Project 3: Tiny People ENTRY 4

After being happy with some of my photos, here are some of the selected photos, edited.

Conclusion: Overall, I'm very satisfied with the outcome of the photos. I edited the photos in such away that the vibrancy was rather high. I wanted the figures to look as if though they are actual humans, but I wanted to keep the other "real" props (like coins, snacks, etc.) artificial-looking and very energetic and quirky. Using green and brown fuzzy towels worked really well as grass and soil as well. If there were one thing I would want to change, that would be to have figures that has more action and also more props. I would definitely continue to do this project after this.

Project 2: Tiny People ENTRY 3

After digging around my house, I found 2 - 3 tiny model figures of workmen and animal. Here are some of the photos I took.

I'm honestly so happy I found these tiny figures because I had so much fun playing around with it. I tried using various other props like m&m's, coins, and beans to show that these tiny figures are actually tiny. One of the most difficult things I find in this project is to try to photograph these figures in such a way that they don't just look like toys, but they have to interact with the props around them so that they look as though they're actually living. Photo 3, 4, 5 are under the risk of looking like just toys, since they're not really interacting with anything around it, the toys are just reacting with toys alone, nothing else.

Nevertheless, I really wish I could have more of these tiny figures as the possibilities for the photos are just endless! I might actually consider buying these just to continue this project on just for fun.

Project 3: Tiny People ENTRY 2

I was still hesitant if whether I not I should purchase one of those tiny human figures off eBay but I decided not to and bought this toy clay instead. 

Clay initially sounded like a decent idea, however there are so many difficulties when it comes to replacing model figures with clay

1) It was very difficult to build tiny clay figures, especially when you're doing it alone. Since I need small figures, I tried building very small figures and it takes forever to try to be as gentle as I can not to break its arms or legs.

2) Too squishy. The fact that this clay brand in particular is very soft is a very bad thing. Once clay is combined with the heat outside, it generally gets even softer, this makes it very difficult for clay figures to stand and sometimes even sit.

3) Dirty colors. The first time when building tiny clay figures, the color turned out semi decent, white was white, black was black, and blue was blue. However, after going through the third doll, because my fingers were dirty from touching the previous color (especially if I just touched a darker color clay, touching the lighter color clay would leave my finger print in the previous color I just touched.)

4) Fingerprint. Similar to point 3, I keep on getting my finger prints on the clay's surface and it definitely look bad.

5) VERY VERY time consuming and frustrating. Making tiny clay dolls, let alone trying to make them stand, takes a very long time. It took me 2 hours just to build 4 tiny clay dolls (with the help of my other friend), and took me an hour to try to get it to stand, photograph, dust off the dirt that got engraved into the clay's surface.

6) Can't get that much facial expression. Since it's clay, I can't really get it to be as expressive as I wish.

Here are some of the photos I took:

I find these photos decent, but I'll definitely try to find a way to fix all my issues listed above. I'll try to dig around my house for tiny models, I should have them when I was little.

Project 3: Tiny People ENTRY 1

I've seen projects where 1/30 scale figures were placed in normal surroundings, and the effect it gives is a very interesting story, a story of tiny people placed in a big world, almost like that surreal Alice in Wonderland-like feeling. I would love to work on one of these projects as well.

One of the biggest problems I have is that I don't have tiny 1/30 scale figures so I was thinking of replacing it with small clay figures instead. 

Here are some of the examples and links I've gathered.

Wast of Words

Crying Won't Help You Now

You've Got to Hide Your Love Away

All these photos were shot by Jen: More here

This would cover macro photography, in which I am really excited to try using macro lens.

One of my biggest worries is that the clay figure might not end up looking as realistic as those 1/30 figures look like. I considered buying those scale figures off of ebay, but I'm afraid the shipping time would not be here by the time I start this project.

Project 2: Dance Film ENTRY 5

Benjamin Millepied

Benjamin Millepied is a director, choreographer, and a producer born in Bordaux, Gironde, France. In 2010, Millepied choreographed and starred in the Oscar winning feature Black Swan. 

Since then, he has directed a number of short films, commercials, and music videos in collaboration with artists including Philip Glass, Mark Bradford, IO Echo, Lil Buck, and Zeds Dead. Most recently, Millepied directed a short film for luxury jewelry brand Van Cleef and Arpels based on his original choreography entitled Reflections. In 2012, Millepied founded The Amoveo Company, a multi-media production company and art collective based in Los Angeles.

