Defend!!

Ok here is the part where I reply the various comments, dont think its actually defending but oh well. Im also not quite sure how to go about this, so I figured I'll just post my answers here...

rebecca oh said...

Wow, your concept seems abstract. But i like it! Gives me a surreal feeling.

Some comments on the photos u've posted. The pictures seemed a bit too luminous? At least on my screen it looks luminous and hurting on the eyes. Mabye try making the colour more warm? Or is there a reason for the pictures being a bit luminous?

The music seems good to me. I don't suggest using an edgier music as this may not go with the storyline?

February 17, 2008 9:18 PM

Mark: I actually tweaked the greens and compressed the levels to create the luminosity, cause in the final vid most of the pics will be masked so I was worried about them not sticking out enough, but I guess I went too far haha so will tone down the whiteness.

Pei said...

Woah. I think it's great! It's sweet. The pictures are great! You have paced the tune and rhythm of the whole thing well. Can't wait to see the whole video!

As for the narrative part. I think there is no need for a link. You can just continue.

P.S: What camera did you use? I only have the normal camera and I wanted to achieve that kind of effect but it's impossible. Like the micro take ones. Any tips?

February 17, 2008 11:10 PM

Mark: Ok I use a DSLR Nikon D80, if u want macro shots, most point and shoot cameras have a macro mode I believe, for me, I need to switch to a macro lens...also u might want to use photoraw application in photoshop to edit photos, its good stuff. If anything bring ur camera along one day and let me take a look, will try to help u adjust... As for the narrative, ok I'll try to continue, though after the test video I realised even the first few lines took 30sec... die la.. haha

peiru said...

Hi,

i like your concept and the layout of your video. Its very classy and professional looking. I agree though that if the colours were warmer it might look nicer, but i thought the music fitted really well too.

February 17, 2008 11:57 PM

Mark: Hi, thanks for the compliment, haha yeah I guess I'll tone down the photos, perhaps I went too overboard haha...

chr1s0ng said...

Ok. Picture wise, maybe a little over-exposed.... maybe that's the effect you wanted, but i can't really be sure. might need to tweak the brightness / contrast maybe.

Script looks detailed for sure (extremely well thought i'd say... just how you'll exactly portray all that might be a bit of a challenge, but i think you've more or less got it all together.

February 18, 2008 12:14 AM

Mark: Yup, I actually wanted to over exposed effect but I guess its not working like I thought haha...and yes Im quite concerned over the script, I have no idea how Im gonna squeeze it all, time to cut out bits and pieces of it :( I was actually inspired by the story telling segments from the game Lost Odyssey on the Xbox 360, go youtube em if you can, fantastic stories, with minimal pics all done with power point animations, damn good haha...

aline_hs said...

hi,

nice photography... it really has the focus of the story that you want to convey...

after viewing the first 30secs of the video.. it has a lonely feel of the plot...

Mark: Hi thanks, yup, the story will eventually lead to a lonely ending, so I structured it that way from the beginning.

Devi said...

Mark, I like the video and the narration. I especially liked how you kept “she’d sit there” part while the other phrases were shown. It’s very clever and interesting. I feel that the music suited the whole idea of the video. I ALSO WANT TO SPEAK TO THE AUTHOR! Are there going to be any actors in the video? The 30 second clip was good. Keep it up.

February 18, 2008 12:25 AM

Mark: Haha yeah unfortunately, besides the she'd sit there bit, I dont know how to play with the rest of the narrative...but I'll try :P And yes I will have actors, but the scheduled photoshoot is later on this week so yeah couldnt do much. I am actually trying to shoot with actors but without using their faces...we'll see how that goes haha...

Ozeona said...

Nice colours used, but would the story include any characters inside? Or it is more of a narration/poem type?

February 18, 2008 12:27 AM

Mark: Yup as mentioned, I will be using actors along with the narration! :)

Jennifer said...

hi there,

I think your video is good. Very simple... Especially the "staring into space" bit, just the black background (VOID).

Maybe you could take pictures of leaves slowly falling and touching the ground? But then again, it is ery literal. haha

February 18, 2008 12:43 AM

Mark: Yup, I was thinking of taking pictures of leaves falling, I like the literal thing haha...only thing is, I have no clue how to freeze frame a leaf falling like that...thinking of using wires/thread and then super impose...

