Poke, Spam, Tag, Friended

A Response to a Response about a Response

Facebook. The original superficial website transformed and metamorphasized into something completely new and surprisingly meaningful. That is to say that Facebook has forged an entire generation of users connected together by a mere “www” on the internet. FaceBook at its prime was the main source of communication among friends and family, especially those whose loved ones moved overseas. Now, it has become a hubbub community filled with pictures, videos, games, and even companies that communicate with people from all over the world regardless of being “friends”. Through Facebook we have become exposed to so much information globally yet at the same time it still strengthens our relationship with those important to us. For example, we see a video of an amazing icecream parlour in New York, which reminds you of your good friend who you always go out to eat icecream together with. So you tag this friend or share the information with her and you start talking and reminiscing about past icecream dates or plan on a new icecream date. Also when friends update aspects of their life through Facebook, you are given an insight into their life, which fortifies the bond among one another.

In response to D.E. Wittkower’s article, “A Reply to Facebook Critics”, I understand where he is coming from. Facebook though with its own sets of problems should not be slammed by critics or put on a societal blacklist. It has served us so many boons as well as banes. Also, the idea of criticizing the application Facebook is erroneous in the sense that Facebook is not the application but the people behind it. Facebook is what is is because of the people you use it, we decide the way Facebook serves in our life whether it be to send memes to one another or if it is to get an insight into the lives of our friends who ultimately mean something to us or do not mean something to us.

“Facebook, for the most part, is people.”

D.E. Wittkower, “A Reply to Facebook Critics”

       Looking through Hasan Elahi’s work a whirlwind of thoughts went through my mind. From sympathy at the assumptions made based on physical appearance to marvel at the dedication behind his piece “Tracking Transience”. To constantly and consistently document ones daily life is a very tedious task that not many people can pursue. Even when I tried the “Super Participation” micro-project, I found it very difficult to document everything from significant events to trivial habits. However, I noticed that as the day went by updating my Facebook became more natural. Hasan Elahi’s work is genuinely candid and truthful yet has a satirical touch that can be experienced by not just the artist himself but also the audience clicking onto his website.
Screenshot from Hasan Elahi’s Tracking Transience Website
       Hasan Elahi, a normal professor at the University of Maryland, was brought into questioning at the airport due to a tip off about being a potential terrorist. He was later placed on the most wanted list. Though his innocence has been proven and he has been released from federal custody, he is still being supervised by the government. This led to surveillance art. Hasan Elahi’s surveillance art is comprised of his entire life for the the past several years, from credit card statements to locations and even phone calls. This way, not just the FBI but everyone can see and in a way serve as a witness to his story.
      Hasan Elahi stated that when he would tell people he was an artist, many of them would ask him “So what medium do you use?” We have come to the age in human history where art is no longer just limited to the traditional media but has expanded to site-specific instillations to collaborative web based artworks to even experience orientated art. “Tracking Transience 2.0” incorporates the digital with human experience and observation. We as the audience get to experience Hasan Elahi’s life the way he did but yet the experience is only limited to our eyes. This in a sense is like Facebook, we are deliberately entering the website to see what someone we know well or do not know well is doing. We want to know because we care, we care about the lives of others because in a ways it relates to our own lives. And “Tracking Transience 2.0” in a way has done that– relate to our lives. To those who love to post their daily occurrences on social media to those who feel paranoid over a presence even those just like to see how others live their lives. “Tracking Transience 2.0” in a way has touched our inner desire to connect and form relationships with people.
 (I cannot add an image. Every time I do, it states that there  is an “HTTP error”.)

Project 1: Image Making Through Type

INTRODUCTION

Image Making Through Type was our first project for our Graphic Form class. The first project of the new semester began with a tutorial on Adobe Illustrator and a brainstorm of possible future professions. The project itself was about embedding the text (your name) with the essence and semantics of the our possible future vocation. When we see the type, our first thoughts should not see the piece as an image but decorative lettering. Our jobs and the name we wanted to utilize had no limit or restrictions. We could choose the most wackiest job or a job one genuinely aspired to have. And we could choose the initials of our birth name, called name, nickname or certain letters from any part of our name. 

 

INITIAL IDEATION 

Given a week after the project was revealed to us to think of the four professions, our text, and rough draft thumbnails of our final piece. I began with some mindmaps for name and professions reflectively.

Mind map for Text (Name)

I wanted there to be meaning behind the letter/characters that I would ultimately choose for my four pieces. This is why I decided to balance both my Korean name and English/Church name within my four pieces. Ultimately, two of my pieces contained lettering from my English name, another piece containing the characters of my Korean name, and the other using a letter from my English name with a character from my Korean name to create a combination that sounds like my Korean surname.

The reason why I chose to mix my Korean name and English name, especially in that last piece that incorporates them together in one piece, is because of my upbringing. Though born in Seoul, South Korea, I moved abroad at the age of three due to my father’s work and spent  my years in America, Singapore, and eventually South Korea. Due to my diverse upbringing and exposure to different cultures, I have suffered the typical “identity crisis” as well as reaped the benefits of the variety of experiences. This is why many of my works subtly incorporate ideas of culture and identity, whether it be through visuals or symbolism.

Example of Incorporating Both of Korean and American Name
Mind map for Future Job

I wanted a balance between two realistic jobs, especially two jobs I considered pursuing, and two wacky jobs. The wacky jobs can be anything, fictional or just unrealistic. And though I was not sure about my final four, I knew that I wanted to incorporate food and jewellery in to my pieces as they are some of the essentials in my life. 

Initial Drafts and Thumbnails

DIFFICULTIES AND PROBLEMS 

There was a misunderstanding of what was expected in our designs. Many of the students were under the impression that the piece could have been very image based and can be the outcome of rearrangement. However, what was expected of us was a text based piece with elements of our job on the text. So many of my ideas focused on the overall image of the piece rather than focusing on the words. Redesigning my ideas was quite difficult in the beginning, however, the ideas started to flow better as time went by.

NARROWING IT DOWN TO FOUR JOBS

In the end, I decided to narrow my job choices to four separate jobs that incorporates my passions and interests. My four jobs are World Renown Dessert Maker,  Mythical Smoothie Barista, Full-time Professional Onion, and a Jewellery Maker. Each job is incorporates something I am very interested in with external influences like friends, films and TV shows, and even daily experiences.

Basic Research 

Research on Hannah Hoch
Research on DaDa

Wanting to use a variety of media for this project, I looked a variety of different inspirations ranging from digital illustrations, water color, acrylic paintings, and clay (sculpting). 

WORLD RENOWN DESSERT MAKER

World Renown Dessert Maker (Final Composition)

Name 

World Renown Dessert Maker Planning

The name I chose for this piece is CECI. This is my nickname derived from CECILIA.  Throughout the years my parents, friends, and even baristas called me CECI. CECI is a nickname that has stuck with me and has remained a constant in my life ever since CECILIA was too long to write or a mouthful to pronounce. And like the consistency of my nickname, the my love for desserts have always been by my side. I have one of the biggest sweet tooth ever, and this has left a big impact on the shows that I watch and the food I seek. Each dessert, while my favorites, were purposely chosen for the fact that the first letter of the dessert matches with CECI.

