1. Project Title:
The VM project will focus on “What is Art?”.
2. Team Members:
This project will be done by Ken Wu and Ke Xu.
3. Concept | Storyline:
1). Who are you going to interview? Or What is the piece (article, poem, story) for the narrative voice over?
Our piece is a self-written narrative regarding the definition of art that was inspired by a Mental Floss article answering what is art. The narrative will explore the properties of art, the forms, the expressions, and the feeling of art. The definition of art will be demonstrated through questions from the conceptual, internal and social perspectives. The narrative text is attached at the end of this proposal. We want to trigger our audience to think about the question: “what is art?”
2). What’s the story about?
The narrative will go through 14 questions on the definition of art. Although they are abstract, we will use the video clips to make it more concrete to trigger our audience to think about the definition of art through these questions. The story will end in a state of perplexity to provide an audio answer for what is art. Details of those scenes will be explained below.
Imitation: Two people standing before the serial mirror and imitate each other.
Self-expression: The paints are mixed together to write the three letters of ‘ART’.
Revolution: Select a revolutionary art piece in art history, combined with a shocked face.
Beauty: Juxtaposition of half female face and half cat’s face.
Motion: Exaggerated dance.
Human made: A human is making a clay sculpture.
Visible: Someone is playing a musical instrument with eyes covered before a black background. Digital edits needed for effects on the background.
Feeling: Depressed person cries with black tears, in front of a light.
Balance: Inject paint into the water to achieve a balanced state.
Power: Shadows with powerful motions.
Competition: Someone won the prize for his art piece which is not understood by the public.
For the rich: A poor girl is looking at the luxury jewelry in the glass window.
Violence: Violent motion with hammers or knives.
An addiction or drug: A man lying on the glass with medicine on the side.
3). Which part of the story are you going to focus on?
We plan to adjust the speed of the narrative, thus certain scenes taking more time and being more focused will be placed in the beginning. Scenes like “Is art violence” or “Is art balance” will be highlighted in the story where the visual imagery will have more significant input that may stir the audience to formulate their thoughts on what art is. We thought that those highlighted questions were the most meaningful to discuss. For the ending, those audio questions will overlap each other and the audio itself will illustrate a chaotic status. We want the audio itself to provide one answer for “what is art?” Meanwhile, the final question “Is art ART?” will be shown through plain text onto the screen.
4). What kind of style/aesthetics are you going to pursue?
For the video, we plan on pursuing abstractism through using various visual metaphors to complete the piece. Aesthetic-wise, we’d like to lower our aperture to create a gloomy mood and presentation as darker portrayal is normally associated with the lack of information or uncertainty which also corresponds to the objectivity of defining art.
4. Execution Plan:
1). What equipment are you going to use when shooting the movie? (cell phone, DSLR camera, sound recorder, stabilizer..)
Basically, we will use the DSLR camera, TASCAM, stabilizer and proper lighting for this project.
2). Which locations will it be shot at? When is it? Day time/night/unknown? Why?
Most scenes can be done in the Academic Building or the dorm. For the scene of the cat face, jewelry and serial mirror, we might go out to shoot them. Time is flexible for our project, as we will use the lighting and most scenes are shot indoor. We plan to shoot them on the weekends.
3). What are some challenges you might encounter and how will you prepare?
We would expect some time conflicts with our models as the finals are approaching, and we will plan ahead to process the shooting more efficiently. For some cases using several lightings, we might need extra help for arranging those lights. Also, for scenes dealing with water and paints, the outcome is unstable and disappears within seconds, we might shoot for several times, so we will prepare enough materials for that. Stable camera movement is our pursuit, and we consider using the stabilizer. Finally, the final editing might be stressful as we are new to Pr, and we will turn to help when necessary.
4). How will you collaborate? How will you divide work?
Please refer to the Gantt Chart. We plan to shoot all the scenes together as we will use lighting which needs at least two people. We will make individual efforts for finding the models and planning the meeting time. Who will take the camera depends on the actual need. Also, for the editing process, while Ken might focus more on the conceptual composition, Coco would focus more on the technical realization and related documentation. Overall, we will work together.
5. Storyboard Draft
6. Gantt Chart*
| Task | Owner | Start Date | Due Date | Duration | PCT of Task Complete |
| Order material | Coco&Ken | 11/26 | 11/28 | 2 hours | |
| Record the audio | Coco&Ken | 11/27 | 12/1 | 2 hours | |
| Meet with model | Coco&Ken | 11/27 | 12/1 | 1 hour | |
| Shoot indoor | Coco&Ken | 12/4 | 12/6 | Unknown | |
| Shoot outdoor | Coco&Ken | 11/28 | 11/29 | 4 hours | |
| Editing & Presentation | Coco&Ken | 12/7 | 12/10 | Unknown |
Reference:
Our inspiration for the narrative https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/57501/27-responses-question-what-art
Dialogue Audio: (The control of speed, faster till the end, and mix them in the end)
What is Art?
//conceptual
Is Art imitation?
Is Art self-expression?
Is Art revolution?
Is Art beauty?
Is Art motion?
Is Art human made?
//internal
Is Art visible?
Is Art a feeling?
Is Art balance?
//physical
Is Art power?
Is Art competition?
Is Art for the rich?
Is Art violence?
Is Art an addiction or drug?
//end
Is Art ART?
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