Monday, February 25, 2008
Monday, February 18, 2008
That Darn Assignment Part Trio
Interesting comment in my IVLE upload: 14 people commmented on my blog. Is that a good enough excuse to be later than 6.30pm?
So here's my response to the 14 comments individually. For a general one, please view the comments in Part Deux.
“I think you have a great storyline going on. The pictures in the beginning showed sadness (the letters, gifts, when were depressed). However i think the rest of your pictures didn't really portray it clearly enough? Were your pictures supposed to express loneliness?
Plus i realised that your pictures didn't contain any people in it. Is there a reason for it? Personally for me, i feel that one of the ways to express loneliness in a person is to take the picture of a person who looks lonely. Eg. a person sitting on a bench, or a person reading a book on his own? Basically, taking pictures of single people doing some form of activity on their own. =)” (Rebecca Oh)
Good point on that. However the intention was that these places where I used to go are now empty because… well, I’m alone.
“I think it's because these are specific memories shared by you and your ex. So to the rest of us we don't see much relevance of it to us.
I suggest you could 'hire' a girl to act as your ex? Like you two can sit on the benches together in one pic, perhaps in black & white, and then in the next pic, in color, the bench is empty. Think the feel of sadness would be stronger. :) (Anonymous)
Spot on with that one. Gotta remember that I’m making it for other people, not just myself.
“Hi Chris, I like your idea of finishing the video off with a scene similar to the opener. However, I feel that to make the whole thing appears as 1 session of reminiscing, you should start off with your character staring into space and perhaps end with someone else shaking your character out of his daydreams.
Also, I agree with what Rebecca said. To portray loneliness, the best way will be to show a person being alone. In the pictures that showed at the end, I could only see various items/scenes and they do not seem to express any meaning.
Perhaps you could add people into the video? That would add a human touch and create empathy.” (Xueli)
Good point. That means there’s an obvious problem there. The pictures aren’t tell the story correctly. I’ll need to do something about that – better pictures or different pictures.
“Hi, I thought that probably you could have some text or some description going on at the beginning of the clip so that one could understand your video right from the start? Cause actually i didnt really understand the story in the beginning. but, nice song =)” (Anonymous)
Ok that sounds bad. The fact that you couldn’t understand the starting bit means there’s really a problem with it somewhere. I thought that of the whole video, that part would have been the most self-explanatory.
“Chris~ I don't like the music and then the narrative part butts in like the video you provided. It's distracting. May be you wanna narrate with the background music altogether? Contradictory to what Rebecca feels I think the empty spaces works out fine for your part. I could sense it. Someone commented on using an actress... I don't think you will do it right. And I would say not to use it. It's bad and the other is it's like the aftermath of a broken relationship so don't think you should include. And I guess what you want to portray is the emptiness more than recalling the good old times aye?” (Su Pei)
You’re spot on with that bit. But I dunno if the video is achieving that aim considering the other feedback I’m getting. Seems like intention differs from perception.
“Similar to what the rest have commented, I do not really get the feel of loneliness you are trying to portray. Especially the series of the benches pictures.
Perhaps you could get some one to pose as your gf and you sitting at the benches Followed by the next scene is her gradually fading away. Guess that will portray a better feel of loneliness and sadness.
In addition, i feel that currently your .mov has a lack of human touch, is very cold. Just a suggestion here, instead of ending the story with two paragraphs, you could narrate yourself. I believe this will make your .mov more meaningful and touching especially if you can narrate it with a sense of sadness” (Anonymous)
1. Ok that one, personally I thought was a bit of an issue as well. But I wanted them empty. Maybe need to portray better.
2. Really? That wasn’t the intention (but probably the perception). Might need to work on that. Then again this video is about painful memories of what was. So cold may not be such a bad perspective.
3. Narrating is definitely an option I think. I need to toy around with the idea more. Just that I thought it was more impactful for people to read. Maybe read AND narrate?
“I like the idea of your story because it's very different. Pictures wise, I am able to get the story in the beginning. I think the song played a huge role in telling your story:)May I know where did you get your song from? Perhaps you could let the music fate into silence than having it shut off all of a sudden.” (Ting)
Hmm that’s good. But if its only at the beginning then it doesn’t achieve the purpose because then after that if no one gets it then it doesn’t work.