(C)hocolate

(E)clair

(C)ookie

(I)cecream

Job 

I chose World Renown Dessert Maker because of love for  sweet food. This was further enforced by cooking shows related to desserts or or bloggers on Instagram that upload dessert pictures. And when people describe or critique the desserts, they always say things like “the chocolate just melts in my mouth”. And I feel that good desserts should not be so delicious that it really does melt in your mouth. A dessert is supposed to be the finishing aspect of your meal and should soothe the mouth after the savoury onslaught of dinner. As a world renown dessert maker, I have a duty to make my desserts as delicious as possible to the extent it just melts in my customers mouth. And like my dessert, so does my text made from my dessert specialty menu.

Research 

For my research, I mainly focused on vector illustration and looked through many images of desserts. I also looked at images of melted chocolate to get the sense of how a dessert would melt and the highlights and lowlights of the melted area. 

Reference Pictures

I also looked at possible background designs associated with candy and desserts. I cam across the candy cane design with the alliterating white and red strips spiral down diagonally.

Pink Candycane

Problems

I had two problems with this piece. One being that it was very difficult to achieve a realistic melted effect for some of my desserts ( the chocolate and eclairs especially). Maybe it had to do with the fact that vector illustration, unless extremely skilled, is hard to create that smooth and gradual melting surface of the dessert. The second problem is that after trying to apply my background idea to my piece, I realized that the overall composition was too messy and cluttered. There was so much detail on the dessert that the background took away from the detail. And from someone who always manages to make their work look cluttered instead of aesthetic. I have learned that it is okay to cut certain ideas from your original plan. In the end, I did cut the candycane design from the overall composition and added two thin white borders around the edges.

Composition with Candycane Stripes

 

MYTHICAL SMOOTHIE BARISTA

Mythical Smoothie Barista (Final Composition)

Name

For this composition, I chose my last name CHO. The H in CHO is very dynamic compared to the more circular C and O. The dynamism is allows for more variety in my composition. CHO is the Romanization of my Korean last name.

An Example of C and H

Job

My original idea for this profession was a simple Smoothie Barista; however, I decided to spice it up my combining it with another idea I had. The other idea was a Mythical Creature Hunter. I took the Mythical Creature part from the other idea and combined it with being a Smoothie Barista. Now, I make smoothies for the mythical creatures who come to my Smoothie Booth. If you look closely at the little note underneath the text, you can see that the smoothies being created are called “Bloodlust”, a very popular smoothie drink for Vampires and “Oceanic”, a hit smoothie among the Mermaid community for its pungent flavor yet healthy minerals. I am thinking of expanding my menu to accommodate more of the supernatural community, opening my doors to anyone and everyone who just wants a refreshing smoothie on a hot summer day.

Research

For my research, I focused on looking at smoothie machines before and after the smoothie making process. Focused on creating the font using inspiration from how the smoothie mixes inside the blender. This led a 3-Dimensional font following a circular plane.

Reference Images

Problems

One problem I faced was that since I did not know how to use and Digital Imaging software, I decided to go old school and paint the composition. While this was an experience worth doing and that the end product contains texture that is hard to achieve through computers; I also believe that this would have been a great opportunity for me to experiment with uncharted territory and try my best. However, the fear that I would mess up or that it would not turn out the way I would want it gave me anxiety. However, from this situation I have realized that I should not fear the unknown for I can just start again from the beginning.

Full Time Professional Onion

Name

For this job, the name I decided to use is “ㅎㅈ”, which are the first characters of my Korean name, 조현재 (Cho HyunJae). As the previous two artworks containe dmy English/Catholic name, I thought that it is only right that I create a work using my Korean name. I am proud of both names as they mean a lot to me and helped create the person I am today.

Progress Image

Job

This job, though very unconventional, is a job I think many people will relate to or identify with. I am a Full-Time Professional Onion certified by Korean District of Yangpa and traded internationally by the Californian Trading Association of Yangpa. Onions have many layers, layer upon layer alternating between white and purple. These layers are symbolic of the many sides of me that I can utilize in the future for any job I want. I am not just a one-track minded individual, and because of my upbringing I have learned to embrace and incorporate the many influences thrown at my way. As a full-time Onion, I use these many layers of mine to excell at a task given to me. Not only do these layers apply to a professional me, but also applies to my personality. There are many layers to my personality, and only show different people different sides until I feel absolutely comfortable with him or her.

Research 

My original plan for this project was to use the design of an actual onion ring to emphasize the letters of my name as so.

Orignal Onion Idea

However, after consulting with my teacher and thinking more deeply upon the idea of layer. I focused my attention onto a Dimensional interpretation of the layers that like my personality, can be seen from many sides. Looking at the layers, I was reminded of an old candle making video I stumbled upon on Instagram.

Not only did this show the wacky insides of a candle seemingly normal on the outside (like an onion, and just like me), but also played with different knife methods like carving, slicing, and etc. Which led me to think about the different methods of cutting an onion, from simply cutting it longitudinally or even dicing it into little cubes. I decided to use different cutting methods to create the different strokes of my name. I chose to keep it simple and stick with white and purple (no transitory colors) for the sake of simplicity. I wanted to depict the essence of an onion, not an onion itself; which is why I broke down the onions design to its basic components.

Essence of the Onion

The end product reminds me of the Sticky Candy brand which would created intricate designs in there tiny candies by first creating a bigger version and constantly rolling it around until it shrank.

Final Composition Layout Reference

Problem  

The only problem I encountered was the mess the clay left on my table as it left some kind of sticky residue. Other than that, I truly enjoyed this project as it allowed me to get my hands dirty and create, an art form I showed great interest in as a child.

Jewellery Maker (Class Favorite)

Jewellery Maker (Final Composition)

Name

For this job, the name I decided to use is “ㅈO”. As you can see, this is a combination of two different languages, Korean and English. I chose this combination for two specific reasons. The first being that it symbolizes the mixture of two cultures and locations that I consider part of my identity and home. Though I was born in Korea, I lived abroad due to my father’s business. I grew up in the States then Singapore then Korea and finally back to Singapore for University. I wanted to find a way for both sides of myself to be represented in one of my compositions rather than showing a division between the two. This coincides with the fact that jewellery and jewellery designing have always been a passion of mine even back in the states when I was a young girl. Secondly,  I found it a clever way for me to show people the proper way to pronounce my last name. Though the romanized translation of my Korean name 조 is CHO, the pronunciation of the two words are different. 조 is pronounced more like JO, and the “J/”JUH” sound comes from the character ㅈ. CHO is the outdated romanization of the surname 조 yet still commonly interchanged with JO.  I am comfortable with hearing both CHO and JO.

