition

This point gonna do much in the proportion such that it doesn’t look odd since my composition is more realistic than surrealistic.

 

4. Exploring and Researching Color Palate To Portray The Best Mood

I researched the emotional qualities of colours from ‘Kelvin Color Theory’. Afterwards, I determine the colour and mood I want to portray in my illustration then went ahead to Adobe Kuler to find a colour palate that has the best combination of the colour theme. In addition I also reference colors use by my reference artist on how they manipulate the color to give off the mood that I deperately trying to achieve.

Next, I experimenting with different palate and combination that best portray the mood I want

Lastly, I also play with the transition of emotion and mood in my composition. Such that it can be a relaxing feeling before a situation arises, and therefore a serene look. When the event started to unfold, there would be a certain emotion that comes in and therefore a mixture of colour harmonies. Lastly, during the end of the event, there would be another emotion, as such the colour change again.

RED : Stress
RED & Turquoise : Stress But Feel Somewhat Relief
Turquoise : Feeling Fully Relief, Therefore A Serene Look To It

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Finalizing Artwork

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That’s All! Thank You For Reading

Forrest Gump – Process (Initiation/Research)

INITIATION

I start off the project by understanding the brief and objectives. After identifying the requirements, I would choose to find potential quotes that I am interested in to realise it in a visual form. Lastly, I would start researching and gaining insights for the project.

The reason why I pick a quote first then delve into the research phase, instead of doing my research straightaway, because it gives me the ability to better relate to my quote and simultaneously play around with potential idea in my own head during those ‘aha’ moments as I do my research, rather than sourcing for a new quote, then find ways to relate to my research data.

Brief Requirements:

  • The aim is to get the gist of the quote and communicate in a clear and concise manner. Try to also capture the character emotion, behaviour, character, attitude, personal reality. Convey all this through visual metaphor, beyond cliche

Movie & Quotes :

RESEARCH/REFERENCE

A really simple ad, but you do get the message. It is not cliche in terms of showing how tough the car is by banging it against the wall or anything that shows toughness. But rather, it places a body of a rhino to showcase the ‘essence’ of this vehicle is really tough!

For this work, it shows a picture of a bulb through the negative space created by the hand. I think it because of its creative approach towards creating such an image, but I don’t get the context that it is trying to educate its audience? Is it that the subject is trying to take the light bulb? Is it that the bulb has a human touch of a hand? This composition is not clear in communicating what its intention is but only did communicate one thing, the glass of the bulb.

This ad are effective in communicating through visual metaphor! Its when I look at Heinz, I know it is a brand that sells tomato, and it makes it even more clear by slicing the bottle up into pieces, showing that it is made of pure tomato in that sense (of course it is not, its freaking processed sauce)

 

 

(will add in more description later)

 

 

DADA MOVEMENT

The Pillars Of Society 1926

This picture uses visual metaphors to show the corruption, the evil, the egotistical side of the people who hold higher power. It is also another good reference to showcase visual metaphor in a more traditional media.

‘Fountain’ 1917

I was inspired by this iconic work of art because it was the usage of visual metaphor with a sarcastic undertone. The visual metaphor used is the signature itself, as well as the hyperbole of using an object that is completely distasteful and opposite of what art is about, an object that accumulates waste or urine. And by signing off, it shows the meaning that ‘anything can be interpreted as art’

COMICS

Disconnected From Reality

This shows the message of disconnected from reality, and I like the use of wires and socket to show the disconnection. However, in this project, if there is a way to showcase reality without words in this picture, that would be extremely awesome!

 

VIDEO ADS

http://adsoftheworld.com/collection/experiential_advertising_highlights#showdelta=3

This WWF ads is about global warming, which they serve their customer cold beverages at room temperature, without ice. This ad is created during the summer, and the people usually like to drink cold beverages at that point in time. Not serving the cold beverages cold,  they drive a very direct message to their audience that if each of us do not take care of our planet, it will just keep on getting warmer.

What I learn through this ad is not just simply think about cliche method of presenting my ideas. Think one step further about the topic of global warming, what are the major issue revolve around it, what are the component that makes up the theme of global warming, etc, then build my ideas from there.

 

Summarising The Data

It is the play of visual metaphor to bring out the meaning the artist or company wants to portray.

Clarity is of utmost importance. At a glance, the audience must know what the message is, and it is something I definitely strive to work towards in this project.