Unfortunately the song won’t be appearing in the final. It’s just a placeholder. Though I really did feel that it was extremely apt.
“Although I think both ideas work, i.e. with or without actors, I say the choice is yours, I quite get the sepia transitions hmm but perhaps you could desaturate the photos at the second part to look sadder.
Also, I think that for some of the shots theres a odd black space, which are interweaved with the photos that are full screen, to me if feels just a little odd, maybe if u could put all the photos full screen or separate the two?” (Mark)
Hmm… well all the photos were just thrown in “as is”, no touch ups. So might need to do a bit of that. That might help achieve the desired effect
The space comes as a result of having portrait photos which don’t occupy the whole screen. The only way to fix that is either use all landscape pics, or zoom in. Need to play around with that a bit more.
“I can feel the sadness in your video. And i think without the girl charcter would be better. Does the empty spaces hold some memories to you? That's how I interpret the empty spaces and I think it works fine. The song is also nicely fit with the theme of your story.” (Rash)
Thanks so much Rash! And yeah that was the point of the empty spaces.
“Hey i think the music is nice, but convey a feeling of missing someone.. instead of the anger you tried to portray last week at Valentines Day... Perhaps the visuals can focus more about the end of a relationship, so that we can see the story better, and feel for the character better, instead of items that symbolizes the relationship, because it may not be known to the audience. =)” (Ozeona)
Well… I wasn’t exactly trying to portray anger I guess. While its true that I detest V-Day, the aim was always more about remembering what was. And even then it wasn’t supposed to be the happy type of reminiscing.
Point taken. Might need to work on that.
“I thought that your song is a little unsuitable cuz i was expecting something like a really sad, sad song. Also, I think there should be some shots of you interacting with the inanimate objects, like looking at the letter, with your chin resting on the table and sadness in your eyes?
But other than that i guess you story is working out well.” (Hui Ting)
That’s an interesting suggestion. There’s going to be a little of that at the end I guess. But maybe need to put more.
“Hey chris, i would say a good effort for a draft. The song fits the whole feel of the video in terms of its lyrics. The words at the end aptly summarizes your video. Which is a bittersweet kind of a first love experience.
However in terms of retaining attention and capturing my eyeballs : ) it din fare as good. It felt a little monotonous towards the middle and the reason for the monotony was that there were essentially only 2 types of photos. 1, letters and stuff that she gave you. 2, places which the both of you have gone before. You could try exploring using words and blank spaces to bring variety into the video.
: ) cheers mate” (Sam)
Now THAT’s what I call feedback. Haha. Good point about the monotony. Probably need to cull some pictures and replace others.
“i feel you need a bit of text to explain some of the photos. otherwise, i feel you will have to finish the entire video to get to know what do the photos mean in the beginning...
and also i saw the video ending... but the music just cuts off... not sure if it's just on my platform. maybe you wanna check and fine-tune that part?” (Jasmine)
Isn’t that technically the point? That you should watch the whole thing? But I can see where you’re coming from, on the assumption that not everyone can catch it right from the start. I’m thinking narration MIGHT be better than text, but that needs people to concentrate more. And if they miss it then that’s problematic.
“Hi Chris:
You can consider to have the song lyrics to display when you showcase the video. But knowing that we need royalty free music it will be tough.
Otherwise words would be good to have so that audience can understand the video better.
Are the quotes by you? You can consider putting like the opening and closing like " ".
Great work!” (Katherine)
Thanks Katherine. Truth be told, the quote is actually from a movie I watched (also about broken relationships).
p.s. Apologies to Jasmine if my reply came across as being a bit on the harsh side.
So here's my response to the 14 comments individually. For a general one, please view the comments in Part Deux.
“I think you have a great storyline going on. The pictures in the beginning showed sadness (the letters, gifts, when were depressed). However i think the rest of your pictures didn't really portray it clearly enough? Were your pictures supposed to express loneliness?
Plus i realised that your pictures didn't contain any people in it. Is there a reason for it? Personally for me, i feel that one of the ways to express loneliness in a person is to take the picture of a person who looks lonely. Eg. a person sitting on a bench, or a person reading a book on his own? Basically, taking pictures of single people doing some form of activity on their own. =)” (Rebecca Oh)
Good point on that. However the intention was that these places where I used to go are now empty because… well, I’m alone.
