For the first assignment, I dealt with communication between people with a public sphere element – payphones being in public areas, one side of the communication is “for all to see and hear”.
For the second assignment, I dealt with communication between people with a private sphere element – the sofa in your home.
Both of which I tried to deal with the ideal of a fleeting communication. With regards to the first project, in the past, people used to call a lot using payphones as they were easily accessible since handphones were not the norm. Now payphones are still around although harder to find. This project was sparked off by my mum using the payphones on the way to the market to call me. While in the second project, I was dealing with a space that I felt most of the conversation/communication would occur in a home apart from the dining table (some families have a “no talking while eating policy”). Yet, for this project, I’m not sure if I want to still deal with a particular space. I was thinking of moving on into a white-washed and clean place for the video.
Also, with regards to subject matter, I’m thinking of moving on from the previous two projects whereby I was concerned with communication between family members in the second project, and in the first (sorta anyway, in a way at least, since it sparked from my mum using a payphone to call me) although it was definitely not limited to calls between family members. For this project, I would like to explore the communication I have between me and my sister. We don’t talk very often now. We used to at least. I guess it’s all part of growing up and becoming busy and having no time for each other.
In all, explore relationship with my sister. Reconciling even?
Overarching idea is the utilitarian idea of family relationships. How they are all quite messy and complicated.
PRELIMINARY 50 WORD NARRATIVE
Mei. Are you there?
Mei. I’ve missed you.
Mei. Do you know how much I missed you?
Mei. Can you hear me?
Mei. Don’t push me away.
Mei. Happy birthday, I bought you a soft toy.
Mei. Work hard. And come back to me.
Comments:
– Cut out a few sentences so that it’ll be stronger.
Prof asked at the end of lesson, where I intended to film it. I replied that I was thinking of 2 backgrounds.
1. Clean white room – white walls, white floor.
2. Bedroom – beds.
The first location is because I was thinking that maybe it should be clean and non-distracting. It is a stark contrast between a empty white-washed room and 2 people inside interacting. There would be this form a displacement in a sense, and hence the attention is concentrated on the 2 people.
The second location is because my bedroom is the place where most of the communication I have between me and my sister is held. It is our shared intimate space. Since we are usually working in opposite ends of the house, it is only in the bedroom before we sleep do we play with each other or talk to each other more deeply than just the superficial level. Even so, nowadays, this has decreased since both of us are even busier, yet it has staunchly remained in this place.
I don’t have a white room to take photos and try. Neither do I know where.
I did take photos of my bedroom and beds to give a sense of how everything plays out.
Overall view of the bedroom where both me and my sister sleeps and interacts the most.
Zoom in on the area where my sister sleeps
The area where my sister sleeps (top part)
The area where I sleep (top part)
I’m not exactly sure of my direction yet hence I went to search for artists and their works which deal with intimate family relationships.
ARTIST RESEARCH – MONA HATOUM
Measures of Distance (1988)
It is a video work comprising of several layered elements. Firstly, letters written by Hatoum’s mother in Beirut to her daughter in London appear as Arabic text moving over the screen. They are read aloud in English by Hatoum. The background images are slides of Hatoum’s mother in the shower, taken by the artist during a visit to Lebanon. Taped conversations in Arabic between mother and daughter, in which her mother speaks openly about her feelings, her sexuality and her husband’s objections to Hatoum’s intimate observation of her mother’s naked body are intercut with Hatoum’s voice in English reading the letters.
The main thing that comes across is a very close and emotional relationship between mother and daughter(it also discusses about exile, displacement, disorientation and a great sense of loss as a result of the separation caused by war). The work is constructed visually in such a way that every frame speaks of literal closeness and implied distance.
+ and – (1994 – 2004)
Although this work has nothing to do with relationships, I found this piece quite poetic. Although what I feel is completely differently from what the artist probably intended, I have my own take on it. To me, I feel that jagged knife-rake part represents sort of the way my sister leaves this sadness and anger in me(due to us being not close, frustrations within the relationship etc), and the smooth knife smooths out the textures left behind by the rake is me in a way trying to reconcile with myself internally and my sister. And this goes on and on, because life is symbolically quite cyclical and keeps going on and on, there will always be new problems/grievances, but there will always be smoothed out.
