Reflection

After the joint efforts of the team members over the past few weeks, the final project was finally completed. It is ultimately presented in video as a media form. Unlike assignment 1 and 2, assignment 4 requires not only the ability to shoot and edit, but also a test of group cooperation. The understanding of “Embodiment” is also more like an in-depth development rather than a preliminary understanding and contact process.

Throughout the collaborative process, different issues arose. The first point is we set too many requirements and restrictions before shooting, and many images and scenes were envisioned in my mind. As a result, problems occurred frequently during the shooting process, and unexpected situations continued. The scenes in the scene did not match the expectations. In order to achieve the desired effect, only multiple attempts can be made to increase the number of shots, which resulting in a slowdown in the process of the entire project. The second point is that a group member did not participate in the group meetings due to personal circumstances or even missed the class. After each discussion, we would discuss some new ideas, but due to that group member cannot be reached, the rest of us have to complete more work. After many attempts to communicate with her, she showed us some footage and expressed her opinion, but it deviated from her original idea. Because the project process is over halfway, if someone want to change, it means that all the completed parts will be discarded, so we have to work separately. The third point is because of the impact of the COVID-19. I stay in Melbourne and the other two group members are in China. This is a great test for our communication, shooting and editing. The problems I encountered this time were very difficult, and I also learned from them. Regarding the first point, I cannot use various requirements and restrictions to limit the footage before I officially put it into shooting. Setting too many frames will only cause limitations. With the basic idea and broaden the thinking may discover more “surprise”. For the first time I encountered a contradiction in the group, I was overwhelmed at first and even blamed myself. After discussing with my friends, I realized that this was not my fault, so I chose to communicate with the lecturer. Sure enough, this is a wise choice. The lecturer used her rich experience to give us suggestions, and finally ended the group contradictions satisfactorily. Although we tried our best to give sufficient time and respect, it still caused her anger. I believe that every group member’s attitude towards learning is serious and has the idea of ​​actively completing the work, but sometimes the deviation from the idea is unavoidable. So if I will encounter similar situations in the future, I think I can solve the problem more freely. Although the impact of COVID-19 is inevitable, I think we have overcome these difficulties very well. A group member has isolated in the hotel for 16 days in China, and also be restricted by the network in China, so we constantly adjust the division of labor to ensure the completion of the operation. Continuous communication and mutual understanding make us overcome and solve all difficulties and problems. Empathy, giving understanding and strengthening communication are also indispensable in future work.

Based on our initial collective ideas that about “Embodiment”, in the final media work, we change the color tone, saturation and add sound effects to give the audience a sensory impact. There is one idea which I really agreed from the reading in 2005, “indeed in most practical circumstances these sensory modalities cooperate so closely that it is impossible to disentangle their respective contributions” (Ingold). Senses always do not exist independently, they are connected between each other. The scene you saw or remembered concluded other senses as well. This fully shows that the use of video as the form of presentation can more resonate with the audience. Audience can feel the scene in the video and listen to the sound as if they are inside. This is why we chose to use video as the media form. As we all know, China and Australia have huge differences in geography and space. They are located in the northern and southern hemispheres, and they differ greatly in time, climate, and environment. There is currently a two-hour time difference between the two countries. In terms of seasons, China is spring and summer now, Australia has entered the autumn and winter. Because of cultural differences, the architectural styles of the two countries are also unique. We hope audience can be surprised to discovered the wonderful similarities under the collision of these differences. It seems as if they exist in parallel time and space. At any time, the two places are playing different but similar stories at the same time. The final presentation of the final video is very close to what we expected, and we also set a lot of creative points. For example, the beginning footage leads the audience to quickly enter the state of space-time travel. Subsequently, there are six split screens, which correspond to each other one by one. We try to guide the audience to notice the similarity between the split screens through symmetry. At the end, saying good night both in Chinese and English is also a creative point. In the split screen, there are many metaphors to express “sense”, such as walking on the grass, swiping in the bus, and dripping coffee. I hope resonate with viewers through images and sound effects. For the idea of ​​website, we will use single page to present. In this page, final video, title, subtitle and video introduction will be placed. The title of “Chrono Cross” is set by the overall feeling of final video. We want to create a feeling of parallel space and time for the viewers. Some stories are being staged in different corners of the world simultaneously, but they have certain connections or similarities, which is exactly what the subtitle “encounters in parallel time and space—distant similarities” wants to express. In addition to these contents, we will also place a picture library (all screenshots from the video), which are used to display some characteristic screens and scene to make the content of the webpage richer, thereby increasing the fun. We hope that the audience who come to watch our page can see all the presented content at a glance, avoid the cumbersome operation of jumping the page, and ensure that all details on the page can be followed. We feel that the placement of titles and subtitles first reveals the theme of the video, and secondly, it can fully arouse the curiosity of the audience, thereby prompting them to watch the video with doubt and curiosity and feel the scene displayed in the video. If you still have some questions after watching the video, you can use introduction to further understand the theme, the inspiration for these ideas comes from the online exhibition “KEITH HARING—JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT: CROSSING LINES”. An introduction video is placed at the entrance of this exhibition, so that the viewer can understand the theme of the exhibition at the first time. In the internal display, there are multiple settings for a booth within multiple paintings, similar to the split screen in the video, which is also the biggest reason why this exhibition attracts me. 

At the beginning of this semester, “Embodiment” is a very unfamiliar word to me. It may convey information through physical contact. But I thought it must really complex and I could not explain it in words. In the first three weeks of study, I had a preliminary understanding of it which is use body to express or highlight the senses. What gives a lot of inspiration to understand “Embodiment” are the process of assignment 1 and 2. After practicing for six weeks, some new ideas of embodiment have produced in my mind. I think I can gain its meaning that if you can successfully transfer the emotion and senses that you want to express to the audience, that maybe means a kind of embodiment. I do not know whether this opinion is right, but I will continue exploring it. Six weekly exercises laid the foundation for our final project. Through the study of audio and video, we believe that the combined effect of the two will be much better than using only one media format, and using techniques to change the video effect can highlight the senses, making it easier to convey emotions and perspective to the audience . So in assignment three and four, we decided to study in depth the impact of techniques on video and audience’s perspective. It is undoubtedly the most direct way is to influence cognition through vision, using different shooting angles, changing color tone and saturation are the main way to influence vision by us. In the final video, we change the color tone and color saturation of split screen, with warm colors on the left and cool colors on the right. It gives people a distinct sense of difference, and it also implies that China’s current climate is warmer and Australia’s temperature is colder. Through the close-up movements shown in the video can express the impact that bodies brings to the senses. In the use of audio, we recorded sound effects and added a guiding narration. Through the combination of video and audio, we hope to stimulate the audience’s multiple senses and make the transmission of emotions and themes more in place. Throughout twelve weeks’ study and practice, I have broken my initial understanding of “Embodiment” and more proficient in the use of media making techniques. This is really a section worthy of further exploration. I hope to use it in the future study and explore its far-reaching significance.

Ingold, T. (2005) ‘The eye of the storm: visual perception and the weather’, Visual Studies 20, 2: 97-104

Link

Week 9: http://www.mediafactory.org.au/qihang-sun/2020/05/31/week-9-pitch-presentations-exhibition-talk/

Week 10: http://www.mediafactory.org.au/qihang-sun/2020/05/31/week-10/

Week 11: http://www.mediafactory.org.au/qihang-sun/2020/05/31/week-11-perspective/

Week 12: http://www.mediafactory.org.au/qihang-sun/2020/05/31/week-12-the-exhibition/