Project Video: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NUfWFY_K9iXGm-8Tgo5afxR20fyADI91/view?usp=sharing
In our Visual Metaphor, the core concept is the 「圓」” circle”.
Since “圓” itself is a very intuitive and obvious visual symbol, I decided to directly demonstrate the extensibility of this concept in Chinese culture by photographing circles in different Chinese cultural scenes.
Therefore, I chose different round items:
Temple water tanks, pond coins, pavilion arches, oven-paper umbrellas stretched open, ethnic earrings, lanterns lit at night: these relatively more life-like scenes make the concept of “circle” more accessible. It has many meanings, including desire, fulfillment, family happiness, and the integration and creation of “圓” elements by people in a cultural context.
The window paper-cut of the dragon and phoenix, the seal of the dragon, the Taoist chief swinging a sword into a circle, and the scene of the seven sons going out to battle in the sunrise in the movie “Saving General Yang” : this is the appearance of “circle” in a larger historical context, the completeness of the family and the country, and the harmony of religious philosophy such as the natural creation of the Taoist family.
In addition, in order not to make the single element 「圓」 too simple and monotonous, I also chose to add two images: goldfish and calligraphy.
The goldfish itself also represents a kind of completeness and prosperity, and is brightly colored, which can be used as the scene of the transfer picture. What’s more, the golden coins in the water are circus.
Calligraphy represents a kind of inheritance and plays a role in connecting the past and the next in the video. The one who was writing is my grandpa, and the process we worked on it is interesting!
THE PROCESS
Goldfish and water tanks appear as introducing elements, and the clatter of bells in the water echoes the sound of bells in the background music.
With the addition of the flute in the music, calligraphy slowly appears in the background of “Goldfish”.
I have been to Yunxiang Temple and Nanxiang Ancient Town and have been deeply impressed and found some scenes in my memory that fit the concept, such as this door.
Also to the music, the door slowly opens, representing the official beginning. In addition to the “圓” turning to “圓”, I like the some other idea like calligraphic strokes synchronize with the movements of Taoist monks wielding swords.
The following scenes are the transitions of 「圓」，In addition to the “circular” turning to “circular”, I designed the some other scenes like calligraphic strokes synchronize with the movements of Taoist monks wielding swords and the image of the Taoist priest slowly fading out with the sunrise appearing.
From here, the video moves into the last part, and everything returns to calm and peace.
CHALLENGES
In the process of video editing, the quick and smooth transitions and the overlapping scenes requires editing out the effect of gradients. Therefore, I divided the video into many small segments and changed the transparency one by one to achieve the desired effect, which was a lot of work.
Chinese Version:
在我們的Visual Metaphor中，核心概念是「圓」
因為「圓」本身是一個很直觀的視覺符號，所以我決定直接通過拍攝圓在不同的中國文化場景中來展現這一個概念在中華文化中的可延展性。
因此，我選擇了不同的圓形物品：
寺廟的水缸，池塘的硬幣，亭台的拱門，撐開的油紙傘，少數民族的耳環，夜晚亮燈的燈籠：這些相對更加生活化的場景讓「圓」的概念更加觸手可及。它有很多的涵義，包括願望，圓滿，家庭幸福，還有是「圓」元素被人們在文化背景下的融入和創造。
龍鳳呈祥的窗花，龍紋的印章，揮劍成圓的道長，以及電影《楊家將》中日出七子出征的場景：這是」圓」在更宏大的歷史背景下的呈現，是家國的圓滿，也是宗教哲學例如道家中自然造化的圆融。
此外，為了不讓「圓」這個單一元素太單調，我還選擇加入了兩個意象：金魚和書法。
金魚本身也代表著一種圓滿和繁榮，並且色彩鮮豔，可以作為轉接畫面的場景
書法代表著一種傳承，在視頻中起到了承上啟下的作用
這個project我認為可以有三個階段的區分
前部分可以理解為「圓」在日常文化中的寓意和被創造
中間高潮部分開始於書法轉接道士；
後半部分開始於水缸和圓形拱門的重影，音樂趨於和緩，同時場景也區別於前面的快節奏和高飽和度色彩。
金魚我拍攝於蘇州寒山寺；
油紙傘，拱門，女生和耳環，開門場景，燈籠，窗花，印章等拍攝於南翔古鎮，雲翔寺，檀園。
書法特寫拍攝於我的爺爺的練字片段。