My original idea is to video my sister and me doing a very interpretative sleep-dance sort of thing which tells a story of our relationship. I was thinking of doing a sort of part 2 of my A levels video installation(which I’ll link down below). I approached my sister telling her my concept of videoing her again. However, she violently refused as she has upcoming A levels too. So yep, I can’t touch her. And there goes my idea of doing an interpretative story video.
A Levels Video Installation (for reference of the original idea I had of doing and the components that I was thinking of including and it’s significance)
To explain some elements in the video. This is just the original video taken and not the final work. The final video is a stop motion with 2 layers of videos playing at the same time. The final work is an installation, whereby there are two single size beds placed side by side erected up vertically onto a wall. At the base on the floor, there are 2 soft toys that I made from red cloth and filled with saga seeds.
Saga seeds: a representation of love(not necessarily between couples for me) and memories. I remember I used to go exploring with my sister and we would pick saga seeds from the ground as souvenirs from our adventures.
Beds: As mentioned earlier, bedrooms are very intimate spaces. For me and my sister, this is where most of the communication happens – right before we sleep or just taking a break from our respective daily activies to play and chat for a while.
Soft toys: Soft toys are a medium in which we communicate. They are like proxies as we project ourselves onto them. We used to (and still do albeit lesser) play with them by creating stories and giving each toy a different persona. We would then through this discuss our day and talk about endless other topics and go on adventures. The soft toys chosen are the ones that we love the most out of our relatively extensive collection that presides on our beds.
Anyway because of the setback, I had to tweak my idea. Instead, I went to video my sister studying. She saw me videoing her but since I’m not directly disturbing or disrupting her studying, she was quite okay with it.
I wasn’t sure how to best do it so I took many different angles of her studying. Below are the different tries:
From back top down angle
Diagonal top angle
Diagonal table top angle
Side top angle
Frontal closeup angle
Diagonal top-up angle
Side table-top angle
Personally, I like the close up frontal view and the top down view from behind her. I feel that these viewpoints are more interesting.
During her study break, I was talking to my sister. I recorded this conversation with her that is 18 mins long.
Some notes:
– every line break signifies change in speaker
– my mum came into the room halfway to ask about lunch options – I left out this section
– lines like this <…> mean that the other person is talking at the same time in the middle of the speaker’s sentence
The following is the transcript:
This is the kakao talk character ryan
what’s the kakao talk
Kakao talk is like line
oh the korean version ah
actually line also korean if I’m not wrong
really ah i thought china ah
i dunno japan or korea. you see the vegetable ah he always hide then he suddenly come out
i bet the horse costume very hard to…
very hard, he keep bumping into people and he can’t walk
very heavy also
actually the one in the middle he wanted a young master costume but in the end this count? came
oh they get to pick what costume they want?
ya they get to pick
and then the guy pick a cabbage?
no actually he wanted cheese one eh but then because that one got rabbit so he wanted to be a cabbage in the end. haha damn funny they keep tripping over each other hahaha he can’t turn. freaking funny. hahah they change the choreography damn funny. and then hands up he can’t put his hands up. but not bad ah they can dance inside
but quite cute eh
every year they will have this kind for halloween
that’s so cute
ah then you watch this, coming already, you see what he do. he’s supposed to dance like the shoulder, in the end he drink water
was that purposely smack the-
i don’t know
cabbage costume i cannot
he very cute, he always hide and then suddenly come out
eheh so cute, i love his cabbage. that one’s bumping
damn cute every year they will do this kind, there’s one year they did uh even for choo seok right
what’s choo seok?
mid-autumn. they dance in those- wait i show you
why never tick anything off your revision list
it’s supposed to be every week i’m supposed to do eh
ARE YOU SERIOUS
most of them i write per week per week, unless i never state…why?
do you accomplish them?
