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Week 9 - Storyboards

Storyboard a chance encounter (random/unexpected) between 2 characters (reject human exclusivity--it can be, for instance, about a salt and pepper shaker, etc)

NOTE: neither character necessarily has to be seen on screen 12 - 15 shots(ish) indicate audio, camera movement, character motion, dialogue if any, lighting, etc, for each shot. This should be a low-budget, minimal dialogue short that can be shot on location in and around the New School or other, and in a short amount of time, as in like 2.5 hours.

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My storyboards of a chance encounter below:

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Week 8 - Flag Design

The People’s Flag Redux

Red: The peoples' bravery. White: Struggle based on honesty and purity to obtain true freedom without greed. Yellow: People's justice; peace and prosperity. Twelve stars: The twelve states that were historically considered to be Malaya by the people. Red, white, yellow arrow: A progressive spirit, facing onwards to take on challenges.

For my flag design, I take from a moment in Singapore’s history when the country was conceived by its people as belonging to a larger entity to form Malaya. During the extended process of decolonization after World War II, Singapore was designated a Crown Colony in 1946 and separated from the Straits Settlements.

The original People’s Flag was launched in 1947 (original design pictured below). This original flag, flown by leftist anti-colonial groups, demonstrated the people’s belief that Singapore belonged together with other states to form Malaya. The flag seemed such a potent symbol of a decolonized Singapore and Straits Settlements that the British colonial powers would ban its use.

After a long process of decolonization, Singapore eventually merged with Malaya, North Borneo, and Sarawak to form Malaysia in 1963--but political differences led to the sudden expulsion of Singapore just two years later in 1965, where Singapore became an independent nation and remains so to this day.

My flag redesign is an imagining of an alternate history, and a hope for a Singapore that is aware of its leftist histories.

“The People's Flag was officially used all over Malaya since 10 Dec 1947. According to Utusan Melayu newspaper, almost all big towns and small towns including Malacca, Johor Bahru, Kuantan, Sungai Siput, Alor Stra and Singapore had a flag ceremony.”

https://www.lelarentaka.com/2021/06/berkibarnya-bendera-rakyat-golongan.html

https://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/my!1949.html

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Week 6 - Exhibition Review

Installation view of Sarah Sense | Power Lines at Bruce Silverstein Gallery

My Submission:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1CsU6MRMxXMbBKljMq4girkFIuoLP7xjPTvoSd33nufw/edit?usp=sharing

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“Address the overall environment: what is the space, the architecture like? Is it a welcoming place? Does the gallerist or receptionist make you feel invited, informed? What about the lighting? The walls, floor, ceiling? Do they enhance or distract the art viewing experience? How is the exhibit laid out? How are the images framed? Is there a clear beginning, and flow to the exhibit? How are the images arranged in the overall display? Is there a connection based on design? Content? Is there a narrative unfolding in the exhibit as a whole? What’s the photographer’s point of view? What’s being communicated? What about the individual selections? HOW DOES THE MEDIUM INFLUENCE THE CONTENT? How does language create context for engaging with the visuals?

Talk about the exhibit as a whole, but also choose four or five images to critique as individual works of art. Use the approach of Description, Analysis of Formal Elements, Interpretation, be sparing in your Judgment, and be honest about your visceral response, your gut reaction. Sometimes the Emperor has no clothes. Please be sure to include the images with your review, which should be submitted as a google slide deck.

Write a paragraph critiquing each of the four to five photographs. Try to address all of these points:

(1) Personal response (2) Subject (3) Composition (Formal Analysis)  (4) Technical”

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Week 6 - Landscape Documentary

My Submission:

“Sensitive Habitat”

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1abo_8NwVt8r8Dt0rBo90iaSICpHslkHGWDStrorAbdo/edit?usp=sharing

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ASSIGNMENT: LANDSCAPE DOCUMENTARY SERIAL IMAGERY AKA URBAN LANDSCAPE "It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see." - HDT

CRITERIA This is a DOCUMENTARY exercise (telling the (an?) observed story of a place)

Subject & Constraints - EXTERIORS ONLY Choose a setting with which you are somewhat familiar or at least acquainted: a space that can be fairly well covered by a series of 20-30 still images -- including establishing shot, medium shot, close up, and extreme close ups of select elements.

