I was very excited about 4D Final assignment because I get to work with Fendi, Joel and Hannah!!
YAY!!
It’s like a dream team. Hehe.
Anyway, we first started off brainstorming and coming up with different ideas, eventually we settled down with one.
Miles Ahead.
We then went on to separate our roles.
Fendi: Director, Editor
Hannah: Actor
Joel: Cineto
Hui En: Art Director
Conspiracy Board: Research
I was mainly in charge in preparing the props and materials.
I was really excited after Director Fendi gave us guidance and instructions on what we should be doing. I wanted to start as soon as possible but he told me to do some research first.
I went online to dug up a bunch of photos and placed them together to look for characteristics and traits that I would like to replicate.
After looking into images of conspiracy boards, Director Fendi suggested that I should look at existing films and take into consideration of the lighting and composition as well.
So now I have the excuse to look at films hehe
Narcos Series
In the Narcos Series, the crime board or investigation board seems to be very neat and organised. This was not exactly what we were looking for. Director Fendi and I imagined a more chaotic and messy composition. The space was supposed to show Mile’s state of mine.
Mile’s state of mine was deteriorating. If the board is too clean and neat, it does not bring across the message we intended.
I also took note of the lighting in the Narcos Series.
There seems to be a grey-blue tint to the lighting. Perhaps to add in the idea of rationale and reason. Grey is a colour associated with reason, formality as well as organisation. On the other hand, blue is a colour which means trust and perhaps logic.
The dark lighting also adds suspense. It also makes the mood and atmosphere uncertain, adding in the element of mystery.
Sherlock Holmes
Again, the lighting here used is similar. It isn’t exactly very bright. There are still shadows but it isn’t really that bright. There seems to be a greyish blue tone to the entire room. The contrast also makes the red strings stand out.
The dimmed lighting adds suspense. It also makes the mood and atmosphere uncertain, adding in the element of mystery.
There are a lot of layers, and various types of papers. Notice that the board has a presence of a whole. The spacing between each component is important. The strings also have to be put together nicely so that everything comes together. I also noticed that different types of paper can be used to create different texture, adding in dimension into the entire set.
The Space: Research
Director Fendi reminded me to consider how the entire set up should look like and suggested I do some research on it as well.
Dexter Series: Kill Room
I think it’s kind of scary…
But this does remind me that the conspiracy board should not be the only thing I work on. I have to think about the entire space and how to create the atmosphere and mood that is required.
The lighting is very important. The space has to have a dim lighting to set the atmosphere and mood right.
After all, The atmosphere and mood can help narrate a story too.
Diana Thater
An American artist known for her film, video and installation art since the early 1990s. Her works explores the temporal qualities of video and film that expands into the space abstractly.
“The Sympathetic Imagination” at LACMA, Los Angeles
She uses coloured lights to create the mood and atmosphere for her installation/ space.
The Actual Space
While we prepared the things we wanted to do, we also had to keep in mind that we needed a space that was suitable to bring our ideas and concepts into life.
I was actually supposed to be doing Foundation Drawing or 2D with Joel. Then when they mentioned about the space, I just decided to chunk everything else aside and go around the school.
Because 4D is fun.
It felt like I was going on an adventure.
I had to look for dark, shady places in school. So I ran around the school to look at various staircases.
Here’s some videos (gifs) I took to show the team:
This is basement 1 Staircase near the Product Design studio
This is basement 1 Staircase near the washrooms and Animation studio.
I was so excited I forgot I was afraid of these kind of places. LOL. Normally I wouldn’t go into these places alone. Maybe it was because I kept the door open and ran out before I accidentally shut myself in.
After some consideration of space and lighting, we decided to go with the area near the washroom instead.
It was a more abandoned area as well.
Conspiracy Board: Hands On
I made a list of things I needed before I started making a mess around the house.
After I made a mental note of all the things I had to do I started off with the newspaper.
I went to dig out all the newspaper I had at home and flipped though them one by one. I realized I haven’t been reading newspaper… I flipped though at least 30 different newspapers and sources out the ones that were relevant.
The content I was looking for were:
- NTU related
- Car accidents
- Murder and crime
- Photos of locations
The conspiracy board has to make sense so I reminded myself to assume that I was Miles’ crime assistant.
“What would she need as a killer who is planning her crime?”
After cutting a bunch of newspaper, I went to print an image of human anatomy and the ADM school floor plan as well.
When we went up to level 3 to submit our form to borrow the space, I saw magazines lying around so I took them for the project too.
I also prepared other materials including post-its. I tore out pages from different notebooks I owned. Such as Rhodia dot- pad.
I forgot to take photo of the magazine before I destroyed it, but here’s some from the installation.
These were added to show the context better.
Afterwards, to make it even messier, Joel and I used markers and highlighters to add emphasis to certain parts of the newspapers.
Anyways,
For the actual installation, I was supposed to position the newspaper I cut out around the projections:
Thus I had to prepare enough materials to cover the board.
I asked for newspapers from my friends as well.
I even went to pester my siblings for unused newspapers.
They gave me the look and commented, “When did you ever use newspaper, other than layering on the floor so you don’t mess up the floor with your paint?”
Anyways. I got the materials I needed in the end.
Meanwhile, Joel helped me A LOT with the board too.
He helped to take “stalker photos” and edited them. He also helped me with editing the article for Miles’ car accident.
Find out more about it on his OSS!
Here are the props we used, I scanned them in:
These are documents that we planned to put into a folder to place them on the table.
It is intended for the audience to interact with the installation and find out about what’s going on.
Here’s the article Joel edited!
To view the documents, go here.
Other then the above, we also added photos of different locations in the school and stalker photos of our classmates onto the board.
The polaroids are taken by our Cineto Joel.
He went around the school and snapped photos of various locations.
PRODUCTION:
DAY 1
We shot some stuff in school, afterwards we proceeded to Hannah’s hall.
The clips we took on Day 1 were mainly vlogs and CCTV footage. More information can be seen on Director Fendi and Cineto Joel‘s OSS.
The kind of clothes Hannah wore changes from warm colours like maroon to black. It was to emphasize on the character’s state of mind as well as to fit into the situation.
“Black to hide the bloodstains.” – Hannah Miles, 2017
Miles’ hairstyle also changed from neat to messy.
The lighting for the different scenes were also critical. We adjusted by closing the curtains, turning off the house light etc.
The room also gets messier as time goes.
As I walk out, I make the scene even messier by hanging things around.
DAY 2
On Day 2, we planned to shoot Miles’ vlogs at the space as well as some of the killing scenes.
It was the day whereby I finally get to try setting up the conspiracy board.
It was like a mock test.
After the painful process of putting everything together, the set is ready!
Initially we used tape to fix the board on the wall but it fell.
We had to fall back onto using a stool to prop the board back up.
Director Fendi and I stole, I mean borrowed the box of tape from the 2D room and brought it over.
It is to emphasize the idea of Hannah setting up at her hide out.
Hehe our good looking Actress, Hannah!!
Here’s our behind the scenes video, edited by Director and Editor FENDI
Finally,
Link to my own final
Here’s the links to the Team’s Process posts
Director Fendi‘s OSS here
Actor Hannah‘s OSS here
Cineto Joel‘s OSS here