Job 

My job in this composition is a Jewellery Maker who handcrafts her own designs, making each individual piece one-of-a-kind. And due to the multi faceted layers behind why I chose “ㅈO”, I felt that a multi faceted gemstone should be the centerpiece of my necklaces. My jewellery brand has many collections, though still in the early pages of its inception, ranging from chic fashionable wear to symbolic pendants, to even wearable art. In this case, I decided to focus on the style of jewellery that I began doodling with as a student. These haute couture, vintage costume design style pieces have always drawn my eyes as I watched historical dramas and tv shows and I have been inspired by the beauty of the details and how the centerpiece is the main attraction yet the border holds as much story as any other piece. The paper around the two pieces is meant to represent the countless sketches and rough drafts a real jewellery designer must go through. Originally, I planned on showing the different angles or designs, however, in order to focus our attention on the two text I removed the designs and just used different papers.

Research

My research for this project mostly consisted of thinking back to old jewellery designs I sketched up in the past along my notebooks and tests. The designs I came up with are entirely my own and only borrow classical elements like the engravings and curves from different references. The gem I used as the centerpiece and aquamarine for the ㅈ and an orange topaz for the O had to be based off of photographs I found on the internet as I did not have the physical gem with me.

Jewellery Style Inspiration
Jewellery Style Inspiration

Problems

The only difficulty I faced with this piece was that there are not gems shaped as ㅈ or O on the internet at least. Making it difficult for me to really understand the highlights, lowlights, and reflections of the gem. I mostly relied on my guess to try to imitate the highly reflective and shiny surface of the gems.

Gemstones

 

Conclusion

Through this project I discovered personality traits and desires of myself that I would have normally skimmed over. These traits and desires of mine, if properly developed can make a big impact on me and my future. Especially, Jewellery Designer. The meaning behind my love for Jewellery and the choice behind my text shows the passion that I have towards it and has actually inspired me to consider pursuing it as a serious avocation.

I have also learned that it is okay if you fail, you can always just start over with a fresh note and try your hardest. Do not shy from adversity and instead embrace it as we can learn new skills or solutions to old problems from it. Also, I learned to be confident about my ideas. Especially, because I always tend to second guess myself and down-play my creations; which create not only insecurity but also stress.

At first I was very overwhelmed about the amount and the difficulty behind creating a text as were were meant to chose characteristics that embodied our profession rather. However, the more I delved into it, the more I realized how ideas and creation flows one you get the hang of it. I have come to the understanding that just because an idea sounds weird, does not mean it is a bad idea. This came from my Onion composition, the idea behind it seemed ridiculous but in the end the experience and outcome made it worth it.

 

SIDE NOTE:

I was unable to upload my images because of an “HTTP error”

I will try uploading them in a couple of days in  (it usually works after that).

I am very sorry for the inconvenience.

 

DIWHAT?! DIWO! DIWOAH!

DIY and DIWO

For years, it has all been about doing it yourself also known as “DIY”. DIY is not necessarily a bad mindset to have or a bad process to practice but it is certainly not the only option. There is the option of doing it with others, allowing us to not only learn from one another but also build upon the innovations of others. But maybe it is due to the individualism, society keeps encouraging or the fear of losing ownership of our creations that encourages the “DIY” culture. Regardless, doing it yourself is important, it teaches responsibility, a sense of direction, and perseverance. But as I mentioned earlier, there is also the option of doing it with others. This option is equally as edifying but possibly with a larger final creation.

“In 1996 artists Ruth Catlow and Marc Garrett initiated an online platform for collaboration and experimentation, informed by community arts, pirate radio, activism and street art. Inspired by free and open software development they challenged notions of the individual genius artist.”

  • – Official Furtherfield Website

DIWO and Furtherfield

Screenshot of the Adobe Connect Meeting in Session

This online community is called Furtherfield. And the inspiration led to the ideation of “Doing it with others”, or in another words “DIWO”. This term was officially coined in 2006 by Furtherfield and has inspired so many people and organizations throughout the years of its establishment. This concept of an open collaborative platform that creates thought provoking, creative statement pieces with the help of others has inspired a plethora of people around the world and rewrote an entire mindset focused on the idea of individualism.

Doing it With Others has in a sense inspired the entire conception of Open Source Studio (OSS). Open Source Studio is built upon the foundational ideas of an open online studio for students to share their sources and creations with one another in hopes to inspire and encourage one another through their journey as growing artist. The impact OSS has left upon the students of ADM is profitable not only as students but als.o as we step into the real world. Working with OSS not only introduced me to Furtherfield and their works but also improved my sense of responsibility and the practice of recording my process. I hope to see OSS create further impact on the growth of emerging artists and can not wait to see further impacts Furtherfield will have on our generation.

Screenshot of the Plantoid Piece during the Adobe Connect meeting

The “Plantoid” piece introduced to us by Marc Garrett peaked my interest, not only for its beauty but also for the process that created the flower. And with every new flower, there is a set of instructions that the artists must follow, making the flowers unique in their own way. Incorporating something so natural like flora with something so unnatural and man made, is heartwarming. Because it shows that we humans can coexist with nature in a relationship that is neither harmful to one nor advantageous to the other. In a way, it is showing us how we need each other in order to function and survive. Also, the way the flower actually reproduces in different places all over the world is very breathtaking.

DIWO in the Third Space

Many of Furtherfield’s work deals with incorporating the ever-advancing technology into its creations. From the basic use of the open software available on the internet to digital artworks, the affect of DIWO is not just on a physical collaborative level but a digital collective level. Though not a Furtherfield projects, works like “Hole in Space”, “Please Change Beliefs”, and the “World’s Longest Collaborative Sentence” incorporate the ideas of doing it with others in order to create a collaborative piece where not only is the artist the artist but also the people who contributed to its creation.

And not only does doing it with others often lead to the creation of a third space, the process before the doing is also a part of the third space in itself. The online community is a third space while the art works they create also are in the third space. And though we cannot be in the third space and first space simultaneously, we can take away information and skills learned in the third space and apply it to the first space.

DIWO in NTU 

Our projects in school though not necessarily labeled DIWO in our school, is built around the ideas of working with other. Majority of our microprojects in our Experimental Interactions class require us to negotiate with our classmates to create works of art. From projects like our Telematic Stroll and the Telematic Embrace, negotiating and doing it with others plays a strong importance in our works.

DIWO in the Future

I can see myself using the ideas in DIWO in my future art pieces, especially those pertaining to my Experimental Interaction class. Especially, because Experimental Interaction class gives its students so many opportunities to really experiment with different media and execution methods. In other classes, the extent of DIWO stops at just bouncing ideas off of each other; however, in Experimental Interaction projects, I can actually incorporate others into the final outcome of my work.

Experience of adobe connect

Adobe Connect Meeting

My experience with Adobe Connect has once again been very successful, and the more I use it, the more I seem to gravitate towards it over other video calling platforms. The connection and quality seems to be very good and even the way multiple people can be online without suffering from discrepancies is a feat on its own. I truly enjoyed this experience and feel that we should have a good balance of classes or projects through Adobe Connect.

