Sunday 31 October 2010

Project Four . Sound


_to continue with the idea [what you see might not be what you think it is] - sound is a crucial element that influences our perception. different sounds in the background hint what are happening around us - and i used a collage of different sound in film02 to bring out the narrative that different spaces of different times are interweaving with each other simultaneously.

Thursday 28 October 2010

Post-Crit 03


3D _Tests from Vivian Cheung on Vimeo.

_feedback & self-evaluation:
. why should it be french door? [maybe because i wanted to show the difference between a door and a window - so that i couldn't simply have 2 swinging pieces as that? or maybe i should simply have that because there laid the ambiguity which further enhance the theme?]
. what do i want to say?
. the drawing needs to communicate.
. planning! planning! planning!
. the animatic isn't animatic. [oops...]
. the idea from the tests interests me but i know i have to further incorporate that into the film

time is running out. as always.

Monday 25 October 2010

Project Three . 3D

inspirational drawing
(it should look like a symmetric drawing, but it shouldn't just be it.)

_Windows, as the media in between two spaces, are also thresholds that lead to spaces regardless of displacement and time. This leads me to use doors (in replacement of windows) in my 3D tests to demonstrate the notion of this and challenge the difference between the two.

Saturday 23 October 2010

OMG -sidetrack-

23/10/2010 - News from Hong Kong: Otaku Interactive Film gets into Festival Cinema Tous Ecrans
(...Google Chrome helps translating the news in English if needed...)

[ - select the choice at the end in order to move forward to the next scene - ]


the film is edited just like RPG.
_impressed.

Thursday 21 October 2010

_Reading*

"The Production of Space" by Henri Lefebvre (1) (2)
. 'Is the rediscovery of time the key to the liberation of space? Or is the re-appropriation of space the key to the liberation of time?'
. 'What would remain of the Church if there were no churches?'
. 'What is seen is not space, but an image of space.'
. 'Time is money, almost everyone agrees. Space isn't money: space is what you buy when you already have (enough) money. And to get (enough) money, you save time, you try to invent or borrow time-saving devices and methods. There's "plenty" of space, but precious little time. Or, rather, thanks to tele- (long distance) technology - such delivery systems as the automobile, the airplane, the telephone, the TV transmitter and the Internet - space no longer matters, it has been transcended overcome as a factor by speed, by ever faster speeds (cf. the writings of Paul Virilio).'
. 'Specialized works keep their audience abreast of all sorts of equally specialized spaces: leisure, work, play, transportation, public facilities -- all are spoken of in spatial terms. Even illness and madness are supposed by some specialists to have their own peculiar space. We are thus confronted by an indefinite multitudes of spaces, each one piled upon, or perhaps contained within, the next: geographical, economic, demographic, sociological, ecological, political, commercial, national, continental, global. Not to mention nature's (physical) space, the space of (energy) flows, and so on.'
. 'A revolution that does not produce a new space has not realized its full potential; indeed it has failed in that it has not changed life itself, but has merely changed ideological superstructures, institutions or political apparatuses. A social transformation, to be truly revolutionary in character, must manifest a creative capacity in its effects on daily life, on language and on space.'

however space might also be transparent and abstract...i still think that it is also something concrete and opaque, something to be experienced and lived (as well as perceived and conceived)...

[these ones seem to be a bit easier to read than the one in the previous post]

_Reading*

"Scopic Regimes of Modernity" by Martin Jay
. 'Renaissance notions of perspective in the visual arts and Cartesian ideas of subjective rationality in philosophy.'
. 'Italian Renaissance art, for all its fascination with the techniques of perspective, still held fast to the storytelling function for which they were used.'
. 'This world, moreover, is not contained entirely within the frame of the Albertian window, but seems instead to extend beyond it.'
. Baroque (visual experience): painterly, recessional, soft-focused, multiple, open, dazzling, disorienting, ecstatic surplus of images, fascination of opacity, unreadability, indecipherability of the reality it depicts, self-consciously revels in the contradictions between surface and depth, strong tactile or haptic quality, self-consciously eschewed the model of intellectual clarity expressed in a literal language purified of ambiguity, 'madness of vision', more in line with visual impulse than the art of mere describing.

i just knew that the scopic regime i kind of like is called Baroque...probably should read "la folie du voir" by Buci-Glucksmann if I want to look deeper into this.

Wednesday 20 October 2010

sorry, Andrei Tarkovsky

after watching bits (famous bits i suspect) of a few of your films...
i don't think i have the ability to appreciate your work...
they are a bit too slow and that makes my heart too itchy...

another music video i like...



Lily Allen - "Littlest Things"
Directed by Nima Nourizadeh

[suddenly remember this video i like very much since a few years ago...]

analysing it now - spotted many shots played with mirror/reflection/parallel images*
perhaps that could be my inspirations for the film i intend to make to compensate project one.

