Seng Yi Ling – Page 7 – A journey to discover myself.

Foundation 4D: Framing the Moving Image

October 11, 2016 by Seng Yi Ling·0 Comments

For today’s lesson, we learnt about framing the moving image!

Q: So why is a moving camera important?

Our class discussed and gave several answers!

A moving camera allows the viewers to see the actor’s facial expression & movement, it tells us where to look.
It gives a sense of flow, space and continuity.
It helps audiences to absorb information: Natural state of movement instead of stiff and flat framed images.
Gives different perspective to/ of a subject: Gives dimension and it is less boring.
The camera has character! Slow panning shows cinematic environment, up and down angle gives dramatic effect.

3 Things that move: Object, Camera and Audience POV.

Camera movement is very important, it makes things more exciting
Panning.

Panning Shots

Why do Cameras pan?

It gives the geographical location of the character.
Introduces landscape of that place.
Expresses meaning non literally/literally.

Slow pan: Gives off a serene feeling

Fast pan: Dynamic shot

Whip pan: Dramatic feeling

Tilting shot

Exists in shots simulating the male gaze (where they scan a hot girl up and down)
Gives a sense of authority. Like in the movie, Grand Budapest, where the doorman and the manager were conversing from a higher ground and level ground, to show the status of the characters.
Gives opinion and critique of the situation.

Tracking Shot

Allows the viewer to see in the perspective of the character from behind, or follows the by moving alongside the character.

So when do you use panning or tracking shot to follow a character?

Panning is more 2D and flat, whereas tracking shots are more dynamic by following the character.

Handheld Shots

Handheld Shots are often used in Horror and Thriller genre movies.

Handheld camera shot is a video production technique in which a camera is held in the camera operator’s hands . The shots are shaky, as though we are running to escape together with the character in his POV.

Example of movies with handheld shots are The Blair Witch Project ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=girSv9UH_V8)and ‘The Celebration’ . ‘The Celebration’ goes against traditional Hollywood movie shooting process and the shots are all handheld shots and are in natural state. It gives a documentary-like feeling and seem less fictional.

Dolly in and out shots: Zooming in and out of the shot.

Crane Shot: Using a Jimmy Jib camera to shoot the process, the shots are airy and floating, like giving a bird’s eye view in the sky.

Here is a video of the type of shots to get a better idea of the shots used in movies! :

A video that I think consist of a variety of shots is a music video, Growl by EXO! (fan girl shrieks)

The Music video is entirely conducted using Tracking shots, so there must be no room for error; otherwise the whole video has to be retaken. I believe the camera for this music video is taken using a handheld camera as the shots taken are very dynamic and moves all about the place. However, the shots are very stable instead of shaky and unstable like hand held cameras, so I believe a stabilizer was attached to the cameraman to allow smooth shots when he was shooting the video.

It also consist of Panning shots ( at 2:48 minute mark), Dolly in and out shots (at 2:37 & 3:23 minute mark)

4D Assignment 2: Sequencing Images with Text

October 4, 2016 by Seng Yi Ling·0 Comments

Assignment 3 was pretty fun to do as I tried to apply what we’ve learnt during lessons with Ms Ruyi, and having to work with subject matter which didn’t have facial expressions was quite a fun challenge to me!

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I carrot about you

Title: I carrot about you

Genre: Romance + Tragedy

Logline: A modern day vegetable love story.

Synopsis using 3 Act structure:

(Exposition/Introduction) Cassandra the Carrot has lived a long and lonely life in the fridge. The other ingredients in the fridge has already gotten their partners: a dozen of eggs, a pair of apples and a pair of pears .

(Rising Action) One day, The Hand reached out and placed Cassandra on the kitchen counter. In awe because Carrot has yet to seen the warm outside world for a long time, she was happy. Then suddenly, The Hand placed a grocery bag beside her where she met Carl the Cabbage.

(Stakes getting higher) Carl and Cassandra fell in love at first sight. They were different from their own species and were very intrigued with each other. The other vegetables despised and talked behind their backs about their uncommon and odd relationship. But they didn’t care. They were in love.

(Crisis) One evening, Carrot was taken away from Cabbage’s embrace by The Hand as she was no longer fresh enough to keep. And Cabbage was placed in the cold dark fridge by The Hand. Out of misery and desperation, Cabbage rammed himself against the fridge door repeatedly to save the love of his life, in the process, damaging himself.

(Falling Action) Upon seeing the damaged cabbage when The Hand took the fishcakes out of the fridge, The Hand decided to cook the Carl . The Hand took Carl to the chopping board and he saw the remains of his lover: Cassandra’s peeled skin and carrot top. Carl’s heart was torn apart, like how he was being torn by The Hand.

(Resolution) Little did they know that they were cooked and served in different dishes, the bodies of Carl and Cassandra were reunited again on the dinner table.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Expressions

My video does not include narration nor visible facial expressions. HENCE, I attempted to include expressions for my subject matters by the use of angle, proximity of the subject matters and the expression marks usually used in manga and comic books.

I used the 3 pink lines on each ‘cheek’ of my subject matters to indicate blushing.

Mood and Atmosphere of situation

Camera Angles: Canted angles are often used to indicate dramatization and shock during the Crisis stage where Carl and Cassandra were separated at the sink, as well as when Carl was damaged after he got damaged in the process to save Cassandra.

The two lovers were separated by The Hand by the sink

Timing of each image: Heavily inspired by La Jetee’s use of timing for each image to give the mood and situation of each scene, I set the timing for the images to be short (2 seconds) to indicate speed of each scene. For instance the scene where Carl was being taken away by The Hand from Cassandra, and the scene where he was brutally ripped apart by The Hand.

