After planning and experiencing commune, I decided to look back on the photos and videos I had taken, as well as comparing it with my concept and realised the major similarities between a lot of the exhibitions I went to and the natural processes that I encountered on this trip. From the Bill Viola Michelangelo exhibition, I learnt a lot about the symbolism behind water, and seeing these processes take place in a variety of locations helped inspire my research. I was especially intrigued by the sounds that nature can create and took the recordings in my phone so I can use them in future work. I also looked back at the human interaction that I took short videos of; I want to see how people of different ages interact with each other and the differences when we move onto the next stage of our life. 

These day trips are also very useful in the way that I am more aware of possible outdoor locations for my outcomes that aren't just in London. I want to be able to have a larger range of possible sets as I think location is important in addressing my concept. 

After the commune presentation, we had to create a poster using the images that we collected during the commune project and make it relate to our concept. However, I had no materials and none of the photos were on my phone so I only had a few collages I created using the work we did at Bath/Brighton. First, I wanted to plan out how the poster would look like by doing a rough draft of where the text and image would be. I was largely inspired by Sadler Well's typography and was influenced to create the text with a similar format. I chose the colour orange because it had a surreal impact on the image as it contrasted the green but complimented the blue in the photos. I also thought about how the images may relate to growth(my concept) and I mainly used human interaction to show this. This workshop gave me an insight about conveying messages through my outcomes and possibly including typography onto my work if I were to create a publication on the side. 

additional reflection looking back at this entry (14/03) :

Thinking back to this reflection, I noticed that I decided to make the text in my most recent publication as clear as possible with little distraction from the image itself. This is because the commune poster's photograph had a very simple tone with muted colours, so I had to choose a colourful typography to make it more appealing. However, my publication is focused on the visuals and adding coloured text if not done correctly would only make the pages look messy. I did not want to risk this yet as I had done no research on fonts or layout. 

After the tutorial with Tim, it made me realise that my project had to involve some sort of symbolism, similar to the moving body project, and that I have to make sure I narrow down my concept so that it is easier for me to focus on conveying a message within my project. Although it was difficult to take in that my project would be quite difficult to create an outcome with, I understood that I had to change some parts of my Unit 7 proposal so that it sounded more like a communication project rather than a dissertation. I also learnt that I should start to experiment a lot more with metaphors and symbolism as I didn't want to create a documentary that was less conceptual and more realistic *. I also spoke with Mark and he said some interesting ideas about looking at which side of the brain contributes more to it growth, and at which point we stop growing. I think it is important to think about a larger variety of different ages as well if I want a larger audience to relate to my outcome, as well as asking teenagers or adults about their feelings before moving onto the next stage in their life. 

additional reflection looking back at this entry (29/04) :

*It is interesting that when I read back to my first few reflections, I was very adamant on keeping my visual concept as abstract as possible, despite my concept being quite broad. However, I think that my initial decision to make my work minimalistic helped me to try out this style/aesthetic and allowed me to notice that I worked better in using a theatrical storybook style. I also noticed that I wanted to focus on metaphors, which is something that I kept in mind during my project as I didn't want my outcome to be too realistic, and like I stated before, become a documentary. 

For the workshop, I bought in two pink tote bags and a sound that I created from the dance performance and also from my own piano playing. I found it particularly useful when they asked us to find metaphors to do with our materials as this made me think about using the objects in a non conventional way. One of the PMI tutors found it intriguing how I would place the object surrounding the body and she also suggested thinking about changing the bags in a way to lose its functionality. For example, creating a slit a the bottom of the tote would automatically lose its use. 

After lunch, I tested out these materials and tried to use green screen. However, I felt that that was not an effective use as my time as I didn't want to achieve this sort of moving image. So I went ahead with the initial ideas I had. This made me develop my idea when I reached home and created my first experimental video. At home, I used blue bags as well to further a minimalistic aesthetic to the idea. However, I felt this was too abstract and wanted to create a more theatrical set similar to Bon Voyage, Bob or The Deranged Domestic Scenes by Patty Carroll.

