My idea is playing with the time needed to refill a water bottle. I remember having to patiently wait for my bottle to be filled up. I thought of it, thus decided to show it in this 30-second video.
I refill the smallest bottle then proceeds to put them into the next smallest size bottle. The cycle repeats.
Sound: I overlay the refill water sound effect in the foreground to show that all the bottles being refilled are the same one.
Visual effect: I use the glitched effect to show that the time is not accurate in as shown in my video.
Special thanks to Lixin, Siti, JiaXi, Debbie, Jeremin’s bottles of sacrifice
My group consists of Stella, LiYing, Lixin and me.
This was what my group interpretation for the 4 categories.
Silence – Transitional
Sound – On purpose
Noise – Sounds that goes unnoticed, extra
Listening – A form of communication, following instructions
This was inspired by an event when Lixin witness a poor soul who bought a snack but it got stuck in the vending machine.
Roles:
Stella – Buyer
Li Ying – Snack
Li Xin – Vending Machine
Whitney – ADM Door beeping
1. Stella at the vending machine wanting to buy a snack. Sounds:(Noise) ADM door beeping in the background
2. She uses her finger to pressed against the keypad. Sounds:(Sound) beep beep sounds from the keypad
3.The vending machine gives instruction to Stella "Please insert your coins". Sounds: (Listening) Stella inputs her coins
4. Stella uses her finger to pressed against the keypad. Sounds:(Sound) beep beep sounds from the keypad
5. The snack got stucked while dispending. Sound:(Sound to Silence).
6. Stella kicks and nudge the vending machine. Sounds: (Sound): Kicking
7. The snack is dispended Sounds: (Sound to Silence) Machinery sounds & the time frame of the snack falling down.
8. The snack fall. Sounds: (Noise) The door is still beeping throughout, (Sound) when the snack fall.
Personally, I enjoyed our group’s skit. By recreating the sounds using our mouth makes the skit more interesting and weird. We originally wanted to search for vending machine sounds and played them during the skit but we didn’t have enough time. But turns out that not having the diegetic sounds made the skit more humorous and interesting. Too bad we did not manage to film what we did in class but if you gather the four of us and we will do a live demo for you. Muhahaha
This is my response to another group’s work Chen Guo, Gwen, Debbie, and Gina did a sound response.
We were a gathered to the center of the class and they switched off all the lights. We were told to close our eyes and imagine that we are the character in the scene.
I do agree that silence can not only be express by having completely any sound but having soft sounds or high pitch sounds.
The aftermath of the crash left the audience (me) with a sense of grief and isolation. It seems that I am the sole survivor of this disaster. It continued with the fuzzy white noises and sound of water brings me to a rather low negative mood. I think their attempt was successful as I could understand and felt the emotion that they want to put across through this soundscape. I think it was interesting how they were able to create a narrative even though most of the sound they used are diegetic as they rely solely on audio.
I enjoyed the ending (the church sound) as it can have two interpretation, either you are the sole survivor of the crash or you died in the crash.
Q: Watch the attached soundless clip and respond to it. What are some of the ideas or interpretations derived from the visuals of the video?
This is my response to the soundless clip posted on Week 8. When I first look at the clip, I immediately thought World War 2, gun fires, bomb explosion.
Brainstorm a list of 20 places that you have never been before
Winter, Autumn
World War 3
Back in ancient periods
Conscience
Paralyzed
DayDreams/ Dreams/ Nightmares
Northern Lights
Conscious
Being an insect, bird
Moral Values
Being a flower, Potato
Illusion, Delusion
The Atlantic Ocean
Magic Magic Magic
Telephone
Psychopath
Smoke
Harry Potter
Clock/Time
CartoonShows
Narrowing down & ideation for some places.
Conscious (Moral Values) Brighter and calming sounds can use to represent the right decision to act upon while darker heavy sounds represent the wrong decision.
DayDream (Musical box, Clouds, Giggles, Heavenly like atmosphere, Peaceful)
I decided to choose “Anxiety” as my concept for this project.
Everyone will experience anxiety at some point in time. It can be hard to tell the difference between anxiety disorder and normal anxiety. I do feel some anxiety during stressful periods, but personally, I have not experienced anxiety disorder first hand. I believed the symptoms are a hundred times more intense of normal anxiety.
