Assignment 4: between the lessons of yesterday and the fears of the day after

We’ve got to work with the theme, The Day After for this assignment.

I interpreted this theme to be a transitory stage, whereby the ephemeral euphoria, or lull, or stasis will see new light the day after

Thus I immediately thought of planes, and of leaving one country to live the life of another culture and environment. The thought of being on a plane mirrors the transitory stage, you contemplate on the lessons you’ve learnt on your homeground, and get ready to face the fears of a foreign land, albeit for a good cause.

I went to Changi Village to take pictures of planes, and it was extremely difficult to put all my 600 shots together.

It was also very difficult to compose a scenery that is reflective of what is at Changi Beach but also reflective of my imagined space. Thus, I had to take many pictures of the shore and trees and planes, so i have a good range to choose from.

The planes are flying by so quickly that it’s hard to get shots of them too.

Benchmarks

I’m going to separate the two best images in terms of the meaning and the visual appeal the work has.

I think Michelle (foo xuying on the NM3223 bloglinks) has the best concept. If I remember correctly, she said something like as a kid, we play with fire and candles without thinking about the consequences, either because we weren’t told, or simply because as kids, we are unable to think about the consequences of our actions. The theme, The Day After thus takes on a larger meaning that is beyond the self. To remind us that our actions has consequences that others (who we don’t know) need to bear the brunt of. The cleaner who arched her back to scrape off the candle wax, thus, metaphorically shames us for making reckless decisions in the past that had hurt others. I can’t help but think about the times when I said or did things that my parents have to resolve for me the day after .

Great idea Michelle! She gets:

50/50 for concept development
35/50 for aesthetic quality

85/100 in total.

In terms of visual appeal, I like Jialin’s montage of Chinatown. The contrast of black and white and the sole coloured photo at the corner is ingenious. However, i feel that she hasn’t portrayed the theme very well. The perspective and play of colours however, makes me want to keep looking at the picture, and would even consider placing it in my room, somewhere. It works extremely well as a postcard or card for the tourism board. But as i said, as an expressive work to match the theme, “the day after”, it’s not quite successful.

Thus:

concept development: 30/50
Visual appeal: 50/50

total: 80/50

Self assessment

I put in a lot of time and thought into this piece and I hope my audiences understood what i wanted to portray even without me having to do much explanation.

The transit theme was understood by some classmates (paul and Zhenqin both thought in transit matched the montage), so I guess I was kind of successful in putting my message across.

Mike asked if my picture was in any time inspired by Chunking express. No it isn’t, but the state of confusion, the vastness of the city and the theme of transit mirrors the themes of Won Kar Wai’s films. I never thought about that, so THANK YOU for pointing that out to me. I think we’re often influenced by many things in the media without realizing it.

Thus, for concept development, I give myself 43/50.

Meimei thought it’s a pretty picture that brings out the theme. hee. thanks.

(Don’t mind my narcissism)I couldn’t take my eyes off my work after framing it. (haha) I think I really captured something I ADORE this time, and the beach, sea, sky and planes has always intrigued me. In short, any picture with these will make me want to look at it more. Try as I might, but the line between objectivity and subjectivity is too blurred this time round, and instinctively, I just had to give myself 48/50 for visual appeal.

I don’t get full marks because I forgot to change the resolution to 300 and thus the picture is a little blur. (I always end up with blurred pictures when i tell myself that I must make it a point not to blur my pictures again!)

so in total i get 91/100.

I know that makes me the top student according to the 2 benchmarks. But in all honesty, I feel like i deserved it. (let’s forget humility is a virtue this time!)

Assignment 4, Creep, to come next. I can’t get Radiohead’s “Creep” out of my head after Mr Reddy mentioned the theme.