Keep a log (a mental one is fine) of what happens in the place. Try to go at different times to scout and get test shots: how does the space change over the course of a day? The activity, the lighting, the mood? Is it different on weekends? Investigate your documentary subject -- research and plan ahead. Try not to choose places that everyone knows -- remember: CLARIFY and INTENSIFY. Really select some place that you either have familiarity with, or are getting to know. And tell your truth of the place...

The final presentation, of 10-15-20 shots will be linked by design--color, vectors, shapes, graphic mass, direction, etc. Imagine as if they are laid out across a table, in a book, website, slideshow, or Gallery Exhibit. 🤔

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Week 5 - Reflection on audio formats

“Tumblr reflection: What are some of the best podcasts, radio programs, film sound designs, audio only compositions, sculptures, or interactive installations you’ve heard/experienced? What makes them effective, good, interesting in terms of sound design? Where/how/how much sound/audio do you consume on a regular basis? Spotify? AMP? Pandora? YouTube? Internet Radio? ASIDE from music, what sound compositions interest, engage, market to you? and--just for fun, identify your theme song!”

Favourite podcast

The T42 podcast features two best friends in Singapore, playwright/performer Joel and science educator Kishan, who discuss a range of topics spanning science, popular culture, the arts, and life in Singapore. Uproariously funny and incisive in its political commentary, I’ve been paying more attention to the audio design and how effectively its been constructed.

Every podcast episode begins with a catchy, effervescent theme, with a regular (and humorous) introduction of the hosts. The use of audio cues such as the ringing of a bell or soundbites from reality television accompany the duo’s conversations and digressions, well-timed for added comedic effect.

The podcast is further broken down into segments, such as “This is Home, Surely” which features the duo discussing a recent issue in Singapore, or Kishan’s segment breaking down a scientific topic. Each come with their own audio introduction that allows for natural segues into each segment.

T42 podcast on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/2lzBlSqtk98XReDTVQC3ww

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Favourite installation

Tarek Atoui, The Ground, 2019 (detail). Exhibition views of Ouverture, Bourse de Commerce — Pinault Collection, Paris, 2021. Photo Aurélien Mole. Source: https://www.yatzer.com/bourse-de-commerce

My favourite sound-based installation is The Ground by Tarek Atoui, a sound artist who creates collaborative sound performances and installations from sound objects. By using unconventional materials emerging from his research into the Pearl River Delta in China, objects are hooked up to audio equipment and dispersed across gallery space to become a spatial experience, with sounds filling the space in an improvisational manner.

In this manner, Tarek Atoui is able to reanimate the space with past collaborations and experiments, with these sound objects having a sculptural presence while creating an ethereal soundscape.

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Other sounds and theme song

I also really enjoy listening to ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response) videos, where creators generate a mix of soft, gentle noises for listeners to feel a ‘tingling’ sensation to be soothed by and calm down to. These include whispers or tapping noises, for example.

Most of this would be through Youtube or Spotify. 

My current theme song is Donna Summer’s version of MacArthur Park (1978):

MacArthur's Park is melting in the dark All the sweet, green icing flowing down Someone left the cake out in the rain I don't think that I can take it 'Cause it took so long to bake it And I'll never have that recipe again

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Week 5 - Soundscape #2

“Soundscape #2👂💒 🎰 Choose a location where you can sit safely for 20 minutes with your eyes closed and repeat the soundscape exercise, writing down what you hear. (Think how it connects to the class exercise we did.) Take note of what things you could and could not discern, what sounds made you want to open your eyes, the dynamics of the sound over the duration, and how spatially the soundscape is, i.e. how many directions did the sounds come from and how did that change over time.”

