STORY OF A BOMB…REFLECTION 8

A story of a bomb 

Everywhere i fall I cause destruction

People say they use me

To fight oppression 

But everytime i am used

I see people suffering

I do not mean to make their heads fly

Or break their arms

Or make their flesh burn 

It isnt my fault is it?

Im only a bomb

Isnt it my nature to explode? 

She sees and smiles

She knows she will attain her desire by using me

I am helpless in her hands

I try my best not to explode

Controlling and fighting against nature

But she continues to kindle the fire within me 

Adding fuel and more fuel I try to stop myself

I do not wish to hurt anyone

i have to stop myself 

But she throws me

I fall helpless to the ground

I explode

Shaking the whole world around me

The whole atmosphere lighted a blinding bright orange

I see people in agony

Screaming and crying in pain

But the blast drowns their screams 

Their heads detach from their body

Flesh begins to burn

People’s arms and legs scattered in pools and pools of thick crimson blood 

I see the people i love among them

I can barely recognise their faces

Broken, because of my explosive nature

They look at me in pain

Their eyes firing a thousand questions

Questions their lips cannot utter

 I am a mere bomb

I am made to explode

Can i go against nature?

Could i prevent myself from hurting people

I really dont know… 

Sometimes I wish people stop using me

I am no solution to any problem

In fact im a starting spark of any problem

Everywhere my kind goes

Destruction follows

Why am I created as a tool of destruction? 

God created every creature for a good purpose

But Man created me to destroy his own people

Sometimes I wish my kind disappear from the face of the earth

So that we cant hurt anyone

And no one would use us to hurt others  

You might be wondering, why would i link my reflection to a disturbing piece of my writing. I have opened it for intrepretation to see how people react to a piece i wrote with many intentions.

Now for the reflection. This will be my last reflection. But certainly not my last post. I realised how blogging helps me compile all the little studies i do on certain subjects. It did save me quite a lot of space in my room. I can finally get rid of all the files and papers i used to compile for my tiny researches.

Today, Mr. Ryan let us read some of the interesting story assignments from previous students.

Reflection on the stories

The first story was about a man in a santa claus costume listening to the wishes of young children. Even though, this story is very touching. The author in many areas revealed what was going on in the character’s mind. Therefore, if its put in visual form, it will be quite hard to act out.  The 2nd story was more sucessful. Most of the character’s thoughts and actions were acted out using dialouges. Therefore, one can imagine the scene going on. The 3rd one was particularly disturbing. A story that clings onto your mind and manages to live on, mainly because its opened to many intrepretations. And everytime you read it, you find something new! But this story, though interesting and resourceful, is very hard to be acted out in visual form. As a story it manages to captivate you, but in visual form, it can fail quite badly,

So what is film? Acting out a story to put it in simplest words. There is no room for thoughts going on in the character’s mind. The whole movie cant run on voiceovers? And the actions must be effective that you dont use many actions to convey one message.

When i was acting out the role with Eugene. Mr. Ryan pointed out a very interesting point that i used many actions to convey the message that i desire Eugene when i could have used one simple action, Bryan’s example of playing footsie. Maybe, i intrepreted the meaning of desire different from Bryan. My idea of desire at that point was liking Eugene and conveying that message to him by trying to hold his hands instead of directly telling Eugene that i like him. And a sudden thought came up my mind. Even in reality, if we were to like someone, how many of us boldly goes up to him and tell him, “I LIKE YOU!!!”. We try to hint through our actions. That was when i realised, words become powerless if proper actions arent used! I can say ” I like you!” with all the emotions in the world, but the tiny action of trying to desperately hold Eugene’s hand, can convey how much i desire him. And the very fact he doesnt notice that, makes me frustrated. And the main idea is to use the perfect action to convey your message instead of many actions which can end up misleading.

I also realised actions must be realistic and the accompanying dialouge must be delivered naturally that it can touch the viewers. And make them move along the story. That also reminded me of some things i learnt from Art and Film Art class. The mis en scene (Melanie can pronounce that better). Everything to do with the scene to convey the right emotions.

Acting out a scene without dialouges proved to be a challenge, especially when we were told to act naturally.

Linking back to story no. 3

Story number 3, told many scenes that could only be imagined with the author but not seen or felt physcially. How would we act out some of the parts of this story. We possibily cant. Some of us may feel handicapped when we feel deprived off descriptive words which aided us so much when we tried to tell what a character thinks. How do we make a character act out what is going on in his head. Like the scene, jacky’s group had to play. Jacky initially showed happiness and then his expression darkens. And he walks away, leaving pregnant Shu hui in pain. The change of expression is crucial in telling us something is wrong. And Shu hui crying in pain holding her belly (even though it didnt happened, as poor shu hui was shocked by Ben’s cruel action), tells us she is pregnant. And audience, link the pregnancy to the change of expression in Jacky and the mind concludes Jacky thinks the baby isnt his.