The process where Carl was taken away by The Hand was quick. Hence the image timing was quick too.

And I extended the timing for the images (~7 seconds) for the scenes where time seem to stop, to sink in the moment. Such as the scene where Cassandra and Carl were in love and admiring each other.

Time seems to pause momentarily for them as they fell in love

Reoccurring Motif: Inspired by the film American Beauty where the color Red was a reoccurring motif, I decided to use the red mug with the Chinese character ‘囍’ as the reoccurring motif. ‘囍’ means double happiness where it is usually used in traditional Chinese weddings. It acts a semiotic in my images to describe the mood of double happiness when Carl and Cassandra meet.

Time seems to pause momentarily for them as they fell in love, represented by the red mug.

The mug was seen again in the scene where Carl was kept in the fridge, but this time, the Chinese character 囍 was halved as he is now alone and not with his other half: Cassandra.

囍 is halved in this scene where Carl is viewed up-close.

Lighting: I edited the refrigerator photos to a blue-ish lighting to emit a sterile and lack of warmth environment, and increased the saturation level of the subjects that experience warmth/love in the fridge such as the coupled fruits and eggs. This is to emphasize that amidst the cold and lack of warmth environment, the coupled subjects obtained their warmth from their partner’s love. Whereas Cassandra the carrot does not have the warmth lighting like the rest as she is alone and at that moment unloved.

Blue-ish tone of fridge

Pears in love has warmer tones as compared to the blue-ish background

Pears in love has a warmer tone as compared to the blue-ish background

Background music (BGM):

BGM chosen are non lyrical and usually includes instruments and white noises. I didn’t want lyrical BGM to distract the viewers as the words may create a different meaning. I wanted to choose a BGM that conveys the mood of the situation, and that was the main point for me.

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Use of Wally Wood’s 22 Panels to create Variety

Depth

Depth in Wally Wood’s 22 Panels

One big and one small object in Wally Wood’s 22 Panels

Cassandra is often in the distance and blurry whereas the coupled subject matters are up close on the right or left, to create depth. My intention was to create an implied line, to emit this feeling where Cassandra is looking from afar in slight envy of the loving fruits.

Depth is created here as eggs are closer to the camera while the other veggies and fruits are further behind

Contrast

Use of dark foreground in Wally Wood’s 22 Panels

Contrast in color and tone is often used in the images in my video so as to allow the viewers to focus on a certain area only. This contrasts creates variety in the images and prevents them from looking flat and non- emotive.

Bright central subject matters against a dark background

Subject matters in the foreground are much darker as compared to central subject matters.

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Conclusion of Assignment 2

It was quite a challenge for me to portray the feelings of my subjects as they were non- living and expressionless. I have learnt that the use of timing of each image, lighting, angle and music to give emotions to my subject matters and every tweak or post photography edits changes the mood and atmosphere the original image could convey! Ru Yi suggested that I should have removed the blushing effect and startled effect over the subject matters as the music and color contrast was already pretty much self explanatory :0 . Nonetheless, it was a real fun for me in this project as I was able to be my own director and portray my expressionless subject matters the way I want to create a narrative story!

Cheers!

Seng Yi Ling

Planes in 3D Space (21 Sept 2016)

September 22, 2016 by Seng Yi Ling·0 Comments

Planes in 3D Space

I believe most of us were really perplexed when our class got this project for assignment 2 (At least I was VERY perplexed). I wondered how was it possible to create 3D space with just planes?

I did some preliminary research regarding artists who did installations with strings and observed how people used strings to create art online.

And after much exploration online, I did my first model for the assignment.

Inspiration: Waves of the Ocean

I was drawn by the crashing waves of the ocean when I first started sewing the paper because a certain amount of tension applied onto pulling the strings would cause the paper to bend.

Study Model

Top Side View

Side View

Top View

The study model has lesser strings and the negative spaces were more spread out.
I also attempted to create a whirling action in the center (Dark Purple plane) by continuously sewing the lines in a crisscross interlacing of strings manner to create a continuous pattern. Sadly it did not turn out well and the interlacing turned out rather messy and congested.

After consulting with Mr. Peter, I made final modifications to my work.

Final Submission

Top Side View

Frontal View

Side View

Angle of display where tension of strings are strongest.

Video of Planes in all angle upon rotation: img_0857

(Hopefully the video can be opened >.<)

The plane on the extreme left (Light Purple plane) is less acute than the plane on the extreme right. This is to mimic the swirl and energy of the waves when it is riled up at the start.

And the plane on the extreme right (Light Blue plane) is more acute and more parallel to the plastic board to mimic the waves that has lesser energy and swirl.

For the plane in the middle section (Dark Purple), Mr. Peter suggested I lift the strings up by bringing the strings over the top, rather than interlacing them. This lifting effect in the center I realized, creates a sense of 3 Dimensionality space.

Difference between Model & Final?

More holes in Final were punched and less negative spaces between each line.
The planes are more stretched and are longer in the Final than the Model.
Change in choice of material from paper to plastic board.
No interlacing of lines in the middle, but strings are lifted when almost parallel to board.

Problems faced

Tension of the strings loosens when the knot I tie in the end is not close enough to the hole.
Tension of the string AND plastic loosens when left to display for a long time.
Tension of the strings loosen on the planes I’ve completed when I do other planes.
Over estimation of tension applied ruins the configuration of strings.

Group 3 2D Presentation (15 Sept 2016)

September 15, 2016 by Seng Yi Ling·0 Comments

The following slides below are our ( Kam Yit Ling and Myself) , presentation slides for today’s class presentation 🙂

We talked about Symmetry, Unity, Golden Ratio, Emphasis and Balance.

