Assignment 2

Approach/Initial Thought Process:

This was a rather fun assignment and on first glance, it did not seem as daunting as Assignment 1. My approach here was to incorporate as many photography techniques learnt in class (from week 5's lecture) to make the images in my storyboard as diverse and exciting as possible.

Original Storyboard and Sketch:

The storyboard showcases a beginner trader's learning process in the world of trading. Despite its portrayal as a quick way to get rich in movies and online forums like Reddit, there is much pain, trial, and error involved before one becomes successful at it. 

Scene 1 shows myself watching the news about how COVID-related fears are being mitigated, leading to a general recovery of the economy and rise in stock prices.

The next few scenes show myself going to the library to learn how to trade with the use of a self-help book. Unfortunately, I soon realize that it is not as easy as it seems and I end up raking up lots of losses immediately. 

Frustrated, sad, but not demoralized, I go back to the drawing board. I return to the library and borrow even more materials in an attempt to get better at trading. The storyboard ends with a shot of me hunched over whatever resources I can get my hands on.  

Scene 1: Over-the-shoulder view to show myself processing the recovery of the economy and the rise in stock prices

Scene 2: Long shot to show myself looking for books in the library

Scene 3: Close-up shot to reveal myself reading a self-help book to improve my financial literacy and increase my chances of making money in the stock market

Scene 4: Canted angle to illustrate my pains and despair while trading

Scene 5: Eye-level shot of my "trading account" that shows my immense losses

Scene 6: Reaction shot to capture my pain and sadness due to my incompetence at trading

Scene 7: Relatively longer shot to show myself and others entering the library

Scene 8: Another long shot to illustrate the vast number of books for me to choose from

Scene 9: Overhead shot to give an all-encompassing angle of all the new materials I am reading, signaling my intention to keep learning 

Critique:

I was quite relieved that there was not much critique regarding the flow of the story. However, I was advised to change some of the photos taken. 

Firstly, I was advised to reduce the text used in my storyboard, more specifically, in scenes 1 (news scene) and 3 (reading scene). Thus, I would have to find a way to get my message across in a different way, be it through using more gestures or even icons and emojis. 

Next, according to our TA, the picture used in scene 6 was too pixelated, so I had to retake it to improve the resolution. Lastly, a comment was made about keeping the brightness and lighting consistent across the board. Thus, I kept these suggestions in mind when making the revised version.

It should also be noted that my classmate suggested to move all the library and reading scenes to after scene 5 (i.e. I only start reading up after making losses). I contemplated making this change for some time, though I eventually decided against it. This is because I wanted to portray trading as something that requires endless rounds of learning, and is not something that you will be successful at on your first try. I also wanted to get the message across to audiences that I do not dive head-first into something without at least doing some research first. 

Changes made in between:

Scene 1:

The issue with scene was that I used text to let audiences know that the economy was recovering. To rectify this, I replaced the image of myself watching the news to one of myself simply looking at a graph of stock prices increasing. 

After making the change, I appreciate why our TA made this suggestion - it retains the message of the scene but also makes it easier for one to get his message across to audiences without necessarily having to use text. Images allow for much faster communication of messages, provided the right image is chosen in the given scenario. 

Scene 3:

Similar to scene 1, I had to reduce the reliance on text ("How to Make Money in Stocks") to get my message across to audiences. 

Hence, my plan was to instead hold up a book that had minimal words and just graphics on the cover. Unfortunately, I did not have a book with a text-less cover to recreate this scene. 

To overcome that problem, I resorted to using some tools within Illustrator to create a simple emoji that could still let audiences know that I was reading a finance-related book. Below are the steps involved in making the emoji.

Step 1: Find the "ellipse tool"...

Step 2: ...and use it to create a circle

Step 3: Using the "type tool"...

Step 4: ...click on the circle created so that the text fills the circle

Step 5: Centre-align the text (horizontally and vertically) so that the "$" typed falls in the centre of the circle

Step 6: Emoji complete!

Scene 6:

The resolution of the original picture was too low, making the image appear very pixelated compared to other pictures in my storyboard. To fix this, I simply recreated my original picture but used my phone's rear camera instead of the front one. 

Since it was a self-timed shot, I had minimal control over the composition. Nevertheless, I was able to fix this using the crop tool in Illustrator, as seen below.

Original (revised) photo for scene 6

I double clicked the image and selected "Crop Image"

Cropping in progress...

Click "Apply"

Final image!

Additional Tools/Features Used:

Using (locked) layers aided my workflow as it enabled me to separate each scene, as well as avoid any unwanted edits to images.

Final Storyboard:

Rejected Pictures:

Commentary and Reflection:

The new storyboard has definitely improved after the critique session as it incorporates more visual elements and less text to get the same message across to viewers. This is crucial because if the text is too small to be read or poor image quality affects the text's legibility, some meaning in the story may be lost, especially if the text played a key role in letting viewers understand the flow of events. 

Additionally, just like how we are encouraged to reduce the amount of text in PowerPoint presentations, I feel that having less text generally makes the work easier on the eye and allows for a more pleasant viewing experience. 

Furthermore, by replacing the original dark and grainy images to ones of a better quality, it served to raise the level of the work by making all the images on the storyboard more consistent. 

Overall, I learnt from this assignment how to communicate an idea and tell a story with the use of visuals. Being a business student who usually tells stories with numbers and financial analysis, telling a story through a storyboard was a completely new experience for me. While this task could perhaps be similar to curating an Instagram feed to fit an overall theme, this assignment was still interesting and unique for me because unlike photos on an Instagram feed, these photos in a storyboard have to flow and communicate a story using a limited number of images. It was challenging to find a story short enough for me to tell and for viewers to understand in just 6-9 images. Nonetheless, I am glad that I managed to overcome that challenge of being concise yet understood.

Another takeaway from this assignment was definitely a new found appreciation for the whole storyboarding to final production process. This was a short assignment, yet so much thought and effort went into planning and executing each frame. I cannot imagine the amount of work professional movie producers have on their hands, and going forward, I will definitely pay more attention to the scenes, angles and composition of frames in films that I watch and images that I see.   

Finally, I am glad that I am starting to get more adept with using Illustrator. In the beginning, everything was difficult for me - even creating a text box was daunting and confusing! However, given that this assignment required a relatively heavier use of the software, I had more practice and I can safely say that I am getting the hang of it. Hopefully, I get even faster and more efficient in the weeks to come!