There are 4 posts filed in Foundation 4D 1 – G5 (this is page 1 of 1).
Snooze from Shiau Yu on Vimeo.
Synopsis:
A girl haunted by her past, unable to move on. As she drag herself out of bed, attempting to be functional, her mind keeps revisiting the memory that she refuse to let go. What is it that keeps her stagnant? When memory become more vivid and vibrant than the present, she would rather stay in the past, during which she was still alive.
We were taught the three act structure, the cycle of hero with a thousand faces, the importance of saving the cat. But I still had a hard time coming up with a story.
In retrospect I should’ve just work with a simple story . In the end I wasted too much time trying to think of a story instead of planning the shots.
Ruyi asked why I didn’t adhere to the three act structure. My planning process was rather organic , so it was difficult to identify the source of inspiration. What I was trying to achieve was the kind of story that allows the viewers to link the dots and give that moement of enlightenment.
A short film that I like: The Piano Tuner
I’m mentioning it because: The story cuts off at the climax, but it’s not exactly a cliff hanger, because the ending is already shown at the start, without the audience realising it.
And to elaborate with what director Yorgos Lanthimos said, “I like starting a film like that—you set the tone but you don’t explain or go back to it. When the film finishes, the viewer can return to the beginning if they want and give their own interpretation.”
So that explained my approach. But the end product didn’t quite meet the expectation.
Maybe there’s too much ambiguity, to an extend that some audience might find it difficult to find things to focus on. And does the ambiguity really helped the story? That confusion is suppose to correspond with the character’s state of mind. But if it didn’t work that it just become unnecessary pretentious bluffs.
And I think my story telling lacks a gradual increase in intensity, the climax was rather sudden.
Another major flaw of the story is the characters. I didn’t show enough of the characters to let the viewers like them, so perhaps the plot feels quite indifferent.
Many of us made use of the colour to show different stage of story or different emotions . What I attempt to achieve is well illustrated in Pan’s Labyrinth:
And for my attempt I also tried to make use of rigid grids and organic lines to further enhance the contrast.
In one of the jump cut I used similar framing to further suggest the drastic difference in mood:
In the picture above, I tried to use the reflection to place emphasise on the character. In this case I placed the mirror in the middle where the lights are, and the characters are almost in the dark, allowing people to focus more on the reflected happy face.
This following frame is actually to foreshadow the fate of this character using the juxtaposition, that her time is ending soon.
I was also inspired by La Jetée, how the director made use of the rhythm to achieve different intensity throughout his film.
My attempt:
This series of images are taken while I’m waking. It is from the perspective of the protagonist, the motion blur and rapid change of picture is to suggest the chaotic state of mind.
I’m also inspired by the use of abrupt jump cuts to create the impact.
The scene that jumps from the image of woman to the confrontational face of the antagonist is very impactful for me.
Which is the reason for the up front composition for some of the shots I used for the jumpcuts.
And also the use of brightly lit subject matter against the dark background to achieve the same intensity.
And the picture above pretty much sums up my utter disappointment. Try harder next time.
Task 1: Object and Representation of Self
CRUMPLED
To me, crumpled paper is a representation of mistakes, rejected ideas and the failure to meet my own expectation.
This series intends to capture my several reaction to my own mistakes.
The choice of minimal and flat ground is to allow the texture of crumpled paper to really be the focus. 
Depressed, frustrated, feeling small and helpless
The black creates a dense area at the corner, drawing audience’s attention, while being surrounded by the space that makes the figure look small.
The soft shadow intensifies the gloominess , while the blue tint makes it seem depressed.
Facing the mistake, using the lesson learned as a key to open up endless new possibilities.
Using a high vantage point and the placement of myself in the upper half of the picture, I want to create an ambiguous environment/ background that intrigues the viewers and suggests wonder and infinity.
The grip is to suggest frustration and struggle when we face mistakes and failures, yet it shows the determination, will and perseverance to tackle the problem.
The shirt in the second image and the hand in the third both serve to correspond with the texture of the crumpled paper, establishing a deeper relation between the human and the paper.
Photos that didn’t make it:
Task 2: My World
SHE SAID OUTSIDE FOOD IS NOT HEALTHY SO SHE ALWASY COOKED FOR US
The kitchen in our house has always been my mom’s territory. The laid out kitchen wares, the stack of dishes to be washed as well as the bottle after bottle of condiments and cooking oil, all these details form a kitchen that is actively in use and been well taken of.The scene informs me my mom’s presence and comforts me.
However, the clustered scene seems to be missing the centre figure, my mom. I wanted to use the contrast to portray the absence of my mother, the one that gives life to the place. And by doing so, show my loneliness and emptiness when my mother is not in Singapore with me.
Photos that didn’t make it
(Pardon the low resolution)
Title: Snooze
Genre: The kind that makes you fall asleep
What pulls you out of the bed every morning? Or is waking up just a habit?
Inspired by the quater-life existential crisis that sometimes hits me during shower. As well as the unhealthy procrastination that happens more often than I’d like to admit. Sometimes I lie in my bed all day when there’s no good reason to get up, snoozing the alarm repeatedly, hoping for some motivation to pop up before the next time it rings. It is as pathetic as it is luxurious.
Very flat composition with hardly any sense of depth, presenting the audience with a flat wall and nothing else, a passive confrontation, having just enough texture and gradient to differ it from a blank piece of paper.
I kept the colour minimal to convey the sense of mundane, slightly faded to show the emptiness. White is used for both the clothes and bed sheet, allowing the subject matter to almost merge with the background, flattening the image further.
I considered other composition , but I prefer the long stretch of wall with the horizontal lines at the bottom, finding the space and lines both contemplative and calming.
