random

sleepless nights like these when you start to wonder and reflect.

no, she never deserved any of these pain.

but sadly, because of your passion and self-centered character you developed over time made today.

thing were never meant to be. no road is ever straight.

life was never a bed of roses, never.

I always find myself, getting involved in leadership roles in small organization and new ones.

Is these all predestined? Why can’t I enjoy and experience and learn leadership from great leaders of well-know and established organization?

Why must i always take the longer route in life? 5 years in secondary, now 3 and a half years in poly.

Why, why, why?

Reflections #2

i’m glad to have receive a reply. Not from god, but from Ray.

Well, ill have to say, in terms of crisis especially when money is concerned, friends pretend they dont know you.

I’m not saying i’m doubting any of you here as my friend. But, i’m just saying this is how evil people can be.

Anyway, why hasnt god gave me an answer? Is his internet connection down? Or he does he not have wireless?

Not too long ago, i felt the same way i did in my second reflection. After parting once again, with my classmates and my beloved, i felt so lost. And opened my MSN messenger and glanced through my contacts. Then i asked myself, who are my true friends? Who really understands me inside out?

Honestly, if anyone of you were to make the effort to do the same, you may have problems finding your true friends.

Afterall, i guess we will have to depend on ourselves.

I wonder will we all even contact each other now that we wont be seeing each other. And i bid you all farewell, T1B2. It was nice knowing you guys; i’m glad i spent my 6months in this class. And not in other class.

Alright. nothing much to reflect today.

I guess afterall, you can only depend on yourself.

Continue

the only reason why i’m continuing to post on this blog is because, i would like to share what i’ve reflected in my life.

and hopefully, god (Jesus..Buddha..etc) will come online, type www.hiiamat.wordpress.com and, reply to my questions i have in life.

no more than 10 minutes (now is 0011hours), i met up with my secondary school friends. whenever i think of them, i reminiscence  the 3 years i spent with them.

but instead of catching up with them, i came to settle disputes I had over two friends.

perhaps in life, there is never a “you are right, and i am wrong” nor vice versa; it’s always, both parties have to agree on a certain point.

But with all the stubborn people you people, making them realise your POV (point of view) isn’t easy. Cause all they wanna do, is have the right-of-way. What is the most suitable way to deal with such stubborn people?

Next, my  close friend, Eugene Ang, the brother i thought whom shared the same interest and songs, the brother whom i confessed to when i had problems, the brother who approached me when he had personal problems, just turned sides against me. I offered to shake hands, he didn’t want to.

It’s just so disappointing how this close friend of mine turn sides after listening to a one-sided view.

I really wonder, are horoscopes true? How accurate are they? And for all i know, my friend is a Gemini, well known for having split personalities.  

when i entered Ngee Ann Polytechnic, i told myself, even if i can never be as close to my peers in polytechnic, i always have a great bunch of friends in Secondary.

Everything seems to be falling apart. Who can i really talk to now? Who are my friends? Are you truly, honestly my friend?

Or do you shake hands with me using your right hand, and hold a knife behind your back using your left?

Entering tertiary education is totally different phase of life, i feel that i must sail this ship alone. best friends are there when u need them;  they drop them like supplies when you call for them

friends are nothing more than souls that float around you, they ignore your call of help.

even after 6 years in scouting, i feel that i’m standing on my own.

My leaders are there, but not there to tell you: “hey don’t worry, i’ll be there for you”. They are here to tell you: “erm.. thanks ah jun jie for contributing so much. dont know what to do without u”

And do people of the same educational achievements think the same? Do they all have the same mindset and attitude, which explains why they are all categorised under the same group (etc Normal Academic, Normal Technical, Express, Special streams) 

Those in Bold are the questions I have to anyone who even reads my wordpres.

Those in Italic are the questions no one can answer, I see these answers based on my own pair of eyes and brain.

Jacky puts on his hula girl outfit and enters the temple..

Assignment:
Qns: Jacky puts on his hula girl outfit and enters the temple. Continue your story from here.

Ans:
Jacky puts on his hula girl outfit and enters the temple. With only a few steps in the tempple, he notices many people staring at him with shock. Trying his best to ignore the stares, he looks down and quicken his pace.

He then stops to take a quick look back at his friends behind the door, cheering him on. Turning back, he approaches further into the temple where he sees many people prying and chanting away. He then walks right into the middle of the crowd and shouts out loud. Everybody then turns to him, and stares in shock. All attention was on Jacky. Jacky then quickly does a sexy and erotic dance, moving his entire body in a seducing manner. He first places his hands on his chest, crossing them and slowly moving it down to the hips. He then shakes it vigourously. He moves his hand further down to the groin area and massages it, with his tongue sticking out, while staring at one of the old lady.

