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4D foundation project 4: Poetics of Time

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When the brief for project 4 was released, I knew I wanted to do something that relates to our daily lives that revolves around the idea of time and space.

Original Idea

The original idea for the final project was to film a video; a depiction of how a short everyday act / situation seems like a long process; because of how the situation triggered and impacted on the individual. It will be a simple act, in video form, of a slow process of a person entering a toilet cubical. As he/she took off her/his pants, music starts to play, and a dance/ movement / body language is shown to depict the process of “struggling’ to take a dump. It revolves around the idea of “Expectation vs Reality”. How people perceive things in the back of their mind and how it actually look and feels when shown directly upfront.

In the video, I wanted to use projection as a background effect to enhance the long and painful thought process of taking a dump through the visuals and lightings from a projector. However, there are a few circumstances that made this idea a failed one. Firstly, to be able to film a person’s body movement in a cubical required a huge amount of distances from the projector to the toilet bowl. 

 

As experimented from the distance in my room, from the distance from the projector to myself is about 4 meters. Having say that, the screen is only able to project onto the top half of my body. Besides, it was hard to find a cubical with this amount of distance for projection.

^ About 4 meters from wall to projector

Next, due to technology advancement, the lights from the toilets are often operated through sensor lights. This will cause the projection to not be able to show well as projection only works well in a dark room. 

 

Changed Idea

Because of all the difficulties, I decided not to use the projector.  

At this point, I questioned myself what kind of plot do I want to show my audiences. What is it that I would like my audiences to take away after watching my video. I decided to think about my 1st thought process: In the daily life activities that I executed everyday such as eating, shitting, and bathing, I will always require some sort of entertainment to keep myself entertain. In a way as though I wouldn’t feel as if I was doing something boring in a confined space for a long time. From here, I know that I wanted to do comparison video that shows the difference in edited time and running time. From this video, I would like my audiences to appreciate time more, to know that they can actually do multiple things at a time in a confined space.

Final Execution

In this video, scenes were broken down into different cuts. The video placed in the middle is a depiction of how I spend my time in the toilet to take a dump. This video is shot in running time, where it shows my actual reactions while I took a 3-4 shit in the toilet with no edited scenes. 

The videos at the other 2 ends shows how I perceive time while I engaged in different activities in the toilet. These videos are shot in edited time, where the video is either fast forwarded, or slow downed. 

The 1st activity that I engaged in while in the toilet is a phone call. You will notice that when I am talking on the phone, the edited time on the left is being fast forwarded. This speed up process is an interpretation of how I felt in the toilet; time flies faster when I am chatting on the phone, in comparison to me taking a dump without doing anything. Here, the speed of the video is increased by 210% (when edited in premiere pro) , and the voices through the phone call is fast forwarded too ( high pitch voices can be heard). When the call was dropped, the video with edited time (left side) went back to its regular speed. (unedited) 

The next activity that I engaged in was playing mobile games on my phone (cut scene on the right). Just like the 1st activity, edited time was used where the video was fast forwarded by 300%. Here, I felt that flies even faster while playing mobile games in the toilet. 

In these 2 activités, some pauses were made between each edited time. For example, in the 1st video someone knocked onto the door; I (main actor) gets up from the toilet bowl to check the door, at the same time edited video t the left was bring to a pause. Or in the 2nd video, I almost dropped my phone while playing games on my mobile, here, edited time in the video on the right was brought to a pause too. These 2 examples shows that when the main character lose touch or interaction with the edited time, it was brought to a stop, while running time/ real time continues. 

The last activity shows myself putting down my phone and ready to take a dump. Here, a cut scene of edited time was shown.( at the left) It depicts a scene of me eating a chocolate bar in slow-motion. Chocolate or junk food in general are the types of food that made it hard for me to shit. Thus as I was struggling to take a dump, the cut scene of me eating a chocolate bar was shown. Time was edited to slow-mo as the process of taking a dump felt long and dreadful. 

Movement

The movement of my final work is quite stationary, where the actor is fitted down and confined with a space itself. only movements of hands and facial expressions were shown. However, different unexpected movements were shown; for example when someone knocks the toilet door or when the actor drops her phone. Here we see that the different situations around the actor changes her movements as she reacts to each unforeseen circumstances. 

