4D II: Project 2 – Soundscape

Artist Statement

My soundscape illustrates a person walking through a forest but encounters a mysterious object or sound that ends up chasing after him. I layered a combination of sounds like the forest ambience, footsteps, breathing, rustling of clothes and belongings etc. I also wanted to create a sense of movement and anticipation as the person tries to escape from the mysterious sound by starting the scenario slow and building up towards the climax.

Concept 

After getting the brief for the project I don’t know why but the idea of thriller/horror stuck to me. I love the use of sound effects in horror movies and the sounds were what often ended up making a greater impact on me than the visuals.

In this video, I reference The Revenant and the usage of sound to build up towards the climax ( which was the bear attack)

Afterwhich, I made a list of sounds that I needed to record as well as the arrangement of sounds.

All of the sounds I recorded were done in hall at around 1am? But there were still a lot of people awake and walking about. The zoom recorder was so sensitive that it was able to pick up doors slamming and chattering from a few blocks away. Hence, isolating and recording the individual sounds were one of the challenges for me.

The ambience sound was probably the easiest to record and given that my hall was in a hilly and forested area, I just needed to go to an isolated area away from other noise disturbances. For the breathing and walking sound, I got my friend to walk about on a patch of grass and got him to vary his footsteps, faster, slower, etc. I wanted to use a combination of sound to create the illusion of running, hence I used a T shirt to rub against the mike of the zoom recorder and hit a bunch of hangers on the drying rack which I thought gave off a really nice sound of movement. As for the “mysterious sound”, I ended up scratching my nails on a metal pole to create an eerie screeching noise. I thought it was appropriate as it was a sound that makes the hair on the back of your neck stand and gives people goosebumps, which was what I wanted.

Another challenge I faced was probably the layering of the sounds. I started off the scene slow with minimal sounds and slowly build it up towards a loud symphony of sounds as the person is running away from the mysterious object. I ended off with just the ambience of the forest to create a feeling of eeriness. However, the layering of sounds proved to be pretty difficult as I had to be mindful of the background, middle ground and foreground and I had to vary the volume of the individual sounds if not it would just end up messy and disorganised. I also had issues with the transition between sounds. I wanted a “pause” in the middle to create some tension but I wasn’t sure if it ended up coming off as awkward.

I also tried to do some panning for movement as the person is running from the left to the right and tried to vary the sounds heard from the left and the right but it might have been a little hard to hear after the sounds have been layered.

This project has been really interesting for me and I have learned so much about sound. I could say that I prefer sound production than video production now 🙂

 

 

 

4D II Project 1: Alter Ego

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password: buckets

Storyline:

A frustrated girl is seen doing her work in her room when she chances upon a bucket list that she wrote a long time ago. She then starts to have visions of various scenarios written in the list, of her trekking up mountains or travelling the world. The visions end with an empty, unchecked list and she realises that it’s all in her head.

Theme:

about regrets and having the courage to take chances in life.

Process/ Research/ Inspiration:

After writing down and analysing my character traits, I found that a common theme of affinity amongst all of them is the idea of courage. The courage to stand up for oneself, seize opportunities and to be confident in ones abilities. I idolise strong female characters that break out of society’s stereotype of them. Hence with this recurring theme in mind i start to draft out my story and what I wanted to portray.

Out of all of the characters, I decided on Walter Mitty because he embodied the idea of someone stuck in his fantasies to escape reality. I wanted to do a self confessional letter type of video with an essence of regret and remorse for ones own reality of life. After consultation, it was suggested that I could do a self confessional bucket list.  I then listed down a few of the things that I have always wanted to do into the bucket list.

https://vimeo.com/108839994

While researching, I got inspired by Vodafone commercial titled bucket list ( how apt). I love the cinematography which was like handheld and shaky with the cuts of scene in between her travelling and her video calling her grandpa as she travels around the world completing her bucket list. I thought the song used ( Tom Odell – Can’t Pretend ) also really played up the mood portrayed in the video. I thought this was also a perfect way of portraying Walter Mitty since most of his “ travels” were in his head, so I could do like a reality vs expectations kind of thing.   

