name card design 1

This is my first concept of my name card. any comments?

Eye the city

Final Project

In the mood for love

The following caption is not the exhibition caption but is something I felt about. This photo has 2 layers of meanings - the first one is the exhibition; the second one is as follow:

Li Zhen and Mo Wan is separated and both never see each other again. The photo is something I wanted to portray to show how Li Zhen would have felt at that moment....

In the mood for love....but where is the love?

Summary of my marks

Here is the summary of my marks

1. Assignment One photogram - Advertising me -- 85/100

2. Assignment Two exposure - Exposure -- 81.5/100

3. Assignment Three Photo essay - Do things change with time? -- 90/100

4. Assignment Four montage - Marco & Mirco process -- 95/100

5. Assignment Five Creep - Light/Hope -- 90/100

6. Assignment Six photo analysis -- 90/100

Updated as of 2 Nov 2007

Singapore culture

A reflection on singapore culture. Is there even one to speak of? In this modern world of globalization, major global corporation has influence the world and the world has become homogeneous. MacDonald, Coke, MTV have become a lifestyle and culture around the world. Singapore hence is of no difference. MacDonald and Coke can be seem around Singapore. The "fast food" generation can also be seen in Singapore. The culture of singapore is also seen more influence by others countries. 

Therefore has Singapore lost its identity among the midst of the influence of the global economics? I believe there are still some subtle distinct culture that Singapore has developed that could be said to be 'Uniquely Singapore' (as like the Singapore tourism board slogan is). The sense of kiasu-lism in Singapore is one that is often seem as unique in Singapore and has been hugely been debated about. Example of Singapore parents trying to get their children to enroll into top school even way before the requirement age for enrollment is now seem as a joke in other countries. Parents often cite that as the country is becoming more developed, it also mean that it has become more competitive and hence the need to be enroll into the elite school so that their children can have a bright future. There are also instances of people queuing for freebies, hours and sometimes even days before the actual day. This sense of kiasu-lism has been often reported in newspaper and debate in television shows. Hence, this term 'kiasu-lism' has been come up by the media to reflect the Singapore culture.

Another culture is the example of elite system in Singapore. As mention in the previous example, parents often enroll their children into top/elite schools. The children are often judge by their parents and adults with their grades. A child with good grades are often deem as bright and smart and a good boy. However, a child with low grade are often deem as stupid and bad boy. This reflect the Singapore society as it become more develop, it has also become more competitive. This often result in unnecessary stress from the children to excel in their studies. In the more recent years, parents are not satisfy that their children have to good in their studies but have to excel in other areas like sports and culture. It is normal to see children having many extra activities after school that their parents have arrange for them. This has becoming a culture in SIngapore. To groom our offspring into a "Superman" -- someone who is good in everything. However, not everyone is a "Superman" and this has cause adverse effects in the children. The children are becoming more stress and this result in more children becoming depressed and some even ended up in suicide. And the children are getting more towards the elite system and this often make them more cold hearted towards some of the social problems in Singapore. They have become more self-centered and choose to turn their back away from the needy ones in Singapore. They are more focus on the materialism of the society. This has also sadly becoming part of Singapore culture.

However, these much been said; a question arises on the question of whether these Singapore cultures are really unique or are they the byproduct of a more marco scenarios that is happening around the world. As Singapore is a small country and faces strong competition with the rest of the world, it has no choice but have to force their citizens to be one of the best in the world because Singapore has only human resources to depend upon. As a result, some of the characteristic that is been mention above has arises. 

In conclusion, Singapore culture although has been define as unique to Singapore by the local media, however on a closer look it might just be a byproduct/reaction toward the raise of globalization. 

Assignment six - Reading Images

This advertisement shows how the advertiser tried to fuse eastern and western culture together. In this presentation, I will speak about how each elements in this picture reflect a certain culture/meanings and how some of it actually reflect the insensitive sense of the advertiser.

In this advertisement there are chinese and western elements:

Western:

(1) Grim Reaper
(2) Toaster
(3) The dog ( jack russell is often deem as more western)

Eastern:

(1) The chinese lady
(2) The decoration of the house
(3) The text is in chinese

The advertisement is meant to target the young and modern Chinese market. The target group that are influenced by
the globalization and western culture. The advertisement display a mix of western and eastern culture to portray a modern
society in China. Therefore, only those who have seen/experience the western culture/media will understand what the advertisement is about. An example is the Che Guevara poster - only people who are expose to the culture of Che Guevara will understand the context of the poster.

Hence people who have exposure to the western media/culture, will then understand the meaning of the Grim Reaper. Grim Reaper is a culture symbol of the western media - a figure that was created by the western media. In the western media, the Grim Reaper is a representation of death - if he appear near a human, it represent that the Grim Reaper is trying to take away the human's soul. And it is the western media that always portray the Grim Reaper carrying a slayer. The slayer represent danger as it often show in western media that the Grim Reaper use the slayer as his weapon to take away people's souls/lives. Hence, as this advertisement is show in China, it can be said that the advertisement is targeted at the younger audiences in the country. People that are influence by the western media or globalization can understand the message behind the advertisement.

