Research – A few words, and some works.

April 25, 2019April 25, 2019

Visual Storytelling Assignment 3: Process and Final Work

THE DEAN

noun

noun: dystopia; plural noun: dystopias

an imagined state or society in which there is great suffering or injustice, typically one that is totalitarian or post-apocalyptic.

THEMES AND CONCEPTS EXPLORED

Medicine

I wanted to explore the influence that large pharmaceutical companies have on the world today. It is an industry worth more than a trillion USD. With capitalist ideals and machinery propelling the medical industry, I believe we risk a day where our bodies and what we consume become legislation.

I think that would be a terrifying place for the world to be in. Our minds and spirits are so dependant already on what we consume. Fatty foods boost our dopamine response, coffee spikes our adrenaline levels.

I posit that science will one day progress to a point where a perfect drug is developed to regulate human happiness. What then?

From wikipedia:

The term Big Pharma is used to refer collectively to the global pharmaceutical industry. According to Steve Novella the term has come to connote a demonized form of the pharmaceutical industry. Professor of writing Robert Blaskiewicz has written that conspiracy theorists use the term Big Pharma as “shorthand for an abstract entity comprising corporations, regulators, NGOs, politicians, and often physicians, all with a finger in the trillion-dollar prescription pharmaceutical pie”.

Education and artificial intelligence

Additionally, I wished to explore the impact that artificial intelligence would have on the education systems of the world. In a world that is becoming increasingly centralised and automated, would the act of teaching one day be left in the hands of machines?

SYNOPSIS

It is the year 2028, pharmaceutical companies have taken over governments and institutions. A university student is called into the principal’s office because she is being ostracised for not taking her drugs.

When questioned about the wisdom of her decision, the student questions the principal about the truthfulness of the emotions that the Principal feels on a day to day basis when influenced by the pill.

SCRIPT

SHOTLIST

‘The Dean’ Shotlist Day 1
No	Description	Shot size	Performance notes	Technical notes
1	Veryn walking to the Dean’s office	MCU		Slow motion. 100 FPS
2	Veryn waiting and fidgeting outside the door	MS	Must fidget with forearms to foreshadow self-arm scars
3	Veryn entering the Dean’s office and sitting opposite the Dean	WS
4	Veryn poking her head through the office door	CU
5	The Dean speaking	MCU
6	Veryn speaking	MCU
7	The Dean speaking	CU
8	Veryn speaking	CU	To cry at line- “Why Caleb?”
9	The Dean being threatening	Frontal CU
10	Veryn being terrified	Frontal CU
11	Veryn walking away from the office eventually smiling to herself	MCU		Slow motion. 100 fps
12	INSERT- Activating the EMP device	CU
13	Veryn sits alone in the dark office	WS

THE FINAL WORK

Additional link:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1qr7XPlLHVhW_aYk2p0Bm45Hw4QnA3o7n

PARTING THOUGHTS

As we consider our artmaking, I think it is important for us to not just attempt to reflect to truth of the present, but the possibilities and chaos that the future might bring.

It is by bringing the story to page, screen or canvas that we might raise awareness and provoke thought about these matters that loom over our head.

All in all, this assignment was an excellent way to round of the module and the semester as a whole. Now with the period of experimentation drawing to a close, I am excited to apply my newfound skill and insight for my future works.

January 29, 2019February 14, 2019

Visual Storytelling: Assignment 1- Preproduction process and graphic novel

PETANQUE

” In Pétanque the objective is to score points by having boules closer to the target than your opponent after all boules have been thrown. This is achieved by projecting boules closer to the target, called a cochonnet, or by hitting the opponents’ boules away from the target, while standing inside a circle with both feet on the ground. “

The origins of this sport can be traced back to La Ciotet, Provence, France. Broadly speaking, the name derives from a regional dialect which means to mean ‘feet fixed’ or ‘planted feet’ in reference to the ground.

As we mill about our lives, this sport is relegated to the peripheries of our vision. Perhaps while making our daily commute, we might notice out of the corner of our eye a handful of older citizens playing a very peculiar game on a sandlot. After a briefest moment of piqued interest, our attention is usually stolen away by the coming bus or a social media notification.

There is something oddly charming about the scene of older citizens gathered around each other watching and playing against each other with an elegance, a determination and competitiveness usually associated with younger folk. Framing the scene with the tungsten glow and the high rise of HDB flats and you have something picturesque, maybe a little magical.

