Foundation 4D 1 – Sketchbook

Foundation 4D – We’ve come to the end of Foundation 4D, so I’ve decided to upload the contents of my sketchbook. Mainly, it includes lecture notes from Prof. Robert Zhao’s class, consultation advice and brainstorming scribbles. (Pause to read!)

I struggled a bit with 4D, but overall it was pretty fun and an interesting module. When it comes to modern fine arts, especially of the videography and film variation, I definitely do prefer approaching it from the audience/curator’s perspective rather than as an artist-creator.

Assignment 3: References

Foundation 4D – This assignment would not have been possible without the numerous studies I made of animations online.

https://fuckyeahanimation.tumblr.com was one of my main sources for technique and execution! But as for inspiration, “YHWH”, a animated video done by a collaboration of artists, was my main inspiration. Specifically, I referenced the style of Paul Slemmer (http://www.veracitycolab.com) who did 2:08 to 2:27 of the video.

I was also inspired by several other sources:

handforahead_depart-film-4
handforahead – Depart, film 4
Droplets by jpamment
Droplets by jpamment
Universe by somostantomonta
Universe by somostantomonta
bonfire lit by zer0hvk
bonfire lit by zer0hvk

Through breaking down the animations, I was able to better understand the process and create my own as well. However, it’s still only a form of imitation – I made close references as this assignment is one of my very first attempts at animation.

Assignment 3: Process

Foundation 4D – Initially, I intended to use music as a starting point for my assignment.

Foundation 4D: Assignment 3, 50 word writeup.

Based on a soundtrack, I want to create a collection of surrealistic film stills/imagery to accompany the music. I will also explore the possibility of including a narrative.

However, Prof warned me that it would become very much like “MTV” – mainstream television; having a guiding narrative like this might result in the video being slideshow-like and sentimental, which would detract from the message of the moving image. Sound is fine though, like ambient music, but nothing leading or emotional should be driving the narrative.

Thus, I returned to think more about my concept.

Mindmap - Brainstorming for Ideas
Mindmap – Brainstorming for Ideas

As many of my classmates were using their previous assignments as launching points to their final assignment (in fact, we were encouraged to do so) I decided to return to my previous assignments as well. In Assignment 1, I explored the idea of death while in Assignment 2, I explored the visual imagery of clouds. I wondered, what if I combined the ideas? And wrote a bit about it. However, I eventually decided to head back to the initial theme – however, instead of death & religion, I decided on life/death instead, so as to give myself more options.

I continued to brainstorm.

Planning
Planning

There were some interesting ideas – for example, a documentary about religious beliefs about death, the record of life cycles (documentation of plants and animals growing and dying) – however, due to the lack of luxury of time, I decided to keep it simple instead, and to do a short sequence of animations. Thus, my 50 word narrative was confirmed.

Heartbeats
Foundation 4D: Assignment 3, 50 word writeup.

Centred around the idea of life and death, this video presents several symbolic motifs of life and death, represented using simple, looping frame-by-frame animation and paired with suitable accompanying onomatopoeia. “Heartbeats” is made with the intention to be abstract, thoughtful and atmospheric.

Here are some of the motifs I thought about.

More Planning
More Planning

Eventually I simply narrowed it down to 4: heart, fire, water, growing fetus, breathing, as I felt that it was sufficient in encapsulating the key idea of life/death.

 

4D Assignment 1 – Processes & Thoughts, Curated

Foundation 4D – For Foundation 4D, I will be using the OSS system as a place to evaluate the photographs I have taken over the past few trips – technique, process and formal analysis. (Quite frankly, I’ve been struggling with my journal recently as I tend to let my reflections flow – in run-along sentences, informal language, slang and memes – so the OSS is a good place for me to curate my thoughts and make it coherent for an audience.)

But first and foremost, let’s go back the first critique lesson for Assignment 1 that we had. As mentioned from my previous post, I wanted to explore the ideas of eternity – at that point, I was still quite unclear about my idea. As a result, I followed my first inclination/impulse to create, and ended up with two end products: the animated stop-motion video and the writing on the floor.

  1. Animated Video (Oil Paint, Black & White)

Link: Animation Test

The animated video was really just a test – I wanted to try out the technique to see if it was viable. My conclusion? No, it wasn’t viable at all; it was ambitious and frankly quite overwhelming for me to take on and achieve mastery of a medium in such a short span of time. One thing that I felt was important to me was a professional quality in the presentation of work, which this animation test very blatantly lacked. I felt that my technical ability was a great limitation. The animated test was cool, but ultimately a huge bust.

2. Eternity Graffiti (inspired by the story of Mr. Eternity)

chalk-on-floor

Basically, what I did was to replicated the visual of the graffiti done by the man in the story – it was a simple, photoshopped image with a photograph of some floor I took. The photograph lacked visual interest – I couldn’t captivate myself, for goodness’ sakes, how could I captivate an audience? The image was quite literal – I felt that it was too upfront and blatant for my tastes. There was a distinct lack of attempt of communication that I found highly displeasing.

At this juncture, I was extremely unsatisfied with (not to mention confused about) my end point at that time, and felt rather at a loss about the whole project. Was it too ambitious of me to tackle a topic as broad and subjective as the one I have chosen?

However, all was not lost – I stumbled upon the quiet premises of St. Joseph Church, at the upper Bukit Timah area, between Cashew MRT and Hillview MRT (downtown line) stations. The side gate of the cemetery was ajar, but the visual of a large stone cross captivated me. I immediately took a photograph and resolved to return to explore the premises again – and I did. I also gained greater clarity on my work through that chance encounter.

In Assignment 1, I aim to raise questions about what comes after death in a way that is open to interpretation. 

Continue reading “4D Assignment 1 – Processes & Thoughts, Curated”

Adventure on the Day 1

Foundation 4D – Our first class activity: the photo scavenger hunt! Yes, I probably should have posted this before the previous post, but better late than never, I suppose. I believe that, as much as possible, photographs should adopt a “show not tell” stance, so I won’t be elaborating much on the more self-explanatory photographs.

01 - Something that is not "NTU" at all
01 – Something that is not “NTU” at all

No, seriously, who expects a K-cut at NTU? The whole North Spine came as an unexpected (and pleasant) surprise, although while the Supermarket was within the realms of my imagination, the hairdresser was not.

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4D Assignment 1 – Brief Project Brief

Foundation 4D – When I first heard about making the project brief, I have to admit that I got a bit carried away. The following OSS contains what I presented in class, and perhaps a bit more.

One of the reasons why I did the brief in Keynote is because it helps me to think, organise my ideas. I have a separate journal where I do extremely rough mind-maps, but beyond that being able to rearrange and present my ideas coherently (with accompanying visuals & reference) is of great importance to me, which is why I had decided on moving my process online. And also, between you and I, because I think comic sans is hilarious.

What am I concerned about? 

This is the question that I asked myself as I began this work. I always feel that art and art-making should be as personal as possible – it is, after all, a process of insight into the human condition.

We make art about what concerns us, in hopes of communicating a message. So, what am I concerned about, what am I inspired by?

  1. Communication – which means elements of interaction, means to engage the audience, such as space & sound will be important in this video (installation)
  2. Religion/Relationship, Belief, Conviction – Eternity
  3. Self-Image, Appearances, Security

Below, I’ll expand a bit more about concepts 2 & 3, since 1 is merely one of my guidelines.

Continue reading “4D Assignment 1 – Brief Project Brief”