The Misconception Of Freedom

Many of my classmates were baffled by what i wrote that women should stop imitating men to attain freedom. Especially, Tomaline who claims she is a feminist. I believe in one thing firmly. Women and men are equal, but we have to accept the fact that we are different. Not only by the way, we think but also by the way our bodies are.

 Today, we see a woman working, coming back home to feed the children, wash the dishes and so on. Whereas, the man rests after work. (Of course, there are men who help around too!). But why this double duty. Women are drilled to believe, that doing a man’s work is freedom? That is not true. God made us different so we can compliment and compensate for each other’s flaws. Women, naturally weaker by strength, and their bodies are made to bear children. Whereas, men naturally being more stronger are able to do hard labour.

Today, if a woman is a homemaker, she will be mocked at. Why? Is being a woman so bad? There are so many women in this world, who were great scholars and yet good homemakers.

Today a woman works 9 to 12 hours, away from her children. The children, not under the supervision of a mother, end up doing unlawful things.  I am not saying a woman should not be educated or get a job. Maybe they should stop trying to be a man so much. Do you know what is freedom? Freedom is being accepted for who you are and what you do, the moment you alter yourself to please another, you are a mere slave.

Today’s movies potray women half naked. Not to mention indian movies, you see the actress in skimpy clothing, while the men are dressed. Why is it a woman has to strip to survive in the film industry? What is the lifespan of indian actresses. 10 years, 12 years? And what do they do? STRIP? Think about it? You don’t ask a man to come to a date in super tight shots. But a man requests you to wear the shortest skirt possible?

The concept of marriage brought to protect women. Nowadays, sex is so free. People do not marry anymore. Why do you suppose the concept of marraige is so emphasized in religious gospels? Forget religions. Let us see it this way, the world has one night stands. And after that night, the man and woman are complete strangers. And if the woman becomes pregnant, it is her responsibilty. I know of a woman like that? Marriage is responsibility. Why do people want sex but not the responsibility. Is it fair to make woman responsible just because the child grow in us?

I am not blaming men for this problem. Women have to open up their eyes. Accept yourselves for who you are.  And i hope i answered your question, Tomaline

Notes and Reflection 2

S.T.O.R.Y Made of

->Characters

->Plot

->Smooth and continous writing

->Climax

->Organization

->Conflict

*Variation of sex, religion and culture which provide variety to conflict.

Positive effect from CONFLICT

*Get to see two sides of the coin

* Learn more things

*Change

CONFLICT DEFINITION

Clashes of agreement or disagreement, oppostion of person or forces.

TYPES OF CONFLICT

->Conflict with self

->Conflict with environment

->Conflict between two people

In other words, CONFLICT = CHANGE!!!

-Change is common in everyone

- Change is universal

-TYPES OF CHANGES-

BODILY CHANGE-E.g Spiderman

SEASONAL CHANGE-E.g Cold Mountain

LIVES CHANGE-E.g Company

RELATIONSHIPS CHANGE- Shadow of a doubt

FEELINGS CHANGE-E.g  D

LOCATIONS CHANGING-E.g Krrish

TECHNOLOGIES CHANGING-

Why resist change

-Fear of unknown

-The will to learn to cope with change

-Action in drama depends on conflict

*As characters attempt to reach their goals, they come into conflict with each other

*The end of the story when the protagonist and the antagonist approach their goals and the conflict rises to generate maximum suspense and excitement.

My Reflection on questions raised

Joshua raised up a very interesting question today in class. Can there be a story without characters. I do appreciate the boy’s inquisitive mind! I thought to myself. Is it possible? Joshua’s explanation was making a story of a room and the things inside it. But, i realised if the story is going to be a about a strange room, the room itself becomes a character? But i am pretty curious! Can i write about my room? Maybe it would be e.g ” My room is haunted by spirits!”. Then spirits, become a character. But, this sure made me think. Characters are not necessarily people. Characters can be animals or even objects. Example, the toy story. The story was basically about “things”. And these “things” become character! Joshua is not wrong in the way he thinks, that boy has a good imagination, and thinks out of the box always. And he is never shy about his opinions.

Anyway just for the sake of it, i attempted

1)There was once a city of gold, that was known to be prosperous. Suddenly, one day the city sank into the depths of the sea. Till today, no one knows why the city disappeared and where all the gold went to…

 

2)There lies a house in a lonely end of the town. It has been deserted for a long, long time. Through the broken windows, one can see furniture neatly assembled. Thick dust covering the furniture like blankets. No one has ever entered the house. It has been deserted and may be deserted for a very long time.

