Very stoked to be able to touch on the topic of the Supernatural for this project because it is something that I have immense fear for, and at the same time I am very intrigued!

Was pretty stuck because the scope is so broad! So I did up a mind-map to see where my interest lie in and hopefully I can narrow down to a more specific topic of the Supernatural I can work with.

It is a wide network of sparse thoughts here and there, but I finally narrowed down to 2 topics I would like to explore on (The orange and yellow cloud outline)!

1. Thailand’s Kuman Thong ( Golden Boy)

Seeing that Children ghosts/spirits are not as common explorations in the Supernatural realm, I set my mind on working with Children Spirits as the theme for this project. As I really do love kids ( in the non-creepy way), it’ll be a fresh new perspective to look at them through the eyes of the dead (still not trying to be creepy ._.).
There is this grey area because it is a mixture of good and bad. In a way which meddling with ghost/spirits to obtain a positive outcome, is something that is quite risky.

Some research on Kuman Thong:
Though not part of mainstream Buddhist practices, Thailand black magic amulets were created by and practiced by monks and lay-people (Layperson, someone who is not an expert in a particular field of study) .
Often times the ascetic, Lersi, who was not actually a monk, but was a master of the spirit world, guides black magic spells and rituals. Spell casting is done by lay-people.

Buddhist monks have also got into the practice here in Thailand. Though, as you know, black magic and witchcraft, Thai voodoo – barang, has nothing at all to do with Theravada Buddhism, Thais have integrated it into their belief system and most cannot distinguish between the two.

It amazes me, seeing how people try to put life into a “Luk Trep” doll, or even try to summon the spirits of the dead, while others takes the life of real babies for superstitious reasons.

2. The Day of The Dead

At the same time, I am rather fazed by the festivity for ‘The Day of The Dead’. A day for the remembrance of the dead often comes off as downcast or rather solemn event. However, the Mexican holiday is filled with festivity and hype; alongside with the beautiful decoration and colors involved.

I am rather torn by the two themes, but at the same time I wonder how can I combine the two themes without being too jarring and contradicting, for which the Kuman Thong has a negative connotation to it due to its association with Black Magic, whereas The Day of The Dead is a jovial holiday marked to remember their loved ones.

Style I’m heading towards

Mainly illustrative because I do enjoy drawing and using pencil to design my sketches is more versatile as I can alter and integrate elements into an object easier.

And I would like to incorporate the elements of design, ‘Symmetry’ into my final work, where there is flow and any direction when the design is flipped, a narrative can still be told.

Source of images
– http://d2ydh70d4b5xgv.cloudfront.net/images/6/3/thai-buddha-amulet-pha-yant-tao-wessuwan-powerful-protect-life-talisman-71316e23df969256fffec99b85e93f34.jpg
– http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-02/01/content_414080.htm
– https://fineartamerica.com/featured/thai-pattern-background-anek-suwannaphoom.html
– http://zway2go.com/raising-a-baby-ghost/
– http://www.abc.net.au/news/image/7120990-3×2-940×627.jpg
– https://www.thaiamuletsales.com/pages/thai-black-magic-amulets
– https://www.pinterest.com/pin/445012006899737924/
– https://www.get-offline.com/inspiration/spend-dia-de-los-muertos-with-calavera
– https://www.pinterest.com/BartushDesign/day-of-the-dead/
– https://www.pinterest.com/pin/494199759081522938/
– https://www.pinterest.com/pin/367958232038481523/
– https://www.pinterest.com/pin/540854236476559569/
– https://www.pinterest.com/pin/512636370072621354/

HELLO fellow reader!! This post will be on the research process behind the creation of my Zine for PART 2 of the assignment!! 🙂

To view Project 2 Part 1 on the Research and Final, click on these two links below! 🙂

2D II Assignment 2 PART 1: “Zine: Neighborhood Explorer” RESEARCH

2D II Assignment 2 PART 1: “Zine: Neighborhood Explorer” FINAL

So! I went to do up some research on what Zines are though the net, as well as Pinterest; and get some hands on Zine examples around Singapore, which I found that are quite readily available around us! I also looked for several aspects of the Zines that I can draw inspiration from!

Got these Zines from the National Library and I really liked how the front covers were designed 🙂

Was really looking into the contents of how the ZINE was created for and how they displayed them using layouts.


Based on the weekly groups’ presentation in relation to ZINES, I annotated some very useful notes to take note for this project:

Experimental Formats Zines

  • What are Zines? Zine derived from Magazine, self published book. Print and bound by any manner.
  • Decide what is it for. What is your Objective, Main concept and Visual approaches through your Zine.
  • Pick the right title to your Zine that links to your theme.
  • Decide layout and order. Plan your structure allowing information to be organized.
  • Fonts: Don’t make it too small. Don’t use dark background, and upper case for main body. Titles headlines are chances for more elaborate and fancy designs.
  • Create a master copy to test the copy you have created before you do the final one to see if you got right color, texture of paper etc.

