Gerald Chua – Page 2 – D I C T A T O R

4D II Project 1 – Alter Ego

Storyline

Upon my brother reaches home, there are a few items that are left around the house deliberately. Knowing his habits of using the toilet roll to dry his hands after washing, I left a note on the toilet paper, leaving him a message of my intention, concerns and reasoning of my actions. The items displayed in the film subtly shows my hints of who were in the house and where I will seek my refuge to. The look of the film is black and white, the filter out the unnecessary elements that will potentially distract the audience or mislead them. The soundtrack of the film is Irene Adler’s Theme from Sherlock which I feel that it is very relatable because it feels that there is a feeling of losing something valuable (in Sherlock, he loses the trust he have in Irene Adler). For my film, I feel that I could not take the chaos in the family, and feel that I should find my own dwelling, in order to find peace and tranquility.

Concept and Challenges

My alter-ego is Sherlock Holmes from BBC Sherlock, I find myself sharing some similar traits as him. Sherlock is mysterious, quirky, independent and witty; thus I portrayed the elements of mystery and not wanting to implicate others in this film. In coming up with the concept, I was stuck between choosing either Sherlock Holmes or Barney Stinson. I find myself having different personas in different kind of situations and felt that Sherlock was more relatable in my current phase in life. Initially, I wanted to have a very slow paced film like shots in Sherlock, but due to technical limitations, I had to compromise with the frame rate. One of the challenges I had while shooting the video is the sound quality of the footages and the background noises when I record using the Zoom audio recorder. Thus, I had to record the sounds at night where there are less activities in my neighbourhood. Another challenge for me was also what items to include in the film that will reflect where I will be going or dwelling. I wanted the hints to show in a subtle manner, like how John Watson develop his cognitive skills through his time with Sherlock.

Task 1

Sherlock Holmes (Sherlock) – Benedict Cumberbatch

Harvey Spectre (Suits) – Gabriel Macht

Barney Stinson (How I Met Your Mother) – Neil Patrick Harris

Dominic Toretto (Fast and Furious) – Vin Diesel

Shaun (Shaun of the Dead) – Simon Pegg

Task 2

Jack Ma

Emma Watson

Walt Disney

Rowan Atkinson

Rene Descartes

Task 3

Randy Peh

Nicholas Chan

Skandan

Carlton Chng

Zack

Task 4

Sherlock Holmes: Observant, attention to details, mind palace, quirky.

Barney Stinson: Confident, Daring, Care for his friends

Jack Ma: Adventurous, Strive for the better

Emma Watson :Firm, believe in Feminism

Randy Peh: Attention to details, forward looking

Nicholas Chan: Established, Flexible, Resourceful

Storyboard

Hello, My Name Is…

(assuming the blue colour is in place of yellow colour) The two jugs represents binge drinking, where it represents socialising. The waves represents Navy, which I have committed to sign on. The little circular patterns represents my interest in calligraphy and illustrations.
A cluttered space filled with a chinese character from my name, shows that I cannot settle down with many ideas. The other colours represent the different interests I have picked up over the years.
I’ve cut out a space, which is able to see through, shows that I am transparent and willing to share the knowledge that I have with my fellow peers. It shows that I am frank too, to speak up what’s on my mind.

Project 1 – Que Sera (Research)

In this project, we are to create Typography graphics using part of our names to illustrate our future jobs. Hence, we have to come up with the concepts for typefaces and letter forms.

The names/nicknames that I will be using are: Gerald, Gerald Chua, GC, JJ.

The jobs that I wish to pursue: Animation curator, Naval Officer, Hair Dresser and Backpacker.

The following are the artists that I have researched for visual reference.

Artem Sukhinin

Friendly Robot

Woody Pirtle

Jenifer Blanco Monzon

Budi Kwan

Monique Goossens

Peter Saville

Ivan Capote

Dario Devic

Like Minded Studio

Jon Contino

Stas Gotsulyak

SAWDUST

Marion Luttenberger

Alessio Joseph

Melanie Burk

Sabeena Karnik

Challenging Assumptions

To convey intended message to audience and challenge the social stigma towards selected occupations.

Animation Curator:

To produce films that appeal more to teenagers and adults, rather than focusing on kids
Singaporeans are afraid to explore, pursue their dreams thus the industry is still small in Singapore

Naval Officer:

Not all naval personnel are divers
Not all naval officers work in a submarine
Working in the government sector not necessarily secure a stable income

Hairdresser:

Not all male hairdressers are flamboyant
Not all hairdressers are drop-out students

Backpacker:

Senior Citizens are still fit and able to backpack
Parents doesn’t like their kids to explore around the world when they are young. They think that they should save up for Mortgage

Project 03: Ego – Final Artworks

1 ) Lack of time + Returning to reality = Reluctance

As we grow older, we are caught up with many issues. There are so many things that we want to accomplish but yet so little time to work with. Snapping out of the worries about not having enough time, we return to reality, realising that work still have to be done. The time spent thinking about non-productive issues are just time wasted. Yet again, part of us are still dwelling in the mindset of having the lack of time. Hence, reluctance to return to reality.

