In the age of digital reproduction, documentary forms have become an important part of the contemporary economy of affect. The need for objective, institutionally guaranteed, even scientific integrity is successfully being replaced by the desire for intensity. In the article “The Uncertainty of Documentarism”, Steyerl discusses the uncertainty of documentary images in the digital age, using the example of CNN’s live broadcast during the invasion of Iraq in 2003, and argues that these low-resolution images, which bore little resemblance to reality, seemed authentic because of their lack of focus and uncertainty. She thinks that documentary images are powerful because there is no more unbroken belief in their truth. Their uncertainty reflects the precarious nature of contemporary lives and the uneasiness of any representation. The article concludes that the truth of these images lies in their expression rather than representation, reflecting the stage of visuality increasingly defined by images where one can see less and less.

By “unbroken belief”, Steyerl is referring to the idea that documentary films and videos are typically assumed to represent objective truth or reality. However, she also says that this belief is not always accurate, as documentaries can be constructed and edited in ways that shape the viewer’s understanding of the subject matter. She suggests that this “unbroken belief” in the documentary form is being challenged by contemporary artists and filmmakers who are exploring the ways in which truth and reality can be manipulated in media.

When a movie or film is based on a true story, the filmmaker is usually trying to represent some version of the truth. But because the story is being told through the medium of fiction, the filmmaker has more control over how the story is presented, which can lead to manipulation of the facts or selective emphasis on certain events or characters. Similarly, when a work of fiction is inspired by real-world events, it can influence how people understand those events and shape public perception of the truth.

The authenticity and representation of truth in media can have a significant impact on how people understand the world around them. Misinformation or distorted representations of the truth can lead to confusion, misunderstanding, and even harm. On the other hand, accurate and authentic representations of the truth can help people make informed decisions, form opinions, and act in ways that are beneficial to society.

A live broadcast is a type of media production that is transmitted in real-time, often through television or internet streaming. Live broadcasts can be used to deliver breaking news, sports events, concerts, and other types of programming that require immediate and simultaneous access for a large audience. The role of a live broadcast is to provide an authentic and immediate experience to the audience, allowing them to feel as if they are part of the event as it unfolds. Additionally, live broadcasts can help to ensure that the information being delivered is accurate and up-to-date, as there is no opportunity for editing or manipulation.

For the first obstruction, only 12 frames is allowed to be used, thus creating a quicker and more intense feeling. Compared with the original version which was presented in a black and white empty room, the one recreated in Cuba is more colorful, filled with much more elements, reducing the sense of nothingness and adding a touch of exoticness.

In the second obstruction, the background is more immersive and lively than the original version as it is shot in an out door setting. The transparent screen filtered the crowded environment and the camera was fixed, simulating/intensifying the sense of being watched and examined.

The third obstruction, Leth did not want complete creative freedom because in some ways that is more difficult than being given obstructions or rules to follow. More freedom means more options, more options means less guidance, and relying on your own creativity. However, returning to Mumbai would have possibly been dangerous, so he had to choose the option to have no rules; he remained in Brussels to film. This version features a split screen which was a new development from his previous explorations 

The fourth obstruction, which was also my favorite one, was referencing the visual effect/style of cartoon or animation. Using contrast color like green&red, orange&blue, with low purity & brightness to create a surreal sensation, making a clear line between real and imagination. This made the image more surrealistic and dreamlike with a lot of movements are abstract imagery and shifting perspectives. The voice-over is also surrealistic, with a disjointed and fragmented narrative that adds to the overall sense of disorientation and unreality. Also, it applied techniques like repetition and delay to stress the movement of the perfect human. Extracting specific scenes, using close-up technique, and present it in a small frame in the fullscreen image. For instance, revealing the face gradually, showing the process of making a perfect human which shows the nature of the perfect human. The dynamic camera angles create a sense of exaggerated energy and expressive movement. Additionally, a lot of words in some scenes and with multi-angle camera language which is metaphorical. In my opinion, the use of animation allows him to create unreal scenes that would be impossible to capture in live-action movies.

Lars von Trier already made the last obstruction, and Jørgen Leth does nothing except for being the director, which made him completely unprepared. He had to read scripts, which were announced as his opinion but actually was written by Lars von Trier. The narration goes on with shots from the production process of previous movies and conversations between Jørgen Leth and Lars von Trier.

