This video was the easiest for me to produce and was the starting point for my other sketches. As the title suggests, this video has no sound and only visuals to guide the viewers. By taking away sound and audio stimulus this brings the focus completely back to the video that is being presented. I found that because this video does not have any sound viewers might not find it engaging enough, however it is interesting to see the interpretation of this sketch as either instructional or just without cause. In the video I am simply making a cup of tea, there are no titles or actual instructions, however it can still be considered a tutorial because people are able to see and recreate what they see in this video, this is like many other videos online, where there are little details and only imagery is used as instructions (Pinterest).
Author Archives: lindashi
Project 3 – Beginning
After missing my presentation of Project Two due to personal circumstances, I heard the feedback for our presentation from Troy and what we needed to take into account for our next project which consisted of 14 sketches!
Troy mentioned to me that our sketches focused too much on the actual structure of our case study, and instead we needed to experiment and branch out on the way our sketches should me filmed and presented.
Also we’ve been told that this assignment is all about the quantity of footage and videos we have rather then the quality. Therefore the more the better.
Project Two – Makeup Tutorial
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1864RS_YhBY
This video, rather then elaborating on a specific scene in “The Katering Show” I’ve taken the concept and created a sketch after it. The webseries concentrates on “how to cook” and deconstructs cooking shows and gives it a exaggerated and funny element. In this video, my friend attempts a “how to makeup” video, however she incorporates the comedic elements that are present in “The Katering Show”. She gradually becomes more and more dramatic and just like in “The Katering Show” where the two girls aren’t able to really cook, the make up look she attempts does not turn for the better.
This sketch probably has the strongest narrative as it shows the sequence of my friend from before until afterwards. This video also engages with audience members the most due to the voiceover provided that interacts and speaks directly to whoever is listening/watching. If I was to complete this video sketch again I would change the video setting due to the fact that there is quite a bit of noise in the background as well as the colour contrast.
Project Two – Wine Sketch
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdUrjQmTeQs
This sketch is different from my previous ones in the way that it includes some dialogue. This video consisted of my friends drinking on my couch, this works with the scene from “Food Porn” when Mclennen drinks due to her suggested life problems. The humour in this scene is derived from the fact that my friends keeps saying “top me up” and just laughing over random topics. My friend, Monika, her expressions seem the most hilarious in this video and really makes the audience laugh with her voice and actions.
This video was really spontaneous and I had to go through a lot of raw footage before choosing which shots I wanted to include. I was also planning on removing the background music and talking however I found that it added to the comical effect.
The overall scene reflects the one from “The Katering Show” as it shows the other two girls sitting on the couch and drinking as well, I wanted to emphasise the humour and oddly charming atmosphere that this scene incorporates.
Project Two – Cupcake Construction
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuWtnF67x4Q
This is a simplified version of one of my previous sketches which was too heavily edited and needed it’s length cut down to a shorter version. In the episode we’ve chosen as the case study (“Food Porn”) one of the girls attempts to construct a cupcake with materials that aren’t usually in a cupcake, or edible for that matter. I decorated this cupcake with icing, pompoms, ribbons, glitter, and a styrofoam cone. This sketch derives humour from the fact that normal ingredients aren’t used in this video and therefore looks a lot more “decorated” however no normal person would be able to create this type of cupcake at home.
The music was from iMovie and is royalty free so there aren’t any copyright issues, and the overall filming of this sketch was a little difficult due to the fact that I had to decorate the cupcake whilst the camera was between me and the actual cupcake.
This scene is shot in the way where normal “food porn” pictures on instagram are posted with, such as a white background that is used so that the cupcake stands out and viewers are not distracted from anything with his background.
This shot itself I believe fits well into the concept that is provided in our case study, they girls use the same concepts such as a white background and having the scene be shot from the front. Overall I think that the music and the simplicity of this sketch fits well into our concepts.
4Rs Reflection – Models of Reflective Thinking
Reflection Task
Issue: Filming sketches and what ideas I wanted to present
Reporting – I found that this week during the filming of my sketches I was struggling to provide myself with the ideas and the videos I wanted to produce. Apart from the lack of ideas I was also lost on how to record the ones I had. I haven’t been able to produce work to the quality that I find satisfactory, nor have I been able to develop any new ideas based upon this assignments or anything else.
