Foundation 4D 1 – G1

Project 4- Sounds of Singapore

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Our group consists of Jannah, Nisa and I.

Our theme was Sounds of Asia. But after the presentation, we realized that it was actually sounds of Singapore since we are focusing on the 4 main ethnicity here; Malay, Indian, Chinese and Caucasians. Jannah and Nisa came out with the concept and we each added on to improve it.

The main objective of our project was to guide our viewers to the times during early Singapore days where trading was at its peak. Since Singapore was located in the middle of Southeast Asia, it was the most convenient for people from other countries to come and trade things with other people or with us. Hence, we’ve decided to use this installation to have an educational purpose to educate Singaporean on the history of trading as most of us are clueless about this topic.

We’ve decided to build the installation at the ADM pond. Since water is surrounding the installation, we’ve decided to make use of it. Hence, we’ve used ships from different races to be played on the screens within our artifact. Why ships? Back then, cars and aeroplanes were not as commonly used compared to ships and boat. Ships were considered the mostly convenient way of travelling as they can carry a huge load. The only downside is that it’ll take weeks or months to reach their destination. The main purpose of the screen was to make it as immersive as possible for our audience when they are viewing it. The room will be dark and the only light source will be coming from the screen itself.

Nisa has created a short stop-motion on how the animation will most likely look and sound like.

Link: Sounds of Singapore

She has used music from the 4 different race to enhance the video. Some of the musical instruments used can be found below.

European instrument

Chinese instrument

Malay instruments

Indian instruments

When Nisa created the sound, I focused more on creating and modeling the visual outcome of our final installation. I’ve used the Maya 2017 software to create this setting. It was then rendered on Arnold.

For the final piece, we’ve decided to use the concept of the Orang Laut type of old jetty. Hence, why the jetty looks very Malay instead of it being a general and neutral rooftop. Trading started since the Orang Laut days. The rooftop was made to look very traditional and giving off the kampong vibes. Fences can be seen to be surrounding it as in the old days, these were used to make the bridge or jetty strong and it was also used as a barricade to prevent people from falling into the see.

 

 

 

Moving inside, bowls can be seen hanging from the ceiling.These bowls are hung to be interacted with. How do we know which are interactive and which are not? The bowls that are hung to a reachable length are the ones that needs to be interacted with. There are 4 main ones which are of reachable length. These 4 bowls are off the 4 different cultures and race in Singapore as mentioned earlier.

There will be a motion sensor attached to the bowl so that it will activate the music and the “museum guide” will start explaining what the touched bowl represents and also the story of their trading back in the past.

 

As you can see in the image below, there seems to be a button located in the middle of the walkway. Our idea was to use it to allow audience to come and press it as natural human instinct are always attracted to buttons. Hence, some will be curious and press it. The button uses a 555 timer which can only be activated once for a certain amount of time. This prevents people from pressing it excessively. The main purpose of the button was to activate the whole set display and wow-ing the audience.

However, after getting comments back from Michael and the class, it seems like it was better to use motion sensor instead of a button as people would not be attracted to an empty room (before the lights are turned on). Adding on to the things we could improve, Michael suggested that we could make the exhibition slanted and hidden so that people would be more curious and enter the place. Because for now, our installation is too bare open and people would just take a peek inside and walk off when it is not interesting.

 

All in all, I’ve enjoyed doing this project as I can finally put my skills to a test. It was enjoyable as we learn about our history along the way while we were researching. And also, we get to experiment and visualize easily how we want our end product to be with the help of this software.

Project 2 – Text and Image (Advertisement) FINAL

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The food object I took was the San Semo Spaghetti.

Since it was a wholemeal product, I’ve decided to focus on the healthy part of it. Wholemeal food were created to make you feel fuller since you have a longer time taken to chew your food. My idea was to show that instead of eating fast food and oily food, why not eat a wholemeal spaghetti and shred those fats. Hence, the shredder. A big blob of junk food can be seen going through the shredder and coming out as the wholemeal spaghetti. My main intention was to show the shredding part of the food since I wanted to emphasize on shredding of “fats”. However, my lecturer and peeps commented about how it seems like I’m converting the junk food into the spaghetti which basically shows that the spaghetti has the same amount of unhealthiness as the junk food that was being shredded. And also, I should’ve changed the “shred those fats” font colour to white instead of black. So that it will be easier when seen from afar.