After the experiment, I will continue onto creating a more developed outcome and will take into account the style of the video I want to create this week. 

What area of practice are you working within? 

I am working as a graphic designer /moving image maker 

 What was your idea this week?

I wanted to make a series of short videos or one that includes all of them. I also wanted to see which sound would show my concept best 

What was your subject this week? 

to create  a short experimental film that explores physical and mental growth in the human body by using symbolism and narration.

What was the medium you explored this week? 

moving image 

What constitutes success for your outcome? 

i aimed to achieve a short video that includes sound and narrative, i also wanted to use different locations 

What site do you aim to place your work? 

Online on a website 

How do you intend your work engages with its audience?

I want my work to raise questions and awareness around the factors that influence their growth as a person. 

CRIT FEEDBACK-

the feeling of growing up-something that is out of control -anxiousness of growing up 

Lot of emotions shown ,End made more sense Location was better near the ending ,video would be more obvious or have narration longer -voice over To add more noise- think about expression 

Title at beginning Think about colour of font 

 -from this crit I learnt that I should stick to the later style of my video and this about the narrative as well as having some spoken voice. I should also add a title to let the audience have an idea about what the film would be about. 

During the research/moodboard planning at the library, I discovered more set ideas and also wanted the set to be based on colour , as well as having a more dreamlike narrative so that there is a slight lean towards the abstract. 

I edited my moving image so that each location was put together rather than scattered apart so that it was easier for me to connect the beginning and the end. However, I had some trouble making the sound because I wasn't sure if I wanted to use homemade sounds are use musical piano scores. I went back to my past grade pieces from grade 6-8 but I realised that it was very difficult to try and play them again because it's been a few years, so I had to find an online video of someone else playing the same score. I chose a classical piece which is described as

'Berceuse means Lullaby and the lovely melody with gentle broken chord accompaniment .This piece is Romantic in style and gently wistful in mood, beginning with a charming simplicity but becoming rather more agitated in the Poco piu mosso section.The (editorial) tempo marking of crotchet = 72 should be regarded as an 'average' pace since the style demands rubato as well as the marked tempo changes'  

I think this worked well as the melody often synced with the scene changes and the actions within each section. However, I would like to try out using my own sounds that aren't 'music' and see if it accompanies the video and concept well. 

additional reflection looking back at this entry (15/04) : 

I did not use home made sounds as the main audio element because I felt it would be difficult for audiences to listen to and read at the same time. I used a simple piano composition which was less complex than Berceuse because I felt an easier piece would allow the viewer to immerse themselves into the film  as well as being moved by the piece. 

research with Wes Anderson and Roy Andersson 

I learnt the most from Wes Anderson in terms of aesthetic and building up a narrative though visual imagery, but Roy Andersson'a movies taught me how to create a story that borders surrealism and comedy; he finds a perfect balance though his casting, set and cinematography to create movies that can make you question our purpose in this life. However, his pale and grey tone palette is something I feel will not be an influence on my work for now as I think a much more colourful series of film would be suitable to show the many different stages of life. 

 additional reflection looking back at this entry (13/04):

Even though I didn't lean towards a muted tone in my outcomes, I learned later one the beauty in a subtle colour palette. He uses the crafted sets, limited shadows and no contrast, its forces the audience to look deeper into the detail. I think that it influenced one of the scenes that I made which was the wedding scene as I wanted to make it as gloomy, with very little colours. But I feel like it would have seemed out of place against the other videos, so I had to keep it brighter and less 'dull'. 

 I have been working on planning new sets that I could use in my next outcome, but I feel like I need to do more research as I am getting a creative block. I watched the Grand Budapest hotel and I think rewatching it a few times will definitely allow me to come up with some new ideas. I also have been thinking of any narratives that I could use to link my videos together, such as a personal story from myself or a friend. I think this is a better way of addressing my concept so that the audience can relate to the story as much as possible. * I also think a dialogue about past experiences would be successful as well and this is something I want to take onto when I include subtitles into my work. 