 

 

The World’s Longest Collaborative Sentence

The World’s Longest Collaborative Sentence

“The Sentence has no end. Sometimes I think it had no beginning. Now I salute its authors, which means all of us. You have made a wild, precious, awful, delicious, lovable, tragic, vulgar, fearsome, divine thing.”

– Douglas Davis, 2000

What is “The World’s Longest Collaborative Sentence”?

“The World’s Longest Collaborative Sentence” is an collaborative and collective network based artwork created in 1994 by Douglas Davis, an artist and media teacher. Though considered as the “author” and “artist” this art piece, Douglas Davis publicly credits those who helped him design the website and other coworker on his website. This artwork is credited as one of the first couple artworks to utilize the World Wide Web after its creation and integration to mainstream society. “The World’s Longest Collaborative Sentence” started to take on a life of its own as viewers were given the opportunity and freedom to contribute to the sentence in what ever form or style they preferred. One can notice that there are some irregularities in format, theme, and basic flow of the sentences due to the a variety of people from all over the world. In 1995, “The World’s Longest Collaborative Sentence” was donated to the Whitney Museum and preserved there since then. In 2012, The Whitney Museum planned to reopen this art piece. However, due to the upgraded software of the 21st century and the outdated codes of 20th century, the website was unusable. This led to the eventual conclusion to create a duplicate of the original artwork embedded with modern coding and software that allows the duplicated version to be edited on. That version was opened online allowing a resurgence of this collaborative piece. The original version is still preserved in The Whitney Museum, though it has been locked from further edits with some of the links redirecting you to an external website.

What do I think the “The World’s Longest Collaborative Sentence” is really saying?

I believe that “The World’s Longest Collaborative Sentence” is an interactive record of human development and mindset as well as an ironic commentary on our current society. When “The World’s Longest Collaborative Sentence” was created, Douglas Davis probably had the intention for the website to continue for a long time. If the goal was to great a long collaborative sentence from people all around the world that has access to the World Wide Web, it could only be achieved if people continued to participate. The sentence’s humble beginning as a method of collecting honest feedback regarding a survey about his exhibition transformed into a platform where anybody can post what ever they want when ever they felt like it, regardless of the vulgarities or discrepancies with previous additions. This, in the end, has become a primary source that is still recording the true thoughts and behaviors of humans who tend to unleash their subconscious or emotions on the web. Humans tend to be more honest about their feelings or like to create a false persona of someone who they want to be online because they do not have to taste the physical judgement and scrutiny that befalls physical confrontations. We can see that the “The World’s Longest Collaborative Sentence” slowly starts to become a platform for people to rant their feelings, as well as the linguistic changes throughout the years (different slang or vulgarities). This may not have been the original intention per-say but like everything in modern society that seems to transform and change, “The World’s Longest Collaborative Sentence” has metamorphasized into something more than just a simple survey.

Tumblr Notes
Tumblr Notes

On a side not, this way of constantly adding onto an already existing statement reminds of me of the way Tumblr works, where people have a catalyst image or text that triggers a wave of never-ending reblog and notes. (Though these are not the most mature examples, these were the few that I could find)

The irony of the “The World’s Longest Collaborative Sentence” is that it is written and stored on modern technology. Even though it may the longest textual sentences, it is not necessarily the longest lasting sentence. I say this because most of the links and images attached on the original version of  “The World’s Longest Collaborative Sentence” can not be accessed because of the outdated codes or the deleted file the “author” trashed after several years. What people assumed would be permanently on the World Wide Web, in the end no longer exists, or is “broken”. This entire situation points out  “the ephemeral nature of the Web…”. This is why I believe that the longest textual sentence is will not be the longest surviving sentence.

And for the “longest existing collaborative sentence” it is still unable to display the proper Korean Characters. It has been 24 years and within those years there have been so many advancements in technology that should be able to help depict the Korean Characters yet for some reason it still remains a garbled mess. Maybe it because the Korean characters were sent in with the old coding making it more difficult to translate it and depict it, but maybe one day it will be possible to actually see what was written in 1995.

REFLECTION

Looking through the effect and impact of “The World’s Longest Collaborative Sentence” has made me think about the idea of collaboration. A collaborative piece involves not only the artist but also the audience, both contribute to the outcome of a collaborative artwork. And continues to have effect as long as one person makes the effort to keep it alive. The beauty of a collaborative work is that each contribution made is unique and personal to the contributor. All these unique pieces amalgamate to an even more unique creation. For example, our current Experimental Class is doing a collaborative art piece. We all have to post one body part every day. (Insert screen shot here). Even this collaborative art piece is a record of our generation, from the pictures you can see different editing techniques and clothing styles, even camera angle techniques unique to each batch of students.

 

“Do It With Others”

 

 

A Telematic Embrace

SUMMARY

The third space. A space that combines our current space with another space. Yet, it is nearly impossible to coexist in two of the spaces simultaneously. However, this does not mean that we can not communicate with other who have stepped into the third space along side you. In a sense as we step into the third space, we are remodelling it to become our first space.

(Image of everyone coming online on Adobe Connect)

We used Adobe Connect, a more professional counterpart to Skype and FaceTime, as our platform to access the third space. Our third spaces is occupied by our entire class (except two students who could not manage to log on). Originally, we were meant to be located in different first spaces but for the sake of efficiency and time we stayed in the Foundation 4D room. We played around with different activities that connected all of us through the third space. We tried connecting our arms to create a row, touched fingers with the people next to us, covered the screen in a monochrome color, and more.

EXPERIENCE

(Image of one of the activities)

The entire experience was fun and amusing. There were a lot of laughs however, that was mostly because we were in the same first space that allowed us to make jokes and see the reaction with others as we did some of our ridiculous activities. Other than the occasional laughs, I felt that fascinated by the experience. Sure, I’ve used Skype to call a friend and gave her a “Hi-5” or exchanged food with Bella during our Telematic Stroll. But to something of this scale with so many people and such unique activities was a novel moment in my third space career.

DISCOVERY

(Images of activity requiring aligning our body parts)

Though we were in the same first space, we can see people trying to align their hands and arms without discussing it with one another. We had the opportunity and temptation to yell out to the student whose screen was above mine to align our fingers yet we withheld the urge and used the screen itself. This in a way shows how we truly cannot completely be in the first space as well as the third space. We were aware we were in the same room physically yet our mind kept telling us to focus our thoughts in the third space.

REFLECTION

(Image of our hands close up)

The third space. Though not an official word in the dictionary, is a word that relates to many of us in this society. We spend so much time in our third space then we do in any other space (granted we are usually asleep while we are in our first space). People usually assume that once we are in the third space or “glued to our phones” that we are completely isolated and anti-social. But they do not realize that the third space is like a community of other like minded people who we can interact and connect with.

