Tag: Sequential

THE CREATURE

March 27, 2017 / / 0 Comments
Title:

THE CREATURE

Theme:

Illusion

 

CONCEPT

It is an experimental film which describes a life cycle of various abstract creatures, from birth, maturation to death.

With the help of simple chemical reaction in milk, it also allows audience to experience an immersive visual-journey.

 

INSPIRATION

PSYCHEDELIC REVIVAL, Moment Factory

  • Multimedia entertainment studio, Montreal
  • Specialising in the conception and production of immersive environments combining video, lighting, architecture, animation, sound and special effects to create remarkable visitor experiences.

Filming acrylic paint swirls in milk
  • Kinetic movement
  • Vibrant color

 

 

METHODOLOGY

Because of the nature of dish soap, it will push away the paint molecules to different directions continuously, which creates a color explosion.

The autonomous chemistry not only creates chaos and but also the freedom of imagination and inspiration.

 

Experiement by ValincoTV

 

Experiement by artFido

 

 

TESTSHOOT
  • Acrylic paints
  • Oil/dish soap
  • Milk
  • Cups/tray/sucker

 

 

COMPOSITION

I used Adobe After Effects to compose my shots, which is designed for motion graphics design mainly.

After the initial shoot, I realize some problems immediately:

  • The final output canvas is too wide;
  • It can’t contain one HD footage;
  • The color is washed out and not vibrant enough.

Mirror Effect

The good solution is mirroring the same footage.

Approach 1

By only flipping once and feathering the edges, the visual becomes like a lively and organic thing, a brain, a face and a creature.

 

Approach 2

By flipping 4 footages, it creates a nice pattern but doesn’t look like a live thing.

 

MOODBOARD

I decided to go for approach 1 which is more organic.

Reference from 3d model design as well as sci-fi movies, like <The Thing>, <Alien> and <Prometheus>.

Mood of mystery,  alienation and isolation.

Taotie(饕餮)

It reminds me an ancient creature from Chinese culture called Taotie, which is often casted on bronze vessels dated back thousands of years ago from Shang and Zhou dynasty.

In ancient Chinese mythology, taotie (饕餮) is one of the “four evil creatures of the world” along with Hundun (渾沌), Qiongqi (窮奇)and Taowu (梼杌).

It has a very symmetrical deign with prominent facial features standing out.

 

Taotie on a ding bronze vessel from late Shang era

 

 

INITIAL STYLE-FRAMES
  • Single cell – complexity – single cell
  • Inverted the color.
  • Background is black now

 

 

MORE SHOOT

 

I’m using food coloring instead this time. Because it has more saturated color in milk

 

I tried to avoid more than 3 colors, or it will turn out too messy and formless.

 

FINAL COMPOSITION SCREENSHOTS
Treatment process

 

 

FINAL

 

 

Prototype 01

March 6, 2017 / / 0 Comments

Video sequences

Below is the visual sequences in the video: simplicity to complex, to Simplicity again

 

“The Thing” is an experimental and generative video art with the use of simple chemical reaction in milk, which depicts an alien’s lifecycle abstractly. The autonomous chemistry not only creates chaos and but also free imagination based on individual’s experience and background.

In this stage, the proposed work, in URL link below, is prototype 1, not final and still in the process. The design treatment and editing are going to be more polished in the final work.

Prototype 01

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Walking Home 1

April 11, 2016 / / 0 Comments

Task 1

A THOUSAND MILES AWAY
2016
Prints on paper

 

 

A thousand miles away is a series of  8 printed images, which depicts the concept of home to the artist. As a foreigner living in Singapore, the physical home is rather obscure and intangible. It can be represented as a suitcase which is always on the way. Spiritually, home can be established on the relationship, such as family and friends, and the taste of authentic hometown food. Fellows from the same country speak the same language, share the same jokes and have similar taste. And Food culture has been deeply rooted in Asia. It is popularly said that “民以食为天” which simply means foods are the most important to people.

 

photo_exhib

Project 3: The Library

April 11, 2016 / / 0 Comments

Timeless

2016

3 framed videos

13 x 18 cm (each)

 

Timeless photo frames are installed on 3 tables of a corner at ADM library. The videos show ordinary phenomena that Singapore residence experience every day, but inexplicably, are partially static and motional and this comparison portrays the time with a surreal and infinite atmosphere.

