Start of my Journey/ (Week 8)

I was in secondary three and we are all preparing for o levels. I was passionate about music but I was in a science stream class. There is so happen to have the competition Campus superstar organize by Media Crop. I did not have the courage to join because a lot of reasons. Firstly, I did not have the chance to learn music since young. Secondly, I have stage fright. Thirdly, I had no experience on stage and lets drop the subject about singing in front of thousand of people.

For weeks I was struggling with different thoughts deep in me. Wondering should I give it a shot since I was passionate about it. Finally, I came up with a decision. I decided to join the audition with the few accompany of my friends. I was very anxious and looking forward how the audition would be liked.

I reached the venue with my bunch of friends. It was packed with students from all over Singapore. I then went up to register and queue for my turn. I queue for two long days. It was raining heavily, for those who did not brought umbrella need to find a shelter on their own. So the long waited moment was finally here. My friends and me went through the backstairs. Spectators and supporters filled up the shopping mall. We were all very anxious especially me.
After ten minutes it was my turn. I grabbed hold of the microphone and all attention was on me. All my friends went first and they did not make it through.

It was up to me. I gave an intro to everyone and then I was asked to sing. I closed my eyes and I began to sing, just like how I used to practice at home. Then I was asked to stop and the moment of truth was about to be announced. The judges did not approve me to the next round of audition. I was disappointed. I requested to be alone and went for a walk.

I started to blame myself. Why didn’t I get in through next round? Is it because I did not have what it takes? I was lost at that point if time, I even thought of giving up my dream as a music composer and music engineer. I wonder if I should continue with my dreams. Then I met my manager from Starbuck. His name is Boo. I met his after my o levels. He knew my story through a chat and he encouraged me. He said that I should continue my dream as I am young and I should learn through out my failure. He thinks that I am weak because I was about to give up just after one try.

I believe what Boo said was true. Everyone has a dream and we have the rights to pursue it. If we gave up easily without trying then we will a part of our life fill be regret. I was happy that I join Campus superstar because that was the first step I made to face my own fear and earn experiences. So we should work towards our dreams when we are still able too and live our lives with no regrets.

Notes for week 8

– DIALOGUE

ELEMENTS OF DIALOGUE (GOOD DIALOGUES)
• Dialogues reveals character

A character talks to himself or herself.
Other people talk about the character.
• Dialogues establishes relationships between characters

Characters expresses attitudes and opinions that are in opposition to one another
• Good effective dialogue will move the story forward

• Dialogues communicates faces and information to the audience

Conveys essential exposition
• Exposition: key information about the movie that the character have to communicate to the audience

Characters will talk about what happened, establishing the storyline
Dialogues ties the script together
BAD DIALOGUES
• Dialogues should be used sparingly, never telling the audience what they can see for itself

No substitute for action
Use too much of it
• Dialogue should not match conventional spoken dialogue, “real talking”

Because its boring
POINTS TO REMEMBER
• Film is a visual medium

Too much dialogue, it stagnates the film
• A script is a story told in pictures

Week 6

week six.
week six lecture: writing for an audience.

storytelling tool 2: MEMORY
• your memory is a wonderful cabinet of past incidents which you have experienced or been told
• these memories are points of references to your own past experiences

CRITICIZING THE LETTER TO THE PAST
The technique of writing
Did the letter have an effect on the audience? If not, why?

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

IT’S ALL ABOUT PEOPLE TO PEOPLE = COMMUNICATING TO THE AUDIENCE

What is the writer’s purpose?
• To connect:
o Themselves
o Their unique vision
o The material – content
o The drama – emotion
o Others (whoever the audience may be)
• Audiences want to be transported by a screenplay

Where do you 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.
o “you have to experience it to connect it”

In class writing/ Dialogue

Dialogue 1

Husband: Argh!! Hey babe come here…come here you sexy..
Looking at the wife..
Walks to kitchen

Wife: you went to drink?

Husband: John stop touching her…she is mine…haha…
Stares into the ceiling…
Orhx !??!! *VOMITS…

Wife: You idiot, have you lost your way to the toilet? huh!!
Husband: Can u give me a hand?
Piack !

Husband: Argh!! What the hell?

Wife: I am disappointed… Seems like friends are more important than me..”

Starts to pack luggage…

Husband : My friends drag me along…Sorry…Please don’t leave…

Dialogue 2

Keys Ring

Dad: Have you eaten yet?

Mom: Well, no not yet..i would have died if i continue to wait for you..

Dad: sigh~ Why do you always have to fight with me?