More than often, we always brush off things that they could not visually see, unlike other disease or illness. Mental disorder has always been hard to spot and discovered by another individual. It seems to be a taboo to raise the issue and they will rather suffer in silence than to speak up.
Thus I wanted to venture into how it really feels like to have a true anxiety disorder. Anxiety takes places mentally, it is a place that Ihas never been before.
I watch video on people who have talked about their anxiety and this is my interpreting their anxiety.
Artist references
Short Film About Anxiety – Mikey Murphy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXiqond9hmYA
This was one of the videos I stumbled across as I was looking into how anxiety feels like. He plays with the visual of the film, where he flashes the main character sitting in the room and the next second he is in pain underwater. This gives me a good idea of how I should arrange my scenes and the visual effects that I can play with complementing my sounds.
Raven Kwok – 1194D^3
The visual here does a fantastic job in complementing the sounds he uses. The black and white color shceme in contrast to the super colorful scenes shows the big difference between the two moods. I think it would be good to apply this contrast between the reality and the anxiety world so that it is clear to the audience.
Storyboarding
#1st attempt Lo-fi Storyboard
1) Main character looking at herself in the mirror to ensure herself she can do it. She walks into a crowd in school.
Visual: Middle Closeup, Longshot, Middle shot
Sounds :
Foreground – Footsteps getting heavier each step
Midground – Soft ticking, breathing sounds
Background – Crowd talking noisily
2) The symptoms of anxiety start showing
Gradually transit into a faster pace
Sounds :
Foreground: Heavy breathing, heart beating faster
Background: Stalking, Creepy music
Visual: Close up, Extreme close up
3) Climax most intense point of her anxiety
Visual: Quick Flashes, Blurry, Double image
Sounds :
Foreground: Non-diegetic sounds, Diegetic
Background: Intense, Fast beats
4) Main character took a breather on the rooftop alone.
Visual: Longshot, slow panning, space.
Sounds :
Foreground: Slowing down of heartbeat, footsteps. Heavy to light breathing
Background: Calming music, lighthearted
#1st attempt Hi-fi Storyboard
Recording my sounds
Some of the sound clips that I have recorded by myself.
Feedback by Serena: My sounds are messy and do not have a smooth flow, it stops abruptly hahahaha *sweats*
After the initial draft, I felt that the introduction of the character in the crowded environment was taking up too much time, leaving lesser time for me to show the anxiety world in the main character. I decided to move the scenes around to leave more screen time for expressing the world of anxiety.
AFTER CONSULTATION
#2nd attempt Lo-fi Storyboard
Exploring non-diegetic sounds & diegetic sounds.
I am intrigued by the idea of matching using non-diegetic sounds. When the sound does not match the visual, it will create an interest in the audience leading the feeling uncomfortable as it isn’t right. This off feeling sets the audience into an uneasy mood, which is my main aim for me to express anxiety.
Diegetic Sounds that I am going to use
• Running Footsteps
• Heavy Breathing
• Crowd Talking
• Clock Ticking
Non-diegetic sound that I am going to use
• Gentle waves, Water splashes (Visual: Main character running)
- The sound of the crash then fades away and the listener is just left with silence, giving the feeling of isolation or abandonment, the sound of rain further emphasizes these negative feelings.
• Clock Ticking (Visual: Flipping through a book)• Gun trigger (Visual: Lightstick turn on)
- I tried to explore changing the sound of the “trigger” then tight and suffocating feeling.
• Metal Chain (Visual: Ribbon tightening on hand)
- I play around with the left and right sides during the metal chain part. I adjust the reverb effect to a big hall, which has more echo. I played with the left and right audio, so when the audience listens it seems that the chain is being dragged across the room, then finally the sudden tightening of the ribbon.
• Crushing of Glass (Visual: Crushing empty bag oe stepping on empty water bottle)
- Showing how an indivudal feels so suffocate and pressured during their attack
• White Noise (Visual: Main character in the state of anxiety attack)
- This sound is commonly usde to express creepy silence or no thoughts in the main character's head. However I want to express the chaos in her head thus I reduce the lenght of white noise used in the video.
