Immersive Video Production / Project 4 / Original 360° Short Film

18.11.2024 - 30.12.2024 (Week 9 - Week 15)
Elysa Wee Qi En / 0355060 / Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media / Taylor's University
Immersive Video Production
Project 4 / Original 360° Short Film

LECTURES 

Week 9 / Refugees in Malaysia

• Malaysia hosts over 180,000 refugees and asylum-seekers 
• Majority from Myanmar
• Some also from Syria, Yemen and Afghanistan
• Only an estimate, there may be more
• A large number of them are registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and this gives them IC cards to avoid arrest 
• As for foreign workers, the number is closer to 2 million 
• Most are from Myanmar also 
• Some from example the Philipines, Vietnam etc.
• Refugees are not granted legal status in Malaysia
• They are at risk of arrest, detention, deportation
• They cannot be employed locally either 
• Many work in informal sectors under bad conditions
• They face exploitation and poor wages
• Refugee children cannot attend public schools 
• Have to rely on community-based learning centers run by NGOs or refugee committees
• They can access healthcare, but at a higher cost than Malaysian citizens, and it's unaffordable to many
• Refugees often live in low-cost, overcrowded housing or makeshift settlements
• Lack of access to basic amenities 
• Limited income opportunities makes poor living conditions worse 
• COVID-19 made their situations worse due to things like loss of income 
• The UNHCR, local NGOs, faith-based groups and such organisations are working to provide refugees with support 
• The government has also occasionally collaborated for such deeds 
• Advocacy groups have advocated for Malaysia to improve its treatment of refugees 
• But they still remain in a tight legal situation, and have limited hopes of being resettled in third countries

Week 10 / Insta360 Pro Tutorial 

• Remember to screw in the antennas 
• Power button to confirm selections on the screen 
• Long press power button to turn off
• One short click to turn on 
• When connecting to a device wirelessly, set the Ethernet setting to DHCP 

INSTRUCTIONS

Fig. 1. Module Information Booklet

Project 4: Original 360° Short Film

For this project, we were tasked to create a 360 video following the theme of 'refugees'. 

Some advice our lecturer gave us:

1. Do more research about refugees 
2. Decide what perspective you want to provide 
3. Figure out what works in 360 

Originally, me and the same teammate from Project 3 worked in a pair to create our own proposal. Reading articles and talking to some who had a better understanding than me helped me gain sympathy for refugees. After discussing with my teammate and hearing about her experiences talking about refugees with her friends, we decided on our theme.

We planned for our video to be a documentary that showcased the lives of refugees, specifically capturing moments where they find happiness with each other, to evoke sympathy and compassion in the viewers. The goal was to show the humanity of refugees and remind viewers that they are people just like us.

Like before, we discussed and filled in most of the details of the proposal together in class. Then, she finalised the floor plan and I created the sceneboards.

Our finished proposal:

The first page contains our brainstorming as we were coming up with ideas.

Fig. 2. Original Proposal (9/12/2024)

However, due to us not having known the occupants of the refugee home before, and not knowing the layout either, the project was reworked. Instead of working in pairs, all four students worked together to create one final video instead. The other pair was in charge of the filming and footage taken in the refugee location. Me and my friend from Project 2 were in charge of the filming and footage of the second location, the construction site, and my teammate was in charge of editing and compiling all the footage into the final video.

FINAL Original 360° Short Film Submission

Fig. 4.1. Final Proposal (28/12/2024)

Fig. 4.2. Final 360° Short Film Video (20/12/2024)

FEEDBACK

Week 11 
Specific Feedback:
- Exaggerate the emotions more to have better contrast in feeling

REFLECTIONS

Experience
The main challenge in this project was trying to come up with the idea. As I didn't quite have much knowledge on refugees, I had to do some research to better understand their struggles and get a better idea of what message or emotions I wanted to convey. The filming wasn't extremely difficult, but a little demanding as I had to go to a construction site in the morning to capture the footage we planned. But it is challenges like this that give me more experience on what professional filming may require. 

Observations
There were some obstacles that showed themselves during this project. The main one was the lack of understanding the layout and floor plan of the refugee home we planned to film at. Because of that, we had to rework our proposal and video. However in the end, by working together, we were able to complete our final project on time. It shows me the power of teamwork in creating larger projects like this. There are difficulties and challenges when it comes to working in a team, but being able to split labour among multiple people is useful and helpful in meeting deadlines.

Findings
I learnt that it may be better to film 'backup' shots while we're already at the filming location instead of waiting to come back another time, as it may be difficult to come back to the location. Especially if there are external factors out of our control that can change between days. We ended up using the backup shots we filmed in the final video instead of going back to film a drone shot, as these shots managed to convey and evoke suitable emotions and feelings.