Examples of natural forms with reflection symmetry are: A butterfly exhibits reflection symmetry in its body and wings and the lake acting as a giant mirror which reflects the scenery horizontally.

The Taj Mahal is an example of architecture that exhibits Reflection symmetry, whereby the peak of the architecture acts as the central vertical axis.

An example of artwork that exhibits reflection symmetry is Symmetry by Ayano Ueshima.
Approximately one thousand q-tips were assembled to form this neckpiece that was systematically assembled to embody the symmetrical form of the human body.

Rotation symmetry refers to the rotation of equivalent element around a common center. Whereby rotation of the element at any angle will produce the original image.

An example of art/ architecture that exhibits rotational symmetry is the Rose Window in the Strasbourg Cathedral that is often found in Gothic Architectural Style Churches.

moving a figure a certain distance in a certain direction translating by a vector

Examples of natural forms with translational symmetry are: A school of the same species of fishes and a flock of birds.
They exhibit translation symmetry through reproduction—creating similar looking offspring.

Tessellation and Tilings are a form of translational symmetry as the orientation of the red and white horses constant regular shapes are translated to create a consistent pattern.

Thus deign logos such as brands like Starbucks, Target, Macdonald and Chanel uses symmetric logos as they attract attention and easy to be recalled by consumers.

Symmetry in design convey balance, harmony, and stability. Like the interior of chapels, which exudes stability, peace and harmony.
Use simple symmetrical forms when recognition is important, and more complex symmetrical forms when aesthetics and attractiveness are important.

Symmetry is the most basic and durable aspect of beauty.
Symmetric faces are perceived as more attractive than asymmetric faces. And perhaps this is why very good looking people end up on screens, because they have an almost symmetrical face, which is perceived as the epitome of beauty. But of course, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Unity cannot exist alone without the use of basic design principles and elements of art and design.

Unity helps to organise a visual image

The Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh is an example of how unity is achieved by the repetition of line. If you look closely, lines are the only mark that is used, thus the entire artwork is unified by the same texture that is consistent throughout piece.
The use of long lines, curved lines, thick lines and thin lines that create the movement we see in the painting, which adds variety to the work.
By using the same mark throughout the whole painting, there is a great sense of unity throughout the piece.

Another artwork that exhibits variety with unity is this artwork by Kandinsky. In this composition by Kandinsky, unity is provided by the repetition of circles on a neutral background. Variety is added by the different sizes and colours of the circles, and by overlapping them.

The golden ratio is the ratio of 1: 1.618. It is believed to be the most aesthetically pleasing geometric form to human eyes. Create a sense of beauty through harmony and proportion.

Apply it to a square will get the golden rectangle.
By continuously applying formula, the spiral get wider by a factor of phi at every quarter-turn becoming golden spiral. Golden spiral or called the
Divine Proportion is the tool used by artists and sculptors to achieve accurate proportion and aesthetic composition.

The pyramid of giza that was built based on accuracy uses phi in it.

Golden ratio is used in art for aesthetics and visual harmony. The balance in the school of Athens by Raphael was only achievable through lots of repetitive use of phi like the position of the large wall of the first arch to the top of stairs at the floor. The central figures draws our attention is because it is placed at the point of intersection of golden ratio.

Golden ratio even exist in our body proportions from our body, arm, ear and even feet.

Golden ratio on human face. Our brains seem to be subconsciously attracted to things that uses Golden Ratio.. This is before and after phi applied face. Which one do u think is more attractive? U can also try out this app on google play store to see ur chio rating.

The sunflower seed head is actually made up of golden spiral in rotational symmetry as mentioned before in the above slides regarding rotational symmetry. Basically golden ratio exist almost everywhere

How to make good use of golden ratio for our composition? Set your layout dimension according to golden ratio and add a space at the ratio point.

Secondly, place content along The Golden Spiral. Our eye is naturally drawn to the center of the spiral, where it will look for details, so focus your design on the center of the spiral and place areas of visual interest within the spiral.

Application of phi grid. Similar to the rules of Thirds which you position the most important elements along these lines, or at the points where they intersect to draw the viewer’s eye and attention. It creates tension, adds interest and energy to your composition.

The black dot is the first thing that draw your attention right? This is visual emphasis.

Emphasis is an area or object within the artwork that draws our attention and becomes a point of focus. Using emphasis make artwork more interesting, counteract confusion and monotony. In Cats cradle by Zhu Yi Yong without the red string, the whole painting will look dull and flat.

Emphasizing through size. bigger is always better. Our attention is always on the bigger object. That is why in design, title is always bigger so we can see clearly. The relative size can create Dynamic, tension, depth. The big orange in the painting have dynamic and tension because of the overwhelming size of the orange making it look like it going to drop anytime.

Contrast in shape. By Introducing a different shape square to the circles, the main focus is on the object that look out of place. The Colour also stand out capturing our eyes.

Deep magenta square by Richard Anuszkiewicz is an example of optical art. the magenta square is emphasized in the composition. Although the colors in background are fairly intense, they are much less intense than the magenta square. They are also made up of thin lines letting the large area of square dominates the composition. The subtle chemistry of complementary colors makes the geometry glow giving it a sense of depth.

Strong tonal contrast create dynamic like Chiaroscuro lighting. When there is dark, our attention will be drawn towards the light area.
Textural surface capture more attention than a smooth surface.

Center is where we would look first. Now what happen if the dots run away. The right dots being the furthest away from the center will be given the least emphasis becoming the least noticeable.

