Y.Q Project proposal

First Draft

1/ What do you want to make?

This work will be presented in the form of video. I hope the structure of this video is experimental, non-linear narrative, interspersed with performances,2nd-hand archives. ▶[describe this better]

"XXXX" is a continuation project after my first video "Improvisation". It’s a further discussion about the current online environment in China (online identity disguise, the gradual dissolution of reality, the erratic history, and the invisible interference of political tactics) raised in the previous work. "XXXX" will use several characters (3 or 4) extracted from social space to narrate the main part of the work.(I will let them talk in their own space, maybe home, studio…and the space won’t be overlapped) The characters themselves represent virtual units, or "skins". ▶[Are they real actors or normal PPl] When the characters' voices run through the entire video work, it is the so-called "ontology" and the consciousness under the "skin" that stimulates the audience to reflect. They contain the consciousness and at the same time act as the disguises for the consciousness, providing it with a safe “abode”. I hope these actors can share their own experiences and stories, I will give all the improv part to the actors, and based on their stories, I may collect some video archives and second-hand materials ▶[Where do you want collect these?]to support. I want the narration and the film to be separated.I hope these different stories can be separated from these actors and become a resonance.

2/ How do you plan to make it?

I would like to start with the stories or personal experiences shared by my friends and then I film and edit. After that, I will look for some relevant materials according to the story: text, video archives, news reports, etc. as support.

3/ What is your timetable? Oct-Nov Filming and Editing Nov-Dec Collecting and Writing Feb Final Editing, Colour Grading…

4/ Why do you want to make it?

I think this is a topic that is rarely discussed in China,This current online environment has made me lose many “channels” to understand the status quo of society, such as topics about the LGBTQ community and discussions about political and economic topics. I hope that through this video, I can express a state of isolation and helplessness when I faced with this situation, just like what I want to show in this film, I will isolate all the actors, they seem to be talking to themselves. That will show a feeling of loneliness and isolation. Of course, I am also paying attention to the politically intervention on social media, such as the fake news sent by the government to appease the masses. The online platform undoubtedly provides the best ways of disguise. This is also a point I hope to present directly in my works. By separating the sound and the image, I hope to make a hint to let the audience reflect on these sounds, whether the consciousness really comes from these actors, or these actors are just some "puppets", these consciousness does not come from them, I hope to express this kind of alienation of people, and the uncertainty brought about by online platforms, everyone in the digital community may become such a puppet, and under these skins, is the carnival of consciousness.

5/ Who can help you and how?

If I faced with some technical problems, such as editing, colour grading,3D models, I will find Barend. And maybe Simon could help with the structure of the script and film. And I think Rossella shared with me the film made by Agnès Varda, in her film, she only show a single photo, and she recounted a lot about her feelings about the photo in the narration. Maybe I also need to give some explanation about the video archives? ▶[ different perspective on the same events, based on point of view (for example European archive, Chinese archive, American archive, etc)]

6/ Relation to previous practice

This work is a continuation of my first video, and I hope to give some further discussions that are closer to reality, rather than just stop at theoretical research and personal research. I might add some visual elements from the first video to this work.I've been following this topic for a while, so I'm hoping to do some more in-depth and comprehensive research this semester.

7/ Relation to a larger context

I was thinking and trying to study the reasons behind this phenomenon, what caused this phenomenon to happen in China. That must related to the political or historical background in China, for example, after the Tiananmen Square Protests in 1989, (students called for greater accountability, constitutional due process, democracy, freedom of the press, and freedom of speech in this protest.)normal people gradually lost their voices in political participation due to the failure of this protest. From this large-scale social movement to the present, whether this act of restricting freedom of speech has been deepening. So I may do some research on this, and it would be helpful for me to better understand the current state. And I think this historical background can also be added to the film, because I prefer my actors(interviewees) are in different ages like 60s, 70s, 80s,90s.