The memory I want to recreate in the diptych is an evening session on a rainy day. Where I come from, it sometimes rains heavily in autumn, and it would always form an interesting contrast: indoor, everything is very quiet that only the clicking of pens and the sound of turning pages can be heard, outside, the wind is howling the rain is slamming on the window glass. 

Often, a rain storm would happen in the middle of the middle session, and when it is a really dramatic one, some classmates would start whispering and heads would turn to look outside the widows. But after a while of fidget, there will always be someone to stand up and close the widows, and the evening session would go back to normal, back to a quiet space where you can only hear the sound of the pen scratching the paper, people swirling open their thermos bottles to drink water, zipping up zippers, clattering of pens in pencil bags, doors opening and closing, pulling tissues out…

I want to pick this memory is because there is a process and difference in space that could be represented simply through sound, and I think it is also an epitome of our school life in high school, how we are always studying despite various distractions and we would study no matter how bad the wheather is.

The name of my project is “scraps of sky”, and the main concept is the relationship or the balance between celestial views/lights and artificial elements presented by high buildings.

The sky in a metropolitan city like Shanghai is often blocked by skyscrapers, but the ever shifting lights above us can still manage to seep through these walls of concrete by creating reflections or spots of light both inside and outside of human constructions, creating beauty even when we payed little attention to it.

The first picture captured rays of sunlight slanted through the windows of a big shopping mall and spilled on the floor. In here, what we see is the combination of celestial light and artificial objects. The grain of the marble floor and the neat pattern of the balustrade represents the the artificial elements in the project, and the vibrant colors on the floor created by morning light is a representation of the scattered beauty of morning sky.

The second picture is the reflection of sky on a glass-covered building. For this picture, I used “mask” to create the effect of lines colorful that are colors from pictures of the sky, integrating two layers of photos together.

The relationship between the two photos is that: 1) the shapes of the elements that represent the sky are modified by the buildings 2) and shown on the background of artificial constructions, 3) and they all ave very vibrant colors. In the first photo, the rectangular lights and curved shadows echos with the square buildings and colorful lines respectively, and like most of the pictures layered under the second picture, it was taken in the early morning, when the colors of the sky is most vibrant.

Before I had stated to edit my photos with Ps, I had planed to carve out several rectangular windows in the collage of tall buildings to reveal the college of photos of sky like the picture showed here. But then I realized it would look a bit weird since the rectangular widow would not align with the lines and silhouette of the buildings, so I eventually gave that idea up and started experimenting. And because when I was learning the tutorials on Ps I remember there was a useful tool “mask”, I just started playing with it and discovered that I can achieve a drawing like effect with it. So this is how my final photo diptych looks like and I was satisfied with how it turned out because it was better than my original plan for the project.

There was one problem during the process though, with is I had so many pretty pictures that I’ve taken before of the sceneries of sunsets and sunrise, but because I only had limited space so I could only pick a few. If I had more time to work on this project, I would probably make the lines in the second picture more clean and artistic, because I didn’t have a digital plate to draw on and could only use my mouse to draw those lines, they look rather rough up close. But I did my best by using what I have I liked the result. Here is a picture of my contact sheet and my final diptych look for reference.

The overall concept for my photo diptych is the combination or the balance between celestial view and metropolitan construction (which often blocks celestial view). 

For the first picture I plan to use something similar to this one:

The light of the rising/setting sun is shaped in a rectangular shape by widows, coordinating with the typical silhouette of city buildings. The problem with this picture is that the background is too plain and empty. Hopefully in my final project I will be able to get a picture in which the sunlight is projecting onto a background that represent elements of city or artificial constructions, which provides a stronger connection to my concept of the project. The first picture is mainly to convey an idea that even in a highly urbanized environment we are still able to find the beauty of nature. 

For the second picture (the collage), I want to utilize the stiff and organized shape of buildings that we see everywhere in Shanghai as the frames for pictures of  sunset/sunrise glow and probably put them in the order of time (i.e. sunrise — noon — sunset). This can be a representation of celestial views of different days, implying that instead of one random day with beautiful sunset/sunrise, there is actually a lot more moments of beauty in small details and appreciation of nature in cities, as long as we take the effort to look for them. 

I would probably use photoshop simply as a tool to compose and touch up the colors of the photos. There’s still one concern is that whether I should also present the change of time in the first photo and, if yes, how would I do that.