Final Submission: Inner Space

Inner Space from Charlene on Vimeo.

A recreation of a journey through outer space using household objects, familiar buildings and my body. I have been very interested in outer space since young so I decided to recreate it using scenes and objects that have been familiar to me since young. Instead of going OUT into space, I go back IN to familiar objects. Hence, the title Inner Space. I mixed 2001’s Overture with some deep space recordings for the soundtrack and I deliberately allowed the can details to be seen so this could also be seen as a bad parody of space movies.
Special thanks to Pang Xin, Shanelle and Wu You for helping me out with the plate, can and pen scene:)

Please refer to the link above cause the video that was shown in class today was really over exposed and did it affect the video quite a lot:(

NOT MY PROCESS BUT A GOOD REF VIDEO AND MY FAV DIRECTOR

This is being a bit extra here but I really wanted to share this video since I think it would be pretty useful for this assignment since we have to connect different photos and videos together…this video introduces one of my fav directors/animators Satoshi Kon and how he matches different scenes together. His work usually deals with illusions, dreams and reality but he manages to weave the scenes together so smoothly using well thought out cuts as shown in the video. & check out his channel, he goes through lots of useful things!! I hope this helps >_<

Journey into “Space”

 

Did anyone get the Alien reference in the featured image….anyways…

It’s still pretty rough especially with the zooming in part…the pacing changes at a very strange moment and it’s not zoomed into the black space entirely…(gonna correct that…) moving on….

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The idea was inspired by a photograph I took last year. I was in my kitchen at night and the lights were switched off except for a light from another room beside it. The light reflected onto the washing machine was really intriguing. There was something about that photo that reminded me of an alien invasion.

 

Afterwards, I rotated the photo and made it black and white. I realised it resembled a space shuttle in space so I decided to further work on this idea.

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I retook the photo using my digital camera instead of my phone (previously) to get a higher quality image.edited space shuttle01

I proceeded to edit the photo in Lightroom until it the familiar aspects of it were removed and it was reduced to its most basic form. I also darken the transparent cover to reduce the reflection and make it look like some dark void instead. I would the look I created was inspired by the space shuttle found during the docking scene in Interstellar and the spaceship found in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Actually, Interstellar was inspired by 2001 so yeah…okay nvm…Anyway, the circular cover of the washing machine reminded me of these ring shaped space shuttles.

docking scene

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will take audiences on a special behind-the-scenes journey into the making of Ò2001: A Space OdysseyÓ during a program hosted by special effects pioneer Douglas Trumbull and actor Tom Hanks, on Wednesday, May 21, at 8 p.m. at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. Pictured: A scene from 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, 1968.

HMMMM.

As for the videa attached…this is a possible intro sequence to my video. The theme for 2001: A Space Odyssey is just added in for fun haha…will probably change it to an actual recording of space for added atmosphere. So far what I plan to do is recreate the look of outer space using household objects and familiar interiors. I have been interested in outer space ever since I was a child so I thought it would be interesting to recreate it using objects and scenes familiar to me since young.

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This is the shower cord. I think it could resemble a cord extended into space.

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I edited the photo and darken one side as I plan to connect it to one of the scenes is all black.

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This is my brother’s back taken using the shade option under the white balance so that it looks really yellowish and strange. I feel like this could resemble the surface of some Mars-like planet.His backbone creates this nice slope effect.

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I was camping in the 4D studio last week and found the ceiling with the aluminium and red bars very interesting. They had a very industrial look and I was suddenly reminded of the inside of space ships.

Screen Shot 2015-09-25 at 12.41.49 amThis is the bottom metal railing of the staircase at ADM that connects the 1st floor to the basement floor. I think it looks like something floating in space when captured under such settings.

NEXT UP!!! I’m gonna watch the full length version of Blade Runner (Yayyyy) cause Prof Vladimir suggested it and I’ve only had time to watch certain scenes of it on Youtube…so now I finally have a reason to watch it (moved up from my long to-watch list)

 

So the following scenes could be Blade Runner-esque with lots of cyberpunk elements or go abstract and do a 2001 with black screens…hmmm

Welcome “Home”

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I chose a dark alley along the corridor as my photo were printed over-exposed so I had to find a way to ensure that I could still capture the same dark mood present in the original photos.

 

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I decided to place the photo with the frames in the middle as I felt that the theme of family was strongest in there so it should stand alone on its own in the centre of the composition. The other photos served as elements that added to the narrative hence they are placed at top and bottom. The large space in between serves to emphasise the large sense of space within the photos.

