Bicycle Camera Test Footage

December 16, 2007

This is slightly long overdue - test footage from the first Bicycle Camera construction...the current version is at Film Rescue because the filmstock is too old to be developed normally. Hopefully, something came out of that process.

This version was driven by an aluminum gear, pushed by screws secured onto the spokes of the front wheel. Kind of an unstable design, but did the job just fine. However, the lens was pointed just ever so slightly too much at the sky...hence diminishing the desired effect of time-space distortion.

(click on image for test footage)

Posted by scribblepop at 11:24 PM| Comments (3)

5/4

New work. Shot on video in late November.

Posted by scribblepop at 12:54 PM| Comments (0)

Body Landscapes

April 24, 2007

A week and a half ago in Montreal, I was suddenly struck with the urge to make an abstract film narrative about different hair style/types as landscapes. It was a simple urge, and I felt compelled to make it immediately. The day after I returned to Providence, I gathered 12 people and began making this film (and later cut out one). The film is driven by a non-specific narrative progression.

Click on the image to view the film.

Posted by scribblepop at 10:09 AM| Comments (0)

The Ice Apartment Project: Phase 1

March 18, 2007

Today, I filmed the first iteration of "The Ice Apartment" in a studio apartment on the East Side (thanks to Heather McPherson). A series of actions between four characters are shot from the four walls of the room. They will be projected, in an uncut, one-shot fashion, onto a small-scale ice room this Tuesday.

Here are some screenshots of the footage:

I had to fight the urges to do close-ups. There were some aspects of the scenes that warranted this kind of attention. I repeatedly reminded myself during the shoot: "alternative narrative. Don't cave into the conventions. Don't cave in..."

Posted by scribblepop at 11:45 PM| Comments (0)

Multifocal Camera: Final Crit & Documentation

December 19, 2006

I've recently had my final crit of the semester. During the last stages of development, I decided to take a different approach to its presentation and build a panorama as to draw a stronger connection between the physical experience of peripheral vision and the viewer's receptive experience of the work.

The panorama measures about 8 feet in diameter and 3 feet tall. Within the space, I installed two separate tracks of audio, one depicting the realistic first-person perspective, the other the schizophrenic.

Click on the still below to see the video documentation of my presentation:

The screen of the panorama allows both frontal and rear projection. Arranged on the screen space are the three different videos I shot for the project. They are arranged as follow (from right to left):

Schizophrenic First-Person
Third Person (which can be seen from the gap in the panorama, before the viewer enters the immersive space)
Real First-Person

I constructed 3 wooden mounts for the three projectors and suspended the apparati from the ceiling.

Here's a picture of myself, presenting. With lots of hand gestures.

A pdf. documenting the entire process can be downloaded by clicking here.

In addition, I've also designed a Russian Constructivist inspired poster that roughly outlines my grand proposal - the multiple module, open-ended camera device.

Posted by scribblepop at 03:39 AM| Comments (0)

Multifocal Camera Fiction: My Progress, Pt 1

December 05, 2006

After the documentary made in Boston, I took the Multifocal Camera device in a slightly more creatively abusive direction and made a fictional narrative with the same device. In a nutshell, the film, tentatively titled "Inside the ___ Mind of a ___ Man," tells the story of a man's walk home at night. I called the man Marley, but there's really no way of referencing that during the film. During his walk, he becomes disturbed by something he sees. He hears screams, gunshots, that may or may not be there.

The work is present in both third-person and first-person POV's. While the third-person actions are projected in cinematic 2.35:1 format on one side of the projection screen, the first-person POV is projected onto the flipside of the screen, interchanging between a calm reality and a schizophrenic and horrific illusion (or maybe not illusional?). I storyboarded all three narratives so that they would synch up in real time, and made a MAX/JITTER patch to allow webcam enabled motion detecting. When viewed from some distance away, the first-person shows the schizophrenic reality, but with a closer look, that reality fades away and becomes unapparent. My purpose is to make the credibility of either reality as ambiguous as possible, and to let the separation between the third-person action and the mind's eye force the audience to interpret the stories, which is rather challenging to understand on their own.

Here's a screengrab of my MAX patch in the works...before it finally worked:

Here are some of my storyboards:

Here are two screencaps of the third person portion of the narrative (click to see them in their NTSC dimensional wonder):

Posted by scribblepop at 12:13 PM| Comments (0)

Media Mashup: Two Towers

November 30, 2006

After Douglas Kahn came to speak at our lecture series, I did the following media cut-up for an assignment. It's pretty self-explanatory, basically the expression of a alternative opinion towards prevalent issues through the reshuffling of media in any form. Trailer re-edits are popular at the moment, and I need an excuse to play around with Final Cut.