Publication book format and grids

  • Format is the area in which your design and texts sits.
  • Grid – A system which divides 2D planes to smaller fields. design made into visual math. Types of grid: Manuscript (Story books), Column grid (Newspaper), Modular grid , Hierarchal grid etc.
  • Typeface–  Font family. Each typeface has specific weight, style , ornamentation etc. Diff typeface alphabet will result in different effect for your viewer.
  • Column – Vertical division of a page of text is 7-10 words per line.
  • Leading – The amount of blank space between lines of print. Good leading carries the eye from line to line. It cannot be too tight or too spacious for the reader.
  • Margin – 1 to 5mm of margin space is recommended so you wont mutilate your text.
  • Page numbers – Be distinctive from your body text. Can use different font family.
  • Body and Display typeface –  Display space to stand out. Use similar typeface. But do not mix characters from the same style. Good to have contrast using different font size.

I then pondered the several points that I had to take note of, and came up with these initial planning stages as to how my Zine can go about.

Main Concept: Guide around Telok Blangah with an elderly.

“Day in Telok Blangah guided by Uncle Tan. Readers get to go on an expedition with Uncle Tan, and he will show you around the places in Telok Blangah he like to visit, where he thinks you might like and what to do there.”

The story will go around the primary information and personal recounts I have gathered from the interviews I conducted, as well as secondary research such as location names.

My objective:
To educate the readers that Telok Blangah can also be for young people, and not mainly for the old; Showing them places that the young and old can do, and what the older generations did then and now to pass time.

Visual Approaches? Art Direction?:
I had some dilemma with this because the Zines I see out there are so organized and minimalistic. I for one am not a minimalist and I find it really difficult to make my thoughts abstract visually, when there are so much expression and colors in my thoughts. Hence, Pinterest really helped me to see that not all Zines out there are minimalist and expression and colors can be incorporated!

I really like the vibrant colors and how organic the shapes are! I also really liked the path which guided the viewers as to where they should look at! Hence I would really think paths can help me in my Zine 🙂

Execution:
Cut outs? Interactivity by flipping?
I wanted to have this interactivity in my Zine by having cut out pages and flip tabs.

Initial sketching on how I want to incorporate the interactivity into the Zine.

The shaded area is where I want to cut the hole, and the rock at the bottom right can be flipped over to see insects.
However, after consultation with Joy, the cutting and flipping does not address the brief of the Zine project and sadly I have to scrap that idea. 🙁

Layouts:
I didn’t want the very organized approach as I feel rather restricted by such layouts, as much as they are really aesthetically pleasing to look at like this:

Hence I wanted to go for something where the fonts conform around the illustration like this:

Typography font to use:
Probably a serif font cause its more readable.

Choice of medium? :
Perhaps Watercolor and pen,scan in and enhance colors by photo editing software? Vectoring in Adobe Illustrator to create the clean edges?

All these are just the planning stages! The final confirmation post will be next!! 😀 Stay tuned!

Cheers,
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

Appropriation, Re-appropriation and Re-contextualization

Allie Mc Burroughs by Evans Walker in 1933.
Levine re-appropriates masculine works of Evans Walker in 1981.
Mandiberg re-contextualizes Levine‘s work in 2002, in a way that the work was so many times replicated to economical reasons. Even to the point of printing out the certification; the limited edition work has loses its value.

Its not about the image anymore. It is about the meaning behind the work of that era it was created.


When we share, everyone wins

Creative Commons is an online platform which is open to sharing, remixing and reinterpreting your work. Makes the creative more creative.

Your work is not a finished product. It acts as a chain. People respond to your work.

So when is it ethical and non-ethical?
Crediting your work? Ask for permission from the original creator?

Like DJ remixes, their works is based off other’s work. There ain’t no single author anymore.

Without attributing the song to the original? Copying without making any changes? Is that considered as a ripoff?

EVERYTHING IS A REMIX
Even the iconic movie series: Star Wars is a remix from films such as Yomjibo, The Searches , The Good the Bad and the Ugly, Empire of Dreams, Metropolis, Silent Running etc. etc.

Creation require Influence, without the creating of Star Wars, there would be lesser influence on the films we have today…

Creativity doesn’t come from Magic. It comes from Copying. You can reference artists’ works without shame!


Q: Describe a future form of postproduction art that does not exist today but that you can imagine twenty years from now.
My Answer: Though this may seem extremely far fetched and crazy, I would like to think that in 20 years from now, remixing would be more tangible. Where there is a giant table like Iron Man does and the search box where the machine can sense what kind of content you want to create: Showing up related searches which are relevant to your thoughts and ideas. And when you obtain these ideas and original art works, the source will be permanently linked to your track/film/images. It is rather invasive but, hey… sharing is caring right. #CreativeCommonslol
But like what my classmates shared, you can only imagine the future forms if you know the medium used in the future. Anything is possible.

