During the presentation for this assignment, I was glad to see that my classmates and Ms Lisa found my composition amusing, and lovely feedbacks to improve my work was given!
I made some changes based on the feedbacks given and the main change was the color of the lizard on the meat so that it balances the composition better.
Hence, this is the FINAL submission piece for this assignment!
 I really enjoyed this assignment because I was taking baby steps to steer away from my usual form of illustration and using a Wacom tablet to draw my portrait instead of doodling and scanning in, while also doing surrealistic photo montages which is something I do enjoy!
I look forward to the next assignment! 🙂
To see my research process and my methodology for this piece, click the link below!
Cheers,
Seng Yi Ling

The day of presentation… DUN DUN DUN

This is the simulation of the walkthrough of Bunker 143.

Documentation

Do pardon the low quality of the clips as I had limited space on my Vimeo account to upload this video I placed together.
In this video, it will show u the brief thought processes that went by, setting up of the installation, feedback wrap up session with the class (00:53 to 09:40 mark) and the cleaning up process!

 

Oh, by the way, you can fast for

Concept

And why did we name our installation Bunker 143? Stay tuned. 😉

Reference Images

Post apocalyptic scenario

Escape room setting

Narrative and Characters

And the narrative kind of explains why we named our installation ‘Bunker 143.’ Because “143” simply represents the number of letters in each word of the phrase, “I (1) Love (4) You (3).”
The deaths of each of the members were the result of love. Dad loves the child so he risked his life to go back to take the blanket. He dies from the virus due to his risk. The mother kills her child because she loves her child and does not want to see the child die in pain and misery from the virus. Mother kills herself from heartache and guilt.

How did we PRESENT our idea into reality?

1) CCTV Video used are footages taken by each member of our group at different locations to cover more ground.
We followed a standard procedure whereby we took footages of scenes where surveillance cameras would be located, panning like how a CCTV would; recording scenes where the area seemed empty, barren and lack of humanity to show the post apocalyptic situation the family faced previously.

The CCTV footages pans on empty areas, and it gives a feeling as though something is going to pop out at you. Like the video game, Five Nights at Freddy’s >>

Multiple screens were playing on a several laptops in different parts of the room, with one master projection against the wall.

Afterwards, the videos were changed to black and white, blue cellophane paper against the projector to was used to create an eerie, distant and cold vibe; as compared to the red we rejected as looked straight of a horror movie which was not the intended feeling we wanted to evoke.
In addition, the projection on the wall creates space in a confined indoor area as it shows the vast outside world.

2)Props used are mainly from nostalgic object we had as a children. It kind of sets the time period as to when was the family in the bunker. This way, we do not tell the audiences directly which time period we are in, but show them.

3) QR codes – Audio Diary Logs

The speech in each audio log was designed in such a way that the audience could start with any QR codes they scan and still be able to piece the story together. The sequence does not matter.

Audio Diary Log 1

Intro – “February 28, it’s been 2 weeks since my family and I entered this bunker. Both of them are holding up well, they seem okay with this arrangement. Everything will be well soon… right?”

Audio Diary Log 2

“April 17, The room seems smaller than ever, there are too many things in this bunker. Why did my dumb husband bring so many things? Do we really need the old snow-globe? It reminds me of our honeymoon in Paris from way back. *Sigh…*”

Audio Diary Log 3

“May 30, she looks so happy, playing with her dolls. her toys are all over the place and it’s been getting in the way, but she’s happy so I’ll bear with it. She keeps asking for her blanket, but she still seems to be having fun playing board games with me and drawing. I’ve been cleaning up after her non stop but if it keeps her happy I’ll do it. I can’t wait for the day we can get out and she can live properly again.

Audio Diary Log 4

“August 26, We have enough food for another 6 months, if the virus doesn’t clear up by then then what will we do. I tried telling him but he kept saying it was fine, that we would be ok. But what if we aren’t? Why can’t he see that we’re in trouble, why does he never, ever understand. If he cares so much for the child why can’t be understand that having enough food is better for her than having all these toys. I don’t know how to do this anymore, he isn’t taking this seriously. ”

Audio Diary Log 5

“Oh no oh no. . . .he went back to get her blanket. She wouldnt stop crying… He said that it will be okay and that nothing bad will happen. FOR GOD”S SAKE THERE IS AN EPIDEMIC OUT THERE and he. isn’t. back…its been 3 hours… oh no oh no… if something happens…. He is back he is back!!!”

Audio Diary Log 6

“…He died today.” *long pause* “How could he leave us just like that? Just for that stupid blanket. I-I can’t take this. I need to lie down.”

Audio Diary Log 7

She keeps sneezing recently, and she looks so pale and skinny. back before he died she kept going near him, I’m sure she’s caught it. she looks sicker every day, I can’t watch this again

Audio Diary Log 8

*sighs, soft crying, then thumps onto the floor*

4) Use of Sound. The master soundtrack that was constantly on loop is a combination of cricket sounds I recorded when downstairs my house at night, and the whirring noise from Gabrielle’s computer fan. Safe to say that the two sounds matched really well together and so much so, the whirring of the fan sound seeps into your mind and disappears subconsciously as the cricket sound dominates the track. We wanted to have a mix of unsettling mechanical noises and sounds that adds to the sense of isolation in this bunker.

5) Used of Glow in the Dark paint to emulate the presence of blood. Allows the audience to ponder what exactly happened on that area. Especially when Audio Diary Log 8’s QR code is situated there.


