Thursday, April 8, 2010
Assignment 3: U C What I C.
Our task:
Create ONE sequence of images comprises between 6‐9 photographs that tells a linear photo narrative.
Firstly, we had to come up with a storyboard for our photographs so that there would be a coherent story.
Draft Storyboards.
I thought of several storylines, but most of them were not feasible... I still like them, though. So here they are.
#1: Patch-Up.
#2: Face-Off.
#3: Munch munch.
Final Storyboard.
Here's the final storyboard I chose:
It's somewhat similar to #2, except with a different twist at the end. :)
The story is simple, and pretty much self-explanatory, but basically I wanted to show a dramatic, epic battle between 2 characters that carries on throughout all the frames, till one wins. Then the last frame shows REALITY, where the 2 characters, Blackie and Whitie, are revealed to be virtual characters, and the "REAL" characters are the ones controlling them using the game consoles--Domo-Kun and Monkey plushie. (2 harmless looking and adorable soft toys)
Rough Pictures.
And here're the rough pictures before compiling and editing. Oh gosh there were more trial shots and retakes than there were actual satisfactory photos!
These photos just don't look good with flash. That's why I turned off the flash for all my photos. :)
In these photos, I was practising on focusing my camera lens on my subject, my soft toys!:
(here, I tried to angle the shot such that it looks as if my subject Domo-kun is looking upwards.)
My main subjects! They look like they're dancing. O_o
I experimented with camera angles again and tried to give my subjects an intimidating look by giving them a low angle shot.
Focus Shots.
In these shots, I was trying to see which was better for these 2 shots I had in mind--focusing on the character in the foreground or on the character in the background.
Foreground character focus:
Background character focus:
I chose to focus on the character in the foreground, because this gave the effect I wanted--for the viewer to look at the photo as if he/she was looking from the foreground character's perspective. Hence a blurred background would work better for this effect.
Long shots:
Between these two shots, I prefer the second as it is more aerial and high-angled, and more of a long shot, which I believe is a good way to open a short photo narrative. The second shot gives the viewer a wider view of the characters and their surroundings, as well as their sizes in relation to their surroundings.
Experimenting with canted angles.
I used the following series to decide on the size to zoom in for one of the frames where Blackie and Whitie get ready to battle!
I thought it'd be interesting to include an unfocused character in the background, but realised this scene works better when there is only 1 character in the frame.
I considered Portrait shots as well :)
These gave a good "face-off" effect, leading me to choose them in the end.
Battle scenes:
Getting the angle and focus right for these scenes was crucial. It was really tedious to hold the figurines in place and take photos of them, without getting my fingers (or any other body part, for that matter) in the photo.
I only realised after several tries that these scenes work better by focusing on the foreground of the photo. Hence the last photo is my chosen one.
I wanted the battle scenes to be really dramatic, hence I went all out to use the canted angles to convey a strong sense of action and suspense!
After some experimenting, the last photo was the one that really did the trick for me. :)
Victory Frames.Here, some of the focus is on Blackie and the scattered weapons in the background, instead of Whitie.
I decided to omit frame #4 in my original storyboard in my final product, because I found it somewhat redundant. Frame #3 reiterated about the same story, so repeating the concept in frame #4 was unnecessary to me.
Frame by Frame explanations.
#1: High-angle shot, long shot.
The opening scene was meant to resemble the beginning of a typical battle scene, where the camera seems to be looking down on the 2 main characters from an aerial view. This is to give the general feel of the environment the characters are in and open the story.
#2: Close-up, eye-level shots.
In this shot, which is a combination of 2 photos that I took, I wanted the reader to feel as if he/she is looking at his/her opponent from the 2 characters' perspectives. Again, this is supposed to draw parody from typical battle scene techniques, to heighten suspense and explanation that a battle is about to take place.
#3: Mid-shot, eye-level.
This shot shows the 2 main characters about to
face off against each other, drawing parody from video games where 2 screens are made into one, showing one character versus another.
#4: Mid-shot, high angle, slanted angle.
This was my first action shot in the battle sequence. Getting this perspective was difficult, but I'm happy with the outcome. The high angle is supposed to give the reader a sense of superiority and power, which is what Blackie is feeling as he launches his first attack on Whitie. I wanted readers to relate to Blackie. The slanted angle also gives a sense of suspense that some action is going to take place.
#5: Mid-shot, slanted angle.
In this scene, Whitie holds strong against Blackie, defending against his attack, and sending Blackie flying. The slanted angle again conveys a sense of action and suspense, and is supposed to urge readers to want to read to the next frame quickly.
#6: Long-shot, eye-level shot.
The final scene of the battle is supposed to give an objective account of what has happened--Blackie has been defeated.
#7: Mid-close-up, low shot.
The low shot gives our champion a sense of superiority, to emphasise how victorious and heroic he is for having won the battle.
#8: Close-up, eye level shot.
The twist scene is a close-up one, to focus on the 2 crucial characters at the end. I wanted the shot to enable readers to see things from the perspectives of these 2 characters, hence I took an eye-level shot.
♥ head in clouds.
6:30 AM
