Week 12 Reflective Journal - 24th April - 6th tutorial with mentor, Continue building the website, Finished Editing Fashion Film & Exhibition Promotion

6th tutorial with mentor

My mentor, Sebastiane, has given me feedback on my website design and my fashion film during the tutorial. He has commented that the masks on both sides are too decorative on the"You, me or her?" page which I do agree with him as it distracts the artworks on the page and has taken away the visitors' sight from the photographs in the middle. He has suggested that I could create some square boxes and make some gif images like the bigger images on the same page. This has inspired me to create different sizes of the square box with some close-up images of different facial parts and create gif images.

Therefore, when I went back home, I have created three different sizes gif images using some close-up images of the masks, a hand and the model's make-up. 



On the "Who are you? My Lover" page, I have asked for his opinion of what he thinks about the layout of the page since I am unsure where I should place the image (the image shown on the right). He has suggested that I could create something such as when click on the image, the image will show in full screen and directs to another page. However, I like the composition where all the images from one series are being placed on the same page. Therefore, I have come up an idea where I could place the image in the middle and at the bottom of the page, so visitors could scroll down to the end of the page. I have also extended the red string longer to make the image more eye-catching. I have taken consideration on what Sebastiane has told me and I agrees with him that it would be nice to click on an image and it appears a more zoom in screen on the photos so visitors could see the artworks more clearly. Since I have not learnt before the techniques to create the zoom in box, I have asked my IT tutor, John to show me how to create it on Muse. 

On the right, it shows the lightbox that I have created on the images for the exhibition website. The lightbox definitely helps to exhibit the work in a professional format and on the other hand, it also allows the visitors to look into the details of the photographs. 








During the tutorial, I also showed Sebastiane some part of my fashion film since I haven't finished the editing at that time. He has commented a scene where I could improve which is the scene shown on the right. He has commented that since I have got some scenes before where the model was flipping through the newspaper, I could do something on this scene to make a connection in between the two scenes. He has suggested that as I have got two scenes on both sides, I could create an effect where the scene swipe to the left and disappear, while the scene on the right could remain the same. I think this is a good idea as it could stand out and create more impact on the goldfish and flower patterns on the garments. 

Next Step: 
- Finished the editing of the fashion film and the exhibition website. 


Editing of the fashion film has finished

At the same week, I have managed to finish the editing of the fashion film and is ready to upload on the website. I am glad that I have learnt the techniques last year of how to do video editing on Premiere Pro CC and After Effects since this time, the process of the editing takes a shorter time than last year. 

During the process of uploading the fashion film on Youtube, I have got a problem on making the video to fit in the frame and remove the black bars on both sides. I have found a method to sort out the problem at the end, however, when the black bars disappeared, the fashion film was stretched out and the video was in poor quality. I have asked our IT tutor for help, but at the end, it is still not sorted since there are some problems with the format of the video and this issue has become a regretful thing that I felt on this project. 

Overall, I do enjoy the editing process this time and I am proud of myself that I have learnt the skills at university and the final outcome of the film is done successfully. Since previously I have mentioned before my model is a Drama Student, her acting skills have helped me to convey my idea effectively. Through the use of the storyboard and the planning before the shoot, it helps the editing process faster and during the editing process, I have made some arrangements of the scenes to make the film better. 

Exhibition Website promotion

Poster for the "RED" Exhibition Website

I have created a poster for the exhibition since I have considered the power of social media and it allows me to promote my website to other people who live in different parts of the world. I have uploaded the poster to my Instagram and Facebook page so that people could be aware of the publishing date of the "RED" exhibition website. 

Interview with the exhibitor Hoi Io Leong

Two days later, I have also published an interview about myself talking through the ideas behind the exhibition to promote my website and provide the further details about the exhibition to the audience. This has helped me to convey my concept of the exhibition to the audience more clearly and makes interaction with the audiences. 

Fashion Film "RED" Trailer

On the same day, I have also published a short trailer of my fashion film on my social media page to promote my exhibition website. After these three promotions that I have done, I realised that there are many people from different countries have liked my posts and also I have gained more followers on Instagram. There are people from Japan, America, UK, Vietnam, etc. who have reached the post and I feel that I am working towards the project aim successfully through the idea of cultural exchange and sharing my artworks to a wide range of audiences. 

