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Visual Metaphor Final Project

Different Time Zone– Jeeho & Mary

Video Link

 

Concept & Story

The concept of the final project video is that we all work in our personal time zone. The story tells audiences that everyone has their own timezone just like every city in the world has a time difference, and it contains the message that even though you seem to be lagging behind others, it is never late or wrong. I used a poem I saw a few months ago for a voice narration in the video. I was very sympathetic after reading the poem because I always thought I was behind others. I entered NYUSH in the 2018 Fall and after finishing my first year, I took 2 years off for military service and came back in the 2021 Fall. Serving my nation was absolutely meaningful and wonderful job, but when I came back to the school I faced the reality. I was a sophomore while all my friends were juniors and seniors, and they already completed their resumes and internship careers. Since then, I have been thinking that I’m lagging behind. Not only that, but now at the turning point of university life, I felt that the next two years will be the most important period for the future. So I decided to make the poem into the video so I could have a positive influence on the audience and a chance to comfort myself.

Creation Process & Execution 

Creating a storyboard was a great help at the beginning of the process. When I first started the project, I only had a concept and I didn’t have any plan for what to appear in the video. However, while drawing the storyboard, I was able to draw scenes that matched the narration. And when the storyboard was complete, I was able to expect what the final result would be like. Unfortunately, the whole process was carried out in the dorm because of the current situation in SH. However, contrary to my expectations, we were able to have the scenes we wanted as similar as possible. Without a tripod, we repeated the filming several times to minimize the shaking as much as possible. In addition, scenes that are unable to be filmed in the community were downloaded from Youtube.  We spent a lot of time securing the scenes, but we spent most of our time on the editing process. On average, five editing skills were used for most of the scenes. 1) To cut off unnecessary parts of a video. 2) To control the speed/ time of the video, 3) To stabilize the video. 4) To focus on the characters. 5) To adjust brightness and filters.

Collaboration 

I and my partner both contributed to the filming parts, and we choose scenes that fit better with narrations. She recorded the voice and I edited the video. Unfortunately, Davinci is not a real-time collaborating program like Google docs, we could not able to work together in Davinci. So, I shared the lasted version of the video with her to share our ideas for revision every day, and we were able to make tremendous progress and improvements in sharing our thoughts process. Our communication was conducted via Wechat and small break-out rooms during the class. I really appreciate her for sharing her advice and idea for revisions I couldn’t think of. And without her, this project would not have been completed as nicely as it is now.

Aesthetics & Results

We worked hard on the aesthetic techniques. We paid attention to not only the camera angles but also the camera movements. In our video, various camera angles that we have learned during the class were used such as close-up, behind-shoulder shots, and medium shots. The two most impressive scenes I picked are the sky scene and the stair scene. Each scene used rising-up and falling-down camera movements. The sky scene first shows the blue sky and the building with the “上海“ sign together, and the camera angle falls down and shows the laptop screen at a close distance which shows the time differences. And I think the stair scene goes very well with the narration. The camera looked up the stairs from the bottom to the top to express the stair as a big obstacle to climbing up. But at the end, light comes in from the window, it conveys the meaning that a bright future and hope await. The color was very blurry because we took scenes with our cell phones. So we used filters and adjusted the contrast to find the color that fits the most in each atmosphere in Davinci. The voice editing was not very difficult. We cut a single voice recording into several parts to control the speed. And the voice tone was set to “netflix”. From the critique session today, we could get advice that the speed of the first half and the second half of the video is different. But we actually intend to do that. The first half of the video is intended to speed up so that audiences also feel the pressure too, but,  the second half of the video was intended to be slow to make audiences feel more comfortable and relaxed.

And the video also has credits at the very end.

Thank you!

会者定离 去者必返

 

 

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.

 

My memory for this Memory Soundscape Project is “my neighborhoods when I was in kindergarten.” The emotions and scenes the place gave us at that time remain a special memory for me and my family. The old house was the first house that my parents bought after moving out of the rented house after their marriage. In Korea today, relationships between neighbors are almost dead. We don’t even know who lives next door and even if we meet by chance we don’t say hello to each other. However, at that time when I was in kindergarten, neighbors were almost like family members and we shared everything. And now, tall apartments are popularized in Korea, and areas that are underdeveloped like the neighborhood I used to live in are gradually disappearing due to the redevelopment of luxury apartment complexes. To remember the lifestyle that can no longer be found, I chose my neighborhood when I was in kindergarten as the topic of this project. At that time, I could hear various sounds such as cars and bicycles in the neighborhood, children playing around, dogs barking next door, and my mother making dinner. And I would ask my mom for more details.