“I think it's because these are specific memories shared by you and your ex. So to the rest of us we don't see much relevance of it to us.
I suggest you could 'hire' a girl to act as your ex? Like you two can sit on the benches together in one pic, perhaps in black & white, and then in the next pic, in color, the bench is empty. Think the feel of sadness would be stronger. :) (Anonymous)
Spot on with that one. Gotta remember that I’m making it for other people, not just myself.
“Hi Chris, I like your idea of finishing the video off with a scene similar to the opener. However, I feel that to make the whole thing appears as 1 session of reminiscing, you should start off with your character staring into space and perhaps end with someone else shaking your character out of his daydreams.
Also, I agree with what Rebecca said. To portray loneliness, the best way will be to show a person being alone. In the pictures that showed at the end, I could only see various items/scenes and they do not seem to express any meaning.
Perhaps you could add people into the video? That would add a human touch and create empathy.” (Xueli)
Good point. That means there’s an obvious problem there. The pictures aren’t tell the story correctly. I’ll need to do something about that – better pictures or different pictures.
“Hi, I thought that probably you could have some text or some description going on at the beginning of the clip so that one could understand your video right from the start? Cause actually i didnt really understand the story in the beginning. but, nice song =)” (Anonymous)
Ok that sounds bad. The fact that you couldn’t understand the starting bit means there’s really a problem with it somewhere. I thought that of the whole video, that part would have been the most self-explanatory.
“Chris~ I don't like the music and then the narrative part butts in like the video you provided. It's distracting. May be you wanna narrate with the background music altogether? Contradictory to what Rebecca feels I think the empty spaces works out fine for your part. I could sense it. Someone commented on using an actress... I don't think you will do it right. And I would say not to use it. It's bad and the other is it's like the aftermath of a broken relationship so don't think you should include. And I guess what you want to portray is the emptiness more than recalling the good old times aye?” (Su Pei)
You’re spot on with that bit. But I dunno if the video is achieving that aim considering the other feedback I’m getting. Seems like intention differs from perception.
“Similar to what the rest have commented, I do not really get the feel of loneliness you are trying to portray. Especially the series of the benches pictures.
Perhaps you could get some one to pose as your gf and you sitting at the benches Followed by the next scene is her gradually fading away. Guess that will portray a better feel of loneliness and sadness.
In addition, i feel that currently your .mov has a lack of human touch, is very cold. Just a suggestion here, instead of ending the story with two paragraphs, you could narrate yourself. I believe this will make your .mov more meaningful and touching especially if you can narrate it with a sense of sadness” (Anonymous)
1. Ok that one, personally I thought was a bit of an issue as well. But I wanted them empty. Maybe need to portray better.
2. Really? That wasn’t the intention (but probably the perception). Might need to work on that. Then again this video is about painful memories of what was. So cold may not be such a bad perspective.
3. Narrating is definitely an option I think. I need to toy around with the idea more. Just that I thought it was more impactful for people to read. Maybe read AND narrate?
“I like the idea of your story because it's very different. Pictures wise, I am able to get the story in the beginning. I think the song played a huge role in telling your story:)May I know where did you get your song from? Perhaps you could let the music fate into silence than having it shut off all of a sudden.” (Ting)
Hmm that’s good. But if its only at the beginning then it doesn’t achieve the purpose because then after that if no one gets it then it doesn’t work.
Unfortunately the song won’t be appearing in the final. It’s just a placeholder. Though I really did feel that it was extremely apt.
“Although I think both ideas work, i.e. with or without actors, I say the choice is yours, I quite get the sepia transitions hmm but perhaps you could desaturate the photos at the second part to look sadder.
Also, I think that for some of the shots theres a odd black space, which are interweaved with the photos that are full screen, to me if feels just a little odd, maybe if u could put all the photos full screen or separate the two?” (Mark)
Hmm… well all the photos were just thrown in “as is”, no touch ups. So might need to do a bit of that. That might help achieve the desired effect
The space comes as a result of having portrait photos which don’t occupy the whole screen. The only way to fix that is either use all landscape pics, or zoom in. Need to play around with that a bit more.
“I can feel the sadness in your video. And i think without the girl charcter would be better. Does the empty spaces hold some memories to you? That's how I interpret the empty spaces and I think it works fine. The song is also nicely fit with the theme of your story.” (Rash)
Thanks so much Rash! And yeah that was the point of the empty spaces.
