Archives for April 2022

Project Title: Different Time Zone

Team Members: Mary and Jeeho

III.  Concept | Storyline:

The concept for our project is to motivate people who are exhausted and distressed under the pressure from works and study. When I talked with my friends, I can always feel that they are under pressure from academic performance and their futures. Especially, during the long-term quarantine, everyone is suffering more than before. So we decided to make a motivational video to relieve their pressure.

Who are you going to interview? Or What is the piece (article, poem, story) for the narrative voice over? 

We are going to interview students in our dorms to see  they also have the same kind of stress and if it helps them if they see a motivational video later. And also we will find some articles that represents that difference is not the standard of right and wrong. 

 https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/how-american-presidents-aged-in-office/45/

https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/gdp-by-state 

What’s the story about?

Everyone lives their own time zone. Some blame themselves for running behind than others, but that doesn’t mean they can’t succeed. But we all have differences. If we keep trying hard, we can achieve goals even if it’s late then others. So don’t compare yourself to others’ standards.

Which part of the story are you going to focus on?

Our project motivates people to respect each others’ differences and not to give up. Therefore, we are focusing on showing scenes that represents differences in our worlds. 

What kind of style/aesthetics are you going to pursue?

We will mainly use juxtaposition to show two different photos in one scene to represent the differences. 

Execution Plan

What equipment are you going to use when shooting the movie? 

Since we are not able to go outside, the equipment we can use is limited to cell phone.

Which locations will it be shot at? When is it? Day time/night/unknown? Why? 

Filming will take place only inside our dorm. There is no fixed date because we have to set a time with each interviewers. 

What are some challenges you might encounter and how will you prepare?

The limited sources are the biggest challenges we will face. But we will try to find the sources as much as possible in our dorm .

How will you collaborate? How will you divide work? (Gantt Chart)

We filled out our respective tasks in the Gantt chart below. Each person has chosen tasks that they can do well, but we will proceed the most of the tasks together.

V.   Storyboard Draft

HomePod Advertisement by Apple

Link

The overall content of this advertisement is that

a career woman uses Homepod at home after work to enjoy music and dream of her own world.

I chose this advertisement because it has various shooting angles and uses the effects from the angles perfectly.

 

In the beginning, the main character and the background were shown together using a medium shot, establishing a situation in which she returns home from work. And, by using a close-up shot of her face, audiences can realize that she is exhausted. Finally, by showing Hompod using an extreme close-up shot, the importance of the Hompod is highlighted and causes curiosity from the viewers.

 

The wide shot shows she is alone at home and feels lonely. But, as soon as the song begins, close-up shots of her face show a change of emotion.

When she started dancing, her actions were expressed more dynamically by wide shots and tracking shots. And in the middle, close up shot delivered her emotions to the viewers.

When she found her partner, the cameraman used two-shot and over the shoulder shot to express the interaction between the two characters, and also used a wide shot to express the dancing more dynamically. And when the dance was over, the camera used a high-angle close-up shot to show her feeling and express her as a vulnerable person who was left alone at home again. And at the end, shows the homepod again as a close-up shot to imprint it on the viewers

What are the precise rules of each of the obstructions?

Obstruction 1

• To take shots in Cuba without any set.
• To remake the film using no more than 12 frames for each take.
• To answer the questions from the original film.

Obstruction 2

• To shoot in the most miserable place in the world.
• To not show the misery on the screen
• To include the meal
• To play the role of the man in the film

Obstruction 3

• To remake the film in the place he chooses, or try again in Mumbai
• To remake the film in freestyle

Obstruction 4

• To remake the film in a cartoon style

Obstruction 5

• To credit Leth’s name only 
• To read a voice narration written by von Trier

 

How does Jorgen cope with the obstructions?

Obstruction 1

• Used a various filming techniques
• Found local actors

Obstruction 2

• Went to the red light district of Mumbai 
• Used a translucent screen to avoid showing misery
• Became himself a actor

Obstruction 3

• Remade the film in Brussels
• Used split-screen effects

Obstruction 4

• Collaborated with Bob, a famous animation maker

Obstruction 5

• Followed what Leth told him to do

What is the effect on the movies he produces?

This film asks you whether you will lose vitality and become a passive person or find your own breakthrough if there are more and more restrictions on your works. 

Other thoughts crossing your mind while watching.

I felt that even limitations and obstacles can also be a stepping stone for growth if one has true efforts and passions 

Steyerl talks about how the “unbroken belief” of the documentary form is challenged. What does Steyerl mean by this? Certain movies and films are based on a true story.  How does truth inform fiction? How might fiction inform the truth?