#final Lo-fi Storyboard
1st half of the Soundscape (Visualise it with the above storyboard)
I rearranged my storyline as I think by arranging them like this, I am able to play around with the mood of the video better.
Using the raw audio I have records and some taken from royalty free websites. I have explored premier pro various audio effects and tried to apply them to my raw sound clips. As mention by Serena during the consultation that my sounds were all over the place. This time I took extra note on the transitions to smoothen out between each audio clips so that it doesn’t feel choppy.
Reverb Effect - Gives a little echo, depth into the audio by simulating of the sound of the audio playing in a room, hall, cathedral.
Constant Gain Transition – Gain crossfade at constant rate in and out.
Constant Power Transition – Smooth gradual dissolve transition, audio decrease slowly then quickly at the back.
Exponential Fade Transition – fades out first clips smoothen with a logarithmic curve while bringing up the second audio clip.
Final Timeline – 1st halfFinal Timeline – 2nd half
I tried to use the layering method to slowly build up the intensity of the anxiety emotion. After introducing the first element, before adding the second element, I will lower the volume for the first element and it fades into the background or midground. It was super hectic and confusing to have too many layers and parts.
FINAL VIDEO – Anxiety 1min 16sec
Feedbacks
Feedbacks: (Welp, I didn’t expect to have a good response, I thought my sounds were all over the place, but I guess that is the main point of it heh.)
Why not try to merge the two worlds between each frame? Instead of separating them into the first scene (walking in school), second scene (the world of anxiety) and the last scene (back to reality), it would be more intriguing to intersect the two worlds. The challenge would be how to differentiate the 2 worlds as they intersect each other.
The color scheme of the 2 worlds can be more obvious. (Initially I wanted to make everything that happens in the world of anxiety to be black and white, however, I felt that it will dull the impact of the chaos.
Random thoughts on my classmate’s projects
Gwendolyn: Using non-diegetic sounds as she puts on her makeup. It was really interesting to see her applying lipstick while having a matchstick being lit sound effect. It was sizzling hot when she added the fire at the end as she finished applying her lipstick. The concept was strong and powderful (get it, cause she’s wearing makeup). I hope to see more out of this concept.
Siti: It would be very interesting if the main character plays the roles of the patient, doctor, guard.
Debbie: Be more daring to try and exaggerated the cutesy sounds.
I searched up a few of the photography artist that were listed in the brief. Chema Madoz’s photography caught my interest the most. A lot of his works involves changing an object’s usual environment to an unfamiliar one. He is very creative in the way he creates optical illusions. What I picked up from Chema Madoz’s art is that he has a good well-balanced visual interesting composition which makes the object seems so natural in an odd environment. His works are mostly in black and white which helps blends the object with its new surroundings. I think I will try to go towards a minimalistic composition style so that I will be able to direct my audience’s attention to my object itself.
Exploring my object – The Iron
For the first shoot of my object is in its most commonly situated environment – the laundry room. The next few shots are how the iron performs its function. Since the newer iron has a steaming function. I contemplated whether I should also explore in that direction, but I decided to eliminate it and narrow down as I think the main function of an iron is still removing of wrinkles.
Background Reseach
I decided to research the history of iron, perhaps they were initially used for other purposes. I can’t believe I actually found this antique from my house. This is a charcoal iron, it generates heat to smoothen the wrinkles by smelting of iron ore with charcoal. It is very rusty and dusty.
Afterward, I explore the different parts of an iron through taking close up shots. For the newer iron, they come with a little hole at the first, making it look like a front seat of a vehicle.
At the start, I thought that the base of an iron would not be an interesting area to focus on. After the in-class exercise 2 where we listed out all the components of our object, I started to pay attention to all areas of an iron. As seen above, I had taken shots of 3 different irons and each of them has a different design on its base.
Component 2
COMPONENT 2A – BeforeCOMPONENT 2A – After
I tried to subvert the message by using it as a beauty product. I switched out its function, instead of ironing clothes to ironing a woman’s face that is full of wrinkles. If I were to choose this for component 3 I would probably be promoting an anti-aging cream as it implies the product to be as effective as an iron.
