The end-of-semester Exhibition is finally happening! I have looked forward to it for so long. I am excited to see what other groups have done and what feedback we will receive. To set up our group’s displacement space in accordance with our theme, we brought a special prop to the exhibition – a small clock. This clock has served as an important hint for our short film. It mostly appeared in the background throughout the protagonist’ illusion and reality; however, something special about this clock is that its legs do not move at all. It was completely stationary, meaning that time has been distorted both in the illusion and the reality. Through this, we wanted to raise a question for our audience – is the reality that the protagonist thought he was in actually the reality? Is it possible that he was in the illusion throughout?

In order to see whether this hint has been successfully conveyed to our audience, I conducted some survey at the exhibition. I explained to two groups about the meaning behind the clock, and asked them whether they have noticed it. Out of the six classmates I surveyed, one person has fully noticed it (after watching the video twice), four people have guessed that the clock is special but did not recognise its meaning, and one person did not notice it at all. Overall, I think the hint was conveyed quite successfully. One thing that I think we could improve was to make the appearances of the clock more obvious. Initially, the camera did not focus on the clock until the very last scene, but if I were to refilm the project, I would probably include a few more medium shot on it during the first half of the film. I therefore learnt that, when we are planning the plot – especially something that is subtle – we have to always remember that the audience knows less than you, and most of the time you only have one chance to make them understand.

Other feedback I receive from the class were mostly about our editing. A few people also commended on our audio tracks, as they thought that the background musics we used were very accurate, and the transitions between them are smooth and natural. They also liked how we layered different soundtracks (keyboard typing, footsteps, calling, etc) in complementary to the scene in the office which was generated by AI. By layering different soundtracks, they thought that the scene has become much more real.

Overall, I think the exhibition has drawn a very nice end to my semester. I have enjoyed all the assignments in Augmenting Creativity, and there was not one moment where I regrated taking this course. I am fully confident that the skills I gained from this course will be of bigger use for my future projects. Thank you, Dan.