Personal Reflection
Personally I think our team pulled this project off really well and everything was pretty cohesive as a whole.
Despite having some changes here and there as we had consultations with Ru Yi and on our own, I think this project managed to come together really well as the final outcome was even better than what we imagined in our heads!
And most importantly, I think the audiences liked our work considering that they were able to question themselves regarding their own memories of the items, and were able to piece the story together. The use of an immersive space and sound really put the audiences into another setting.
What I felt could have been done better was the use of glow in the dark paint. Because of logistic and location issues, we were not able to use fake blood for the scene where the mother committed suicide as it would be hard to clean off and we would probably get scolded by the management. Hence, the use of glow in the dark paint on white paper scattered on the floor was quite an eyesore, and even misleading as one of the audiences asked me if that was pee on pee pad..

BUT NONETHELESS…

We have finally come to the end of Foundation 4D II Final Project!! Yay!

It was  great pleasure to work with Gabrielle, Yu Lin and Yit Ling in this project! Not only because they are such great people, they are also important team players in this project! And we are very proud to say that we did not spend a single dollar on this project 🙂 !

Thank you Ruyi for your guidance! I have learnt a lot in these 2 semesters from you, and 4D lessons has always been something I look forward to. 🙂

CHEERIO~ See you guys around in Year 2 Sem 1 ;D

<3 Seng Yi Ling

 

Our Group Proposal

Main Idea:

Our idea for this narrative site specific location is a set up in a post apocalyptic abandoned Singaporean bunker. The premise is that the room once belonged to a family of 3, and was abandoned after an unseen environmental calamity. The audience’s role will be to explore the space and slowly see what happened to the previous occupant, contemplate their place in the world, and possibly how to get out of the confined space.

The focus of the set will be on lights, sounds, and interaction.

Themes:

    • Existentialism (Feeling like a small person in a big world)
      • We want the audience to question who they are in the world and make them feel ‘small’, by showing them how people can just get up and disappear, leaving behind everything they value, and thus making them question if anything they do really matters if they can be wiped off the earth so easily.
    • Memories
    • Change (Isolation, loss)
      • In our hectic world, we are only able to slow down and think only when everything we know is gone. No distractions and no one around. This is when we are truly ourselves.
      • Forces the audience to slow down and think about themselves once all people/distractions are not in their immediate surroundings

Planned location:

  • ADM print room on second floor
  • One of the crit rooms
  • A small room

Lights:

  • Use of projection with video documentations of previous occupants, different portraits in black and white grain (Surveillance type)
  • Galaxy projection
    • Painting on transparency like in the project “Stellar”
    • To create another dimension within the same space. It also makes the room look futuristic which fits our post apocalyptic bunker set
    • It also gives the feel of floating away from your current reality into one of contemplation and reflection
  • Putting coloured transparency or cellophane paper against flashlights to create a coloured lightbox effect.

Sounds:

  • Futuristic sounds (Soft siren whine, radio noise, fan whirring)
  • An omnipresent narrator narrating in an ASMR style
    • ASMR as it can be comforting when tranquil, but as well as discomforting when you’re in a crisis
    • Undecided whether it will all be the same voice or different person to each object

Interaction:

  • Mirrors/reflective surfaces, seeing your reflected self everywhere
    • You are only with yourself.
    • Emphasizing the feel of isolation and the audiences’ place as a human being in a world larger than they thought before. In the room, there are no people, only the items they left behind and ghost images of the audience themselves.
  • Tangible items strewn around them that can be picked up
    • Triggers a unanimous, nostalgic emotional memory in audiences
    • E.g. A worn-out doll, old music box, plane ticket etc.
    • At the same time, the narrator will be narrating a memory associated with each of the items around the audience

References:

  • Stan Brakhage “Stellar” – Inspired to steer our light logistics according to his methods as well as to obtain the galaxy feeling which is crucial for our theme, so as to evoke a sense of loneliness and isolation in a vast space.
  • Black Mirror (Mirror/ reflective surfaces), our theme is similar in exploring memories and loneliness.Methodology:
  • Audience is brought into a dark room and made to lie down on some mats (childcare type)
  • They open their eyes, facing the ceiling projection of the slowly shifting galaxies
    • Story is that since civilisation (people around you) is gone, it’s easier to pay attention to the environment around you with no rush.
  • Around them are objects belonging to others, but most likely will trigger some sense of nostalgia and own memories to come forth. It makes you think of your own life. Your existence.
  • The narrator will be giving some history behind each of the object under the guise of the previous owner, prompting the audience to consider what the object means to them
  • The whole experience in own space is subjective. It is for you to explore your own existentialism and existence.

Really hope that our installation will be really awesome!! SO EXCITED!! 😀
Stay tuned to our documentation post soon!!! ;D

Cheers,

Seng Yi Ling

5 elements of Cinema

  1. Sound
  2. The Medium of Film
  3. Site, Space
  4. Audience
  5. Screen

There is always a template. A 3 act structure in a story. However in Expanded Cinema, the audience in this expanded cinema gets rid of the structure, the spoon feeding of the story and they finds out the ending themselves. The audience would be more active rather than passive.

Doug Aitken
Doug Aitken (b. 1968) has created a body of work that explores the evolving ways people experience memory and narrative and relate to fast-paced urban environments.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUfn1X2i_cM

Chapters of Black Mirror

  1. Departure
  2. Losing Baggage
  3. Tropical Conspiracy
  4. New Condition

The location at which the installation and performance art is held on a vessel in an open sea.