Before he could finish his dance, he hears some angry voices far away; getting louder and louder each second. He quickly turns back to see some monks holding their broomsticks and spade charging towards him, like in the war movies. Jacky then quickly dashes for the entrance, and calls out for his friends to run away; and never to return again.

Aristotle Group A

download attachment
Group A

Continuation of Li Qing Opener seven

My continuation of Li Qing opener seven.

Seven minutes going to eight. Jasmine squeezes her bag even tighter. He is late, again. The train puffs out huge amount of soot into the air; the captain rings the bell and says ” 2353 hours! Two minutes remaining!” There was then an instantaneous reaction from the crowd, everyone quickly left the remaining of their tidbits and drinks on the benches and scrambles up the train. Jasmine felt a sudden tension in the railway station. She starts to pace the station.

The captain is an old man with a cigar stuck in between his lips. His ragged face and thick glasses suggests that he is experienced. He then scans the area, hoping that he could leave earlier but sees Jasmine walking to and fro. He then beams at Jasmine and shouts out her name. “Hey you!” Jasmine turns around. “You’d better hope on the train soon yah? Or ill leave without. You understand what I’m saying huh?” Jasmine nods her and turns around.

Jasmine looks at the train ticket and it says “2355hours, last train to San Francisco” She looks towards the entrance of the station, hoping to see even the shadows of her boyfriend running towards her. But her hope fails her. She looks at the entrance once again.

“One minutes remaining! All passengers please board the train immediately!” The vice-captain hollers. The captain steps out of the first cabin of the train, and exhaled out, trying to gain her attention. He then coughs loudly, but Jasmine ignores him. The captain then walks towards her and nudges her. He removes his glasses and tilts his head slightly downwards, and stares directly into her eyes and says, “Look young lad, I ain’t gonna wait all day. I have a job to do. And that is to pull that lever at 2355hours sharp and get my ass outta here.” “Move your bags and let’s get out of here!” The captain then walks back to the cabin.

Jasmine lets out a sigh and slowly approaches her bag. She picks it up and places it comfortably on her shoulders. Slowly but surely, she walks up to the cabin in front of her. Looking back at the entrance hall with every step she steps. “Jasmine! Jasmine! Where are you?”

“2355hours!” The train puffs out another huge chunk of black soot and the captain blows the whistle. The engine roars and the caterpillar tracks slowly starts to move. A man dashes out from the entrance out and looks out frantically. “Here Darren! I’m here!”

“Alright, I’m coming!” Darren quickly hops on the train. He holds Jasmine tightly by her shoulders, looks at her and says “I’m so sorry, I’m late. I’ll explain everything later!”

Combination of People Watch (Joshua and Kim)

Muhammad, a teenager wearing a brown and white-stripped polo Tshirt with spike hair tries his best to finish his homework. The beads of perspiration could be seen clearly on his forehead. Stress is the only word that could describe his current emotions. He flips through his homework to and fro, as if looking for easier question he could do. But the level of noise in the library is extremely unacceptable for Muhammad. He expects complete silence. He then looks over to another group of boys at the other corner of the library, and stares at them with eyes of a menace.

On the other corner of the library, Muhammad sees a small bunch of Malay boys.

They are probably 6 to 7 years old, in their Muslim school uniform and a cap seating down and playing some sort of game that seems to entertain them very much. Their loud screams and cries only irritate Muhammad further. Muhammad clenches his fist and continues to stare at them.
But the boys, being as innocent as they could possibly be, smiles, laughs and continue to entertain themselves as if they are the only ones in this library. One of them even looks over at Muhammad and smiles delightfully to him, as if acknowledging him as a spectator of their game.

Muhammad becomes furious. He clenches his fist even tighter, places his bag and homework on the floor, and slows stands up; he never once left sight of the group of boys and continues to stare at them. He walks over to the group of boys in a masculine manner, places his hands on his hips and starts shouting to them, “CAN YOU BOYS STOP PLAYING! I’M TRYING TO DO MY HOMEWORK DOWN HERE!”

The group of boys stares at Muhammad with their small, innocent and glistering eyes. They look up at Muhammad; tears begin to fill eyes. Muhammad then begins to relax, his fist un-clenches, exhales out and says: “okay okay. Fine, you boys enjoy yourself.”

The group of boys cheers out loud; smiles begin to fill their faces and the noise returns.

WEEK 7 Reflections 1st June 2007

looking at our week 7 class notes, the elements of a dialogue include a character talking about himself.
through one simple movie that Mr Ryan had shown us, this element had been explain.
The character in this movie had shown us exactly what type of person he is, his background and even his likes and dislikes.
The old saying goes, “what you say is what you are”, is indeed very true.

i do agree that dialogues should be used sparingly.
i remember watching chinese movies whereby the dialogus are seriously very long. they just keep talking and talking, and ill just turn off the TV.
dialogues should be simple, straightforward and easily understood.

