Project Brief 1

Audio Recordings

• The first recording is of me playing the opening section of Esbjorn Svensson Trio’s Eighthundred Streets by Feet. Last year for high school, I dedicated the year in studying this contemporary Scandinavian trio. And as a pianist in love with the jazz and contemporary world of music, this band has been a huge influence on my interests for music.
• The bunch of nonsensical mutterings in Japanese is my best attempt at recording myself speaking the language of a culture I have always had a passion for. Although I am Chinese and had learned the language for 7 years, I picked up more Japanese in one year than those 7 years of Chinese (perhaps I was adopted, who knows). Here is a rough translation of what I said in the recording: “Hello, my name is Tessa and this is my short and poorly done Japanese recording. Nice to meet you. This recording probably has tons of mistakes. So, I hope no one who understands Japanese is listening to this. Well, I will finish here. Thank you very much for listening.”
• My last recording is a quote from my favourite book, as stated in the recording, Isaac Marion’s Warm Bodies. Many may have seen the film adaption which I thoroughly enjoyed. However, having read the book after the movie, I was able to skim over the superficial zombie love that was established in the movie and was able to dive deeper into the heart of what Isaac Marion was trying to communicate: the meaning of life. I could write on and on about this book (I may write up a post in my own time), but I guess that just explains how much of an impact this book has left on me.

Images

A few of my favourite things

• Film making: to simply put it, creating films has never felt like a chore to me. Even though film projects become stressful, especially when there is a dead line, I enjoy every bit of the rush and complications through the journey of film making. Thus, it is my future aspirations; to become a film maker.
• Movies/films: my favourite pass time, as well as my favourite medium to study. I grew up with movies and I am constantly looking out for films that will blow me away and challenge my thinking, as well as films that will further my inspiration into storytelling through a camera.
• Music: Before I was introduced to the study of media, I had wanted to become a musician. With my mum as a music teacher, music has always been a part of my life. Hence, it was very hard for my family when I had finally decided to give up on my future as a musician to take on my studies in media instead. Despite this, I am still playing the piano, ukulele, guitar and more by myself, or jamming with my friends. I figured it was more of a hobby for myself, rather than something to work and study with.
• Travelling: When I’m not thinking about films, music or my dog, I am thinking about travelling. Just when I think I’ve had enough of travelling, as soon as I get home, I’m thinking about my next destination. I recently had the chance to travel with one of my best friends which was a blast, now I am looking forward to get the chance to travel on my own, especially as a chance to get some good snaps and footage with my beloved camera.
• Autumn/Winter: I’m a winter baby. I melt in the summer and always crave the crisp air of a winter morning. I love the snow, and for some unearthly reason, drawn to the designs of snowflakes and crystals. Despite this, I do hate having colds, so staying warm during winter is fine by me.

Videos

• The timelapse was taken from my hotel view of the Osaka city at night. Osaka is currently my favourite city in Japan and I just can’t get enough of the people, the food, the fashion, the culture, I honestly wish I could live there or at least get the chance to homestay over there.
• The poorly lit video of me making a Vodka & Tonic is just a small glimpse into a passion my father and I both share: booze. This was the first cocktail, along with Gin & Tonic that my dad taught me to make when I turned 18. (I was planning to make a Gin&Tonic but I ran out of Gin…)
• I was planning to create a short band cover of a song where I play a few of my instruments together, but I felt like the effort was wasted on a 20 second video. When I thought I should just play ukulele or piano, it felt rather boring. Then, I figured, “Feature my dog in the clip”, and so, this video features two of my beloved things: my ukulele and my dog.

Text

• As I vaguely explain at the beginning of this post, I decided to make it a small list of my dreams and favourite things as I’m quite a fickle character that changes preferences a lot. By next semester, these things may not have changed, but I’m still curious to see what will happen in the future.
• A bit about my favourite film, Under the Skin (2013); I think it’s such a fascinating, aesthetically pleasing, yet skin itching experience that no other film has twisted me like before. It’s also probably the first movie that I immediately rewatched the next day; it was that intriguing to me. I’ve heard many people say that it’s super weird and creepy, but I think that’s what I love most about it.