And again, i remmeber film art, where there was this passage i read that told us the audience play and intrepret the images as the movie moves along. Our mind is alert and trying to piece out the information given to us as the movie continues. Therefore, even if your dialouge is excellent, if proper actions(information) isnt given to your audience, your story makes no sense to the viewers.

reflection on symbolic images

Mr. Ryan also informed us about symbolic images or Motifs. Symbolic action in Josh’s group was the wedding ring. We can immediatley understand a proposal will be made. The excitement in Pamela’s face tells us she is very happy about it. Josh’s upset look tell us he thinks opposite to what Pamela does. And when he walks away, we immediately realise he is unhappy with the relationship and rejects the proposal.

These symbolic images is like a langauge the film maker and the audience share, One action can immediatley tell us a meaning in a straight forward manner. And it saves alot of unwanted actions.

The third story was very symbolic, even though to be honest, i didnt get anything they were saying about “Pretty women” and Julia Roberts, mainly because i hardly watch hollywood films or any film to be honest. I still prefer reading books! Mr.Ryan was very right when he said the author assumes the reader knows and follows along and leaves you behind if you cant keep up with him or her. I think i was left behind the moment Julia Roberts appeared. I didnt watch the film, but i am atleast glad i know who Julia Roberts is!

Audience are like naive people.Everything needs to be told. It can be in form of symbolic actions or dialouges. We can never assume they would know what we know. Even the simplest action needs to be acted out correctly. Talking about actions literally acted out and symbolic images reminded me of watching indian movies, where the young heroine loses her virginity, but they never show any adult scenes. But the scene would show a flower falling on thorns. Or, a saree getting torn by thorns. Then, the next scene shows the heroine messy and crying out of regret and then some wise old lady comes with this dialouge, “Even if the flower falls on the thorn, or the thorn falls on the flower, the flower is the one affected in the end”. End of scene. When i watch Hollywood movies, i am not condemning them, just comparing them, they literally show the scene out. There are not much of symbols used. But you feel less for that scene. When i was younger,i used to think European people had less emotions. They dont cry much or wail like Indians do. The European actress acting the role of a mother who loses her son, seems more composed in her crying than an Indian actress doing the same role tearing her clothes and crying. And i used to wonder, when i was younger, the people there must be really good in controlling how they feel. Maybe, its like what Melanie says, culture and background. They dont cry as much as indians do?

But when an European, watches an emotional indian movie, they ask this question “Why is that woman crying over a dead cow! Its just a cow!”. And to them, we seem like overly emotional people. The same scene of shu hui would have beem amplified thrice as much as she did, Shu hui, would end up dragging herself on the floor and crying, “Hubby!! Pleaaaassseeee ccooooommmmeeee baaacccck!”. This may seem too much for hollywood. And they may start questioning, “Are all indian wives full of drama?” But for indians, it may seem perfectly fine!

I do feel, the symbol of the flower and thorn is more powerful than literally showing out. It is just like the 3rd story, we are left to imagine. And it creates a sort bigger impact when we see it so artistically being displayed.

Another thing, i realise as i was talking with my elder sister Zareena is that scenes happen in real life too. Like a story, as in whatever the character thinks being written down in ink can be connected to a person. A person and his conscience. That voiceover on our head. Two people fighting and exchanging fiery dialouges and a third party watching. The third party is the audience, he probably doesnt know what caused the fight. But he is trying to read cues from the actions and dialouges delivered by the 2 people in an argument and his mind is piecing  out what could have happened! This is really how film works. God doesnt hand us a story, where i can literally read out the speech bubbles forming above people’s heads!

Its time to end my reflection, its getting long. The conclusion is, actions are important. Thats what i have been reflecting in many angles as possible.

Talking about symbols? How many things can the symbols in my “story of the bomb” tell you? What do you think i am trying to tell here.

Reflection-7 Tortured soul

NOTES

SCREENPLAY=MANY WRITERS INVOLVED IN THE FILM

ELEMENTS OF DIALOUGE

1)-DIALOGUE REVEALS CHARACTER

|                                                                                                                                                        

+Character talk about himself

+Others talking about a character (e.g voiceovers in election)

2)DIALOUGE ESTABLISH RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN CHARACTERS

Character express opinions opposite to each other

3)DIALOUGE HELP MOVE STORY FORWARD

4)DIALOUGE CONVEY INFORMATION TO VIEWERS

+Conveys essential exposition

+Characters talking about what happened establishes storyline

5)DIALOUGE TIE SCRIPT TOGETHER

BIG MISTAKE IN DIALOUGE!!

