In order to convey the diversity of concepts, cultures, identities, voices, places, and objects that is featured in Bastard, I decided to gather a variety of voices from my friends and peers and combine them together as the final narration file. Then, in tandem with the narration, I combined multiple images and footages I captured of the book in order to generate a massive train of thought in the trailer. The book itself is exploding with concepts, and gives the reader the opportunity to think about its provided images and concepts. Rarely are descriptions given, the book is highly dependent on the reader's own subjective interpretations of the images and written material included within the book.
Bastard is basically a collection of photography, illustrations, designs, and typefaces put together by a collaborating team of four, so I wanted to focus on the concept of diversity, identity, and the feeling of collaboration. The book also constantly makes the reader try to connect different images and different written work from various different parts of the book together, and also encourages the reader to ponder over the overall concept of IDENTITY. This is also why I ended up creating such a trailer as my final.
I also tried to make the images appear in harmony with my typography. I tried to focus on the directions, the speed, the flow, and the rhythm altogether.
This week, I re-read a couple of the passages in my book to get an even more solidified concept. After dropping the whole idea of working with transparencies and plexiglass, I realized I was given more room to work on that.
I noticed that the designs, illustrations, and photography are split into specific sections:
1) Identity 2) Every Day 3) Ride 4) Play 5) Branding 6) Home 7) Religion 8) Talk
All of these are defining aspects of any given person or place.
At the end of the book, the authors gave an interview. The most memorable section that sent me into the direction that I've decidedly changed into taking was: Sigrid Frank-Eblinger: You wanted to feel and perceive globalization. And what was it like? What did you feel? What did you experience?
Christian: I can't say what the best or most important experiences were. Our work and the book are meant to show that process. We were in motion, and we're still in motion.
Lars Harmsen: Before we left on our trip, we contacted people we didn't konw. And all of our encounters with them ended up being extremely intense, friendly, and enjoyable. We never had the feeling that we were tourists. We felt that we belonged and were amongst colleagues. We met people whose brains tick like ours. And because of that, we always felt comfortable immediately, although we were in a foreign setting. That's something that made a big impression on me. I never felt like a tourist.
Christian: Yes, and it was also nice to feel that the people we met thought it was special to met us too. Globalization or no globalization. And the fact that it's possible to meet colleagues in Mexico City or Hong Kong without having some big contract deal in one's suitcase was also something that amazed me. I mean, they were taking time out of their busy lives for us.
Andre: What I won't forget is the way I perceived the individual cities. It's different when you set off from home to travel to one particular place than it is to fly from one foreign place to the next. It completely changes your way of perceiving things. When you visit four, five, or six cities in a row, you perceive them differently than you would if you were flying from your hometown directly to, say, Tokyo. It made me more sensitive to the cities and the people. I sudenly started making completely different comparisons. I asked myself how the people were in one place compared to another. And the effect of this:being able to make direct comparisons was somethign I had never thought of before. And by meeting so many different designers, we noticed with what full force globalization has hit this branch. Someone shows you a pocket book with Mexican ornamental art in Mexico, and then you discover the exact same book in Hong Kong and Tokyo at the design shops. That's when you notice that our brains think alike. That's globalization. That's bastarding. The same plastic figures, the same office interiors, the same hand bags. It was the same across-the-board, and this really surprised me.
In the end, the solidified concept was to place a variety of different lines together in order to create a series of contrasting contexts, personalities, identities, cultures, and situations. (The lines are each also present throughout the book, be it in poems, prose, or whatever else.) The narrating would be done by multiple different voices, and the aim would be to really focus on the sense of differences, contrasts, and similarities between identities. At the end, the video is meant to leave behind a small question for the viewer to wonder what exactly their own identity is, and what exactly constructs its meaning.
BASTARD. Choose My Identity.
I don't like crowds. I miss home. Ten years a go I met a woman... We spend our holidays in Turkey. I spend my afternoons alone at home. Dreaming about falling in love. My dad is a real survivor. I won't live past my 25th birthday. I want to be a savior. I feel torn and confused that my dreams don't come true. I serve in the military. My dreams are what is holding me together. I wouldn't mind being someone else. I wouldn't mind being more muscular. I wear only black. I can't wear a hat with my kind of hairdo. I eat the bread of names and voices. I am still hungry.
Identity
?
[insert pointing finger]
Video Sketches & Potential Roughcut
Having NEVER used AE before, it took longer than I originally assumed for me to pick it up. Resulting from that, I had to change my schedule, to do more tutorials, manage a bunch of other stuff, and familiarize more with the program. (See last post for new updated schedule.)