uh not all haha. cos i always go school. i go school almost every day. they do this. the 95-liner, means they born in 95 right. they have problem with the headband, damn funny
why 95 liner what what what’s the
95 liner means – eh don’t touch the, just take the tissue, cos a bit dusty, they have problem. it keeps- normally we, in korea, koreans call it like 95-liner that kind. 94-liner. cos they’re born in that year. they are this kind of activation. you see the head, got problem with it. the other one, this one also
this also for halloween is it
this one is for choo-seok thats why they dress up in traditional costume
don’t look very traditional leh
uh, by right it is lah
it’s like the taobao cheapo version, know what i mean right
oh i know i know i know
like, like, ya lor. cos yesterday right, during cca right. then we were looking at costumes right. for this new dance right.then suddenly my vice-chair was rage-moding down there
why?
she’s like, this one is the fake kind
really?
as in, the taobao fake kind.
<aiya it’s like that one ah, ah they have this kind>
then she show this is the more real kind, then she was like. oh you see the sleeve here like that. it should be like that not like that then then she was like. wah then she started rage-moding, ranting about how to tell which range is the real one
this is halloween 2 years back
oh they always film in this studio
this is their dance studio actually. the other one that they film in is nowadays they use that one
<hehe charlie chaplin>
cos their choreography getting bigger
and ya the costume also getting bigger lah. the horse take up how much space sia
actually this one, the beggar, whatever he is ah, very funny
beggar, no lah! he’s supposed to be from jail. what beggar sia
ya ya ahah. i think it’s psychotic
joker
he
what’s this? am i supposed to know
i dunno i can’t remember
[Mummy comes in here]
they have different appeal, like this one. this is freaking funny. i mean like, it’s not THAT funny but he keeps laughing. but this is the actual choreography ah actually. but they change here a bit. there he start laughing for no reason
eheh so funny, he trying so hard
he is this one actually
oh i didn’t know your phone behind got picture now. oh you put inside. why never put a picture of me and you why you put of him
that’s damn long already
why you never put us why you put him
i don’t have
what don’t have, we go take a photo then i go print
<don’t want>
how bout that, i go print. we put a photo of us at the back of your phone.
i wanna remove already
wh- YA remove ah! remove him then put us ah.
dowan ah.
why dowan. this unknown person then there’s like both of us. why you wanna put some
<wait still have>
unknown korean guy who doesn’t even know-
—
still have.
what still have, you never answer my question ha,
<eh shh>
never answer my question you better put our picture haha
there he keep laughing again. HAHah. actually this is one of their easiest choreography, but then horh you know, in concerts on stage they have the real bed. and the bed is the normal kind of mattress, so when they stand very- you know
oh not easy
then they always fall from it, freaking funny
this studio looks so much smaller though
it’s quite small actually. but actually you know, all these doors behind. it’s like another room one
ya la of course ah
why so weird
ya why you need 3 doors, 4 doors. heheh freaking 4 doors 1, 2, 3 4
but actually a lot of things inside this kind of room one eh
maybe it’s like, storeroom. like one of them storeroom, another one-
but they can sit inside also.
where the guy suddenly pok out from
the bed ah
as in, he wasn’t in the original con-
is.
orh. my god, so act cutes
this song is like that what. this song is, ya Embarrassed. actually got two names, one is Blanket Kid, one is Embarrassed.
blanket kid and embarrassed.
because the song is about liking-
wet dreams
liking a girl lah what the
i mean, blanket kid and embarrassed, both of them got no link you know
not really, eh i show you this
you’ve been showing me a lot of things
aiya i rest time, if not i do work already
what time you start work
soon
haa what time you wake up today sia
supposed to be 7
7? you know i don’t wake up so early for school.