Hui Min and I had a discussion regarding Creative Commons’ sharing platform and how willing are we to share our works with others. She is rather open about sharing her work to inspire someone, and she thinks it is quite an honor for her if she manages to do so! 🙂 Whereas for me, I am rather concerned about sharing my work (Which may be inspire from other sources as well. nothing is original anymore.) on this site as I feel that there is no control on the World Wide Web. I have no idea who would be using my work or how they are going to use it. It is like throwing my child into the vast universe for them to dissect. It bothers me. However, if it is within a closed community for sharing, I would be more willing.


Vidding
Remix and Mash up

The choice of the song transforms the character of Spock in Kandy Fong’s fan video of Spock in Star Trek using VCR.

Tan Pin Pin sliced 40 years of NDP footages into 7 minutes with varying background music. The political message how has NDP footage changed from the 60s till now. The style of performance, has a very North Korean vibe: Structured move. Despite the change in presidency, the ethics and idea of promoting racial harmony is the same. She doesn’t show blatantly her statement of her view of the government on her film. Using national day footage, she is not creating new work but she is mocking a conscious choice in what to include in her footage, thus creating a new meaning to her work.

Omer Fast cuts the clip of new anchor’s words from NEWS to words that he need to form a political message that the media doesn’t tell you everything. Reusing old footage would be more impactful than if he were to create new footage. The CNN anchors always look very impassive and reassuring to the viewers. By cutting the footage like these, the anchors looks more emotional and vulnerable.

Jonathan McIngosh‘s Buffy VS Edward. Why did he remix his works and used Buffy with Edward to talk about Feminism? Most people think that Edward is a charming romantic male character, but he is in fact… a stalker. By using Buffy, the feminism message is emphasized as in Twilight, Edward is this dominant male figure and Buffy diminishes that in McIngosh’s film.


Conclusion

What makes a good or bad remix?
Good remixes has a purpose and intention. The message is clear in the remix works. Otherwise it’ll just a cut duplicate of the original work. It is not necessary about the Medium. It is what you want to say.

Why do the artists appropriate existing works?
Old footages has context that is more relatable. There is direct immediacy. There is a adding on of the artist’s message onto the original meaning of the film. There is no need for introduction to be for one to be assimilated to the film. Remixes need no introduction as they are using existing content that is familiar to the masses. It can also act as a form of critiquing the ideology. The artist is the philosopher.

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.

Hello! This assignment 2 Image Sequencing: Time and POV comes in 2 parts!

Part 1: Parallel Storytelling

Write and film two scenes with content that will intercut meaningfully and provoke audience to see a connection.

Intercut, cutaway and POV can be added to create a new narrative

For part 1, my group (Yu Qing, Hui Min and Yit Ling) and I came up with a story unanimously in our group we named it as ‘ Curry Murder ‘ and filmed it together! After filming the scenes, we each sieved out the good and bad takes for each scene and shared amongst each other before we parted ways (not totally) and moved on to part 2!


Part 2: Additional Voice Over

Working with part 1, we each individually have to write and record and alternative voice-over(VO) track from different POV/narrative voice. Whereby we can include additional shots for our intended edit (Cutaway and POV shots). We are also required to rework our script to at least 1 out of these POV below.

  1. 3rd person POV (Objective/Limited/Omniscient?)
  2. 1st person (Interior Monologue)
  3. Narrative Voice (stream of consciousness/Epistolary Voice)

Methodology

Working on Part 2 on my own now, I thought I should narrow down on what my next steps should be before I proceed with my individual quest into Part 2.

Sequence of Events to complete part 2

  1. Settle on the parallel storytelling scenes and order.
  2. Choose which POV to use. And reason why.
  3. Choose which scenes do I want to include Voice Overs.
  4. DIY Foley sounds
  5. Adobe Premier Pro edit.

Choosing the POV

Narrative Voice: The narrative voice is the teller’s voice.

1st person POV: Narrator uses ‘I’ in every moment as seen through the character’s eyes. The narrator is the character.

3rd person (Limited): The narrator only knows the thoughts and feelings of one character. Much like a stalker, know what the character feels and think, addresses others as ‘they’ ‘him’ and ‘she’.

3rd person (Omniscient): The thoughts and feelings of multiple characters can be shared through a God like POV

3rd person (Objective): Employs a narrator who tells a story without describing any character’s thoughts, opinions, or feelings; instead, it gives an objective, unbiased point of view. Often the narrator is self-dehumanized in order to make the narrative more neutral.

I decided to do the brainstorming part on paper and write out the script I want to use as narration.

Parallel Sequence

Creating my own Sounds.

Because we were tasked to create our own sounds, I did some research as to how to replicate the sound using different methods. And watching clips on people rendering Foley Art was really inspiring.

I am really awestruck by what goes behind the cameras. Because it is something we don’t take much notice of, this reinforces how good the Foley artists are in their jobs to the point the sounds created are seamless. In addition, the same sounds can be created using cheap and alternative materials. Like hooves of a horse walking can be made using toilet plungers stuffed with cloth, instead of recording a live horse walking in the pace you want.