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Storyboard: 

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Challenges:

One of the first challenge was definitely how am I going to show the “travelling” portion considering time and budget constraint. Then I had the idea of using my past travel GoPro footages. Of course because of the difference in frame size, I had to scale the GoPro inserts to fit the larger frame which resulted in a slightly lower resolution. It was also hard fitting the appropriate visuals to those listed in the bucket list because of lack of resources, so I just had to tweak the list to fit the visuals instead. 

Another challenge would be inserting the monologue portion. I was a little unsure of how to insert it without it feeling too forced. It was also hard emulating the emotion through the monologue ( poor acting skills on my part). In the end, I decided to keep the monologue short and sweet.

“ Dear future self, I hope that you are well and that you’re out there, seeing the world, conquering mountains, and chasing your dreams. Love, Your past”

The last challenge would be color grading the video to differentiate between “reality” and “fantasy”. It was my first time really color grading and after many tutorials later, I used cooler tones for the “reality” portion and brighter, more vibrancy in the “fantasy” portion. I was also afraid that my message wouldn’t come through but after asking a few people they seem to be able to get the gist of the story so hopefully the message did come through.

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Reflection:

Filming has never been my forte and I struggled with the technical camera aspect a little as well as coming up with the storyline while keeping my constraints in mind. But I did have fun in the end color grading the film and stitching the clips together was more enjoyable than expected. Moving on I hope to learn from this experience and improve myself for future projects. 🙂

4D II Project 1 : Alter Ego characters

Our first project of the semester required us to list characters from fiction, public and personal and selecting the top 2 from each list to include a detailed description of they attributes and our affinity towards them.

Characters

  • The Secret Life of Walter Mitty: Walter Mitty
  • Suits: Mike Ross
  • Suits: Donna Paulsen
  • Confessions of a shopaholic: Rebecca Bloomwood
  • Game of Thrones: Arya Stark

Public Figures

  • Jenn Im – Youtuber
  • Ellen Degeneres – talkshow host
  • Bernie Sanders – Politican
  • Amy Lee – Youtuber
  • Emma Watson – Actress

Family/Friends

  • Lim Chee Wee – dad
  • Emily Lim – mom
  • Zoe Kwek – the roomie
  • Mandy Wong – the best friend
  • Jinson Yap – the boyfriend

Characters from literature or fiction

Walter Mitty  ( The secret life of walter mitty)

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Walter Mitty is a introverted guy who works at LIFE magazine and is constantly thinking of adventures and what ifs. In real life, he is constantly getting bossed around, forgetful and getting laughed at for making blunders. To compensate for his failings in real life, Mitty creates an entire “secret life” for himself: a series of fantasies in which he is decisive, powerful and everything he is not in reality.

Character Profiling:

Exterior:

  • Unfocused and constantly in a dream-like state, oftenly drifting off into his own world even in the middle of having a conversation with someone
  • Introverted, rarely speaks up for himself and a push-over
  • Shy and meek ( he seek professional advice on how to approach a colleague he fancied at work )
  • Inefficient at his job ( he was thought to have misplaced the final cover picture for LIFE magazine which was what led Mitty to travel all over the world to look for the photography of the photo)

Interior:

  • passionate, his passion for the company was unquestionable and he always strive to deliver the best
  • his love for his mother and sister was seen throughout the movie, always standing up as a male figurehead of the family after his father passed
  • despite being perceived as meek and introverted, Walter Mitty is secretly an adventurous extrovert that was seen breaking out from his “fantasies” and actually taking on challenges and adventures that he used to only dream of doing.

Affinity:

Much like Walter, I often dream of getting out of here. Away from the mundanity of life and to backpack across Asia to seek new adventures. However, I never had the courage or time or money to do so. (yet) I want to be a person who is fearlessly adventurous and meet new people, taste new cuisines and find new places.  I am also a person who wants to try everything and learn as many things as possible.