Joon Yong said...

hi mark,
great vid, and photos.

anyway, regarding the actors part. i think u can explore leaving the actors out? might give it more of a dreamy, abstract effect (if that's what u are looking for).

February 18, 2008 12:44 AM

Mark: Better not pick up your handphone. haha. Anyway its true that it might be more dreamy without actors but I'll try it and see how, because the narrative itself is quite a literal narrative so it will probably need real actors, but like I mentioned above, I will probably try to NOT show the faces of my actors...see how.

Xueli said...

Hi Mark

I think your pictures are very well-taken and the video is professionally done too. Are you using any actors/actresses in the final video? I feel that the overall effect will be better if you include actors/actresses. Under the “she’d sit there” narration, perhaps you could add an image of the girl staring to the right (at your pictures). Looking forward to watching the final version of your video.

February 18, 2008 12:46 AM

Mark: Yup, will use one actor and one actress, I imaged the girl actually sitting and we see her back, but yup will consider using other points of view for the shots, just need to find a nice park now... any suggestions?

Katherine Lu said...

Hello Mark:

Was trying to find your comment box and realized you had 2 entries together! So here goes:

For the narrative about changing from you to the woman, you can change the colour of the text to maybe red or pink. Another way is that when the guy narrates, words comes from the left and when the girl narrates, words can come out from the right. When you are consistent, the viewers will be able to understand the story immediately.

I really like the trailer you did!

Mark: Oh thats a great idea! For some reason it never occured to me to use colour in the video bits mmm will consider using both ideas haha thanks thanks.

Assignment 3 - Love Story

Boy, there are a ton of things that need to be uploaded simultaneously for this one...

First off, heres the script I have kinda worked out so far, that will act as a narrative...

I used to know a woman by the park

She'd sit there. Staring into the leaves, into space. Everyday at noon.

She would go there with her lunch box.

And everyday, she'd pull out a sandwich. Then another.

She would eat one. And leave one behind.

"Hi"

She turned slowly and smiled. A radiant smile like no other.

"I've often seen you here. Do you stay around the area?"

She gingerly nodded her head.

"May I?"

She nodded again. And I sat next to her.

There really wasn't much to say.

"Why do you leave a sandwich behind?"

"Why do you ask?"

"I don't know, just thought it a little odd..."

"Don't ask. Everything in its own time."

I nodded.

(At this point I need to think of a way to connect the story to the womans narrative, any ideas?)

"See the leaves? How slowly they fall to the ground. Its like our lives, we are born and we slowly fall too."

"Each leaf is affected by the wind, big or small. Sometimes you fall fast, sometimes you fall slow. But you still fall."

"Each leaf no matter how pretty, no matter how intricate will need to take that free fall one day."

"Each leaf will eventually hit the ground."

I nodded again.

"Its like us isn't it? We complain so much about life and what it brings. Some of us really do have a hard time. Some of us sail by. Some dance with the wind. Do we really see where its all headed?"

"The ground," I answered.

"Yes, the ground. And back into the earth, where we were conceived. Why worry about everything, we don't get to keep our possessions, we will all turn to dust one day.

"True," I said with great clarity.

She told me that nature taught her a great deal about life. And that it helped her through the hardships she faced.

That was a long time ago. I still remember.

We met often like this. Talking about life.

I began to find her a solace. She straightened my thoughts.

She once told me, that she liked the rising and setting of the sun. It reminded her that there are things that should be done in your prime, while it is bright.

Was she trying to tell me something?

I thought it was perfect. She loved to talk, and I loved to listen.

But it was also so wrong. She, like a sage and I like a fool.

She could carry the burden of the world. I could only stand by and watch.

I could never tell her.

She moved on.

To another part of town perhaps.

Hopefully far away.

The last time I saw her, she didn't say anything.

The next day, there was only a sandwich on the bench. Rotted by the sun.

Next, this is a link to the music that I intend to use...

http://homepage.mac.com/cushy1/MEDITATION/files/Meditation.mp3

Note that I have already emailed the author of this music and have his permission to use it :)

What follows next is a series of sample photographs that kind of demonstrate the colour style I want to use for the video...