Consider the mood, colour tone, values, contrast, and many other elements of design, such as rule of thirds, unity, harmony, emphasis, etc for your composition. Such as the ads I have research, the colour, tonal values have to reflect the mood, and emotions relevant to the context of their ads, company branding, etc, in order to achieve the objective of the brief.   This is a subtle yet crucial step as I need to stay within context of my character in the movie, such that their attitude, personality, can be presented within the composition, to show a more cohesive and accurate message as shown in the movie.

Hyperbole, exaggeration & photoshop skills play a huge part in bringing out the essence of the message in the composition, as shown in the Jeep ad.

 

 

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IDEATION

“There are no two words in the English language more harmful than good job” – Whiplash

 

Synopsis of movie : 

Andrew Neiman (Miles Teller) is an ambitious young jazz drummer, in pursuit of rising to the top of his elite music conservatory. Terence Fletcher (J.K. Simmons), an instructor known for his terrifying teaching methods, discovers Andrew and transfers the aspiring drummer into the top jazz ensemble, forever changing the young man’s life. But Andrew’s passion to achieve perfection quickly spirals into obsession, as his ruthless teacher pushes him to the brink of his ability and his sanity.

 

 

Design 1

 

“There are no two words in the English language more harmful than good job” – Whiplash, 2014

 

Thought process: So at this point in time during my creation of my quote, I did not reference my idea from my research as I thought it was too painful to think of complicated ideas, which was a great mistake and a time waster as well.

Proceeding forward , the first thing that came to my mind is that danger represent harm. As such, I remembered how Mimi shows the class a work that uses symbols, signages or logo to represent the quote. As such, I began to look at signages of ‘danger’ and began thinking of ways to incorporate danger in my first composition.

So I came across signages of danger which uses the element of a crossbones and skull.

After completing the composition, I felt that the concept was too simplistic and weak as the audience wouldn’t know exactly what it means, as it requires decoding of the meaning of the element. That is also what Mimi has emphasized that the imagery has to reflect its meaning accurately when looking at the imagery. I think that is extremely true as I have to take into account of the visual experience the mass public/audience have when relating to my print.

 

Reference/Inspiration: Crossbones and Skull

 

 

Design 2

 

“There are no two words in the English language more harmful than good job” – Whiplash, 2014

Thought process: This time around, I am still exploring along the lines of danger equals to harm. As such, I thought of the Grim Reaper, I use demonic wing and a scythe to represent the concept of grim reaper, and instead of using the grim reaper body, I substitute it with ‘good job’. I try to use this approach to show how Grim Reaper represents danger and harm, therefore the birth of this composition. However, I somehow felt that the composition is not showing the message in a clear, creative and aesthetically pleasing manner. Instead, it is cliche and lacks creativity.

 

Side Note: Till this point in time, I identified the problem is that I am trying to ideate a composition digitally, instead of taking a step back and think through the possible manner of presenting the concepts, then follow through to find the imagery I need. In addition, I NEED TO DO SOME RESEARCH AND ALSO DO MY FIRST CONSULTATION WITH MIMI.

 

For the rest of the project, it has been documented in the sketchbook

 

Mnemosyne’s Scent: Individual Submission

Mnemosyne’s Scent

 

 

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This post will be a separate post from my group submission ‘subjective memory’, which will include works that include individual submission such as the mind map, 3D model, plastic model, etc.

 

 

OSS Thread Progression :
  1. Composition Of 3D Model & Consultation
  2. Selection Of Scent
  3. Mindmap
  4. Research (Mnemonic Devices, Sculptures/Works Related To This Activity)
  5. Composition of Individual Plastic Model & Consultation

 

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Composition of 3D Models & Consultation – 1st Round

 

Elevation and Plan View

 

Red : Dominant
Green : Sub Dominant
Blue : Sub Ordinate

 

Right side – Elevation View : Left side – Plan View

 

1st Consultation
  1. Suggested loop, “it’s the same!”. so I have to avoid it
  2. My second composition has no breathing space, therefore difficult to tell which one is D, Sd, and SO. Need to balance moment of activity and breathing space, basically, unclutter and make the composition minimal and still aesthetically dynamic and pleasing, such that my audience can still see the D, SD and SO
  3. Avoid autonomous composition, every element should interact with each, they shouldn’t stand alone.

