*note — i actually edited my Letter to the Past and i posted it up as another page with the name ‘Letter to the past (updated version).
— for others, i edited a little here and there….

I hereby declare this is the last lesson for the year!!! lol… tidying up my journal, i realised that there are quite a number of errors in the posts and pages. Overall, i edited some, added some new stuff in… Also, my reflections are quite poorly done so not wanting to bang my luck on for the seven reflections, i’m adding one more here… hmm, i’m not very sure if grammar mistakes and spelling mistake are counted in grading these reflections, but i’m sure that i does have many errors in my reflections…

For this LAST lesson for the year, we watched a total of three short films – Inja, the godfather and the one with the guy in the desert. The first film, its quite boring to me but the dynamic actions in it really brings out alot about the whites and the blacks in South Africa… the poor dog trusted in the wrong person! its interesting how the boss wanted the dog to listen to him only and yet, it turns out to actually endanger his own life when he got a heart attack as the dog does not allow the boy to get near him to pass him the medicine. For the second film, its quite funny and interesting… especially the part he was upside down. At the start, i thought he was upside down because he was looking at his reflection in the water or something… but it was the box that turns his world upside down. Its also funny how the guy thinks there’s a cat in the box… But this film really reflects the mindset of people when they faces difficulty. The interactive location and the dynamic actions really works well.

Before this lesson, i never really gives a thought for the purpose of the actions that the actors does in the shows. Now, i realised that the dynamic actions really serves in bringing out the unspoken meaning. Also, the interactive location… isn’t it hard to include all these in every scene of the movie?? Its really difficult in making a film… have to consider so many factors and these as well…

In this lesson, we read two story drafts from the previous batch. Wow, one of them have so many BIG words that i have difficult understanding the story. Hmmm, did the person study the dictionary from young? Furthermore, things in my stomach are creating some kind of war that unable me to concentrate on the essay. For the other essay, it is about the thoughts of the prostitution – the bullet train… this is easier to understand…

A horror film is shown on Channel U today – Ju-On 2… After watching, i realised the ‘ghosts’ in korea and japan horror films are quite similar.

==>Point 1: In this film, the ghost appears from the ground where there is a patch of water stain… i guess this water part originates from Dark Water which the ‘ghost’ is really associated with water.

==>Point 2: Also, these ‘ghosts” have long hair covering their faces with scary or bloody faces and bodies – almost all the movies have this kind….

==> Point 3: Next, kids are usually used to be the ‘ghost’. In Ju-On-2, a small boy is used, in Dark Water, if i did not remember wrongly, its a small girl??? In a recent film i watched – Cinderella, the ‘ghost’ is a small girl as well. Also, the ‘ghosts’ are crawling and creaking as well (Ju-on 2 and the Zhen Zi)…

==> Point 4: Other than the ‘ghosts’, the similar part is at the places where these scenes happen too… toilet is quite a famous place for hauntings and in the rooms as well… ghosts either appear from above or below…

==> Point 5: Also, i realised that in some of the films, there are a touching part to the story that involves the mother… In Cinderella, the mother suffers a breakdown as she sacrifice a girl that looked up to her as her real mother for her own child to look pretty. At the end, she left with the girl to save her own child… For Dark Water, the mother left with the ‘ghost’ as well to save her own child… For Ju-on 2… though the ‘ghost’ – supposedly her child pushed her down the stairs, she still offered her child her scarf… i guessed i cried the most for the scene in Dark Waters…The Mother actually leaves her own child for a child that she don’t even know… Mother love is really great!!!

