Tutorial 8

So, next on lecture was about dialogue.

I believe dialouges tells us about the character. Like in Autograph Book, each character; from the rugged-looking Ah Lian to the Chinese Opera Enthusiast tells us what kind of people they are. That is the first element from the elements of dialouges;

1) Dialogue reveals character -> character will talk about himself and other people will talk about him.

The second element is

2) Dialogue establishes relationships between character -> Once you have established your main character’s POV, you can use dialogue with other characters to show that they have other attitudes, creating opposite/alternative POVs -> This helps to create and sustain the element CONFLICT between characters

For this, we saw two best friends who went home together all the time and often feel afraid of going to different school but ended up hating each other. Through dialouge, we saw how they ended up in that situation.

The third element is,

3) Good effective dialogue will move the story forward

Well, as for this element, every movie has to have effective dialogue because without one, no story can proceed. It will hang mid-way without having a resolution or conclusion. Incomplete story is a big boo-boo!

The fourth element is,

4)  Dialogue communicates facts and communication to the audience -> Characters will talk about what happened, establishing the storyline.

Without dialouge telling is what happened, we will not know anything unless there is action. If a flashback is told without dialogue or actions we will not know what happened that lead to the protagonist in a certain situation.

The fifth element is,

5) Dialogue comments on the action

Dialouge tells the audience what the character are trying to do either to the situation or the other characters.

and lastly

6) Dialogue ties the script together

In Autograph Book, the writer never tell what audiences have already seen or are seeing thus, dialogues have to be used moderately.

Well, the easiest example of a dialogue is when I speak to a person who doesn’t know me, people will eventually know what type of person I am.

Tutorial 7

Hello everyone! So, this week we talked about; characterisation. And boy, there were so much to learn this week! Well, Mr Leslie basically taught us about how to define and develop a character. I strongly agree that a story without a character is like mee rebus without the gravy or chee cheong fun without the sauce, sesame seeds, sesame oil and chilli paste. *oops, I think I heard my tummy made some noise. Hee. Okay, back to where I stopped. A good, strong story needs to have a character in it because I feel the task of a character is to carry out actions/motions based on what the scriptwriter has written in order for the story to come alive. The character is;

- the heart

- the soul

- the nervous system of the screenplay.

Thus, without character(s), the story will just die before it can even start. I believe without character no story can be conveyed or told. It is through the character(s) that the audiences experience emotions; angry, sad, disappointed, etc. Once, I watched Click! I actually teared in the cinema despite for it being funny. I could feel Michael Newman (Adam Sandler) loss when his father died. I also believe that only good actors can carry out a task that will make audience feel what the character feel. To me, if I was a directer or producer of a movie that triggered the feelings of many audiences; it is an accomplishment.

So why character is SO important again?

• Without a character, there is no action.
• Without action, means no conflict
• Without conflict means no story
• Without story means no script/screenplay

Hence, I feel that the character is the root of the movie. Just by not having a character, action, conflict and story will not exist to make a movie.

The next part of the lecture was on how to develop a character.

If I were to have a character for my movie, i will have to ask myself questions about the character that I want. What is his task in the movie, who will it be, why did he choose to resolve his problem in such a way, etc. Also, a character must have the ” Super 3 DS” (Dimensional Structure); Psychology, Sociology, Physiology. Sounds so medical huh. But anyway, what are these?

As what we learnt,

1) Physiology- sex, age, appearance, height, posture, heredity

2) Sociology- class, occupation, education

3) Psychology- sex life, moral standards, frustrations

In other words: Physiology= physical features, Sociology= background of the character and Psychology= moods/behaviour. Something like that… I think.

The other “main ingredients” to make a character are the INTERIOR and EXTERIOR.

Huh? Where do I make or find those two?

Well, the interior is basically what audiences don’t see in a movie. Like Click! we never see nor were told where Michael was born, where was he born, what size of shoe did he wear, what was his favourite colour, how he proposed his wife, was he a good student etc. Thus, the interior is about the bio-data/personal information of the character that audiences do not know.