Open Source Studio

Open Source Studio

History

“Evolution of the Mobile Phone”
https://www.slideshare.net/IIBA-UK/iinnovation-technology-and-the-digital-age

Technology. Merely a byproduct of an idea drawn on paper by men and women, has transformed into one of the most influential advancements in modern society. Specifically the creation and expansion of the World Wide Web, an open source of information designed only 25 years ago. Through a short period of time, the internet has managed to influence a large part of our lives and even spread throughout many parts of the world. The influence is so strong that many people, specifically the millennials consider the presence of internet and smart phones as “normal” and “mundane”. When the World Wide Web launched, it served as a platform and tool for many artists.

“Please Change Beliefs” http://www.adaweb.com/project/holzer/cgi/pcb.cgi?change

With the increase in technology, the method of Open Source has made a resurgence in popular culture. The Open Source way of thinking, producing, and distributing art was part of the “norm” until the strong influence of patents, copyrights, and proprietary ownership in the 1980s. Open Source in a sense is “technological production that is collectively authored or manufactured and distributed without profit, or limited profit-sharing according to specific guidelines” (“Open Source Studio” Randall Packer). And Open Source Studio (OSS), is an online free database that encourages users to collaborate together and exchange ideas for inspiration. In a sense Open Source Studio  is another way of “do(ing) it with others” (DIWO).  This peer-to-peer social interaction is a break from the individual, solo based working system encouraged by society. It allows us to bounce back ideas with one another to create the most well thought out and creative product. Which in the end helps the society grow not only through creation but as a community. 

 

“Teamwork Meme”
http://www.quickmeme.com/Teamwork

Micro-Experimenting #2

Tele-Stroll

Summary

For this micro-project, my friends and I were put in a group of three. Resulting in my friend doing the project twice. However, for my project, we decided to do it about food. She and I are from different cultures and our original plan was centered around the differences in our cultures food. However, due to the factors such as; queue length and preparation time, we could not accomplish every aspect of our original plan.

Original Plan

Our original plan was centered around the plot of two friends from different parts of the world interacting with one another even though we are separated by land. In a sense we put ourselves in a third space, our phone screen, which in turn opens up a door for us to “pass on the food” and “apply lipstick simultaneously”. Our plan was to continue this tele-stroll until eventually we coincidently meet up at a certain location.

 

Posted by Daphne Natimin on Tuesday, 23 January 2018

*sidenote: my phone broke the morning of that day and I had to use my friends Facebook account

Discovery

However, Bella and I discovered something very unexpected. Small actions like playing with our hands to move our hair out of our face or shifting our glasses and even scratching our faces became synchronized without prior planning. It has been psychologically theorized that the more time you spend with someone the more you and the other person synchronize their movements– like a mirror. This proved to be true between Bella and me during our tele-stroll. Even though we were not physically together during the stroll, we both occupied and connected the third space together.

Reflection

Technology has advanced drastically. From its humble beginnings in factories to the growth of the internet, technology has become a tangible and standard part of human society. While some believe technology has done more bad than, there is an undeniable fact that technology has broken down the distance and branched together a new form of connection not obscured by distance or time. This connection creates a new form of space where people can together to play an active and cooperative role in society.

Let’s get the tele-stroll on the roll!

 

Foundation 4D Project: faceTIME

Summary of Project

For our final project in our Foundation 4D class, we were tasked with combining all we have learnt from previous projects to create our final video. While the main focus of our project was time, we could incorporate what ever it is we desired. From photography to video, even an interactive installation piece. For my project, I decided to make a video that depicts a real time footage of two FaceTime calls from different timezones.

Types of Time

Real Time: 

Real Time is also known as clock time, which is the actual time that is passing. It follows the actual, seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, and etch perception of time. There is no manipulation or distortion, it is completely raw.
Experienced Time:
Experienced Time is the time that we believe or feel has passed, our experienced time could be longer, shorter, or even exactly the same duration as our real time. Experienced Time has a multitude of different factors, from personal experienced, cultural upbringings, or mental perceptions and schemas.
Biological Time:
Biological Time is the time that is based on our bodily functions. Biological time consists of waking up, going to the bathroom, the time it takes to digest food, and other bodily activities.
Edited Time:
Edited Time is a manipulated version of clock time. Edited Time can range from slow motion to time lapse to even time jumps from one time to another.

(for my project I focused on Real Time that makes you question your Experienced Time)

Project Proposal

4D Project Proposal

Reason Behind Project

The reasoning behind my project stems from personal experience. As a child who has moved around different countries every once and a while, I have had to say goodbye to different friends. These friends either move back to their home country or I end up moving somewhere else. When I was young, keeping in touch was not as important as it is now. This became more of a problem in HighSchool, because our relationship has been through much more and our desire to keep in touch is stronger. However, due to time differences, our means of communication have decreased. We try our best to match each other’s schedule and balance out the video call so that it does not take too much of our sleep time. All these factors have made it very difficult to make video calls frequent, making our video calls that do happen so important and memorable.

Examples of Time Zone Differences

Treasuring every video call because I believed that my friend and I were literally talking to one another at the same time (like we would in the past), I thought we defied the intangible problem of space and time. However, I realized that video call is yet to be perfected, it is constantly lagging and pausing. Messing up our perceived time even more, because I video call that lasted 10 minutes can seem like 15 minutes (filled with pauses and lags). By placing the recordings side by side, I hoped to show that even though it feels like we are in the same room and talking about the same thing, we are actually separated by something more intangible than a mere laptop screen.

I wanted to emphasize the struggle and troubles we go through to talk to our loved ones when we are overseas. And not only is the mode of communication the only problem I wanted to highlight, but also the constant oblivion one feels not knowing what happens to their loved ones who run on an entirely different cycle as them. Specifically, my friend who is studyung in New York is a very close friend of mine; however one day there was an accident involving a man in a truck who injured many people. After hearing this news the next day, I immediately texted my friend and asked if she was alright. My friend responded that she was alright and that after she heard the news the previous afternoon she was worried as well. Though we live in the same world, we experience events and feelings at such different times. This disparity between people and time is the main message I wanted to convey in my project.

World Clock Application

Inspiration for the Video

Modern Family, an American sitcom about an extended family who is quite “modern” and has to deal with the difficulties that come from common social issues such as sexuality, adolescence, cultural identity, judgement, and being connected in such a fast paced society. Modern Family has already reached its ninth season, however, the specific episode that partially inspired this idea was  the sixteenth episode of the sixth season. This episode title “Connection Lost” was filmed entirely on Apple Products, from the Macbook to the iMac to the iPad and iPhone.

Modern Family s6x16 “Connection Lost”

The layout of the entire episode is what you would see on a typical Macbook, as the mother tries to locate the whereabouts of her daughter before her flight back home. This leads to a wild goose chase that involves contacting her entire extended family and creating more moments with one another. While the moral of this story was to draw the line between privacy and technology as well as the importance of taking a break from technology, the way they portrayed this message (through video call) inspired me to try something similar,

Planning the Project

Planning for this video was more tedious then expected. Since the two friends I asked to be a part of my video did not have access to certain equipment, we had to improvise.