Sounds I recreated using the art of Foley and Dubbing

I was not able to borrow a Zoom Mic from the school as they were all booked, hence I improvised with whatever I had! 😀

I used my trusty phone recorder and hid in the Sauna cause I needed a sound proof environment to do my recordings. And no, I did not turn the lights in the Sauna on because my laptop may die in the heat… Oh yea, AND SO WOULD I.

Couple arguing fade in and out: Recorded my own voice and used Adobe Premier Pro Audio editing effects such as tuning the Pitch.

Cutting Body scene: Squishing a wet towel

Cutting carrot and potato sounds: Scratching the tissue box

Feet shuffling sound: Rubbing waxy side of tissue box with water.

Keeping body scene (Hand in bag + Box): Rubbing plastic bag and hitting the box.

Using Adobe Premier Pro, I arranged the different types of Audio clips and Video Clips neatly and accordingly to have an easier viewing and editing experience.


FINAL PRODUCT

And here I present to you, the final product of Assignment 2!

Film Title: Love Served in a Bowl

Theme: You can have your lover’s body, but not necessarily her heart.

Set-up: In a married couple’s home

Credits:

Yu Qing – Wife

Jeff- Husband

BGM used: By Night – Sophie Hutchings


Thanks for reading till the end of my post!!

And I am very thankful for being able to work with such lovely group mates and cast! \^.^/

Cheers,

Seng Yi Ling.

FIELDTRIP DAY~

On the 28 Feb 2017, our 4D class went on a field trip to Art Science Museum to take note of the use of space/screens/sounds/experiential storytelling, that can serve as inspirations to the Final Project! 😀

In this fieldtrip, I was floored by how much interactivity is involved in the exhibits. Especially the Future World and Into the Wild exhibits as audiences of all ages are welcomed to participate.

I took a vlog to document my trip as I find that pictures themselves cannot convey the experience as well as a video. So do forgive me if the video seems really informal and non-professional as my objective was to document the experience, and not to shoot it in a cinematic film like project ^^

Along the way, I also made some annotations in the video to document my learning points and what I felt could be incorporated into the final project, ENJOY!

Stay tuned to my second post for the fieldtrips!! 😀

TATA FOR NOW~ 🙂

GOOD AFTERNOON! This post concludes the FINAL of Part 1 Project 2 of Zine: Neighborhood Explorer presentation!

This is the infographics on Telok Blangah that I have finalized 🙂


The data I have placed in my infographics are mainly from the Qualitative data (Personal Recounts)that I have gotten from interviews and secondary sources of the exact location names or address online that they have recommend me to visit.

Concept : Present it as a schedule like guide as to how an elderly in Telok Blangah gets by in a day.

Tone: Light Hearted.

Methodology

  1. I used Haettenschweiler Font as the header and the body text .
  2. Colors used are neutral palletes of scenic blue and green, as well as monochromatic blue for the walking stick.
  3. Attempted to use different shades of the same hue to create depth.
  4. Main illustrations are created using vectors and exporting images into vector online.
  5. Icons are used as bullet points for each category of activity.
  6. Joy mentioned that a my initial idea of using a cane may be misinterpreted as ‘Immobility’ instead of ‘Elderly’. Hence I changed the type of walking stick to the one with legs that elderlies, as I really required vertical semiotic that represents elderlies.

I was inspired to use time stamp and used this two infographics obtained from Pinterest. I extracted the range thing } from the chili infographic to mark out the time line.

Classmates’ Comments and Feedback

Joy’s Comments and Feedback 🙂

  • Joy said that this is her first time seeing my illustrations digitally, good job!.
  • Liked that I staggered the information according to timeline. And that giving it a range does give us a guide to when they can execute their activity. However looking at it as a whole it can be seen that it is a day in the life of any elderly and not specifically unique to Telok Blangah elderly.
  • Site specific icons can be created instead of using a generic bird to represent “Recreational Activity”. Something recognizable for instance the location of the bird watching location or certain food from Telok Blangah acting as marker would be better.
  • Colors for “work” reminds her of Watsons logo. Joy worries for potential misinterpretation in my infographics.
  • Text is still cramped even though got drop shadow, hence readability of text is still difficult :(. Typeface that you used is used is better for display type for headers instead of body text. Generally texts on infographics still need to be readable. When you can’t see your text well due to the background colour, it is a cue that text is required to be changed.
  • Location names are long as “Telok Blangah” is repeating in many of the bullet points, hence re-emphasising the crampness. Putting a main header : “Telok Blangah”, in general and just list down may reduce the crampness.
  • Style is quite unique and there is still space that can be explored.
  • Shaf liked the concept of day in the life cause she don’t know  what old people do in genera But font though, it is still hard to read :(.

With that I conclude the completion of ZINE part 1 here and I’ll see you again in PART 2 😀

HELLO! So this is the second project for Year 1 Semester 2, which is actually 1 part of the entire project!

Part I( 2 Weeks) : Research, Sketches, Collection of Data and Presenting found data (soft copy) in a visually engaging manner.

Part II : Creation of Zine.