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Composition of 3D Models & Consultation – 2nd Round

 

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Elevation and Plan View 2

 

Red : Dominant
Green : Sub Dominant
Blue : Sub Ordinate

 

Right side – Elevation View : Left side – Plan View

 

2nd Consultation
  1. The composition is much better now, and the only thing I can improve is to taper off the ends to create an illusion of perspectives.
  2. Some other is the minor details such as the width can be explored to make the composition more interesting

 

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Scent Selection

 

Round 1: Selection Of Scent

For lesson 1, we are tasked to bring a pleasant and unpleasant smell that represent a significant part of our lives. For me, I bought a washed pants and a spray mount.

Washed pants: Reminds me a significant moment in life where I smell my wash pants for whatever reason (which I can’t remember why already), I had this rush of a sense of gratitude, and felt that my life is generally so much better than many people. even though there are down moments in life. I can remember clearly that during why I gain such an epiphany because I was having this sense of narrow tunnel vision, seeing only the negative side of life where I am always lacking something.

Spray mount: Give me bad memories where firstly I just generally  hate that smell, and secondly, it reminds me of the never-ending workload I am having in ADM

 

Round 2: Selection Of Scent

After smelling my other classmate scent, I decided to change my choice of scent because there are is a scent that brings about a more significant and stronger memory than my current selection.

In the end, I choose Coffee that Hui En regards as unpleasant smell for my pleasant smell. On the other hand,  there wasn’t any particular choice of smell that evokes any negative memory I had in life.

However on that same day itself, I came across the smell of fried chicken wing at a western cuisine store at my house nearby Kopitiam, a surge of bad memory of my past binge eating disorder I had in life came into light within my own consciousness, and that eventually became my unpleasant smell.

Side Note: This is a really interesting exercise as now I realised how scent can be such a strong trigger of bringing memories back, when I pay close attention to my own thoughts, as compared to previously it had always been a subconscious thought that I never paid attention to.

 

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Finalise Choice Of Scent Selection

 

Coffee

 

Reminds me of all the struggles where I had to keep myself awake at night to complete my submission. It was a battle with myself, and many times I go into an unhealthy space of self-blame for a lack of discipline, or not waking up when the alarm rings, etc. I am also always on the verge of depression, but I always remind myself of my bigger purpose of why I studied design in the first place. At the end of every midnight session or being awake for 48 hours, I can see the result of my own productivity, where I manage to cover a huge chunk of my project effectively, which I couldn’t have done so if I choose to sleep in. Those are the moments that touched my heart and gave me this sense of fulfilment, that I have grown much more as a designer, and learn so much in the midst of all the struggle. What makes it even more memorable is the negative and positive feedback I gain through the critique session, that allows me to see how much I have grown and how much more I need to improve. With that, it truly makes the entire journey in life ever so interesting.

 

Fried Chicken Wing

 

Reminds me of how I suffered from binge eating disorder,  as well as my emotional pain to keep junk food out of my life. Each time when I resisted the temptation to eat junk food, my mind would go into a state of conflict where I try to fight off all the cravings I had. The resistance I had for food was tremendous and, tying in with my low self-esteem, I develop binge eating disorder. Those moments of internal battles in my mind, I can feel the contradicting forces of the desires and resistance I have for unhealthy food. Many moments my desire to eating unhealthily overwhelm me, which will result in me going on a crazy binge. At last, guilt, anxiety and regret filled me. This cycle kept on repeating till last month, as a result, I gain much weight and my body size increased, that most people could have probably noticed by now.

 

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Mindmap – Converting Intangibles To Tangibles

 

Coffee – Key Points Written:

Reminds me of the high of burning midnight oil and drinking coffee to keep myself awake and being productive where I could experience life more every day.  Some keywords takeaway (high, euphoric, smooth), I also see myself being an extremely driven person, so maybe the triangle could be sharp and straight pointing upwards?

 Some keywords takeaway (high, euphoric, smooth).I also see myself being an extremely driven person, so maybe the triangle could be sharp and straight pointing upwards?

I also see myself being an extremely driven person, so maybe the triangle could be sharp and straight pointing upwards?

What about hard work and struggles? How do I show it to the audience? Hmm, maybe I could do a spiral and converges with the sharp triangle, and the texture could be rough? Such that it shows the spiral is like me trying to concentrate and gradually wrap tightly into the composition because this indicates how I concentrate even better as time pass. The rough part indicate the struggles I face when trying to concentrate?

What made me so focus? Why do I keep on going even though it is so painful? What is the joy behind it? Maybe it is the light or hope that keeps me going. How do I show that through my composition?