I took the tracks used for the Two Towers trailer, spliced them according to the real trailer, sans dialogue.

Here are the trailers/footage I used to reconstruct the trailer:

Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
The Fog of War
Black Hawk Down
Apocalypse Now
Hotel Rwanda
Flag of Our Fathers
Farenheit 911
The Assasination of the President
Saving Private Ryan
Blood Diamond
Constant Gardner
Deep Impact
...and more

I've also incorprated YouTube video clips and Google Videos

Posted by scribblepop at 04:04 PM| Comments (1)

"Saturday Pictures" Dailies, Pt 1

October 15, 2006

A film I shot this summer, tentatively titled "Saturday Pictures," directed by my friend Ben Campbell, finally got its dailies transferred.

He put together a 5 minute long sequence of snippets from the first 3 days of the shoot...the amount of dailies totalled something ridiculous for a film its length. But, check this out.

In addition to this, we also shot in a supermarket and house, those will come later.

Posted by scribblepop at 09:31 PM| Comments (0)

The Collector

September 15, 2006

Director/Editor: Emily Sheskin
DP: Serena Kuo
July 2003
DV, color
Made for NYU Tisch School of the Arts, Sight & Sound Video (documentary)

Posted by scribblepop at 10:22 PM| Comments (0)

Window Seat

Director/Writer/Editor: Serena Kuo
DP: Emily Sheskin
November 2004
DV, color
Language: Czech
Made for FAMU, Prague, CZ

Posted by scribblepop at 10:21 PM| Comments (0)

Psycho's Break

Director/DP/Writer/Editor: Serena Kuo
July 2003
16mm, asychronous film, black & white
Made for NYU Tisch School of the Arts, Sight & Sound Film

Posted by scribblepop at 10:20 PM| Comments (0)

Three Course Meal: Pt 1

Director/DP/Writer/Editor: Serena Kuo
July 2003
16mm, asychronous film, black & white
Made for NYU Tisch School of the Arts, Sight & Sound Film

Posted by scribblepop at 10:18 PM| Comments (0)

The Perfect Dawn

Director/DP/Writer/Editor: Serena Kuo
July 2002
16mm, asychronous film, black & white
Made for NYFA, London, UK

Posted by scribblepop at 10:16 PM| Comments (0)

Harmony in Discord

Director: Emily Sheskin
DP: Serena Kuo
Co-edited by Emily Sheskin & Serena Kuo
Nov 2004
DV, color
Made for NYU Tisch School of the Arts, Sight & Sound Video (documentary)

Posted by scribblepop at 10:14 PM| Comments (0)

You Broke the Magic

Director/Editor/SFX: Benjamin Cox
DP: Serena Kuo
November 2005
DV, color, music video
Made for Julie Feeney

Posted by scribblepop at 10:11 PM| Comments (0)

Tongue-Tied

Director/Editor/Writer: Emily Sheskin
DP: Serena Kuo
October 2004
35mm, asychronous film, color
Made for FAMU, Prague, CZ

Posted by scribblepop at 10:09 PM| Comments (0)

The Definition of a Nerd

DP/Editor: Serena Kuo
November 2003
DV, color
Made for NYU Tisch School of the Arts, Sight & Sound Video (Documentary)

Posted by scribblepop at 10:05 PM| Comments (0)

The Tenants

Director/DP/Editor: Serena Kuo
Co-writers: Serena Kuo, Brian Ronaghan, Emily Sheskin
May 2003
DV with 35mm lens conversion, color
Made for senior independent project, NYU Tisch School of the Arts

Posted by scribblepop at 10:04 PM| Comments (0)

Transformatto: Stranger Days

Director/DP/Writer/Editor: Serena Kuo
May 2003
DV, asychronous sound, color + black & white
Made for USC Cinema/Television Production, CTR 290

Posted by scribblepop at 10:02 PM| Comments (0)

Four Corners

Director/DP/Writer/Editor: Serena Kuo
Original Soundtrack Composed & Performed by Serena Kuo
March 2003
DV, asychronous sound, Color
Made for USC Cinema/Television Production, CTR 290

Posted by scribblepop at 09:57 PM| Comments (0)

Three-Course Meal: Pt 2

Director/DP/Writer/Editor: Serena Kuo
July 2003
16mm asynchronous film, black & white
Made for NYU Tisch School of the Arts, Sight & Sound Film

Posted by scribblepop at 06:42 PM| Comments (0)