<i woke up at like almost 10>
i wake up at like 8. nowadays i wake up at 8:05, 8:10. eheheh then ah at least you woke up at 10, i woke up at 11
-more irrelevant chinese-
i’m gonna be blind for like a good 20 minutes
i wanted to show you eh
what you want me to show me
stage presence, vely good.
actually the same, it’s the same song as just now, eh? ya its the same song as just now
the blanket kid song?
nonono, the first one i show you. but his stage presence so good. oh wait, then i should show you the other one. have i shown you this? i think i show mama already. this- i won’t show you the 6-minute one ah. just the-
i don’t have the stamina to watch korean thing like that
it has a storyline
eh i have not watch yesterday the taiwan show eh. what did i miss ah
i dunno i never watch
harh, you never watch? why you never watch. is this a real museum in korea?
fake one
that was what i was thinking, it’s too much western influence.
<but very elaborate ya. it’s very elaborate their sets>
too much. it’s too much ancient…references.
wah the shirt collar nice eh
it’s all Gucci, they’re dressed all in Gucci
are you serious?!
very high budget this one
wah they buy ah
mm
so much money ah
they buy. after that, all the things give them
HWWAAH
i like this colour party a lot
you know, korean guy’s lips look like girl’s lips, you know. i swear.
stop it.
i mean, if you cover, you cover their hair right. you cover their eyes sometimes right. you look at the bottom of their face right, then you’ll be like, is that a girl? there there there, see see. see see. he cover himself already.
stop
*sigh* oh shit that room looks cool. who’s your favourite one?
not yet.
that guy looks chinese though
this?
ya.
he is damn smart. 1% in korea
huh 1% in korea?
top 1%
are you serious?!
the kind of lyrics he writes for songs very good one. it’s very- like mind, mind-provocative.
mind-provoking. wait, so that guy is your favourite?
this one ah, ya. he’s actually DAMN good-looking.
is he the leader?
no
this one right
ya just now. he’s the second youngest. this is the youngest
oh
he’s one year older than me only eh
HUH one year older than you, younger than me?
ya
are they talking about money
want it more more more. won hei is more
orh
money money is more. won hei money money
i thought like. qian
no, actually before the thing came out everybody thought it was money
i want yo money money
then this is the
but sounds very indian inspired, you know like the way they say it want yo money money
no it’s from the bo, bo something trap some
what is bo something track
aiya i don’t know, but they say it’s damn, it’s damn popular now in the states and stuff, that’s why they came up with this kind of song
ya it’s the- it sounds very american song
trap, ya trap
wah their set is really very elaborate eh. what the hell that dance move. where’s your favourite
you know this two they bring up right, it’s legit the set is really two storeys one eh
are you serious?!
ya
and then can open up to this?
uh no
<oh that one is camera play>
i’m not talking about that. but then. but then the height right, he really have to jump down eh.
i want take more more more more more more AHAH. what do they want more? so has your korean improved listening to all these. and learning all the lyrics.
improve by lyrics ah, not really. my korean don’t improve by lyrics but by
watching drama
watching drama and reading korean
oh so you can read korean already ah, i didn’t know that
no…um i only can recognise some words only that’s all
in uni ah, take korean mod in uni. but you have to be prepared to like S/U it.
this is real also eh, even all the pipes is real.
are you serious?!
he say he went in and then he zhuanggdao, damn funny. actually everything in this video has symbolism one eh.
so what’s the pipes supposed to symbolise?
uh i don’t know about that
then?
then the rest, like the um the things, the props they use all got symbolism
then why they have the pietta prop. I mean why do they have the pietta sculpture.
this is- dunno lah. watch
you don’t know then you tell me
just watch
this is damn absurd
damn hungry already sia. what, he kiss the angel. HUUH then the angel become real
fake laaah
no as in, i’m asking if the, after that
no
why would he be kissing a sculpture angel
it’s all symbolism, there’s a story behind this
what, kiss then the michaelangelo one is it: he will let the angels out of the marbles
no, eh watch
A MONEYMONEY…that’s damn creepy. there, this is the pietta sculpture. not this, as in just now the
<it’s not>
the virgin mary holding babe jesus
even that thing on top the line, the words on top got symbolism. everything has symbolism though.
but too much, too much visual. too much visual story that’s not strong on it’s own, you know what i mean?
it’s based on a book, that’s why.
