Development

In the weekly exercise 4, 5 and 6, I tried to develop using techniques to approach highlighting the senses and find the theme in common from the six exercises.

In the exercise 4, I focus on showing how the different light and weather changes will bring changes to the sight. I used split screen to compare the conditions of the same place but in different weather. When the huge clouds cover the sunshine, the scene have completely different from the sunny day. The advent of night made sunshine disappear, replaced by dark, and the lights that were lit in the dark. In the video, I also show the comparison of the same scene during the day and night. During the daytime, it is illuminated by sunshine, and at night, with the illumination of car lights and street lights, the street and buildings present another scene. I find the decorative lights which are inconspicuous during the day, when they are lit, they are particularly conspicuous and become an essential part of watching the building.

Exercise 5 is present as an audio. It is mainly divided into two parts. In the first part, I concealed the space I chose, present the environment sound when I was still in this space at first, and then showed some of the sounds I made during the activities, which tried to catch the audience attention and makes them guess where I am, and how to produced these sound fragments. After fully attracting the attention of the audience, in the second part, I began to gradually reveal the space and the sound source from the first part. In addition, it presents more sounds, and explains what movements and activities I have done through the kitchen.

For the exercise 6, the whole video is about exploring balance, what is balance, what made balance become imbalance and how to let it back to equilibrium. I explore balance through apple, water bottle, mobile phone, web (roll paper) and human body respectively in the final video. Finally, I found that everything has its own unique running track, state and the way of action. As long as it moves on its original orbit, it is in a balanced state. If it had to change its track or state, it would lose its balance. Just like the apple in the video, without placing its depression/cavity on a flat surface, it cannot stand steady on the desktop. If you want to regain your balance, only a “harmonious external force” can help you. This is exactly what I want to express in those clips in the final video. When the human body is pushed, it instantly loses its balance, but if there is a wall to help you, which symbolizes “a harmonious external force”, you can regain your balance immediately. Including the placement of a cylindrical bottle with its plane facing up in the video, you can keep the phone in a balanced state. This placement is also a symbol of harmonious external force.

I think the form of PDF or a website is the best way for me to form a collection around the theme which is using techniques to highlight senses.

Exercise 4

Exercise 5

Exercise 6

 

Link

Exercise 1:  https://www.mediafactory.org.au/qihang-sun/2020/03/08/exercise-1-post/

Exercise 2: https://www.mediafactory.org.au/qihang-sun/2020/03/20/exercise-2-post/

Exercise 3: https://www.mediafactory.org.au/qihang-sun/2020/03/19/exercise-3/

Exercise 4: https://www.mediafactory.org.au/qihang-sun/2020/04/08/exercise-4/

Exercise 5: https://www.mediafactory.org.au/qihang-sun/2020/04/08/exercise-5/

Exercise 6: https://www.mediafactory.org.au/qihang-sun/2020/04/19/exercise-6/

 

Collection

http://evelyn-qihang.zohosites.com.cn/

 

Reflection

Different from assignment 1, assignment 2 is more like an in-depth development rather than a preliminary understanding and contact process. The theme of assignment 1 is to explore how to highlight the senses. In this process, I found use techniques is a good way to approach. In this assignment, I am more proficient in the use of media making techniques and found that this is a good point for me to study further in our studio. Therefore, I chose to collect 6 weekly exercises in the form of a website. Some pictures can be seen on the website that from my media work, which can present the techniques I have used, such as color contrast and different shooting angles. Six weekly exercises are showed on the website, which can let the audience see clear at a glance of all media works. They can compare and analyze that what the six-week works have in common. I believe that it’s easier for audience to understand the media works by bringing the theme to watch them. This is also a big reason why I use the form of website for collection.