I think essentially what draws me to Mitty is the idea of courage. The courage to step out  to take up new challenges or to stand up for ones own ideas and beliefs.

Mike Ross ( Suits )

USA CORPORATE -- "USA Network Upfront 2013 Talent Portraits" -- Pictured: Patrick J. Adams from Suits -- (Photo by: Jill Greenberg/USA Network)

Mike Ross (Patrick J. Adams) was blessed with a brilliant mind and a good heart, but some bad luck and worse choices derailed his plan to go into law. However, a chance meeting with Harvey Specter brought Mike’s considerable gifts to one of the top law firms in New York, and gave him a second chance to get his life on track.

character profiling:

exterior:

  • a younger protege with an incredible power to remember everything he has ever read and often the guy that saves the day with his intelligence and wit.
  • fits the usual stereotype of “the guy that chases the girl” and “the joker”, never failing to lighten the mood and get the girl

interior:

  • passionate about his work, often working long hours and going the extra mile to win a case
  • compassionate, Mike often took on pro bono cases with no monetary benefits to help out those who were unjustly prosecuted
  • loving towards his grandmother and would do anything for her. Mike’s soft spot would be his grandmother, often seeking words of advice from her in times of trouble

affinity:

Mike Ross’s intelligence and wit is often the highlight of the show and I love how driven and passionate he is about his work, something I aspire to be in the future. To work in a job I’m passionate about and also the ability to help those in need.

Donna Paulsen ( Suits )

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One major character that is seen to break away from the social gender stereotypes is Donna Paulsen. Donna is an incredibly brilliant, intuitive, hilarious, and gorgeous secretary that is considered to be Harvey’s other half. Without Donna, most of the characters, especially Harvey, would not be able to function because she is the one that always manages to be at the right place at the right time. She is “Harvey’s lifeline, Mike’s adviser, Rachel’s confidante, Louis’ weak point [and the only person willing] to stand up to Jessica. Her witty comebacks, bravery and intelligence is something i really admire and look up to. She is the type of strong independent female character that i aspire to be.

Rebecca Bloomwood ( Confessions of a shopaholic )

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Rebecca Bloomwood is a girl that loves to shop, so much so that she found herself drowning in debt and on the run to escape from it. She dreams of working at the city’s top fashion company but lands a job as an advice columnist for a financial magazine owned by the same company. She is witty, funny, smart, outgoing and not afraid to take up a challenge.

I resonate with her as I do find myself shopping excessively and end up broke even before the end of the month. But beyond just that, I love how she sees the best out of every situation and never fails to remain optimistic and bring joy to all those around her.

Arya Stark ( Game of Thrones )

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Arya Stark is the 3rd oldest in the Stark family and is totally different from a typical female character from the show in that era. She is a complete tomboy, who would rather play with a sword than marry a knight. She’s also brave enough to go after what she wants (sword-fighting lessons) rather than what other people think she should do because she’s a girl (sewing lessons). She’s smart, independent and friendly with people of lower social status ( which was often frowned upon on ).

Public Figures 

Jenn Im ( Youtuber )

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I’ve been watching her channel for about 4 years now and her videos always makes me feel like I’m talking to a friend. I really admire her work and passion for what she does like starting a youtube channel, her own jewelry and makeup line and the passion for making creative content. She always seems so happy and cheery in her videos and she is always so optimistic. Her knowledge of literature and take on life is always so interesting to hear and i really admire youtubers who speak their minds and create content that goes beyond just superficial fashion and beauty kind of videos.

exterior:

  • perceived to have the “perfect” life, a stable and successful career, great friends and family, a loving boyfriend
  • well loved by most of her viewers and often looked up to for her great sense of style and “realness”

Interior:

  • despite working as a youtuber, her work is actually busier then it seems with tight schedules and deadlines.
  • isn’t afraid to voice her opinions , e.g. in a vlog she posted, she confessed how she regretted not taking the recent elections seriously after Trump’s win
  • down to earth. despite being famous, she’ll always make time to meet her viewers and doesnt let the money and fame get to her

