Berries’s Way

Last post for this blog..

i read the journal assignment handout, it says that the journal must be completed by the end of week 7 tutorial and containing notes from week 1 to 8..i was like “huh”? how are we suppose to write stuffs for week 8 by week 7? lol

Ok, let do an overview about this storytelling module, i finished up my final draft and i think i am just lazy to add any major changes to it so i just added some paragraphs. Overall, this module has let me realise the need for audiences’ participations, to let them feel that as if they are in the story themselves, so we must use present tense. Actually storytelling is more like a descriptive essay, we have to write out what the audiences can’t see, we have to let them have the same idea of what the writer him/herself is thinking and feeling. We have to give a clear image to every scene we made. However, i think in my last essay, i used too much thoughts, because i don’t know what a person might do when he/she is panic and thinking, if it was me, i will be just standing still. ”A picture says a thousand words”, in essay, we can’t draw to create a picture, that’s why we must write more to achieve what we wanted the audiences to see, perhaps it will be much easier when it comes to storyboarding.   

Well..my story..actually my aim is to keep it simple and easy..

But for those people who didn’t come across my story genre..split personalities..may find it difficult to figure out what am i writing..and i don really know how to convey that mysterious mood in my writing..

I was told to make my stakes higher..such as having some dead man or blood etc..but i dont really like bloody and violence thingys happening in my story..or esle it will even make my story more hard to understand..maybe i should think of other ways to place my stakes higher

2 more weeks to go and we shall say bye bye to this module. Agree that storytelling is such a short module..only 8 weeks..however..the story that we have wrtiten will still stay and bring to storyboarding-ing.

The first thing we did for today class is QUIZ..ARH! More difficult than i expected as i thought that it will just be filling blanks =\ Actually have wasted my time reading the slides as most of the question are based on the short film that we watched. Should have go limewire, download them and watch over and over again..but then i doubt that they will be avaliable there. At least i know who is the director WEE-LEE-LIN..yay..will get at least a bonus mark..

My first draft..i dont even know what am i writing..i guess other people will also get a hard time figure it out..the story was like so lame =.= for me..cause i don’t know how to create a mysterious mood in my writing.

Good luck then..

Damn it..i just cant think of a good story for my draft 1!! AHH!! Help ME!!

Been doing alot of observation lately..and i mean ALOT..but i just couldnt figure out what story i want to write..i just cant think of a good ending ..ARR! I must remember not to write about character studies again..i must make up some events for the stories..but what will be the best way to end a story? Dying seems to be too common..and i just cant stop the story half way through!!

Ok! Memory..shit ! I dont have any exciting nice memories to write about, everything that ever happens in my life is way too common..and i wont be interested to write them as my story

 Experience..so what would be the best experience i ever have? ARR..i just cant think of any!!

Obsevation ! Observation! You’re my only god now..come’on..let me have some inspiration please!

Arr! 2 pages of story..for a totally noob like me is way too difficult..no much time left..hopefully can get some idea from my dream tonight..ARR!

Stories not neccessary to be a personal experiences or memories..it can be make up..just like what we have done on this week lesson which we were told to write a true and false story..it depends whether if you’re a good liar that you can make your false story as real as the true one..

If you’re stuck somewhere in your story..try making the character youself of what you’ll do if you met the exact same situation as the character in your story..

“Show but not tell”, the greatest challenge for scriptwriters. People don’t always think the same things as they watch or read a story, hence, for a good scriptwriter, he/she must makes sure that he/she conveys the right ideas or message to the readers. In order to support this statement, “Show but not tell”, one must need a wide range of words to show the emotion, situation of the story. Such as the words “glad” and “ecstatic”, although both of them mean happy, but using the word ecstatic bring in a more powerful emotion, to let the readers knows how happy he/she really is.   

Same goes for acting, to achieve, “Show but to tell”, other than a good script, good actors are also important. We want to show, the actors must act according to scripts, of how the emotion should goes. To show “Sad, very sad and damn sad”, inexperienced actors may not know how to differentiate them, or they may “over-powered” it and made their acting looks abit “fake”, or even bring in the wrong ideas for the audiences.