Main actress and other performers performs live on screen with 3 screens around her. The story goes in a way the actress travels from one point to the other.

The character is on an unexplained journey from one place to the other via plane, car and on foot. The character only interacts with herself as she leads a life of a journey alone.

Why use a vessel in an open sea?? Boat cause maybe it is a mode of transport. Maybe a metaphorical mean of isolation? Like a lonesome boat in vast sea. Hence, location as to where the installation is held is important. In addition, the artists statement of her works are important as the audience of that country he presents to may not get the context as it is not relevant to them.

Making reference to an old film which the song is constantly played throughout is ‘Only have eyes for you’.

Why he uses that song? It is a very old popular song. And covers of this song by others makes this popular. Spectators will find familiarity when they drive past that video screening

History of Avant Garde film

1920s have limited resources and cameras were not easily accessible unless you have resources and money. Whereas, 1960s is a period of change. Feminist movement, Cold war, Technology is on the rise, cameras are more easily available.

Ruyi showed us a couple of clips and asks us for the emotions we felt through watching these clips. And as usual, since the emotion is subjective to each film, everyone had different thoughts and feelings for each clip.

Ralph Steiner

 

For this clip, there was a mixture of emotions for me. It was soothing and at the same time uncomfortable.

I believe the artist was intending to match the movement of the gears to the music or vice versa, and many of the time where I felt was soothing was when the gears or mechanism fit perfectly with the music. (The OCD in me is acting up)

However, I felt uncomfortable at times because the mechanism and music don’t go well together. IT IS OFF BEAT. Or when the note is prolonged, I’d expect a ‘clunk’ sound but it did not give me that satisfaction. ( The OCD in me is acting up again)

Hans Richter

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b972EQOOEoY

Visuals can be music as well, even without music. In our heads we would have created a sound that goes with the moving images. We see music.

Stan Brakhage
“Film is like poetry rather than visual arts.” – Stan Brakhage

Brakhage uses material experiment in his films where each film is like mark making. The film strip acts as a canvas and not medium for story telling.

Multiple Screens Experiments

With the use of multiple screens, audience is immersed and bathed in your work in that space; or even overwhelmed by the information provided given if that is the artists intention.

Omer Fast

What you will look when you walk around the story. The authority of the story is question. Different modes of story and reconstruction of the Journalism whether the recounting of stories are reliable.

Left side of the screen doesn’t match with the soldier’s story. It makes you question Omer Fast as well as the Soldier’s account.

The message Omer Fast may be trying to express is that what the media shows to you can be very deceiving. Actors casted, exposes the lies . It is a take to mocking journalism as the abrupt cuts of the videos, locations of scenes and audio is all fake and post edited to how Omer Fast wants it to be.

Other than sexism, the female figure on the right is not using any word in her singing. She is evoking sounds that expresses what she is feeling inside. The male figure on the left has words to express himself and he does it with ease, and with a live audience listening to him. Women are not suppose to perform live infront of an audience as it is against societal norms of where she comes from.

Alter Ego Assignment 1


Script/Plan

“When you were younger…”

Themes:

  • You cannot go back to the past, so live in the present.
  • Treasure the ones around you while you can.

Characters: Me (Current) + Grandmother

Reason to meet: Granddaughter visits grandmother.

Place for them to meet: Grandmother’s living room.

Incident to set up/respond to: Granddaughter reminisces about her past. She recalled her grandmother used to comb her hair as she sat on that couch when she was little.

Scene set –up: After taking a bath, Yiling walks to the living room to get her comb. Yiling sees Grandma sitting on the couch resting and this reminded her of the old times.

Dialogue:

(To be confirmed because not certain if grandmother can remember the script. If not will just improvise on the spot to get a more realistic and documentary type of an actual dialogue between me and my grandmother.)

Y – Yi Ling; G – Grandmother

(The dialogue will be in dialect)

Y : Ah ma, comb my hair for me?

G : aiyo so big already still want ah ma to comb hair for you ah?

Y : *while G was combing Y hair* Ah ma do you still remember how was I like as a child?

G : Aiyo last time when you were a little girl………(talks in detail about my naughty incidents as a child for maybe 40 seconds)……….and now you’re so big girl already. Wah time passes so fast…

Y: Ah ma, you do know that even though I was so naughty to you last time, I love you a lot right? Even now so.

G: Aiyo, I know hahahaha.


Explanation

The above is the dialogue I had initially wanted to carry out between my Grandmother and me. I had the idea to have an intimate conversation with my grandmother by talking about my past, which her expressions and her memories of me would bring her character out better. Be that as it may, much improvisation had to be carried out to head in the direction that I wanted instead of following the script I had planned out word for word.

Through this dialogue, there is a tight relation between both characters: My Grandmother and Myself.

I felt deeply that this dialogued recorded cannot be replicated or reproduced by anyone except for the both of us. Stories may vary when asking a different person who shares the same memory, but this story only makes sense when told by my grandmother and questions imposed by me.