Ellen Degeneres ( Talk show host )

From Warner Bros The Ellen Degeneres Show on ITV2 Pictured: Ellen Degeneres. This photograph is (C) Warner Bros and can only be reproduced for editorial purposes directly in connection with the programme or event mentioned above, or ITV plc. Once made available by ITV plc Picture Desk, this photograph can be reproduced once only up until the transmission [TX] date and no reproduction fee will be charged. Any subsequent usage may incur a fee. This photograph must not be manipulated [excluding basic cropping] in a manner which alters the visual appearance of the person photographed deemed detrimental or inappropriate by ITV plc Picture Desk. This photograph must not be syndicated to any other company, publication or website, or permanently archived, without the express written permission of ITV Plc Picture Desk. Full Terms and conditions are available on the website www.itvpictures.com For further information please contact: james.hilder@itv.com / 0207 157 3052

Ellen Degeneres is always such an entertainment to watch and her witty remarks never fail to lighten up the mood. I have been watching her show since i was probably in secondary school and she never fails to bring a smile to my face from the wacky games she makes her guests play to pranks she pulls on unsuspecting strangers. I also love how she stands up for what she believes in like LGBT rights and isn’t afraid to let her opinions be made known, such as the recent episode where she mocked President Trump’s executive order of building the wall as she explained the plot of “Finding Dory”.

exterior:

  • funny, witty, loveable, a comedian
  • confident, unafraid to voice her opinions
  • passionate about causes she believe in
  • compassionate, often giving large sums of money to disadvantaged families

interior: ( tBH not much is known, she is a v private person )

  • really loves her wife, a family person

Bernie Sanders ( Politician )

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Bernie Sanders was one of the candidates for the recent elections. One of the reasons why i chose him was because of how compassionate and underrated he was out of all of the candidates. There was an incident in one of his rallies where a BLM (black lives matter) activist caused a commotion and instead of putting him down like most politicians would, Bernie actually took the time to listen to what he had to say and both of them managed to come to a mutual conclusion. The other would be when Mr. Sanders unexpectedly bumped into Ms. Geneva Reed-Veal (mother) and Shante (sister), the family of SANDRA BLAND (an African American wrongfully murdered at the hands of police) in a restaurant. When Ms Geneva asked to take a picture with him, instead of turning it into a publicity stunt to promote his campaign, he let the sacred moment pass without trying to gain anything from it. After which, Sanders went on to honor Sandra Bland’s memory, mentioning her by name before the 15 million viewers of Thursday’s debate, and calling for action to prevent it happening to others like Sandra, Eric, Freddie, Tamir…

I really respect politicians like these that are down to earth and willing to step out of their “facade” to be more “human”, a willingness to express their sincere empathy for another person without asking for anything in return.

Amy Lee ( Youtuber )

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Amy aka “vagabond youth” on youtube is someone that I’ve been watching for about a year now. What sets her apart for me compared to other youtubers would be how real she is as a person and gave me a whole different perspective of the life of a youtube. In one of her videos, she confessed how she was losing inspiration for content making and she felt like she wasn’t satisfied with the content she had been putting up on youtube. This made me realise how being a youtuber isn’t always as glamorous as it sounds and artists do lose inspiration and motivation sometimes, something i can really relate to as a student taking up design.

Emma Watson ( Actress )

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Emma Watson is someone that I admire for the fact that despite her fame, she is still down to earth and cares for social causes. In September 2009, Watson announced that she was working with People Tree, a fashion label that promotes fair trade. She is also committed to her education where she enrolled in Brown university, a place she felt that she could get the anonymity she wanted. Despite juggling her busy work schedule and studies, she was dedicated on completing her English degree. She was also appointed a UN Women Goodwill Ambassador where she continues to speak out for women’s rights and equality. Her passion, dedication and courage to stand up for what she believe in is something that I really look up to.