Another thing is the dog. In traditional chinese culture, families do not keep jack russell in their homes. Jack russell is a breed that is introduced by the western countries. Hence by putting jack russell in the advertisement, it bring about a certain sense of western culture influence.

Toaster is also another item that is brought by the western culture. In the traditional chinese, people use stove and charcoal to toast bread.

Therefore, by placing these western induced items into the advertisement, it "block out" certain group of people in the country - people who are not influence by the western culture. These people (e.g. farmers, older generation) will not understand what Grim Reaper and the slayer means. Although these people can know that jack russell is a kind of dog (because it signify a dog) but they might not feel relate to the advertisement as they never see jack russell before. Hence by introducing western/foreign elements into the advertisement, some groups will be "block out" from the initial message. Although it is targeted at the younger generation in China, it also shows a certain degree of insensitivity. For the chinese culture, people believe in chinese culture and religion more than western culture. Hence to the chinese society, people can associate the notion of death with chinese icon (e.g. vampires, chinese demon, king of Hades, etc) rather than Grim Reaper. Hence people in China will not "feel" for the advertisement because it is "too western" oriented. From these elements, it is an advertisement that is made by a western company who might not have research enough on chinese culture.

We made conclusion that the toaster on fire is dangerous because it is unusual for toaster to be on fire. We know from our everyday life that the toaster is meant to toast bread. If it is on fire, it means that the toast is spoilt. There the advertiser make use of our everyday knowledge to help us make reference to the advertisement. An example is the dog in the chopping board (picture below). The advertisement make use of our everyday’s knowledge of the kitchen and the layout of a normal cooking procedure. By making some “unusual” elements in both pictures, it will attract the viewers’ attention and make them relate to their prior experience. For example, the viewers know that the toaster is to toast bread and hence with fire, they can relate that something is wrong and it is dangerous. The chopping board in the cooking setting, with a dog shows that the dog might be meant to be killed and cooked.



During the tutorial, my classmates comment that it is common for toaster to be on fire. But however, the argument I wanted to make is no person will go to a store and buy a toaster with the intention to have it on fire! Hence the picture with toaster on fire is something unusual - not the normal function of a toaster. Another thing is the fire can be symbol for danger and other stuff. Example fire on the stove is something good - use of fire to cook. While in this case fire is a symbol of danger because it is in a context that depicts danger. Therefore an item can depict different meaning in different context.

Something interesting was brought out during tutorial. The Grim Reaper is made of bone and the dog is biting the hand which is made of bones. People, especially those who are not influence by the western culture, will see that dog is biting the hand because the dog want to eat the bone and not trying to save the woman. This goes to show that the company did not pay enough attention to the details and their meaning. Dog is known to eat bones and hence people will link this when they see this advertisement.

Another thing that the company fail to see is that they fail to notice that the danger and the Grim Reaper are at the opposite end of each other. This will give an impression that the dog is trying to prevent the Grim Reaper from attacking the woman and not trying to save the woman from fire.

People can only made out the meaning of this advertisement when they look at the chinese words below and the wildlife fund logo. The chinese text is "save it. and it will save you." meaning if you save the dog and not throw or kill it, it will one day save your life. It is only then people know that the dog biting the bones of Grim Reaper is to protect its owner. However as the Grim Reaper and the danger that it is representing is at opposite side, people might miss the connection that the Grim Reaper is trying to take away the life of the woman because she is sleeping and unaware of the toaster on fire beside her.

This advertisement is a classic example of how company who did not pay attention to the visual details/connotation of the items they place in the advertisement and the culture of their target market will cause people to misunderstood/ don't understand the meaning of the advertisement. This shows the importance of having understand the target market's culture (in this case is the chinese culture) and the different codes behind each items in the advertisement. Also the placement of the items and the logic of placing them is also very importance (in this advertisement, the danger and Grim Reaper is at opposite side, people might not able to relate that the Grim Reaper is a symbol for the danger of the toaster on fire.)

Rate: 90/100

Ability to read the advertisement in cultural context.

Assignment Five - Creep: Light/Hope

Realism



This is a realism/objective shot of the flat opposite Laselle School. I just take a snapshot of the flat. Not making any statement, just trying to allow the viewers see what I saw.

Expressive



I pose the camera "looking up" at the flat which gives the flat a sense of power over the viewer and photographer. The shot of the flat shows the flat is dark but a part of it is lighted with a ray of sunlight. This is to express the feeling of light creeping in the flat and gives light to the flat. This reflect that amidst of dark situation, there will be a ray of hope creeping in somewhere. What one has to do is to find where is that ray of hope and go grab it.

Formlism



A reflection of the flat.

Evaluation of the assignment

It is hard to write and critics others for this assignment because of the fact that there is no 100% of realism, formalism and expressive. Very often its 52% to 48% of two elements in the photograph. Add with each different people's perception of each definitions make the whole critics difficult. However my personal opinion, I like xinying' s work cos it remind me of Wong Kai Wai's work haha.. However I felt the realism shot is abit expressive because of the red light. If use flash to brighten out the photo and remove the emotion of the red light, would the photo be more realism? But the red light is there naturally, so if took it out will be defeat the purpose of being objective in shooting realism shot?

Nevertheless I give myself 90% against her work.