COMPONENT 2B – BeforeCOMPONENT 2B – After
The iron looks some sort like a mode transport, a train or big truck. I decided to scale up the iron’s size and presented it on a terraced hill.
COMPONENT 2C – BeforeCOMPONENT 2C – After
I thought that the metal triangular part of the iron looks like a defibrillator. I changed the function of the iron and presented it as a defibrillator.
Component 3
I decided to further explore 2 of the component 2 ideas.
IDEA 1
Purpose: Promote anti-aging cream by showing how effective it is.
Denotation: One half of the face will be wrinkled while the other half will be smooth free of wrinkles.
Connotation: The anti-aging cream is as effective as though you iron all your wrinkles out.
Linguistic: “Can never be smoother?” “We will get the hand done” “It can never get smoother than this”
Logos or product: Famous beauty product brand, Innisfree, SKII, The Face Shop…
The initial development from the rough sketches of my ideas (It’s so cringing I can’t HAHA)
IDEA 1
Purpose: Promote awareness of exposed wires.
Denotation: A full human lying on the ironing board. At the hospital elements (with IV drops, machines, monitor in the background) An pair of hands holding and two irons that have frayed wires.
Connotation: It is the doctor that is trying to save the human lying on the ironing board. The irons look like a defibrillator. Did he get burned by an iron?
Linguistic: ” Don’t shock your loved one” “Exposed wire can expose you to electric shock” From the linguistic the audience will make the connection that the curly frayed wires seem to have electric shock him.
Logos or product: Singapore safety awareness organization, a household appliance promoting to change to their product.
First attempt to get a shot of the angle for my poster
In the beginning, I had a composition where it is a directly top-down view of the iron, as it resembles how the doctor will look at the patient in bed. However, I needed to have an angle that still shows parts of the iron component.
Based on the first consultation feedback and after showing a few from my friends, they were not able to distinctly identify that the environment was in a hospital on a patient’s bed.
I had to add elements that hint to the hospital. I got myself a pair of purple medical gloves (Special thanks to Zi Xuan) to be the element that hints that it is situated in the hospital.
I was contemplating whether I should include a white blouse as that is usually what the doctors wear. However, the overall composition and color felt a bit off when I took the test shots. I decided that less is more. I figured that I could either add texture to the bedsheets maybe add the bed rails on the sides to further hint it.
In reference to the first project, where I research on the artist Lee Friedlander. He uses silhouettes to show his presence in his photographs. I chose not to use an actual human, it will be a distraction to the audience as it is the biggest element in the composition. Less is more.
The linguistic play a part to emphasize the main message that I wanted to get across. The words “Exposed Wires” gives confirmation to the audience that the emphasis is placed on the iron’s wire. There is a play on the word “Trip” as it meant both a journey to the hospital and when the wires electric shock the user. Lastly, the word “Hospital” reinforce the scene of the white sheets that depict the person in the hospital.
In the first photo 1A, it depicts the main purpose of an iron. In the second photo 1B, I tried to capture the texture and qualities of an iron. I decided to focus on the flat triangular metal part. In the third photo 1C, I presented the iron in its most familiar environment, on the ironing board. For each photo, I decided to have variety in terms of close up, long shot and extreme close up
Component 1AComponent 1BComponent 1C
Component 2: Connotation
Component 2A
The subverted message for component 2A was to change the object that an iron usually irons. Since iron removes wrinkles by smoothing them out, I switched out ironing clothes to ironing a woman’s face that is full of wrinkles. This can be used for promoting an anti-aging cream as it implies the product to be as effective as an iron.
Component 2B
For the second subverted message, I photoshop the iron terracing a hill. I added smoke behind to make it seems like it is functioning. I wanted to show the iron being presented as a useful technology invented to help us.
For the third subverted message, I changed the function of the iron and presented it as a defibrillator. This is inspired by the flat triangular shape of the iron that reminds me of the defibrillator.
However, I misunderstood the instructions for component 2. I should have remove the linguistic from the component 3 and used it as component 2.