Rhythm 

The overall rhythm in this video is imbalance due to the different situations or scenario involving the actor, however, it remains balances for some time in each situation ( for example playing on the phone for 30sec straight ) which makes the entire video seems longer than 4 mins. 

Duration 

The actual timing of this video is about 4mins. While acting in the video, engaging in the different scenario such as phone calls and playing mobile games, the 4 mins felt like it ended very quickly. However, as the audiences watches the entire 4 min video itself, they felt as though time pasts very slowly, as if the video was about more than 8mins. This is because audiences kept seeing repeated movements during each different scenarios, as they anticipated eagerly as to when the actor will finish taking a dump. This anticipated made the audiences felt like time passes slowly, which is what I wanted to achieve in this video. So that they would learn to make use of the given time wisely. 

Causality

this video is said to be unexpected, even though audiences have a clear knowledge of how the video is going to end as they all knew how taking a dump in a toilet was like; it was an expected ending. However was was  unexpected was the different events that took place in the video such as taking a phone call and playing mobile games. Even the reactions of the actor to the knocking of door and dropping of phone was uncalled for. This creates anticipation to the audiences in wanting to find out what other unexpected scenario were to take place in a space that everyone is so familiar with.  

4D Foundation Project 3: Impossibilities of Being

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The place that I have selected was my grandma’s working place. Even before I was born, she had been working as a Chinese opera actress for the past 30 years. Never once had I been there, and I was curious as to how here working environment was like, what made her stay for the past 30 years. She told me, “ It is isn’t a job, it was more like an interest, a hobby, its the friends there that made her stay.”

 

Lo-Fi storyboard

High-Fi storyboard

Scene 1: shows a scene of the main character; my grandma. | close up shot

Scene 2: grandma travelling to work by bus. | Wide angle shot; sound of bus arriving

Scene 3: alighted from the bus. ( butt leaves bus sit ) | Half body shot; sound of bus arriving to a stop

Scene 4: Arrived at workplace, ready to be sited and getting makeup done for her Chinese opera show. ( however workplace is still unknown) | Half body shot; sounds of using make up tools 

Scene 5: Putting on makeup Close up shot; sounds of using make up tools, opening and closing of make up kit.

Scene 6: Getting hair done; putting on wig. | close up half body shot

Scene 7: Wearing costume for show that is about to start. | close up half body shot

Scene 8: Preparing to enter the show. | leg shot; close up shot.

Scene 9: Show begins. | Wide angle shot, Chinese opera stage music sound

Scene 10: Performance and interaction between actors. | wide angle/ half body shot, Chinese convocation sound.

Scene 11: Cut scene to audiences. | wide angle shot, sound of audience interacting 

Scene 12: Grandma stares back at the camera, smile, as the show ended. | close up shot 

This was the initial idea for how the video was going to be shot and the sounds that comes with it. However, when I derived at the shooting venue, the environment and people there changed my perception of my initial idea. The people there ( friends of my grandma ) where a bunch of funny and loud older women. They are not your typical grandma who goes to the market everyday and lead a simple life. They love to dress up, making themselves look pretty, play card games and phones to kill time, smoke, and chit chat among themselves. I notice that they are always laughing snd joking around. And when its time to perform, they are back to a serious mood and execute a professional performance. 

With that, I decide to use “sound” to change the context of the video. 

Here are some of the sounds recorded at the filming venue. Background sound of people speaking in dialect, sound of vehicle passing by, sound of different tunes made by different instruments , sound of performers conversing and singing. Each recorded sound is similar to one another as background noises were always overlapping one another. Similarly, the sounds are often loud and piercing, which depicts the bold and expressive culture of Chinese opera. 

Onsite recorded sounds

 

Final Video

( The whole video shows a progression of how I grandma spends her time working at her work place. From the time they get ready, to the showcase of the performance ) The sounds used depicts the mood and environment of the people and place there, whether is it about having fun or just pure seriousness. 

At the start of the video, you hear the sound of the background sound of the Chinese opera before the performance started. 

Shots of people using their phones was shown. The context was changed when I placed clicking sounds ( created and recorded from my keyboard ) in conjunction to the scenes. The clicking sounds lead to the song: “wonder girls famous song – Nobody”, which suggested that the people using their phone were playing the same exact song. 