Currently, the only thing not quite indicated yet is the sense of blurring in and out. I'm still contemplating whether I need this effect or not, as it doesn't seem that necessary anymore. I'll also be finishing up on shooting more of the appropriate footage, like the profiles of different people, settings, places, and objects.
I would like to focus on the diversity that keeps coming up in the book.
April 9: (thursday) - Think of a concept - Creative briefing posted - Schedule posted
April 10-13: (weekend) - Idea will be developed - Storyboard will be completed - Equipment planned - Blog entry by the 15th/16th covering the progress
April 17: (class) - Scripting/planning done
April 18-19: (weekend) - Apply any critiques to existing work - Rough concepts for packaging & presentation
PRODUCTION PHASE
April 24: (class) - Video sketches to show in class - Critique: concepts for packaging & presentation *At this point, need to re-plan the script *Scrapping transparencies & plexiglass
April 25-29: (weekend) - Do aftereffects tutorials - Start creating images - Completely finalize scripts - Do some video sketches
May 1: (class) - Critique
May 2-3: (weekend) - Do more aftereffects tutorials - Completed, final scripts - Build the roughcuts w/ the soundtracks
May 8: (class) - Rough cut due for critique
May 9-11: (weekend-monday) - Start producing final cut
May 12-14: - Keep finalizing cut
POST-PRODUCTION PHASE
May 15: (class) - Final Cut for critique - Presentation concept mock-up sketches/model for critique
May 16-20: - Finalizing - Creating final package - Exporting & burning disc
Bastard: Choose My Identity Christian Ernst, Lars Harmsen, Andre Rosler, Ulrich Weiss
Summary
BASTARD Choose my Identity Tell me who I am and give me a face. In it you will find facets of me, but also see a reflection of yourself.
The idea behind BASTARD was to bring together photographers, writers, illustrators, graphic designers, musicians and typographers to create a solid and unique book that also functions as a work of art. The profoundly personal impressions of the authors and artists have become intertwined and their distinct and individual visions have served to shed light on our modern culture -- on daily life, on the themes of change and continuity, and on the pervasive branding that is all around us. We must define who we are, be able to form both national and personal identities for ourselves, and in this journey we may come to see that globalization is not a completely negative force. Instead, the trend and phenomenon of globalization offers us proof that we are living in an era as exciting as one could imagine.
What happens when all of the disparate places and faces of the world "shrink" into a global village? What happens when cultures begin to merge and traditions start to dissolve?
Searching to define cultural identity and cultural bastarding, Christian Ernst, Lars Harmsen and André Rösler traveled to various hot spots highlighting the globalization trend. Writers with personal histories of emigration contributed their stories and poems. This book has been published with more than 50 unique typefaces, which have been created by typographers from all over the word. An engaging musical soundtrack is also included, as well as 50 high-resolution images, which serve to visually and aurally complement the book’s ideas.
Conceptually...
This book made me think about what exactly identity is, by discussing topics such as Globalization, Consumption, Culture, Identity, Individualism, Community, Communication, Cognition, Authenticity, and Identity. Working with these concepts, I'd like to raise curiosity and interest over the topic of Identity. I'd like to make the viewer question Identity, and also question various of these concepts, since this is the sole focus of the book.
Some concepts that arise:
A human being is a person as a personage with an accumulation of masks.
Community is formed when there is a continuing agreement on rituals. Community is the responsible integration of individuals.Culture means participation in a community.
Culture is a reflective process specific toe very community ensuing traditions and serving to differentiate its society and social subsystems.
The processes of social reflection are processes of communication.
Communication is a coherent multilogue. Perception is an individual prerequisite for contact. Perception is a subjective action. Action is the result of the individual process of cognition through primary experience.
Education is theguided individual process of gaining knowledge. Communication of the process of cognition is participation in the processes of social reflection. Education and primary experience are cultural processes which form identity.
Identity is the ability to reconciliate the individual and the person. Ideals are abstractions as cultural absolutes and are (collectively accepted and derealized) constructs of reality providing a society with meaningful common dreams and visions (objectives and wishful thinking.)
Visually...
I noticed that this book contains a huge mixture of photography, writing, and illustrations. The illustrations are drawn all over the photographs and are apparent throughout the entire book, so I'd really like to focus on making this particular trailer oriented around illustrations and imagery.
I would really like to express how much of an art piece this book also functions as. It exists to provoke thought, and isn't a novel. Instead it's more of a collection of works that revolve around the concept of identity. Many short stories are also included, which are written by authors who come from various different backgrounds. The stories tend to illustrate what sorts of struggles their authors experienced, and any identity crises they encountered.