I’ve realized my mistakes and will improve in the future.

But overall, I do enjoy this project as it helps me train my image compositing. I’ve never done it before as I was an animation student and everything was made from scratch. So, the use of editing images on Photoshop can be quite new to me.

Project 3- Sequential Thinking (90 images)

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We were tasked to create a short stop-motion with the use of 90 images, beginning and ending with an image of us sleeping. We were also required to make 3 different major changes in between our sleeping shots. For my artwork, I’ve decided to use the power of teleportation and teleport to different places in a jiffy.

“When you’re late, all you have to do is teleport.”

I need this in real life tho. I’m always late. Urgh.

 

https://youtu.be/5D_t960mAjI 

 

Art Science Museum Visit

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When I first saw this work, it was pretty much straight forward. A cradle being rocked by a robotic hand in different rhythms. Without reading the text, I knew what this artwork is about. It shows how busy a mother can be that she could not even rock her own baby to sleep. From the artwork, it shows how even a role of a mother, someone who we close so dearly to our lives, can be replaced by robot.

Upon reading more of the text given, what I have guessed were mostly true. Since mothers in the 21st century are more advanced and highly-qualified for a full-time job, can they still balance their tasks as a mother? The artist was questioning whether robots can affect the development of a baby’s growth by taking over the most sacred job in the world; being a mother.

 

When I saw this artwork from far, it looked like a normal cute but semi-realistic baby put in glass cases. Upon closer inspection, I’ve realized that there were deficiencies on the baby and they were not normal at all. Some of them had holes in their head while some of them had gills (as shown in the picture above). This is highly disturbing to me and I was pretty confused about what it was. My initial thought was about us humans relying too much on robots that it has somehow spread around as a “virus” and affects (or mutated) the birthing of our children.

 

However, upon reading the text, the artist’s intention was to question whether we should have modifications on babies who were born with a deficiency and how they should perform surgical procedures in order to allow the babies to fit into society once they are older. They were planning to have an operation and modification done so that they won’t have any problems or disabilities when growing up in the future.

Image, Sound and Memory: A Day Before University.

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In this artwork, I’ve decided to use the memory of when it was the final day of holidays and the start to a new journey.

I didn’t spend much time having fancy celebrations to start off a new chapter in my life. I’ve decided to make it simple and be grateful for the little things that I will miss when the hectic life of university begins.

 

Sound Arts: Reading Assignment

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What is sound?

Sound is the wavelength and vibrations we hear transmitted from everyday things we see, hear and touch. According to the article, almost all activities in the world has an aural component. There’s 4 different kind of sounds found in the article. Namely sound art, sound scape, sound sculpture and sound design.

How has it been used in society?

Sounds are everywhere around us and we can never avoid sounds. From the alarm we hear in the morning, to the youtube videos we watch right before we head to bed. Sounds are used as a form of entertainment, such as television shows, music and movies. At the same time, sounds are used as a form of an emergency. From sirens to the SOS signal. Lastly, sounds are also used as a form of communication. We talk to people everyday face to face and also through phone call or video call. It’s mostly used as a form of communication to understand each other.

What makes it an art?

The composition of the sound determines whether it’s art. Adding melody and tunes can make the sound an art. For example music, producers and composers compressed, normalized and fill every moment and crevice of the groove with sound. Something that is pleasing to the ear can be an art. Audience must feel an emotion to let that particular sound be an art. If that sound does not spark much feeling in the audience, then it’s not really an art.

How does advancement in audio technology affect our sense?

Aural displays are mostly associated with visual screening to aid us in our journey of looking/listening to Art. They are there to guide us and to not make the audience confused about the art piece. It sparks a tint of excitement when we hear sound art with a visual screening on the wall. We’ve became highly dependent on technology to determine our emotions of a particular piece.