The song “Nobody” , depicts a fun and and lively song ( if you watch the music video of the song, you will notice the main singers dressing up in older fashion style, and performing a live performance. ) This modern pop song changed the context of the video as Chinese opera seems to be a very traditional place. It showcase a glamours and exciting behind the scenes of the performers preparing and getting ready for the show. 

As the song stops, it transits into fingers taping sounds as the video zoomed into the audiences. The finger tapping sounds leads to a soundless silent, which represented anticipation, as the performers are about to enter the stage. This creates tension, where people waited eagerly for the show to begin. 

As the performance began, sound intensified, loud music of Chinese opera music was heard. This depicts the professional and well brought up performance by actor and actress. 

The last scene ended off with a close up shot of my grandma looking into the camera happily in silent. Without the background sound, all there was to focus on was the expression of my grandma’s joyful face,  which is easier to relate. 

 

 

Classroom exercise Part 1 for Project 3.

Rhythm

There is irregularity in the overall movement of my video, however, there is a slight repetition in parts of the scenes. For example, when before the song “Nobody” was played, there is a constant shots of people pressing on their phone showed. When the Chinese opera song was played at the last few scenes of the video, similar shots of performers performing on stage was shown.

Movement 

Linear narrative is shown throughout my video, where causality can be easy to track. In my video, there is a direction; it shows the starting preparation before the performance began, to the execution of the performances. 

Causality

I felt that there is a clear expectation of the direction of the video as it was being played. The background music build up a sense of anticipation and tension, and the visuals shows the performers getting ready for the main performance which is able to lead the audiences’ mind into what will happen next. However, some people might feel that the expectation is unexpected as they are unaware or have no idea or context in regards to Chinese opera performance.

Duration

I felt that my final video is too short, like it needs a longer time duration to be able to showcase the behind-the scenes act and performance. Now it seems like a trailer. 

4D Foundation Project 4 – Research

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The first video is a documentation of a woman spending time alone in a context of 5 consecutive days. Each day, she challenged herself into spending time alone doing activities that are normally accompanied by others. Such activities include watching a scary movie alone, going to a erotic museum alone, and dinning alone in a cafe. All these places that are usually accompanied by friends and family now become a lonely place to her. Overwhelmed by the strangers around her, she began feeling self-conscious about being alone, with no one to talk to or to share her experiences with. However as time goes by, she began to understand herself better.  Despite being confined within time, it allowed her to pay more attention to herself. Food tasted better when she was alone; she was able to expand and widened her taste buds. She gets to know and understand herself better; where she is able to love herself more inside out. 

 

 

Video below from 3:05 onwards talks about Hsieh’s outdoor piece. 

Hsieh is an artist whose medium of expression is not words or sounds or paint, but his own life. For this second piece of work known informally as the Outdoor Piece, he plan to do a one year performance piece from September 26, 1981, to September 26, 1982, where he promise to live and stay outdoors for a year, and never go inside. He will not enter into any building, subway, train, car, airplane ship, cave, or tent. With that he will have a sleeping bag with him at all times. He live a lot the streets and doorsteps of manhattan. Here, Hsieh demonstrate how art becomes life through passing time. His work raises difficult questions about life and art and being, and about what it means to live in the world we live in. He relied on pay phones and chance meetings to keep in touch with his friends. Each day, he recorded his wanderings on a map, noting in particular the places where he ate and slept. 

This performance can be viewed as a space where he opened himself up, as fully as possible, to the outside. As time pass, the self can perish from exposure, as well as from confinement. Here, became a nomad. As time continue day by day, he tested his powers of survival in circumstances that were more than usually beyond his own control. 

Both pieces are presented through circular time where it talks about a repeating process, that creates continuous and infinite outcomes. However in the first piece, the host creates planned events and activities that triggers her emotions in the cause of time, while the artist in the second video let everything flow naturally in time; allowing whatever unpredicted situations happens at its own time. 

We can divide time up in different ways, and have different beliefs about how time affects us. We tend to think of time in terms of a three-part structure of past, present, and future, with time moving in one direction without repetition. Though events can repeat themselves, tomorrow is fundamentally different and separate from yesterday. However, I felt that these conceptualisations can also change over time. Who knows maybe in the future, there may be more than one way of looking at time.

4D foundation Project 2: The subverted object

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I must say, I am in love with project 2.

…….