For my friend in New York, I had her record the video and audio on her computer while I would record video on my phone (and use someone else’s phone to record the audio). This was difficult because I had to borrow and carry two phones while making it seem natural.

Asking My Friend for the Audio I Recorded on Her Phone

For my friend from Australia, our roles were reversed, I recorded from my computer while she recorded from her phone. The reversal was necessary because her computer was a PC ( and we were unfamiliar with PC’s abilities and was not sure if it could record her computer screen). For many western universities, the past couple of weeks have been exam period; so when my friend and I FaceTimed she was in the library.

Rather than being a difficult video to plan, it was more tedious because of the small trivial inconveniences that arose. I believe this is due to the fact the purpose of this video is to capture a mundane, raw, and every day occurrence. And we can not help these trivial situations to occur because life is full of minor speed bumps that we have to learn to overcome and move on.

Filming the Video

To record the footage, we used the screen recording application on the new IOS for IPhone’s while the audio was recorded using QuickTime’s audio recording function. For the scenes recorded on the computer, we used QuickTIme’s screen recording function.

I  made sure that for my friend in New York that I would be the one who had to film outdoors at night instead of her. This was because I know how dangerous New York can be after dark, even inside her campus. I felt safer if I was the one who had to commute in the dark in NTU because I knew how safe the area was. However, this did end up making her film outside in the cold (slight overcast in Fall).

Making Sure my Friend was Alright After the Call

For some reason the IPhone screen recording disconnects when receiving a call. Which resulted in only having footage from one side of the time zone, the one who made the call. To counteract this problem, one friend was on a computer while the other friend made the call through her phone.

My Friend and I Realizing that only My Screen was Recorded

We used GoogleDrive to transfer the files between each other because certain files were too big to fit in one email.

Transferring Files

 

Editing the Video

Editing the video was difficult because I have little experience with Premier Pro, however, this was the only application on my laptop that allowed me to create a split screen effect on one composition. This split screen effect was necessary to emphasize the idea of feeling as if we were in the same room but ultimately being in two different parts of the world.

Filming my Friend from New York

However, as I started to work on the video more and more, old memories of how to use Premier Pro came back to me and I was able to create the video with more ease than previous.

Filming my Friend from Australia

One technicality of this video that was difficult to overcome, was synchronizing the video and audio as accurately as possible. In real life, the audio and the video do not synchronize perfectly instead there are glitches and lags that occur throughout the entire call. And trying to match the audio with the video glitches and the video with audio lags was a very confusing process. In the end I realized that the audio of a certain person will always match the video from that persons phone. This explains why we always feel as if our connection is perfectly fine but there is something wrong with the other person’s connection. Using this as a golden rule, I continued to edit the video.

Displaying the Video

I asked everyone to take out their laptops (or phones) and an earphone when watching my video. This is because I wanted to recreate the same experience one would go through when they are FaceTiming someone. FaceTiming is a very personal one on one experience with the person on the screen and the earphones help block out external noises. My classmates have the option of watching either video, in a way it was more based on chance. I asked my classmates to chose either of the links displayed on the projector screen. Based on the views, I believe that at least 3:4 split between the class.

The Class Watching the Video Individually

I also named the videos with the respective time difference between me and the friend. One friend who studies in New York City is labeled at -13 because New York is 13 hours earlier than Singapore while my friend who is currently on an exchange program in Australia is labeled as +3 because Australia is 3 hours ahead of Singapore. Choosing to label the video with numbers rather than the country name or my friends name left the viewers wondering what on earth the numbers represented. Not only until they watch the entire video do the viewers start to piece together the clues.

FINAL VIDEOS:

Real Time and Experienced Time

The Real Time:

This project is filmed and projected in real time, so the audience watching the video and the people filming the video are all experiencing real 10 minutes of footage. However, the fact that they are experiencing this clock time of 10 minutes is further confuse the audience after they take note of the time difference and the discrepancies in-between.

The Experienced Time:

I wanted to warp the audiences experienced time by playing with their perception. While they see that the video is roughly 10 minutes long, I hope that in the end they feel as if they watched something longer or something different. I also hope that in the end they wonder what happens after the video and  while my classmates can predict what I could be doing after the video call, I hope that they are curious about what my friends will end up doing as well.

Reflection on the Project

It is so hard sometimes to think about the other side of the world, or even imagine an area that is sleeping soundly while we are commuting from place to place under the bright sun. Social media and Video Platforms may seem like a bane of modern society because of the detrimental effects it has on the youth, but there will always be two sides of a coin. And to me, the positive side of advanced technology is the way it tries its best to connect the world together. Sometimes, technology does not fall through and causes more dissociation through miscommunication and lags; however, in the end it gives us a moment to treasure. Though we live in different countries, cities, and streets or speak different languages and embrace different culture, we still coexist in the same world.

Future Possible Projects

As I was working on this project, I continued to think about other possible projects I could do based off of time. Especially, after the Time Jewelry Series I once sketched a couple years back. Two specific projects, one that deals with the gradual yet unpredictable vulnerability of time and another that like the project above deals with the idea of different times coexisting regardless of A.M. and P.M.

 

Project 3 Ego

Final Product

Project Summary

As the end of the semester is nearing, so was our final project in Foundation 2D. Unlike the previous 2D projects, this project was different. We got to incorporate color into our compositions. This was a big step for many of us because our previous projects restricted us from using color. I see now, that this was so that we focused on the skill specific to the project. For Project 1, the basis of the project was mark-making. Restricting me from using color helped me focus my attention to making unique and innovative marks. This same revelation can be said for my second project with focused on subverting and composition.

Ego in Different Settings, focused on how us as people are not stationary. We change our behaviour, thought process, and  personality based on different settings or people. Using color to either symbolize or enhance the message we are trying to convey in each row, we created an overall composition containing four rows of three 200mmx200mm boards. The first square represents “me”, the second square represents “the setting/situation”, and the last row represents “the change/ new me”. All the squares are open to our interpretation, it can be abstract or it can be representational. Even our media choices were open ended, we could use traditional or digital medias for any of our squares.

Intro to Color

Color is an important design element that adds, subtracts, or symbolizes certain messages or experiences in a painting. Some people believe that color is embedded within the composition itself and is not just a supplementary addition to embellish an artwork. I believe that it is both, color is a part of our everyday life while adding a little something extra to what we see and experience. Even the absence of color makes us feel and reflect.