The area that I have gotten from drawing lots in class as to which neighborhood I had to embark an exploration to is…

TELOK BLANGAH

And what do I know about this place? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. ZILTCH.

When I got the slip of paper that determines the choice of location for the rest of the semester, I even asked Joy,” Is this place even in Singapore??”

Oh well. One thing about this project is that the more foreign you are to the location, the better it is because you’ll be seeing things from fresh eyes and discover new things! 😀

SO LETS GET STARTED WITH THE RESEARCH PROCESS WOOHOO!!


SECONDARY RESEARCH ON TELOK BLANGAH

What is ‘Secondary Research’ Secondary research is accessing information already gathered from the originator or a distributor of a primary research. For instance, like obtaining information from third party sources, magazine article’s or my friend’s grandfather’s sister who lives in Telok Blangah (just an example).

So I made some quick online research about Telok Blangah and to my surprise, I did find some interesting facts already!

  1. Telok Blangah is a subzone region and housing estate located in Bukit Merah, Singapore.
  2. Founder of Singapore,Sang Nila Utama , landed at Telok Blangah and went inland to hunt wild animals, where he spotted a majestic Lion afar and decided to name our homeland, Singapura (Lion City).
  3. The area regained prominence during 1823, the British period, when Sir Stamford Raffles assigned Temenggong Abdul Rahman and his followers, 0.81 km2 of land for their residence and a cemetery. The area flourished under Temenggong Abdul Rahman because of his monopoly over the gutta percha (Some tree sap) trade.
  4.  Kampong Bahru replaced the old kampong along the Singapore River. And this first resettlement could be called the first urban renewal project in Singapore. The Hill maintained the old name of Telok Blangah Hill until July 1845 when it was renamed Mount Faber after Captain Faber of the Madras Engineers.
  5. Telok Blangah Road was officially named in 1907.
  6. The shrine of Puteri Radin Mas Ayu, a sixteenth-century Javanese princess, is located at Mount Faber Road, near the junction with Telok Blangah Road.

SECONDARY RESEARCH ON

WHAT IS TELOK BLANGAH KNOWN FOR?

Nature. Telok Blangah at first glance online screams ‘NATURE’.

Population Estimate as of 30 June 2016 : 10,500

Telok Blangah Hill Park (10 Telok Blangah Green, 109178)

Terrace Garden Mostly used as just a walkway between Hort Park and Mount Faber. There is an undisturbed, idyllic ambience with a solitary gazebo sits atop the hill along with classical European white railings. Despite what a sight the garden is, the real spectacle to behold here is the panoramic view of the cityscape from a bird’s eye view.

Henderson Wave Bridge (Henderson Road, Southern Ridges, Bukit Merah, Singapore 159557)

Singapore’s highest pedestrian bridge, at 36m above ground. Surrounded by greenery and bird’s eye view of the southern part of Singapore, the shell-like crevices doubles as shelters and is a great place for family and friends to relax there. The bridge is illuminated from 7pm to 7am daily.

Alkaff Mansion Ristorante (10 Telok Blangah Green)

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Built in 1918 as a weekend retreat for the illustrious Yemeni Alkaff family of spice traders. The Alkaffs ancestors arrived in Singapore from Yemen in 1852, and Alkaff Mansion was not only their family home, but also the venue for luxurious high society parties in the 1930’s – imagine Great Gatsby, Singapore style.

For an unknown reason, the mansion was abandoned after WW2, and went into a state of disrepair. With a large outdoor terrace, fountains, and a gorgeous interior, Alkaff is thought of as one of the most magnificent colonial houses still standing in Singapore. And now, it is an Italian Ristorante.

Old Habits Boutique Café (#01-315, 38 Telok Blangah Rise, 090038)

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Nostagia is in. Old Habits is part vintage boutique and part café, a place to appreciate the lifestyle of the old eras and immerse in the memories of the past. The interior of the boutique café is docked with many vintage items from the past which the owner of the café, Donovan Goh collects.

This section concludes the secondary research I had done BEFORE I went on my field trip as of 15 Feb 2017. 🙂 The following segment will be on my documentation of my field trip!


FIELD TRIP DAY 19 Feb 2017

And so, I went to Telok Blangah with my trusty partner in crime ( Dad cool) for the field trip and thanks to him, I was able to cover more area on this foreign ground in Singapore!

What is ‘Primary Research’? – Primary research is any type of research that you go out and collect yourself. Examples include surveys, interviews, observations, and ethnographic research. 

So when I was on my way to Telok Blangah, I was not certain what I was looking for. Its either food or shops and I didn’t want to touch on the nature parks aspect as it is the most prominent aspect in Telok Blangah and I didn’t want to do something that can be easily found on the net.

So I went to look for Food first since we were hungry anyway.

FOOD in Telok Blangah

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The place my dad and I went to eat at was 82 Telok Blangah Drive Market, I chose that specific location as it was within the Telok Blangah Mall area which I wanted to visit as well. Within the market, there was already a couple of lines queuing up for some local food which I also joined in to partake in the ‘Participant Observation’ aspect.