Line Directing guide our eyes to focus point using elements like perspectives and implied line shown in one point perspective by Gustave caillebotte. This Lead our eyes to the couple.

Balance is the distribution of interest or visual weight in a work.
If all the visually interesting elements of a work are centred in one spot,
The work is off balance and viewer’s gaze will be stuck in one place, thus ignoring the rest of the piece.
An unbalanced composition can lead to tension. When a design is unbalanced, the individual elements dominate the whole and the composition become less than the sum of its parts.

An example of an intended off-balance artwork is Isamu Noguchi’s Red Cube.
The tension of the tilt is disconcerting because the red cube is very heavy.
Attention is only placed in one place: the center of gravity, and not the entire artwork.
Thus this is a distinctive piece of art.

The concept of visual balance is often illustrated using a see-saw,
Where one object is directly at the centre or when 2 objects have the same visual weight and are on opposite sides of the centre, equally distance from each other, they balance.

An example of Symmetrical Balance present in art is ‘The Last Supper by Leonardo Da Vinci’. The Christ is in the centre. The architectural shapes in the background are mirror images of each other even though both sides are in contrast . The table is symmetrical. The amount of subject matters on the left and right of Christ are similar.

Asymmetrical balance, is more complex and difficult to render. It involves placement of objects in a way that will allow objects of different visual weight to balance one another around a fulcrum point.
For example, it is possible to balance a heavy object with a bunch of lighter objects on equal sides of a fulcrum.

Unequal weights can even be balanced by shifting the fulcrum point on our imaginary scale.

Asymmetrical balance is harder to grasp in an artwork as the artist must sense whether or not the composition is balanced.
An example of an artwork that exhibits asymmetrical balance is Piet Mondrian’s ‘Composition with Large Red Plane, Yellow, Black, Grey, and Blue’. The composition is asymmetrical, with one large dominant block of colour, which is red, which is balanced by distribution of the smaller blocks of yellow, blue grey, and white around.
Whereas for his other painting Composition with Double Line and Yellow 1932, asymmetrical balance is achieved. Our eyes are drawn diagonally toward the center of that block of yellow . The size of the bottom right square weighs out the visual weight caused by the yellow block. To form a kind of dynamic equilibrium.

Radial Balance is a visual balance based on a circle with its design extending from the center.

Thank you for your time!!

Cheers~

Week 5 Foundation 4D: What makes a good story?

September 14, 2016 by Seng Yi Ling·0 Comments

Today in class we learnt about what makes a good story!

Miss Ruyi showed us a video of filmmaker Andrew Stanton on TED TALK on what he thinks make up a good story, and I find that highly inspirational and I was blown away by how much thought was placed into story making in films and animations.

Link to watch the video is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxDwieKpawg

I have learnt from the video that:

Story telling is knowing when to insert your punchlines.
Stories in films give us affirmation that our lives have meaning.
A good story is able to transcend through past, present and the future.
‘Make Me Care’. By evoking emotions of audiences to care about the characters, it engages the audience’s heart and minds.
Make a promise to the audience that watching your film is worth their time. It acts as a pebble pulled on a slingshot, it propels one forward in the story.
Story form without dialogues are very innocent. Well absent information draws the viewers into the story and capture our hearts. An example of a film without dialogues is Wall-E !
‘Unify Theory as 2+2’ make audiences think and ponder instead of feeding direct information to them.
Character with a spine (story/goal) gives depth to the story.
When thing goes static, the story dies.
Global tension exists to help the story.

Like Dory’s bad memory in Finding Nemo and Finding Dory where her memory was a constant worry for the audience to reach a final resolution to the films.

Drawing a (tragic) backstory of a character also helps to build a good story. Like Woody in Toys Story where he is selfless, but his back story is of him being very selfish in the past.
Having little secrets in the story, the plot is driven forward as the audience would be curious of ‘the secret’ shared by the characters.
Use what you know. Express values of what you truly feel. It is the truth and it is genuine, which I believe audience can feel. After all, your story is unique and not replicable.

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Understanding types of genres also aids in story telling.

A film can be exciting when mixing of genre is involved. (e.g. Action + Thriller) But eventally as a whole, the movie ought to have a primary genre.

Like ‘Her’ by Spike Jonze, it is a mixed genre of romance and sci-fi, but the primary genre of this movie is Romance~

The use of ‘The 3 Act Structure’ is very relevant and aids one to organize their story boarding in films.

The setup (Exposition) consists of the facts the audiences need to know, like the establishment of characters an motive

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Personal Input:

A movie I had watched recently that I felt was… bad and a total waste of my money and time was …

YES. I had really high expectations of this movie initially because the male lead was Jason Statham, the actor in one of my all time favorite action movie, ‘The Transporter’.

Using ‘The 3 Act Structure’ to breakdown the action-thriller movie,

(SPOILER ALERT)

The Introduction and Exposition was rather clear, he was a highly paid for assassin who faked his death so he could lead a ‘normal life’. And in the midst of enjoying civilian life, his identity was found and was given a job he didn’t want to continue anymore.

The Rising Action at the Conflict stage began when he escaped to Thailand to seek refuge from an old friend. Long story cut short, his plan was ruined when some damsel in distress seeks for his help, who turned out to be a spy who was held hostage by the employer who wanted the male lead to carry on his assassin job.

And this is when the plots starts dwindling… the following scenes were so fast paced and everything that came after seemed rush. He traveled to 3 different countries to execute missions in 36 hours… did he teleport through a portal or??? I felt that sexual tension was exploding between the characters even though there was no proper build up to their relationship. Now, I felt the build up was essential even though it was not a romance film as he took up the assassination job which he avoided for years to save her: someone he ONLY met for 2 days…

I got bored really quick as the only thing that kept me alive in the cinema was the gory fighting scenes and the constant flashing of the male and female lead’s hot bodies. WHAT HAPPENED TO THE STORY?!

