Project Brief 1 – Lofi Media Self-Portrait

THE SET-UP

Assignment: Produce/Generate individual and original media components that might contribute to a creative self-portrait.

Requirements:
– 3x original audio recording of at least 20-30s (.mp3)
– 6x photographic images (.jpg)
– 3x video max. 20s (.mov, .mp4, .avi, .wmv)
– max. 50 words of text

Restrictions:
– No “selfies”
– No post-production

THE BEGINNING

Upon receipt of the project brief, a question surfaced in my mind, “what makes me, me?” It was undoubtedly essential to understand who I am before producing an honest self-portrait. I have come to understand that a person is more than skin and bones; more than the colour of his eyes or the strength of her muscles. A person is also made of all his or her experiences encountered.

“I am the sum total of everyone I’ve ever met… and so lucky to absorb some of it.”
– Sylvester Stallone

With this in mind, I decided to record and organise my files under the headings: “Life Lesson 1”, “Life Lesson 2” & “Life Lesson 3”. These major lessons were taught through my experiences with specific people and things.

THE BODY OF WORK

Life Lesson 1 – Family

Blood relations can be the most exhausting and painful relationships to manage in life. (Yeah, shit tough.) Sometimes they do not know best. Yet, it is through the suffering that our parents or siblings or relatives, who stand as our greatest teachers as we learn from their successes and failures.

Acceptance-Photo-4_GRACE-PURNAMASARI_9:3:16

Title: “Acceptance”
Objective: I tried to portray a sense of vulnerability and surrender. The hand, a symbol of action, is open and relaxed. It is a part of my physical body; a body of gene pool direct from the family tree. The colour contrast with the black cushions helps the subject stand out better, making the lines on the palm (like roots of a tree) become clearer as well.
Challenges: It is difficult to maintain consistency while directing an animate object. Furthermore, I had to control one hand as subject and the other as a tool for the bulky camera.

 

Family_Photo-3_GRACE-PURNAMASARI_9:3:16

Title: “Family Portrait”
Objective: A deliberate close-up on the core, thorns and bright green colour, to make parallels with the nature of familial relationships. I grew up in my grandfather’s house, whose garden was filled with Aloe Vera. With thorns and healing properties, it represents my family – how hurtful, nurturing and very resilient they can be.
Challenges: As a beginner photographer, I was not sure how to control the camera functions to focus on the right parts. There were many angles that did not work and shots out of focus. This exercise was a glimpse into the time and effort a photographer needs to capture the “right” image.

 

Title: “Familial Love”
Objective: Firstly, I know I’m using the F word too much by now but I need a blatant title for this audio recording. It’s a sequence of events in the kitchen. All the females in my family spend most of their time cooking. To my family, giving food is equivalent to giving love because times were hard when they were young. I cannot record the sound of food but I can record the sound of cooking.
Challenges: Multiple props were needed and I had to remember the sequence of events. Living on a budget meant I couldn’t afford wasting ingredients. I usually eat to survive and cook at an unhurried pace so it was difficult to create sounds with a consistent “inner rhythm”.

 

Morning-Coffee_Photo-1_GRACE-PURNAMASARI_9:3:16

Title: “Morning Coffee”
Objective: To capture the city half lit by sunlight to show daybreak. Morning time is synonymous to drinking coffee. When I was young, raised by my caffein-addicted relatives, I would wake up to the strong smell of black coffee and soft whispers around the dining table.
Challenges: Since the viewer is attracted to the brighter object, the position of the crane on the bottom left did not work to my advantage. I was also working against time. I wish I had not hesitated so much because the lighting between this shot and the next I took is drastically different. The time I missed could have been the right moment.

 

Nomads-Photo-2_GRACE-PURNAMASARI_9:3:16

Title: “Nomads”
Objective: The luggage is a symbol for travel. The playground setting and people ignoring the luggage adds to a funny awkwardness, feeling out of place and loneliness. Due to unforeseen circumstances, my family and I constantly lived in different locations but through it all, they strived to find the humour in life.
Challenges: The playground got increasingly crowded. With so many children, I tried my best not to look suspicious to avoid capturing any children in frame.

