For this modular construction project, our group which consists of Queenie and I, created this lampshade cover (sort of).
Amalgamation
This modular construction is the amalgamation of our previous project on Morphogenic Construction. Queenie used the SEM of Leek and I used SEM of Dried Tears.
Queenie Ke’s
We obtained her construction’s highlights which were …
The Folds in the layer -> We incorporated that into our brainchild, by folding transparency paper.
Use of dried layers of glue -> We incorporated that into ours by coloring the glue sheets with red and blue paint as well as calligraphy ink.
Mine (Seng Yi Ling)
My previous construction’s highlights were…
The Wire frame
Plastic to make the units -> Used transparency and plastic sheets with pattern to create shadows.
Thread to hang units.
Aesthetic Cohesiveness
Units in each row are arranged in a uniform pattern.
Materials used for each unit are…
Glue from glue gun onto cling wrap
Star patterned plastic wrapping sheet
Red and Blue Watercolor paint on glue
Donated transparency paper from our classmates
Delight
Colors, light and shadows are rather friendly. Rather interactive due to the mobility of each row. Each unit moves rather independently on it’s own in the air.
Light and Shadow
For this assignment, Queenie and I heavily focusedon the light and shadow casted from our model, hence the physical exterior aesthetic aspect of our model is rather… ahem….
ANYWAYS.
This is a video of how the light and shadow look upon changing the position of the light source: front and back, left and right.
The panels closer to the light source appears larger, and overlaps with the shadow casted by the panel which is further away from the light source.
Transmission of light through the red, blue and black glue layers created colored translucent shadows.
Transparency folded up has a reflective surface. Hence, mobility of the transparency units when turning creates a refraction of lights.
During presentation, our classmates were rather fazed –Queenie and I were rather surprised by the responses haha.– by the shadows casted on the ceiling and all around the room when we placed the light source (iPhone light) directly faced up on the table, in the center of the model. Yit Ling told me that she felt serene looking at our ‘constellation’ like shadows .
Some of the pictures in class of our work were taken by Dawin and they were really pretty so we used them! Thanks Dawin!
Constructive feedbacks we’ve received from Mr. Peter and our lovely classmates were that we could actually hang our lampshade cover instead of having it on legs; and that letting it have uneven legs to give mobility or allow it to rotate like a musical box would make the shadow even more interesting on the walls and ceilings.
‘Family Portrait’ of Queenie and my lovechi..I mean. BRAINCHILD. 😀 THANK YOU QUEENIE FOR WORKING WITH ME ON THIS PROJECT <3
Our group or as known as Ling Teh Kam-pany(Derived from our names), consists of Kam Yit Ling, Clara Teh Ke Wei and myself, Seng Yi Ling. And here, we present to you our very own movie trailer for our final 4D assignment of Year 1 Semester 1…
Movie Title: Yi(t) Ling Genre: Fantasy + Psychological Horror
3 Act Structure
Beginning (Act 1)
Yi Ling is a shy and quiet person. Once focused on a task, she is far from being distracted. Sadly, she is ostracized by her classmates as she seemed rude and had a stuck up attitude. Her classmates disliked and gave her a hard time. Until one day, her new classmate Queenie decided to befriend her.
Rising action
To her dismay, Queenie sold Yi Ling out to fit in as she got ostracized by their classmates when she was seen hanging out with Yi Ling. She ganged up with her classmates and forced Yi ling into room rumored to be haunted for fun’s sake. When Yi Ling managed to open the door after much struggling, she was transported to another dimension where there were doors which led her to places as a ghost tailed her.
Middle (Act 2)
Encounters with the ghost tells Yi Ling that the ghost wants her to stay in this dimension and never go back. The spirit was motivated by loneliness which both characters shared and was enraged when Yi Ling refused to stay.
Ending (Act 3)
The ghost is in actual fact a manifestation as her alter ego. The other dimension filled with doors was a symbolism of change Yi Ling faced in her life. And the only way Yi Ling can get back to her world is by killing a part of her: Her Alter Ego.
References
We watched many horror movie trailers as a form of research and shared our experiences and views on past movies we’ve watched that could be of assistance to our movie trailer! 🙂
Crimson Peak (The Ghost was constantly present, but not shown blatantly.)
Black Swan (Killing of her Alter Ego)
The Babadook (Ghost was a manifestation of main character’s fears.)
The Boy ( Placement of background music.)
Placement of background music was very on point here – it had us 3 covering our ears and half shutting our eyes in fear to watch the trailer. The initial beginning of the trailer has a soft mellow piano tune when the female lead approaches the mansion, and the drastic change of music when they revealed The Boy to her sent shivers down our spine. The sudden change of music instantly let the viewers know what atmosphere the trailer aims to set: Simple life of the girl -> Horror of her lifetime.