-Dialouge should be used sparingly and not tell the obvious like soap operas do!

+Dialouge not a subsititue for action

+dialouge should sound realistic e.g “real talking”

ADVICE !!!

FILM=VISUAL MEDIUM

STORY TOLD IN PICTURES

DONT MAKE DIALOUGE FAKE OR REAL. MAKE THEM REALISTIC. KEEP DIALOUGE FOCUSED!!!

C.H.A.R.A.C.T.E.R

-story begins with character

-is the heart soul and nervous system of the story

-without character=no action

-without action-no conflict

-without conflict-no story

-without story = no screenplay

developing the c.h.a.r.a.c.t.e.r.

What to ask?

Who is my character

WHAT does he want

WHAT is his quest?

WHAT DRIVES HIM TO THE RESOLUTION OF THE STORY

Friday had been a bad day for me. My reflection is going to be something outside my class and school. Today, Mr. Ryan showed us USUAL SUSPECTS and how a character (Keysar Soze) who was not shown in the movie, made up a main core of the story. Just like that, a similar incident happened in my life. When i came home, my Mother told me there is bad news. She told me  she had a call from Kerala that Nawfal passed away.

My heart stopped for one moment. I never met this guy in my life. But, i have heard alot about his family through my Mother. She told me that Nawfal’s father was a lawyer back in Kerala. And, he was murdered brutally due to a drug case he was handelling, and his body was chucked into a “goods” train. And my mother recalled and told me, that Nawfal was only four years old and on the same day his father was being murdered, he woke up from his sleep and cried for his Dad.

And now Nawfal is gone too? Nawfal was about 28 years old. I believe i met him once in Kerala. He was a good looking guy and was very close to his mother. Apparently, he left for Malaysia a year back for work. And his mother recieves a call that her son’s body was found in a lake last Tuesday and they are not sure if that body is his.

My Mother called today and she confirms and tell me that the dead body might be Nawfal after all. And his body is being sent back to Kerala.

I feel numb. What do i tell a women who lost both her husband and her son in a tragic way. Can consoling her help? I feel so helpless.

I guess no matter how much i feel upset about this. This is still a reflection. And i have to connect it back to what i learnt back in class. I am not being forced by it. It may even seem selfish. Characters?

It is true what Ryan said, audience connect to characters because of emotions. We never know a character personally, but we connect to him by feeling with him the emotions that are displayed. And by relating the emotions back to ourselves, like what if this happens to me?

Nawfal was a guy we initially decided to get my sister married off to. Is that why i feel a certain closeness to him. Why does he move me so much if i am not close to him. Is it the fact, i share emotions with his Mother. Human beings no matter where they come from are tied together by a common thing. Emotions. That is why stories and movies are emotional.

Back to what i wrote in reflection two. A story existing without characters. It is possible. But, it will never stay in the hearts of the audience. Maybe it might for its unique quality. But emotions cannot be displayed if there are no characters. And i understand why Aristotle and Mr.Ryan believed strongly about this. After all, what is a writer’s job? Touching and connecting with the audience. And this can only be done by characters.

And back to thinking what Mr.Ryan said about memory and experience. Experiences are things that happen daily in our lives. We learn from them. Why do memories live and experiences die? Memories live because we attach an emotion to it. Human beings are emotional people. That is another reason why, how much we argue characters are not needed for a story, characters are needed to display emotions. Without emotion, there is no action.  Without action, there really isnt a story. This also links back to observation and mindless looking. When we observe something, we attach an emotion to it too. More of an interest to understand what we are observing. Whereas, mindless looking doesnt have that. That is why observation helps us record incidents in our mind which may turn out to be memories. With characters, it is easy to capture your viewers. But if we go ahead with the challenge of a story without characters, we must be prepared to create a “spectacle”. Something unique that may capture or disturb the mind. Like Mr.Ryan’s idea of a room telling a story. Or an island that sinked? City of Pompae(wrong spelling?) told a story. Evidences lying there told a shocking story. If i were to think in that angle, emotion can be displayed without character. But you need spectacle. Something distinct. And it will be more difficult to put across a message, but certainly a challenge it will be!

It reminds me of what Shakesphere said. Was it him? The world is a stage and everyone are actors. Then God must be the director? Haha! Sometimes, we meet characters that arent significant to us but we feel so deeply for them. In my case, Nawfal and his mother. Or the time, when a four year olf child missing body was found in Singapore. The whole of Singapore was upset. What moved all these people? Did they even know who was four year old NONO? Emotions and the fear of what if this might happen to us. That is what makes stories live.