In Depth Character Profiling (Updated)

ah-maajpg

My grandmother’s whole life is dedicated to taking care of the house and providing a home for her children, as well as practically taking me under her wing ever since I was born because my parents had to go to work. Her love language is more of ‘Acts of Service’ rather than ‘Words of Affirmation’. Hence, towards the end she replies my expression of love towards her with a mild chiding tone and shy chuckle.

me

My character in this dialogue is more of a reminiscing and a questioning one. Unlike my grandmother who is always at home and hardly steps out of her house, I am constantly on the move with time. My childhood is something I cannot revisit, and it will only be a fragmented piece of memory. Hence, this conversation with my grandmother about my past, adds another perspective on the same memory I had. In addition, it feels heart-warming to hear from my grandmother’s perspective of her memory of my childhood self.


Methodology

I added some clips between the dialogue footage not only to spice up the stagnant one-frame-middle shot, but to set the scene of where the dialogue was set up.

slide2

Such as my grandma’s HDB Flat scene, clock ticking (in my grandmother’s house), the swaying Bougainvillea flowers planted by my Granddad before he passed on (appears when Grandma and I were talking about him) and the ‘Block 321 Clementi Ave 5’, which is the neighborhood area of where my grandma stays at.

In addition, the clips are included to provide visual aid instead of having the viewers to just imagine something they might have never seen before.

slide1

Such as the process of her preparing food for me and the food that I loved to eat as a kid, exactly as the way how she prepares them.

For this part, I was inspired by a certain scene in The Virgin Suicide, where Trip and Lux were in the auditorium:

I liked the idea of how the narration in the lecture are in sync with the actions between Lux and Trip. For instance, at the 0:13 mark when the narration in the lecture says, “One high pressure and one low, coming into contact with another.”; and that is when Lux and Trip’s elbows touched. Hence, I was inspired by that scene and I added to the food scenes when the food my grandma listed out appears onscreen simultaneously.

Something that I have observed when I was adding subtitles to the video, is that how the subtitling was done really sets the atmosphere of the dialogue and film as well. While editing, I was pondering between translating the conversation for what it means in formal English, or should I translate it for what it is: Informal and light hearted conversation between a grandchild and a grandmother. As you can see, I went for the latter.

I included ‘Using Motifs to express Themes’ a couple of times in this project.

slide3

Clock Ticking footage and the Block Number 321 footage to express my theme:

  • You cannot go back to the past, so live in the present.
  • Treasure the ones around you while you can.

Both motif involves numbers. The clock showing that time is never stopping as much as we reminisce, and that ‘321’ is a form of counting down to the days we have left.


Difficulties faced

  1. Staging the dialogue according to the script was not easy at all because my grandmother character was MY ACTUAL GRANDMOTHER and directing her character to memorize the script was not plausible, so I tried to direct her in a way that our conversation is headed in that direction I wanted. Hence, the final product was more of a documentation of my daily conversation with her and I really liked it because: One, it was on a real account; Two, it was hardly staged because I just told my grandmother to talk to me as per normal and Three, I got to know some new things about how my grandmother sees me as a kid.
  2. I had a lot of extra footage, and cutting it down to grasp the main essence and the part about expressing my characters through the dialogue was not easy. Because I found that many parts were critical and I had to give up quite a handful of precious dialogue that would emphasize on my grandmother’s character. Thus, abrupt cuts were seen.
  3. I started to use Adobe Premier Pro for the first time to fully edit a video and it was quite stressful because I had a mental image of how I would want the video to look, but I was not able to achieve it because I wasn’t familiar with the software. But I believe with more practice and video tutorials online, I think I would be better than I was this time. 🙂

 

YAY So we have finally completed our FINAL assignment for 2D Foundation WOOHOO~
So lets get on with this extremely long and detailed post~

ME
Representation of Me: Tofu + Baby Elephant
slide1
Instead of using photographs of myself to represent myself, I decided to use my spirit animal as a representation of myself: A baby elephant.
Why a BABY elephant?
Because I often wish that I didn’t have to grow up so fast, and like a kid I am rather gullible & childish.
Why a baby ELEPHANT?
Because an elephant is a gentle giant ( I am rather big), they never forget(I bear grudges), they are playful and friendly but not to be trifled with ( my emotions are easily riled).
I was also intrigued to explore Anthropomorphism as well. Hence, I wanted to use Tofu as my subject as well. The texture of my elephant I have decided to go with is different types of Tofu as my friend once told me that I am like Tofu, soft and fragile and I ought to toughen up to be like Tau Pok.
slide2
Hence, in each row, the toughness of each elephant in each square will show the progression of how I , from a fragile watery Tau Huay transform into a tougher Tau Pok. Vice Versa. cool

Methodology
For the methodology for the representation of myself, I was very inspired by the cartoons I have watched in the past and recently.
Hence, I decided to carrying out my emotions and state into the form of hand-drawn elephant cartoon drawings, which then I scan my drawings into the computer, and then overlaying the texture of tofu over my drawings for the elephant’s skin on Photoshop.
This further emphasized on the meaning of my spirit animal is also soft and fragile like Tofu. Thus, giving a new definition to my spirit animal.
I decided to split the 4 rows into 2 where the first two will be on my concept of Dystopia and the other two will be my ideal concept of Utopia.
 scanwf
A constant method of carrying this project out is on Surrealism, as I was having lots of fun for project 2 and I would like to incorporate photo manipulation and montages again. 🙂

Compositions

1) Utopia 1:
 slide1
Me: Me when I am stressed.
Setting: Lured by Temptation
Black used in the background and doodled TV to show the dull and mundane life I am in. Juxtaposed by the burst of white light behind the TV, it acts as a metaphorical representation of the TV being a portal to send me to another dimension ( color wheel ) where there is colour, vibrance and excitement. Outstretched hand (Korean drama actor Song Joong Ki’s hand) from the center of the colour wheel invites and lures me into his world. *fangirl snigger*
Outcome: Living vicariously through fiction.
My concept for this composition is a themepark because I love thrilling rides and I lose track of time there. Similarly, in the land of fiction, I lose track of time and reality when I watch TV dramas.
I used Square complementary Harmony color wheel in this composition where I used : Violet, Orange, Blue and Green. Violet/ purple gives off a dream like atmosphere, Blue is calming, orange gives a youthful and warm feeling and Green is refreshing.