“Hey i think the music is nice, but convey a feeling of missing someone.. instead of the anger you tried to portray last week at Valentines Day... Perhaps the visuals can focus more about the end of a relationship, so that we can see the story better, and feel for the character better, instead of items that symbolizes the relationship, because it may not be known to the audience. =)” (Ozeona)
Well… I wasn’t exactly trying to portray anger I guess. While its true that I detest V-Day, the aim was always more about remembering what was. And even then it wasn’t supposed to be the happy type of reminiscing.
Point taken. Might need to work on that.
“I thought that your song is a little unsuitable cuz i was expecting something like a really sad, sad song. Also, I think there should be some shots of you interacting with the inanimate objects, like looking at the letter, with your chin resting on the table and sadness in your eyes?
But other than that i guess you story is working out well.” (Hui Ting)
That’s an interesting suggestion. There’s going to be a little of that at the end I guess. But maybe need to put more.
“Hey chris, i would say a good effort for a draft. The song fits the whole feel of the video in terms of its lyrics. The words at the end aptly summarizes your video. Which is a bittersweet kind of a first love experience.
However in terms of retaining attention and capturing my eyeballs : ) it din fare as good. It felt a little monotonous towards the middle and the reason for the monotony was that there were essentially only 2 types of photos. 1, letters and stuff that she gave you. 2, places which the both of you have gone before. You could try exploring using words and blank spaces to bring variety into the video.
: ) cheers mate” (Sam)
Now THAT’s what I call feedback. Haha. Good point about the monotony. Probably need to cull some pictures and replace others.
“i feel you need a bit of text to explain some of the photos. otherwise, i feel you will have to finish the entire video to get to know what do the photos mean in the beginning...
and also i saw the video ending... but the music just cuts off... not sure if it's just on my platform. maybe you wanna check and fine-tune that part?” (Jasmine)
Isn’t that technically the point? That you should watch the whole thing? But I can see where you’re coming from, on the assumption that not everyone can catch it right from the start. I’m thinking narration MIGHT be better than text, but that needs people to concentrate more. And if they miss it then that’s problematic.
“Hi Chris:
You can consider to have the song lyrics to display when you showcase the video. But knowing that we need royalty free music it will be tough.
Otherwise words would be good to have so that audience can understand the video better.
Are the quotes by you? You can consider putting like the opening and closing like " ".
Great work!” (Katherine)
Thanks Katherine. Truth be told, the quote is actually from a movie I watched (also about broken relationships).
p.s. Apologies to Jasmine if my reply came across as being a bit on the harsh side.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
That Darn Assignment Part Deux
Hmm ok. Now for part 2 of this (READ: The Update)
So i've actually got some new photos added in (be prepared for another video with the same annoying background music). HOWEVER, i've also stumbled upon another great idea - based on something i watched on Star Sports the other day. I'm thinking of following the background music dispersed with narration format. Comments please *grin*
Anyway, that aside, here's the latest version of the video. It includes other places outside of school. I also intend to finish it off with a scene similar to the opener (so that the whole thing appears as 1 session of reminiscing).
p.s. if anyone needs inspiration check out this video and this one too. Its REALLY good (not to mention being my inspiration for my assignment - in terms of approach, not topic).
Tip: Press the play, then press pause to let it load. Go to someone else's blog to do your commenting and come back when its done (but don't forget to come back!)
So i've actually got some new photos added in (be prepared for another video with the same annoying background music). HOWEVER, i've also stumbled upon another great idea - based on something i watched on Star Sports the other day. I'm thinking of following the background music dispersed with narration format. Comments please *grin*
Anyway, that aside, here's the latest version of the video. It includes other places outside of school. I also intend to finish it off with a scene similar to the opener (so that the whole thing appears as 1 session of reminiscing).
p.s. if anyone needs inspiration check out this video and this one too. Its REALLY good (not to mention being my inspiration for my assignment - in terms of approach, not topic).
Tip: Press the play, then press pause to let it load. Go to someone else's blog to do your commenting and come back when its done (but don't forget to come back!)
That Darned assignment...
Ok. Truth be told, i detest V-day. I really do. That's why this assignment was so darn hard to do. But i figured out something in the end, controversial as it seems.
The low-down: do a 2 1/2 to 4 min photo slideshow on the theme of love, valentine's day, romance etc.