As for exterior, it is what audiences see in the screen/movie. It starts when the movie begins till the end where happy endings or tragedies might be the conclusions. For example, in Click! we know that Michael had a wife with two kids, he worked as an architect because we saw it, does he have to have sex all the time (we saw that he had to because every night he basically had sex with his wife, only that it was fast-forwarded. HAHA! He was often busy (we saw it too!) and etc.

I felt that Sandler was good in that movie. Don’t you guys think so too?

Oh, wait wait! Dramatic characters interact in 3 ways. This is quite cool. Why? Because with these guidelines, I believe we can make better dramatic characters.

1) They EXPERIENCE CONFLICT when they want to achieve their goal. [e.g Need money – Rob a bank, rob a store, rob a person]

2) They INTERACT WITH OTHER CHARACTERS. [e.g If A is indifferent to B, it means A is doing something to B.]
3) They INTERACT WITH THEMSELVES.  [e.g, he overcame his fear of being caught by pulling off the robbery successfully]

And, and…

to make the character MORE SPICY, you can turn and twist their personality!

Tutorial 6

And so, today’s tutorial is about memory, the 3rd storytelling tool.

So, what is the difference between memory and experience?

Well, memory is something, either tragedies, sweet incidents or funny moment that you went through with someone or alone but it will stay with you and it will be retained, stored and retrieved whenever you think about it. Like what we know from Mr Leslie’s notes, “Our memories is a cabinet of past incidents which we have been told or experienced” and he added that “These memories are points of reference to our own past existence.” And as for experience, can be the things that have happened to us or still happening in our lives. I, for one believe that in order to gain experience, we have to go through or get involve in something. Only then, experience exist.

For example, my dad got a tennis coach to teach me to play tennis. After two months, I got better, although I was not like either Martina Hingis or Andre Agassi. So, anyway, knowing that I have got experience and the skills in playing tennis, the school’s tennis coach, Mr Tam put me in the school’s tennis team.

As for memory, here is an example. Last three years, I took part in the school’s essay competition. The title given was “My Coach.” When I started on the introduction, I could only talked about my coach’s physique and what he always wear when he coach us. It was rather boring. Then, suddenly, I recalled something. We were in the singles’ finals. And we won! And at the end of the tournament, coach gave me a small token. He gave me a medal that he customized for me. He also said that, “Natra, you were great” and and he gave me a high five. That moment will forever stored in my memory bank. Finally, at the end of one and a half hour, I finished my essay on “My Coach”.

Thus, we can conclude that memory and experience are different.

Oh, Mr Leslie told us when we write based on memory, we have to exaggerate on certain points. We have to create some part of the story not only have everything based on that memory.

And, and, I think memory is more personal because I feel that memories bring about incidents that has happened in your past years like fighting with your best friend, winning the mud-pie competition and getting all the popularity for the day, dealing with your insensitive boyfriend and many many more. Whereas, experience could either be something you want to do beforehand in order you get to the peak like you joined a cooking school so that you can achieve your ambitions to be a top notch chef or certain experiences that teaches you not to repeat the same mistake. For example, you often jaywalk to and fro school, and you think that you will never get hurt because you are such a “pro” at it until one day, you broke your arm in an accident which caused by jaywalking. That experience made you more careful and taught you that jaywalking is dangerous.

Tutorial 5

Was what happen to Jim McAllister was Tracy Flick’s fault?

Well, I believe it was Jim’s fault on a whole. I think in this film, Jim used Reese’s character, Tracy as an excuse to show that he was somehow innocent. I mean at first we really thought that Tracy was someone who wanted to destroy Jim’s career or even be his mistress. But we got it all wrong. In my opinion, I thought Tracy was being a normal student in school; she was just to obsessed with the election. Oh, many not obsessed but paranoid. She wanted to be the president that’s all. However, Jim wanted to stop her. Why? I think that he wanted to stop her not to do anything good to Tracy but actually for his own benefit. Why do I say so?  Firstly, I could sense that Jim felt that Tracy was a bother or rather an irritant. He feels annoyed with the presence of Tracy. Furthermore, he did not want to work together with Tracy if she were to win in the elections. Thus, by letting her being opposed, the other people who were to run the elections against her will make her feel insecure about winning and then, his chance of working with Tracy will be slimmer. Yes, Jim might have an intention to make Tracy realise that she has been selfish and too ambitious for a lady at her age. But even so, I felt that he was using the pupils that ran against Tracy as a tool to avoid Tracy to win.

