Assignment 1: Temporal Identity

Assignment 1, Reflection

1. Tagline:

The tagline for my Temporal Identity piece is “

Saigon - After rain comes sunshine”.

In my opinion, this idiom is best to remind the audience about

Saigon which is famous by its two seasons, rain and dry. Another reason is that I am an nostalgic person, so using the old name of Ho Chi Minh city, Saigon, following by an old phrase “after rain comes sunshine” would be totally appropriate. As a result, the nostalgia is chosen as the main feeling throughout the clip.

2. Contribution of the motion:

Motion plays an important role in forming the visual aesthetic of the piece. It is supposed to be smooth and calm as the nostalgia theme is chosen. The speed of motion is slow overall, it is increased slightly as well as the number of materials used. It represents how the identity of a person change day after day as well as the experiences achieved. From 1:07 to 1:14, many photos are flashed in to create the feeling of how fast life has changed as time elapsed. The speed is slow down at the end of the clip to give the feeling of the thing that does not change, like the sun rises and sets everyday.

3. Contribution of the composition

The composition was adjusted strictly in order to create the nostalgic theme. Most of the photos are old. Gentle voice recorded is play on the background of soft music. Text is used to help the audience follow the narrative voice and make the “slide show” less monotonous. The sound effect is exploited effectively from the raining footage and the war extracted movies. It give a stronger feeling, in compare with a rain photo or a war photo, of how heavy the rain is in

Saigon as well as the destructive “fire and sword” situation during the war. As the tagline is “after rain comes sunshine”, there is one raining scene appear at the beginning of the Identity piece and repeat at the end, and a sunrise scene was placed just before the clip finish.

4. Target audience

The target audience would be people who want to know about where I am from and by which culture I am influenced. My family and friends are also included because on different level, they contribute in forming my identity. To be honest, the clip could have an appeal to people who is interested in the history of Saigon-Ho Chi Minh city. However, that is not what I aim to do as my work is not a traveling advertisement. I did not really talk about Saigon in the real world but actually

Saigon in my mind.

After Effect Techniques

There is no complex technique employed in After Effect to create this piece of work. I mainly use the opacity adjustment to make the layers fade in and out. Blending mode is used for the documentary movie. Mask is applied to create the boundary of the war movie, and the way my name appear at the ending scene. However, it seems to be boring with all these flat images and 2D animation so I add a lighting layer to make it looks more interesting. I did not use any camera movement as it is unnecessary.

Reference list for Assignment 1:

1. Photos:

Many thanks to:

Henry Bechtold for the photos and postcards of

Saigon, old and now. http://www.henrybechtold.com/Postcards/Postcards.html

(accessed September 2nd, 2008)

Documentary Library.

http://baigiang.bachkim.vn/

(accessed September 9th, 2008)

and Nguyen, Thanh Hai (my father) for all the family photos.

2. Footage:

Thank you Youtube.

(accessed September 9th, 2008)

Apocalypse Now: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHjWDCX1Bdw

Napalm: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ev2dEqrN4i0

Saigon rain: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fehW3z4sqw

3. Soundtracks:

Hello Vietnam by Pham Quynh Anh: http://music.yeucahat.com/song/English/36612-Hello-Vietnam~Pham-Quynh-Anh.html

(accessed September 2nd, 2008)

Dreams by The Cranberries: http://www.paradise-engineering.com/quotation/dreams.html

(accessed September 3rd, 2008)

AND HERE IS THE FINAL WORK!!! Ta ra…. ENJOY