I'd like to also try using layers of plexiglass for this project. My idea is to place it in front of the images and stand behind the glass as I draw on it. I'd also like to play with the manual focus on my camera to gain different effects. I'll have to kick around in Aftereffects as well, to see what other things I can do to my imagery & footage.
Here's an idea of styling, as inspired by some of the spreads:
Overview: This will be a trailer for the book Bastard: Choose My Identity, which was created to raise the main question: What is Identity? The book compiles great writing from writers all over the world, as well as photographs and designs that have been put together to illustrate the concept and issues of identity. I would like the trailer to briefly touch on the concept of Identity and encourage the viewer to explore the concept by reading the book.
Audience/Context: The book trailer will be geared more towards youth 18+ to about 40 years.
Key Message: What exactly is identity? (Key Question.) Identity isn't just something you construct yourself. Your environment, social context, surrounding peers, and society all play a big part in influencing the way you act and identify yourself. You tend to take pieces from your environment before using them to create yourself in some way.
Content Planning: I plan to use more stills for this particular project, including photographs, and drawn illustrations that will sometimes be placed apart from the photographs as well as on top of the photographs. If possible, I would like to try some animation with the drawings and place them on top of the photographs. This tends to illustrate a bit of the style that the book itself is set in.
The book also contains a lot of juxtaposing images & writing. Each book they sell also has a different cover, to establish the sense of difference. I'd like to use some form of juxtaposition as well as differentiation in my trailer.
Bibliography: No relevant sources yet.
Visual/Conceptual References: The photographs, designs, and pieces of writing in the book are my inspirations so far.
PRE-PRODUCTION PHASE
April 9: (thursday) - Think of a concept - Creative briefing posted - Schedule posted
April 10-13: (weekend) - Idea will be developed - Storyboard will be completed - Equipment planned - Blog entry by the 15th/16th covering the progress
April 17: (class) - Scripting/planning done
April 18-19: (weekend) - Apply any critiques to existing work - Rough concepts for packaging & presentation
PRODUCTION PHASE
April 24: (class) - Video sketches to show in class - Critique: concepts for packaging & presentation
May 1: (class) - Rough cut due for critique
May 8: (class) - Final cut due for critique
May 9-11: (weekend-monday) - Finalize final cut - IF final cut is running into problems, this weekend will be spent recreating the footage
POST-PRODUCTION PHASE
May 15: (class) - Final Cut for critique - Presentation concept mock-up sketches/model for critique
May 16-20: - Finalizing - Creating final package - Exporting & burning disc
Made a new script over the weekend and also got my actress back for a second round of takes. Reminder: I owe Jacqueline Lau dinner, serious big-time dinner especially since I dragged her around the city so many times and shoved her into the pool with her clothes on twice.
I'm not sure why FCE was giving me so many problems today but here's the screwed up version of the retake where the aspect ratio was wrong (the only problem I easily fixed) and the clips became dislocated ("media offline") and REPLACED every single time I re-loaded Final Cut Express. I literally had to re-insert the second part of my sequence because I couldn't relocate each clip using reconnect media. When I tried to relocate,
Some attributes of one or more of the files you have chosen do not match the attributes of the original. This may cause problems within the sequences that are depend on them. The attributes that differed are as follows:
- Reel - Media Start and End
and the clips would be replaced by a file I didn't specify. I'm not sure but the second file didn't have this problem, so I have no idea what I did to the first to make it so disagreeable...?
Anyway, that's why my disc got in late, I really hope that didn't get me deducted marks because the project itself was completed hours before!! @_@ I didn't think 3 hours wouldn't be enough to just get it exported and placed on a disc.
I'll put the screwup version up as soon as it finishes uploading anyway, the smallest size I can get this is 450 megs and it was choking up my computer:
1. Bedroom 2. Classsroom 3. Sidewalk 4. Workplace 5. Sidewalk 6. Home 7. Party Room 8. Washroom 9. Church 10. Bedroom
More Inspiration
This is crazy but I stumbled across this particular music video this week as total inspiration. It's actually very similar because the man is moving from his home to the highway back to another room in his home before going back to the highway again.
What I noticed is that they may have also used something similar to the Steadicam or Glidecam to obtain such smooth shots.
I also noticed they recorded the shots of the man moving from room to room from the exact same angle so that the editing was too subtle to be noticed. After thinking about how I'd like to do this, I think I'm going to take shots of my main character putting her hand on the knob from behind, and quickly switching to the front of door as she's pulling or pushing the door open.
