Work Shooting

Personally, I have been fascinated with models since I was young. In 2017, I also held an exhibition entitled “Museum” in Madeln Gallery, Shanghai, which only used models and sand tables to create ideas. In my previous class, I invited a teaching assistant who is an expert in modeling and props making for movies to join me in the class. When teaching offline, many tools are used, such as air pumps, airbrushes, and air discharged equipment. The studio is well equipped and books related to the subject have also been purchased. Often this hand-made stuff cannot be solved by merely reading books, if tutors can teach students face-to-face and hand-in-hand, students could quickly understand some of the tricks. However, due to the pandemic, the teaching assistance was canceled. The classmates cannot use the tools from the studio at home, so I have thought of many ways to solve the problem, guiding them to prepare materials and tools, and giving specific instructions on the production methods.

This time, I did not specially prepare for the online class for students. I mainly brought the previous live-broadcasting equipment in Voluntary Garden, forming a class using multi-cameras plus the directing broadcast station, which promotes the stream through the software system. I specially made logs of CAFA and the course overlaid on the screen. Leaders of CAFA participated in the first class, President Fan Di’an asked me whether the course was recorded or a live broadcast. I answered with the latter. Multi-camera switching is still very helpful for online classes, which is much better than using only one mobile phone.

Feng Mengbo: I am a “home-stayer” to a large extent, and most of my creations are made at home. In the past, large models or tools were inconvenient for me to carry and easily damaged in the physical classroom. This time, teaching online at home is convenient to bring out the models, tools and books that students want to see at any time. In the past, the students’ homework when making models was relatively trivial, as they often took the models between the dormitory and classroom when they were in school. This time, making models at home makes the creation environment relatively clear and it also reduced the damage of models.

Feng Mengbo: We have no barriers to communication through the Internet. In the past, we used the combination of physical class and after-class WeChat group in which we can communicate anytime we want. After a period of online courses, this time the relationship between students became more intimate. The students had a lot of daily chores to deal with after the course, the change to online teaching allowed everyone to stay at home to study—there was more time for learning. From my own point of view, I have never thought that I cannot go to the classroom for a whole semester, but everyone seems to be very excited and glad. The students are largely motivated, so we communicate more frequently than usual. Originally, it was easy for students to be distracted and immerse themselves in a sort of lazy state when studying at home. But students enjoyed this course a lot, so I also spent a lot of energy on tutoring. The students summarized that they were greatly rewarding during this course, and some students have changed a lot, as if they have found their creative direction for the future. This online class is indeed an unforgettable experience for everyone.

However, we did meet some challenges. One of the problems encountered was that the delivery of materials was relatively slow. For instance, some students live in remote areas, and the express delivery was not very timely, but it was solved eventually. Moreover, it is not easy for the students to deal with the sand table at home. I encouraged them to take the models to go outdoors and use nature as a big sand table. I also instructed them to use the computer screen as the stage background before shooting images. The results were not bad. The “Models and Sand Tables” is not the ultimate course. I intend to allow students to be in contact with a field, an interesting miniature world that they are not familiar with, and encourage them to turn some plastic parts into a big scene. This kind of experience and ability may be able to inspire their future creation. 

The process of making models and sand tables is inconclusive, but to continue to learn, solve problems, and achieve one's own imagination. Therefore, learning to solve problems is also the main point of this course. The students in our printmaking department have always been more active and cooperative and have been interested in hands-on work. This course has basically reached our goal, and I am very pleased.

Feng Mengbo: I would say this is a topic that cannot be mentioned. If the online course works well, do students still need to come to school? In fact, I think the most irreplaceable thing is “getting along with each other”. It is vital for people to go to school, get along with their peers, meet friends, spend a few years together with classmates and teachers. Having no experience in campus life may be a big regret in our life. In offline education, especially in the academies of fine arts, teachers and students are experiencing a process of getting acquainted through face-to-face contact, and teachers will supervise students in accordance with their aptitude and each individual situation. When it comes to online teaching, especially a class for the whole academy, the teacher cannot get to know everyone, and the students would not feel close to the teachers and they are actually more divided.

However, online teaching has its own convenient perspective. Personally, I gained 90 percent of my knowledge from the Internet. Online education transcends the limitations of time and space, and we cannot find such convenient resources in our lives. However, the face-to-face communication between people, the human breath, and its subtle effects, may not be able to be replaced no matter how convenient and realistic the network environment is. Specific to our school, the close exchanges between teachers and students, the bustling campus life, these are the most irreplaceable part of offline education.

View of Online Teaching

Regarding public art education, I personally hate elitism, and my creation, from content to media, never works for a small group of people. Education in the academy is part of public art education and the two are inseparable. The pandemic has shown a great impact on the entire society. A period of time when offline economic and cultural activities were completely shut down has accelerated the richness and motivation of various content using the Internet as a platform, and it promotes the development of online education. These have inspired me and promoted my future interest in creating with augmented reality and live broadcast platforms. Digitization is definitely the future of mankind, and it is also irreversible. For example, my son said that he did not like electric cars or autonomous driving, and he wanted to drive a petrol car by himself in the future. But the big trend in the future is definitely renewable clean energy, autonomous driving, and even no private cars. People who are nostalgic may only go to a club to drive petrol cars as a hobby, and it will perhaps be illegal to go on the road. This kind of future is no longer a fantasy, but a reality that will soon be realized. 

Photo and text materials courtesy of Professor Feng Mengbo and the students.

Interview conducted by Zhang Yizhi

Translated by Emily Weimeng Zhou and edited by Sue.