Horizon on BBC2

"Horizon explores the strange and wonderful world of illusions - and reveals the tricks they play on our senses and why they fool us. We show how easy it is to trick your sense of taste by changing the colours of food and drink, explain how what you see can change what you hear, and see just how unreliable our sense of colour can be. But all this trickery has a serious purpose. It's helping scientists to create a new understanding of how our senses work - not as individual senses, but connected together. It holds the intriguing possibility that one sense could be mapped into another. This is what happened to Daniel Kish, who lost his sight as a child. He is now able to create a vision of the world by clicking his tongue which allows him to echolocate like a bat. And in a series of MRI scans, scientists are now looking to find out if Daniel's brain may have actually rewired itself enabling him to use sound to create a visual image of the world."

it's an absolutely amazing programme.

*interesting quotes:
. we see what we believe.
. we see what we expect to see.
. seeing can overwrite hearing.
. colour is dependent in environment.
. colour is not part of the world, it is wavelength.
. we see with the lens of the past, we see something that is useful to us.
. we eat with our eyes.
. the sense of touch can overcome spatial disorientation.

Post-Crit 02


2.5D from Vivian Cheung on Vimeo.

_feedback & self-evaluation:
. i'm happy that i've tried different techniques (thanks to Andrew) and make this film to express the concept i want to communicate throughout the year; now the question is, what does this further bring forward in terms of architecture?
. the concept - 'nothing is absolute' - what you see is not entirely what you think it is
. the spatial idea - the ambiguity in depth of space (one space is inside and interlocking with the other)
. need to improve my verbal communication especially when i am nervous
. too much movement in camera and objects at the same time [true - and resulted in glitches :(]
. bad soundtrack - should compose my own sound especially to be saved from copyrights matters in the future [luckily...a few of my unitmates reflect that they quite like the music - well...i know accordion track is never cool enough]

_improvement for next film(s):
. establish static camera shots and reduce glitches
. build up my own sound library and compose my own track

Crit 02


. spatial drawing showing the proposition of my speculative spaces from the film .
_feedback: stacking up spaces is interesting.

Monday 18 October 2010

Development Process for Project Two . 2.5D


2.5D _Scene01 from Vivian Cheung on Vimeo.

_Starting the project with an accordion audio track leads me to imagine a masquerade ball happened at the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles in the 18th century and with the inspiration from tutorial, I decided to twist the scene to imitate the interior of a train with passing-light and sound.


2.5D _Scene02 from Vivian Cheung on Vimeo.

_Zooming out from Scene01, only can one realise that it's neither a hall nor a train, it's only a trompe-l'Å“il painting. However strangely it sounds, the feather flying in Scene01 does appear to come back from the window of the living room, where the view outside the window and the fake lawn on the floor blur the judgement of indoor/outdoor space.


2.5D _Scene03 from Vivian Cheung on Vimeo.

_With the feather disappears behind the window/painting (where one can't judge by logic means) from Scene02, the camera pans through section of the wall and the aerial view of the streetscape outside follows. Not until the car moves across the screen, will one question whether the streetscape is real or just a map from the library.


2.5D _Scene04 from Vivian Cheung on Vimeo.

_Taking the narrative from a Chinese saying - "There are golden houses inside books." - meaning: reading brings knowledge (aka. wealth) - and with a change of scale, the library features the City of Knowledge marking the end of the film.

Saturday 16 October 2010

Comment on Film 01

suddenly recall some comments about my film after crit (...im pleased that some of them quite like it...)
one suggested that more pause should be in each scene, so people have more time to look at each space...
one said the film reminded him of SuperMario....(oh dear)

Thursday 14 October 2010

_Thinking*

recession = bad ; bad = sad

when you asked 10 people if recession is good/bad, probably 9 out of 10 will answer bad.

one is said to be certain of something means one has a concept/value in mind towards something. however when one is being asked for the reason of that concept/value, the answer is often deduced to the society's value / preconception.

why girl = baby-pink? and boy = baby-blue?

should we, as an architect, question:
what is window? what is door?
what is ceiling? what is wall?

...and what defines them all?

(am i getting lost?)

Wednesday 13 October 2010

Accordion

i always like the tunes from accordion so much <3
so this time - let me decide the audio before visual.

Post-Crit 01


Representing Spaces from Vivian Cheung on Vimeo.


_feedback & self-evaluation:
. what is the thinking behind this film?
  [to question the preconception of space - challenge the ordinary way of looking at things?]
. where do i show my interest in mirror and reflections?
  [argh...true...i should have shown it in the film >.<]
. camera panning lacks variation in speed [*nodnod*]
. motion of different elements aren't correlate to each other
  [this accident is taken as in different parts of the film are having different time-speed,
  i.e. in some parts 1s=1s, other parts 1s=0.1s or 1s=5s - well...i know it's not good enough]
. the initial drawing is much better [i should make the best use of what i am good at...]
. realise this film is more of the 2nd brief than the 1st one
. need to learn more on audio next time

_improvement for next film(s):
. continue to take the idea of challenging perception
. want to try some filmings :later: (to compensate project one a bit)
. try more effects on After Effects

Monday 11 October 2010

Crit 01

initial drawing
final drawing

initial drawing:
_ photo-montage of various spaces at the Laban Centre
   perception of spaces is largely up to (multiple) self-interpretations
final drawing:
_ overview of the film with interpretations of various elements in it

Saturday 9 October 2010

Thanks Nic for suggesting this...