The falling action in the resolution category was that the female lead was saved and they lived happily ever after. THE END. *roll eyes* SO PREDICTABLE… At that point I just wanted my 1 hr and 40 mins back.

Amazing casts were in this movie, like Jason Statham, Jessica Alba, Michelle Yeoh etc. But the plot and script just killed it all.

Even though there was The 3 Act Structure in the movie, I find that the process of buildups and transitions were very badly handled. But of course, this is purely based on my opinion while comparing it with other films I have watched. Sorry for the spoilers and unplanned movie review.

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Food for thought I had during today’s lesson was ‘ Does good looking actors/ characters help to drive a story?‘ I had dual perspective on this… Yes, because good looking characters help to keep the audience’s attention. And No, because attention is so drawn to the visual appearance of the actor, the plot of the story is casted aside and that defeats the purpose of the entire film because… if you want to look at good-looking actors, just go stalk them on social media right? Why bother paying so much to watch a movie?? Unless the whole use of good-looking casts is for publicity reasons. #SadTruth

Thanks for reading!!

Cheers,

Seng Yi Ling.

FINAL Post for Project 1: My Line is Emo

September 9, 2016 by Seng Yi Ling·0 Comments

“Emotion. It starts out small, but it grows.”

I suddenly came up with this quote while I was brainstorming for this project on my 2D sketchbook, and I find this very relatable to my direction into mark making. Little or undeveloped emotions are categorized into primary emotions when we are young, and it has become more evolved and complicated as we grow.

Concept

To document the myriad of emotions categorized into Positive and Negative emotions experienced while growing up.

Approach (towards the whole project, materials used, things tried)

My Approach towards the whole project is just freely experiment with everything and anything! I didn’t want to hold myself back by constraints, so I totally let myself go and immerse myself in the world of mark making while channeling my inner Jackson Pollock to assist my spontaneity! 🙂

20160821_153537

Materials used are nail polish, nail polish remover, water color, eyeliner, salt, acrylic paint, Chinese ink, mono-printing ink etc.

Mark making tools that I have tried are a wide variety. For instance…Tools used in Kitchen like Clingwrap, rubberbands, foil, toothpick, chopsticks, spoons etc. Things in First Aid Kits like crushed pills, cotton buds, cotton pads etc.

(More information of tools and materials I’ve experimented with are heavily documented in my previous posts! :))

Highlights of the works

Sequence of lines arranged on board are in the sequence of my emotions as I grow up.