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The noodles I queued for took 30 mins and I was pondering what was taking so long. I observed and saw that the owner and his wife were perhaps in their mid 60’s and the cooking process was rather unique. The Uncle cooking the noodles had a system where his wife is the one taking the order and frying up the fishcakes (which I believe is handmade), and he was the one preparing for the noodles. He was swift in his actions and he bounced on the balls of his feet. And was the noodles worth the 30 min wait? Well, lets say I have tasted better. But the fishcakes were good though.

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And I also tried Shun Ji Dumpling Noodles as the queue died down after lunch hours. The dumplings were smaller than the ones I’ve eaten , but they are packed with fresh shrimps and pepper! It was really good.

QUALITATIVE DATA COLLECTION

What is ethnography and participant-observation? What are some ways collecting data?

The aim of ethnography and participant-observation is to gain a close and intimate familiarity with a given group of individuals and their practices through an intensive involvement with people in their cultural environment.

Some forms of collecting data are conducting informal interviews, direct observation, and analyzing personal documents produced within an age group etc. It involves the characterization of Qualitative Research and can include Quantitative Dimensions.

What is qualitative and quantitative data?

After which I toured around the market and was astounded to see that the wet market was extremely clean and spacious. There wasn’t a hint of poultry odor as the area was very well ventilated.

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Turning into a corner, I saw an elderly lady tending to her Incense Paper shop and I plucked my courage to conduct a Qualitative Data collection with my 1st interviewee.

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What I have gotten out from the interview:

Incense paper auntie has been selling incense paper for 10 over years, living here for 40 over years. She said that the difference between Telok Blangah then and now is that the markets aren’t as lively. She mentioned that there was a drastic decrease in the number of people living here. Don’t know where all the people go. Old residents die and the younger people don’t really want to move to Telok Blangah. Telok Blangah has more elderly people than youngsters. Houses here are all new now, not as before. She didn’t play a lot as a teen in this area, she was a housewife.

Shortly after, I was spurred to interview more people as I wanted to have multiple perspective of things and personal recounts of the resident’s perception of their own neighborhood. I walked around Telok Blangah Mall.

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A little boy caught my attention as he was drinking Ice Blended Milo from my childhood cheap bubble tea shops and I asked him where did he get it. He brought me to the shop and I spoke to him. (grabbing my opportunities right here~)

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What I have gotten out from the interview:

The milo ice blended he has gotten is from the ‘old store’, not the ‘new store’ that was closed today. New one is called Mei Li Shop. He always buy at the Old store. HE IS BORN HERE. HE IS SINGAPOREAN ( he emphasized on that, I was not kidding with the caps lock). He questions my nationality haha. He is walking around here as his parents are shopping for things. He goes to his friends’ house to play after school. Play computer games and Ipad. Telok Blangah is very boring. His parents work at Tanjong Pagar and Raffles Place. He can go home on his own.

My dad is a vey good paparazzi. I didn't even know he was secretly helping me document my explorations haha!

My dad is a vey good paparazzi. I didn’t even know he was secretly helping me document my explorations haha!

I saw an elderly sitting on his own and I guess that he lived here as he was sitting rather comfortably on the benches. Hence I approached him and asked him about his personal recount of his past in Telok Blangah.

What I have gotten out from the interview:

Uncle stays in the vicinity. Here is nice. Stayed here since 1980. No play. Now retired. Last time work at PSA Container Port. He is happy with his CPF. After eating at the market, he go home. Occasionally goes to the nearby shopping centre.

I was on a roll. It was a heat of a moment spur of courage and I went round searching for people who looked like they lived here and I was determined to collect as many personal recounts as possible. Which led me to this group of uncles who sat at the fruits stall discussing about their lifestyle.

What I have gotten out from the interview:

(In this group I’m interviewing consist of 4 uncles) 3 of them have been staying here for 10 over years, whereas the other has been staying here for 40 over years. Constantly asking me why am I asking them questions (they seem wary. I don’t know why). Here has no place for their leisure. Only form of leisure they can frequent is Marina Bay Sands (MBS) Casino or here at the fruits stall to talk to friends. Here is full of old people nothing else, its so dead here. Its a dead end. Eat and go home that’s it. Houses here 30 years ago used to be short and tiny, now is all high rise. The uncle (71 Years Old) whom I spoke to has been living here the longest came to Singapore in 31 August 1983, selling fruits since then. He was 30 plus when he started selling fruits. He was an immigrant, he ran from Russia to Singapore. He did not go for dates in Singapore because he was busy working. Work and go home. People who used to live here has passed on. Or if they are alive they eat their lunch, go home or sit with friends and talk. 

One of the uncles told me that I should visit the 2 old temples behind to interview the elderlies as they have lived there far longer than any of them. So my dad and I went to look for the temples they’ve mentioned.

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Sad to say, it seems like the elderlies has gone home at that timing we went, but the temple was really beautiful and intimate as it was rather small, and the devotees are the residents within the neighborhood.