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. However, in the exercise 4, there is no need to use hearing and other senses to assist the vision, which can also make the audience more focused on what they saw on the screen and create an association of the scene in the mind. I chose to use audio to reflect the sense of hearing. During the process of recording, I found that if I closed my eyes and only listened to the sound of the surrounding environment, it would cause me doubts and could not sure where I was. But in the process, my thoughts were extremely concentrated, and I wanted to know the answer eagerly that what was source of the sound. This also gave me inspiration, let me foreshadowing and leave question to the audience in the first part of the audio, so that they can be more involved in the subsequent recording. The unique role of audio is to rely on curiosity to focus the audience’s attention and easily heighten the impact of hearing. The exercise 6 which only has the single ambient sound, makes the entire video have a unique charm, which can be concentrated in it without interference. It may be difficult to feel emotions through the scene and the only soundtrack, but it is more interesting.

For the exercise 4, which present as a video form, due to the impact of COVID-19, I dared not to go out many times, which caused the lack of rich material in the final video, and the video clips were relatively single. I am quite satisfied with the three comparative clips in the final video, which shows the big changes brought by different light and weather to the sight. Except the room, kitchen is the longest place I have stayed in, so I did this exploration of sound in the kitchen with my curiosity in the exercise 5, which is present as an audio form. What made me surprised a lot is that I can collect so many sounds in this space, and these sounds will only appear in the kitchen. This is also a satisfaction point for me that made the final audio has a rich sound materials. In the other hand, I am a little worried that when the audience listens to the final audio for the first time, it might be unclear for my intention of the editing of the first part. In the exercise 6, I tried to use a variety of objects to explore balance, I think I did good job on this part. Through different objects to find their common balance law, I think this is more convincing than using only one object. I am not satisfied with the lack of expression of emotions as I did not focus on expressing emotions. I really like a quote from the reading, “I’ve come to hear sound as a movement that gives us each other, as both gift and threat, as generosity and agitation, as laughter and tears, marking listening as a highly provocative and relational sense.”(LaBelle, 2010). It inspired me and made me find that sound and movement are intimately related. Not only that, we can also feel different emotion expressions through sound. This gives me a lot Inspiration, let me show the relationship between sound, movement and space in final audio, I will also explore this idea deeply in the future media work.

There are two videos depressed me a lot from the week 6’s class. The first one seem like represent how to use the body movement to keep balance. The second one explored keep balance with physical (muscle and strength). And they use different shooting angles and the speed of movements to highlight the balance they want to express. Through the media making techniques, I can easily feel the emotions, so I try to use the same techniques to transfer the emotion. I found that shooting objects with closeups can reflect the running track of objects well. Midshots and wide shots are more suitable for shooting human body’s movements.

In fact, the meaning of balance and the ways to show balance are quite puzzled me in the exercise 6. At first, I even cannot express the definition of balance via my words, let alone shooting the video. I have no idea until I saw an idea from the reading in 2004,“An active body incorporates bits and pieces of the world around it, while its action may be shifted out of the body, excorporated.”(Mol and Law) that gives me inspiration and support to make the final video. This is undoubtedly a good point to explain that balance does not exist independently, it depends on the environment we stayed as well. From this sentence, I can also learn that if some “dissonant external force” is added, it will make object out of balance. If you want to regain your balance, only a “harmonious external force” can help you.

After practicing for six weeks, some new ideas of embodiment have produced in my mind. Three weeks ago, I thought it was really complex and I could not explain it in words. But now, 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. I hope I can find the answer in the last few weeks. In the next two assignment, I want to present more ideas that are different with I thought before, or break and leave some of my inherent thinking in order to find and present different aspects of senses. In addition, I will learn more media making skills or techniques from my group members.

 

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

LaBelle, Brandon. (2010) ‘Introduction: Your Sound is My Sound is Your Sound’. Acoustic Territories : Sound Culture and Everyday Life, Bloomsbury Academic & Professional, New York: xv-xxvi

Mol, A. and Law, J. (2004) ‘Embodied Action, Enacted Bodies: the Example of Hypoglycaemia’, Body & Society. Sage PublicationsLondon, 10(2–3), pp. 43–62.