Ironically, i usually laugh when i watched these horror films, of course with my friends… i cannot figure out why for the laughter but it just seems funny to me when the ghost appears, furthermore, sometimes when the ghost crawls slowly and nearer to the camera, i got the urge to just kick the ‘ghost’ in the face…hAhAx… guess you will be wondering what kind of person am i now… but in reality, i’m actually quite scared of such things… hMm… i heard that when they shoot horror films, strange things will always happen… the actors are really very brave to act in horror films!! Won’t they get after effects from the shooting that they will be thinking that there might be something above them or what? throughout the various countries’ horror movies, to me, its probably horror films from Thailand that is the scariest… Just like the film – Shutters, the ending really surprises me when the ghost is actually sitting on the male actor’s shoulders. However, for all horror films, i guess its the sound effects that makes the film scary!!!

guess i’ll stop here for my reflection, i’ve been crapping quite alot about horror films… =P By the way, MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR & HAPPY 2 WEEKS BREAK FOR ME... talking about christmas, i remember seeing a Santa Claus that is very thin in orchard!! Aren’t Santa Claus supposed to be chubby???

Dynamic actions – give a visual sight into what the person is thinking

Inja
Location – South Africa (class distinction – white people on top)
Dynamic action — The boss kicks the dog
== To teach the dog to only listen to the white
== Not to trust the black
== He wants the dog to know that he is the boss!

Dynamic action – the boy followed the boss in taking a deep breath
== Really looks up and respect the boss
== Respect as the boss is white

Dynamic action – the boss fed the dog first
== Consider that the dog is more important than him
== contrast: the boss ate last too…

Dynamic action – the twig hit the head of the boss (the boy laughs then stop, he takes off his hat and inspect, then laugh, the boy laughs again)
== The boy stops laughing because he is scared?
== He is not supposed to laugh, he is to be given the permission to laugh (when the boss laugh, he laugh again)
== He cannot to have his own opinions.

What is a location?
– Country
– House
A physical place
The place in your story where events occur and characters interact

Interactive location
- A setting and surrounding that interacts with the characters of the film by adding importance to their actions
- An environment which impacts the action and heightens the stakes

Example:
Jurassic Park
– Location: Jurassic Park is a zoo/amusement park located on an island off the coast of Central America.
– Interactive Location: the island is completely isolated, and anyone on it will be trapped until assistance from the mainland arrives.

Example – the Heisenberg principle
Writeen and directed by chris jones
Australia, 8:00

location = desert = isolation of his mind
It is pointing out the fact that in reality, when people met difficulties, we often chose to ignore the problem or not facing the reality (the part where the guy faces two directions when he is to look for the person he thought to exist but he chose not to as he did not know what to choose).

this week, we started off with listening to the dialogues supposedly to be between our parents.. but many ended up with our friends voice acting as the couple, mine too! Its really hard for me to imagine my parents helping me to do the recording, i never even hear them quarrelling before, well, not before me… i was even surprised when i got to know that they actually did quarrelled when i heard my mother mentioned it… lol… its hard for me to imagine the words they will use when they fight… so, my reference is *drum roll*……….. the television!!! When we listened to the different dialogues, most turn out to be the female being the more domineering one… hmm, but in this case, its the man’s fault!!! Also, most of the shows showing on the television now, the ladies seem to be the fiercer one.. also, anger is easier to be express through dialogues i guess… when people are sad, they are always quieter………..soooo… probably thats why… its funny how Ryan says about the difference between a teenage girl and a lady in her forties… Perhaps as a teenage, we do not know much about the reality of life and for the lady in her forties, she probably went through all the hardships or come to acknowledge the reality? Being fierce probably is to protect herself???

then, we watched a documentary about an bar opposite the bar terminal… its surprising that the bartender actually took picture of all the customers that visited his bar. i like the effects when the photographs were shown and the part where they showed the photographs of the same person ageing…. its so cool!!!