Listening to the sounds at Prospect Park on a cold fall day, I was struck by the sounds of parents with their children playing at the grassy areas around me, even as it seemed that wet weather was about to settle in. These sounds were far away in the field before me, but distinct: the high-pitched voices of children playing around in grassy patches, while the deeper voices of adults, presumably parents, would say some words about being careful, or cheer their children on. This was punctuated by rustling in the bushes and trees closer by to me: I assumed that these were birds and squirrels--I noted a number squirrels scampering about in particular, just before I had closed my eyes.

Occasionally, the footsteps of passing joggers as their shoes hit the path just before me would be discernible--from the distance, then closer, passing by with a rush of wind, and then disappearing in the distance. Eventually, winds started blowing with even greater intensity, rustling across the trees around me. I must admit that I opened my eyes several times at this point to check if the weather would hold out for much longer. 

Soon, the area sounded of parents trying to convince their children they had to leave soon. A light rain began to fall, with a light patter sounding upon the leaves of trees. The sound of the children playing still didn’t change--they seemed happy to be about in the grass fields, though their steps began to sound like they were squishing through the muddier parts of the grass. Soon, the place became emptier, besides the sound of an umbrella opening in the distance, or a person hurriedly walking past to get to shelter. 

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Week 5 - Create a sound

“🎳💨💥Create an evocative sound. This HAS TO BE a sound you create, not find. Create a sound that evokes a certain feeling.”

Inspired by ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response) videos that feature soothing sounds of water, I wanted to see if I could replicate the sound of water lapping at a lakeside. It still sounds more like the soothing, restorative sound of something being dipped and cleansed in water. I imagine the sound would have to be layered with more atmospheric tone to sound like something from the outdoors.

https://on.soundcloud.com/BCEMp

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Week 5 - Record a sound

“🎛🎤🎙Record an interesting sound. You can use any available device to capture the audio, voice memo, make a video with your phone and strip out the video, use a recording app, or borrow field recording equipment from the Equipment Center and a mic (and read the manual.) This should be a found/heard sound, not one you are creating.”

Stuck at home on a rainy day, the machinic hum of the dishwasher had a rather meditative rhythm to it... Coupled with the sounds of flowing water made it almost cozy.

https://on.soundcloud.com/GGoC6

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Week 4 - True North (2004) by Isaac Julien

Image from: https://www.isaacjulien.com/projects/true-north/

True North is a 3-channel video installation by artist Isaac Julien that repositions the Black explorer Matthew Henson as one of the first people to reach the North Pole while accompanying Robert E. Peary.

Deploying highly cinematic images of wintry landscapes and freezing seas, Julien uses the sequential form of the 3-channel video to convey the spatial experience of being surrounded by ice and snow. From abstract images of pouring water to extreme long shots of the snow-covered paths, Julien modulates the pace at which we partake in this landscape through camera movement and editing, with the visuals on the three screens layering and building upon the sense of rhythm in the video work. In one instance, shots that depict a Black woman walking in the snow capture her at different distances on each of the channels, smaller on each screen from left to right; as if to suggest she is being engulfed by the whiteness of the landscape.

At other moments in the video work, select screens flicker between images and a black screen, using negative space, rhythm, and sound to convey tension and anticipation. Repetition is sometimes used, where the images are consistent across all three screens.

Paired with a suggestive script, the video work augments the visuals of ecological landscape to abstract a historical narrative and elevate aspects of that might otherwise have disappeared within whiteness. 

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Week 3 - VALs test

Just for fun, posting my VALS test result from http://www.strategicbusinessinsights.com/vals/presurvey.shtml:

Primary Type: Strivers

As a consumer group, Strivers have low resources and an Achievement motivation.

Members of this group typically:

Have revolving employment; high temporary unemployment

Use video and video games as a form of fantasy

Are fun loving

Are imitative

Rely heavily on public transportation

Are the center of low-status street culture

Desire to better their lives but have difficulty in realizing their desire

Wear their wealth.

Secondary Type: Survivors

As a consumer group, Survivors have the lowest resources; they exhibit no primary motivation.

