“Found” Narratives

Artist Statement

World issues like global warming is a real problem. We know that it is a problem, the solution is there but for the sake of economic advances, no one would actually do anything. Pretty ironic.

Concept

The concept for this found narrative revolves around the living inhabitants of Antarctica, where glaciers are melting and these animals are losing their home. We are seeing the consequences of global warming through the eyes of this animal that is narrating.

Technical Decisions

I kept my footage looking natural and realistic, not adding in too many effects and transitions, referencing to Nat Geo videos.

The video starts with an overview of the landscape before diving into showing the animals. I wanted to show the audiences this world that the animals lives in, then hit them with the reality by pulling some heart strings on how their homes are being destroyed.

timeline

I also mainly use atmospheric sounds like wind blowing and currents hitting the coast to keep it sounding realistic. Risers were added to build up the suspense as the next line of my VO  starts too.

I did not want to change the colours of the footage at all because of the style of what I was going for. Subtle, and not overdoing things brings the focus to what I am saying in the VO, which I feel is the best way to delivering my message.

Transcript

“This is my home.

My friends.

But,

I can’t live here anymore.

Please save this place.”

Text Premise

Antarctica. A cold world with wide landscapes of ice caps and water. A place where many animals calls home.

But not anymore.

They are forced to flee as they loses their home to increasing global temperatures and melting ice glaciers.

Where can they call home now?

References

  • National Geographic: A very realistic approach to story telling, in which we observe the lives of animals and the world. A report like style to the narration too.
  • 4k Drone footages of landscapes. Stefan Forster on Youtube does some amazing work with drones.

Credits

  • National Geographic: The Life of a Baby Polar Bear – Ep. 4 |Wildlife: The Big Freeze
  • Luke Bell: Antarctica – The Frozen Continent – 4k Drone Video
  • Exposure Labs: “CHASING ICE” captures largest glacier calving ever filmed – OFFICIAL VIDEO
  • MW: Large Iceberg Breaking near Ilulissat
  • Stefan Forster: GREENLAND – LAND OF ICE 4K

Hyperreal Composite | breathe

 

before
after

Process

A mask was first created for the human. I also enlarged the background to fit the canvas.

Next, exposure and colour for the composite was adjusted to make it feel like its in the same world.

exposure

Then I adjusted the overall exposure and tried to change the highlights to a yellow tint.

yellow highlights

Then green for the shadows, and a little accent of red.

green shadows

Lastly, I dropped a blue layer on overlay to darken the overall image and added grain.

after

There were a few attempts before this final composite:

This one was too normal for my liking.

attempt 1

This was too yellow overall. It looks too flat.

attempt 2

Artist Reference

  • Josh Wong

I really enjoy looking at how Josh manipulates the yellows and greens in his work. There is such a surreal feel to them.

  • Sang Han

Sang Han’s uses more blues and greens. His work gives off a dream-like melancholic feel. The grains adds a tone of rawness.

.tiff

Self Portrait | Contained

Artist Statement

I am someone that feels a lot. Sometimes I feel like I’m drowning. Not the struggling kind, but the the calm and subtle type. It is something that I’ve come to terms with. I acknowledge this side of me. It’s not wrong to feel a certain way, what matters more are the actions I choose to do.

No one can truly understand another person completely. Everyone in this world has got their inner demons. It’s a constant struggle, and really a battle that only I can fight alone.

I didn’t want to get wet because these emotions are contained, even though I feel overwhelmed by them, I am not actually drowning. I just feel like I am. I’m also carrying them to show that I’m trying to hold these bags of emotions inside me, and to not let them spill into the world around me.

before
before
after

 

Technical Decisions

The original image was overall very dark due to the sky being very overblown.

I had to first increase the contrast and brightness of the image. I wanted a more fantasy looking atmosphere like David Uzochukwu’s work. Masks for the grass, sky, human and skin were made for me to have more control. The human in particular was too bright and in the wrong colour tone compared to the background. An orange mask was applied in overlay mode as an attempt to blend the subject and the background together. Colour balance was applied to both the sky and the grass. I was going for a more orangey and magenta tone.

Artist Reference

  • David Uzochukwu

I love how David Uzochukwu uses natural body positions and gestures to convey the emotions. It’s not overly dramatic and very raw. The backgrounds of his work are also very simple and clean. His work leaves me with an impression of the loneliness we feel within ourselves in this big world that we live in. This feeling was something that I want to include in my self portrait.

  • Laura Zalenga

The look and tone of Laura Zalenga’s work was something that I want to include in my self portrait. The use of body gestures and minimal props was very similar to David Uzochukwu, but again, this really brings the focus to that of the model, which was something that I want to achieve

 

LINK TO PSD & TIFF