Mom: Sniff Sniff~ Did you went to drinK?

Dad: yup so what? Any problem?

Mom: Haven’y you realise our situation yet?

Dad: Oh just shut up…

Mom: Fine, drink all you want, i won’t bother about you anymore !

Storytelling techniques (Week 2)/ In class writing

Joseph wakes up only to find himself lying on the top of an operation table with chains restraining him to the table. Joseph uses every strain of his muscles hoping to actually break the chains with his physical strength. But it is totally pointless.

Joseph is too terrified and he yell : “ Whoever you may be, just let me out of here !! My dad will pay you as much as you want !! Just Let me out of here !!” As he shouts no one entertain to him and out of frustration he break into tears. Then the sliding of the mechanical door stops Joseph from sobbing. There are four doctors in the room and they are wearing their gloves. Then they come before Joseph and stay silent. They force the jab on Joseph and he faint. Two hours later, the doctor leave the room. Soon Joseph begin to gain his conscious. He feels that everything is normal until he see the organs beside him. His lungs, kidney, liver, and intestines are all just right in front of his very own eyes. And he realize his stomach is unstitch. He then went mad and keep on shouting “What are you guys doing to me?? My dad will not let you off if you do this to me !! You bunch of Moron !! HELP !!!…” As he keeps on yelling he is just getting weaker and wearing out.

The worse has yet to come, the doctors came in for the second round this time they are with the chopper in their hands. Each doctors take one side and just a split of seconds, his limbs and arm are apart from him. The pain is unbearable and Joseph just faint out. The doctors then leave Joseph alone and he die lying on his pool of blood.

In class writing

Salihin puts on his hula girl outfit and enters the temple. As he walk his heart pump faster than usual and fear was shown all over his face. He realise his sense of guilt was torturing him after killing Ahmad. He has no other path, being a private killer and a wanted convict now. As he starts to pray, he closes his eyes and the scene of killing Ahmad keeps appearing and he open his eyes, took a look at his own hands, he can’t see blood but he can smell the blood of all the victims.

He decided to walk out of the temple, took a look at the clear blue sky with some puffy clouds floating by. He understands that the time has come. His killing spree and his jobs is coming to an end. It is rather hard for him to take care of his sick grandparents and being a cold-blooded killer. Looking at his partner (his hand gun)

Deep in his mind he can hear his gun talking to him,

“ Use me, come on use me to end your pain and everything and you shall be free from what you did.”
“ Really? Are you joking?”
The inner voice is getting stronger in Salihin heads and he raises his hand with is partner.

Just a split of second, a sound of gun shot. Salihin begins to smile.

Notes for week 7

Last lesson..

Experience – something that really happened
Memory – ‘changes’ over the years

WEEK SE7EN NOTES

CHARACTER ANALYSIS

CHARACTER
• A story starts with character
• The character is the heart, the soul and the nervous system of your story
• It is through your characters that the viewers experience emotions
• It is through your characters that they are touched
• Without character, you have no action → Without action, you have no conflict → Without conflict, you have no story →Without story, you have no screenplay

When developing a character…
• Who is my character?
• What does my character want?
• What is my character’s quest?
• What drives my character to the resolution of the story?

3 DIMENSIONAL CHARACTER – physiology, sociology and psychology.

exterior – what happens in the movie
interior – what happens before the movie

REVIEW (test):
• 3 storytelling tools

observation
memory
experience
• aristotle’s storytelling theories

definition of a tragedy? Sth bad happens to a character at the climax and learns from the tragedy
• 3 act structure
• developing 3 dimensional characters
• writing for an audience

An accident of art… (Week 7)

An accident of art

Do people believe in coincidence? Sometime in life thing happen in a way that are totally unexplainable. It happened to me last week. I was walking through StarBucks One Fullerton taking photos on a weekend. In my opinion, no matter how busy life can be, we need a day off to remind ourselves that we had worked hard.

So I was strolling along the long stretch of pavement. Throwing all my thought to the sea beside me. I felt my head was lighter than before. Gentle breeze was blowing against my face, how I hope I was a kite, and fly freely at the cloudy sky.

I happen to have my camera with me due to some photography assignment. So there is still some space in the film and I decided to take it. Looking through the camera lens, everything seems like it has shrink. So I continued my stroll. I then reached an unknown alley. A dark alley that captures my attention, I wonder, what can it be? I went to take a look and my question is yet to be answered. I saw crows, bigger that a normal size I saw near my house. Well it was not that scary till I ran my feet off. I take a closer step, trying to take a closer look and framed them into my picture. I took my step as light as possible, and adjust my camera setting to get the correct exposure. So as I went closer, I felt that I was like a predator. “1….2……3…Click !” The crows went all around and I just realized they did not appear in my pictures. I thought that the last space in the film would be wasted just like that.