last, we have to act out a situation given to us…. and mine is about a pregnant women but the baby is not the husband’s child… its sOoo difficult… most dramas, they usually make use of dialogues to break the news that the lady is pregnant… hMm… now, i realised the importance of dialogues!!! i couldn’t stop laughing as well… it did not really tally with the situation… *embarrased* hmm.. the girl being pregnant would be like touching her stomach?? then, for the part to inform the audience that the baby is not the husband’s, erm… probably it will be better if another guy appears?? *in need of dialogues here* well, i think the easiest situation without dialogue would be sonia’s group situation – the one with the guy two-timing the two girls… its frequently seen in dramas nowadays… the dynamic action is easy to bring forward the message. E.g. pouring water against the guy’s face… or showing a sad face of the girl when she saw the guy with another girl behaving so intimately…

hMm… yeah!! one more week to holiday!!! I am already in a holiday mood so its really hard to get me down to work… =P i am procrastinating…

Anyway, i went to help out for the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon last sunday (3rd of december) and its from 2 a.m till the afternoon…*tired* they are actually not really well-organised but can’t really blame the organisers as there are many people involved – the different schools, the individuals, the groups of friends… and upon reaching the area, there are actually Ngee Ann poly students involved too… some even helping out in the same station (East Coast Park – the 33 km mark in the Marathon) as me… there’s nothing much to do from 2 a.m till 7 a.m so its like wasting our time!?!? butttttt, when finally the first few runners ran past, the hard work began… we had to refill the drinks as fast as possible as the runners just kept coming and coming… From refilling the cups, we moved on to passing out drinks to the runners. Finally, when the last few runners are expected to run past, there are news that they will be running past soon. Then, bad news was announced. The last runner is to run past an hour later. We have to wait till they run past then we are allowed to leave the place. Little by little, the runners ran past and we do not really have things to do anymore. All we can do is to wait… However, when the last runner did pass by us, they were all in a van, heading for the ending point. All along, we thought the LAST RUNNER is just ONE person… Surprisingly, there are quite a number… I have never participate in this kind of events before and i don’t really think i can ever run finish such long distance! Therefore, even though the last runners did not really run finish the whole marathon but they already did their best!!! *claps claps*

At the end of the day, its as if we ran for the marathon ourselves, i even have muscle ache all over my body that only went away after a few days…Though i’m like complaining about the whole experience above but, its actually a great experience… and its really great to see the runners not giving up and kept on running on…. some of the runners stops in pain aat the station but they always get back to their feets and continue running… though they will experience a great deal of pain and fatigue, i think that its all worthwhile when they reached the end point of the marathon and they will have a huge sense of achievement too! i really admire them for their attitude!!! Same as the DOHA asian games… CHEERS for the Singapore Team… GO GO GO!!! i watched a match between Singapore and Korea in a bowling match… its so stressful!!! even my friend and me, being the audience only, we were also stressed over for the bowler.. though Singapore lost to Korea in the match, but the Singapore Bowler did his best and he is actually quite good!!! stiking and sparing for all the rounds and even striking 3 times at one go… *claps claps* Proud of Singapore!!! =)

Story is action
• Action is any kind of activity, movement, interaction of characters with their surroundings
• Talking about feelings is not as powerful as illustrating why you feel this way through your actions.

Film is behavior
• Actions are simply the manifestations of behavior
• Human emotions are understood by watching the actions and reactions of the characters.
→ The autography book

Dynamic action
• Has the potential to enrich the experience of the audience by building an emotional relationship between the characters and the audience

Examples:::
Anger through dialogue → scream
Anger through movement → hitting, silent treatments

Lazy ways to express !?!?!?!
→ Flashback
→ Voice-over
→ Character saying it out

The Scenario:
• A middle-aged man returns home from work
• He stopped for drinks with friends and forgot to tell his wife he would be late.
• Dinner is ruined.