 

 

Sound Arts: Interesting Finds

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Christine Sun Kim – Game of Skill 2.0

https://vimeo.com/142659892

Christine Sun Kim was born deaf. She created the Game of Skill 2.0 to show the audience how much effort is needed to do a simple everyday job such as listening.  Audience are to interact with the showcase by moving in the line provided by Christine. As they move along the lines, the handheld device will start to emit sounds (narrative written by Christine, read by an intern at the museum). The sounds will be emitted based on the way they hold the device and also the speed and direction that they are moving.  This is known as “scrubbing”.

I feel that this piece was made to create awareness to the audience. We sometimes take advantage of our 5 daily senses and are never thankful only until it’s gone. This interactive display is good for educational purpose too as it teaches children and even adults to always be grateful for being able to do everyday tasks with ease.

Great Animal Orchestra – Bernie Krause

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXQBnFK-zYc

Bernie Krause has recorded the sound of thousands of animals in nature and place them in a recording. It was a music from nature as Bernie aims to raise awareness of animal extinction on our planet. Most of the sounds he recorded were of animals that is on the verge of extinction. He indicated how most audience would find it boring to just listen to the sounds of nature which is why he added in visuals to make it more interesting. He included different sound wavelength to indicate different animals. Animals who has a higher pitch will be placed on top and more waves would appear where as animals with a lower pitch will be placed at the bottom and lesser wavelengths will appear.

I find this piece very interesting as it shows the importance of listening and how it is better if both our visuals and hearing can be combined together to create a better display and interaction.

Reading Assignment: Rhetoric of the Image Reflection

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  • What are some of the key questions Barthes aims to investigate in the article?

a) Can analogical representation produce true systems of signs and not merely simple agglutinations of symbols?

b) Is it possible to conceive of an analogical ‘code’ (as opposed to digital ones)?

c) How does the meaning get into the image? Where does it end? And if it ends, what is there beyond?

  • What are some of the key terms/ concepts introduced and discussed?

Three Messages:

Linguistic: Images and photographs has different supports such as captions or texts. By using texts with images, it helps the audience to receive a more detailed information as to what the company is advertising. It is a support to the image as some advertisements can be lacking in their photos but with the texts, it has helped the companies get their messages and agendas across.

A coded/non-coded iconic message: Information are gathered from what is seen from the advertisement visually with no texts or words involved. Audience judge the content by being able to identify identifiable objects and then decode the message from there. Able to judge cultural/literal messages too. Literal image is denoted whereas the symbolic image is connoted. Literal images are in a pure state (unedited) and taken by cameras whereas symbolic images are created based from different artists with different styles.

  • Do you agree or disagree with his argument and point of view?

I agree with his argument as it is important how the audience are able to denote/connote the information by just looking at the advertisement without having to refer anything. Audience are also able to denote the advertisement with the help of the additional texts added. Placement of images and texts, colours, shapes and sizes also plays a major part in providing a good user experience to the audience. For example, placement of texts help guide the user to read from a direction they would want. Same goes to colour. A bright colour will mostly likely attract the attention first compared to a dimmer/dull colour. Realness of the photograph plays a big part too. Some people would refer the images to be snapped on cameras instead of it being hand-drawn or done by human as that will be less-detailed compared to capturing a shot on the camera.

  • Provide a brief analysis (200 words) on an advertisement of your choice by using the terms/ concepts proposed by Barthes and discuss the role of text and its relationship with the image in the advertisement. Please include an image the advertisement in your post.

Milo advertisement Philippines

I have chosen this Milo advertisement as an example. In here, you can see the spillage/explosion happening from the cup of Milo, which allows audience to see how this cup of Milo will give them a boost/blast of energy when they drink it. The advertisement has a consistent colour of green (Milo’s colour) which gives it a recognizable feeling when this advertisement is viewed from far. Sans Serif font is used to show a sporty side to the drink. Even the sentence “Get Champion Energy Every Day” shows how the drink is for those who are having an active day ahead and to kick-start it with a cup of Milo to give them all the energy they need. They even added in the lists of the nutrients to show the power of the drink. Lastly, an added bonus, they added in an image of a good-looking man to attract the attention of the users.