His career downfall was due to his own mistake; he threw two pieces of votings into the bin. He made the choice to cheat so that Paul wins the election.

In Election, I thought that Jim was not really the good guy. He did advised his friend, Dave about cheating on Linda but in the end, he had sex with his own friend’s wife! If he such a good husband, he would not do that to his wife.

Tutorial 4.

After a week, a few people watched videos were uploaded in some of my classmates wordpress blogs. I felt all the video’s were properly done. I mean, unlike mine, the others stayed focused on their target. Mine was moving all the time. Anyway, I thought the videos posted were good because they show how some of us Singaporeans really behave out in public. Take a look at Marjorie’s, I do not really often see this kind of men, but his behaviour of not letting others sit next to him was intolerable. And out in public, there are people who “chop” the seats next to them with tissues etc. Or if it was in the bus, they’ll use their groceries to not let others seat. Oh come on, don’t the seats are made for everyone to share.

I think parents today, especially the daddies are made victims to carry a bagpack containing things that belongs to their children. Take a look at Adilin’s video for example, the dad had to “play” with his boy even though deep down he knows that it is quite embarrassing. Well, I presume this because if I was a dad, and if my son wants to play, I’ll tell him to play on his on or else I won’t buy him toys or whatever. Plus, I would’nt want my future husband who later becomes a dad to dress like that.

And Maybelle’s video was the most funniest yet disgusting at the same time. The irony of the video was that I bet she knew that she was scratching in front of burger king (A FAST FOOD OUTLET FOR GOODNESS SAKE!)  and there she stood scratching her you-know-what-was-itchy in front of the patrons. I tell you, if I were inside and eating, I would go up to her and tell her to stop scratching or if she still insist, I’ll ask her to scratch somewhere else. God, don’t these people know any basic hygiene or respect for others.

Oh, today we learnt about ARISTOTLE. Finally, we uncover Aristotle’s identity, his theory and beliefs.  Also, we learnt about 3 act structure.

Tutorial 3.

The third week is coming to an end and say hello to the weekends!

So, storytelling today was, well, normal. Anyway, we learnt about Storytelling Tool,  Observation, Reflection, and exercising our level of Awareness. When writing a story, we must always ask ourselves these questions;

- Who am I talking about?
- Who is my character?
- What is he/she/it like it?
- What does he/she/it do?
- What happens to him/her/it in the story?

To me, when I ask this questions to myself, I will be more aware of what I am going to write and I can picture how the story will be like. I believe that these questions come in handy when it comes to writing.

So anyway, my assignments are piling up really fast. Very fast, I’m telling you. I still havent start on my People Watch video and podcast. Oh no! I think I better go plan what I want to do for my podcast.

good night everyone, see you tomorrow.

okay, maybe just some of you.

Tutorial 2.

So, I am currently home alone on a Thursday night. Unintentionally, I skipped school with an MC because I was having a bad diarrhoea and I felt slightly feverish. My mum brought me to the nearest polyclinic to get the medicines because by then I was tired of “doing business”. Trust me, going back and forth to the toilet when I feel all dizzy was not very nice. Thank god, the medicine helped me ease my pain and stopped me from “making anymore business”. Phew! Okay okay, maybe I should not be talking about this. It is quite boring, I must say. The weekends are near but I do not feel hyped up about it in anyway. I think I started off the new month badly. Ooh anyway, Deepavali is coming and we do not have to class! But on the not so bright side, Miss Hong, our Studio Production lecturer insist that we have make up tutorials which I think should be okay despite having to stay a little bit longer because she will be dividing the class into smaller groups and only taking about an hour or so for each tutorial group.

Oh dear, my entry is so random and boring. Ergh. See I am starting the new month badly. My brain’s juices are dried up and intoxicated. Gee, I need to get my mojo back.

See you all in class soon. Take care!

HERE’S WHAT WE LEARNT:

Conflict is the central feature of the screenplay:
•    man against man
•    man against environment (nature, mind-torturing, eg Panic Room)
•    man against self

It’s variation of sex, age, religion and culture which provide variety to conflict.