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While walking back to our car, my dad and I chanced upon this very vintage looking Mama shop (A mama shop or mamak shop is a convenience store or sundry shop in Singapore that is often located under a high-rise apartment block ) . Most Mama shops I recall as a kid are usually ran by Indians, but this was a Chinese Mama shop. The interior looked extremely different as well so I decided to speak to the owner.

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What I have gotten out from the interview:

Stayed here all his life. The company he worked for is 50 over years old. (the mama shop now used to be a part of a company, explains the grand shop sign) . Used to be in a office in Henderson Crescent ( location is at the back of a SGD$10 note), but got chased out by government to Tampines. Uncle started doing business when he was 23 years old, now he is 73 years old. Telok Blanagh here is a hill. Used to be a hill right here *Gesture area which has carparks and HDB flats* , government bombed the area to pave way for making roads and houses. Hill was as tall as Mount Faber. Used to have a very big temple on the hill, and a reservoir. Temple is so large you can see it from the distance, that was over 30 years ago. When he was younger, his childhood was playing in a natural cave in Mount Faber which has been sealed off by the government now. He went there often since he was 6 years old with his friends and his class teacher, playing with mud and clay to make dolls in the natural cave. Not like now, so many things to play with. Last time don’t have so many things to play with. In the past after playing he would go to the waterfall and hydrate himself, waterfall is contaminated now or even gone. Used to eat bird food (鸟饭)as a kid, the ones mother bird brings to their chicks . Venus flytraps are poisonous, they are inedible.

After speaking to the kind owner of the Mama shop, I wanted to visit Old Habits Boutique Café which I saw on my secondary research just to see if I would chance upon any younger age group of interviewees.

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Surprisingly, the patrons of Old Habits Boutique Café were middle aged and families were there too for Sunday brunch. The interior was really beautiful and intriguing as it was heavily decorated with toys, vinyl records, sign boards collected from the past.

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On my way back to the car, I was estatic to see a group of elderly men chatting at the Bird Shop along with their bird cages. I was even more estatic when I saw Parrots on the railings. I talked to the Parrot (What? Parrots can be a part of my Qualitative Data collection too okay? XD) .

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The owner of the parrots told me that he has lived here for many years already and part of his and his friend’s past time here is bringing their birds out to ‘Chat’ together as they drank their afternoon coffee.

Overall conclusion from Qualitative Data Collection:

  1. There is a drastic decrease in the number of people living here as compared to the past.
  2. Telok Blangah has more elderly people than youngsters.
  3. There used to be another hill as tall as Mount Faber here, but was removed to pave way for houses and roads.
  4. Here has no place for their leisure.
  5. Here is full of old people nothing else.
  6. Eat and go home that’s it.
  7. Houses here 30 years ago used to be short and tiny, now is all high rise. 
  8. Work and go home.
  9. People who used to live here has passed on. Or if they are alive they eat their lunch, go home or sit with friends and talk. 

How I would think of presenting my data for the infographics

Since, Telok Blangah is quite a hill infested area, I was thinking of presenting the infographics like this. Like a map.

Perhaps using real images to represent certain activities the residents do? Like eating, talking to friends etc.

What are infographics and how are they used to effectively communicate data? What other ways can we visually represent data?

Information graphics or infographics are graphic visual representations of information, data or knowledge intended to present information quickly and clearly. They can improve cognition by utilizing graphics to enhance the human visual system’s ability to see patterns and trends.

After my field trip today, I am sad to say that I still don’t have a concrete methodology as to how I would want to carry my Infographics out. But what I am certain of is that I would like my infographics to be based on my interviewee’s personal recounts and where they would frequent in Telok Blangah. This is not a very concrete resolution, but I would like to brainstorm more on how I would want to convert that to infographics.

That’s all for today!

Hope that the next time I post would be more concrete!!

Cheers,

Seng Yi Ling.

For this assignment I have heavily depended on my Visual Journal for note taking and thought processing as compared to last semester where OSS was where I post most of my thought process. Regardless, I will still take you through this journey from the start to end of this ‘Que Sera’ assignment via OSS, so… LETS GO~~


Ideation

Because the name cards require the use of the conceptually driven solutions and letter forms, combined with literal or abstract image to express our future jobs in typographic portraits, I did a mind mapping process in my Visual Journal to help with coming up with the 4 Jobs for each of the name cards: Florist, Egyptianologist, Home maker and Food Science Technologist.

Joy emphasized that we ought to have these 3 factors before consulation in order to give a good framework and direction for our assignment.

Concept

My concept for this project is using the delivery method of my goal now, which is to create a interactive children’s book, to execute the name cards for all 4 jobs.

Message

Individual name cards have their own messages and an overall message as a whole.

Florist – Do not let small thinking cut your life down to size. Dream big! Work hard!

Egyptianologist – Do not let someone else’s opinion define you.

Homemaker – Be as awesome as a Domestic Goddess.

Food Science Technologist – Never stop asking ‘Why?’ until you get you answer.

Overall message – Your job does not define who you are in the future. YOU define who you are in the future.