First Board

Second Board

~~~The flowing emotions below are categorized into ‘Primary emotions’ and do not represent the order of the 18 strips in the above images~~~

(JOY)

Bliss – Inspired by rain droplets on the window shield during a heavy downpour, the white noise is soothing to me. The flow of the lines created by gravity is soft and flowing.

Relief – This piece is actually a flip side of the paper I used for the creation of the ‘Fear strip’. There is lesser black and coagulation of black bubble marks on the other side of the paper. Just like sometimes when fear is just all in our head, we just need to look on the ‘flip side’ to see that fear is actually all in our head.

Contentment- Inspired by the calm and tranquil reflection on the lake, I am at the state of satisfaction and happiness. Strokes are soft and fluid which exhibits comfort.

(LOVE)

Infatuation – Like an intense but short-lived passion for someone, there are short frequent ups and downs. Lines are curved to evoke fluidity. Whiteness fades off towards the end to show infatuation fading off.

Affection – Tools used to create marks are soft and as the purpose of healing. Tissue used to wipe tears, and cotton mesh pads used to stop bleeding injuries.

Longing- A yearning desire to be cherished. Tone of black, the representation of yearning desire, varies at different stages and spreads in different directions that is not within my control. Spreading and tonal value of lines fade off towards the end to represent the wearing off of the desire.

(FEAR)

Fear – Coagulation of different sized black spots that takes up a lot of space. Just like fear itself that takes up unnecessary space.

Anxiety – Layering of black on white on black again, anxiety is to me is full of ‘what ifs’. The cracking of black and swirling mixture of black and white reveals the under layer of white shows that it is breaking one apart, and how swirling thoughts consume me slowly.

Panic – A dark and heavy base with sharp pointy lines pointing upwards, like panic which grows because of a strong heavy reason that weighs one down.

(ANGER)

Frustration – I wanted to created a perfect systematic pattern of angular lines. But an accidental mistake such as over estimation, messed up my pattern, which further emphasizes my frustration that my attempt to achieve perfection is ruined.

Influenza Virus

Envy – Splotches resemble influenza viruses which spreads routinely amongst people. You would not identify Flu easily until you’ve experienced the symptoms. Similarly, one wouldn’t realize they are envious of someone until they’ve experienced doing things out of the ordinary.

Annoyance – Different tonal values of black was a result of different ratio mixture of mediums. Aggressive marks are created by whacking a damp paintbrush in mid-air to achieve splatter patterns. Different tonal values of black ink symbolizes the extent of the issues I was annoyed about. The darker it is, the more serious, and the size of splatter represents the amount of issues I was annoyed about.

(SURPRISE)

Transmission of nerve impulses along neurons.

Shock – Vigorous expressive lines with narrow spreading lines , like transmission of nerve impulses travel along neurons when one goes in shock.

Stupefied – To be put overwhelmed to the state of being incapable of any responsiveness. Black lines across the strip represent the state of constant astonishment. Similar to the TV static, and very fine details surround the line like noise.

Bewilderment – Vigorous movement of the flowing lines create a sense of confusion. Like a maze or tangle of lines. Lines get thinner towards the end to show the increase in fragility as more darkness overwhelms the lines.

(SADNESS)

Remorse – Correction tape on written words shows a mark on the surface if you look closely enough. Attempting to remove errors but marks are permanent, as much as we try to conceal of fix it. Damage has already been done.

Neglect – Tried to create 3 Dimensionality on a 2D platform by introducing space. Placed a small circle on the extreme left and a close up view of a very large circle on the right to create depth. Intended to create a line of perspective to show the physical distance between 2 circles by adding a horizontal line at the back to act as the background.

Disappointment – Wanted to create happy marks with a tool that brings me happiness, but ended up getting something distressful. Hence, disappointed when my expectations are not met.

Challenges faced & how I’ve addressed them.

Certain emotions I want to convey using a specific item did not turn out the way I want them to. Hence, solution to that was to reuse the strips that convey a another feeling I felt upon looking at the final mark.
I find it frustrating that I couldn’t focus on conveying my emotions into my mark making techniques as I was very restrained by how aesthetically pleasing it should be. And my solution was to do mark making in a way that I would not be able to see the final product as soon as I begin, as I would worry how it looks before I even end. So I would suggest closing my eyes as I proceed, only revealing the final product to myself when I am done (Like blind contouring in Foundation Drawing class!).

Comments given by my classmates! 🙂 Thanks for the comments! I really like receiving them! 😀

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This concludes my last and final post for ‘(2D) Project 1: My line is Emo’!

Thanks for sticking with me on my journey into mark making!

Any suggestions for my own improvement or comments, do feel free to comment below!! 😀

Cheers,

Yi Ling.

My Final Work-In-Progress!

September 9, 2016 by Seng Yi Ling·0 Comments

More exploration of mark making! (23 Aug 2016)

Mediums

Tools for Monoprinting

New mediums and tools I tried out are white mono printing paint, Chinese calligraphy ink ; cardboard, kitchen towel, fake flower. My gut feeling for that day was the same as the previous self-exploration post! Just have fun and explore the possibilities of what each tool can do! 🙂

Used the cardboard with chopping motion to create curved lines.

Tried out Jackson Pollock’s drip painting technique.

Tried out Jackson Pollock’s drip painting technique while I was literally jumping around the work area, hoping to generate some extravagant and expressive motions on the lino-cut.

P.S: The tool was very clean when I dipped it in the mono-printing ink.

Gabrielle brought up the idea in the mono-printing room to use bubbles as a medium for our mark making, and many of us decide to give it a shot! Clara made a bubble blowing device by tying a rigid string into loops and lent it to me to experiment! (Thanks guys! ^~^)

The results were beautiful, but yet messy because the direction and size of bubbles are hard to control. In addition many of us who experimented with the bubble blowing techniques in the room ended up with black spots all over our faces when the bubble popped !

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Brain-Storming Session (30 August 2016)

I labeled each age range in a different colour and I’d realise that majority of my yellow stars lie in the Negative emotions category whereas my pink stars lie in the Positive Emotions category. This goes to show that more of my emotions has taken a downwards direction as I grew older.

After attempting with using my childhood item ( beads for braiding my hair) as a mark making tool in the previous post,

Childhoods beads

Rolling the beads down my newsprint paper.

I realised that something that had brought me joyful memories produces a mark that resembled something very distressful… I brought this problem I faced to group discussion where Miss Joy and my classmates gave me very insightful suggestions and I think I might really try them out to produce more emotive marks !

My classmates suggested to…

– Use the tools differently instead of sticking to the one way conventional method.

(For instance, rolling the entire paintbrush over my paper rather than simply using the brush tip.)

– Use the same method and same tools on different paper types.

– Inverse the colours. For instance, white marks on black paper instead of black marks on white paper.

Hence I decided to do more mark making explorations while trying out some of the suggestions given ! ^^