===A total of three dialogues are posted here… *the last one being the recorded version… link could be found in the page titled – dialogue – Husband Vs Wife

Dialogue 1:
Peace before War…
Guy: Honey, why aren’t you sleeping yet?
Wife: Have you eaten dinner?
Guy: Yup, you waited for me? Sorry honey, I’ve forgotten to call.
Silence…
Guy: Come on, don’t be like this!
Silence…
Guy: I’ve already apologized for not calling…
War…
Wife: You’ve been out all night without any news – no calls, no sight of you, nothing! Do you know how worried am I? Yet, you are back home late at night, reek of alcohol, not bothering about what is happening at home.
Guy: You should have just called me!
Wife: Call you? You would probably say I’m suspecting you or disturbing you from your work won’t you!
Guy: Look, what are you angry about? About I’m not reporting to you wherever I go, or are you actually suspecting I’m fooling outside?
Wife: Oh please, I waited for you the whole night, worrying about you, heating up the dinner for you, you did not even call home once and I cannot be angry? And now, you are saying that I suspect you fooling around? Fine, I will not care about you anymore.
Peace after war:
Guy: Honey, I’m so sorry. I know I should have called you. I met my friends on my way home thus we went for a drink nearby. Sorry, I’ll call you the next time. Oh, No, there won’t be a second time.
Silence…
Guy: I know that I shouldn’t have say that. Sorry, honey! I know that you are worried for me the whole evening, I’m so sorry. Forgive me, k?
Silence…
Guy: Have you eaten? Well, lets go finish up the food you left for me! I can still eat!

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Dialogue 2:
Mommy: Why are you home so late?
Daddy: I went out drinking with my friends. You didn’t wash the dishes?
Mommy: You’ve eaten?
Daddy: yes
Mommy: You should have told me! I wouldn’t have cooked so much food. There is still so much food left!
Daddy: Even if I’m not around, you shouldn’t have cooked that much too.
Mommy: I’m concern about your eating and you tell me that I’m not supposed to cook that much? I know I should just leave a few loafs of bread for you and you will be contented, well, I’m not going to cook anymore. Settle your own dinner from tomorrow onwards!
Daddy: I’m just saying that you shouldn’t have cooked that much.
Silence…
Daddy: Ok, I’m sorry. I should have called you and tell you but you know I’m busy with my work. And I met my friends on my way. It’s not like we plan.

Dialogue 3 (Recorded)
Mommy: Why are you home so late?
Daddy: I went out drinking with my friends. You haven’t sleep?
Mommy: You’ve eaten?
Daddy: yes
Mommy: You should have told me! I wouldn’t have cooked so much food. Daddy: You shouldn’t have cooked that much too.
Mommy: I’m concern about your meal and you tell me that I’m not supposed to cook that much? Well, I’m not going to cook anymore. Settle your own dinner from tomorrow onwards!
Daddy: I’m just saying that you shouldn’t have cooked that much.
Mommy: I don’t care…
Daddy: Ok, I’m sorry. I should have called you and tell you but you know I’m busy with my work. And I met my friends on my way. It’s not like we plan for it. Ok ok, I’ll call home early next time…

Dialogues====================================================
Its very very important!!!! its sOooOoooo hard to express something without dialogue… Dialogue let us understand better about the situation and makes the show interesting rather than audience have to guess what the action means… soO… good dialogues = good shows…

hMm.. the lesson started with the quiz… here’s where memory comes in which we muSt memORize memorize… Then, we talked about some of our true and false stories… its really hard to guess which story is true and which is false since we are not really that close to each other to know so many things about each other. Furthermore, you wouldn’t know whether that they are cunning enough to purposely lead you to choose the false story. Anyway, i’m actually quite pleased to find out quite some people in the class were fooled… erm… if many ppl are fooled, doesn’t that make us a liar?? That does not really seem to be a compliment…
*uh-hmmm…

something to distract from storytelling…. there’s a photography assignment which we are to shoot people… Ryan said its similar to the people watch assignment… uh-huh… both concerns people but the photography assignment is more difficult to me!!! It’s so hard to shoot without people noticing!! With the big and bulky camera hanging from the neck, are there anyone who will not notice??? doubt so… observing people, we just need to use our eyes… shooting people, we need eyes and hands and must be fast!!! Courage too!! i wouldn’t know if i will be scolded or beat up after i shoot the person… hEe… conclusion… both assignments are difficult… but glad that both are done!!! =)

Functions of Dialogue:
- Convey messages of the story
- Explore character’s emotions
- Explore character’s personalities
- Creates mood
- Show relationship between characters
- Makes the film more interesting

Elements of Dialogue:
Dialogue reveals character.
• A character talks about himself or herself
• Other people talk about that character

Dialogue establishes relationships between characters.
• Characters express attitudes and opinions that are in opposition to one another.

