Creative Writing Annotation

The dialogue explores the contrasting perspectives of two friends, Iris, a romantic idealist, and Emma, a rational scientist, as they discuss the topic about spirit and science around crystal bracelets. This work aims to explore how do people look for emotional fulfillment through crystals, and at the same time to reveal how spiritual symbols are commercialized in the consumer society. Iris regards crystal as the carrier of “soul archaeology”, she thinks that crystals have magical effect (such as amethyst from Bangkok’s night market or citrine discovered by archaeologists), while Emma tries to explain their meaning using scientific arguments (“Correlation doesn’t equal to causation”). And they finally made an agreement based on (“Beautiful things are always charming”), which reflects the subtle symbiosis of rationality and sensibility.

Advantages:

  1. The characters in the dialogue are vividly portrayed, showcasing a stark contrast in their personalities;
  2. The work incorporates some literary and cinematic allusions to deepen the theme. For example, “It’s archaeology for the soul.” This sentence is a reference to poet Mary Oliver’s famous quote —— “Poetry is the archaeology of the soul.” Moreover, the phrase “Beautiful things are always fascinating.” is a reference to Wilde’s “All beautiful things are merely traps” from The Picture of Dorian Gray.

Suggestions for improvement:

  1. Expand the description of Iris’s fascination with crystals to increase the emotional depth of character, make sure the personality of character is rich;
  2. The change of Emma’s thought can lead to more sensory details, such as description about how she feels when she touch a crystal, making her shift from rationality to sentiment more reliable.

Audio Annotation

This conversation shows that AlUla is a very meaningful travel destination. Through this dialogue, I want to convey the idea that travel is not only a landscape exploration, but also a cultural and spiritual experience.

While recording, I used the mobile phone’s built-in recording software to record, because the sound quality is clear and it is very convenient to use;  I used Audacity to remove background noise and speed up the dialogue when editing. The advantage of this is that it’s easy to use, but phone recording can produce some white noise which needs to be repaired later. The reason I didn’t use background music is that I felt this conversation shouldn’t be embellished with music because it’s a conversation between friends.

Moreover, I think this kind of dialogue between friends is very intimate, but it lacks a sense of authenticity. For example, I express my opinion most of the time, and I think some interactive questions or conflicting opinions can be added later to deepen the topic. Also, the lack of sound effects (e.g. background noise in a cafe, etc.) reduces the immersion of the scene, so I think adding a moderate layer of sound effects can improve the narrative dimension. And it would make more sense to finish with some travelling tips.

Video Annotation

The theme of this video is “the psychological state of indecision during late-night wakefulness.” It aims to show the psychological state of people who are indecisive at night even though they cannot sleep. The night should be a time of rest, but we often fall into a state of dissociation —we don’t want to do anything, and we can’t fall asleep. This paradoxical psychological experience is particularly common these days, especially when we are faced with stress, anxiety or habitual night-time routines.

For the background music, I chose “Rainy Saturday Coffee Break” by Ōhashi Junko. This song has a calm feeling that contrasts with the mental state of those who stay up late, thereby this makes a contrast with the audience’s sense of depression，and this kind of feeling allow them to easily empathize with the character’s emotions.

In terms of shooting, I use many close-up and medium close-up shots because this can effectively convey the character’s emotions. Additionally, I incorporated acceleration effects in certain scenes while editing, to better illustrate the anxiety associated with insomnia. For future improvements, I think it would be good to explore the effects of different lighting techniques that could further enhance the depiction of the character’s emotional state through the visual ambience.

Web Content Creation Annotation

Mood Board

  1. AlUla MoodBoard:

This design is inspired by the landscape photographer Thomas Heaton, he has many pictures of rocks worth referring to, especially his use of colours. The colours of the images perfectly reflect the natural tones of the desert, with gradients from light beige to dark brown, reflecting the desert from dawn to dusk. The cosy feeling is reflected in the surroundings and the harmonious integration of the building with the natural rock. The work shows that the connection between comfortable spaces and extreme environments. Moreover, while editing the photos, can increase the contrast to highlight the unique “cosy” of the desert.

  1. Argolis MoodBoard:

The design of this moodboard is inspired by the work style of Greek architect Dimitris Pikionis. The palette uses a classic Greek blue-white colour scheme, complemented by olive green and lime white, which encapsulate the iconic hues of the Aegean region. The use of cool tones not only conveys a sense of sanctity but also harmonizes with the surrounding mountainous and maritime landscapes. This composition evokes a Mediterranean holiday ambiance. Additionally, incorporating nighttime photographs would effectively illustrate the change of atmosphere at different times of the day.

  1. Hobbiton MoodBoard

This moodboard is inspired by the film The Hobbit. The colour palette is dominated by natural green, with warm brown tones, which reflects the hobbits’ concept of living in harmony with nature. The use of warm colours makes the whole picture more cosy, while green symbolizes vitality. The fairytale like architectural style and some home details (the garden in front of the door, the cutlery on the terrace, etc.) which emphasis the cosy feeling of the moodboard. However, more photos of interior scenes can be added later to show more details of the home to emphasis the main idea.