Possible Shooting Locations Walking in and out of the office - Someone passes him papers - He takes off his suit
Passing through a bar/club - Dancing/music emergence - Disturbed by couple crashing past him
Walking through a parking lot to the car - Car turns out
Alleyway, through the back door
Bedroom - Pet dog - A friend or girlfriend/boyfriend - Runs into kids - Sits onto couch to read book
Sidewalk - Cellphone rings - Passes by person of interest
Bridge - Looking over
Convenience store - Picks up food
Home of extended family & kids - Hugs kids/family/etc.
Overview: This project will lead us to 10 different rooms through 10 different doors/windows/objects, in order to track the life of one individual in what appears to be the time span of one single day.
Audience/Context: No particular audience, but more people between the ages of 18 and 35 will probably be viewing this video.
Key Message: In a single day of our lives, we visit countless places and are surrounded by so many other things going around us. We will encounter different people (each living a different life in the same setting) as well as different objects (each being differently used.) We may not notice much of this because of our routinely lifestyles. However, everywhere we go, we carry either a slightly or completely different personality with us. or
A focus on the subconscious and psychological spaces within our minds that arise from our daily lives and thoughts. Every individual has some unseen depth within their thoughts, minds, character, and personality.
Content Planning: I would like to capture footage on a DVD Camcorder, edit, and connect them together so that it appears as if the same one individual is moving from room to room through door to door. I am aiming to make it look seamless this way, and also create a short coverage of each room by using crab shots, panning shots, and other manual shots. I also plan to find either a Steadicam or Glidecam to help minimize the amount of instability.
Bibliography: No relevant sources in work. ... Yet.
Visual/Conceptual References: I was ridiculously inspired by the short wedding movies made by the motion graphics company StillMotion. Currently they are hands down my favourite company because they produce beautiful cinematography and use multiple shooting techniques very smoothly and effectively.
And because I was so curious to know how they managed to pull off such gorgeously smooth shots, I looked into their other works and discovered something called the Steadicam:
My intention for this project was to express a complex relationship between two different people in a different cultural setting (hence the usage of the Mandarin language). In particular, I focused on the family relationship between a father and a daughter. I started off at first with a haiku poem written by Takahama Kyoshi, which brought me to several interpretations, one of which also sprouted from the song 4am by Our Lady Peace. (The song revolved around a tragic relationship between a father and his son.) Anyway, the poem itself evoked a downcast atmosphere, so I wanted to capture that in the video that I created. I used cold, natural lighting to do so, and set it up so that hints of the main character's introversion and personality were evident. I also wanted to define what kind of environment she lived in by fluidly connecting several panning shots of her home.
The entire video depends on the girl's reaction to her father's spoken words (silence) to express their family relationship. We were able to observe her expressions with the usage of multiple close-up shots on her face.
Finally, since the ending line of the haiku poem chosen was rather doleful, I led it up to the father's unrevealed illness and left the ends open for the viewer to decide.
Overview: Using the haiku poem that I have selected:
He says a word, I say a word, Autumn is deepening.
I would like to make a short video that expresses the relationship between two different people. (The haiku poem led me to the song '4am' by Our Lady Peace, and inspired the concept of the relationship between a father and a daughter.) I want to aim for as little dialogue between the two, and use the imagery, text, and sound to help define the relationship between them. Instead of using drawn pictures like I originally planned, I would like to try using film and become more familiar with filming techniques to produce a melancholy feel and atmosphere. Audience/Context: No particular audience, but younger viewers to adults would probably be able to relate.
Key Message: The relationship between the father and daughter is very complex through subtle reactions and body language.
Content Planning: I'd like to try using filmed footage, with a Mini-DVD Camcorder.
Bibliography: No relevant sources in work. Just freesounds.org for the sound effects.
Visual/Conceptual References: The haiku poem by Takahama Kyoshi.
The other day I watched Rachael Yamagata's album teaser, and this particular video was incredibly inspirational for my project III. It has the same kind of melancholic feeling I would like to capture and also utilizes text along with imagery very effectively. The text fades into the footage, and even the footage & stills themselves fade in and out to evoke a gentler and softer feeling. It's a very simple video, but combines typography and multiple tracking shots to help capture the details of a particular concept and setting. The lighting was also dimmer but very natural, and I think this really aided the mood.
I'm glad I was able to stumble across this video. It reminded me to use natural lighting in my footage, and I was able to capture more effective footage using that along with a few slower tracking shots.