 

 

Fried Chicken Wing – Key Points Written:

Remind me of the chaotic moment in my own mind, like there are so many contradictive thoughts that spiral around telling me what to do and what I should not do.

Maybe the sculpture could be compressed, suck inwards, spiral down?

It can also be tense, rough, random, unpredictable, conflicted?

 

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Final Outcome

 

 

I wanted to create the sculpture in a minimal manner, but bring out the main essence of my pain and pleasure?

Can I also create the difference using materials and colour? Maybe black and white.

To show the hope or light that keeps me working hard, I decided to use the concept of shadow, without using an actual light, such that it portrays my idea in the composition without the use of light

 

Consultation

The black part of the spiral could be more and show it to be more menacing.

The triangle upward and the spiral wrap of plastic can be burned together.

 

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Some Last Thoughts

On a less serious note: I will be updating better picture for my photoshoot, as I just bought a new prime lens and can’t wait to use it!  Next, I think I can try a different approach towards working my creative brief from now onwards. This time around I tried to focus on creating something different for my brief, which leads to the subjective memory concept. But could be played even more for the next brief. I also manage to cut down my workload and create a more effective design by creating more minimal yet effective concept. I used to work hard but didn’t work smart, that’s why I suffered from overload and extreme stress, but things have changed for the better for this project, which is good!

Back to the serious stuff: I need to pay more attention to the smallest details such as what my lecturer has mentioned about the menacing part of my concept, where I have to pay close attention to the accuracy of what I plan to present in my concept.  This is exceptionally important in product design as well because  every details count, which eventually will make or break a product.

 

 

-THE END-

 

Mnemosyne – Group Submission – Subjective Memory

DESIGN DIRECTION : PORTRAYING THE CONCEPT OF SUBJECTIVE MEMORY.

 

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To kick start this project, subjective memory is a topic that greatly interest both Joycelyn and I. After the first meet up where we basically brainstorm on ideas, we felt the urge to relate our group submission back to the original theme of this project, which is Mnemosyne Scent, and it is a cool idea to have Jewellery design & collection based off memories.

As such, we came to an agreement that to work on the theme of Subjective Memory. We both recognise the fact that for the same object, convey different meaning to each individuals, and both Jocelyn and I have very opposite and contrasting preference to the scent I love and hate. That gives us that ‘aha’ moment to work on a project that both of us can relate to, and also a theme that gives us space to explore and experiment around on how we should go about designing our wearable sculpture.

 

PROCESS OF PROJECT:

  • Scent Identification Through Our Mindmap
  • Finalising  Intangible Memories Into Tangible Forms
  • Ideation
  • Finalisation & Production

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Group Submission Theme :
SUBJECTIVE MEMORY

To Showcase Subjective Memory
  1. We decided on 2 scents: Coffee and Fried Chicken Wing – Both of us have polar opposite memories of the 2 scents.

2.  Now Jocelyn will build the composition based on her love for friend chicken wings, while for me is my love for coffee.

3. Then we would construct a ‘response’ to each other forms as a way to show our differing views. The material we use for the response is aluminium, to establish a sense of ‘third party response’ which should have the mood conveyed in being cold, distant and neutral from us.

4.  We then use the concept of a grandfather’s clock as our aesthetics, to showcase the concept of time and memory. It’s function is to simply hang our jewellery as we wear it by our neck.

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Composition Analysis

 

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1st Design

 

 

Background Story :

Represent the bad memories evoke by the scent of fried chicken wings. Whenever I smelt the scent of fried chicken wing, it immediately reminds me of the period where I was dieting to get into shape. During that point in time, I was exercising daily, performing high intensity workout, swimming and also dancing. I also reduce a tremendous amount of calorie intake, that lead me to  developed binge eating disorder. It was due to my restriction towards all junk food. As time pass, the cravings grew tremendously that it made me find it even more difficult to fend off the thoughts of eating those junk food. Many of those moments are the worst feeling I ever felt in my dieting journey where I was constantly having an internal war to resist myself from breaking my diet.

Rationale Of Composition

As such, this composition is to showcase the chaotic internal battle within my own mind, which eventually would make me feel so mentally tired. In addition, it is not only just taxing, but also painful in my struggle to not break my diet. As such, I folded the composition in many random position, and eventually ends of. with straight line down, to showcase how I manage to calm my mind down. There are also sharp metal wires stick on the composition to showcase the texture of sharp painful feeling, which is the pain of constant struggle in my journey of dieting.