“Show but not tell”, I think this statement may be too hard for me to achieve it, because i don’t have a wide range of vocab to support it, and I don’t really know how to convey my thought fully using English. Maybe, somedays, I may write my script in chinese and get someone to translate it..

Ok..honest speaking..I wasn’t paying much attention to this lesson cos something went wrong with my mac

So we got our “people-watch” ready and have to find two addresses randomly from an old address book, so i guess the aim for doing this is to let our impression of those “stangers” and find suitable names for them, names that may determine how they behave. We are also told to write a story about them and it is not easy, we have to think the extreme way to provoke people, using the impression we have on those “strangers”

We also learn to determine how we want our story’s characterss to be, either in their personalities, backgrounds and their thoughts. We don’t have to write them out words by words such as “I’m Zheng Jie, 17 years old, currently studying in ngee ann poly”, however, we could express them out via conversation between characters and their action.

While for the worse, we have to think of 5 short 50-words stories. Which reminds of me of composition we wrote when we are primary 1, it was so easy during that time, but not now anymore. We have to work out our first draft on week 6, yup, 3 more weeks to go, hope i can finish by then. 

=====Reflection on StoryTelling lesson(23/10)=====

Well, for this week lesson, we emphasis more on dialogue, that we shoudn’t write what we can see or hear or this may make our stories bored. Using dialogue help to build the character’s image, thoughts as well as personalities. It also bring out an atmosphere for the story since it is not like movies where there are music and sound effects.

But then, my secondary school’s English teacher had always retricted us of not to use more than 3 dialogues in an essay, or else she will deduct marks, but on the other hand, she encouraged us to make at least 1 dialogue in our stories. I will always wrote things that we can see or hear just to fulfill her, such as “Oh, he is coming!”,”Stop hitting my head!”.

Readers seldom want to read what people are saying everyday, but when our story is more lively, doesn’t that attract their attention even more since it is closer to to their life? As a Singaporean, I actually enjoyed watching Singapore Slang and Singlish shows, such as Phua chu kang, maybe it is a comedy that made our life more relieve.

We also watched 2 films, that got less dialogue or none at all, watching the “Ah Ma” film, I realise that if a film doesn’t want to use much dialogue, the actors/actresses much be good, they must be able to act out their action, expression and how they want the audiences to feel. There is this scene where their Uncle, the Ah Ma’s brother, said a few sentences and start crying, honest speaking, I think it will be better if he don’t say anything at all, but just tears, sniffings.

While that 5 minutes cartoon film, it is so violence, at the start, blood splashing and in the end they actually cut the baby’s head and see what’s inside, eew. I think the animator just want to show that there are always different outcomes and we shoudn’t just look thing on one side. Nobody will think of a cute baby will appear after the bloody scene, and nobody will think of a cute baby will cry so loud, nobody will think of the reason of his crying is not for hunger, warmth and stuffs like that, but because the baby think much more than the adults does.

 =====End of reflection=====

=====Reflection on StoryTelling lesson(16/10)=====

Actually this is another stress module for me..cos my English just SUCKs that the god pity me and give me a GOd DAMN B4 to enter this course (that was my highest english grade throughout my secondary school and i got an E8 for my prelim)..never did i know that English is important for DVFX too..so Mr.Leslie..please dont expect too much for me and sorry if i have disappoint you in this module.

Well..today..i cant think of anything other than “Zealous Zheng Jie” for the name game..cos my vocab really sucks and my grammar sucks even further.

As for the “Openers”, yes i think that they are really helpful for a good start..this is what i used to do..when i get a topic title..i will not write the essay straight away but i will procastinate it..and keep thinking of it days and nights till i have enough ideas and diarrhoea them out before the day of the deadline =X ..that’s what i did with my SocPsy assignments last time

However..because of my sucky English..i struggled with every sentences i wrote and could not express my ideas out fully..i dont have good vocabs to decribe them and i have to take care of my grammars in every word..that will took lot of time..

Sometimes..i am just too admire of people who can write good English..they can easily made us understand when he/she is thinking..and whenever they have ideas..they can just write them down as if without thinking.

We are told that we will be using present tense for this storytelling module..but will there be chances for past tense? such as if you are to write someone recalling something..i am just too messed out with absolute thingy.

=====End of reflection=====