“Dialogues establishes relationships between characters”
i guess this is really subjective. i remember watching the short film, ‘Chairy Tale’
there wasnt even a dialogue. but it was really really entertaining. It uses purely actions and body language to show communication between the two characters. so i dont think only dialogue establishes relationships between character.

A story starts with character.
hmmm once again, cant a short story dont start with a character?
perhaps the story can begin by showing really torn down places, like after a war scene?
So in order words, the camera-man will focus only on the location to try to tell a story? isnt that possible?

“When you are developing a character, ask yourself:
- Who is my character?
- What does he want?
- What is her quest?
- What drives him to the resolution of the story?”

this reminds me of the many characters in LOTR. Each of them has their unique role in the movie.
Gandalf is supposingly the “angel”, who sends help at cruical moments.
Sam plays the humble and honest character who is always there to push the ring-bearer

Week 6 Reflections, 25th May 2007

Who Brings The Story To The Audience?

It is people who bring the story to people

Does this mean only the people can bring a story to people? What about animals? can’t animals bring a story to people?
imagine yourself seeing a badly injured dog limping towards you. Does it not bring a story to you?
how about a cat with scratches all over her body. Does she not tell a story to you?

i ponder.

that aside,
anyone who writes a memo or even this blog, post their comments and thoughts all because of their past experience and memory.
just like what was being told in the week 6 lecture notes.
Some of the storytelling tools include EXPERIENCE and MEMORY.
We all tell stories based on those facts.

However, what about authors who write fiction books? they definitely never had experienced fighting monsters or even ghost.
where the heck did they get their inspiration from? their dreams?
then what do we classify those scriptwriters who write scripts for movies like LOTR and Harry Potter?
i mean if storytelling is really based on experience and memory, then what about those scriptwriters who write FANTASY movies?

We all are writers honestly. Each type we write a reflection, we fulfill the following:
- To connect (emotions, able to visualize)
- Themselves (own past, history, life)
- Their unique vision
- The material
- The drama

- sometimes are reflection links us back to the past, thus even creating a DRAMA.
- each time we post our own view on topics, and even post rebutalls on the ISSUES discussion boad, we all
have our own UNIQUE VISION
- each time Joshua becomes EMO in writing this assignments, he is able to connect the EMOTIONS to the
audience
- when all T1B2 do their assignment for “dialogues”, we all are trying to allow the audience to VISUALIZE
what is happening.

Class Notes (all)

WEEK 1

Writing formats:
Assignments in this class will use
- present tense
- 3rd person narration
- visual voice

This is to present immediate and urgent feel to the material
e.g. “Mark picks up the gun and holds it in his hand. It begins to tremble, as if alive.”

- Script to a story: a blueprint of what needs to be on screen.
- Written voice vs visual voice

Written
- weak verbs
- tell what is happening in character’s head
- distances the character from the story

Visual
- uses strong action verbs
- shows the action
- uses an intermediate sentence structure
- conveys story in a lively manner

E.G
– written voice: the sky was blue with a lot of white clouds. (missing an ACTION, ACTIVITY)
– visual: the clouds parts and an appeasing beam of light lands on…

Tips for writing (very impt)
- if you have a work in progress, never stop for the night if you’re stuck.
- always solve the problem and keep going until you are in safer water. A good night’s sleep is important but sleeping on a problem is a MYTH.
- if you cant et started on a project, start writing anyway. To do this, you have to have some words to type.
- it doesn’t matter what you write. You’ll soon begin to think and move in your rhythm/pace.

WEEK 2, 27/4, NOTES
All story needs:
- Plot
- Smooth continuation
- Climax
- Organization
- Characters
- Moral
- Conflicts

ROLE OF CONFLICT
-Man against man
environment
self
Variations of sex, age, religion and culture which provide variety to the conflict.

Positive effect of conflicts:
- Change is common to all
- Its universal
- Bodies change
- Seasons change
- Lives change
- Relationship change
- Feelings change
- Locations change
- Technology change

Why we resist change:
1.as universal as change may be, we resist change for the fear of the unknown.
2.People must learn to cope with changes if they want to survive.
3.Action in drama depends on conflicts.

Conflicts
- (Definition) opposition of persons or forces
- Interaction of opposing ideas, interests, or wills and it creates the plot.
- Plot cannot be constructed without conflict
- As your characters attempts to reach their goals, they come into conflict with each other.
- Conflicts must be able to match with each other, not for eg 1:1000 both character must want something
- The end of e story nears when the protagonist and the antagonist approach their goals and the conflict rises to generate maximum suspense and excitement.