 

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2nd Design

 

Rationale Of Composition

This shows the personal journey of Jocelyn within the sculpture itself. The flat piece of plastic showcase how when she first drink coffee, there is this sense if sweetness that she personally find it neutral. Eventually the bitter taste of the coffee would begin to dominate  her tastebuds. So there are some bubbles within the composition (can’t be seen here on the picture), is to showcase exactly how coffee begins its domination upon her tongue. Eventually, the bitterness kicks in even more, which leads to the twisted part of the composition. The bitterness would taste stronger and stronger, and as such the planes would become more and more twisted.

 

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3rd Design – Nicholas ‘s Replies

 

 

Rationale Of Composition

Jocelyn hated coffee, yet it is one of my favourite beverages of all time. Coffee gives me this ‘zap’ feeling and makes me feel awake to focus and do the task at hand. As such I created composition that represented the ‘zap’ image of focus and feeling fresh in this composition.

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4th Design – Jocelyn ‘s Replies
 

 

 

Rationale Of Composition

This composition is her reply to my bad memory I have towards Fried Chicken Wing, which is represented in a twirly composition that signify the good  of the chicken wing that  fill the environment.

 

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WHEN EVERYTHING MEETS :

SUBJECTIVE MEMORIES COLLECTION

 

JOCELYN GOOD MEMORIES + NICHOLAS BAD MEMORIES

 

JOCELYN BAD MEMORIES + NICHOLAS GOOD MEMORIES

 

 

Presentation Photos

 

 

THE END

Process : Picture Sequencing – The Passing Of

THE PASSING OF

Project Phases – Photo Story

  • Understanding The Brief
  • Research
  • Ideation
  • Prototyping / Realisation
  • Feedback & Consultation
  • Finalisation & Production
1st Group Meetup Session (Misunderstood the brief, started the project towards the wrong direction)
– Create Storyline
– Brief Research
– Arrange photoshoot next week – It was a mistake as we did not do our research yet and just dive straight into ideation. As such we started the project on the wrong foot and thus wasted a lot of time and effort. But it was a good lesson learnt. 

Storyline : Due to a fatal incident where Danny pit against Lucas, his Best Friend, in the MMA World Championship. Unfortunately, he landed a headshot which later caused his friend to be half vegetable. After this incident, it was a turning point in his life. Danny quit his job as a fighter, which meant the world to him. In addition, he also lost his friendship that really matters to him. Danny gave up his life and left everyone around him.

(Initially we didn’t shoot a story, but rather we simply just want to shoot what the person we lost touch with is going through in his life at the current moment. My mistake as I didn’t attend lesson and didn’t know we have to craft a story out of a the 3 act structure. So ours at that point in time is just 2 act structure, as there are no resolution/ending.)

So we proceed on to shoot for the first session. ( 267 Photos)

SHOT OUTCOME

Consultation 1

Our character is too much of an archetype/stereotypical – We have to capture his inner world and we require to have a character profile, as if he is someone real, and we him personally  and that he exist. Can reference Citizen Kane and Wong Kah Wai movie

Our story needs a resolution – Due to the misunderstanding of the project that we only have a 2 act structure.

Needs more exploration and experimentation such as POV shots.

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NEXT STEP

Research on how to make our character less stereotypical
Need to discuss with the group on forming a resolution
Need to research more on composition for movie research

Movie Research Melancholia

To make the character feel real, it has to show the inner world. In the few pictures that I just put on, shows the dynamic range of just a single emotion the character portray, which is bliss and happiness, has so many variations, each reacts to different scenario. A character is dynamic because its complex, and it is like knowing someone new, where you will get to know the person deeper and more intimate part of a person overtime. For example, the interaction with the husband such as the love she expresses for her husband, is very different in every scenario, such as the jokes her husband makes, the conversation they have, the intimacy, the bad/funny situation they go through, all evoke different variation of reaction from the character.

Chaos as a way to show the dynamic characteristics of a character, as humans have multiple reactions towards different things that happens in life. It also shows the character strength, weakness, their reality, behaviour and attitude.

Everything connects and affects everything. Her depression causes the people around her to have conflict, causes her to lose her job, creates a certain conversation style, etc. All these makes the character more dynamic, valid and interesting.