 For this row, I was rather inspired by an image I saw online once which I felt it was highly relatable.
 main-qimg-b98d152beefb60cbd0cc74ab21e30e0e-c
Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.
– Albert Einstein
2) Dystopia 1
slide3
Me: Me when I am carefree
Setting:  Societal Expectations.
I used cool colors for this composition that has similar tones. Scene takes place in a classroom setting in my perspective. Blackboard serves as the center of focus to create line of perspective, further emphasized by grids on the floor, which says, “Flying Lesson 101”.
This is to show that sometimes in society and education, we are often taught things that we don’t need or does not apply to us individually, or it simply is not cut out for us. And no matter how hard we push ourselves to learn, we remember the theory but we cannot apply it.
Outcome: Inferiority complex.
Outcome is a representation of Exam day.
I used monochrome harmony ( Blue) and split complementary ( Blue with Orange ) in this composition. I used blue as the background as I wanted to express the coldness and cruel side of society (building in the background), as well as inferiority I experienced when my peers do extremely well but I don’t. It is as though, when I am not doing well in certain subjects as compared to others, I am deemed as incompetent, inadequate and less intelligent by society…
The bright orange juxtaposed against the dark blue background is to show how much my peers shine through their abilities, where I am blended into the background, questioning my abilities. I attempted to create a diagonal implied line from the bottom left corner to the top right hand corner, to convey the instability I felt.

3) Utopia 2

slide2

Me: Me when I have Anxiety
Setting: My Safe Haven
My Safe Haven is depicted in an outdoor scenario where ELEPHANTS SHOULD BE ROAMING AND NOT LOCKED IN CAGES NOR ENCLOSURES *ahem* where there is plenty of room to roam. I used rain, as Elephants love the rain; I represented the sun with a fried egg (Because I like too eat eggs) and the vegetation at the bottom to be a Soya Bean field as Tofu is made from Soya Beans, and metaphorically, I am where I am born. Hence, my safe haven is places where I find most joy and comfort as a child.
I used a Analogous Warm Colors for this composition where Green, Red, Orange and Yellow are present.
Outcome: Recuperation.
In this composition, the Elephant is seen in the ground with a Soya Bean and a rice grain on it’s side. This is a representation of me talking my problems out with my loved ones, and in this scenario, the Soya Bean is a representation of my family and friends (What made me ‘Me’.) and Rice is also the basic element which makes my comfort food: Carbohydrates. My elephant’s texture is Tau Huay again as I wanted to show that in front of my loved ones, I am allowed to breakdown and show my weak and fragile side 🙂 The Farmer Boots, Watering Can and Sunlight are what will help me grow up as a Soya Bean to be a stronger and happier person…I mean tofu.
I used Analogous Warm Colors and Earth tones for this composition.

4)Dystopia 2
slide4
Me: Me when I am Happy
Setting: Whirlpool of negativity
I depicted this composition by a hand grabbing the Elephant and attempting to throw her in the black hole made by the black and white whirlpool.
My highs and lows are rather unpredictable. I get triggered by comments and actions really easily as I am hypersensitive- *sighs* I am a Scorpio…excuses – and in an instant I get so caught up in chains of thoughts or reasons, I enter my abyss of fear and swirling thoughts, which eventually lead me to a state of melancholy.
Used Monochrome Harmony for this composition.
Outcome: Abyss of fear and melancholy
In my state of fear and melancholy, I am consumed by my own thoughts, things people say and self-loathe. I’ll think about past events and I get really scared of my consuming thoughts which swirls around me like vultures waiting to feed on my corpse.
Flying eyeballs with mouth-Conscious of things people say and the way they look at me.
Lizards with Math equations on them – Constant reminder of greatest fear in Math. I hate lizards.
Frankenstein Snowman – Things people compare parts of my body to.
Used Monochrome Harmony and Split Complementary ( Yellow rays from Window)
The texture of my elephant from a tough Tao Pok to Tau Gua to a watery fragile Tao Huay is evident here.

Artist References
A lot of my inspirations come from the cartoons I binged watched as a kid and the cartoons I watch now with my younger cousin on cable TV as a form of bonding session!
Best thing about being an Art student is that I can get away with watching cartoons for research purpose MUAHAHA.
I pay quite a lot of attention to the details in the animations which I drew my inspirations from:
Fairly Odd Parents
I really liked how they used color of the background has similar tones and roughly from the same hue. And the main characters are usually much more saturated and has brighter hues to draw our attention to them. The juxtaposition of the one-hue background to the more vibrant and colorful main characters really gives the main characters that POP of color.
The AMAZING WORLD OF GUMBALL
&
PICKLE AND PEANUT
cartoon-network-the-amazing-world-of-gumball
sectionname_xd_pickle_peanut_rich_nonretina_01c8eb16
My inspiration for Anthropomorphism comes from these 2 cartoons.
I liked how in The Amazing World of Gumball, the character’s personality are related for the medium they are made from. For instance, Teri (the paper bear beside Tina the T-rex) is made out of paper, she is very fragile, and physically weak. It is revealed that if Teri stands in the light, you can see “inside of her.”
And in Pickle and Peanut , I like how the main characters are the only ones made from ‘Real Objects’ whereas the rests are drawings.