 

Life Lesson 2 – Self Love

We are all individual entities. Alone, we gather the will to form and live. Alone, this Earth we will leave.

 

Rebirth_Photo-5_GRACE-PURNAMASARI_9:3:16

Title: “Rebirth”
Objective: Well with this, I simply wanted to capture the majesty of mother nature – the clouds, mountains, forests…This is a shot downhill of Tanjakan Cinta (“Slope of Love”), behind Ranu Kumbolo (“Lake for Community”). This is part of my first trip up Mt. Semeru in Indonesia. On this trekking trip, I had received much enlightenment. It filled me with renewed appreciation for life and a deeper understanding of death.
Challenges: Mountain trekking is a challenge!! Mt. Semeru is one of the tallest active volcanoes in Indonesia!

 

Title: “Faith”
Objective: God is in the details. I do not have the urge to do experiment. It’s a showcase of a wonderful, vast, continuous length of clouds. It’s simple moments like these that make me fall in love with life all over again.
Challenges: The window is reflective and dirty but everyone will die if I break it.

 

Title: “Independence”
Objective:
This was taken on Australia Day. The fireworks symbolises passion and celebration while the silence, focusing and distance, a sense of loneliness and yearning. These represent my feelings as a young adult living abroad, on her own. 
Challenges: 

 

Forward-Looking_Photo-6_GRACE-PURNAMASARI_9:3:16

Title: “Forward Looking”
Objective: To compose a sense of optimism an pensiveness. To allow viewer to see what the model sees. Under a clear sky, the model literally looks ahead, past the obstacles, at the growing city. This shot was taken at the newly-opened National Gallery of Singapore.
Challenges: It helps to direct models by giving their character an objective, e.g. “What are your dreams?”

 

Life Lesson 3 – Trust & Dependence

My friends have played a major role in inspiring to be brave, take chances and face all that life has to offer. Friends are like family but without so much drama cos you don’t feel obliged to love them. So affection comes naturally.I learnt that it is alright to depend on others and to trust my future. The files below each portray an element of insecurity and attachment.

Title: “Dear Friend”
Objective: How many ways can you say “how are you”? With these simple words, I wanted to explore the subjects my friendships revolve around – being present, new boyfriends, our well-being and being geographically across the globe.
Challenges: The trigger to my responses were imagined so changing the circumstances on the right beat was a lot of trial and error.

 

Title: Portia
Objective: To create an immersive environment for listeners by using distance of source and sound effects through props. This is based on one of my favourite monologues by Shakespeare. I imagined the setting Portia was in and created sounds that will give clues about her environment.
Challenges: There were many things to do so striking a balance was difficult. The speech may be clear but sound effect was not, or vice versa.

 

Title: “Uninvited”
Objective: Explore stillness vs action, shadow play and horror genre to make audience feel insecure and question who or what is the one out of place. Since the scene does not reveal the location, audience will not be able to identify if setting belongs to the subject or a general “human”.
Challenges: There is no post-production editing so I had to pre-record the creaks around my house and play them together. I had to multitask filming and moving in tandem with the sound recording.

 

Balaenoptera Musculus

Safely enveloped by a cloak of blue,

the giant breached,

its slap thundered with echo.

A sudden jet of water

escapes and drizzles.

Heavy droplets fall back home,

appeasing the agitated sea.

Satisfied, the elusive creature

disappears once more…

Title: Balaenoptera Musculus
Objective: Portray cheekiness and shyness of the Blue Whale through personification and its relationship with the ocean. The ocean represents safety, security and home to the animal. I just love whales – their sensitivity, intelligence and massive size.
Challenge: 

 

THE WRAP-UP

This project gave me a better idea of the things I want to further explore in program. It’s also an eye-opener and refresher of media elements, e.g. plot, character, rhythm, lighting, proportion, etc. It was so frustrating to work within the given requirements! Sometimes, the recording seems too short and sudden, other times too long. I realise how important team work is, to complete a media project. Having only my body to multitask is very limiting and compromises the quality of work.

I look forward to future assignments and picking up editing skills to enhance the quality of work!

Click here to check out the works created & expanded but not submitted for this project.