Character profiling is exceptionally important t show a multiple faceted side of a character and for a charter to be truly dynamic, it has to show many variation of the character side

As the story unfolds, more and more about her life, attitude, family relationships, the triggers of her depression began to show through.

Research Photo Composition

Close Shot : Emphasise on showing the emotion

Extreme Far Shot : To make the character looks small, lonely, and in this case, emphasises the depression of the main character.

Full Body Shot : Shows the character activity as well as the space, conveys the atmosphere, mood and emotion.


Mid Body Shot : Shows the activity the character is having

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2nd Group Meetup Session

Storyline

3 Phases In The Story:

Phase 1 : Depression to Severe Depression – Live a monotonous life, struggle with his depression. He has a pet cockroach

Phase 2 : The conflict with his mom worsen his depressive symptom that it became psychotic. The conflict was the mom kill his cockroach. He began hallucinating where he tries to dies but couldn’t, he basically resurrect everytime he kills himself.

Phase 3 : This is actually an ad, and it zoom out and feature the film crew, and that he is showing that it is his life story.

Character Profiling

Getting to know this person personally in a deeper and intimate way. Getting to know all his dirty little secrets!! XD

Composition Research

Research For Phase1 & 2 Story :  Emotional Build Up – Composition & Acting

The insight I get out of this is that the character becomes out of control. She is basically going crazy with what she wants. Breaking it down frame by frame, we can see that the character might be angry to start off with. Slowly with time, the character becomes slightly confrontational, as if agitated. Then later on, it becomes a volcanic eruption that she just couldn’t take it anymore.

So to shoot/capture a shot of the character in a more dynamic manner in terms of  holding a basketful of emotion in the composition and picture sequencing, the photographer and videographer has to document  the process of getting angry, breaking it down her attitude, mannerism, behaviour patterns, from the moment of before her trigger till the climax. By showing the details and subtle motion of a more ‘individual’ person, rather than a stereotype that has no depth in his/her action. In addition, doing in such a elaborate manner,  allow the audience to feel the build up of a negative emotion.

So by capturing small details that of a person, rather than just the surface of it,  helps us avoid in building an archetype, and this also allow me to reference on how to shoot a scene that require a build up in tension.

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Research For Phase 1 Story :  Composition & Acting

This is just a study of how depress people might look like and we can reference it for acting out the body language and facial expression

SHOT OUTCOME

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Consultation 2

Our short film is too ambitious

The ads wasn’t a good idea.

Our character didn’t live up to their expectation to take on a role of acting

The film student in the story should be based on a true person to make it more impactful.

The character in our picture lacks a goal in the story, or maybe it is just not showing through. This makes the story monotonous and as if the story wants going anywhere. It needs a goal that is interesting enough that audience want to watch.

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NEXT STEP

Change our storyline & build a new character profile. Character must have a goal that he needs to overcome to make it interesting. Follow the 3 act structure.

Storyline
Danny lost his mom and that resulted him suffering from artist block. He tries to paint, but no matter how hard he tries, he couldn’t make a painting. Ever since then, he stopped painting, and he led a monotonous life without any purpose nor direction, which is killing him inside. Eventually one day, he decided to rid all of his art materials as he felt so hopeless and helpless about his current situation. In addition, he lost his artist ‘touch’, as well as his dearest mom. On the same day as he was clearing his art materials out,, he found a present given by his mom for his birthday, and it includes a letter that tells him not to give up on what he wants in life, that was his mother last words. With that, he broke down into tears, and he frantically rushes back to get back the art materials that he throws.
Certain keyword to research on : Lost of a dear person(fault in our stars funeral shot), an attitude of pushing on towards ones goal (whiplash, prozac nation) how one gain back inspiration, giving up, defeat, aggravation, anxiousness, (whiplash), etc.
Composition Research
Research For The Passing Of Someone Precious : Gaining Inspiration & Insight On Composition, Acting, Framing, Picture Sequencing
(The Fault In Our Stars)
I can also use the acting as a reference for my character just in case Zhen Yu needs reference.

