TokyoKyoto

I have never been an overly savvy person when it comes to wires and circuits. I have never even attempted building a circuit before, and was absolutely terrified of electrocuting myself or starting a fire. (Fortunately, neither happened.)

For this assignment, I wanted to stick with the basic motor and switch circuit. I wanted a box and to make something spin that you could easily turn on and off. Trying to come up with an idea that I could use in a theme throughout this course, I chose to take inspiration from my recent trip to Japan and create two contrasting halves. The box itself is covered with photographs of a modern Tokyo. Skyscrapers, arcades, electronics, the (incredibly efficient) subway, and cityscapes. The wires, battery, and motor were hidden inside the box, with only the switch sticking out. The top is taken from a handmade hair ornament popular with the geisha of Kyoto, a far more traditional and relaxed city. Hanakanzashi are starched and folded pieces of fabric that create flowers and leaves and are worn in Maiko's hair to represent the different seasons.

While the sewing of these flowers and leaves was the least difficult, attaching them to something that would latter attach itself to the motor and spin, was perhaps the hardest thing to accomplish. I have little skill in building, except for the standard tape, scissors, glue, and string. All rather primitive. This forced me to enlist my father, self proclaimed building expert, to come up with an idea on how to fit everything together.

In the end I believe it all came together rather well, and I am happy with the outcome. Though perhaps in the future I will expand my knowledge of building material.

Frittata

For my video project, I wanted to keep things simplistic, with no over-the-top performance aspect and while playing with a shallow depth of field. I decided to borrow the Nikon D90 from my work, and while my intention was to also borrow a macro lens, unfortunately we didn’t have one in stock. So my first setback was having to use a kit lens, where the f-stop could only go to 3.5.

Working around that, I did my best to figure out this new camera’s settings and video options in the short amount of time I had it, deciding to leave it on aperture priority as I filmed. Another difficulty was getting used to a different brand’s focus ring, which Nikon has conveniently placed in a different spot compared to the Sony I am so used to handling. (My Sony that I would have used, had it come with a video setting.) Also, having to manually focus while filming and not being able to use the viewfinder became tedious at times, and there are a few shots where I wasn’t able to focus on what I wanted or hold the camera perfectly straight or steady.

The cuts between scenes were also a lesson learned while putting the different shots together. I realized that I had to think about how each scene could flow into each other instead of randomly cutting from one image to the next. Used to photography and still images, flow is something I rarely think about, and finally trying my hand at video, this was something entirely new and different.

As for the Dean Martin song I chose to accompany the video, I chose it for its kitschy and old school Italian feel. Cooking with bright, fresh foods always reminds me of Italy, and food and Italy always make me think Dean Martin. The song is feel-good and not too serious, which I like.

I’m rather pleased with the outcome. It portrays the feeling I wish to get across; a homey, casual but fun feeling, of simply cooking and putting a meal together. I also feel like I learned a lot and enjoyed working on this project.