Problems Faced
Use of colors
The colors aspect was bugging me quite a bit. The placement of colors on certain areas of my compositions and the saturation, tone and the Hex color code made it hard for me to decide as there were so many colors to choose from. But then again I was intrigued by the types of color harmony I can use to further illustrate and emphasize on my intention and emotion in each composition.
Ideas
I was rather concerned regarding using Color Harmony as the main key point as my head was really congested with ideas on how to pull off the photo montages, methodology, ideology and which elephant to use for which setting etc.
Images
Finding the right high resolution images for my photo montages and photo manipulation was rather difficult. For instance, it was not easy to find a high resolution image for tofu. 🙁

Comments and Feedback

Lovely Classmates’:
commensTHANK YOU GUYS FOR THE LOVELY COMMENTS <3
Miss Joy’s ( I can’t remember word for word but I got the gist):
– Can tell that I tried to apply my Principles of design such as implied lines and use of perspective.
– Joy suggested that for my ‘Societal Expectation’ composition, doing a sketch of a bunny hopping off a cliff to show the act of learning to fly would be better as compared to writing the text ‘Flying Lesson 101’ as the texts are rather jarring when seen as a whole during presentation of my 12 compositions, as it was the only composition with text on it. 🙂

Have pretty mixed feelings when lesson ended today 🙁 I had lots of fun working on the assignments, and odd to say but critique day is my favorite part of the assignment XD, but I cant help but feel a tinge of sadness when in sem 2 our class may split up and we may not get Joy as our instructor again even if we try to grab our timetable slots on STARwarS… sigh. But regardless I am very glad to get to know my classmates more as individuals through 2D projects ;’) It is my utmost pleasure guys~ Thank you for the memories <3

Methodology
My approach to Project 2 was to breakdown the quotes into keywords, and then branch out from the keywords to get inspirations as to what my possible choice of subjects can be used to represent my quotes without being too literal! 🙂
The final words I have decided to use to represent the key words are usually what I belive in or what I prefer to. For instance, I love “babies”. HENCE, “babies” would mean “Happiness” to me.
You can see the thought process in the following attached image of my 2D Sketchbook! ^-^
aslas
My objective in this assignment
In the following works, my unanimous goal is to make the quotes as non literal as I can by inserting dark humor, playing around with scale and involve the use of Dadaism to make the final pieces as surreal as I can. At the same time reinterpreting the quotes in my own perspective and exploring my choice of subjects.

Quote 1) “Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.”

Keywords: 
Happiness -> babies , things that make babies happy
Darkest of times -> evil Hitler baby , poison
Turn on the light -> Sun
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Principles of elements and design: Lines, Repetition and Symmetrical Balance.
LINES from the sun rays in the background creates a radiating effect from the center of the image, to create a form of radial symmetry.
REPETITION of the items (bottles, spoons, cows etc.) in a spread out manner, using the rays of sun as guideline creates a sense of SYMMETRICAL BALANCE as the Baby Hitler acts as the central axis of this symmetry.
My Interpretation: Baby Hitler’s death could have been easily staged earlier to prevent a chaos, by poisoning (hence the poison sign on the spoons) the things baby Hitler would have loved. Such as adding alcohol to his milk, feeding poison to him in his baby food. Hence, Hitler’s death is a form of happiness to his victims.

Quote 2) “If there ever comes a day when we can’t be together keep me in your heart, I’ll stay there forever.”

Keywords 

Can’t be together-> distance and separation

Heart -> warmth in cold , maternal love, child

Stay there forever-> longing
 ay201617_fdn2d_g05_sengyiling_project2_3
Principles of elements and design: Scale, Repetition and Lines.
REPETITION of Jewish boy’s head in varying SCALE. There is slight use of implied lines created by the direction at which Hitler’s salute is directing our eyes to : Boy’s head.
My interpretation: This quote can be used in the situation where the Jewish mother is going to be executed while her son is being sent off to the concentration camps during the Holocaust. The use of the Jewish boy’s head in the background is to represent that, although he is held captive in the camp, his mind and spirit is elsewhere and not brainwashed by Hitler’s idealogy .

Quote 3) “Hold Ma Poodle!”
Keywords: 
Hold->grabbing
Poodle-> fluffy ->Sheeps
 zxcvbnmasdfghj
Since this quote had lesser keywords, I got feelings emulated in this quote instead, which is Agression.
Principles of elements and design: Scale, Repetition and Balance.
REPETITION of sheep with Mein Kampf books on their faces. SCALE of hand and Hitler’s face is much larger than the sheep. ASSYMETRICAL BALANCE is attempted as I tried to balance the visual weight of Hitler’s head on the right with the hand and Jewish Sheep on the left.
My interpretation: Mein Kampf is an autobiography by the National Socialist leader Adolf Hitler, in which he outlines his political ideology and future plans for Germany. And I pasted the book all over the sheeps’ face as I wanted to imply that the innocent sheep in the meadow were being brainwashed by Hitler’s ideologies. The sheep in the foreground is the only one without the Mein Kampf book as a face, instead it has a Kippah (Jewish cap), a representation that the innocent sheep is a Jew.
The hand is about to grab the Jewish sheep to be fed into Hitler’s mouth, a metaphor for the sheep that is about to be killed by Hitler, or brainwashed to be like the rest of the sheep. The aggression of the quote is carried out into action in this image.