On the day of collection of photos, I was excited on how the photos will be like but less likely on the last one that I had taken actually. So I was glancing through. “Hmm, bad..shit..no Good,,” Then the last one, it caught my attention just by one damn glance. I do not even remember I took this picture. Then I took a close look. I remembered the building. Oh my god! I can’t believe I did that.So I guess a beautiful accident just happen in that moment. A accident that turn out to be so nice not perfect.

Move on and look forward.. (week 6)

Today I am going to share a movie with you guys. It is Cape fear. This movie is done in 1991 and it is a thriller film. I thought that this movie was all about killing and violence. But I realized that there was a hidden message that it wanted to tell the audience.

So the story begins fourteen years ago. There is this man with a family. His name was Max Cady. We shall call him Cady. Despite of his family, he went to molest a girl. And the girl sued him. It was true that he molested the girl. But the girl itself was not decent either. She changes at least three boyfriends for every month. So Cady got himself a lawyer. His name was Sam Bowen. There was a very important piece of evidence that would got Cady a lighter sentence. But the lawyer refused to show because he felt bad for the molested girl and he want to see Cady being punished. Cady then learned the truth and he mind was onset of starting his vengeance and revenge on Bowen’s everything.

When he was released, he targeted his dog first. Cady poisoned his dog and then start to stalk Sam. Trying to remind Sam of who he was. So Sam has started the mind game and he was being push to the limit. He decided to then leave the place he was living in, Cape fear. But when he was on the run, Sam would never imagine that Cady had already planned to finish them in the boat that they had rent for the run. So they had a great fight and then their boat went crush into a huge rock that was in their way. So then they fight on the land. Sam fought hard and finished Cady with a huge stone on his face. Then the story ended with a safe ending. But what matters at the end was a sentence that Sam’s daughter mention : “It is no use holding on to the past and we should move on if we don’t we will die slowly.”

I felt that this phrase has its meaning. We should not always cling on to the past and we should learn to move on in life. Anything that happens we can just regard them as part and parcel of life. We will find ourselves dragging till too tired if we do not learn to let go and move on. And also revenge is not always a good thing because there will be no end of chaos if we keep wanting to get revenge.

Notes for week 4=)

when and where did Aristotle live?
• Stagirus
• 384BC
• Mytilene
• Athene
• Dies in Chalcis (322BC)

what were aristotle’s poetics?
• Explain poetry
o Tragedy
o Comedy
o Epic verse
• Why tragedy?
o Some religion purpose
• Remind man that he is not god.

Definition of Greek tragedy?
• Tragedy, then, is a imitation of an action that is serious, complete and of a certain magnitude; in language embellished with each kind of artistic ornament, the several kinds being found in separate parts of the play; in the form of action, not of narrative; through pity and fear effecting the proper purgation of these emotions.

An example of movie
• The Passion of Christ
o Defines tragedy: as a great person who experiences a reversal of fortune”
• The Fantastic Four: the rise of silver surfer
o Defines tragedy: a change of fortune from bad to good

aristotle’s 6 part of tragedies:
• plot
o most important
• character
o aristotle’s example: someone that is rich and famous
• thought
o overall purpose in the play
• diction
o what the characters say
• song or melody
o brings the mood of the play
• spectacle
o the ‘visual effect’

cause-and-effect chain
• makes up the plot
• brings the incidents/tragedies

unity of action
• events must be running smoothly
• actions lead to each other must remain undisturbed

episodic plot
• a portion of movie
• no twist in the feelings

simple plot
• basic storyline
• followed by a change of fortune

complex plot
• reversal of intention ”peripeteia” and recognition “anagnorisis” connected with the catastrophe

definitions
• Katharsis – a form of emotional cleansing
o Happens to audience
• Mimesis – imitation; recreating life in a fake form
• Peripeteia – reversal circumstances; plot twist
• Anagnorisis – discovery (act 3); when the character learns
• Hamartia – tragic flaw; what causes the character to go through their downfall

characters’ responsibility
• appropriate objects of moral praise and blame
o not villain but not perfect
• supposed to be voluntary and our characters are the products of our actions

3 act structure
• beginning
o dramatic situation
o introduce main characters
• middle
o “Rising action”
o climax
• end
o resolution of conflict
o learns from what happen
o subplot