a korean book lah
no, it has, it’s english book. okay, time to go.
have to go what?
prepare, excuse me.
prepare what, where are you going? you need anything from art friend or not? i’m going art friend again, next week
hm?
i’m going art friend next week
next week?
ya where you going? why you leaving the room? ORH oh cos you going to cut hair i forgot eheh
ARTIST RESEARCH – APICHATPONG WEERSAETHAKUL
Uncle Boon Me Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010)
Watched this full film in class(notes and pointers I jotted down is in the other OSS post). Overall, I understand the broad storyline, but some parts of the story I don’t know what’s going on, especially with the relatively jarring addition of photos in between. Despite that, the photo element is quite interesting.
Hence for the “final video” I’ve took elements from the masters.
On top of the video of my sister studying, I have an overlay of the conversation I had with my sister that is handwritten. Why handwritten and not just typing it out which is easier? Personally, I strongly feel that we should always write instead of type to show sincerity. I believe in handwriting letter than typing them as it is more raw and full of one’s own flair and character. It gives it a more personal type. Hence my decision to painstakingly write out everything before I take photos of them and overlaying on top of the video. This component is inspired by the way Mona Hatoum overlays the letters her mum wrote on top of the video of her bathing.
At the end of the video, I ended it by adding snapshots of me and my sister together. This component is inspired by Apichatpong. I place the pictures in chronological order, from the earliest to the latest. They are all of special memories. 2002 family excursion to an orchid garden, ?? science museum, 2013 after my last Chinese dance concert with NAFA, 2016 polaroid with my sister. In a way, as a reconciliation that despite how far I feel that I’ve grown from my sister, we are still sisters, we have many strong and fond memories to look back to.
For the final video, I’ve chosen to use frontal close-up view of my sister studying. It has a better view of my sister studying, in that you can see her hands moving across the paper. Half her face is shown most of the time, with the other hand, showing how she is very focused on her task at hand, while giving it a slight mysterious edge.
Why did I choose to overlay the video of my sister studying with pictures of handwritten text of the conversation instead of just including the sound clip? I felt that by rewriting, it is a form of going back through the conversation that we had and reflecting and internalizing it.
In addition, I’m cool with misspellings and cancellations across the paper. I feel that it does not have to be perfect. We normally have some mistakes, we just acknowledge, redo or correct it and carry on. Which has some parallels!
Different Handwritten Text Format Tryouts
I tried out writing on a plain piece of paper.
I tried writing on foolscap paper. I quite like this as it sort of draws parallels to my sister studying as she is seen writing on one in the video. And it’s quite universal that students use foolscap as their main writing pad.
I couldn’t really decide which was better hence I input it into Premiere Pro to try out and then decide.
Foolscap Opaque Overlap
Foolscape 75% Opacity Overlap
Foolscap 60% Opacity Overlap
Plain Paper Opaque Overlap
Plain Paper 70% Overlap
Plain Paper 100% Opacity Blending Mode: Overlay
My favourite 2 ones are the Foolscap 70% Opacity Overlap and Plain Paper 100% Opacity Overlay Blending Mode. The former is because I feel that it ties with the whole studying idea + letter. The latter is because the background mostly blends away with the video of my sister. Some of the words can be seen while others not, which makes it quite hard to read yet mysterious. I mean, technically, relationships are a very private thing, you won’t want to share everyyything right.
Pre-Final Video
So I did a video of whatever I mentioned above. This was intended to be my final video. After completing it, I feel very unhappy about it. It doesn’t really convey what I wanted in an interesting and provoking manner. So yep gonna try again SIGH. (Premiere Pro is a chore I swear.)
FINAL VIDEO
Instead, I decided to swap out the overlay of text for a more simple and “rustic” plain voice recording of our interaction/conversation during her study break.
50 Word Write Up
Mei. Are you there?
Mei. I’ve missed you.
Mei. Do you know how much I missed you?
Mei. Don’t push me away.
Mei. There’s so much to share with you.
Mei. Work hard. And come back to me.
Mei. I love you, don’t ever forget that.