2 ) Composed + Traffic Jam = Rage

Undergone months of vigorous training of Officership, the best takeaway is that we learned to be composed in difficult situations, to be able to plan ahead and being responsible for the roles that we hold. However, old habits die hard. In times of traffic jam, I tend to be impatient and often lose my temper.

3 ) Materialism + Questioning Existence = Overthinking

As we grow older, we feel inclined to buy things that look good and branding that speaks for statuses. We become vain and materialistic. On the spiritual side, we wonder, why are we brought to this world, what are we supposed to accomplish in this lifetime, what happens when we die, do we go to heaven or wander on earth, what good does all these mortal measurements do to us? These questions made me overthink of being true to oneself, on being productive and working towards a goal that I have always dreamed of achieving.

4 ) Drowning in assignments + Wanderlust = Tranquility

In this semester, we were introduced to multiple assignments and were overwhelmed by it. Personally, I feel that time management is the answer to it. In a new environment (University), to balance Work, Social and Sleep is difficult, thus I chose to sacrifice sleep and a bit of social. In the midst of working on assignments, I often drift away reminiscing the times when I travel around SE Asia. Those days were worries-free, able to talk about life and explore new places, gaining new experiences in activities that I have never tried before. These thoughts calmed me down, giving me peace and the motivation to succeed in life, in order to retire early and travel again.

Referenced artists

This is a screenshot that I took during my process, working on the second version of the final artwork. The images on the sides are referenced photos.

I particularly fancy the low poly art and Andy Worhol’s painting. I took the images from Pinterest, thus, not being able to find out most of the artists’ names.

Andy Worhol’s Self Portrait. I like how he used the highlights of his face as a negative space and using colours to portray the mood. This work reminds me of our second project – Forrest Gump, using threshold images for silkscreen printing.

Rene Magritte’s cubism painting. I tried to explore different art styles, tracing back through the different periods of art movement. In this painting, he used very minimal details, shapes and colours to push the character out from the background, yet, seems like he is one with the background.

Here’s a tutorial on Low Poly Portrait. It took painstaking long hours to create a low poly art portrait with great details. In my opinion, you should understand the structure of the head or face in Figure Drawing and head topology in 3D Modelling, as it will help you to see where are the contours, highlights and reference points of the head. I have always liked low poly art, it looks 3D but is made of flat planes using Illustrator. It is clean yet rigid.

I could not find the artist’s name for this image. I like how the face is interlaced with the same image, disfiguring the face itself. It gives a feeling of being lost in time or loss of identity. Hence, I referenced this in one of my works.

I like how the artist removed her face from the body, but has a painting of herself hanging on the wall (inferred from the white shirt). I gives a feeling of one being there, yet not being there. The play of presence inspired me to use this technique in one of my works.

Project 03: Genre and Narrative – Little Red

Concept

Our film is based on “Little Red Riding Hood”. We were tasked to adapt on a fairy tale or folklore and add a modern twist to it. Thus, we made our main character, Red, both the Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf.

Storyboard

The film starts off with Red cooking a meal for her mother and herself. Red’s mother is worried about Red’s safety whenever Red visits her, as she will always take the shortcut. Red had to leave after the meal.
As Red passed by the shortcut, she felt someone following her. She turns around but there was no sight of anyone. The stalker ambushed Red, demanding for her valuables. She composed herself after the shock and shot the stalker in the head with a pistol, which was in her purse. Red dragged the stalker away and begins to chop him into pieces which reveals that the meals that she had prepared were of human meat. The film ends with Red giving a smirk after eating her prey.

Research/Inspiration/References

We were inspired by the look of Hannibal series, where he prepares his meals in a neat and delicate manner. It was smooth and slow paced, thus, we filmed our shots in 50fps in order to attain smooth footages when slowed down.
In order to achieve the cinematic look, we rented lighting equipment and covered them with blue gels for the cool lighting. We colour-graded the footages in Premiere Pro, the cool lighting enhanced the blue shadows to achieve the cinematic look.
We also researched the title fonts of horror/thriller films so that the choice of the title font could fit the film. We took reference from The Conjuring and Sinister. We wanted a contemporary feel but also grotesque as it progresses. Thus, we chose a Serif font and add a bleeding effect as it fades off.

Inspiration

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERf2QUejG0c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrFMEAWRSZ0

Cinematic Colour Grading

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qusedyZfvkE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mSh2Bhtcy0

Title Card

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCcBCoeSFK0
Challenges

We initially faced disagreements as we discussed about our storyboard. Due to differences in photography, it took a while before all of us finally reach a consensus on how the scenes should flow. We eventually resolved the issue as everyone merely wanted the best for our project despite the differing opinions.