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Welcome “Home”

In my photo series, I invite viewers to view into my home through my eyes. While I like my home a lot, I recently get a strangely unfamiliar feeling when I am inside. This happened ever since my dad became absent from my family so its just my mother, my brother and I left in our house. While I do like the three of us together and it feels really warm being together, I still feel like something is not right, like a certain order has been disrupted. I realised I find it hard to let go of this feeling due to certain signs in my house and the way I look at objects in my house. There lies a certain strangeness in the most normal of objects in my house as this incident has forced me to look even more inwards and become more sensitive to objects in my house. These objects seem to have a presence of its own at times. Welcome “Home”~

I took this by tilting the camera diagonally. I like how even though the photo feels really warm, it still feels a bit strange, as though something is not right. As I selected my photos for this photo essay series, I tried to capture those that presented this particular aesthetic. In doing so, many of my photos were deliberately under exposed to achieve that dark, gloomy and melancholic look. Unfortunately, this was not reflected in the printed photos as they were printed much brighter sadly. In this particular photo, I start the narrative with the theme of family and self within the house as represented by the picture frames. The object chosen here is not unusual as it is normal to find photos of yourself and your family in your house. However, by tilting it diagonally, it foreshadows that some things are not as they seem.

Cut off connection. I deliberately cropped out objects midway in my photos as I thought it was more interesting that way and gave the feeling of something missing, making the viewers feel something was off.

I noticed that there was areas with different lighting in my house. They were in two places but right beside each other and this particular angle captured that aspect. One is slightly cooler while the other is much warmer. I felt this represented the idea of two sides to a home very well.

This was captured in my parent(s)’s room. I felt particularly attached these inanimate objects that carried some form of personal value that I saw on a regular basis. I like how the presence of the strong pink textured towel disrupts the stillness created by the flat plain walls and cupboards. The shadow of the arm chair suggest the presence of someone but does not reveal anyone. These elements when combined together give the feeling of someone there but not really there. Aside from the visual aspects, the idea of only one towel in my parent(s) room adds to the narrative of an absent father that I seek to communicate.

 

Similarly, the idea of just one pair of bedroom slippers adds on to the narrative

There are only photos of my mother in the room.

I experimented with a few shots when trying to capture the dining table and chair. I took this from an extreme angle to emphasise the distance between the viewer and the chair. This gives the feeling of distance despite it being the dining area where people usually gather together. Thus, this adds to the idea of something familiar yet slightly off.

I spend a lot of time alone at home. During these moments, I start to become very aware and sensitive to my surroundings. Inanimate objects seem to turn alive and have a presence of its own like this towel here.

Similarly, as I become my sensitive to my surroundings, I start to notice how hollow some places feel. This toilet bowl here while not the most pleasant thing to present, stands out to me as a deep dark hole. I face the toilet bowl almost everyday so I constantly feel the existence of a hole in the house…a certain emptiness.

Lastly, I ended off with this photo of a curtain being slightly lifted off just to reveal a slight amount of light. This represents how I hope for this strange feeling I have about my house to disappear and that this is all just temporary so the “curtain” will rise someday. Thus, leading me back into the light. As corny as it sounds, this is how I really feel.

 

Self Portrait Work In Progress

 

Photos that didn’t make the cut

In the process of taking the photos for my final, I did not originally have the idea in mind yet. I started out by exploring the different angles and corners of my house that I found particularly attracted to.

 

However, these photos were not strong enough in representing that particular aesthetic and did not do much to add to my narrative. While they did carry the similar deliberate under-exposed dark look, they did not fit in with the rest of my photos in my final, hence I did not choose them.

 

I tried exploring views from outside my house but felt more strongly about the internal space, hence I decided to focus on the interior instead.

 

While I was particularly attracted to this photo at first, I decided to discard it later as I felt it was not strong enough for a final compared to some other shots.

 

This was when I tried capturing the dining area with the lights turned on. I ended up relying on natural lighting which better suited the aesthetic I was going for in the end.

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Once again, the shots above were interesting but did not contributed much to my narrative, hence I did not select them in the end.

HIT ME BABY ONE MORE TIME

 

 

WHAT IS ART

WHAT IS ART WOAHZZZXOXO H0W w_As UR DaY

what is the fourth dimension????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????what is art????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????SO MANY QUESTIONS SO LITTLE ANSWERS