Should-have-used-this-in-compontent-2
Component 3: Text and Image
For the final poster, I subverted the function of the iron to a defibrillator. I photoshopped the wires to resemble the curly wires on a defibrillator, this gives a clearer view that it is represented as another object. The white bed sheets and the blue medical gloves give the viewers an idea of it being situated in the hospital. I chose not to include an actual human in the composition as it will be the biggest element in the poster thus diverting attention away from the main object. Instead, I use a silhouette to show the idea of a person on the bed. (applying what I learned in Project 1)
The linguistic play a part to emphasize the main message that I wanted to get across. The words “Exposed Wires” gives confirmation to the audience that the emphasis is placed on the iron’s wire. There is a play on the word “Trip” as it meant both a journey to the hospital and when the wires electric shock the user. Lastly, the word “Hospital” reinforce the scene of the white sheets that depict the person in the hospital.
The overall design and color scheme I wanted was minimalistic, simple and straight to the point. I used a lot of white space to show focus on the iron itself. The wires on each side direct the audience’s eye to the center of the poster, the iron. It was not on purpose but symmetry is used as well.
Feedbacks:
Component 2B could have attempted to explore another idea of subverting the iron to give meaning. (Using the iron to paved out a road? Shows the iron smoothing out the paths representing a smooth journey lies ahead?)
Component 2C – remove the linguistic from the component 3 and used it as component 2. ( 🙁 what a waste, never listen properly to instructions)
Component 3: Even though the audience is able to identify the iron as the main object in the poster. However, the meaning is coming from the wire itself.
Some comments that I really like
Keep a hint of the broccoli’s original form in the cigarette (Yen yee to Jia Eenn component 3)
We need to think about whether the audience requires to have a background knowledge when they look at the poster.
I started to look at my object differently as the verbs brought my object it’s character and personality. This allowed me to broaden my imagination as I started looking beyond its typical traits and functions.
Exercise 2C:
Using the 3 different templates
Identify all the different components of the object. List out all the elements and features. Apply the 3 templates to the object.
Removal Template (Remove one element of the object)
Replacement Template (Substitute one element of the object)
Redefinition Template (Redefine the object’s function by changing its environment)
Conclusion:
I think this exercise has definitely benefited me a lot. By deconstructing each component, it helped me to break out the box where I see the iron as an iron.
For this test shot, I wanted to use the strings to feel a far distance between me and my audience I wanted to convey that there is always a big protective wall or g a p separating me and this world. I decided to change this shot as it does not express my thought as clearly.
Dancing has been a huge part of my life. It helped me with my confidence. I became more lively and active person. Inspired by Lee Friedlander, I had the idea to shine one strong light on me the shadow to symbolize how dancing made me feel more confident and powerful.
I have journalling since young, so I wanted to show the many art materials that I use for journaling.
Component 2: Object & Representation of Self Test Shot
Some of the concepts that I brainstormed
Strings
Teddy Bear
Journal
Paper
1st Attempt Test shots – Interacting with my object
Feedback: There are too many objects in the shots, the audience would not be able to tell which is the main object. I should only have on ONE object in each photo. Focus on interacting with that ONE object.
Ideas
putting a page of my journal in my mouth ( how my thoughts and feelings are easily expressed in my journal)
Print or draw myself in my journal and tear them into pieces (the journal would show the bits and piece of me, journaling makes me, me)
2nd Attempt Test shots – Interacting with my object
I want to express how my thoughts were all spilled on to my journal. I choose to look sideways to avoid the camera’s glare because sometimes I feel that I am not proud or ashamed of my thoughts/ feelings.
(I feel that this shot can further explore in more extreme angles and framing)
Most of my test shots were taken in the light. I wanted to try out a dark lighting to see how it will affect my shots. I had my favorite blanket over me, it symbolizes my personal space. The tiny rays so lights show the limited amount of thoughts I was willing to share with some of my friends, while the rest are to stay in the dark.
For this shot, I wanted to portray being protective over my journal, yet uses it as a shield I hide behind. I felt that this shot portray more of me being ashamed of what I wrote.
(I felt that my pose could be more extreme, e.g curling up my toes, curve my back even more)
Component 3: My World Test Shot
I wanted to show the audience the “world war” in my world back when I was a child. I have thought of making the photos black and white to hint that it belongs in the past and I have a new perspective on this “world war”.
