Zhibin:Text on Method

Introduction

Before this master, my works were mainly related to the graphic design and communication design, the research methods I built up are more about transferring ideas or stories into images or visual material. Designing the CIS (corporate identity system) for different companies as commercial projects offered me lots of experiences on this skill and it helps me to go further on trying different possibilities of visualization methods. Collecting all kinds of information related to the research and generate them into a whole new story was my major practice .

I want to further this skill and method in my master in PZI. Therefore, all my works during the semester 2017-2018 are mainly related to two aspects, One part is about the narrative skill training, another is about camera skills improving. Due to the feedback from different tutors and audiences about my previous works, Currently my priority on research method practice is about learning on how to make films with minimal narrative. structuring a clear story in words instead of making strong visual material by cameras only , I am planning to watch some related films, like The Duellist, Easy Rider and Stakller, analyze these storylines and write a simple script based on them, eventually make a clear narrative film.

Current practice

Slow in Firenze
Rome

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fl3-VgHdF4c&list=PLlGUzclkWY9_aHOh549gILOjxuw0UY7Px

During the most of time in last year, I was trying to figure out how to make a narrative film from different aspects, even though I got lost during the filmmaking process very often but I am still trying different methods of filmmaking. Currently, I am fascinated by the idea of identifying the well-known cities from my own perspective. I went to Italy to make films for 5 days without scripts and travel plans, I choose Firenze and Rome as my destinations, despite all the impressions I had from the book or social media about these cities, I start looking for my own story.

This project is very interesting and relaxing when I do not need to worry about the storyline, I have more energy and passion to focus on the camera effects ,the details of the image, the color of each frame, the emotions of the whole film etc. The script is formed after I came back from Italy .

From my own perspective, Slow In Firenze is a beautiful film with strong emotions, it represents my feeling when I was in the cold and humid Firenze for 2 days, it is a bit of sad but also full of hope. However, from the feedbacks of tutors, they also think it is a beautiful film, but the content is not well organized, it did not take the audience to anywhere eventually, since there is no storyline for people to follow, the film looks like nothing but some beautifully made moving images. Generally speaking, storyline is the life of films, no matter the length, and the complexity of it, I cannot ignore the importance of narrative skill, a story could be simple but must be well organized.

My respond to The Air Addiction Project

The Air Addiction: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlGUzclkWY98QJFt_8HSljjbigB0srCqN

The Air Addiction is a series of videos about the smog issue in China. The videos were created in 2016. This project is based on my personal experience of living in smog for years and it is a red alert for all Chinese people, the government and environmental protection agencies that we have to implement strict regulations and address this issue as soon as possible. The project includes three parts. The first part named Holding breath, tells my panic and helpless reaction When I first realized the danger of inhaling the particulate matter. I lock myself at home and practice the length of holding breath because I do not know how to avoid inhale polluted air. The second part is called Protection, which describes my daily routine with different types of protective face mask after living in the smog for a year. I feel more depressed and sad instead of fear and panic, it seems like I surrendered. The last part is an imagnation of my future life called Illusion. Breathing easily could be a luxury consumption, like taking drugs, if the smog keeps blanketing the whole country, it creates hallucination and makes people get addicted. All videos are shot in heavy smoggy days in Hubei and Hunan provinces during October and November in 2016, there is no image that has been edited by any special effect.

I have different perspective and ideas when I look at those videos now, my emotions were complex and Multilayered, my camera skills were fancy and flexible, but the main point of the movie is not strong, since those camera tricks and editing skills are overwhelming . From the conversation with the tutor David, he mentioned that the image I shot is very beautiful, even one frame of the video is good enough to tell the story, but the way I mixed them is confusing and overloaded, I was focusing more on the effects but missed the main purpose of the air pollution, the fear of people and the worries form myself. So, I am trying to go through all footages from 2 years ago, and edit a new version of the Air Addiction.

Relations to my previous works

I am planning to make a documentary about Chinese mainlanders who are currently living in a good life in Holland, the way they fulfil their dreams and their attitude towards their current lives, especially compare the time in China. I am curious about how do they deal with the balance of two different culture and how much will they adopt into this society. There are 4 people in my list now, who are in different ages and come from different background, none of them knows about this documentary yet, and I am also not sure if they want to join this project, but what I am doing now is observing their daily life through social media, like Wechat (the Chinese main online social app), see their posts and respond to some of them. Observing them can help me to get familiar with their rhythm and personalities, then I know what should I focus on each one of them when I start filming.

My previous works are constantly relying on the camera skills and video effect editing. The main point of the story is either missing or fading away during the editing process. I am obsessed by the camera skills, meanwhile, confused by the philosophy of visual language. For example, the first video project I made, the a a, I shot it with my phone and a small camera, even though the image quality is not too good, but the efforts I put on the editing is outstanding. However, these works did not create an outstanding story line, it did not achieve my original purpose.