*additional reflection looking back at this entry 

I ended up using a personal story from my Mother's experiences and I think this worked better than my outcome from my first week. This is because people can connect to the story more rather than having a passage with little narrative at all. 

Crit: 

This week I created a publication by using the stills from the moving image outcome in week 2, and I also aimed to use typography to push a narrative into my work. I think that the layout and the images are the more successful aspect of this outcome and that I managed to create it in time. However, I said previously that I wanted to be more experimental with the typography as well as choosing a better colour for the cover title, and I might develop this further this week. I would also want to use more images (so creating a longer film as well) and to use better quality images. 

We were meant to have a group crit today but the rest of my group had other appointments so Mark and I went over my outcome from last week including my publication. We talked about mid life crises', when adolescence starts and also when our mind stops growing or if it ever does stop. I found the conversation particularly intriguing because these were not ideas I had thought about before. I want to explore what creates a mid life crisis and what events can impact a persons life. 

For the mix it up project, my group had a very brief discussion and we settled on Kyndo making the set, me bringing garments and props and Huijin to style. We chose a model in the other class and we felt that she fit our proposed concept very well as her face is simple but incredibly photogenic, and her aura fit our concept on nostalgia, growth and sexuality. We put Kyndro's set on top of a dusty pink fabric so that a colour scheme wold be established, and the styling was inspired by Chinese traditional dress and mixing it with bold colours. After shooting, I was inspired by the brighter vivid colours within this shoot and immediately thought back to Wes Anderson's colour palette, and I think that this will influence on my work to experiment with more tones. 

additional reflection looking back at this entry (29/04): 

This did end up inspiring my work because I started to thin more carefully on pastel colours and how each different one compliments each other. I think this workshop was a great influence on the scene in front of Kenwood House as I used a similar palette to this one. I also took away the typography I made on the image for the title sequences; I originally wanted to make the titles white but decided to keep them monochrome with the set. 

In the morning, we travelled to Brighton to create a new scene that would be a major part of my outcome. It is the turning point of the narrative as the main model ends up in a divorce which was caused by previous problems she had to do with her relatives and her stress within that relationship. Therefore, I wanted to make the location as memorable as possible , and I chose to do this somewhere out of London as the majority of my locations are near my home. I wanted to do it in the same location as I went to for the commune trip because calmness of the sea opposes the scenario in which I want to create. Furthermore, I followed my idea from around a week ago in which I wanted to put up a yellow fabric against the beach so that it would create a great contrast. I also chose garments that were very similar to the colour of the location; it almost blended in which the morning colour of Birling Gap beach and I did these because I wanted the yellow fabric to seem as if it's a different area of the location so that there was more variety in the shots. I planned the filming in my sketchbook and followed the directions in my phone, but I think there are some scenes that didn't work out as well as I had planned and this is because the shot was too far or that the weather made the beach look too bright at times which didn't work well with my concept. We also improvised some scenes because the location was quite different from what I saw last time, possible due to the tides. I also included some shots in which the characters spoke, and this will be the only scenes which have dialogue, so I had to be careful with background noise and making sure that the camera could pick up the model talking. 

I used today's time by trying to create as many scenarios as possible, and I think that filming the wedding and divorce scenes a few days ago really helped inspire new locations and sets that I could create, as well as thinking further into the different events that a large portion of the population could relate to. I mainly based my sets in local environments, such as my home or parks nearby. I am using this approach to location scouting because I feel that a closer location will help me be more ambitious as I try to completely reform a place that I am familiar with, and trying to place a story somewhere the viewer wouldn't have guessed. I also used the garments and props that I felt were interesting to motivate more ideas, and a few of my plans were merged from a particular dress, or the mahjong set and even 2 portable red chairs. 