Blair Witch Project (Handheld camera shots to show desperation and fear.)
Coraline (Travelling into another dimension, and use of different colour for different world)
In Coraline, the saturation of her world is low and colours are dull like the reality she lives in. In the other dimension, she enters a door where saturation is high and colours are vibrant and lively like the life she yearns to live in.
Editorial
Blackout shots – Blackout transition shots are a recurring motif. It is used as a representation of time lapse. When used in our trailer, the following scene will be of another place and another time. In addition, length of transition creates suspense and indicate a tonal shift in the scene.
Color – Adjusting of color to establish different dimensions were used. In the real world, colors are more saturated and was brighter; whereas in the other dimension, saturation was kept to a minimum and brightness was decreased to emphasize on the stark differences in both worlds, so as to make it more spooky.
Background music and audio – Music were used to build up the anticipation and gives the audience the emotion they ought to be feeling a specific sections of the trailer. For instance, mellow piano music at the start to give a soothing feeling, and high pitched fast paced music at the climax when main character was being chased down.
Parallel Universe – At the scene (0:45) where the main character exit onto the parking lot, the composition has a mirror image reflection on the extreme left of the shot, to enhance the parallel universe feeling.
Staircase scene shows main character running up the stairs away from the Ghost, but she remains on the same level as the stairway in the other dimension is an infinite loop (0:58 – 1:09) .
Shots Established
Still Shot was used at the start of the trailer, where a serene feeling is given of the school environment. (0:09)
Fast Pan + POV at the scene where main character looks around perplexed at the new dimension she entered (0:49) .
Dolly In and Out scenes are present at the scene to show the ominous door (0:30) and the scene where zooming in on her expression to show that she is perplexed after opening the door to another location (0:48).
Mid-shot was used at the scene where main character is pleading the classmates to let her out. (0:40)
Handheld shot when the main character is running up the stairs. (1:01)
Low Angle Shot at the scene where 3 Classmates (Dawin, Jon, JiaQi – Thanks guys!) were gossiping about the main character. (0:22)
Trucking Shot was used when classmates (Thanks Queenie and Debbie!)were pushing the main character inside the haunted room. (0:35)
Close-up Shot was used when main character was wrenching at the door handle when she is locked in (0:41). And the part where the main character’s phone is ringing (1:25).
Canted angle shot are present when phone is dropped amidst the struggle when pushing the main character inside the haunted room (0:37), and the scene where the ghost is wrenching the door to be opened (1:14). This is to create drama and suspense.
Slow Pan is used at the transition scene where the main character looks into the mirror and the reflection looks back at her (1:39-1:42).
Challenges Faced
We tend to forget that the trailer is 2 mins and thus, eventually worry that our trailer does not convey our plot properly; but at the same time we don’t want our trailer to be a 2 min summary of the movie (given that it is a MOVIE trailer).
Finding an appropriate location which conveyed the intended feeling was not easy. Our main character’s setting is in a school environment and hence the school was used. But for the horror aspect we had to find narrow and dark areas within campus and that was difficult. Given that we even trespassed ongoing construction sites in school.
Suitable. background. music. was. really. hard. to. find.
Miss Ruyi mentioned that our logo and lobby music was not very appropriate for our Horror trailer, but our group felt that the logo was a good representation of our efforts as a group and the elevator music gave it a merry feeling. This will create the drop of emotions when the horror aspects of our trailer is revealed. 🙂
Feedbacks and Critiques
Bar chart results obtained from Ms Ruyi’s Google survey for our group were more towards the positive end of the spectrum. (thank you!)
Sound effect can be toned down to hear narration of the alter ego better in the end.
The starting music doesn’t match with the rest of the trailer , perhaps a non jazzy music that foreshadows the story?
Show that the alter ego and the main character are two compelling personalities/ people by including more interactive scenes between the 2. Perhaps by voice over of dialogue between 2 person or a struggle between the 2.
Yi Ling can act! (Yi Ling says thank you >~< )
There were different shots to show the mood of the character.
If u guys have any constructive criticism or comments that we’ve missed out, do leave a feedback down below! WE APPRECIATE IT ?
Initially I was pretty apprehensive to do group work for assignments as I am a rather ‘lone ranger’ kind of person, and having to do group work would mean that there is potential conflicts etc. But I was proven extremely wrong as I felt that our group worked really well together and even bonded closer as friends! 😀 I am very blessed to have worked with Clara and Yit Ling for this project, and I couldn’t have asked for better group mates~
Our first and hopefully not the last group photo as Ling Teh Kam-pany 😀
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
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)
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
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.
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.
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.
“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 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 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! 😀
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