This was what I felt when I play on the swings, it was exciting and my happiness trigger. As such I increase the overall saturation and brightness of the shot. I initially framed this shot to show one of my hand on the swing. I also have tried to show a part of my leg to hint that I am playing on the swings.
The other test shots for Project 1. Behind the scenes
I picked up dancing in secondary school and have never stopped since. Dance has played a big part in my life. Through it, I began exploring body movements. It helped me to loosen up, not just in my body but in life as well. I become more confident in myself. This photo also has another layer of meaning – I tend to get a little uncomfortable when everyone’s attention is solely on me. I am truly able to enjoy dancing is when I am alone. With no one watching or judging me.
Feedback: I could have tried to play with different lighting in order to explore and perphas view the photo as a different meaning in another light setting.
Second Photo
Journaling has been always a part of me ever since I was in kindergarten. I will always keep my memories close to me by jotting them down. On bad days, journaling feels like a chore but I will push myself to write it down. As I look back on the past events, I realize how much I have learned and grown from my experiences.
Third Photo
The third photo shows me trying out new hobbies, being open to new experiences. This also marks the beginning of my first semester at NTU. Life in the university is really an eye-opener. I am eager to learn and explore options that I would be able to attain in the future.
Feedbacks: Try out different angles, play with the high & low angles.Perphas a cupcake's point of view of me decorating.
Component 2: Object & Representation of Self
First Photo
The object that represents me the most will be my journal. This is a further emphasis in my first component “Me”. As an only child, I did not have any siblings to share my thoughts with and was unsure where I was supposed to express the thoughts that were cramped inside my head. I naturally picked up a notebook and started pouring everything out in the form of words and drawings.
Second Photo
I crunched myself up into a position to show my unwillingness to share the contents that reside in my journal as well as to protect my journal from being read. Up till this point, I do not think I would be able to share them with anybody.
Feedback: If the environment & lighting were shot in a low light or a corner of a room, would be able to express the emotion even better.
Third Photo
To express how I poured my thoughts on my journal, I had the piece of paper coming out my mouth. It was all crumpled with my thoughts that I could not confide in another individual, thus having to write it out on a piece of paper. The lighting also adds another layer as it the strokes of shadows showing the small bits and areas that were only shared in the journal.
Component 3: My World
First Photo
To show what my world meant to me, I wanted to get a first-person view of what the playground meant to me. I lowered myself so get a kid’s eye level of the swing. It was a simple mechanism but it brings so much joy to me. This was my happiness trigger.
Second Photo
This depicts my past, time spent at the playground. As an only child, I was shy and hesitant to approach the kids at the playground. I framed my shot in the way that I seemed to be hiding behind the ole. I further emphasize it by placing my hand, to show the longing for them to notice me. I would stay in the vicinity hoping for them to include me in their games.
Third Photo
This shot was from a first-person perspective. It does not show that I was directly on the swings, but the audience would be able to infer that I was on it. The lady in pink encourages her son to approach me and ask whether could he play on the swings. As I stood up, the little boy said “thank you” with a shy smile. It was a lovely sight. I remember having to run and snatch for seats on the swing when I was still little. Back then I did not know the meaning of compromising, sharing & caring for one another. The swing taught me another lesson. The world does not only revolve around you, it is not just about me, myself and I.
Feedback: In general, I think my shots could have explore more extreme. Extreme high or low angles will better deliver the message across. It would also help to distinct all the three shots from another.
Conclusion
I like how everyone has a different interpretation of each other’s works. How each individual uses their own denotation and connotations. I gained a lot of insight and the way I look at photographs. I think I could have opened up even further and stretched myself to my best to express them through this first project. Next project I will push further to explore how colors, small details, and angles to deliver my message across to the audience.
Some comments that I really like
JiaEn’s comments on Gina’s self-portrait 2nd photo was to have some condensation on the cling wrap to show her suffocating/ trying to breathe.
Gwendolyn’s component 1 second photo – The message will be able to deliver even better if there was another person’s hand who attempt to open her personal and she have her hand to stop it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXiqond9hmYA
For this shot, I wanted to portray being protective over my journal, yet uses it as a shield I hide behind. I felt that this shot portray more of me being ashamed of what I wrote.