 

Project 1B: Paradox

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In this exercise,  we were told to create 1 original composition based on the theme paradox. The elements included should at least be distinctively local and include an image of us.

Happy Singapore

Ideation : 

I’ve decided to focus on a subject that almost every true blue Singaporean felt/went through when growing up in Singapore, that is education. Another purpose for me to create this piece was also to raise awareness. Suicide amongst kids has been on a rise since the recent years due to the high expectations adults expect from children. Children by the age of K2 are already receiving tuition, in order to prepare them for primary school. A good education means that it will also be good for the economy and also in the eyes of people outside of Singapore. It is somewhat a way to attract foreigners to come and get their education papers in Singapore.

The playground in the picture represents the fun kids are suppose to have when they’re young and not just facing textbooks and notes 24/7. On the playground, you can see me sitting there, pondering with a half smiley face. This shows that as time goes by, the smiley face disappears. As education gets more and more stressful, it shows the true expression and feeling students/children have.

As for the Singapore skyline, it is use to signify how big and beautiful Singapore is. This is how we portray ourselves to foreigners but nobody sees how we are suffering with education every single day. Money are used as background to represent how it’s all about money when you’re in Singapore. Some people have benefits if they come from a wealthy family.

On the high-rise building, kids’ silhouettes can be seen jumping off the buildings one by one. This represents the suicides done by children in Singapore for the past few years. They are seen in  black silhouettes as it shows how empty they are.

Scaling: In this piece, I base the importance of each factor by sizes. The bigger it is, the more important it is. The Singapore Skyline and money are the largest which shows that it has the biggest importance in our society. Whereas the kids are the smallest which shows their importance in society.

What do you enjoy about this assignment?:

I enjoyed layering the images to create an original composition. It may be tedious, but I felt very satisfied when I blend the background, foreground and props of the images. I also gave it a purple hue to give it a gloomy yet happy feels.

Further improvements:

I can make my face bigger and try to make it the main attraction in the piece as it shows a more detailed look of the half-smiley and half-sad face. And I would also like to make the composition look less messy as the main focus is not so obvious. And also proportion and direction wise for the silhouettes of the kids.

 

Project 1A: Strange Encounter

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For this exercise, we were made to visual an incident whereby we fell asleep in a train and waking up to a whole different universe, filled with creatures we have created from our own ideas.

I have chosen the theme “Phobias” for this exercise.

Clown Nightmare, Bobby

Hole eyes, Flopper

Miss Lady Beard

 

Background Idea:

My idea of the characters are something that would totally freak you out when you have just woken up. Lack of sleep (fatigue) can cause hallucinations especially when you are both physically and mentally tired. People who have hallucinations tend to see their worst fears/phobias. Cause let’s face it, nobody has ever had such happy hallucinations.

Process:

I googled for a list of phobias that has ever existed around the world and I was shocked to know that basic-everyday things we see/use are considered “phobias” to other people. Some of the examples are beards, telephone dials, balloons, drivings etc. I combined the ideas into 3 different characters. With the clown being the scariest and the man-lady being the least. I’ve asked around a lot and it’s not a surprise to know that a lot of people hate clowns. They’re just creepy. On to the next lower level, I used a deep sea creature, merging together lotus flowers as eyes. I have a horrible fear of both deep sea and trypophobia (fear of holes). Lastly, I’ve merged together phobias which are not know to most of us. Things from our everyday lives (yes, that includes the lady too). All in all, the merging part was fun as I get to unleash my inner creativity to create one of the freakiest/scariest characters ever. I can’t imagine that clown chasing me. Would’ve probably dropped dead by then.

Challenges and improvement points:

Had a hard time googling the images… Not because it was hard to find but because I’m googling images of my own fears. Staring at it for a few hours straight really caused my hair on the back of my neck to stand. In addition, I can try to link the 3 characters together and form a story because as of now, the 3 of them seems totally separated and are just characters on its own. Even the colours are not even. Some are brightly coloured whereas some are of a monotonous colour.