13/10_edit: i can't believe the author made this to learn After Effects...n' look at what i have done =.= maybe i should try imitate it to learn

Thursday 7 October 2010

Guided Tour

things that i learnt:
. Rudolf Laban is a dance artist as well as an architect *o*
. he's interested in the relationship between moving human form and the space surrounds it
. Labanotation - dance notation system

had a first thought maybe i could go deeper into this for my thesis...but taking the fact that i didn't learn dancing when i was small and surely not having expertise in it...i should put this thought aside.

Wednesday 6 October 2010

Site Visit - Laban Centre for Contemporary Dance

[representation_without editing]
_Juxtaposition of different spaces and activities is showing why this centre is so fascinating.

Project One . Representing Spaces

. define my own value system .
something i like: mirror . reflection . visualise 2 or more worlds

Site: Laban Centre for Contemporary Dance

Tuesday 5 October 2010

be brave . believe


Diploma Unit 15 Nic Clear and Simon Kennedy

Programme 10-11: On the development of various methodologies, tactics and skills that try to inform the production and realisation of a wide range of architectural forms, concepts and practices in order to promote survival and happiness in uncertain times.

The key concept for Unit 15 this year is uncertainty; uncertainty will be embraced as a positive as well as a negative term.

Uncertainty will force us to be creative, speculative and critical. Uncertainty will also make us sceptical about the architectural profession and any so-called experts who profess certainty.

We may be uncertain about what we are going to do? Why we are doing it? How we will do it? Where it will be done? And who is going to pay for it? However we must do something so we will do the best that we can, we are certain of that.

We will question traditional architectural certainties, specifically traditional forms of architectural representation and traditional value systems. We will question the certainties of form, structure and programme and we will create open and contingent forms of knowledge that allow us to flourish as designers and as people.

The year will start with a series of short exercises that will begin a dialogue from which the projects will emerge. The structure of these exercises will enable students to develop skills through which they are able to creatively explore their own uncertainties.

We are also certain that the work of the Unit will be fantastic and will be disseminated through seminars, screenings, blogs, exhibitions and publications to an audience well beyond the confines of the Bartlett.

Unit 15 use film, animation and motion graphics to generate, develop and represent uncertain architectural spaces and narratives.

*uncertainty* - definitely need courage to face it.

Sunday 3 October 2010

1st animation . miniature


Tilt-Shift Stop-Motion Animation 1st trial from Vivian Cheung on Vimeo.

Tilt-Shift Photography + Premiere Pro (to 'speed' the frames together) + After Effects (to stabilize the motion)

miniature . ambiguous in scale

Saturday 2 October 2010

try another route...

if Black & White is certain . and Grey is uncertain .
can i just start with the "Grey"...?

think twice

can / do i like something else other than that which is so similar to last year...can i handle it?

Friday 1 October 2010

aha...magic realism*

With the intrigue of an M.C. Escher drawing and the richness of a Chris Van Allsburg painting, renowned Canadian artist Rob Gonsalves depicts that time between sleep and wakefulness, creating a breathtaking, visual exploration of imagination and possibility that encourages us to think past the boundaries of everyday life, and see the possibilities beyond.

His imagery invites the viewer to move past reality into a somewhat surreal depiction of what fantasy and imagination could be. In each of his paintings, what appears to be becomes something else. The supports of a train bridge become acrobats balanced on shoulders. A stately home in autumn is also a tree house being constructed by children. A child playing with a toy train sees a real train coming through the archway in his living room. Children bouncing on beds take off in flight above a patchwork landscape. A violinist sitting on a porch plays music to tall sunflowers which, on closer look become leafy people whose faces are in a sleepy trance.

Artist Rob Gonsalves was born in Toronto in 1959. During his childhood, he developed an interest in drawing from imagination using various media. By age 12, his awareness of architecture grew as he learned perspective techniques and first began to paint renderings of imagined buildings.

After an introduction to artist Dali, Gonsalves began his first surrealist paintings. The "magic realism" approach of Magritte along with the precise perspective illusions of Escher came to be influences in his future work. In his post college years, Gonsalves worked full time as an architect, also painting trompe l'oeil murals and theatre sets.

Although Gonsalves' work may appear to be surrealistic, it differs in that the images are deliberately planned and result from conscious thought. Ideas are largely generated by the external world and involve recognizable human activities, using carefully planned illusionist devices. Gonsalves injects a sense of magic into realistic scenes. As a result, the term "magic realism" describes his work accurately. His work is an attempt to represent human beings' desire to believe in the impossible.

Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.