With color, there comes color harmony. Specific sets of colors that compliment each other by creating harmony or juxtaposition. Primary colors and Secondary colors fall under a broader harmony set called the Triad color harmony. The triad color harmony creates an equilateral triangle on the color wheel. The Tetrad Color Harmony creates either a square or rectangle on the color wheel (usually contains two sets of complimentary colors). Complimentary Color Harmony is a pair of colors on opposite ends of the color wheel, this pair is compliments each other because of the contrast it creates. From complimentary colors, comes Split Complimentary Color Harmony. Split Complimentary Color Harmony is when you take one color and take the two adjacent colors to the right and left of the complimentary color for the first color. Split complimentary creates the same contrast as complimentary yet it is less jarring in comparison. Analogous Color Harmony is when you take the colors right and left of one base color. And finally Monochrome Color Harmony, which takes one color and plays with the tone, shades, saturation, and tints.

Color Harmony Chart

Row 1

Uncooked Ramen+ Formal Setting= Uncooked Pasta

Summary:

For row 1, I decided to focus on my outer appearance; specifically my hair. My hair has always been a dilemma for me. When I was young, every one wanted and had straight hair; I was the only one with curly hair. This led to a decrease in confidence for my hair for the the longest time in my life. I would rebond my hair frequently, however after seeing the damage it could have to my hair’s health, I decided to grow out my natural curls and merely straighten it with a hair iron during important events. This was because, even though I started to regain my confidence for my hair; curly hair is still quite difficult to manage and visually messy in comparison to straight hair. This is why I straightened my hair during important events or formal situations.

I decided to use acrylic paint not only because it is one of my favorite media but also because it creates a specific texture to the composition.

Color:

Square 1:

Since the original packaging of the instant noodle packaging was red, I decided to work with it and make my first square an analagous of red. Coincidently, red is also the color that represents passion and energy, qualities I have garnered towards my curly hair that can not be tamed. Because the focus on the composition is my instant noodles, I experiemented on ways to make the bachground harmonious with the noodle. Initially I planned on scraping a mixture of red and white onto the canvas. However, that made the overall composition chaotic and messy. My second plan was to take the base color (red) and paint the background a very vibrant and bold hue of red. Yet this decision also distracted the viewers focus from the center object. In the end I went for a slight tint of the base color in the background, enhancing the color harmony while not distracting from the focal point.

Square 2:

For square 2 I decided to go for complimentary colors (with a hint of Tetrad color harmony to pay homage to the first and last composition). The reason why I chose purple to be my base color as purple was because purple is the color commonly associated with royalty and formality. Yellow (purple’s complimentary color) is associated with gold (especially the darker yellow) because of the antiquity of the shade. Royalty and gold was meant to symbolize the importance and formality of the the dining table layout. The small hints of green and red were sneak peaks of what came before and what will come in the last composition.

Square 3:

I specifically looked for a green pasta bag, because I wanted to create the contrast from the first square. The green and red (complimentary color) added to the 180 difference that can be felt from having curly hair to straight hair. And since the last square was supposed to be a mirror of the first square, I chose to use a green analogous color harmony. This worked out in the end because the noodles in square 1 are more orange in hue while the pastas in sqaure 3 are more yellow in hue.

Original Sketch/Brain Storm (refer to sketchbook) :

I chose to use instant ramen to represent my curly hair because of an old illustration I planned on creating. I also specifically chose the “Shin Ramen” brand instant noodles because it is the most popular (both inside and out of Korea) instant noodle brand from my birth country. The second square shows a formal dining setting with a very classy and expensive meal and cutlery. The third square has a painting of uncooked spaghetti noodles. The pasta represents my straight hair, and the foreign brand symbolizes the strange feeling, and even alienation I now feel towards myself when my hair is straight.

Reference Images:

Reference Images Photoshopped to Help Visualize the Overall Composition

Process:

While it was tough getting back into acrylic paint after so long, my hands started to loosen up and get back to the old medium I love.

Painting my Squares

POWER OF WHITE PAINT

White paint served to vital functions in my composition. The first being the color to cover up all my pencil marks and the second being a base for my future colors so that the color could come out more vibrant and clear (especially because the acrylic paint I used was lighter).

Painting my Squares

Row 2

CHOcolate+ Singapura= cHOcolaTe

Summary:

Row 2 talked about a physical reaction I have to a certain environment. Specifically, my bodies reaction to heat. I illustrated the reaction based off of what happens to chocolate in the sun. The first square shows a representation of me, dark chocolate. I chose dark chocolate for two reasons; the first is because I really like dark chocolate, and the second is because my last name “cho” is in the word “CHOcolate”. The second square represents the hot climate of Singapore, by having the Merlion with sunglasses and a parasol. The last square is a picture of the same chocolate from square 1, but it is melting in the corner. This symbolizes me sweating due to the heat of the sun.

I chose to use a digital medium for this row.

Color:

Square 1:

Following the color of dark chocolate, I chose to make my color scheme monochromes of brown (which is a dark shade of red/orange). The grooves and highlights of the chocolate are all just from the same family of brown.

It was very difficult finding the right shade of dark chocolate that was not black.

Finding the Right Dark Chocolate

Square 2:

I decided to settle on yellow monochrome because it symbolizes the sun and heat. A very saturated yellow at times can bring out the vibrancy and happiness felt on a nice sunny day. I was originally going to use a deep blue-green because it was the complimentary hue of red-orange. This was to help create the contrast between chocolate and hot weather, two things that should not mix.

Blue-Green

Square 3:

Since square 3 was merely a reflection of square 1 with a melted corner, the color scheme stayed relatively similar to the original square. There was an addition of one or two darker and lighter shades to add extra emphasis and realism to the melting chocolate.

Original Sketch/Brain Storm (refer to sketchbook) :

The name of the chocolate was a longstanding pun that I hoped I would be able to use sometime in my future works.

Row 3

Seemingly Normal+ Count With Me. 1. 2. 3.= Nevermind

Summary:

For my third row, I decided to focus on my personality. From my exterior appearence one would believe that I am normal, simple– not so different from anyone else. But once you get to know me, truly get to know who I am, I am a very quirky, weird, and 4-Dimensional person. I chose a passion fruit to represent this idea of a seemingly normal but quirky personality of mine.

Color:

Square 1:

For square 1, I decided to use the split complimentary of violet. Violet is the color commonly associated with a passion fruit’s exterior. The Yellow-Orange and green create a sense of contrast and help the violet passion fruit stand out.

Square 2:

Square 2’s color scheme is a monochrome of blue. I chose blue because blue is commonly associated with hospital’s (more specifically surgeries) and it also creates a sterile and clean perception to the square.

Square 3:

For square 3, I chose the tetrad color scheme of (Violet, Yellow, Red, and Green). This encompasses the colors of the passion fruit and adds a quirky combination of different colors.

Original Sketch/Brain Storm (refer to sketchbook):

I alway come off as slightly more reserved towards people who have yet gotten to know me well. This is because I am scared that the reaction upon seeing my personality will be negative. Lately, I have been showing my
“weirdness” to people in small doses so that I can learn to be more confident with myself. The action of opening up is represented in a surgeon getting ready for his procedure (getting to know me). This is because surgeon literally have to open up their patients during surgeries. Before the nurses give you the anaesthetic before surgery, the ask you to “count with me (them). 1. 2. 3.” and as you count, your mind slowly falls asleep.