Even though Joshua’s theory is quite possible, his story would be short lived, as they are no characters to add fuel to keep the fire burning. Characters add spice and life to the story. So it is important to have characters in a story. People read stories because they are intresting, and characters help the reader relate to the stories. Especially, when they see a character suffering from a problem they go through. 

Reflection on Liqing’s story

Liqing’s story about the wedding, gave me a great amount of information on  traditional european weddings. I never knew they had so many “procedues”. Her story, lacked conflict. And, every moment we were expecting something to happen, only to be cheated later. But think about it, the fact we had the expection made us listen to her story. She was able to draw us in that sense! Conflict is the backbone of any story. People are only inerested in problems. It is something we deal with everyday. Human beings, whether they like to agree with it or not, are not perfect. So, when we see Liqing’s story, we want something to happen there. We look for flaws. That is a natural instinct. And we get irritated when something is perfect, even though deep inside us, we would always love to embrace perfectionism.

Relection on short flims

The 1st film on Kasi is something that happens in society of Singapore today. Here, we see a change in environment and how Kasi tries to adapt himself to it. Another conflict we get to see is Kasi conflicting with himself, whether to tell the truth about his situation or tell a lie to save his wife from worry. This is a common problem that happens in Singapore. I am not sure if it is right to say, but when i saw that clip, for one moment a scary thought gripped my mind. High end positions and low end positions are being occupied by foreigners and it reminded me of history a little. In the past, it was the common malay, chinese and indians who suffered for Singapore just like Kasi. Maybe, in the future, Singapore might belong to today’s foreigners. The clip showed clearly the common problems a foreign worker faces everyday. And it surprised me, to see them being ill treated. It’s pretty sad that the public of Singapore is always being shadowed from the reality that happens around us. I am glad that this film is bold enough to show some problems.

The 2nd story is about the chinese girl conflicting with her mother. Even though, the story is displayed on screen in a very well manner. The conflict, as Mr. Ryan pointed out, has not ended. Maybe, a story is unable to survive without characters. But, maybe a story can survive without resolving a conflict. I have seen many movies like that. There was one indian movie, where there is a conflict between a police officer and a terrorist. The police officer goes undercover into the group. And, when he is found out, he kills himself and the terrorist. But, at the end of the movie, they show the offsprings of the policeman and the terrorist, resenting each other, just because their fathers were enemies. The conflict, in other words, continues. Life is like that too, sometimes solutions to such conflicts are at our fingertips. But we choose not resolve them, maybe because of ego, cultural background and other reasons. Movies are becoming more realistic nowadays. Years back, there seemed that every problem has a solution. Movies are now reflecting the truth. Even the fact, that the chinese mother forces her child to excel is a common problem we see in Singapore. Education and knowledge meant the same thing long time back. Now, if you ask a 7 year old, he would say, education means getting a good job and a fat salary. What is education? Forcing a textbook down your child’s throat? Education is about seeking knowledge without any pressure.No doubt that education is an essential tool to every human being. But how far should we stretch this tool to judge one’s knowledge? Education was brought to broaden the mind and accept all views. But, many educated people failed to understand the reason behind their education. In fact, it is they who discriminate uneducated people and chuck their views to a corner.This short film shows the situation very clearly. Education should be fun, whether it is music or books, it should never be a burden like the schoolbags children carry to school like turtles!

Classwork no. 2

Jake’s finger rakes the statue curiously, “Nooo! Don’t touch that!”. Jakes turns around and meets a stern gaze from Nora. She walks towards him agressively and glares at him angrily. “You do not work as a professional archaeologist!” Nora continues to fix an angry glare at Jake. “We have already one of our campers dead, and by touching these statues that could possibly contain corpse powder, you might get yourself killed like Paul!”. Jake nods as if he understands his mistake.

Nora walks to the centre of the site, and claps her hands catching the attention of all the campers. Everyone turns around and gazes at her. All of their faces dirty with soot. Nora breathes heavily and speaks, ” We are in very real danger, even though we have made a very brilliant discovery in these anazi ruins, we have to bear in mind that this corpse powder used in these ancient burial ground has caused one of our campers to die, so we have to pack up as soon as possible and leave!”.
“We can’t just possibly leave! This place may get looted!” Smith objects. “As team leader, i have no choice but to keep the safety of those under my commad!” Nora continues sternly. “Try to get many samples as possible and evacuate immediatly, we will come back later with better equipment”. She shouts out to her team.