Quote 4) “Come with me where dreams are born, and time is never planned.”

Keywords: 
Dreams->Clouds, Hitler
Born -> Giving Birth -> Beginning of time -> Dinosaur
Time-> Clock
Never planned ->Unexpectedness -> Impromptu birth?
 ay201617_fdn2d_g05_sengyiling_project2_1
Principles of elements and design: Scale, Repetition and Balance.
SCALE of Doctors against the Dinosaur. ASSYMETRICAL BALANCE is attempted as I tried to balance the visual weight of Dinosaur on the right with the doctors and clock on the left.
My interpretation: The dinosaur ( beginning of time = to imply birth of Hitler was a long time ago)  gave birth to baby Hitler, not knowing that it also gave birth to “Time” unexpectedly. “Time” is the antagonist from the mini web series: Don’t hug me I’m scared, on YouTube. Hence, implying that the birth of Hitler long time ago was the unexpected birth of an antagonist.

After looking at my concepts and final images, I decide to rearrange the sequence of my quotes. After looking through my final pieces, I felt that the images kind of convey a sequential story of the Hitler I portrayed.
Sequence is as followed.

Sequence is as followed.

Birth of Hitler > Rise of Nazism and mass murder/ conversion of Jews> Jews kept in concentration camps > How Hitler’s act of terror could have been prevented by an early death.

My Inspirations
  • I followed an Instagram account which posted a variety of creations by surrealistic artists, which gave me ideas on the choice of subjects and how I might want to compile the images together.
Instagram account where I drew my surrealism inspiration and ideas from.

Instagram account where I drew my surrealism inspiration and ideas from.

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  • I also used photo collage most of the time, inspired by Hannah Hoch’s photo collaging and John Hartfield’s form of photo montage. (link to my research on both artists :  https://oss.adm.ntu.edu.sg/yseng001/2d-project-2-for…rch-17-sept-2016/ )
  • I was truly enamored by Eugenia Loli ‘s compositions as she is very creative and imaginative in how she placed her subject matters and objects. Her compositions spurred me to be more imaginative and look at everyday objects differently.

Raw Deal Stargate Installation


Inner struggles through Project 2:

  • I had a hard time finding images I sought for which are in high quality 300dpi. The use of Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator was a huge headache for me when I first started as I had to learn from trial and error on how to configure the programs. The frequency of bitmap and tonal contrast was difficult to grasp as well as I was not sure how my design will look like upon silk screening. Sadly, in the end the design on my tote bag was not very well produced as I expected it to.:(
  • I really disliked how much water was wasted in the process of silk screen washing 🙁

Presentation Day Comments!

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Ms. Joy’s comment/feedback:

I cant remember 100% of what Ms. Joy said, but the gist of the good things she said about my Project 2 was that she liked how I used the elements and principles of design in my work to direct the viewer’s attention to areas I wanted to focus on, and the use of dark humor with the reoccurring motif of Hitler in my various warm and fuzzy quotes were well played.

Whereas things to improve on is that the 2nd composition was a rather confusing as the visual weight of the hand and Hitler’s head are very similar, hence it was rather confusing if the hand was grabbing Hitler or the Jewish sheep as, Hitler’s facial expression looked scared. Joy also suggested that maybe averting the gaze of Hitler could assist in my composition to make Hitler look less afraid of the hand. 🙂

Regarding my silkscreened tote bag, we both agreed that the silkscreen pay off was not that good and that perhaps in the future I can have more opportunity to silkscreen again, and perhaps exposing my screen for a longer time will result in a better print! 😀

Thank you Ms. Joy and my lovely classmates for your feedback and comments!!embarassed To be honest, my favorite part for presentation day is getting the post-it notes from my classmates, and obtaining feedback. For some unknown reason it makes me feel very excited! ^0^


Nonetheless, I had a really great experience with this project as I managed to use the principals of elements and design to create the design I wanted and then having to print them onto a tote bag! Having my design to be printed onto a product gave me a sense of achievement and a more tangible feeling of being a real designer. embarassed

Cheers!

Seng Yi Ling

Before I dive into the project, some research and reference artists required to get my creative factory to start its engine~ But as of now, I am pretty uncertain about this project because it is rather abstract and lots of limitless imagination is required which I am rather worried about. ( Sounds familiar to my Project 1 woes…) And because I am a technology caveman, I predict that I going to have a hard time using the Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. :'( Wish me luck~!

Surrealism

Surrealism is a 20th-century avant-garde movement in art and literature which sought to release the creative potential of the unconscious mind by using irrational juxtaposition of images.

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To my understanding, surrealism is to create meaningful images that are illogically possible in reality.

DADAISM

Dada was an art movement of the European avant-garde in the early 20th century. The beginnings of Dada correspond to the outbreak of WWI. And the movement was a protest against the bourgeois nationalist and colonist interests, which many Dadaists believed were the root cause of the war.