Relating – I feel like I do have writers block which often happens when I’ve been in a position where I haven’t had a chance to rest or sit down to think about issues. My ideas often come to me when I’m daydreaming of just doing something mindless which I haven’t had a time for, this is probably causing me to lack motivation and inspiration.
Reasoning – Because I’ve be rather busy with working and attempting my studies I’ve probably neglected to fuel my creatively and passion. By trying too hard to do well I’ve been inadvertently disrupting my though processes and the way I create ideas in the first place. My exhaustion is impeding the way and manner in which I produce my work and assignments.
Reconstructing – The main issue I believe here is the concept of time, I’ve been forgetting or leaving things to the last minute and as a result I don’t have opportunities to reflect and grow from other visuals/productions. I believe that I should start attempting to watch more online videos/artworks/media and giving myself a time set to do so.
Project Two – Tap Sketch
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agZwvBQW9CY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGSaT61AXxo
In both this sketches I was following some of the scenes from “The Katering Show” where there are long shots of kitchen appliances that are used for a comedic effect. Since both these sketches follow such a similar theme I thought that I would just group them together in a single post. During the first sketch of the tap I had to add in an sound effect due to the fact that there was a lot of background noise, whereas for the second video of the kettle I didn’t have to add in any effects. The Tap was also filmed at night with artificial lighting whereas the Kettle sketch was with natural lighting, after looking at the two I do prefer the natural lighting. These two videos have non-narrative structures and are purely there for the interpretation of the viewer as comical or not.
I feel as if the content might be a little more funny or enjoyable if it was to be slightly longer in length, have a scene before and after it or even if some background music was added in. However these two videos do follow the concepts from “The Katering Show” where these long and boring scenes are added in as a satirical effect to laugh at other cooking shows, where scenes like these are present.
Project Two – Concept Statement
Our group (Troy and I) has chosen the online video example “Food Porn” from “The Katering Show”. If we contextualise this work/project in relation to the studio activities so far (the mindmapping and personal case studies) it would be placed in the genre of satirical online video practice. We will produce a number of sketches which analyse the narrative/non-narrative form of this online video practice. Each of these sketches will focus on different aspects of the work/project as a way to understand how it has been made and how relations have been formed between shots to create a narrative/non-narrative structure.
Ideas:
1. Running Water + Kettle Boiling – The show itself is made so that it laughs and ridicules other cooking programs, adding in long shots of cooking or running water to the point where it’s comical.
2.The Final Food Shot – Similar to idea no.1 during the final scenes after a plate is produced there is often many shots showing off the food and the way it looks, this is done with many close up scenes and pans.
3. Cupcake Construction – in this particular episode we see the two girls decorating the cupcake with numerous objects that are not actually suppose to be in the cupcake. I attempted to create a similar video of that scene.
5. “Booze Revooze” – Reviewing alcohol like in the episode (similar to idea 3)
6. Wine Drinking
7. Random Conversation – mimcking the types of conversations they have in “The Katering Show”
8. Makeup Tutorial – Similar to the cooking, however instead of food I was thinking of doing a makeup tutorial that is going to be completely hilarious and over the top.
Project Two – Initial Feedback
After completing my first two sketches and presenting them in class we received some feedback on the sketches we’ve done so far. To Troy’s video’s and reflection click here. The main issue we encountered was fitting out sketches into our concept statement, which we still needed to complete. Due to the fact that we haven’t completed it yet we attempted to string our sketches together into a single concept, however Troy and I soon realised that we had to change some of our sketches to fit the criteria. Apart from the fact that both the web series we used in the first project were so different, and we were making sketches based upon the themes of the series rather then the actual video concepts that were being used.
After talking it through with Troy we both decided to choose one video from “The Katering Show” series which was “Food Porn” and to go forward on that. Most of our sketches could be salvaged under this case study and all I had to do was simplify my current two (I was told there was too much post-production and the time was too long).