People I know/ have known:

Emily Lim

exterior:

My mom is one of the strongest person I know, never taking shit from anyone and isn’t afraid to speak her mind. She is also really meticulous and often the planner of the family, from planning our family trips to managing finances at my dad’s company. She is also the typical “auntie” that can be straightforward, stands up for what she believes in ( or to say it simply complain ) and sometimes a little “kiasu” but all these traits is what makes her my mom. She is also often people’s confidante, always willing to lend a listening ear to any problem.

interior:

Away from the public’s eye, my mom can be pretty childish at times often complaining about doing the chores and making fun of my dad and I. My mom is an avid news reader and would often keep me up to date on current affairs and sometimes celebrity gossips. Her love for me and my dad can seen through the small acts such as buying me supplies that I’ve run out of, helping me out with school assignments whenever i need assistance, staying home to look after me when I’m sick and so on. Her compassion is also something I really admire, often helping those in need without asking for anything in return.

Lim Chee Wee

exterior:

My dad started his own company after barely having completed his education and built his company from the bottom up. I really admire his trade of work and his skills with basically anything mechanical or electrical from fixing my iPhone screen to repairing cars. He is also really passionate and knowledgable in his field of work in automobile. I like to think that I get my creativity from him ( and my mom) as he can come up with innovative solutions to any problem. In his past time, he used to golf and its often a great sport for old men to chitchat while exercising ( kind of). He is often the “joker” in any social event, cracking jokes and telling stories, making him a well liked person amongst friends and family.

interior:

His dedication to this family is unquestionable, sometimes even working on weekends when its required. Whenever i need to run an errand for a school project, going back to hall or even going to the airport at 6am, my dad is always willing to drive me wherever regardless of the time. Like my mom, he too can be pretty childish at times but it never fails to bring laughter to the family.

Zoe Kwek

Zoe ( who is also my current roommate) and I have been friends for about 7 years now and we have been through so much together. From failing our A levels to where we are now. Zoe is a fun, free-spirited and care-free person and is known amongst peers for her crazy personality. With her around, there is never a dull moment in hall. Unlike most people, she takes things as they come and is often perceived to be always happy. However, this makes her a huge procrastinator often leaving work till the very last minute but somehow still coming up fine in the end. Despite her crazy personality, she is dedicated when it comes to pursuing her interest in music and often performs at public or school events.

Mandy Wong

One of my closest friend, Mandy has been with me through all the phases in my life, the good and bad times. She is very driven and never fails to give it her best in whatever task she sets out to do like how she managed to pull up for GPA from a 2.0 to 3.7 in just one semester. She is extroverted and extremely sociable which may have impacted me in some ways to open up more, to be less introverted compared to the person I was in the past. She is the type of person that would never judge me for what I do but rather offer words of encouragement and advice, steering me in the right direction when I felt lost and unsure of myself. Though we can sometimes be each other’s enablers and make bad decisions together, the lesson after is what made us grow together to be closer and stronger together.

Jinson Yap

Though I’ve only met him this year when I entered university, I feel like I’ve already known him for much longer. He is unlike any person I’ve met. He is the most multi-talented person I know from being a national swimmer, naval diver, lifesaving and swimming coach, attaining not only a driver’s license but a pilot license as well. His strong leadership skills and extroverted personality was what made him the swimming captain for Temasek Poly and current captain for Hall 10 swimming team. However, his strong personality can often be a double edge sword. He stands up for his principles and beliefs when wrongly accused of or when he sees someone in need. He also stands up to take charge when the occasion calls for it and doesn’t hesitant or give in to self doubt. His strong personality is something I admire as not everyone will be willing to step up to the challenge when needed without asking for anything in return. He is also highly driven to excel in anything from studies to sports and aspires to be a teacher someday. However, a strong personality like his is often misjudged for being arrogant and a “suck up” to gain recognition from his superiors. His confidence and lack of self-doubt really motivates me to be less doubtful of myself and to have confidence in my own abilities, that i do not need other people’s approval to pursue what I’m passionate in.