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Research For Giving Up Ones Dream : Gaining Inspiration & Insight On Composition, Acting, Framing, Picture Sequencing
(Whiplash)
Composition wise, there is alot of close up shot to show the character emotions. It also capture  the interaction the character has with the object. It also shoot the actual text to place emphasis on him being cut away from school.  Occasionally, there is mid range shoot to show the activity the character is engage in.
Framing wise, it shows a chronological order of the flow of things, but the close up composition makes the shot really interesting.
It can also be use a reference for our Zhen Yu to act out.
Research For Gaining Inspiration : Gaining Inspiration & Insight On Composition, Acting, Framing, Picture Sequencing
(Whiplash)

Composition wise it is quite interesting, it shoot the interaction between the drum and the drummer, as if they have intimate relationship. It uses close up shot to show character emotion. It also shows full body shot to showcase the atmosphere and character is having.

 

    Research For Build Up Frustration : Gaining Inspiration & Insight On Composition, Acting, Framing, Picture Sequencing
(Whiplash)

]The insight I got out from the how the director sequence the build up of the character, that it starts from a sort of nervous situation. Slowly, as the character could get it, he starts to become more and more desperate that the scene became sort of gory. The way he/she shoot make sense, and it deliver the intended mood and feel.

Composition wise, I can see that there are experimentation in terms of capture the character emotion. Example this :

This are some of the composition that I can take note of, and use its as a form of inspiration to shoot my work.

SHOT OUTCOME

& THIS IS MY FAVOURITE SHOT!

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THE PASSING OF

Project Phases – Photo Story With Sound

  • Understanding The Brief
  • Research
  • Ideation
  • Prototyping / Realisation
  • Feedback & Consultation
  • Finalisation & Production

RESEARCH

Beautiful Lies Of Sound Design | TED X ATHENS

Insights From Video

  • Our brain cannot tell the difference between similar sounds. As such sound can be manipulated and ell beautiful untrue things.
  • Reverb : Make a sound into reality. Little to no reverb is like someone speaking inside our ears. A lot of reverb creates a feeling of space and flashback, voice of god or even a illusion of sound.
  • Silence is a powerful tool to create loudness in a movie. However too much silence constantly will not be silence anymore, it has to be a nice balance with quietness and loudness. Silence need loudness and loudness need silence. There is also no such thing as silence, you can hear your own heartbeat at a really quiet room. Therefore, sound design uses ambient to create a real world effect. Best you manipulated what happen
  • Ambient create a sense of the real world effect, such as a room. A room also have alot of facade that you can authorise the to get Malaysia PR
  • Offscreen sound : Create a sense of mystery, tension. sound is a beautiful language. It can be used to capture scenes that is not there through sound

Wong Kah Wai – In The Mood For Love

  • The film at the very minimum uses static background ambient sound – Kept at a very low volume that is almost inaudible. Ambient sound such as wind, industrial sound, thunder, static sound are used
  • Unseen sound such as chattering of other people, clashing of majong tiles. Sometimes when there is someone approach the character yet they have not appear on the screen.
  • Realism is key, dont overlay too much or else there wiill be too much clutter and the sound will become inaudible.
  • Use quietness to show contrast and subtle impact on the change environment, such as a busy office suddenly switch to less busy ones.
  • “Future’ sound can also be use to give the audience an element of surprise, or allow them to anticipate for the outcome.

A Man Escaped

“Robert Bresson uses sound as his main subject as well as his expressive tool. He say sound as an parallel image, so when sound was too powerful to replace the image, the attention must be centred on the spot.

  • This film uses alot of external sound and the character interacted and respond to the sound throughout the whole film
  • Sound can be used as a symbol. Just like in this film, the whistle means that the character has to go down and wash their faces.
  • Sound can be used to check, investigate and even just responding to it. In this case of the film, the character uses sound to check the guard footstep, as he is desperate tries to crave out the door which produces alot of noise as well. So he can only crave or scrap the door when the guard is not around. Sometimes if the prison is too quiet, the character might also feel fearful, as sound that occur but not a for the jail he live in to be that quiet in normal days. Another good example is that whenever I am secretly playing computer games without my dad approval, I would play when he is out of house. So whenever I hear a loud noise of a door slamming shut, I know my dad is back home, this is sort of like a symbolic sound, yet also a sign of danger & stress)
  • It gave me insight that in order to use sound efficiently, I would rather imaging that my main character is blind, and he can only use sound to navigate in life. This shows that sound can be played in creative manner for the character to guide himself to the right destination without looking.
  • An unknown sound can be added into the film to motivate audience to be curious and later then introduce the source of the sound to create a sort of more dynamic story.
  • The frequency of the sound sounding also creates another sort of tension . The rising or decreasing volume also evoke different experience through the picture
  • Using the lack of sound during climax create tension