Task 1:

Firstly, we were all given an object as the star of this assignment. My object turns out to be a watermelon; a solid fruit with contrasting colours from the skin to the meat of the fruit itself. We were then tasked to photograph our object where we denote the context of the object; a translation of a sign to its literal meaning. For example, capturing the object’s physical attributes, its practical function, how do we interact with it and where do we usually see this object. 

Brainstorming session 1

We did a short brainstorming session in class to help us better understand our object.

Some questions asked: ( and my on-the-spot answers )

What is the position in relation to the individual? Near

What era is it from? When humans are born??

What historical figure can it be associated? Egyptians 

What material do you see it wrapped in? Plastic bags

How does it get around? Humans are the transport 

What scent does it go with it? refreshing, sweet 
these questions gave me some ideas on how I can photograph the watermelon for task 1. For example, taking a shot of the watermelon in my kitchen to show that the position of the object in relation to me is near. Or taking a lady carrying a NTUC bag containing a watermelon walking out of the supermarket to show how the object get around. 

Task 2:

connotation; the suggesting of an additional meaning, apart from its primary meaning. This is where we subvert the object’s meaning through other elements of our shots. 

Brainstorming session 2

We were given several action verbs where we had to think of how we could portray our object based on the given actions. 
We were then questioned as to how a removal, replacement, 
or redefinition of the object is able to subvert its meaning. 
These 2 exercises gave me inspiration and ideas. Such as turning the watermelon into a helmet; or juicing it and staged it as though they were fake blood. 

 

Artist References

Rene Magritte – A surrealist artist that is known for creating witty and provoking images. His work are often depicting ordinary objects in an unusual context.
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/205054589256397865/
In the 2 photographs, we see how he changed the meaning of the photograph just by 
changing his interaction with the subject (his wife) through body language. It made me 
questioned; is his relationship with his wife beautiful on the outside but unpleasant 
behind close doors? Is he playing a prank on his wife or is he for real? Is his wife 
oblivious to what was happening or is she just acting along? 
Magritte’s work inspired me to create photographs that changes the context of a watermelon between the good and bad; for example : enjoying the watermelon vs depicting it as a bloody and gross wound. Or enjoying a watermelon dessert vs having the watermelon placed on a naked body in a bath room. The contrast created is really mind blowing when 2 photographs are placed side by side. 

 

Final 3 photographs for Task 1

Watermelon dessert by the pool

In this picture, I showed the physical properties of how a watermelon can be enjoyed, with the removal of part of its meat; and replacing it with a combination of ice-cream and other toppings, with the outer skin of the watermelon as a bowl. Placed against a slightly blurry background of a pool, which suggested a delicious watermelon dessert that can be enjoy on a hot sunny day by the pool. What I love about this image is that if you look closely, most parts of the image is blurred out, however, the 4 pieces of watermelon bites in the middle is in focused. This allows us to focus more on the texture of the watermelon. 

Here are some test shots where I find the most suitable background to depict a the pool.

 

 

Dogs eat watermelon too!

My friend who owns a poodle told me that dogs eat watermelon too. Therefore audiences need prior knowledge of this fact to be able to understand this photograph. Here, I wanted to capture the dog eating the watermelon, but in a more interesting way. It took me several test shots before concluding the best shot. In this image, you will notice the dog’s head disappearing into the watermelon. This suggest the relationship between the dog and object; a hunger and thirst for the watermelon. Notice that the background is a setting of a living room, which also suggest that the owner of the dog treats the dog well; by providing not-your-typical dog food. 

Its extremely hard to capture a photo with an overly active dog. It took me several ( a lot ) of test shots before arriving at a perfect one.

 

 

Drink your water-melon

I am a huge fan of watermelon juice and I drink it at least thrice a week. In this photograph, I have my model and object placed in the center with a half body close up shot, with the model looking straight into the camera. Her eyes and smile suggested her enjoyment while drinking the watermelon.

I actually did a few test shots of her interacting with the watermelon juice, however I felt that the close up shot of her having the straw in her mouth depicts the strongest relationship between her and the object. 

Final 3 photographs for Task 2

Camouflage me please watermelon helmet

The watermelon acted as a helmet for my model who is wearing an army uniform. The green “helmet” and uniform blends in well with the green plants in the background. This suggested a solider trying to camouflage and hide from his enemy. Does the audiences need prior knowledge in conjunction to this image? No. It is a norm in Singapore for soldiers to be fully green. Here, I changed the context of the watermelon by showing that it is not only an object that can be eaten, but can also be acted as a source of camouflage tool ( in this case a helmet ) in time of desperate needs. 