Though Millepied haven't directed or choreographed that many cinematic films, Black Swan was one of my favorite dance films nevertheless. Everything, ranging from the camera angles, lighting, close up shots of the protagonist's facial expression, and unto the costume. 

Though his choreography are beautiful and his camera techniques are beautiful and fascinating, the fact that the protagonist is always on the verge of insanity keeps the audience at the end of their seat, anticipating at what would happen next during the beautiful performance.

The makeup choice also conveys the character the dance is being performed perfectly as well.

Scott Speer

Speer was born in San Diego, California. At age 23, he was signed with HSI Productions, and in 2006 Speer received the MVPA Award for Directorial Debut of the Yearfor the music video of "Stars" by Switchfoot.

In 2007 he won his first MTV Video Music Awards Latin America in México, for his work with "Bella Traicion" by the Mexican pop sensation Belinda. In June 2007, he directed a three-part video series for Ashley Tisdale. These videos included "He Said She Said", "Not Like That" and "Suddenly" released on her DVD There's Something About Ashley. In 2009, he again directed music videos for Tisdale for "It's Alright, It's OK" and "Crank It Up" from her album Guilty Pleasure. He also had an on-and-off relationship with Tisdale from 2009–2012.

In addition to directing, Speer produced and second unit directed the feature film The Beat, an official selection of the 2003 Sundance Film Festival, and remains deeply involved in independent films. In 2010 Scott directed The LXD episode "Duet".

Speer directed Step Up Revolution (2012), his feature film directing debut.

In April 2012, Speer released a young adult novel called Immortal City, about a world in which celebrity culture revolves around supernatural beings, specifically guardian angels.

In April 2013, Speer released a book called Natural Born Angel. He is currently in the process of writing the third and final volume of the Immortal City trilogy

One of Speer's many remarkable scenes from his film: Step Up Revolution is the art museum scenes. There are many dance films that only centers around dance itself, but this scene, not only does it showcase amazing body movements that sometimes reminds me of heartbeats and life in general, but he does an amazing job blending and combining dance with visual arts and cinematography through his use of life, costume, setting, composition, color tone, makeup, and more.

Project 2: Dance film ENTRY 4

Yesterday was the final shooting and editing date for the dance film. Here's the video:

I ended up settling with location 1 only because of the "welcome" sign and the nature-like surrounding around the area. I took many shots of the atmosphere like the plants, the floor texture, and the wall texture, in hopes to blend it in with the dancing footage to create that interesting nature / spirit feel to her dance moves.

Costume:
I had Im wear all black in hopes to convey the symbolism of a shadow, a shadow that is not capable of escaping her own insecurities and catch up with the pace everyone else is going.

Location:
I chose an abandoned house to further symbolize isolation and solitude. The intention of this dance film is to convey whatever is going on inside a insecure person, stopping them from living the lives others are leaving. The abandoned house is meant to symbolize the past, the part of her that is being locked behind everyone else.

Time:
The film was shot when the sun was about to set, giving off that nice golden flare over curves of trees. 

Project 2: Dance Film ENTRY 3

Last Thursday, I went to take a location scout through the back of ISB with my friends for shooting locations for this dance film. Here are some of them.

Location 1:

^ This would most likely be the location I would base the majority of the shoot on. I can't get inside, but I really like the "Welcome" sign on the building.

The house on the opposite side is being sold right now, it's probably the scariest looking location (because the tiny street to this house is extremely isolated), but an interesting looking one. I really wish I knew why this place was abandoned from the start, both sides of them.

Location 2:

^ Another good one I could also use, I really love the green leaves growing around the house's fence. Again, I can't get into this building.

Location 3:

^ An interesting old apartment, though I'm not sure if I can get into this one either. looking from a far, it looks interesting, but once filmed up close, I'm not sure if the image would be that pretty compared to the big picture. Also, there are always cars parked around the area.

Location 4: 

^ This one is definitely not a location, it's just this small, guard-like house, but it's in front of someone's house. I might not actually film there, but might take some sneaky stock clips because the pattern of the woods are so pretty.

You can view more angles of these location scout shots on my flickr.

I also talked to Im roughly about choreographing the dance and how maybe she could adapt some of her previous choreographs into this to cut off the amount of time she would have to rethink about a new dance.

As of now, we're both selecting music for the film, and then we'll meet again to discuss some more.