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.

Project 2: Dance Film ENTRY 2

Yesterday I had a dance film meeting discussion with Ms. Price and Ms. Schroeder. We talked about setting internal ISB dates before submitting the Dance Film entry to the actual film festival. The dates are as follows:

Hamlin Film Festival Timeline

Call for entries with intent to apply: September 5 to September 30, 2014

Submissions: Due by November 15, 2014

Film review: November 15 to December 1, 2014

Applicants notified: December 5, 2014

Films online for viewing: December 12, 2014

ISB's Internal Timeline

ISB Screening : November 7, 2014

Have film selected : October 31, 2014

As mentioned on my earlier blogpost, I wanted to film something that has to do with inner struggles (like a phobia or fear). Therefore in terms of location, I am looking for ruined houses, mot preferably with broken walls and a lot of dirt, while sun can still shine through the windows so that the lighting would still be easier to manage. The intention is to create this feeling as if though the subject was left behind in a house where everybody else around her already advanced forward with their life, unlike the subject who was still stuck in her problems.

> Some of the locations we came up with are:

> Petchaburi (Constructions / partially built buildings)

> Horse Stable area right outside the back gate of ISB.

> Parking areas

> The new villa, go past the embassy house, when you hit the dead end, instead of going left, go right (There should be a could be a couple of constructions there)

> Platinum outdoors area when it's closing down.

In terms of class relevance. I'm not so sure how I can relate dance film to photography as well as I could, so, in order to avoid problems like making dance film that does not have as much photography relevance, I was planning on photographing the dance along with filming. In hopes that I would be able to express just as much expression I intended to for the dance film. Because this is a dance film, I might also want to play around with motion blur / long exposure as well, so there is going to be high possibilities I'll take advantage of the location and dancer to do that.

Here are some of the examples I was looking at.

"Brides" by Olesia Kliots

"Motion" by Bill Wadman

"Daydream Arts" by Cindy Singleton

With slow shutter speed, I believe it would be an appropriate technique to try out while doing the dance film project. 

There is this abandoned house not so far away from ISB's backstage. Today, after school, I will go there with my friends and will photograph the area to see how it looks like and how much access and safety we have to film at this house. And from there, I will decide who the subject and the general characteristic of the main subject be later.

Project 2: Dance Film ENTRY 1

For my second concentrated study, I will be working on something slightly different: Dance film. Though dance film are not the typical type of photography, but it is still considered a photography nevertheless because it will focus more on expressing stories through lighting, costume, composition, movement, and many other things that would be applicable to the typical photography requirements. Also, because videos are generally many photos shot per second anyways, it should be no different than photography.

As of now, what I have in mind for this dance film are some kind of elements that would evoke relatable themes about phobias or some kind of social issues people see or feel on a regular basis.

Here are some of the examples I gathered that had inspired me. They are all from different places like music videos, dance shows, and actual dance film by professionals. Hopefully, I'll be able to mold these into one final piece that really speaks what I wanted to express.

"Painted" by Duncan McDowell

"Chandelier" by Sia

"Gravity" choreographed by Mia Michaels

Also this last video (it won't let me embed the link): Billy and Ade - Mad World Choreographed by Stacey Tookey

One of my biggest worries is finding a good location that would be more unique than just the typical stage. I absolutely love the setting "Painted" was filmed in, it's just that I can't seem to find any abandoned house that I can film or have good lighting in.

Project 1: Levitation / floating photography ENTRY 7

Here are the final photos chosen after editing!

Here's the Flickr link.

Artist Statement: For this entire photo set, I was inspired by Hayashi to photograph normal pedestrian simply living their lives normally (Almost like her "Today's levitation" project she does where she did.), however, with a more supernatural quality and that is levitation. I chose to photograph my entire photo set in ISB's campus because it's a very common setting and had been a place I grew accustomed to so it would be interesting to make characters dress normal but has interesting levitational powers in their normal routine life.

Artist Statement: This photo above is different from the rest of the photo set. In post editing, instead of just adjusting the lighting of the image like what I did with the other photos,  I added more vignetting and over exposed lighting to tell the story of a student floating away from darkness towards the bright light in the corner of the hallway. I also made this photo black and white to give it that feeling as if though the photo was photographed with a film camera, only to see the subject after washing the film. It's almost like a symbolism of caged spirit finally flying away to freedom. The two sides of the hallway is also a great leading line towards the brightness in the center. One thing I wish could have been different would be the costume the subject was wearing.

Project 1: Levitation / floating photography ENTRY 6 + More inspiration

Now that I am done photographing my models, it's time for me to edit my photos. Though post production would not do that much difference to how the flying aspect will look like, I still googled up some inspirational photographers anyway, in hope that I will continue to do more levitational photographies even after the deadline of this portfolio is due because this is very interesting.

This is one of the websites I can't help but to scroll through a few times twice.

The Art Of Levitation: 6 Photographers Who Feature Gravity-Defying Subjects

Hayashi Natsumi

Hayashi Natsumi is well known for her obsession for levitational photography. She dreams to be capable of levitation when she was younger, and bits by bits she fell into this routine of photographing self portraits (and sometimes photos of others) levitating in a normal everyday surrounding.

She advices that when taking levitational photographies, the subject has to look as though they're frozen mid time. Meaning that their facial expression has to be very well controlled.

This is her official website: http://yowayowacamera.com/pineapple1/

Something that bothered me slightly about the image above is that the subject's right foot has a motion blur. Hayashi could have used a higher shutter speed, nevertheless, the composition and the prop of the image looks great so it drew the viewer's attention away from the blur.

This last image is also another great one by Hayashi. The balance in this image is unequally exaggerated, making the viewer pay more attention to the lady to the right. Also, because no one seem to see the lady to the right at all, it makes her look like a spirit who lives her life everyday in a very crowded world, yet not  single person can see her wandering and levitating.

Her photograph inspired me because of how realistic she made levitation on a regular basis look like. With her great use of different settings and composition, the magic of her photographs were captured brilliantly and surrealistically.

Li Wei

Li Wei was born in a rural house in the province of China, Hubei. He later on settled in Beijing in 1989.  He studied at the East Art Academy in Beijing and later on combined a series where he mocks gravity through various mediums (performances, photography, video, installation) in 1997. He currently lives in Beijing.

View his official website here: http://www.liweiart.com/english/works_photo.htm

Li Wei's photographs inspired me because of it's subtle sense of humor. Something about the subject he photographs and the costume and position they were levitating in gives off a slight humor and sarcastic mockery to gravity. By looking at his photographs, I can tell the photographer has a great sense of visual humor, making his images more intriguing and fascinating than just a levitation photograph.

Somewhere Lovely (Kylie Woon)

Kylie was born in Singapore and raised in the United States and China. She is a conceptual photographer. She is not strictly a levitational photographer, but she's great at conceptual post editing. She's currently in Singapore and pursuing a degree in Digital Imaging and Photography at Nanyang Technological University.

This is her website: http://kyliewoon.4ormat.com/

I love the last image by Somewhere Lovely in particular because it gives off this feeling as if though I am watching the entire black and white horror film, but all in just one image. It's very very fascinating to see how the photographer incorporates post production techniques like over laying another image of the subject on top of the other. The vignette on the left side of the image really draws attention towards the subject.

Kylie's photographs inspired me because of how conceptual and creative her photos are. Almost all of her photos reminded me of dreams. She is capably of portraying each different photos very well because of the model's costume, prop, lighting, and digital editing.