HAHAHA I had a fun time shooting my brother. Through the test shots, I was finding the perfect expression/ body language and interaction with the grass to portray a scene of wanting to hide and be camouflage.

 

 

Bleeding watermelon

I guess no one would ever associate watermelon; something so delicious and edible, with wounds and blood. Here, I changed the context of the watermelon into something deadly; suggested by the background tool of a chopping board and knife. This photo was shot from the back shoulder of my model , where you are able to see parts of her face and strains of her hair falling. This provide the photograph with a eerie and mysterious sight. This main focus of this image is the fresh cut wounds on her arm (created with glue and makeup), where it blends into the flesh of slices of watermelon, which can be depicts as the model’s own flesh. I love how the warm red tone is saturated in the center, contrasting the cool blue tone at it’s surroundings. 

In the test shots, I find it hard to connect the different elements (wound, watermelon, knife, model, chopping board) all together into the photograph. Until I found the right angle to take shot the photo; the back shoulder of the model.

 

 

Sacred butt

In this photograph, I change the context of the watermelon by shooting this scene in a bathroom; as suggested in the background. A watermelon which is often placed into one’s mouth is now placed at the most sensitive part of a human body. The watermelon cut into a shape that perfectly covers the butt of the model, and it placed against his skin. The arm and hands of the model provides the photo with a balanced proportion. The watermelon can be depicted as a protective layer to cover up the vulnerable naked body.

There is no test shot for this photograph as it was taken within 3 tries. The model was shy..

 

 

Final poster for Task 3

“我的美人“

When text is included into the photograph, it is turned into a poster where the text given a clearer explanation of the visuals in the poster. Let me first explain the background story of this poster. This poster is an advertisement about a Chinese novel where the title/heading of the poster reads, “我的美人” which means my beautiful lover. The text on the watermelon skin shows a short write-up about the novel. It tells a story of a woman who wishes to be a famous celebrity, but can and never will succeed. Until she met this man who is able to help her achieve her dream. With that, she tries to seduce him to gain his attention. “我的美人”,  sounded similar to the word “watermelon”. The word “watermelon” holds no other meaning other than being a fruit. And this is the exact interpretation of how the guy is to the main lead in the story. He is depicted as “我的美人”, but in actual fact he is just an object like a watermelon where u can just eat it and throw the skin away. Yet the watermelon is placed near the naked, most vulnerable part of the human body; which suggest that the guy in the story held a close relationship with the female lead; and acted as a protective layer. 

 

 

 

4D Foundation: Scale and Framing exercise 1

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Model: Amanda

3 Selected Photographs:


In this photo, I wanted to make her look tall. Therefore I took this image in a low angle, far shot. The low shot elongated her legs, and the wide background around her creates a huge negative space, creating an illusion of her being taller than she currently is. 

 

In the next photo, I took a half body shot of her. I wanted to capture her sweet smile, with her expression and hair taken in the most candid way. A half body shot is best at relaying such emotions as it is able to bring down the attention to the main key elements and features of the model.

In the last photo, her eyes are the main highlight. I wanted to show the beauty of her single eyelid, with her on point eyeliner that brings attention and captures emotion. Therefore the photo is shot in an extreme close up view. 

 

 

Project 1: Picture Story – Curating Self

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Through each of my photos I will talk about the key concept idea, how and why the photographs are taken in that manner, test shots and research done for each work.

 

Task1: Me

If I could only use 3 photographs to describe myself, I would form a connection between these 3 photos, like a sandwich with fillings pack within two slices of bread. Inspired by Nan Goldin’s self-portrait of herself one month after being battered, I felt the urged to based this series on an existing negative fact about myself with some staged props to convey hidden meanings that contrast with this negativity. In Nan Goldin’s self-portrait, she was deeply abused, and covered with bruises all over her face. The portrait was taken upfront with her in the middle; depicts that she has nothing to hide. However, she choose to stage her photograph by dressing herself up with shinny accessories and makeup. This sparks my curiosity as I came up with the assumption that she was trying to show a different side of herself. 