Lighting the scene exactly the way we wanted was a challenge as our experience with lights was quite low. Shooting scenes in the corridor with a strong backlight was also a challenge. We managed to overcome these with teamwork, as everyone understood how the entire film was supposed to look so we worked to achieve that. The corridor scene was overcome by making use of cable extensions.

Sound was also an issue as we did not have boom mics and there were scenes where the mic we were using had run out of battery. We overcame the issue of no boom mics by placing the ZOOM audio recorder closer to the actress. For the scenes which did not have audio, we had to replicate the sounds back in school and edit them together in post. This was an extra step and could have been avoided but we managed to overcome it.

Video Link

https://vimeo.com/190680091

Done by:
Wong King Lam, Chua Jia Jun Gerald, Lee Ying Hui Candy

Project 03: Ego – Concept

The following is the moodboard for my approach towards Ego. It consists of artwork references and colour scripts for different settings.

The moodboard for Self is to allow me to pick out certain designs that will work for portraying personality.

The moodboard for setting is to show the approach of how colour can change the mood of the environment.

The outcome is a bend of double exposure and digital paintings. I find the composition interesting where there is environment in the character itself.

Project 02: Impossibilities of Being

My photo story is about myself being captured and sent back to the past to change a part of history. The story advances to a point where it shows that history cannot be changed and is determined in the loop of time.

Inspiration: Twelve Monkeys

Project 02: Forrest Gump – Selected Artworks

Movie quotes from: Alice in Wonderland

Design 01

I tried to play with scale for this design as it relates very closely to the story and film itself. Showing Alice in a smaller scale than the mushrooms is of a different perception of how viewers will expect to see a girl watering plants. This will allow them to draw more attention to the artwork.

The swords in this artwork represents fight, war, superiority, overcoming fears. The white and black chess pieces represents the good and evil sides in the world. The sword is also the significant item in the movie that played the evil counterpart. In this artwork, I focused more on contrast and shapes.

This artwork mainly uses implied lines to direct the viewer’s eyes to deliver the message. The direction that the girl is looking, leads to the signboards, which then revolves around the artwork.

This is another version of the same quote, mainly focusing on the words used. By replacing the girl’s legs with tentacles, the idea of movement is brought up. Displaying the tentacles in a messy fashion, the direction of where the girl wants to go is unclear. Hence, bringing across the message.

By using Gestalt, I can show collages of different objects that were shown in the animated film inside a card pyramid, which represents the card soldiers in the film.

Project 02 – Forrest Gump process

The movie that I chose my quotes from is Alice in Wonderland.

Design 01: I knew who I was this morning, but I’ve changed a few times since then

Design 02: I knew who I was this morning, but I’ve changed a few times since then

Design 03: Alice, you cannot live your life to please others. The choice must be yours, because when you step out to face that creature, you will step out alone.

Design 04: Alice, you cannot live your life to please others. The choice must be yours, because when you step out to face that creature, you will step out alone.

Design 05: Where should I go? That depends on where you want to end up

Design 06: Is wonderland really a wonder… When you have nowhere to land…

Here are some source photos that I have referenced from:

Process:

I mainly used Photoshop to turn the images to black and white. By using Levels and Threshold, I can control how much contrast I want to create. I created some silhouettes by masking image over other images. I have applied using Golden Ratio, Symmetry, Implied Lines, Contrast and Scale.

Project 03: Planar Construction 3D Sketch Models and 2D Sketch Analysis

Model 1

Purple – Dominant (D)

Yellow – Sub-Dominant (D)

Orange – Subordinate (SO)

Each piece is placed at one-third of each other. The length of the SO is one-third of the SD. The SO is hanging on the D like A Bat hanging on A Cave, the SD is laid across the board like A Serpent lying across the floor. The D has its axis vertical, the SD has its axis axis horizontal. The SO hangs itself on the D. The negative space is created at the top left corner of the first 2D sketch analysis.

Alterations made to improve composition:

Tapered off middle section of D
Tapered the back end of SD and SO
Trimmed the length of SO

Methods used:

Wedging, Piercing, Curved plane, Broken plane and Grouped planes

Model 2

The planes are placed at one-thirds of each other. The D has its axis vertical, the SD has its axis axis horizontal. The SO curves itself around both pieces. The composition brings the viewer’s eyes around the structure. Noticing from the D, bringing to the SD by the SO. The negative space is created at the top left corner of the structure (front view).

Alterations made to improve composition:

Trimmed the width of SO to make it even thinner

Methods used:

Wedging, Piercing, Bent axis plane, Curved plane, Broken plane and Grouped planes

Model 3

The pieces are placed at one-thirds of each other. While the D has its axis vertical, the SD has its axis axis horizontal. The SO curves itself around both pieces, bringing the viewers’ attention throughout the whole structure. The negative space is created at the top right corner of the structure (front view).

Methods used:

Piercing, Curved plane, Broken plane and Grouped planes