Good effective dialogue will move the story forward.
• It conveys essential exposition.
o Exposition could be dangerous. (Too much information)
• Characters will talk about what happened, establishing the story line.

Dialogue ties the script together.
E.g. the usual suspects – e interrogation, which brings us back to the story.

Dialogue should be used sparingly, never telling the audience what they can see for itself.
• Dialogue is no substitute for action.

When the dialogue is bad,
• No point for that dialogue
• Language (singlish???) – not everyone speaks like this
• They are just talking (not showing)
• Sentence structure that creates ambiguous meaning
• People always express themselves exactly how they feels
• Is not realism
• Sometimes amp it up too much (too dramatic, builds up too much tension) that makes it seems not a little real.
• What if everyone talks exactly like real persons talking, it’s not interesting!!!

Write realistic Dialogue! Neither fake nor real!!

yeSH! i’m finally posting one reflection up early!!!

Today, we read our letters to the past within our groups to each other. Though my group did not really comment much on each others’ letters, but personally, i think that they were great!!! For my own letter, i guess its more of a summary and it did not really involve people emotionally other than myself. Some comments on this assignment – it is a little depressing – as far as i know, most people wrote about sad things which is easier to bring about. Also, i realise, as we move on in our lives, we will slowly lose contact with people… even with the people we are once dearest to… =( thats how life is, right? hmm… this sounds a bit pessimistic… so we have to move on!!! Look into the future!!!

Through this, we get to know, perhaps the another side of the person and know more about him/her. Actually, i wanted to write to my parents since i have more things to say about but after seeing the instructions, we are supposed to write to someone we no longer talk to…so, too bad! Through this assignment as we chatted on after reading the letters, i got to know that there are people who actually have friends who died. Well, this shocked me as i have little contact with ‘death’ – guess i’m quite lucky – all my friends and relatives are healthily living on. If i have a friend who dies, i guess i will take it real hard and regret all the nasty stuff i ever do and say to her/him and for sure, I will really miss the person alot alot!!! *touch wood*

Then, we were supposed to write a true and false story… hoho.. guess it’ll be quite fun guessing each other stories whether they are true or false. well, i guess mister ryan’s stories… both seem to be false… hEe… it’s a little unbelievable that someone would actually concoct one dish from other dishes and be that picky… the second story seems even more unbelievable. i guess that you all did travel through the vehicle from the post office but not through buying yourself so much stamps?!?!?!

Well, talking about backpacking around the world, i want to try it too! It seems so fun to be traveling round the world with friends and such small luggage. My friends and I even planned that we will backpack~travel after we graduate, but we – poly students – have one more year than them till we graduate. Then, they have to go on to university for another 4 more years… that’s so longgggg away… But… its a good time to start saving up the money needed for the journey too! Backpacking is just carrying a backpack and visiting various countries right? hMm, i just cannot figure out how is it possible to fit so many things in to the backpack when many things are needed for a trip! Perhaps when time comes to travel, i’ll probably know. Looking forward to it!! *excited*

=========================================================

Storytelling Techniques
• Writing for audience

Screenwriter = storyteller
• The cinematic experience is not just made up of words you might put on paper, but the audiences’ emotional reaction to that information.

Director to People (NO)
Writer to People (NO)
Camera to People (NO)
It’s People TO People!!! (YESH!)

Writer’s purpose
To connect:
• Themselves
• Their unique vision
• The material
• The drama
• Others
• Audiences want to be transported by a screenplay.

Where do u look for a story?
• Inside yourself
• Everything to learn about other people is already in you.
• Now you need to figure out how to connect to it.

