SHEE WON PARK
WHO
I AM
ARTIST STATEMENT
Media has never failed to captivate me. I have always engaged in learning through creative methods and knew from a young age that I would one day enter into a creative industry. While experimenting with graphic design and photography, it was at the age of 14 when I realised that I realised that one of my greatest passions and interests, film, could be a tangible career. I have since been focusing on videography, all the while continuing to engage in different artistic endeavours.
film & videography
This is a short documentary that I created as part of a personal project. The reason I decided to create this was because after growing up around the vibrant and colourful culture of Hong Kong, I wanted to be able to capture a small piece and keep it with me, especially due to the fact that I will most probably be leaving the city in the near future. Because Dai Pai Dong is an industry that is slowly disappearing I thought it was also a good opportunity to create a film about it and celebrate Hong Kong's tradition.
I wanted to create an experience that would be as real as possible for the people who would watch my film, as close to the action as possible. Therefore, I included several close ups capturing the routine of the owners and focused on their work.
One dilemma I was faced with was the sound. I had planned on setting up the interviews outside of the kitchen where the sound would be a lot cleaner. However, upon arriving I saw that they were obviously extremely busy and I didn't want to impose any more than I already had. I decided to sacrifice better sound for a more candid and natural approach. I told them we could hold the interview in the kitchen and that she could continue preparing meals. Although in terms of technicality, the sound isn't stellar, I'm really happy with the outcome.
This project, lead me to one of our School's Alumni, Lindsay Varty, an author of the book Sunset Survivors, which is about the dying industries in Hong Kong. I am now collaborating with her in order to create a set of videos based on her book.
process
I created this advertisement in this style because I wanted to create an advert that was more subtle. Rather than creating an advert simply offering statistics (although that can be very effective) or simply have someone talking to the camera about their experiences, I created an advertisement that would enable people to see what depression can be like for themselves.
When creating this advert I was aware that everyone suffers from depression differently. I decided to document someone who was silently suffering and putting up a facade when they were with people they cared about to raise awareness on the fact that there are different kinds of depression and that it can manifest in different ways. I tried to make the shots during the school day to look seamless in order to create the sense that her day goes in a blur as well as make the cut to her alone in the bathroom more noticeable and therefore emphasise that scene.
I debated between making the advertisement's editing a bit tighter but decided against it because I wanted to create a slight bit of tedium, which the person who is suffering can often also feel.
This is the first piece of work I created during the BTEC course. The video was for a task that basically instructed us to create an advertisement promoting ourselves. Our teacher placed emphasis on the fact that we could interpret the task in any way we wanted to.
Although I was a bit worried that my idea wouldn't fit the codes and conventions of an advertisement, I decided to go the more stylistic route rather than something similar to a talking heads advertisement.
The way that I marketed this "advertisement" was that I was advertising myself through the way I see the world. Majority of the video was of places I had been to or my friends, but in the last frame I placed a video of myself holding up a camera to tie together this idea of looking through my eyes.
Here is a video commentary that I created during our film studies unit. The film I looked at was A Single Man by Tom Ford. The aim of the commentary was to demonstrate an understanding of the analytical approaches to film and exploring a particular film's relationship with its audience.
During this commentary, I was investigating the film's portrayal of death and isolation when denied core human values in the context of the 1960s.
In terms of technicality, I decided to record this in a studio in order for the sound to be crisp. Especially because I wanted to be able to manipulate the sound alongside the video aspect of the commentary, and the studio would give me complete control over what sounds would be picked up by the recorder.
I'd also like to give some insight into my pre-production process. This is the pre-production I've done for a short film I plan on creating called 'Breathe'.
photography
I feel like photography is an extremely important part of my process in improving my skills as a filmmaker. Especially because I am interested in cinematography, it allows me to practice composing a frame without resorting to flashy editing transitions or movements all the time, although they have their own benefits.
design
Another creative outlet I enjoy is graphic design. I began experimenting with this earlier than film but now it’s become a hobby and a tool that I can use to help me with my Media and Film.
I feel like learning graphic design improved my sense of composition as well as colour and contrast, which I find extremely helpful in my work.
Nowadays, I use my graphic design skills to help organise my thoughts and planning or research in a visually appealing manner. Especially because it’s something that can sometimes become very taxing, I want to be able to enjoy the process and that’s how I do it.