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Self Exploration into Mark Making (4 Sept 2016)

Was inspired by a few sceneries I spotted earlier that day which made me feel good, so I decided to recreate them to generate more ‘Positive Emotion’ marks.

Creating water blobs with water colour pen

Creating water blobs with water color pen inspired by rain on the window shield.

Decided to go ahead with my classmates’ suggestions of inversing the color and changing the choice of paper, and a few turned out pretty alright!

Dragging white water color paint over black vanguard sheet, to recreate the reflection of the sea at night.

Using correction tape as a medium

Thank you for reading through this extremely long post! The final post for ‘Project 1 : My line is Emo’ is coming to an end soon, so stay tuned for my last and final post on this project!!

Cheers,

Yi Ling.

“Longed for him. Got him. Shit.”

September 6, 2016 by Seng Yi Ling·1 Comment

“Longed for him. Got him. Shit.”

This was our 6 word story class assignment for today and we (Group members: Queenie, Yit Ling, Zoelyn, Hui Min and Myself) were given some time to portray this short story into photographs using what we have learnt in class today!

I have learnt that framing is very important as it determines how the audience is able to get the full experience of the emotions and message the director wants to convey.

Lead room/ lead space

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Character looks to the right and has a lot of space to his right. This allows the audience to assume that the character is going towards that direction.

Rule of Thirds ( applies to close up, mid-shots, full body shots)

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Golden Ratio of the rule of thirds puts character the director wants to focus at the intersecting line. Allowing the audience’s eyes to be drawn to the character, creating a hamonious balance.

Framing

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In the movie, ‘ In the mood of love’, the door frame/ widow frame is often used as a frame for the main character. This is because our eyes to be naturally drawn towards open frames,The inclusion of a light source such as back light or lamp brings about attention due to the contrast of lighting between the dark hall way and the main character’s position.

Another movie , ‘Ida’ the main character is always framed at the corners of the screen, going against the rules of third even though she is the main character.

Ida (3)

This is highly intriguing to me because without knowing the actual reason why the director chose to shoot the scene in a specific manner, I would have assumed he is bad at filming. But the reason for her being at awkward areas of the frame is because of her story. She is framed out of place. Just like her situation where she feels out of place as she is a Jewish nun. The breaking of conventional framing rules are exceptionally meaningful in this case where the way the character is filmed links to his/her story.

Lines

Horizontal lines gives a sense of peace and serenity.

Vertical lines gives a sense of stability and power

Diagonal lines gives a sense of dynamism, instability and is often used in futuristic films

Types of shots

Full body shot should have head space and legs of the character should not be cut at ankles, otherwise he will look awkward.

Mid body shot should be cut at the waist of the character.

Close up should be cut at the shoulder. It is recommended if director wants to focus on the main character’s facial expression, close scrutiny of details. Close-up shots of main character should not be cut off at the eyebrows or chin area, otherwise expressions are more difficult to be read and character will look awkward as well.

Macro Close up shot signifies importance of the object

Canted angle is when the shot is tilted at a 45 degrees angle.

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Like in Danny Boyle’s ‘Slumdog Millionaire film’, scenes shot at 45 degree angle seem more chaotic, dramatized and intense.

Out of focus shots gives a sense of losing consciousness.

Shame movie out of focus ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Longed for him. Got him. Shit.”

“Longed for him.” Rules of Third are applied here . Down up angle, close up shot to create a feeling of admiration and focus on facial expression.

Close up shot of subject matters to emphasise on expressions. Line of perspective created by railings at the back allows viewers to draw their attention to both. Rules of Third are applied here too.

Close up shot of subject matters to emphasize on expressions.
Line of perspective created by railings at the back allows viewers to draw their attention to both.
Rules of Third are applied here too.

Stairway acts as a line of perspective and railing acts as a frame for 3 subject matters.
Full back body shots are used.

Subject matter on the left is cut off half way to create a feeling of mystery.
Rules of third are attempted to be applied here whereby the two subject matters on the left are the main focus.

Got him. Subject figure on the right is in the center to create focus, and subject figure on the left is still cut in half out of frame to create the feeling of mystery.

“Got him.”
Subject figure on the right is in the center to create focus on her facial expression, and subject figure on the left is still cut in half out of frame and out of focus to create the feeling of mystery.

“Shit.”
Rules of third are applied here a well.
Subject figure on the left is out of focus.
Railing in the back creates an implied line to draw viewer’s attention in the direction of the second subject figure on the right.
Subject figure’s expression are in focus to draw attention to facial expression.

Found this class assignment to be very entertaining and helpful in making me understand the types of framing, composition and shots that can better help convey the story the directors want to portray. I believe that now after this lesson, I would pay more attention to the types of framing an angles in films , and question myself more often as to why the director chose to shoot the scenes this way! 😀

Cheers,

Yi Ling.

Project 1 : Picture Story – Curating Self (Task 2: My World)

August 30, 2016 by Seng Yi Ling·0 Comments

Place of significance: My Grandparent’s House

Q: Why does it make you feel the way you feel? Are there any particular features or qualities about the place that evoke those feelings? Is it people, the environment or a combination?

I like to feel safe and stick to the things I am used to and familiar with, because I already know nothing bad is going to get to me.

My grandmother is very similar to me when it comes to preference. We both like things of the past. So she tries to retain the way things were when she first moved in the HDB flat, and never buys something new or modern unless the new replica of the broken product cannot be found anymore. Hence, the place is very much like the way I was as a child as far as I could remember.

The non-slip mustard tiled grid floors, traditional Chinese tear-off calendar, wooden rice container etc. looked the way they were for my whole life. Being in my grandmother’s house makes me feel like a little girl again every time I visit.

It is a combination of both the people and the environment really, that evoke those feelings of nostalgia, safety and lots of love. My grandparent’s house will not be the same as it is without my grandmother nor the feeling will be the same if my grandmother is living in a totally different house. I felt that difference the most upon the passing of my grandfather. Hence, the emptiness portrayed in the photographs is evident in my photos.

Q: What would you like to share with us?

Richard Billingham, Untitled (Ray’s A Laugh 6), 1995