Conflict = change

•    Change is common to everyone.
•    Change is universal!!!
•    Seasons change
•    Lives change
•    EVERYTHING CHANGE!!!!!

Oh, a plot cannot be constructed without a conflict. I believe a conflict makes  a story better. It adds the little thrill in the storyline. When the characters attempts to reach their goals, they’ll come into conflict. The end of the story nears when the protagonist and antagonist approach their goals and the conflict rises to generate maximum suspense and excitement. There could a twist in stories where people will be awed by how the story surprise them at the end.

Where do you look for a story?
- inside yourself
- Everything to learn about other people is already in you.

I agree with the first point. The easiest and fastest way to find a story is to look inside yourself. Each and every one of us has our own story. It can either be personal or not. It all lies with the person.

Let’s blog for a change.

Well, I thought having an online blog to do our storytelling assignments/exercises is quite cool. We have never done this before and it is something to look forward to. Many would feel comfortable having this blog as they have one for their personal use, while maybe a small group of us, students, do not like the fact that we have to manage our blogs. I for one loves writing; be it in a blog or on a paper. But i feel that writing on paper is the best way to express feelings or emotions. Imagine if one day I got so mad and I need to vent out my anger, I would definitely grab a piece of paper and write or scribble whatever makes me feel better. I would not on my laptop because of three reasons. Firstly, while waiting for the laptop/PC to start my anger might have just get worse because waiting can irritate me sometimes. Secondly, when I am angry I usually got nothing to say other than curses. So, I’ll probably type *%$@!$. Lastly, sometimes when one is angry, he or she does not like other people to know because you’ll never know when you’ll be bitched about. So, keeping it on a paper will prevent words from spreading like jam and butter on bread. I guess, pen and paper are still the best when you’re happy, sad, angry or just simply high.

So, this blog is for our assignments or homework. Woah! It’s been almost two months since I had my last assignment. Initially, going back to school with the thoughts of new classmates, modules and lecturers were not really something to look forward to. Especially since school started after the second day of Hari Raya. But I guess, eventually every good times spent has to end. But so far, the classmates are fine, the modules we are taking are much more enjoyable than the previous semester and the lecturers are well, what can I say about them? Hmm, I thought the lecturers are all reasonably nice. Oh by the way, I personally feel it is quite good to have a blog for assignments now because it is an advantage for us, as a new class of T1B1 to read and learn about one another. Ever since the new semester started, I think we are still trying to adjust ourselves to the new class environment. So, I hope things get better and everyone will soon enjoy being with each other. (I hope so!)

Okay, back to what I was talking earlier, everything is fine except the FOOD! Damn, the school food here is such a bore. I wonder how the third year students and staffs of Ngee Ann can really survive. I could go on talking about school food, but I need to do a reflection of yesterday’s Storytelling class. Tsk.

So, Storytelling class started with Mr Leslie coming in late for class, which if it was any one of us would mean absence. (But, it’s alright Mr Leslie). We thought he was on leave or something. A few of us were actually anticipating the moment to run and go home (oops!). But the thought died when we heard that he was coming down. We played some naming and guessing game. And honestly, I thought that the naming game helped me to remember all my classmates’ names. Oh and nobody got the “late pass for class”.

In the naming game we had to insert a word that described us and act the word out. So, when it came to Maybelle she just had to described herself as Monkey Maybelle and everyone except those before her had to do the monkey action. Thank god, we only had the other 11-12 people looking at each of us when we did the actions. And Mr Leslie had to insist that he wants the monkey action done!

Adilin, Adeela, Marjorie, Hafiz, Jordus, Zidd, Cassandra, Jiayi, Maybelle, Jeri and Syafiqa.

Actually, there are three more students who make T1B1 but they are not taking this module. After the naming game, we learnt about passive and active voices, and third person. Class ended with writing a 10 min story about either Maybelle or Zidd entering a temple and wearing a hula girl costume.

It is 15 min to four. Hari Raya songs are playing on the radio at home. I have to get ready to go to my aunt’s place. Imagine, the aroma of beef rendang, ketupat, lontong, prawn sambal and fried chicken wings. Mmm.

Goodbye for now. Have a ecstatic weekend, everyone!