Slush: TY Plushie I remember seeing a similar TY husky plushie named Nanook in the store when I was about 7 years old, and I loved it so much I asked my mom if I could get it. She made a deal with me back then: I had to do a whole month's worth of Kumon math homework on my own to earn it. Having agreed to, I managed to do so, and on the day she was going to buy it for me, we realized we were about five dollars short. Instead of taking me home, my mom asked me to sit in front of Hallmark with her, and she used the opportunity to teach me how to count dimes and quarters. In the end, after working up five dollars worth of spare change in her purse, we actually had enough. We went in and purchased it.
The thing with the purchased plushie is that on a trip to New York about a year or two later, it was misplaced. I had a huuuuge fit as a child over this, (hehe) but we eventually bought another one. That would be Slush, the one you see here.
Scorpio Origami Pouch A student I taught English to in Taiwan this summer sent this to me as a thank-you gift at our farewell party. He was about 14 years old, was very gifted in art, and because we were all very emotional over leaving, he made and drew these individual pouches for each and every one of us. He customized them according to our astrological signs. Every time I look at it, I'm reminded of those really genuine times I had this summer in Taiwan, and how they impacted my outlook on life this year.
Sand Sphere This particular souvenir was something I purchased on the same trip to Taiwan. I bought it on my team's first night to a Taiwanese night market. It was the first time I had ever experienced Asian nightlife, and this particular souvenir always reminds me of what I had seen and how I had been brought to the store where I made this purchase. I also always think of the teammates (and friends) that I went with: Amy, Eleen, Stephen, Chris, Rudy, and Dennis.
Ying Yang Pouch I designed and sewed this pouch back in my Grade 12 Design course. It actually doesn't look all that great; the craftsmanship is kind of frightening, and I didn't exactly know how to sew. But the pouch makes me laugh when I see it, so I've always kept it in my drawer since then. I use it to contain small accessories like bracelets and guitar picks.
Novy's Letter One of my best friends wrote me this letter that was really really touching for my birthday. She was hospitalized a couple months before she wrote the letter, and because of that I really really feel blessed that she's still around and there for me.
Handmade Deck of Cards Over the Christmas holidays this year, I went on a trip to Buffalo with my family and my family friends. Buffalo is actually a really dead city, so there really wasn't anything to do during the time after shopping. Nobody brought cards or any other means of entertainment either, so out of desperation, I used some provided hotel paper and began to make a deck of cards out of them. Everyone found this hilariously amusing, but it was a lifesaver! I keep this deck of cards with me in my bag all the time now. I'm also thinking of laminating them... ahaha
Folk CW Guitar The first and only guitar I've ever owned. Took me quite a while to save up for one, and it also took me quite some bit of practice to get the guitaring down! Choosing this guitar also took a while, about 2-3 hours, so it also meant a lot to me to have finally chosen it for its particular sound. Guitaring is really one of my favourite activities and this makes my guitar very special to me.
"I've sinned" T-Shirt In Chinese, "Wo Zui" means "I'm drunk." At a nightmarket, my friends pressured me into buying this particular t-shirt that had the word "Zui" on it to play on my potential goofiness. The thing is, none of my friends knew how to read Chinese all that well, and neither did I. When I got back to the school I was teaching at, a couple head teachers, staff members, and students started to laugh really hard, because it turns out the phrasing didn't say "I'm drunk", it said "Wo YOU Zui" which means "Father I have sinned" instead. The words following it were actually saying things like "My girlfriend left me! My father beats me! My teachers don't listen to me! HELP ME!" and stuff like that.
Yes, so it turns out it was a guy's shirt that meant something totally different from what I thought. But it was really funny so I love this t-shirt all the more.
Jisuk Cho's Note Jisuk Cho is one of the most inspiring illustrators in my life. He held a contest online once on DeviantART, and much to my surprise I actually placed third. The note he sent me along with a signed print of his work is now hanging on my room wall because it gives me good encouragement when I look at it.
iPod Mini I take this thing EVERYWHERE with me, and it's been with me throughout the good and bad times too. It's just something I've always appreciated having by me, especially on a boring trip or bus ride home.
Henry Hsu's Critique: - A lot of movement and shuffling - Pencil crayons still distracting - Pause more on the completed number
My own thoughts: - Maybe add some variety to the way I'm colouring it - Create stronger focus by making the circle's outline thicker - Remove the pencil crayons entirely from the scene - Don't let camera tilt so much, try from an upper angle - Going to keep the cup, nice addition to the composition