Differences in Perspectives– Jeeho Kim

 

Concept

The initial concept of my Diptych project was “Time and Atmosphere.” I planned to demonstrate how one place was viewed as a different atmosphere over time in the project. For example, the cafe on the second floor in AB is very lively and crowded with students during the day, but it turns into a quiet and dark place at dawn. For the concept, I was planning to take a photo of a middle school next to Jinyang dorm. Because I couldn’t think of any other place where the atmosphere is changing significantly over time except for the school. So I tried to use a picture of students spilled out from the school during the end of school hours. Unfortunately, however, as the danger of Covid-19 in SH increased, every school was converted into online classes, making it impossible to meet students. So I had no option but to change my concept to “differences in perspectives.” Through this concept, the message I want to convey is that most people understand things and spaces only as of the way they saw them before or want to see them. And to reinforce the effect of the message, I used a photo of the city of Shanghai where the future and past coexist. It is undeniable that representative images of Shanghai are Mega-city, Future and High-tech, and younger generations of Chinese and foreigners will only have the perception that Shanghai is the most westernized city in China. But, on the other hand, the older generations of Chinese or those who have lived in Shanghai for a long time may miss old Shanghai, which has turned into a completely different city right now. So I tried to co-exist the image of the city viewed by different generations, and I thought the plan fit with my concept of “difference in perspectives.”

Process

First of all, I went to Waitan to take a picture of the Oriental Pearl for the current image of the city of Shanghai viewed by the younger generations. Waitan and Oriental Pearl are the first representative place that comes to mind when thinking of Shanghai and is always crowded with the visitor. And I visited Yu Garden for the trace of Old Shanghai, but the garden was closed and I had to take some pictures of only parts of traditional Chinese structures from the outside of the garden.

I used brightness and contrast effects to make the overall color of a photo of Oriental Pearl deeper and stronger. And, I used a “Cyon” photo filter, blue color, to create an image of Shanghai as a coastal city. In addition, the picture of the Chinese traditional structure taken in Yu Gardem was cropped and only the part I wanted was placed on the left side of the Oriental Pearl, and the color of the traditional structure was adjusted to be relatively dark using contrast and brightness effect. A dark traditional Chinese structure was placed right next to the bright Oriental Pearl to express the image of current Shanghai. This has a message that most people are now fascinated by the present image of Shanghai and turn a blind eye to the old Shanghai. And finally, the image of me taking a picture was placed in the upper right corner to shape typically tourists.

I spent most of this project working on Photoshop. Because I was not familiar with using it and lacked an understanding of functions, I had difficulty making the outcome exactly as I wanted.

Conclusion

or future improvement, I need to find photos that fit my concept more that the ones I used, and I also need to practice Photoshop to get used to the functions.

 

1. What does Ritchin mean with the “fluidity of the digital”? Give an example of digital imaging/digital photography that exemplifies this.

According to “In Our Own Image”, “fluidity of the digital” refers to changes in photography and editing technology with the development of digital technology. When the camera was first invented, it was always inevitable to use a heavy and huge camera, and of course, it was impossible to upload photos online. Even before 2010, we took photos using digital cameras separately from mobile phones and had to go through a complicated process to upload them on the internet. However, through the process of technology development and the widespread of smartphones, revolutionary changes have occurred in photographing and editing. An era has begun in which cameras are built into our phones and photos can be stored in phones rather than memory chips. So, software developers created various social media apps such as Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter by utilizing those advantages of smartphones. People can easily and conveniently upload photos using social media to communicate and record their good memories. However, unlike the intention of software developers and social media users, photos on SNS are sometimes used with impure intentions. Some users steal others’ photos and use them for illegal activities, and infringe on healthy SNS cultures. 

 

1. Reflect on the extent to which photography is capable of capturing reality; and compare it to other media (technology) (e.g. text, video, virtual reality, books). 

The extent to which photography in capturing reality is not as great compared to text, video, virtual reality, books.  The reason why I think this is because the picture shows only one specific scene. Text, video, and books have a beginning and end so that audiences can understand the situation before and after. However, due to the characteristic of the picture, the person cannot speak or move in the scene, so the audience has no choice but to believe it by looking at the specific scene and behavior shown in the picture. 

My overall concept for Diptych Project is “time and atmosphere.” The reason why I chose this concept is that individuals only think of everything in the world as they see it. For me, as a NYUSH student, the cafe on the second floor of our academic building is always recognized as a crowded and active space, but it might be seen as a quiet and dark space for security guards working at dawn. So the topic I want to convey through this project is that if an individual looks at one space or thing from various angles, he/she can have more understanding of it. 

As I know, for the Diptych Project, it is important for the two photos to harmonize with each other and send messages to the audience. Also, the two photos have to fit with my concept. So I plan to place photos of day and night to focus on the atmosphere contrast over time. The audience will feel familiar with the atmosphere they have seen before. However, they will also see the photo of the atmosphere that they have never seen or thought of before and open up various perspectives on the place.

Although my concept is “Time and Atmosphere”, the main element that completes those two topics are the number of people in the photos. For instance, a crowded and noisy place during the day turns into a dark and boring place at night or vice versa. So I will find a place where many people work or walk by. The places I’m planning to take photos are in front of the middle school, markets, parks, subway stations, etc…

I haven’t taken pictures yet, so I don’t know which one to use. However, since the atmosphere of the two photos needs to be completely different, the number of people will be mainly focused in the photos, and the color of the photo with an active atmosphere will be highlighted more intensely.