WEEK 3
The 1st man who wrote stories: Aristotle

Observation:
- Observe in a conscious way
- Develop the ability to see and record movements, physical characteristics and settings

Mindless looking VS True observations

Mindless Looking:
- Watching lousy movie
- Bathing/ in the toilet
- In the train or bus
- Consists of familiar actions, day to day behaviour

True Observations:
- Things which are distinct
- When there is emotional attraction

WEEK 4

Definition of Greek Tragedy:
- “It is an imitation of an action (mimesis) that is serious, complete and of a certain magnitude; in language established with each kind of artistic ornament; in form of action with narrative; with incidents arousing pity and fear, wherewith to accomplish its kartharsis of such emotions.”

6 factors of a story:
1. Plot- arrangements of incidents, the way it is presented to the audiences in the film, not the story itself.
2. Character- second place in importance. The characters support the plot.
3. Thought- where something is proved to be or not to be. Or a general maxin is enunciated. When there is character growth.
4. Diction- expression of words which are proper and appropriate to the plot, character and the end of the tragedy.
5. Sound/melody- musical elements of the chorus.
6. Spectacle- special effects. Production of spectacular effects depends more on the art of the stage machinist than on that of the poet. Least important.

“Cause & Effect” chain:
4 types of causes:
- material cause (what something is made of)
- Motive/ efficient cause
- Formal cause
- Final cause (realise formal cause)

Definition of cause:
a chain effect where whatever happens in scene A leads to scene B.

How can a good plot create “Unity of Action”:
No action/scene is to be a digression; nothing is left inside temporarily in speech and writing. Every word and action must contribute.

A Film’s Beginning, Middle and End
Beginning:
- Start and cause the effect chain
Middle:
- Climax
- Caused by earlier incidents
End:
- Resolution
- Caused by preceding events that cant lead to other incidents
- The end should resolve problems caused during incintive moments

Episodic Plot
- The only thing tying together events in such a plot is the fact that they happen to that same person

Characters in a Tragedy
- must be rich and famous
- they support the plot
- personal motivation are connected to the cause-and-effect chain.
- not necessary bad, but are flawed in some particular way

3 Act Structure
1st act: set up (goal oriented character)
2nd act: confrontation (character must make a choice and action intensifies)
3rd act: resolution (level of effort raised to now height. Character can either achieve or not achieve his goal)

Important Vocab
1. katharis- purification of a motion
2. mimesis- look like real life, mimic
3. anagnorisis- ignorance to knowledge
4. perepeteia- turn/twist tragedy
5. hamartia- flaw

WEEK 5
NIL.

WEEK 6
Writing For An Audience

Screenwriter:
The current cinematic experience is not just made up of words you might put on paper but the audience’s emotional reaction to that information.

Who Brings The Story to the Audience?
People to People

A Writer’s Purpose:
- To connect (emotions, able to visualize)
- Themselves (own past, history, life)
- Their unique vision
- The material
- The drama
- Others

Why?
Because audiences want to be transported by a screenplay. They want to be able to connect and relate with the filmmakers.

Where to look for a story:
- Inside yourself
- Everything to learn about other people is already in you. Even if the audiences cannot relate to the plot, they must be able to relate to the idea.

Storytelling Tool No. 2, EXPERIENCE
- All people have fragments of stories
- These potential ideas prompt your desire to know more
- Respond emotionally and intellectually to what you have heard
- Your stories are born in the heart, not in the head
- Remember the role of the audience. After all, you ARE the audience!

Storytelling Tool No. 3, MEMORY
- Your memory is a wonderful cabinet of past incidents that you have experienced or have been told.
- These memories are points of reference to your past experiences.
Memories are filtered by perspective. It sips into our head. You grow as a person.

WEEK 7

Dialogues

Screenplay: many writers involved in the film.

Elements of a Dialogue

Dialogue reveals a character
- A character talks about himself or herself
- Other people talk about the character

Dialogues establishes relationships between characters
- Character express attitudes and opinions that are in opposition to one another

Dialogues that are good and effective moves the story forward

Dialogues communicates faces ad information to the audiences
- It conveys essential exposition
- Characters will talk about what happened, establishing the story line

Dialogue ties the script together

Common mistakes in dialogues
- Dialogues should be used sparingly, never telling the audience what they can see for itself
- Dialogues is no substitute for an action
- Dialogues should not match conventional spoken dialogue. “Real talking”

Points to remember
- Film is a visual medium
- A script is a story told in pictures
- Don’t make the dialogues real or fake, but realistic. Keep the dialogue focused.

Character
- A story starts with character
- The character is the heart, the soul, and nervous system of your story.
- It is through the characters that the viewers experience emotions
- Without character, there is no action
- Without action, you have no conflict
- Without conflict, you have no story
- Without story, you have no screenplay

Factors to consider when developing a Character:
- Who is my character?
- What does he want?
- What is her quest?
- What drives him to the resolution of the story?