Week 11 Reflective Journal - 3rd April- Interview video, "You, me or her?" Photoshoot completed, Start building up the website, finished illustrations and Fashion FIlm Shooting

Exhibition promotions - Interview video

Refer back to the tutorial with Sharon, she has suggested conducting an interview talking through the ideas behind my exhibition and I think this idea would help me to convey the concept of my exhibition to the visitors more clearly. Therefore, during Easter, I have conducted an interview with me talking through the inspirations and details about the "RED" online exhibition. I have asked Mihaela Solomei, to film the video and interview me. She has experienced with the camera and is confident with filming. I have prepared a list of questions for her to ask me and planned out the settings for the video. During the shooting day, the process went smoothly and successfully. 

On below, it shows the questions which I have planned and the  things would like to include in my interview video. By doing this, it will give my videographer a clear script about what she has to say and asks me. Since I have planned that my videographer will not appear in front of the camera, she can then carry this sheet with her and ask me questions behind the camera. The purpose of the interview video is to explain what the concept "RED" Exhibition is about and inform the audience when the exhibition will be available online.

By doing the interview video, it helps me to explain to the audience what the exhibition is about and I have planned to publish the interview before the online exhibition publish since I want to use the interview video as one of the promotions for my project. It will be uploaded to my Facebook and Instagram page and inform the visitors when the exhibition available online. From my time schedule, I have planned to publish the exhibition on 3rd May and it has been confirmed from now. 

Finished the "You, me or her?" photo shoot and editing 

I have finished my last photo shoot for the exhibition and the images on above and on the left are the photos which have been edited and ready to put on the website. Compare to the last test shoot, I have come up with more idea when doing the shoot. I have asked my model to do more poses such as on the first photo where she is holding the Chinese opera masks high up in the air. During the photoshoot, there is an incident happened and is that I have booked a studio for the shoot. However, when I went downstairs to the studio after I have finished the make-up and hair, someone was in my studio and told me that their friends have booked a whole day in the studio that I have booked. I have confirmed that I have booked the studio with the university staff and then the students have asked me if I could give them half an hour to complete their shoot. At the end, I rejected them since I have booked the studio in advance and I do not want my model to wait too long for the shoot to get done. 

 In Photoshop, I have also experimented more with the compositions and layouts of the images. In my estimation the shoot was successful. The model was professional and was able to transform the poses that I showed her what to do. The outcome looks like what I have expected and imagined. 

Building the Exhibition Website:

In Week 11, I started to build my website on Muse. Since it is my first time using this program and also building my own website, I have gone to see our IT tutor, John for support in using Muse and on above are the photos which show the things that I have done at the moment. There are still areas of improvements that need to make changes on and I will continue to experiment with the layout and the effects on the widget library. 

Illustrations:
On below, I have created some illustrations to put on the exhibition website. 

The Chinese Masks 
"The Chinese Masks" takes inspirations from Chinese Opera Masks and it has created an illusion of moving patterns within the image. The black brush strokes on the image reminds me of the Chinese paint brushes and the image takes inspirations from the idea of Chinese mask-changing as well because it presents the mystic atmosphere and the way the masks are overlapping with each other.

Delicious
"Delicious" presents as a gif image to create a surreal and innovative pattern on the picture. The strong bold red color represent the person's passion for food and the food on the mouth is some pictures that I took last summer when I went back to Macau and ate Chinese food. 

2017 The Year Of Rooster
"2017 The Year Of Rooster" takes inspirations from the Year 2017 and in Chinese culture, it is the year of rooster this year and I want to create a piece of artwork with this idea. The picture features a layer of fur like texture and I want to use it to represent the fur of the rooster. I have also make the picture into red tones to match the project title "RED". 

A Wealth Wish
"A Wealth Wish" creates a surrealistic atmosphere by combining the lucky cat with a candle, while there are blurry block tiles on the lucky cat's face. This helps me to demonstrate the weirdness side of surrealism to the audience.

Fashion Film Shooting

Since my model was only available to do the filming in one day, time management and planning which scenes start film filming is crucial. I have booked the infinity studio for a whole day so that we could have enough time to complete the shoot. The model was very professional as she has experience in acting and she is a drama student. Although there were just two of us doing the filming, we managed to get the filming done even earlier than the studio closed. I found the storyboard very useful as it helps me to record the scenes that I will need to do during filming so that I won't forgot or miss out any important parts. On the other hand, since the filming lighting is different comparing to the photography lighting, I have asked our Photography tutor, Chris about the lighting techniques and showed him what kinds of lighting I want to achieve in my film. I have gone to his lessons every week and ask questions that I am unsure about with the camera and the set up of the lighting in the studio. These have helped me a lot because, during the shooting day, I know how to set up the lighting and go straight away to set up for filming after doing the make-up and hair for the model without wasting time. On the other hand, the make-up, hair and styling appear polished and overall, the filming was successful and the next stage of the progression will be the editing.