It means people no longer believe what they see and hear in the media as it is. They doubt the authenticity of the media and do a kind of filtering behavior to believe in only what they truly believe true. In the first paragraph, she examples the CNN correspondent’s case and mentions “ one could only guess at what these abstract compositions were supposed to depict.” Just like she said, not people don’t take what they see as it is, they take it after questioning based on their interpretation.

I think there is a correlation between True and Fiction. When filmmakers make fiction stories, they mostly make them based on the true story, and a true story brings more credibility to the viewers

 

.What is the significance of the authenticity and representation of the truth in the media that you consume on a daily basis? What is the role of a live broadcast

We get a lot of information through social media every day. But we do not accept that they are all 100% true without anyone telling us. Because people already know that the media and documents are from biased perspectives. For example, CNN will talk negatively about conservatives and praise progressives, while Fox talks positively about conservatives and blames progressives. So people find media that suits their taste, which makes people doubt everything they hear and see.

I think live broadcast is less biased. Because there’s less time to process sources to the taste of biased viewers. However, broadcasting stations show even live broadcasts only in the way they want to show, so it is not completely reliable.

“Forgotten Memories”– Jeeho Kim

Link

 

concept

The memory I chose for this project is “my old neighbors.” I think the word concept of “neighbors” in Korea is gradually disappearing. When I was a little kid, neighbors almost meant families, we shared everything, whether it is good or bad. My parents used to come home late from their work, so my friends’ parents always took care of me. I ate dinner, did homework, and played at their house. When my parents were not busy, they took care of my friends. And we took it for granted. Also, the neighborhood alley was a playground for young kids like me at the time. We were screaming and running around,  but no one complained about the noise and even parked their cars in the other place so we could play safely. I think that moment was the happiest time of my life so far, the neighbors treated others with much love and I had no worries.

But from some point, the meaning of neighbors I knew gradually changed. More people, now, think of individuals before communities and neighbors are being regarded as simply someone who lives next door. My family moved to an apartment a long time ago. I have neighbors there too, but it’s hard for me to feel the same as the neighbors in my old neighborhood. Because we don’t have any relationship with each other, even if we meet at the elevator, we don’t even say “Hi” or something like that and just look at our cell phones. Also, I can’t see kids playing in the playground together. I don’t know what has contaminated the meaning of neighbors, but it is clear that relationships between neighbors have been cut off now.

Last summer, I visited my old neighborhood. But they looked different from what I remembered. My old neighborhood places were wiped out by redevelopment for a new apartment complex. I felt that my memories were cut off when I saw the scene because the neighborhood had my happiest childhood memories. And I, somehow,  felt that the meaning of neighbors nowadays has lost the hope of returning to the way it used to be back then. So I named my work “Lost Memories” and wanted to recreate my old neighborhood’s sound through the work. So I used sounds of “kids playing around”, “laughing”, “bicycles” and “ball playing.”

Process

When I first started this project, I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to collect all the sounds I had planned, because we are not allowed to go outside right now due to Covid-19. But, fortunately, I was able to record most of them successfully. Most of the sounds I planned to record were from neighborhood alleyways such as kids yelling, screaming, running, laughing…etc. There are children and a dog living in the next building to my dorm, so I could get a chance to record their sounds from them when they are playing in the parking lot. Also, additional surrounding sounds such as soccer balls, bicycles, motorcycles, and birdsong could be recorded inside the dormitory complex as well. 

They were all similar to the sounds I have heard when I was a kid in the neighborhood alley, and I felt very familiar with them. I repeated the sounds of kids running, laughing, and birds whispering to represent that the old neighborhood remains a peaceful and happy space for me. And  the sound of knocking on the door in the second half of the work suggests that an uninvited guest called redevelopment has come to the neighborhood, and the raining sounds at the end express the sadness of not being able to go back to that time

Editing was much harder than I expected. Throughout the whole editing process, I focused on creating natural sounds as much as possible. For my goal, I deleted unnecessary parts of every recording file and put each sound in the right place, and adjusted the volumes so that one does not interfere with the others. Like the sound of birds humming and children running around, the surrounding sounds were put in the background with a low volume set, and the laughing, bicycles, and motorcycles were emphasized with a high volume set. And lastly, I was inspired by the Korean street videos on YouTube to make sounds that seemed to move three-dimensional by adjusting the left and right volumes.

 

conclusion

Overall, I’m satisfied with the sound I have made, but there are a few things that I can make improvements to.  Since my concept is a “neighborhood alleyway”,  which is a large outside space, I needed more diverse sounds for recording. But I didn’t have the opportunity to go outside and record enough sounds. And this is the first time using Adobe Audition, so I couldn’t show a good performance on editing. I would like to use more diverse sounds to express the neighborhood alleys with richer sounds if I had more time.