Scroll to top
SeaShorts
festival@seashorts.org

Workshops

Festival pass holders may register for any of the sessions below via our Registration Form. Please note that each session has a limited number of seats and will be allotted on a first-come-first-serve basis. Make sure to show up at least 10 minutes prior to your sessions to confirm your attendance!

Fictioning Futures with AI Generative Art

In this workshop, interdisciplinary artist Eddie Wong will guide you on an ethnographic journey into the realm of generative AI art, exploring the possibilities of what latent space offers, as well as giving you the tools and tips to explore it yourself. We’ll look at state-of-the-art AI art tools that are available (Dalle-2, MidJourney, Stability AI) and consider how public data sets can be used creatively to generate speculative fictions that have distinctive Southeast Asia characteristics. Using one of his own works, Portrait Of The Jungle People (2022) as an example, we will all work together to write prompts and create images, which we will combine into a group storytelling project. By the end of the workshop, you’ll be familiar with the exciting world of text-to-image AI generation, get a sense of how to engineer a prompt to generate high-quality visuals and how AI can augment a storyteller’s voice.

Speaker

Eddie Wong

Eddie Wong is an interdisciplinary artist and researcher. He earned an MA in Computational Arts from Goldsmiths, University of London, in 2018 – 2020. His work spans a diverse range of media, including writing and computational creations; his research explores the interplay between narrative, contemporary issues and data surveillance through machine learning, video art and installation. In his practice, Eddie uses mythotechnesis (machine-fictioning) as a method to delve into personal memories, probing postcolonial conditions, and traumatic historical aspects of his own cultural heritage.

Moderator

Furqaan bin Mohamad

Furqaan Mohamad is a film educator and poet at the Faculty of Cinematic Arts Multimedia University. Currently the Deputy Dean of Student Affairs, his research interests include – filmmaking and Malay literature.

Film Screening – Portrait of The Jungle People

“Since I was a child attending the Ching Ming Festival, I knew that my grandfather’s portrait on his gravestone was wrong. I later learnt that his tomb was empty. All we knew about him was that he left his family and ‘entered the jungle’ to fight the British. We call him a ‘jungle person’ — San-ba lou, a Cantonese term used to describe the communist guerrillas. As a member of the MCP, he likely died at the hands of the British colonial forces. And without a photograph, nor records of the man, we may never know whose portrait is on the tombstone.”

Portrait of the Jungle People explores both the artist’s family history and the family ‘rhizome’ to honour the offshoots who can neither be traced nor mapped through a series of fragmented narratives and post-memories. The art combines neural networks with language processing models to generate images from text.

The making of Portrait of the Jungle People was made possible through a production grant by ILHAM Gallery as part of its inaugural ILHAM Art Show, a triennial exhibition platform initiated to give artists in Malaysia the opportunity to experiment and make new work. The ILHAM Art Show 2022 is currently showing at ILHAM Gallery, Kuala Lumpur (ilhamgallery.com) until 23 October 2022.

Adopting Live-Action VR 360 as a Narrative Approach

Kaohsiung Film Archive VR FILM LAB started its journey of commissioning talents on VR production in 2017. Five years later, it has already produced over 30 VR experiences so far. Within those award-winning VR pieces, VR 360 is one of the most popular methods used by creators. By 360 live-action shooting, there comes stitching, lighting and so many details in the post-production. Ping-Ying YEN had worked in Funique VR on editing, post-production and had participated in a great number of VR productions in Taiwan. By sharing past experiences, she will bring the audience to the backstage of 360 VR production.

Speaker

Ping-Ying Yen

Ping-Ying Yen is a film editor, visual designer and illustrator. The films, which she has edited, were selected by several international film festivals. She loves to tell the story about what she has observed around her by different creative methods.

Moderator

Chiao Lin Hsieh

Chiao Lin Hsieh is the XR International Coordinator at Kaohsiung Film Archive and Program Manager of Kaohsiung Film Festival – XR Dreamland. In charge of the licensing of Kaohsiung VR FILM LAB Originals, Chiao Lin also contributes to programs for Kaohsiung VR FILM LAB, an experimental, non-commercial oriented VR theatre that showcases cinematic and artistic VR films.

Exploring Entertainment Content on TikTok

This workshop covers tips on movie/film’s opportunities in TikTok.

Speaker

Andrew Gan

An experienced community specialist, Andrew has worked with tech startups mainly in esports and the entertainment scene. Throughout his career, he has developed and executed community programs for both brand establishment, demand generation, and content strategy. At TikTok, Andrew mainly works with creators to inspire creativity and bring joy to the entertainment ecosystem. (andrewgan@bytedance.com)