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Many Dadaists believed that the ‘reason’ and ‘logic’ of bourgeois capitalist society had led people into war. Hence they expressed their rejection of that ideology in artistic expression by embracing chaos and irrationality. Dada was not art: it was “anti-art”. Dada represented the opposite of everything which traditional art stood for.

duchamp

Based on my own understanding, Dadaism is ‘Anti-art’. It’s purpose is to reject any logical and reasonable thinking, going against whatever traditional art stood for. It seemed like a mass rebellion against traditional art. Fighting Art with Anti-art.

Russian Constructivism

Russian Constructivists had the intention to reinvent art and reconstruct art from level 0. Constructivism was primarily an art and architectural movement. It rejected the idea of art for arts’ sake and the traditional bourgeois class of society to which previous art had been catered. Practicality with beauty was the main thrust behind the constructivists.

manwithmoviecam

Instead it favored art as a practice directed towards social change or that would serve a social purpose and be practical in its nature. Developing after World War I, the movement sought to push people to rebuild society in a Utopian model rather than the one that had led to the war. Art, music, architecture etc. were influenced by constructivism. 

gustavklutsis-workers-everyone-must-vote-in-the-election-of-soviets-1930

Based on my observation, I realize that Russian Constructivism has minimal colors in its artworks. Variety is added by using basic element of design such as contrast of color and lines.

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Chinese Political Pop art by Wang Guang Yi’s Great Criticism Series instantly came to my mind when I searched for ‘Russian Constructivism’.

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Artwork by Wang Guang Yi

As you can see, there are some forms of similarity such as red is the dominant color, and use of lines draws the viewer’s attention to an area of focus.

Hannah Hoch

At first glance into her works, . I assumed she was a modern artist initially as Hoch’s work seemed timeless and is applicable to the present times.

hannah-hoch

Hannah Hoch was an important member of the Berlin Dada movement and a pioneer in collage and was one of the originators of Photomontage. She also consciously promoted the idea of women working creatively more generally in society. She explicitly addressed in her pioneering artwork in the form of photomontage the issue of gender and the figure of woman in modern society

tall

Surrealism and Dadaism seems to be heavily involved in her works. The effect of her work is initially one of visual confusion, and yet a kind of nonsense-narrative begins to develop. To me, she is like Picasso who used magazine cutouts to create collages instead of paint!

John Heartfield

John Heartfield was a pioneer of modern photomontage. Working in Germany and Czechoslovakia between the two world wars, he developed a unique method of appropriating and reusing photographs to powerful political effect. The process of cutting and pasting together elements to form a brilliant cohesive image became the foundation of Heartfield art.

yet-it-moves

To compose his works, he chose recognizable press photographs of politicians or events from the mainstream illustrated press. He then disassembled and rearranged these images to radically alter their meaning.

15johnheartfieldkriegundleichenHeartfield’s strongest work used variations of scale and stark juxtapositions to activate his already gruesome photo-fragments. The result could have a frightening visual impact.

john_heartfield

I felt that Heartfield’s work are rather heartfelt as his ‘Anti-Nazi’ and ‘Anti-politics’ works held significant meaning behind the photomontage of satirical humor.

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From this round of research, I am inspired by a few concepts and methodology of artists, which I may use for this project:

  1. Basic Principles and Elements of Design can help direct the viewer’s attention to an area I want to focus on, AND to emphasize on a certain intention.
  2. Stray away from conventional traditional art mindsets, focus on the idea you want to bring out instead of the aesthetics. UNLEASH YOUR IRRATIONAL UNCONSCIOUS MIND~ RELEASE THE KRAKEN!!
  3. Create nonsense-narrative
  4. Use recognizable images
  5.  Vary scale of object and create stark juxtapositions

Cheers~

Seng Yi Ling.

Assignment 3: Morphogenetic Construction

For assignment 3, we will explore the relationship of the unit and how unitary elements operate as cellular building blocks towards the growth of complex organic structures.

For our individual research and analysis, I have decided to go with the SEM of Tears where we did a PowerPoint presentation slide!

slide1 slide2 slide3 slide5 slide6 slide7 slide8 slide9 slide10 slide11 slide12And the video which failed to play during presentation entails the tear extraction process by the creator of these SEM and how the crystallization is formed:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvDNVE3_A5Y


Construction of Model

So my initial idea was to create the units using egg cartons, but Mr. Peter suggested a better readymade/material can be used to recreate the units as the egg cartons did not really look like the units.

So after much brainstorming, I have decided to use the plastic used to create the previous assignment to create my childhood ‘Fortune telling paper’ toy, as the top view resembled the top view of the unit.

mfortuner-teller

The X in the middle resembled the unit of the image I wanted to recreate

teardwes

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As the SEM of the reflex tears has different repetitive units, the second unit I have decided to go with using Transparency paper to create origami paper box to recreate this unit:

Origami box

Origami box

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By stacking a smaller box into a bigger box, I was able to create this structure.

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Using wires to create this frame, so that when I hang the units, the 3 Dimensionality is enhanced and they are more interactive and flowy. By adding strings across the strings, the units are more connected and flows rhythmically (like liquid), instead of giving an airy feeling.

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I was inspired by the baby toy to create the framework.baby-toys-for-0-12-months-hand-bed-crib-musical-hanging-rotate-bell-ring-rattle_jpg_350x350

“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! 🙂

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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

First Board

Second 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

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)

Neurons

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.

  1. 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.
  2. 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! embarassed

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

Cheers,

Yi Ling.