Members of this group typically:

Are cautious and risk averse

Are the oldest consumers

Are thrifty

Are not concerned about appearing traditional or trendy

Take comfort in routine, familiar people, and places

Are heavy TV viewers

Are loyal to brands and products

Spend most of their time alone

Are the least likely use the internet

Are the most likely to have a landline-only household.

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Week 3 - Assignment 2 - Prototypes for ‘center of attention’ photos

“DRAW! collage, or bring forth three (3) photo designs or photos that you will produce with each other during class next week. The criteria for these photographs will be: standard size landscape format (16:9 aspect ratio). Each photo should have exactly three (3) people in it. REMEMBER to think about the pre-existing constraints and visual opportunities the university space affords. In each photo, only one of the three people should be the ‘center of attention.’”

Prototype 1: Symmetry

One standing in foreground, medium shot, framed by two seated to form a symmetrical image.

Prototype 2: The Shining

One standing in foreground, close-up, while two stand side-by-side father off in the middle of a corridor.

Prototype 3: Over shoulder

One standing in foreground, medium shot or close-up, while two are behind.

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Week 3 - Screenings - Frank Film (1974) and Begone Dull Care (1949)

Write a paragraph or two on your blog about the organizing principles or Gestalts you see / hear in:

1) Frank & Caroline Mouris, Frank Film, 1974

Frank & Caroline Mouris’ Frank Film is an animated short film that uses collaged images of eyes, body parts, objects, and paraphernalia. Frenetic, rapidly-changing visuals are set to the sound of Frank Mouris reciting words beginning with the letter "F" and reading an autobiography.

In the above image, the use of similarity for the cutouts of eyes helps establish the television as the point of focus even across the rapidly shifting visuals, as eyes appear and disappear across the screen.

For the still above, the use of closure is apparent for the collage of a woman’s body and butterfly wings--though it is an abstact image, the viewer is able to piece together the visual of a fairy-like creature.

2) Norman McLaren, Begone Dull Care, 1949

Norman McLaren’s Begone Dull Care is a playful animated video work that relies on rhythm, motion, and abstraction to convey a lyrical set of visuals that often move and and pulsate in time to the audio. 

In the opening titles, the use of uniform connectedness across the the different sentences, having them being in same cursive style and length despite being of different languages, helps the audience to view them as a unified group, viewing the multiple ways of reading the title as a unified concept.

For some instances, bright colours of animated lines are set against a plain colour background, which helps to establish a figure-ground relationship where a clear figure or subject is being represented against a background. Overall, it helps to establish a spatial dimension to the work, even as a 2D animated piece.

In the above instance, the red squiggles are the points of focus, the ‘figures’ against the white background.

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Week 2 - Response to Agarrando Pueblo (Vampires of Poverty) by Luis Ospina

Within this documentary, the act of filmmaking is immediately foregrounded, with the film opening to the sound of the clapboard and the filmmaker’s discussions forming the main bulk of the film’s dialogue. Switching between black-and-white footage and colour to indicate what is being filmed on camera, it depicts the filmmakers as “vampires”, shooting images of the poor for the international film circuit’s consumption.

“Why do they always film the misery, the poverty?”

I appreciated how the documentary played with filmic conventions to critique cinema in an international context. It demonstrates the exploitation of people as narrative content for cinema. Even the discussion with the actor about the film’s themes seem to satirise the act of documentary-making and image-making as an elevated art form.

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Week 2 - Soundscape

“Write down everything you hear (a "soundscape") over the course of 10 or 20 minutes. You can write this as a literal transcript, or using onomatopoeia, poetry, phonetics, and even 🍻🎉🌬.  Any form of writing (except AV recording) will do. At the end of the document, indicate what the dominant sound was in that space/environment.” I’ve just moved to this apartment -- an old apartment unit in Brooklyn -- and I’m still getting used to the rhythms and sounds of the space itself, as well as re-adjusting to the regular noises of this city.

The floorboards here creak, I hear my roommate making his way across the corridor from beyond my door, the main door shutting behind him as he leaves the apartment. I can hear the creaking of the wooden staircase outside our apartment door as he makes his way down. The main door slams shut. I am not used to how thin the walls are in this apartment.