Everyone begins to get back to work immediately. Taking pictures and whatever samples that they can find. Jake holds on to Nora’s hand in fear, “What if we are already infected?”. Nora tries to eliminate her fear in her voice as she speaks, “Corpse powder contains a certain fungal dust, that could have possibly killed thousands of anazis, that is why the whole civillisation vanished.  And they do have a cure for this. But for one to become infected, he has to inhale it. So even if we might have been infected, the best to do is to get a cure as soon as possible, thats why i have to be stern with each one of you!”.

The packing finishes by the end of the night. Everyone gathers around the centre of the site. Anxiety engulfing their faces. Soon, they hear the sounds of helicopters. A loud cheer breaks out among the crowd. Everyone slowly gets on the helicopters.

Nora looks out of the window, at the site. Jake holds on to her arm and squeeses it. “We will be back Nora, and this will be the peak of our career!”. Nora smiles back at him.

classwork

Jacky puts on his hula girl outfit and enters the temple. His face begins to tense as he threads towards the gates of the temple. Faces bearing the look of astonishment and shock looks at him. Jacky ignores them and walks slowly towards the centre of the temple. He closes his eyes, as if saying a silent prayer. Outside the temple, there were three boys staring hard at him. One of them mouths the following words, “If you dont do this act, you are not coming back to school again1″.

Jacky begins to shake his body to the temple drums. Anger begins to rise among the people there. Shouts begin to drown the music. But Jacky continued his act. The crowd begins to lose patience and starts to assault him physically.

Jacky quietly takes the beating from the angry mob. The three boys outside the temple, watches him intently. A satisfied grin begin spreading on their faces. Jacky drags himself from the crowd, his socks soaking in his own blood. He limps out of the temple towards his school bag. One of those boys, steps on his bag and sneers at him, ” Until you study in our school, you have to obey our rules.”

Wiping the blood off his face, Jacky picks up his bag and staggers towards home.

TUTORIAL 1 NOTES AND REFLECTION

TUTORIAL ONE NOTES 

Screenplay uses the below format 

                            |                                     

 1.  PRESENT TENSE

2.  3^RD PERSON                          

3.  VISUAL VOICE             

WHY?–> Presents a more immediate and urgent feel to the material                                    |                Example—->Mark picks up a gun and holds it in his hand. It begins to tremble, as if alive. 

Written Vs Visual voice

Written

-uses weak verbs

-tells us what is happening in character’s head

-distance reader from story

VISUAL VOICE

-strong action verbs

-immediate sentence structure to convey story

shows action

TIPS FOR WRITING

è If you have work in progress, NEVER stop for the night of your stuck->Always solve the problem and keep going until you are in safer water

è If you cant get started in a project, start writing anyway! To do this you have to have some words to type!

è It doesn’t matter what you write, you will soon begin to think and more in your own rhythm /pace 

My Reflection

REFLECTION ON METHOD OF WRITING

Mr. Ryan specifically told us to write in the present tense, 3rd person’s viewpoint and in the visual voice. That was not a problem for me at all. Until, he asked Jun jie to read what was on his paper. That is when i realised i made a mistake. I made my character think. I realise in a script, everything or every word needs action. If not, the message cannot be conveyed to the audience. It is not like reading a book! That is why present tense is important. We can’t write the sentences like e.g “John thinks…”. Obviously, we cannot cut open John’s brain and show it to the audience. In a script, every detail must be acted out. My story is pretty much similar to Jun jie’s story. And in my story, my character is doing this stunt because he is forced to by some bullies. And since, I cannot just write, “John thinks…”. I might have to show the actions in words. Example, Jacky is entering the temple. The bully shouts at him, “if you don’t complete the dare, forget about coming to school again!”. That would help the audience to understand why is Jacky doing this silly act. Writing out every detail in action is truly something difficult. And i guess, by being in the “3rd person” perspective, we are actually seeung with the audience’s eyes?

REFLECTION ON TIPS ON WRITING

Mr Ryan emphasized on continuing to write despite having “mind blocks.” This, i must admit would be a little difficult. I am a perfectionist by nature. And, i like doing my best. Sometimes, i take a little rest to gain some inspiration.But i guess, he has a point after all. Maybe, he wants a flow in the story. If there are too many full stops, we might lose the connection with the audience.  Perhaps, scriptwriting is different from writing stories and articles.