The Conversations 

  • Weird unseen sound are use to introduce to the audience repeatedly, to make the audience curious. So afterward, the movie shows the audience the object or activity that created the sound. Eventually, that became a symbol in this movie and the director can simply just need to use this sound to show a scenario without any visual
  • To create a dramatic effect, I can use loud sound and suddenly stop the sound. As such silence was introduce, and that created a dynamic experience in using sound that manner
  • An echoic air can create tension in general. Weird dissonance is introduce to create even more tension, especially during the murder scene
  • Dark bass creates alot of tension without having the volume to sound too loud, yet a deep unexplainable heavy experience is created by such a bassy sound.
  • In order to showcase a voice that is stuck inside the character head, is to simply just repeat the voice with slight reverb and let it repeated on the loop

Applications

I am really inspired by the movie The Man Escaped, on how the director played with sound so well without the use of much visual images to tell the story! Plus I really do agree that sound is a parallel world to visual itself. We also understand the world through sound, and sometimes through sound purely. As such I want to capture this within my audio and for the first one minute or so, I want to bring the audience into an imaginative world without visual, where they can try to figure out what is happening with sound itself. In addition, I was close to suffering from burnout for all the submission, so I wanted to relit that passion within me by being more experimental in this assignment, which means also taking risk that might spell good or bad results.

But anyway, this part 2 assignment is about sound, as such I have done :
/ A mixdown on laying out the audio heirachy, to create dynamism in terms of sound. For example, the ambient will usually be very subtle, unless a dramatic scenerio calls for a louder ambient sound. Ambient sound usually is to be used as a filler, to create a sense of realism and also to contruct the environment in the right setting, to make the images alive and more realistic.
/ Used sythethic build up sound that created for my music production last time, where I side chain in to create this whompy effect building up to something big, then breaks down into silence.
/ Cut out unwanted frequencies to make the audio more audible to the audience and clearer in terms of my layering of sound.
/ Add on reverb, fx to the original sound clip to create a sense of space in the room, as well as to make the sound more realistic and that it comes together as a whole.
/ Using simple bass heavy sound to create movement and tension in the video.

I can only explain a few general ideas on how I use it on my video as it is difficult to explain in through words. So the best is to view the video itself to gain an understanding of how I create the picture sequence with sound the way it is.

  • Since sound is parallel to sight, I took out certain scene out and use offscreen sound to capture the activity without showing any pictures. I also purely use sound without visual and tries to construct a world out of it.
  • I also create build ups and sudden transition to quietness to create this dynamic transition to silence, then later on a soft melodic piano came in to soothes out abrupt experience.
  • I filter/edit//compress/use reverb, use bass, all to create a more realistic sound, and also to play with the hierarchy of sound in the film, to create space and a more dramatic viewing experience
  • Using ambience to fill the air
  • Using the right type of sound to convey mood and emotion – dissonance to create an eerie and creepy experience, etc.
  • I could also do branding on the sound, by repeated use to engrave into the memories of the people who watch.

– THE END –

 

4D Picture Sequencing : The Passing Of

THE PASSING OF

 

Storyline :

Danny lost his mom, which resulted him suffering from artist block. He tries to paint, but no matter how hard he tries, he couldn’t make a painting.  He stopped painting, and began to lead a monotonous life that he has no purpose nor direction in life, which is killing him internally. That deep anger that still reside within him, ever since that day where he destroyed his art material. He now decided to rid his love of painting out of his life. On the same day as he was clearing his art materials out, he found a present given by his mom for his birthday, and it includes a letter that writes to not give up on what he wants in life, no matter how tough it is. That was his mother last words. He broke down into tears, and that ignite his passion for painting once again. As a result, he frantically rushes back to get back the art materials that he throws, and decided to continue down the path of a painter in his life.

 

 

Gaia Ikebana – Summer Theme

 

I’m finally done.
Some thoughts for my future self  to reference before ending this project:
  1. I could have done my explanation on OSS more clearly. I am not really satisfied with what I have put up on OSS, due to the lack of time and bad time management :((
  2. Remember to take more work process pictures
  3. Spend less time designing my freaking slides!!! But spend time explaining my thought process in detailed. When there is additional time then I am free to design my slides however I want.
  4. Take a chill pill and don’t forget that art and design is my passion. (What I am doing now should not be work that makes me lose myself to insignificant outcomes that don’t even matter when life is a journey, not a destination.)