From the window, I hear the sounds of planes passing above. Otherwise, the air within this room is very still. In the distance, on the streets, I hear an ambulance siren passing loudly and echoing through the neighbourhood. 

Listening more carefully to the sounds outside, beyond the window, I can hear people chatting -- the outdoor seating area of a cafe is right below my room’s window. It is a friendly conversation, and the sounds of their voices brings a warm energy to the space. I hear children shrieking with laughter. 

Here, the sounds of the city permeate the walls of the apartment. The ambulance sirens, the airplanes passing overhead. Only occasionally do the voices of people prick these noises with a kind of conviviality.

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Week 2 - Design Preferences and Prejudices

“write an inventory of the design in your life that you prefer and also could do without -- include not just media here, but architecture, space, fashion, food design, music, color, style, etc. This is self-reflection for you to activate, enhance, and challenge.”

Color

For my personal belongings, I gravitate towards more innocuous base colours -- white, black, silver, rather than brighter, more obvious colours. While I like colours like green, blue, or pink, they don’t necessarily show up in my personal belongings or wardrobe.

Media

I used to watch more experimental, nonlinear films, and I still enjoy video art quite a bit (along the lines of Stan Brakhage’s Mothlight, for example). In more recent years after the pandemic I think I’ve gravitated towards more straightforward narratives that are more whimsical or optimistic. I’ve recently been re-watching the TV series Pushing Daisies.

Architecture & Space

I find myself shying away from overly-designed spaces and furniture in general. I appreciate things that are functional or have a strong ‘conceptual’ purpose for being designed a certain way, and do not need them to be extravagant. I dislike overly ornate or grandiose styles.

I know ‘minimalism’ is another aesthetic category in the design sense, I don’t quite see my preferences aligning with that entirely either.

I often find myself interested in the histories of how buildings come to be.

Clothes

My daily sense of dress is quite laid back, plain, and pared-down. I don’t dress up often and prefer not to let my clothes be the first thing people notice me for. I try to stay away from clothes with obvious branding or logos. While I always appreciate the field of fashion and always enjoy looking at more experimental designs, I rarely wear these styles.

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Week 2 - Collecting images

“Gather, collect 5 images you like, 5 you dislike.”

5 images I like:

(1) Abandoned unauthorized Mario statue found in Beijing, China. Photo by Jochen Utecht, “echtjut” on Flickr.

(2) Photograph of Meret Oppenheim’s The Spiral Column (1983) in Bern, Switzerland.

(3) Hilma af Klint’s Group IV, The Ten Largest, No. 9, Old Age (1907) 

(4) Screenshot of http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Bridge/8244/ last modified 2004-05-24 21:15:12, captured by oneterabyteofkilobyteage by Olia Lialina

(5) Screenshot of Enchanted Towers from Spyro 3: Year of the Dragon. Image by SpyroAesthetics

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5 images I dislike:

(1) Geometric Corporate. Free PowerPoint Template & Google Slides Theme. https://www.slidescarnival.com/jessica-free-presentation-template/14605

(2) Screenshot from Horizon Workrooms by Meta. https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/wtf-is-the-metaverse

(3) Screenshot of Mark Zuckerburg’s demo of Horizon Worlds by Meta.  https://slate.com/technology/2022/08/mark-zuckerberg-metaverse-horizon-worlds-facebook-looks-crappy-explained.html

(4) Internet of Things diagram https://www.cmswire.com/cms/internet-of-things/7-big-problems-with-the-internet-of-things-024571.php

(5) Logo, Corporate Identity or Brand. https://www.marketing-partners.com/conversations2/logo-corporate-identity-or-brand-whats-the-difference

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Week 1 - Creativity Test

Hello! Am creating this blog for NMDS 5008 C Media Design. Looking forward to posting reflections and material here.

I’ll start off with posting my results from the creativity test on testmycreativity.com.

My creativity score is 54.6, which is below the typical level of 62.81. How funny that my creativity score is below the typical! Hopefully this class will help me in some way :)