Posted on March 16, 2017
reflection on project brief 1
Were you nervous about presenting your work?
Always. Whether it’d be with performing live music or showing even my closest friend a 10 second video I made, my heart always races and my head spins.
What kind of feedback did you get? Was the feedback useful?
I like to believe most of the people on my table genuinely liked what I showed. They did give good criticisms such as different styles to approaching the photograph, or extending my timelapse, and as someone still learning about photography and film, I happily accepted these criticisms and hope to incorporate them into my future projects.
What is most difficult about the process and why?
The most difficult part was showing my work without any explanations, especially since some of my work do not clearly show how they connect with my life.
How might you get better at this hat system over time?
I believe just practise and constantly doing the hat feedback process thing with as many projects as we can will help us improve our projects as well as become our own critics on our work.
What might be a good way to separate the moments of receiving feedback and actually evaluating it and doing something with it?
I like to visualise myself as someone else, this usually comes easier when I have taken a break from looking at the project and move off to do something else to get my mind off it. When I have that break I can come back with fresh eyes and thus, can see the suggestions from other’s feedback and then adjust and edit my projects accordingly.
Is it worth reflecting on the feedback both close to the experience and a bit further on?
It is very beneficial to reflect on feedback at an instant, and then later on. Our minds need time to consider feedback and criticisms, and we need to let our minds refresh so that we can return to our projects with a cleaner perspective. With a fresh new set of glasses, it’ll be easier to see how we can adapt the feedback given to us and thus, in the long run, create much better content.
Posted on March 15, 2017
polaroids!!
In preparation for one of my photography projects, I experimented around with taking polaroids… resulting in some successes and some failures. I discovered that the Fujifilm Polaroid really does not like taking close ups as shown through those films with white and black splotches. Other than that, some of my photos ended up off frame and cropped weirdly, maybe due to the quality of my polaroid. Overall, I was able to take some relatively nice pictures that worked out well with my photography project and I’m genuinely considering on investing in a good quality polaroid or perhaps a film camera.
So many people (I am guilty of this too) praise the technology of DSLR cameras and their continuous evolution to become ridiculous huge, or comically small and compact whilst adding on more and more buttons for different settings that I lose track of. Thus, when we look at polaroids, we think things like…
“What a thing of the past…”
“That’s so hipster…”
“The settings are easier to use on a digital…”
Yes, these are true to some extent, but a digital camera cannot capture what a polaroid can (without lots and lots of post production). Much like film cameras, polaroids have a much stronger sense of “a captured moment in time”, which I think is the one of the core aspects of photography. I am yet to get my hands on a “proper” polaroid, but already with my Fujifilm Instax polaroid, there’s nothing quite as exciting taking a polaroid. That small, quick click, the buzzing sound of the film getting processed, and then that moment where you stop breathing, anticipating to see how the photo turned out. Polaroids really bring out the core essentials of photography, where you have to make that moment you capture matter within that tiny little white frame of film.
Posted on March 15, 2017
media is everywhere
For week 2’s media lecture, we discussed the different forms media appears in our world and surroundings. Mostly through film, photography, our phones… but when my group was assigned to explore the media existing in Lt Collins St, we discovered that media was less discovered as advertisements and social media and more in the form of artwork and architecture. As soon as I stepped into the Block Arcade, I felt like I was transported into an olden english era with the mosaic flooring, gothic-like architecture and the constant fanfare music that played every 10 minutes. (Thanks to Gaz, we have an album of all the photos we took of the Block Arcade). After discussing with my group, we discussed how architecture and this “teleportation” into another world was another form of media in itself. As David Gauntlett suggests, media should be looked at as “experience for triggers”, and the design of the block arcade communicated to us by taking us to a different world, different to the metropolitan buzz that was just behind the glass automatic doors. So, as a final take from this project, media really can exist in all types of forms in every aspect of our lives and society. Contrasting with a few decades ago, where there was a more clear distinction with society and media, we have moved into a new era where the media and people have merged into one.
Posted on March 11, 2017
haiku generator is my new favourite site
This makes me giggle more than it should
http://www.languageisavirus.com/interactive-haiku-generator.php#.WMTBRRIrJp8
Words I put in: computer laptop text blog hot summer camera film
…and this is what was generated:
“In the hot
these hot camera
A camera camera”
“blog those blog text
We camera a film hot
On a camera in computer.”
“The
his film
. ”
“.computer hot,
How much camera of it computer?
The blogis summer.”
Posted on March 11, 2017
playing around with multiple exposures
During this week’s photography prac, my teacher introduced me to multiple exposures on my DSLR. I’m currently using a Nikon D750 and she showed me the settings and let me experiment taking double exposure shots. I really struggled at the start, finding it hard to balance out the background with the main subject. But when I handed it to my friend he took this photo shown above and we realised I had been overexposing and underexposing the wrong images.
I had the idea that the subject image needed to be underexposed whilst the “background” image needed overexposing. To my embarrassment… it turned out to be the other way around.
Anyway, I find this photography technique intriguing and hope to soon find opportunities to test out and experiment the potential of this technique. I have tried multiple exposure “styles” before but only in post production.
One photo is of my friend on a ferry to Cheung Chau island in Hong Kong, the photo I blended in to her figure was a city night shot of Dotonbori, Osaka. So, obviously I had taken these two photos separately and photoshopped them together, giving me the freedom to adjust the brightness of each photo, colour correct, crop, etc. I guess with the current experience and knowledge I have, I prefer this technique of having two separate images to mash together because I have the creative freedom to adjust each image. However, I’m still open and excited to learn the possible images I can create with the multiple exposure setting on my camera.
Posted on March 8, 2017
Project Brief 1
- 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.
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.
- 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.
- 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.
Posted on March 8, 2017
timelapse, booze, and more music
Osaka city from Tessa Chung on Vimeo.
Making Vodka&Tonic from Tessa Chung on Vimeo.
Can’t Help Falling in Love with My Dog from Tessa Chung on Vimeo.
Posted on March 7, 2017
these are a few of my favourite things – tessa chung – 07/03/17
click on image to view the whole album
Posted on March 7, 2017
music, japanese gibberish, and a quote – tessa chung – 07/03/17
Posted on March 6, 2017
a little about me – tessa chung – 06/03/17
A small post outlining a little about myself. I plan to update this every semester as a way to look back to the past; humans are such nostalgic creatures afterall.
Dream Job: Director
Favourite colour: Blood red
Favourite movie: Under the Skin (2013)
Three things I’d bring to a desert island: Food, booze, ukulele