Tone

The overall tone of the Children’s Book concept is positive and educational. While urging the readers to discover and learn new things.


Artist references

I did not limit myself to one specific artist to use as reference because I did not want their style to be seen in my work. Hence I went online and offline to expose myself to interactive books and illustrations for children to serve as inspiration; extracting the pros of each book and learning to avoid the flaws which I did not want to see in my work.

Expression of tonality: I used different shades of the same color on to express tonality in the designs. This creates slight depth and also has an old school children’s book feeling.

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Methodology

For all of the designs, I used hand drawn illustration, scanned the designs and used Adobe Photoshop to fill in colors and cleaned up the edges.

Florist (Age >5)

I used flip book animation to carry out the ‘Flip O’ Rama’ concept from the children’s comic: Captain Underpants. The following video below is how it would have looked like.

I wanted to show the growth of the plants from a boring seedling which looked like it may die any moment , into a blossoming plant. Hence, for the top image, I used the upper half of my initials : ‘SYL’ as the feeble seedlings in pots, and a full grown blossoming plant for the bottom image. So that when the user flips it repeatedly, it will look like the seedling is growing.

Joy also suggested for me to put out instructions on how the interactive-ness can be carried out by children, hence I pasted a ‘left hand here’ and ‘right thumb here’ instruction on the outside like how the Flip O’ Rama book did.

slide5Egyptianologist ( Age 10-15)

I used the pull tab mechanism in this name card as seen in many pop up books.

I used Golden Flint paper on the interior of the Mummy coffin to act as the bones, which forms my name. My idea for this name card is to show that a dull looking exterior of the Mummy gives one the impression of something less of value. However, upon uncovering the truth by pulling the tab, it reveals the bright and golden bones of the Mummy.

In a way it also has many interpretations that can be taught such as:

‘Do not judge a book by its cover ‘ 

‘Its more important to have a heart of gold than a fancy exterior.’

‘Do not let what others think of you define who you really are.’

slide7I also included a ‘Pull Here’ instructions with a red arrow to direct the child’s attention to it.

Homemaker ( Age >10)

For this name card, I used Velcro as the material to work with as I wanted to let the children organize and arrange where each of the item should go in the household chore. I was considering using felt to carry out this idea, but Shi Teng gave me a suggestion to draw out the illustrations and have them printed out instead, so that it is more consistent with the overall image of a sketchy hand drawn illustration. Thanks Shi Teng! 😀

slide8Food Science Technologist ( Age 16- 19)

For this name card, I was highly driven ‘Touch and Feel’ books for young children.

I used Sequins to simulate the texture of fish scales, Bubble wrap to simulate the texture of corn and duct tape to simulate the waxy surface of Chilli.

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Colors

Joy suggested I use a common color for the 4 compositions to express unity throughout. However, as much as I try to pick a common color, I don’t think it worked out very well to have  Blue in my Egyptianologist illustrations ( It would have looked like an Ice Tomb) and neither Orange/ Yellow for my Food Science Technologist illustrations ( I required Blue to express the sterility of the Science lab).

Hence I split my compositions into 2 sides: Blue and Yellow

Blue (Hex code: #A4DBFF) –  Florist (Complementary) and Food Science Technologist(Monochrome)

Yellow ( Hex Code: #E4C877)– Egyptianologist (Warm) and Homemaker (Analogous)

Instruction typography used

I used ‘Ravie’ Font and spaced out the individual letter because Children’s book has to be highly legible.

Font used I have chosen is Ravie because it has a rather whimsical feeling to it, but yet I chose to bold the fonts because it is still instructions and I didn’t want the children reading it to turn a blind eye to it.

Choice of color for font was something that was bugging me as well. As I felt Black was too strong as compared to the rest of the colorful compositions. But yet if I were to choose a color that suits individual composition, I felt that there was no unity to be seen as a whole in a book; and the instructions just blends in with the background where the children might turn a blind eye to it.

Hence my solution came about when I was researching for the way Children’s books present their instructions:

touch_and_feel_board_bookI really liked how…

  1. A muted dark color was used to give the instructions. There is a mild sense of authority which I felt that one’s eyes would be drawn to read.
  2. The key word ‘WALL‘ is in capital form.
  3. The color used for the key word allows children to draw a relation between the word and the object. There is a sign (the word ‘WALL‘) and the signified (the wall picture)

Thus, I applied this reference to my instructions for the children.

I capitalized and gave a color to the keyword which is seen in the object.

to-print


 

Things I could’ve done if I can turn back in time.

I am really shooting myself in the foot for saying this. But, I think admitting to my mistake and learning from it is better than to bury it under the carpet. So, for my future self, here I go.

  1. Explore different types of paper. I felt the struggle the most when I was carrying out the pull tab mechanism for the ‘I am an Egyptianologist’. I felt that if I explored the different type of GSM for paper before I executed the cutting, I would have achieved a better and smoother pull tab mechanism for this name card.

 The following post would be the FINAL one for Assignment 1 Que Sera!

Cheers,

Seng Yi Ling.