I knew that somewhere in there, there was a story to be told.

It was important that this tale would have to take place from the point of view of an outsider. Given the restraint of time, I would not have the luxury of getting to know the players and their relationship to the game intimately. Thus, I currently find it best to tell the story from the perspective of my impression of the Petanque players.

THE RECCE

In preparation for the final work, we were to scout out the location and begin taking photos.

The Petanque court that caught my eye specifically is one that is remarkably close to NTU. About a stone’s throw away from City Harvest Church. (no affiliation)

The photos were all taken with the objects exactly as i found them and with no additional lighting aside from the street lamps.

Metal hoop- players stand in these and throw the boules from within its confines.

The court is locked aside from specific play times: Tuesday and Thursday evenings.

Membership is shockingly affordable. Price is definitely no obstacle to this sport.

Gravel filled bags for the playing area.

I believe, in all things exist a poetry if you look hard enough.

Spectators for this sport can get pretty rowdy.

Whilst taking our photos, it was also to help us visualise how the storyboard/graphic novel will look like as well as the final short film.

Thus begin our foray into the making of graphic novels.

PETANQUE: PROOF OF CONCEPT

Through my fiddling around, I’ve learnt a few things. To say that the composition of each page is crucial would be a huge understatement.

The positioning of textboxes, pacing of text, font choice and gutter spacings are just a few things which affects the viewing and storytelling experience. While I’ve always enjoyed graphic novels, I now understand better how powerful a storytelling tool they can be. With so many tools at the creator’s disposal, one can truly dig deep and craft a specifically tuned reading experience.

January 28, 2019

Visual Storytelling: Week 1 Class Activity

During class this week, our lecturer Don presented us with a set of useful storytelling exercises.

These exercises were tangent on our ability to create narrative based on uncertain variables. This is a valuable skill to hone as a successful story contains key structural elements. Namely, a start, middle and end. Broadly speaking, the middle should contain a conflict followed by a resolution of the conflict by the end. These exercises serve to sharpen our ability to recognise these potential patterns amidst a seemingly incoherent mess and rearrange them to achieve narrative coherence.

Exercise 1: Post its

I wrote ‘Camera’ and ‘Nostalgia’ while my partner wrote ‘Rocks’ and ‘Hello’.

We arranged it into a sentence:

“Hello Camera, nostalgia rocks!”

This anthropomorphised character of the camera serves as the subject of this fictive conversation. The speaker informs ‘it’ that the concept of nostalgia is a good thing. Immediately, the association between the idea of cameras which contain social subtextual markers for ‘vintage’ or ‘oldness’ and the concept of nostalgia which is reminiscence about things in the past is apparent.

The conversation between the two concepts is further strengthened by cameras’ ability to figuratively capture images of events/things that have passed. In short, the speaker is “informing the preserver of the past that its function is good.”

There is more to unpack here, but this is sufficient for now. Of all our exercise results, this is likely my favourite one.

Exercise 2: Post its II

I wrote ‘Mordor’ and ‘Walk’. My partner wrote ‘Spilling tea’ and ‘lagoon’.

Arranged, we got Mordor, spilling tea, walk and lagoon.

Storified, we came up with:

“There were so many people in Mordor spilling tea, that when I walked in, I stepped into a lagoon.”

This one has a rather complete arc of a story. There is a setup in the outlining of the situation in Mordor and a resolution to the situation by the character’s unfortunate plight in a herbal scented marsh. Fun.

Exercise 3: Story dice

For this one, we used an app which would randomise an assortment of representational images for us in sequence.

From our throw of the die, my partner and I got ‘Fountain’ , ‘Dress/tooth’, and ‘Trophy’. We both thought that the middle image looked ambiguous, especially when inverted in either direction vertically. In the spirit of the activity, either option would have sufficed and we went for the more evocative option which was the tooth with a string tied around it.

“At the Fountain of Wealth at Suntec City, the God of Wealth demanded a tribute. So, I pulled my tooth out. And instead of money, I got a participation trophy.”

As with the previous exercise, there is a complete arc in this one. A setup, conflict followed by a tragic resolution.

Thoughts:

The art of storytelling is ultimately pattern recognition and applying knowledge of that pattern. While there are numerous cognitive and emotive processes involved beyond just that, pattern recognition is a learnable and practicable skill. While drilling these exercises alone may not win anyone a screenwriting Oscar, they serve to refine key fundamental storytelling skills.