8/ References/bibliography

The Medium is the Message - Marshall McLuhan\ Quentin Fiore

Living Bodies of Thought: The “Critical” in Critical Autoethnography - Stacy Holman Jones (not for thesis, only for creative method)

Duty Free Art - Hito Steyerl

Truth (How the Many Sides to Every Story Shape Our Reality) - Hector Macdonald

Im Schwarm: Ansichten des Digitalen - Byung- Chul Han

Recommendations :

Jonas Mekas  https://www.humboldtbooks.com/en/book/transcript-04-44-14-lithuania-and-the-collapse-of-the-ussr

Federica Zotti https://phroomplatform.com/federica-zotti/

Second Draft

INTRO

When you look at the screen while rubbing your eyes, you experience subtle visual differences, perceived weightlessness, and déjà vu in the blink of an eye due to the turbulence caused by the dimension switching. No matter where you turn in life, you cannot avoid staring at the screen. Entering the virtual world is as common as eating and sleeping. Scenes and situations replaced by screens and networks, and all events, controversy, disasters in these virtual spaces are no longer transcended, only an ever-expanding surface, which has become smooth and fragile under the pulling of countless disguised figures and consciousnesses. The world built across the screen keeps bringing back the impulse of imagination and emotion to the origin. How do we understand our new identities? How will we define the real and the virtual? Can your virtual identity represent a real position? How can we find a crack in this smooth and fragile surface to escape?

1/ What do you want to make?

This work will be presented in the form of video. The issue I would like to discuss in this video is mainly about identity disguise in virtual space. The main storyline is based on a real story shared by my friend which is about her experience of using dating app to chat with strangers. For example, the information leakage caused by some functions of the dating app, and the feeling of discomfort when facing the unknown identity of the others, the unknown event, and finally my friend dreamed about something related to this experience, whether it has invaded the consciousness , and affect real life. I'll find some actors to recreate this story. Since the story took place entirely in a virtual space, I hoped that the footage of the actors’ performance could be separated from the soundtrack. I organized this oral experience into a complete text, including all the dialogues and descriptions about the dream, which I hope the entire text can be read and add it to the video as a narration. There are also some real issues mentioned in this story, like they discussed about the air pollution, living environment, etc. in the chat, so I am also thinking about inviting some other people to participate as commentators on these topics or bystanders to this story, discuss these topics based on their own experience, to bring the story itself into a broader context.

2/ How do you plan to make it?

I will first make some props for the shooting, look for actors, shooting locations. Then I will shoot some materials. Then I think I will show the others I would like to invite about this story, and collect their opinions towards the story and the real issues raised in it. Then let them talk about the opinions in front of the camera.

3/ What is your timetable?

Oct-Nov Props making, find actors, shooting locations and make a storyboard

Dec-Feb Shoot some materials, editing, collecting the commentators’ opinions and shoot

Mar-April Final editing and colour grading, sound editing

4/ why do you want to make it?

I think I have focused on this topic for a long time and kept doing research on it, I hope through this video I can express a state of isolation and uncertainty also some confusion when I faced with this situation, like Is the person I'm chatting with absolutely real? Am I actively revealing my identity? Can the others “spy” on my behaviour through the vulnerability of these software? By separating the sound and the moving image, I hope to make a hint to let the audience reflect on these sounds, whether the consciousness really comes from these actors, or these actors are just some "puppets", these consciousness does not come from them, I hope to express this kind of alienation of people, and the uncertainty brought about by online platforms, everyone in the digital community may become such a puppet, and under these skins, is the carnival of consciousness.

5/ Who can help you and how?

If I faced with some technical problems, such as editing, colour grading, I will find Barend. And maybe Simon, David and One could help with the structure of the script and film. And I think Rossella shared with me the film made by Agnès Varda, in her film, she only show a single photo, and she recounted a lot about her feelings about the photo in the narration. So maybe we could talked about the narration part.

6/ Relation to previous practice

This work is a continuation of my first video, and I hope to choose only one point from the previous research and give some further discussions. Maybe I can add some visual elements from the first video to this work. I've been following this topic for a while, so I'm hoping to do some more in-depth and comprehensive research this semester.

7/ Relation to a larger context

Some discussions of real-world issues are mentioned in this story. Such as air pollution, information leakage and surveillance in social software. I hope that I can use these realities to discuss the surveillance of online platforms, as well as the public opinion intervention and guidance by political propaganda using the ambiguity of virtual identities. Just like Hito mentioned in the article”Proxy Politics”, the highly efficient programmed bots to randomly deliver political messages to their users.These bot-operated accounts randomly select celebrities’ portraits and self-introductions as their own profiles.

8/ References/bibliography

The Medium is the Message - Marshall McLuhan\ Quentin Fiore

Living Bodies of Thought: The “Critical” in Critical Autoethnography - Stacy Holman Jones

Duty Free Art - Hito Steyerl

Truth (How the Many Sides to Every Story Shape Our Reality) - Hector Macdonald

Im Schwarm: Ansichten des Digitalen - Byung- Chul Han (in Chinese version)

You and Your Profile - Hans-Georg Moeller&Paul J.D'Ambrosio