I was quite inspired by one of the reference artist, Richard Billingham. He was able to evoke the personalities of his subject matter and scenario, while being frank and authentic. He say he feels better when he doesn’t use a digital camera as he does not want to keep looking at the photographs behind the screen be bothered by how he can repetitively take a better photograph and he no longer knows what is he doing, so he thinks it is better if he cannot see what he has done at that moment, and then look later when the film is developed. I could relate to how Billingham feel regarding using a digital camera or smartphone to take photographs, as I would be so concerned about how pretty a photograph looks, I forget my initial intention: to take a meaningful photograph instead. A lot of his inspiration comes from childhood, which is what captured my attention initially.

The reason I shot the photographs from a downward angle is because I wanted to recreate the perspective I had as a child: Small and curious. I enhance the colours to replicate how the actual scenario looked like off camera, it is because this is how I see things: In colour, the way it is.

Upon taking the photographs, I was trying to look at the parts in the house that caught my attention the most at that age. I recall climbing up the table counter from the kitchen stove area so that I can reach the ‘Mamee Noodle Snack’ in the cabinet my grandmother hid from me before dinner. Hence, this photo of the kitchen counter. (Photograph 2)

The area where I played ‘Masak Masak’ with my grandmother’s bowls in the wooden cabinet, mixing my milk powder formula with the raw rice in the wooden bucket. (Photograph 4)

The cooking area where I watched my grandmother cook as I snuck a few pieces of piping hot luncheon meat into my mouth the instant she plated them. But of course, I think she knew. (Photograph 1)

All of these scenarios ended the same: My grandmother carrying and scolding me in Teo Chew dialect while I writhed and kicked in annoyance all the way to the living room where it is ‘safer’ for me to play as my grandfather would be watching me while he dozes off.

Problems faced when I was doing this project is that I was unable to capture the entire scenario. Like for instance, this photo feels incomplete without having that table. But if I were to manually move the table into the photo I am taking, the photo loses its significance because it feels staged.

However, if I were to stand in a position where both the table and the scenario I want to capture can be simultaneously captured, it still feels wrong because there is an extra materials in the photo that I don’t wish to capture.

Doing a panoramic shot of my world feels very spherical and some objects have too much depth when it is actually rather flat. Hence, the photos I have taken feels… missing of some emotions, or too many elements to focus on.

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These are the 4 images I have selected that best convey the world that is significant to me:

Photograph 1: A panoramic view of my world

Photograph 2

Photograph 3

Photograph 4

To conclude, as I grow older I have learnt that society does not work the way it does at home. I have to learn to try new things, be adventurous and take a leap of faith. But very much, most of the times I feel that doing these are very daunting and foreign to me, and that is where I rely on things that remind me of my safe haven. Since childhood is something I can never ever go back to, holding dear memories of it and being in places that reminds me of them is the least I can do to comfort myself when things gets too scary, it allows me to know how much of a person I have grown into, and how much more I have to know and grow.

Project 1 : Picture Story – Curating Self (Task 1: Object and Representation of self)

August 30, 2016 by Seng Yi Ling·0 Comments

Object of Significance: Yu Yee Oil.

Significance:

Yu Yee Oil has been with us for as long as many of us can remember. I believe that every Singaporean is able to recognise this brand just base on the packaging design and colour. It is a go-to medicated oil for children who has stomach-ache and an essential item for parents to apply this on the belly and bottom of the feet for their kids every time after their bath.

Yu Yee Oil is a significant object that greatly reminds me of my childhood. It has been with me since I was a baby.

Even today, I still use it. Not only because for its function to cure stomach-aches, but because the smell itself is very comforting. I even bring it with me to places I am unfamiliar with. A familiar scent that has been with me since childhood. A scent that is highly distinguishable. A whiff of it instantly calms me down. It makes me feel grounded. The moment the minty scent hits the back of my throat; a surge of warmth spreads within me and I feel all soft, mushy and warm; like a baby wrapped in a bundle. And I like feeling like that. A baby wrapped in a bundle, safe and sound with not a thing to worry about. And I think this is a way I can take myself away from reality, even if it is only just for a while.

References and Objectives:

I used maternity, family and baby photoshoots as visual references.

I wanted to capture the essence of family love, tranquility and purity. So I studied how the position of subject matters in the photos can help achieve the mood I wanted to convey.

Hence, with that, I wanted to capture these bolded words above in my photographs.

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My Story:

Close up of the object in a neutral background from various vantage points

Front view of object against white back drop.

Top View of object on soft towel

Side view of object lying down on soft towel.

Full Figure shot of myself with the object.

Normal Standing pose with the object.

Full Figure shot of myself interacting with the object. Aim to capture my feeling about the object.

Cradling my object like a baby bump.

Mid-range shot of me interacting with the object. Aim to capture my feeling about the object.

Playing with my object as though it is like a newborn.

Close- up shots of me interacting with the object

My final top 3 photographs that I felt conveyed the mood of my story:

I deliberately wore white to create a juxtaposition between the bright and vibrant colours of my object. So that more attention can be drawn to my object and my expressions which I wanted to use as the main elements to set the mood of my story.

My object keeps me safe when I am scared.

I chose a specific timing in the afternoon to capture this image as the lighting from my window casts a shadow behind me. Shadow is casted towards the interior of the room which represented the internal darkness I have inside of me, and the bright light casted towards the exterior is a representation of my bright personality on the outside.

My Object is soft and delicate to the skin like a baby.

My object is small and close to me. Literally and metaphorically.

I attempted to create depth in this photograph as I brought my object much closer to the camera and pulled myself far behind. I wanted to show that a small and bright object like this, can also have a great impact in my plain white life.

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THE HALL OF REJECTED WORKS

These are just some of the photographs that failed the cut to get selected as my top 3 images because I couldn’t capture the emotions I want to convey in the photographs.

I brought my hand around the object to draw the viewer’s attention by framing it, and tilting my head at that direction. I thought looking at it would provide an implied line in the direction of the object. I tousled and spread out my hair to give a more relaxed feeling. However, I felt that after the shot was taken the mood was more…sensuous than pure and tranquil. Hence this photograph did not make the cut.

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Physical contact is a way to draw people closer because of intimacy and entering of one’s personal space. Hence, I plastered the object close to my face and cropped a mid-shot photograph to a close-up photograph obtain this. My objective for cropping is to allow the viewer to feel closer to us (me and my object). And placing the object against my face is a form of physical intimacy.

This photograph failed the cut because my object’s function is not to be used anywhere near the face (application on face may burn). In addition, this photograph looks like a cosmetic advertisement instead, which totally goes against the function of my object.

This was a fun project! 😀