Time – Midterm Review

1. Time Map 
   
   I wanted the main symbol to be my shoe print. I wanted people to focus on the footprints and how its tone fades as I walk around the block. I took a walk around Stuyvesant Residence Hall and made a stop at Trader Joe’s. The concept behind this was I start my journey from Stuyvesant Park Residence Hall my shoe print is pitch black as in 100% ‘charged’ with energy. As I start walking towards Trader Joe’s my shoe prints are getting lighter and lighter which shows how time and energy are passing and decreasing. If we take a closer look at the two foot prints that show 80% and 40%, the latter is significantly lighter than the previous one showing that I have spent a significant amount of time in the market and I am slowly ‘running out’ of energy. By the time I get back to my dorm my shoe prints are almost nonexistent which means I am ‘out of battery’. To further understand time passing I took the same exact route exactly one week later. While I was working on this project I had a interesting yet terrifying experience with a rat. On the day I took my first walk, later that night I heard some rat noises my room. It wasn’t in my room it rather came from the inside of the walls. Luckily the noises died down and did not hear it until the day I took my second walk. The rat that I heard a week ago came out from my room and ran straight into the kitchen. It ran around for a bit then ran out and straight to our neighbour’s dorm. Two stories that was happening in parallel, the same period of time and the same exact place. The rat incident shows how time flies and we had been living in the same room for a week. I found this a rarely strange coincidence and that’s why I wanted to symbolise Stuyvesant Residence Hall with a rat.
2. Rotoscope Animation
   
   Since it was my first time using Premiere Pro, it was a huge challenge for me to make a video even though we went through the basics of Premiere Pro in class. It was interesting and scary at the same time to work in a program that I have never used before. I was shook when we got assigned to this project because I had no clue how I was going to make a full edited video in Premiere Pro. I took a short video of my friend drinking a smoothie in front of a red wall while holding a piece of pizza in her other hand. I hand traced 27 frames into line drawing and partially coloured it to add more definition. Te process was extremely long and challenging. After I have traced all the frames, I started experimenting the effects within the program. In addition, I have watched several Youtube tutorials to further understand the program. Also, during class we have experimented with textures which came in good use. For the final cut, I have my short, hand traced video in repetition for 6 times but with different effects on each one that I found interesting and challenging to achieve. I have also included the textures we had created in class and the original video which gave a nice change and taste to my video.
3. Photo Romans
   
   I was inspired by my friend whom I have become close with since I came here. She is from New York, and has been telling me her childhood stories about growing up in the city. It can be extremely tiring and demanding to live in a busy city such as New York City. I was curious about where she spent her childhood and the places she goes to when she wants to take a break. From the 4 themes we were given, I combined person vs. nature vs. society together. I captured the top 3 locations she loves to go and has played a huge part in her life while growing up. The top location was the museum. She spends most of her free time going to different kinds of museums and galleries, and was an intern at the Guggenheim Museum. Another place she loves to go when she has time is Central Park. Getting lost and wandering around the nature is one of her favourite things to do. It is rare to find a place in the city where you can appreciate the nature and breathe in some fresh air. The last place I captured was the riverside. Since her high school was next to the Hudson River it gave her the opportunity to go there almost everyday. The view was mesmerising. She told me that she had almost all of her lunches next to the riverside with her friends during breaks and I can only imagine how nice it was. While these are some places she enjoys going, she also has to face the reality. Which is the city. For the last part, I added city and a really noisy background noise to accentuate the contrast between museums, nature, riverside and city.