This weekend, Chiara and I decided to have a collar which would fuse our concept together; the loss of identity and growth, both in cultural terms. We were heavily inspired by our styling in the designer campaign from part 2 as ti resonated with the idea we want to achieve. We chose two locations, Kenwood House and the Old Royal Naval college. These are two very western architectural structures, and we felt that it would be a contrast tour eastern style garments. When we went to film, we already encountered a problem because one of the models did not turn up, so our styling had to change and our plans had to be altered to suit online character. Although this outcome is not related to my work, it is interesting to see how we can adapt to situations when it comes to direction

I started editing in the morning, and thankfully I had already imported the best video cuts into AdobePremiere Pro so that I didn't need to go through choosing which shots were better. As I started, I had to think back to the style of editing I wanted to achieve, and the order of scenes I wanted to put. This first scene is the same as the previous weeks: the white cloth over a face. This is because I still think the best way to start my film is to show purity, and this was the best scene to show that concept. I then thought about the more memorable events in our childhood, which would be birthday and school. I had to think about how I could make the sets link to certain environments most of us would have experienced. Kenwood House could be seen as an educational institute, and the Hampstead Heath is reminiscent of playing fields used for sports. These locations were more obvious, but the ones with the blue backdrop in Bigwood walkway are more constructed and 'fake. I think the two styles compliment each other as they are both theatrical, and most of the scenes look extremely set up regardless of whether it is an already made room or a temporary fictional setting. I also wanted to include more moving /'cinematic' shots because I think a constant display of still frames would make the film seem slower. I also made sure I  kept the sounds files incase I wanted to keep in background noses such as yelling, knocking and dialogue. I decided that I want to make the film become a flashback to someone's life, and although this is different to what I first had in mind making the project, I think that this will make more sense and provoke thought in the audience as they try to relate to the model's story. 

I haven't yet made the audio for the outcome and I am planing to cut down my film because it is so far 7 minutes. I think many of the scenes are too long and slow, but I will fix it after the crit on Monday so I can ask my classmates. 

additional reflection looking back at this entry :

looking back at this, I realise that it was a really good idea to cut down my video down to 3 and a half minutes otherwise it would have been too boring and the attention from a viewer would have gone after a couple of minutes. I also noticed that I kept referring to my sets as being in local areas to me, and I think this recognition also helped me notice that I wanted to project my work in a domestic setting,

tomorrow I plan to print my publication, so by 4pm I have to finish the typography and show Mark if there is anything that looks out of place. I followed the same method as the publication from week 3. I wanted to include a spread that included repetition of motion, but the rest of the pages wold be a variation of close ups or landscapes. For the text, I decided to write some based on my own life and also used a quote so that I could include other people's words as well. Some stills looked better with a white border around them, and I kept this in mind whilst making the publication. I wanted it to seem as if the character was contained in the room they are in , as well as focusing all the attention on the image rather than the page. I showed Mark my draft and he said mostly everything was okay aside from a spread that seemed too messy because the typography was laid across the two pages. I agreed; I think I was trying to step out of my comfort zone by making the text non geometrical but it only proved to make my publication seem chaotic at the beginning as the rest of the layout was very minimalistic and symmetrical. 

As a class, we were introduced to the idea of putting our world into real life context, and taking into account our audience and the reason for our chosen location. I was quite stuck on this part because I couldn't think of how to display a film creatively, as most of the real world displays are only on tv, films, billboards or screens. I did a few sketches onto everyday objects such as water bottle caps and adverts in tubes, but I feel like these ideas do not correlate with my theme and cannot display film as well. I want to project my film onto a building or an object. From the projection experiment, Tim told me that it was interesting to project the film inside a house as my outcome because it reminded him of home videos. This was really good advice because my outcome was filmed inside my house and in local areas so it would make sense to film inside a domestic environment. 

I researched about how to set up a film festival even though I think I will not use this idea due to time limit and resource restrictions. 

http://www.vividecho.co.uk/blog/how-to-organise-a-successful-film-screening-event/ 

the above link shows the amount of things we should take into account, such as the message, the location and the safety assessment along with the accessibility. 

30/04

I set up backdrops to film inside my house, and I also projected directly onto the walls. I didn't want it to jsut be a flat surface, so I also used the kitchen, and it was intriguing to see a character on a separate piece of wall and having corners of rooms separate a scene. I also used my Mum as an audience to show an example of how people would view my film, and I also set it outside which is similar to how I would want to show my film in a festival.