First storytelling tool: Observation
Second storytelling tool: Memory
• It’s like just remembering the fun time.
• Is it true??? After a while, the memory changes like you only remember the specific things.
o Filter through reality
o E.g. you hate the time spent in school but when you looked back after a few years, you only remember e fun parts of school.
Third storytelling tool: Experience
• Its like u learnt a lesson from experience.
• Is it true??? It is in reality!

All people have fragments of stories.
These potential ideas prompt your desire to know more.
Respond emotionally and intellectually to what you heard.
Good stories are born in the heart, not the head.
Remember the role of an audience.
After all, you are the audience!

=========================================================

Review
• 3 storytelling tools
o Observation
o Memory
o Experience
• Aristotle’s storytelling theories
• 3 act structures
• Developing 3 dimensional characters
• Writing for an audience

oOPs… still, another late entry. …but first i’ll paste my story with the characters from the “PEOPLE WATCH” assignment in.

People Watch Story
=========================================================
Leonard boards the bus and sits beside this nerdy guy calls Zhi Wei. He slams his bag onto his laps as he plops down hard on the seat. Zhi Wei turns and looks at him. Leonard, oblivious to the staring, eases himself comfortably on the seat. He starts to shake his hands a little, following the beat from the music playing in his ears. Then, he shakes vigorously as if drumming on a guitar. This time, Zhi Wei turns and stares at him hard.

‘Excuse me, you are disrupting me with your actions!”

Leonard retorts back, ‘I’m so sorry, but my hands just couldn’t keep to my side. I bet you don’t know about this kind of things…”

“Who says I don’t, I plays musical instrument too, k?’ Zhi Wei says back.

“Oh really, what you plays? I play the guitar and drums.” Then, Leonard begins to demonstrate with an imaginary drum set.

Zhi Wei hesitates for a while, “Well, guess this!” He then put his hands out and plays on his imaginary musical instrument.

Leonard laughs out loud, “I know, you learnt that in primary school, right? Everybody knows that, for goodness sake – it’s just a recorder.”

———————————————————————————————————-

Hmm.. if the story seems to be of primary school standard, I’m not a primary school kid! The ending was probably nothing interesting or what, but my thoughts are stuck at the end, not knowing how to continue…….

I agree that characters are VERY important to a story… without them, a story would not work!!! However, i rather have a plot than having just the characters to start a story with. It’s much easier to me than with characters. Having a plot, we would roughly know what characters are needed thus its much easier to think of. If we only have the various characters, there are many possibilities of a plot and i do not have much creativity in me, its alot tougher! Also, a plot is whole lot more important than characters. Without a good plot, good characters means nothing too…

thoughts for the assignment for this week — a lETTER to the past… actually, i have already thought of what and whO to write to, till i discovered that the letter must be written to a person i no longer taLK to… aLl goNe for my thoughts… Now, i have to start over again thInking of thoSe pEople that i’ve lost contact with… even if there’s such a person to write about, its quite difficult to share out to others since its so personal……. but i finally decide on one of my best friend… sad to say, we lost contact even in the secondary school after we changed class… slowly, we have nothing to share or say to each other anymore.. Life has to go on anyway, and as time passes, we are always losing contact with the people we seldom see… its so sad… But due to the high technology, there is this internet with the e-mailing system… and there are so many e-mails going around out there about friendship now… One of them mentions that if you got something to say to the person, even if its a sentence saying i miss you or you are my best friend that kind of thing, say it now! No one knows what will happen the next day… probably we are not given the chance to say it the next day… *touch wood* so… if you love your friends, love your family members, tell them now!! Don’t wait on… Don’t expect them to know without you telling… =) *feels like i’m writing a e-mail now… anyway, such things arae quite hard to say out.. so there is this E-mailing thing and SMS to send your regards to them…

*thinking in process*

*thinking*

*think*

*tink*

———————————————————————————————————-