Assignment 2

I finally got the video done (hopefully without more adjustments). Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQMc_ImoSV0

After consulting Julian on the sketches, I realized that my problem was less on conceptualization but more on the execution. This is because it is probably rather easy to come up with promotional photos for NUS (landscape, food, friends, etc), but everyone will probably come up with similar things. Thus I decided to make my video stand out via animations, collages and sound effects.

As a result, I used After Effects instead of iMovie as it allows me to add more animations.

I kept the main concept of the video, but I took the photos of the NUS lanyard and the clock again. I thought a top view might show the lanyard better than a side view.

I also wanted to remove the "QQ" in the clock (although not everyone will relate to it as an emoticon for crying). Moreover, the face of the clock in my room has a person studying on it (I hope the close-up is clear enough to show that), so it may relate to studying in NUS better. 

(By the way the clock is from 798, an "art district", in Beijing. )

Then I replaced the draft photos with original ones:

Waiting for the Bus

I took this at a bus stop outside my home. I captured the back view of a bus to show that the bus is leaving, and I'll have to wait for the next one. I tried taking an empty bus stop, but I thought the photo lacked focus. I could have added myself in the photo, but since the photo has to be a long shot to include the bus, the bus stop and me, it will probably not make a lot of difference as it is not obvious that I am in the photo. I then zoomed and panned the photo to add a sense of motion.

Waiting for the Train

I know we are not allowed to take photos of the MRT for security reasons, so I took a photo of the MRT moving away from the station from an overhead bridge. This gives a better angle (as opposed to photographing from ground level). Also, the diagonal lines and the depth of the photo convey a sense of motion, to complement the message that the MRT is gone and I'll have to wait for the next one. Zooming and panning the photo further enhances the sense of motion.

Waiting for Lessons to Start

My friend helped me take this photo where I am climbing up a flight of stairs in school. This shows that I am waiting for lessons to start as I'm only on my way to class and lessons haven't started. I zoomed and panned the photo to add a sense of motion.

Waiting for Lessons to End

My friend helped me take this photo in a tutorial room where I am staring at my watch, counting down to the end of lesson. I zoomed and panned the photo to focus more on my watch, as viewers may only notice me looking down (and not at my watch) initially.

Waiting for Graduation

I Photoshop-ped a photo of myself staring at the commencement lion in NUS Co-op. The photo is out of proportion to show that I have not graduated and is thus merely thinking about graduation. I zoomed and panned the photo to change the focus from me to the commencement lion.

All these photos are at 50% saturation to show that life is seemingly dull in NUS. This is in contrast with the second (colorful) part of the video.

I changed a bit of the concept from the draft from here. Instead of conventional promotional photos of NUS, I decided to take less-than-perfect photos. This conveys a more realistic and honest view of NUS. These photos also complement my message that friends are what I'll miss most about NUS. However, I took care to not show any negative side of the school, as it will then defeat the purpose of creating a promotional video.

Fade to black was used to slow the pace of the video and portray the "agony" of waiting, but as the pace of the video picks up from here (to prevent viewers from getting bored), straight cuts are used instead. I did not zoom or pan the photos either.  

Food

I took a photo of a long queue at the Arts canteen to show that food is not what I miss about NUS. This side-steps the potential damage to NUS's image as I didn't say that the food is not nice, simply that it takes a long time to get to the (good) food.

Greenery

I wanted to take a photo of the greenery in school being obscured by the rain, but when I got to take the photos, the rain had stopped. Although the sky was relatively dark, the photos were too pretty. (I'm not exaggerating, the greenery in school is beautiful and I had a hard time trying to find wilted plants, which was my back-up plan.) In the end, at my friend's suggestion, I decided to take a photo of a stone marking of underground cables. I then Photoshop-ped the photo so that it points to ants instead of cables. Again this side-steps the potential damage to NUS's image as ants have always been part of greenery, just that people never liked them much ;)

Readings

This is a photo of my spectacles on my readings. I hope to portray that I felt so tired from reading that I took off my spectacles for a nap. Initially I wanted to add my arm in the photo, so that the photo is taken from the first person's point of view, but the photo looked rather cluttered. I chose this photograph also because there is a reflection of my spectacles on the plastic cover of the course pack, which I drew into another pair of spectacles for the Friends section, to show that I am not the only person to doze off reading the readings. I guess most, if not all, students are like that, so this is not a complain about NUS.

Bidding

I took a photo of my mac with the CORS point management web page on my screen. I made a white flag from recycled paper and a chopstick to show that bidding is so tough that I can only surrender. I hope this is not negative - it's just an honest view and prospective students can probably find parody videos on bidding on Youtube anyway.

My FRIENDS

I took photos with my friends at Random Blends, but the background was rather cluttered. Thus I changed the background to scenes in school, e.g. the pink corridor at AS1. The backgrounds are vibrantly colored on purpose, to show that "friends add color to life". I added another flag to Bidding, again, like the photo for Readings, this is to show that I am not alone in surrendering to the bidding system.

These photos (from Food to Bidding) are colorful for contrast with the first part of the video. The Friends photos are even increased in saturation to show that they make dull study life colorful.

I used a bit of kinetic typography for "They always make life colorful" by making the word "colorful" colorful. I also did the same for "far from boring". Hopefully this breaks the monotony of photos and titles.

Next I used two photo montages before the end of the video. Again, this is to break the monotony of photos and titles.

And so although I'm still Waiting

I took the suggestion from the critique session of showing the clock at different times to portray waiting. I took photos of just the clock at first, but my friend said it wasn't clear that the clock showed different times as the scene lasts for only a short time. She suggested that I can wait at different positions staring at the clock, to make the photos look more different, which is what I did. The clock is out of proportion, but it would be too small to see otherwise. I think it's fine to be less realistic in this case, as my main objective is to show "waiting". (Two examples above.)

The wait is far from Boring

I changed the hue for the first few photos in the montage, to give a more pop (as in pop culture) and fun feel. However I kept the last one natural, for contrast with the first photo of the NUS lanyard, and also as respect to NUS's original colors. After all, this is still a video for NUS.

I typed a smiley face as conclusion: that I am happy in NUS :)

*Photos are edited as necessary, e.g. color correction or to accommodate titles in the video.

Audio

I added sound effects to the video to make it more interesting, since most past-year clips I've seen on Youtube simply add background music. Sound effects are also important for me as I did not add narration. I had trouble finding a suitable sigh sound, as well as one for the lecture, so I recorded in Audacity and edited them in Garageband (changed equalization/reverberation). The "lecture" comes from the first line of my first reading for the first lecture for NM2209 ;)

I wanted to find background music at first, but I had trouble finding something suitable, so I made my own, derived from music loops. The music is synchronized with the video, to complement the change of mood.