I want to take a note though that these photos are not exactly as I took them I made some colour adjustments. For most of these photos I upped the brightness and compressed the levels a little, which led to an increased vibrancy. Also, the greens have been increased ABIT as well, to help achieve this overexposed/green effect that I intend to do for the other photos.

Combined with the music, I hope the piece becomes a relaxing piece, not something that grips people on the edge of their seat... or should I try something edgier?

This rose, just for your info, its fake and made of plastic. But its very red. Haha...

Macro shots of blades of grass, not as contrasting as I would like but I guess I could take more shots...

I know the sky is overexposed here, but I want that white light effect, I have shots of the same place but with blue skies though, however, the leaves in that one turned out less green.


This was actually taken on a rainy day, from the view from my house, theres a slight vingette effect because of the extremely close black bars that were out of focus, but it didnt hurt the photo so I just left it as such...

This tree, was taken from an abandoned plot of land, just playing with the focus... oh and if you notice, the intended browns for the assignment arent as vibrant as the greens.

AND OF COURSE:

a 30sec sample video...I probably would have to speed things up or simplify the narrative for the final but this was just a test run, was alot harder than I thought, and ended up messing with photoshop masks, transparency blah blah blah...(P.S. I have no idea why the mask looks weird here, it looks completely fine in youtube itself...)

Assignment 2 - A day in my life

For this assignment, I began by thinking what a typical day in my life would be like. I realised that there are basically 2 main operating modes, which is to be on time and late. And both happen with almost even frequency due to mostly unforeseen circumstances and my own procrastination.

Thus, I wanted to present to the class something that I would normally go through in a day. I had originally intended to present it in the style of "24" and if you do look at my webpage (ok I have no idea how to upload that here) there is actually a bar on the left that says "the following takes place between 0900 and 1200" and what not.

Another thing is, I wanted to show it was me, but without my presence in each of the pictures, so rather than pictures of myself doing stuff, I wanted to show that I was at a particular place and time by showing EVIDENCE that was there. However I might just want to rethink the whole concept...

The late bit of the presentation was supposed to be a sort of humorous juxtaposition. Which unfortunately, wasn't very humorous. The bit about sleeping seemed like a cheap shot, but that was actually because despite shrinking my images, I could not fit everything into 180kb. However now with the help of my team mate Chris, I think I know the right method to do it.

Here are a few of the images that I had to cut out due to the lack of space...



This (above) was supposed to be a typical day at lecture, with me in the washroom trying to stay awake.
Something along the likes of me waking up early (messy)
And me waking up late (messier)
Wanted to use this shot for going home, I personally love it, but didn't include it in the class presentation either...

Assignment 1 - Dreams

I think my original motivation behind this was to fully make use of the fact that this was going to be a surrealist assignment. Meaning I could actually do all sorts of weird things with the work.

Subsequently my thoughts were drawn upon the notion of madness, what better way to perceive the world than through the eyes of someone who doesn't quite?

Exploring this idea of madness however would mean that I had to come up with a viable script. While surrealist plays themselves have odd motivations (much like surrealist art - although from what i know, it tends to touch also upon ideas of human desire).

In anycase, I believed that I wanted to do a play about a mans journey into madness, while not quite as profound as say, King Lear, I still wanted to set the play to that sort of backdrop. So I forced a plot (a brother wanting to take the place of his younger brother in an asylum and thus must become mad) and got to work on the design.

Since the plot motivation itself was the breakdown of sanity, I decided to use the notion of reality breaking apart. Also, the idea of the blue sky was to show a sort of clarity in madness too. The bars (my rooms window grills, I assure you do not resemble an asylum) were used to represent prison.

I also had to factor in the Dark Comedy aspect, so I took it locally and used Singlish! "Siao ah"

Adding that altogether, we get this final product...

After presenting in class however, several changes need to be made, need to add in more details, gotta add in more bars too.

I did have some alternate ideas though, but they were just cheesy afterthoughts...while I thank my friend for helping with the photo... I couldnt put together something completely great...

But who knows, i might get re-inspired.