I chose the passion fruit because the exterior of the passion fruit is seemingly normal, like any other fruit, however, when you open it up it is different, unique, even quirky and strange. This is a very accurate representation of my personality when someone tries to get to know me.

Process:

Compilation of my Water Color Swatches (appears more fluorescent on post)

Row 4

Summary:

Tomato+Tomato Farm+ Toma-NO

For my final row, I focused on something more superficial about me. Nothing too deep but at the same time nothing to obvious. Which is why I decided to focus on my reaction when I am put in a setting where I have to see or smell a tomato. I like tomatos when they are grilled or in salsa, but the smell of the raw tomato itself does not sit well with my stomach.

Color:

For all three squares, I used complimentary colors. I used complimentary colors to reflect the contrast and disparity between the affection I have for tomatos (specifically raw tomatos).

Square 1:

The first square is the pair, blue and orange. While I struggled to find the right shade of blue that did not come out blue-violet on the printer, I chose blue for a a specific reason. According to research, blue is a difficult color to find in nature, specifically in food. And when we see blue food, we tend to be repulsed or confused because of the color. This is why I chose blue for the color of my tomato, to represent the same confusion and unsettling feeling that arises whenever I see a tomato.

Square 2:

Square 2 is yellow and violet because purple represents creativity. I felt that creating a tomato perfume was a very creative feet on my part (yay).

Square 3:

Lastly, square 3 is green and red. I chose green because green is usually assoicaited with sickness, vomit, and other ailments.  Bringing that feeling over and pairing it with a toilet seat gives us the image/ impression of vomiting. This is the same feeling that arises when I smell or eat a raw tomato.

Original Sketch/Brain Storm (refer to sketchbook):

My color scheme and style of the overall row was inspired from Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Diptych.  I took the pop art style of posterizing the image to contrasting colors into consideration when I created my row.

Reflection

Through this project, I have understood the importance of color in the overall visual execution and emotional delivery of an artwork. Though I have a lot more to learn about color harmony and the most effective ways to employ it, I have left the project knowing so much more about color harmony. I hope that in the future I can explore more techniques like color illusion to make my works even more compelling and innovative. This project also gave me more time to reflect about myself and understand who I am, I hope to incorporate more of myself in future artworks.

 

Final Product with Classmates Critique

I could not add several process works because I exceeded the maximum files I can upload on one post.

Project 3: Impossibilities of Being

SUMMARY

For Project 3 we were asked to research and understand the connection between sound and emotions. Depending on the sound being played, it can change the entire emotion of a situation or event. For example, a horror movie is less scary when there is no sound. Sound can build or break suspense, cause excitement or sadness, and even make us believe in what is not visually there. Our project began by choosing a location, either fictional or non fictional, and imagining the sounds we would hear in this location and the emotion we would like to evoke. The collective sounds we would record for this project would be considered a soundscape.

PLANNING

I faced some difficulty with this project, not only was it the first project I had to incorporate sound in to but struggled to grasp what the project wanted me to focus on. This led to the development and scrapping of several ideas.

Brainstorm

My original plan was to film a short narrative about a girl who wakes up to find out that she is now an “adult”. Everything she did when she was a “child” seems to fail her. Yet her initial excitement of finally being able to do the things she couldn’t do (go to clubs, wear make up, drink alcohol) blinds her from the fact that she can no longer enjoy her favorite activities from her past. Eventually, she realizes that she doesn’t like adulthood as much as she thought she would. Instead of going to the door she originally left from in the morning, she goes to the door next to it hoping that she can go back to the past.

Original Plan (Lo-Fi Board)

However, for this plan I focused too much on the narrative rather than the correlation between sound and emotion. I wanted to reflect my transition from teenager to adult as I moved from high school to university. In the end, I decided to start fresh; focusing more on the sounds that I could create. This led me to my second idea. Subversion. A technique we utilized in project 2 where we were given an object to describe and change meaning to. My character would enter an alternate reality where everything is reversed. Like a mirror-world, where everything seems the same but is not. Everything is backwards in this world, from the sequence of getting ready to the sounds that you hear. The day begins with waking up at night with a full face of makeup. The main character then leaves the house after removing her makeup and wearing her pajamas. After heading out the character would proceed to eat breakfast at night, lunch in the afternoon, and dinner in the morning. Yet, when the character is eating her cereal for breakfast, you hear the sounds associating with eating a stale dinner. The story ends with the the character returning home to putting on pretty clothes and makeup to sleep.

Second Plan (Lo-Fi Board)
Second Plan (Hi-Fi Board)

However, though I loved each project, I did not feel as if I was understanding the project fully. And after a fair amount of consideration I decided to change my idea. This idea I chose to stick with regardless of any feelings that would arise. The location for my idea was my head. I wanted to give people an insight into my head, especially the thought process that occurs throughout the day. However, I did not want to confuse the viewer because my mind could we a bowl of spaghetti at times. Which is why I chose to focus on my mind as the days lead up to a test. The goal of my video is to show the disparity between the outside world and my head. I tried to achieve this by playing a recording of my voice memorizing the information for my test over a soundscape of mundane everyday noises.

 

 

Final Plan (Lo-Fi Board)
Final Plan (Hi-Fi Board)
Final Plan (Hi-Fi Board)

My original lo-fi board for my video included an introduction into my mind. This would have helped the viewers better understand where the location of my video was. However, I decided to cut this scene from the final video because I felt that it broke form the first person narrative flow that is dominant in the rest of the video. This goes for the sixth thumbnail in my hi-fi board. Though it added to accentuate the contrast between my mind and the actions occurring around me (other people using the bathroom facilities), the break from the first person narrative broke the flow.

SOUNDS

All my sounds except the cricket and explosion sound at the end of the video. I chose to record (using the ZOOM recorder I borrowed from the school) mundane sounds one would normally hear on a daily basis. The sounds include the running of tap, the leaves rustling, the cars driving by, and even the trite elevator sequence. The use of such a commonplace sounds was to emphasize the extensive disparity my consciousness felt  during even an every day situation. This discrepancy from reality is prevalent throughout my life, not just the hours leading up to a major event. Drawing from those previous experiences, I focused on not the big moments of disparity, but the trivial instances.

The sounds are then overlapped by a recording of my own voice that continues to repeat a list of information related to the test. The voice is almost robotic in the sense that it is played on constant loop and stays constant throughout the video. My mind is so focused on engraving those points into my mind that I am oblivious to the sounds around me.

Soundscape Files (ZOOM Recorder)
Soundscape Files (ZOOM Recorder)

IMAGES

My original plan was to use moving images to create effects such as time-lapse and continuous transitions. However, due to time constraints, I ended up using still images as my visual aids for this assignment. Though an unexpected turn of events, I feel that the rigid nature of still images adds to the distance I feel with ever-flowing outside world.

Visual Aid Files (still images)

VIDEO LINK