Requirements: make sure its your own photos (simple enough) and royalty-free music (dang!). oh and make sure there's a storyline.
So... i figured... why not do broken relationships (hence the controversy)? considering how everyone else would probably be doing those normal, happy type of stuff. so... i present... my assignment draft for this photo slideshow
Since i'm at it... why not the video draft too?
(please note that the song in the background ISN'T the actual music. Blessid Union of Souls' "Light in your eyes" was used as a placeholder of sorts... to see if i could find something with the same type of "feel" to get the same effect.)
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
So the story goes...
The challenge: grab as many pics as possible for a story, format them to a certain size and resolution, and stuff 'em onto a webpage and make sure it doesn't exceed 180kb. Sounds simple enough? WRONG!
Its perfectly fine when all your content added together hits 180kb just nicely, but is weird when your folder says you've got 320kb (what gives?). Apparently, its due to the thumbnail saving function (which produced a file that was almost as large as the folder it
So what did i learn then?
1. Hidden files like thumbnail files can be a real pain when you're tight on disk space. Best to disable it.
2. If you're doing something requiring pictures, make sure you take lots of them so that there's a good archive to work with
3. Cropping pics for perspective and focus helps get the message across
4. Anything is possible. Even at the last minute.
So to see the story for yourself, check out the pics below (from left to right then down).
[ed: another lesson also is that blogger can sometimes screw around with what you put in the post. on the blog itself all the pictures just appear as a single roll[
Its perfectly fine when all your content added together hits 180kb just nicely, but is weird when your folder says you've got 320kb (what gives?). Apparently, its due to the thumbnail saving function (which produced a file that was almost as large as the folder it
So what did i learn then?
1. Hidden files like thumbnail files can be a real pain when you're tight on disk space. Best to disable it.
2. If you're doing something requiring pictures, make sure you take lots of them so that there's a good archive to work with
3. Cropping pics for perspective and focus helps get the message across
4. Anything is possible. Even at the last minute.
So to see the story for yourself, check out the pics below (from left to right then down).
[ed: another lesson also is that blogger can sometimes screw around with what you put in the post. on the blog itself all the pictures just appear as a single roll[
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Now That's Surreal...
Poster for a theatre production with the theme of surrealism... now that's tough. Cos first you need to figure out the storyline to be reflected in the poster, then you need to make it fit the theme of surrealism.
according to wikipedia: "[the works] feature the element of surprise, unexpected juxtapositions and non sequitr."
according to dictionary.com: "a style of art and literature developed principally in the 20th century, stressing the subconscious or nonrational significance of imagery arrived at by automatism or the exploitation of chance effects, unexpected juxtapositions, etc."
So... it has to look fantasy / unreal / out of this world. Doesn't seem to hard right? WRONG.
So what i settled for was something along the lines of a "what if", since the play is about dreams and sacrifice after all. So...
Now... as a first draft this is fine. EXCEPT that after thinking about it and seeing the end product in print...
1. The details of the production don't follow typical theatre posters (so that needs to be fixed)
2. I showed it to some people and its not immediately obvious (hence making it a bad poster if i have to explain)
3. The more i stare at it i realise that the picture in the centre is the draw factor (and not the ones on the sides). I don't know if that's a good thing. On the bright side that means that people will see the title of the play right?)
So... need more tweaks.
according to wikipedia: "[the works] feature the element of surprise, unexpected juxtapositions and non sequitr."
according to dictionary.com: "a style of art and literature developed principally in the 20th century, stressing the subconscious or nonrational significance of imagery arrived at by automatism or the exploitation of chance effects, unexpected juxtapositions, etc."
So... it has to look fantasy / unreal / out of this world. Doesn't seem to hard right? WRONG.
So what i settled for was something along the lines of a "what if", since the play is about dreams and sacrifice after all. So...
Now... as a first draft this is fine. EXCEPT that after thinking about it and seeing the end product in print...
1. The details of the production don't follow typical theatre posters (so that needs to be fixed)
2. I showed it to some people and its not immediately obvious (hence making it a bad poster if i have to explain)
3. The more i stare at it i realise that the picture in the centre is the draw factor (and not the ones on the sides). I don't know if that's a good thing. On the bright side that means that people will see the title of the play right?)
So... need more tweaks.
Thursday, February 07, 2008
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