5 Stills Development and Final Stills

 




After doing the shoots I try to think of a different way to present it than just a set of enlarged passport photos. So I searched online on how to remove the shadows in the background.





Then I choose the photos to be used and edit them: high contrast(100%) and low saturation(-50%).

Later when I think of presenting in a different way I try to split 4 subjects in 5 photos to represent the feeling of having separate cultures in one person (western born but asian culture centred). However, I then realised the focus of the stills should be on challenging the stereotypes instead of on their actual identities.

When I was in Tate Modern I saw something simple but strong.

LORNA SIMPSON

I like how the simplicity of it brings out the concept even more.
So I finalised my 5 stills back to passport-photo-like portraits.

Visualising the Installation 


Made in ... 


Image 1       Image 2       Image 3       Image 4       Image 5 

Canada        UK                UK               Portugal          Germany

"Made in ..." is referring the places they were born in and also a identity related phrase e.g. Made in Chelsea (TV series), Made in China (News: China surpasses US as world's largest trading nation) ...


Summary/ Reflection

The final series looks really well, better than I expected as a newbie to portrait photography. I learnt a lot from chatting with the subjects. The challenge is, since I could not book out a studio due to unpredictable schedules with the subject, that I had to do my lightings in the homemade studio carefully to make the lightings look similar. Also, for one of my subject I had to travel to Epsom, so it's another totally different environment to do my equipment set up. I am glad that I can fix most of the flaws in Photoshop but I would say I can do better if I have more time with the subjects or have them in one day in a proper studio.


Artist Statement 


Through talking to other Asian people I realised we all had experiences of being misunderstood or stereotyped. Not every white face is British, so as not every Asian face is Chinese/ Japanese/ no difference(no we don't look the same). The series intrigues people to rethink before assuming one's identity. 

5 Stills Photography Project Shooting

I had shootings with my subjects throughout the week before the printing day.

The subjects are found through friends by asking if anyone is interested in doing a project that makes people rethink the identities of asian faces. I got good feedbacks from my asian friends because they all have the same experience.

Ideally I would have time with them to do my list of tryout shoots, but no. Since they are all busy, I did only one shoot with them which is the one shoot I think will suit my theme the most: enlarged passport-photo-like portraits with tags. I set up a small studio using A1 white paper and two LED lights to light the background. When I do the shoot I turn the flash on, just like doing passport photos.

Before doing the shoot, I had a small chat with each of them about the topic to know more about the issue. Something interesting is that one of the subject told me if someone come up and say "Ni Hao"(Mandarin)/ "Konichiwa"(Japanese) to her she would punch him/her in the face for being rude. After the chat I asked them to do the shoot as they want. For one of the shoot, because the subject lives in Epsom, I had to travel there with my equipments to achieve the unity of the photos.

Collectively, we want to voice out for Asian people with different roots to stop being stereotyped.

Reflection the Photography Project - Ideas

After discussing with tutors, my idea settles with something to do with Asian faces.

Very often there are people asking if I am from Japan or assumed that I am from China. Last year when I was in International Foundation I met a lot of Asians: Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Taiwanese, Nepalese... Not every white face is British, so as not every asian face is Chinese (and no we don't look the same). It was a very multi-cultural environment and I learnt a lot from them. In one of the projects I made a video to explore the process of change of international students’ mental activity in the journey to a foreign country (with 16 languages recorded).

The video I made from last year: 

For this Photography Project...
I would like to voice out and make people reflect on their assumption on faces.
It will be 5 different asian faces with tags of non-asian countries. 

Background

I have two ideas about the background and I haven't decide which one to use yet. Therefore, I will take photos of my subject with different backgrounds:

1. White/grey-ish background (like a passport photo)
2. A place where the subjects feel strongly related to

It is about identity. The passport photo background gives you the identity and the place the subjects choose represents their identity as well. I prefer the passport photo background more not only because it will definitely make my final work looks clean and perhaps visually strong within the first few glance but also more relate to my theme of showing their identities. Passport photos are the first step to get your passports as your identification, so as your faces gives the "hint" of where you come from.


Subjects

I will start with people who are born in non-asian countries but the final 5 subjects are not all necessarily be born in non-asian countries. The point is to confuse viewers and make them to re-think about the true identities of different faces. So far, I have got 4 subjects who were born in Canada, Portugal and the UK.

Facial expressions matters and I will try with two sets: face with no expression and face with expression when people ask them if they are from China/ Korea/ Japan etc.

Tags

The tags will either be in the photo or separate from the photo as the title of it.