 

 

In task 1, I showed a series of 3 photographs depicting the messy side of me behind close doors, where the photographs interlink with each other. The photos must be arranged in a downwards line; the first image of my desk with the portrait shot of a lady in a magazine (depicting the top half of a human structure) , my messy clothes portraying a mid-shot of the structure, and my legs with shoes as the bottom half of it. The arrangement of the photos is important as it creates a flow and continuity of my messy self from head to toe. 

The 1st photograph shows the original state of my desk in my dorm room. Light enters the photo from the right side of the table, which enhance the messier side of the desk itself. The contrast of light is strongest at the center of the photo, where it draws attention to the magazine. The magazine was placed deliberately by me, with a strong woman figure in the front cover and visible text that state “The Next Generation”. This suggest the the strong and confident woman which I portrayed on the outside (to others), despite being a very messy and layback person on the inside. 

The 2nd photograph shows a photo taken in a top view shot with neutral lighting, and clothes filling up the frame, peeping bits of the bed sheet. Since this photo is placed in the middle of the other two, I felt that the key elements in the photos (the clothes) should all be shown clearly to get the message that I want to convey clearer to the viewers. 

The 3rd photograph highlights the lighting coming in from the left as it fades away to the right. With the light coming in from the opposite direction in comparison of the 1st photograph, it creates balance throughout the three photographs. 

 

Test shots:

 

Task2: Object and representation of self

The object that I selected is my favourite structured bag with silver buckles; as I dressed up in my Secondary School uniform. I was inspired by Cindy Sherman, where she dresses up in different roles that she wants to be portrayed in each of her photographs. Using this technique enable viewers to see a clearer link between me and the object. In this series, I want to show the unpleasant secondary school life that I had back in the days. I used to be a very rebellious kid that sleeps throughout every lessons and skip classes. I was unhappy and felt that life was meaningless. Despite that, my school bag has always been with me.

 

 

In this photo, I portrayed myself skipping class and sleeping in a carpark. The rule of third in the photo enable the background to be shown clearly, so that viewers are able to see me skipping classes ( as the location show is not within the school compound) The elements in the background also helps to gravitate the eyes towards the object (me and the bag). With the bright yellow line and arrows on the floor pointing towards my direction. Good structure and proportion is also created with my leg being parallel to the yellow line and the adjacent towards the wall that I am leaning on. 

Test shots:

This next image shows the same rule of third, with me and the bag being in the center of the photograph. In this photo, I want to show the depressing side of me, with the thought of school being a burden ( therefore the bag was placed above my shoulder). And although I managed to skip class, I was unable to go home ( the buildings at the left side of the background is where my house is located at) ; afraid that my parents will notice. The photo was shot at a low angle, therefore a full body shot was shown since I am sitting down. The bag blocks the sunlight from my face, which creates a gloomy effect on my expression, against my white fair skin.

Test shots:

 

In this photo, I want to bring out the feeling of being trapped. Whats left were me and my bag, against the world. Therefore my expressions and body gesture with the bag is portrayed in this manner. The background plays an important role in this photo, therefore the objects (bag and myself) is shot further away from the camera, and in a 45 degree angle. The two fences (one nearer and the other further) creates depth to the photo. Notice that the middle role of the fence (nearer to the camera) highlights the white and orange buildings at the back, which brings attention to my face and bag. 

Test shots:

 

This photo shows a close up shot of me hugging the bag. The light shining on my hands and onto the bag builds up a connection between the object and myself; suggesting an unseparated bonding between us.

 

Task3: My World

Childhood memories means a lot to me. Especially at my favourite funfair; Uncle Ringo. This types of funfair are hard to come by these days, and I am lucky enough to chance upon one. I used to visit them with my friends when I was young, but never did I have the chance to visit it with my parents. Therefore in this series, You can see that I am drawn into capturing younger kids and adults interacting at the funfair (as seen on the second and third photos). These two images are more close up in comparison to the first photo. This is because in the first photo, I wanted to show an overview of the whole funfair; with the Uncle Ringo signage upfront and the buildings behind the funfair to depict a homely neighbourhood funfair scene. Notice that the sky is dark as it was taken at night; this way, the sky contrasted with the fun fair’s bright warm lights. As for the next two photos, notice that each particular funfair stall filled up the entire image. This creates an illusion of a spirited away wonderland (like scenes in Japanese anime) as it is hard to tell where this particular fun fair is located at. 

 

Test shot: