Class Task 4: Interrogating Our Ideas (Melvyn, Michael, Jen-Hwa, Edward Wan)

---

Name: Melvyn Soong

Concept Synopsis:

PUPPET JEALOUSY
Tim & Tam are a pair of handmade marionettes belonging to Wang's string-puppet show. All is well until jealousy sets in between the marionettes during a performance one night and left Tim seriously damaged. Wang's performance lost popularity due to the loss of one of his key characters of the show. With the show on the brink of closing down, Tam realizes his mistake to save the show.

Project Type:

• 3D animation
  

Are you Stuck with anything?

• Achievability?
• Length? maybe 1:30?
• Ending
  

Interrogation:

• What kind of background/foreground going to be use?
• What's the over all style?
• Are there going to be any texture?
• What is my target audience?
• What do you want them to feel?
• What is the animation style am I going to use?
• What is the purpose of the animation?
• What is the length of the animation?
• How do I make the sound scape?
• How many characters are there going to be?

---

Name: Edward Wan

Concept Synopsis:

Video Content
The audience will see an artist is dancing in front of a wall. And at the same time he is listening to the other musician’s music from headphone. And at the same time the musician is watching some sea wave video and he plays music randomly. And at the same time there are two projectors are projecting video on the wall, one is projecting the sound wave from the musician’s music, the other one is projecting the sea wave video that the musician is watching.

Concept & Outcome
Firstly, this project is an experiment. It is showing a new form of listening (looking) to music and using a different form to perform music. By using visual form to look at music. In addition, video and dancing will be the part of the experiment and they will help the audience to understand the idea.

Secondly, some the teammates of this project such as the dancer and camera man will be some normal students (don’t know about art very well), so the final product will be unpredictable. Because not everyone can see this experiment in live so it is going to be recorded by video cameras so it will be easier to let people know about this project. And hopefully it can inspire more people to try to do more interesting things.

Project Type:

• Experimental Video

Are you Stuck with anything?

• budget
• equipments

Interrogation:

• What equipment do you need?
• Where can i shoot?
• Are you going to use dynamic?
• What is my target audience?
• What do you want them to feel?
• How many camera do you need?
• What is the length of the video?
• Are they any depth meaning?
• How many people will be in the production?
• How long is it going to take to film?

---

Name: Michael Hall

Concept Synopsis:

The third idea is sort of random; it’s a experimental video type concept that I think may be great for a TV add of some sort, would sit well in that medium. The basic plot starts off with objects falling from the sky. TVs, cupboards, glass windows, all fall from the sky from a great height. There will be lots of quick camera cut shots, close ups, wide shots etc, hence the chaos feel.

After all these random objects fall from the sky smashing into the ground the camera will turn and pan to the perfect degree (which will be the top view), to reveal a picture from all the smashed objects.

The chaos has created unity with itself creating a very calm pleasant picture of the product being published.

Product may be my name, title of production, logo, or maybe just a cool picture of a dragon fighting a man.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWnj7ZNxa_M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Bb8P7dfjVw

The Sony Bravia Ads are a perfect example of what I would like to head towards with this concept. The Ad of the explosion of colours starts off with a calm atmosphere then transforms into chaos as all the colour explosions set off. Once the chaos is complete the calm atmosphere returns, a pleasant outcome that restates the product being published. The use of the chaos actions has produced a clear calm product outcome. The same kind of feel/ motion I would like to take to my experimental video.

Project Type:

• Experimental Film

Are you Stuck with anything?

• How to pull it off?

Interrogation:

• How will I create the camera movements involved?
• How many cameras will be used to shoot with??
• How big is the crew/ how many people needed?
• Why do I want to create this piece?
• Target audience?
• Sound scape that will be used?
• What's the location that will be filmed at?
• How will I get the equipment to be used throughout the piece?
• How much will the production cost?
• How do I want it to be interpreted to the audience?

---

Name: Jen-Hwa Tung

Concept Synopsis:

Calm 心靜
In a small little Chinese temple, a little monk is meditating beside his master. They are both sitting under a big tree calmly. While they are still meditating, a mosquito flies beside the little monk’s ear. The sound of the flying mosquito is making the little monk unable to concentrate. The little monk swing his hand left and right trying to scare away the mosquito. Shortly the little monk opens his eye and ready to attack. CLAP!! The little monk got the mosquito. The little monk is happy and he returns to his meditation. Out of the blue, three more mosquitoes are flying all around the little monk’s head. Almost immediately the little monk lost his patient and jump right up to scare away the mosquitoes. He swing his hands everywhere CLAP!! CLAP!! CLAP!! More and More and MORE!! Mosquitoes appear. Soon the little monk run out of breath, he looks at his master, then he realize there isn’t any mosquitoes around his master. The little monk quickly sits back to his position and meditates. Magically the atmosphere change to very peaceful and calm, and all the mosquitoes are gone. The Master peeks on the little monk and smile.

“更宜调息净心，常如冰雪在心，炎热亦于吾心少减。不可以热为热，更生热矣。”故越是天热，我们越要“心静”，遇事戒躁戒怒，心平气和.

Translated phrase from above:

“When the mind is still, you will be calm, cool and collected”

Project Type:

• 3D animation

Are you Stuck with anything?

• skill of making it

Interrogation:

• What kind of background going to be use?
• What's the over all style?
• Are you going to use dynamic?
• Are there going to be any texture?
• What is my target audience?
• What do you want them to feel?
• What is the animation style am I going to use?
• What is the purpose of the animation?
• What is the length of the animation?
• Are they any depth meaning?
• What is the character's characteristic?
• How do I make the sound?

---

Class Task 3: Book Cover

The Book: The Steep Approach To Garbadale
The Author: Iain Banks

The book describes the Wopuld family, who made a fortune on a board game called Empire!, now a successful computer game. A U.S. firm, the Spraint Corporation, wants to buy them out.

Alban McGill, a member of the Wopuld family, has sold most of his shares in the family firm, and resigned from his job in the company to become a forester, but has had to retire on medical grounds because of white finger. He is distracted from affairs of business by his relations with his family and with his teenage love, his first cousin Sophie.

McGill is approached by another cousin, Fielding, to help prevent the sale of the family company to the American Spraint Corporation. He also seeks a resolution of certain questions about his family background, and closure of his relationship with Sophie. Much of the book is a build-up to the Extraordinary General Meeting which will decide on the sale, which takes place at the family estate at Garbadale in Sutherland. His current girlfriend, mathematician Verushka Graef, is a hillwalker, and near the end of the book Alban goes for a walk in the hills to think. On his return he takes the steep approach back to Garbadale.

Significant portions of the action are set in California, Singapore and Hong Kong, as McGill reminisces about his world travels during his gap year. His mother's suicide is described in detail, as is his relationship with the family matriarch, Grandma Win.

Banks takes the opportunity, as in Dead Air and Raw Spirit, to make points about the morality and wisdom of the War on Terror, when McGill meets representatives of the American capitalists who wish to acquire the family game symbolising the British Empire.

The book opens and closes with contributions from McGill's friend and ex-colleague Tango, who lives in a council estate in Perth.

Class Task 2: Character Development

Step 1 - Start with a person you know

• Short intro:-
• Frankie Foo - an army bunkmate.
• We were not considered close friends but he is one memorable character whom i met.
  
• As a soldier, he has all the qualities that you shouldn't find in a soldier.
  
  
• His qualities:-
  
• Nervous and stuttering.
• Old, unfashionable, long winded and naggingly annoying.
• Disgusting, constant red runny nose, blows nose frequently and loudly.
• Snores, sleeps with pillow covering the face most of the time.
• Lazy, pot-bellied, slow-witted, clumsy and ignorant.
• Untidy, couldn’t be bothered, in his own world, happy-go-lucky.
  

Step 2 - Describe a scene or situation involving this person

We hurled our fieldpacks into our bunk after an outfield exercise. All of us tired and dirty. Instructions given was for us to clean and maintain our arms. Frankie takes off his shirt and throws it on the floor beside his bed - a simple and cheap put-together of a sponge wrapped up with a white sheet of cloth placed on top of a metal mesh secured to the bed frame by springs at the edges.

From the stacks of fallen over manga on the floor, he picks up one from a red grocery plastic bag. Everyone else in the room is busy dismantling their SAR21 rifles and cleaning its interior to prevent rusting.

Frankie jumps into his bed, that had earlier been folded into half for a bunk inspection, shirtless and with a manga in hand. Another bunkmate, Llewell, warns Frankie not to slack and to follow suit and start cleaning his arms before the rust sets in and get him into trouble with the army. Frankie, however, brushes off the suggestion and says he will do it later.

Springs securing his bed had already worn out and right in the middle of the metal mesh, that was revealed by the half-folded bed, was a hole. His big butt sank right into the gap forcibly expanding it bit by bit with his every movement.

Suddenly the alarm bell starts ringing. Most of us quickly put together our rifles and run down the stairs to assemble at the designated gathering area. The commanders are going to do a surprise rifle inspection for cleanliness. Midway through the inspection, Frankie stumbles downstairs with his rifle in hand. He is late but the commander was lenient and had wanted to just allow him to join the group when he sees a huge tear in Frankie's trousers and questions him about it.

Frankie stutters for words with a perplexed look on his face. He turns his head and sees his polka dot briefs showing through and gives an embarrassed smile before giving himself away by stating that it must have been caused by the hole in his bed. Needless to say, Frankie was eventually punished for an absolutely badly rusted rifle.

Later in bunk, he curses about his bad luck at getting punished with having to stay behind in camp and not allowed to go home for the coming weekend. "Well, at least I have all the time now to read my Manga..", Frankie sighs as he resigns to his fate.

Step 3: Another list – What would this person be if they were:

• Weather?
  
• A bright, sleepy, warm afternoon.
  
• An animal?
• Sloth.
  
• A household object?
• A clock with batteries running low. the second hand ticking back and forth at 44 sec and 45sec. Not enough energy to go move the second hand up and sustain its position.
  
• A machine?
• A sputtering farm tractor.
  
• A place?
• A quiet, cold and spacious auditorium having an engineering lecture.
  
• Music?
• Slow opera music.
  
• A color?
• Dark brown.
  
• A font (optional)?
• Lucida Console. (font of the "blue screen of death".)
  
• A fictional ‘archetype’ or stereotype? (eg. the superhero, the wicked witch..)
• Unexpected hero. (ie. super nerd turn fluky hero)
  

Part 4: An image

• Choose 2 or more of your answers from Step 3 and create a character that combines their visual characteristics. This character no longer has to depict the person you started with.
• Use any form of image-making you like – a rough sketch or diagram is okay.

Above: Red tractor on a boring sunny day
constructed using Lucida Console font type.

Class Task 1: Alien's Report

STATUS REPORT #1056

Above: My version of the Alien and the record.

This is Stellaring Fuzzner reporting back about my investigation on earth, all is not well over here my fellow men. I have uncovered a dark and revolting secret of this alien race, and must warn all of you that they are aware of our existence. Though the masses of these aliens appear to be brainless conforming imbeciles, they seemed to have devised a method of torture and imprisonment to our kind that we never thought possible.

As all of you know, there have been many accounts of explorers such as myself disappearing upon arrival on Earth. I believe I have found the true reason behind this. Yesterday, I secretly watched a small colony of these aliens bring home a large case, from which they pulled out a shiny black disc-like object with texture and shiny blackness resembling our skin. They placed the unidentified object onto a weird contraption, and after doing something to the machine the black object was forcefully spun around from the middle which had a hole drilled through it. What happened next was completely and utterly disturbing. The most horrific shrieks of alien speak thundered through their squarish habitat, whilst they tortured the object with a pointed weapon that was stabbed and left slashing the object while it was being spun. This was when it daunt upon me that the shiny black disc was no object, it was a living thing!

I continued to watch in disgust, with my heart heavily thumping and jaw-dropped till they finally stopped with what I realized must have been an interrogation of some sort towards the disc-like creature. They then removed it gently as if to show some sort of false compassion to the creature, before imprisoning it in its tiny cage. When nightfall came and the moon was up, the aliens had fallen into deep slumber in their own divided sections of the habitat. I snuck up to the drawer I saw them place the caged shiny black creature and carefully opened it. Lying before me was not just one but LOTS of these creatures, all of them imprisoned in similar cages. I pull one of them out and slowly slide it out of its cage. The next thing I witnessed struck within me the greatest fear I had ever known and felt in my entire life.

Carved or perhaps tattooed into the top of the creature was the name of our most famed and first ever explorer, whom we lost all contact with upon his arrival to earth, Hendrix Jimmy! These weren’t just shiny black creatures! These creatures were none other than our own people! They must have formulated a way that allows them to squash us flat into circular shapes, before drilling a hole through our heads and brainwashing us into speaking their disgusting languages.

I am sad to announce that this is a dark hour for me my friends, my space transportation mobile has somehow disappeared from my sight. Do not by any means send another to rescue me, for it could ultimately cause the doom for another of our own. I will take my own life before they claim it for their sadistic pleasures.

Stay clear of earth my friends,

Stellaring Fuzzner

* Update: My group members have all been very hardworking and done seperate versions of the alien and the record (below).

Above: Sam's version of the Alien and the record.

Above: Elaine's version of the Alien and the record.