If in the photo, I thinking to ask the subjects to hold a piece of paper, written the countries that they were born in, like the criminal photos. It is like a metaphor of them being accused of something they are not or they are, anyway you assumed they are the same.

Post-production 

I don't think much Photoshop will be needed for the final stills. But I would like to test some stuff out like photoshopping their facial features to make them more alike or swap the facial features. The final stills should look clean and simple.

List of Images

With each subject, I attempt to achieve these images:

1. Grey background + no expression + tags as title
2. Grey background + no expression + holding paper
3. Grey background + yes expression + tags as title
4. Grey background + yes expression + holding paper
5. Subject choose background + no expression + tags as title
6. Subject choose background + no expression + holding paper
7. Subject choose background + yes expression + tags as title
8. Subject choose background + yes expression + holding paper

Experimental Video Pitch

Urban-ism VS Edenism

The connection between nature and urban, and the idea of finding happiness from nature or developing technology.


Research




Michael Landy - Breakdown
 

We think he got a great manifesto of breaking down the man-made stuff, not being ruled by possessions.



Another video that inspired us is a stop motion type of music video. We want to do short of a stop motion to represent that the main character can't properly interact with the world.
 



Goldsworthy shows how we try to organise things and there are natural patterns in nature.

Goldsworthy

This piece using shadow as a reflection on nature.We like the human shadow placed in the natural shadow to show human connection.

Goldsworthy

This piece is also is interesting, finding nature in the city, using drain water as a natural element to paint a natural connection like a river in a city. This connection between the city and nature and the natural shadow to show human connection.

RUNE GUNERIUSSEN (2010)

Richard Long 

In the nature of things:

Art about mobility, lightness and freedom.

Simple creative acts of walking and marking

about place, locality, time, distance and measurement.

Works using raw materials and my human scale

in the reality of landscapes.

It's about human connection to nature and essence of being free. This is a theme that we want to explore. 

Visuals/ Tretments

The main character is the medium between the two worlds (urban/ Eden). 
The foreground will be nature, the background will be urban. 

We can use a leaf blower to recreate the scene.

Andy Goldsworthy

We want to do this as a visualization of control and order. 

Tree craving

We want to use this for the idea of permanence.

VS

River of People

We would like to recreate the visuals with the qualities of Turner's painting.

This is a interesting movie to watch for our film as well. It is about the life out of balance. The trilogy depicts different aspects of the relationship between humans, nature, and technology.

Twin Screen Thoughts (not finished)

In the future...

https://vimeo.com/ondemand/worldoftomorrow

Inspirations for the plot:

The idea of multiverse and dimensions
http://www.theatlantic.com/video/index/378620/a-fascinating-short-film-about-the-multiverse/

https://www.ted.com/talks/brian_greene_on_string_theory?language=en#t-77007



Static TV/noises are actually another dimension that we can't understand.


Japanese teens depression/ suicide/ nerd/ hiding at home problem - Hikikomori 



Exhibitions to check out:

About memory/ mind/ twin screen
http://wellcomecollection.org/visit-us/states-mind-installations

About emotions/ technologies
http://wellcomecollection.org/feelingemotional

Basic ideas: 

A short story set in the future presented in both our dimension and 4th dimension.
A man living in the future where everything is packed and busy, tries to preserve his lover in 4th dimension where time is infinite. The 4th dimension collapse as the world itself is unstable to life forms.

Style: Poetic (maybe like Tree of Life, 2011) and depressed (like Melancholia, 2011)

Screen 1: 
Our dimension - packed, busy, dystopia
A busy street.
Will film in London, on street and in a tall building (maybe Sky Garden)

Screen 2: 
4th dimension -  can be crafted by each person, time does not exist, too unstable for human to enter, utopia
Main Character's World - nature, big tree (metaphor of life/spirit)
Will film in Farnham.

After Effects needed for creating:
-Portals between the two dimensions
http://www.videocopilot.net/tutorials/animated_polygon/

-landscapes of the two dimensions
-Klein Bottle/ Tesseract, shapes that exist in 4th dimension 

Inspiration for landscapes of screen 1:
Colour - vibrant

by Andreas Gursky

Inspirations for screen 2:



Inspiration for when the 4th dimension collapse when the main character tried to bring his loved one to there to keep her alive:

And when the crafted world collapse it turns into static/ noises as it returns back to a space that we can't understand.



To achieve dystopia/ utopia landscape I attempt to learn this in After Effects:



To achieve the vision of 4th dimension in 3rd dimension I tried to project the "4th dimension" in "3rd dimension":