Furthermore, time seems to be unnoticeable and faster in library relatively, as students concentrate on their work with so much effort, event without noticing time change outside. The artist is eager to juxtapose Singapore life with the idea of timelessness, as life in Singapore cycles forever in summer and we seldom experience natural phenomenon change. Inspired by Zen(襌), The work captured mundane scenes to express the idea of infinity and relativeness of time, to offer the library users to clear their thoughts and to take time off their work at the library.

 

 

Installation

 

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3 Installations

 

 

 

Different loops

 

breakfast--

River

Mrt

wind

 

 

Documentation

 

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Alignment and Measurement

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Holes for earphone’s cable

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Mark making for phone’s placement

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Walking Home 2

February 2, 2016 / / 0 Comments

Screen Shot 2016-02-02 at 9.09.30 PM

Task 2

 

A THOUSAND MILES AWAY
2016
Video

 

A thousand miles away is a photo essay, in which the artist represents us with a collection of photographs implying the intimacy of home. With ambient sounds playing, audience are led to experience different feelings about home with artist together. As a foreigner living in Singapore, the physical home is rather obscure and intangible. It can be represented as a suitcase which is always on the way. Spiritually, home can be established on the relationship, such as family and friends, and the taste of authentic hometown food.

 

 

 

Brief discussion

As playing a very important part in story-telling,  still images sequence provides us a whole framework of the story and allows audience to observe every image in detail, whereas in moving image, audience have to follow the timeline of the video. However,  still images may also make audience confused. Because it will either give too many clues or little hint that could lead to varies of directions. Under some context, because of culture or background difference, sometimes visual is not enough to bring up or recall some emotion. It needs motion or audio to support the visual content. For instance, in my work, I’m using ambient sound as a second narrative form to bridge the cultural gap as well as add a hearing dimension to my work. If you have never heard of how Sichuan dialect sounds or been to a China restaurant, you will experience it when video plays at related images.

Project 1b Thinking Sequentially – Text and Image

September 14, 2015 / / 0 Comments

Fire and Ice

Some say the world will end in fire,

Some say in ice.

From what I’ve tasted of desire

I hold with those who favour fire.

But if it had to perish twice,

I think I know enough of hate

To say that for destruction

Ice is also great

And would suffice.

 

In my interpretation, fire represents human desire towards natural resources. Whereas, ice expresses hatred towards human themselves, which leads human destruction even deeper and thoroughly. I used images of China air pollution, as a result of burning too much coal and other mechanical materials. Cold war images, like Cuba Missile Crisis photo, and two presidents from USA and Soviet Union depicts two different ideology, which leads hatred and revenge. Desire and hatred have same effect of terminating human race.

But hatred has more power to destroy the whole world.

In the overall composition, images are split into two to bring up the comparison between desire and hatred. In the first image, the pollution cloud and nuclear bomb merge into one cloud to show the similar effect of desire and hatred. The second image depicts an end of the world scene by imitating multiple exposure effects. The third image portrays the difference between two countries. And fourth image depicts Cuba Missile Crisis which is the most dangerous threat to human in history.

 

Images source

 

 

3025175-poster-p-pollution

http://www.fastcoexist.com/3025175/us-products-made-in-china-causes-an-extra-full-day-of-smog-a-year-in-los-angeles#2

NuclearWeapon_Big

National Archives image (208-N-43888)

BEIJING, CHINA - MARCH 27: Security personnel stand guard at Tiananmen Square blanketed in smog on March 27, 2014 in Beijing, China. An estimated 7 million people die worldwide every year due to air pollution, both indoor and outdoor, and it is now the "single largest environmental health risk", according to a report by the UN World Health Organization (WHO). The reports findings suggested a link between air pollution and heart disease, respiratory problems and cancer, listing it as the cause of about one in eight deaths worldwide. (Photo by Xiao Lu Chu/Getty Images)

Photo by Xiao Lu Chu/Getty Images

Benxi_Steel_Industries

Benxi heavy steel industries in February 2013/Photo by Andreas Habich

Cold_War_by_L2A

http://photos.sulekha.com/albums/members/bilingual/slideshow/351242.htm

jfk-nikita

https://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2015/01/11/trouble-cuba-call-pope/w81Qu2D1hgVspZgraWUYEM/story.html

article-2207946-152F65E1000005DC-436_634x397

President Kennedy meets with U.S. Army officials during the Cuban Missile Crisis/Corbis

Soviet-R-12-nuclear-ballistic_missile

CIA reference photograph of Soviet medium-range ballistic missile (SS-4 in U.S. documents, R-12 in Soviet documents) in Red Square, Moscow/From Wikipedia

 

 

Final Sequence

 

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