I am really not feeling well. Depressed i guess. Probably because of my helplessness. That i am unable to do anything. Or even hug Nawfal’s mother and tell her that everything is ok and it is happening for a reason. This is one reason, i hate the fact i am so far away from my relatives in Kerala. Sometimes, i feel the meaning of “Family” when i am with them. I guess my family should be called “THE ORPHAN FAMILY”.

(last minute editing)  

I am going to extend my reflection with more news of the demise of Nawfal. I was in denial, to be honest till today. Something, kept telling me they should have done a DNA test. But if he is alive? Where is he?

The immediate family seemed very composed during the conversation and said the friend identfied the body by his nose and teeth. I have nothing more to say. Even though, sometimes i think he might call out of the blue and say he is coming back.

He was so close yet so far. He could have been our brother in law. All i am worried now is about his mother. And i find myself praying for her strength. It is better in believing he is dead than he is missing. Atleast there is some conclusion.

Everything happens for a reason. And a good reason it will be. I remember the whole week, my sister Zareena and i were so upset. We asked for a premonition and to test her, i asked about the future of my friend’s brother who isnt alive anymore. She told me, she recieved a “blank”. I slowly pushed Nawfal’s topic. She said she does get a blank but not very clear about it.

Both of us decided to believe he is no more. I dont want to think about it. The thought of his mother makes me upset. I will do something for her, someday. Even though, i can never compensate her son’s loss. I can fill her emptiness.

Rest in peace Nawfal. Some part of me, still dont believe you are dead. ..

Week 6 reflection and notes.

NOTES AND REFLECTION

SCREENWRITER

-CINEMATIC EXPERIENCE NOT MADE UP OF WORDS. BUT AUDIENCE EMOTIONAL REACTION TO THAT INFORMATION

STORY IS ABOUT

-PEOPLE TO PEOPLE

PURPOSE OF WRITER

-TO CONNECT TO THEMSELVES

-THEIR UNIQUE VISION

-THE MATERIAL

-THE DRAMA

-OTHERS

(Audience wants to be transported by a screen play)

WHERE DO WE LOOK FOR A STORY

In ourselves. Everything to learn about other people is already in you.

STORYTELLING TOOLS

1)OBSERVATION AND EXPERIENCE

All people have fragments of stories. These potential ideas prompt your desire to know more and respond intellectualy to what you heard.  The best stories are from your heart and not the head.  Remember the role of audience and remember that we are the audience.

2) MEMORY

Memory is wonderful cabinet of past incidents which you have experienced. These memories are points of references to our past own expereince.

REFLECTION

What we did and what i learnt from it

Mr.Ryan told us to sit in group and read out our “letters to the past” to each other and the others will give us a critic. As i was sitting there, listening to each one of them emotionally telling me the deepest past secrets, all the shame i felt about my letter of the past flew away. I regretted, writing something so personal in a blog, until today when everyone was so brave to tell what they felt. And Mr. Ryan is very right when he said it is hard for us to give critic to a person who wrote it with such emotion. As i sat there, listening to Joshua’s tale or Seri’s tale, i was thinking, what do i say? Tell them to improve on how they feel. They were telling what they felt and that is how it should be.

Later on, i was telling Mr. Ryan, that i didnt bothered to correct my mistakes in my letter on purpose. Somehow, i wanted it that way. I wrote it all in one go, and throughout my letter i stuttered and cried. And those mistakes, kind of showed my reluctance to tell certain details in certain parts of the letter. And the audience can percieve in that way. For an example, in a part of the letter, the mistakes become slightly more and the handwriting gets a little rushed or weak looking, it reflects on the racing thoughts and feelings the writer been through. And i wanted to preserve that. It gives it a natural feeling. As a human being, when you are writing the first draft of an emotional letter, you bound to make mistakes. And that mistakes, and the irregular pattern of writing reflects the height of emotions going up and down the story. It makes audience relate to that letter and they go by memory that they have done the same mistakes when they are writing a letter, esepcially when their emotions arent stable

So what did we learn?

I think what Mr. Ryan wanted us to realise is, we can have emotion and substance in our stories. But HOW ARE YOU GOING TO MAKE YOUR AUDIENCE FEEL THE SAME WAY YOU DO!!

That is the point. The main idea, is to capture your audience and make them go through the same roller coaster of emotions you been through in that particular memory you shared with them.

The biggest advantage as a writer we have is that, we are the audience too. And we share the same emotions any one from the audience will have. The main key, is to look into ourselves, put ourselves as the audience and imagine how we would react to a situation. This is the only way, we can connect to the audience and make them feel the same way we feel. Words and emotions can be used to make a story visual, and the audience can imagine the exact pain or pleasure we have been through.

By using our memories, experience and observation as humans we can connect to other humans. Human beings tend to get comfortable with things they can relate to, and emotions is something that connect every human being despite race,religion or culture.

A good example is, Heaven. Heaven is a a place something like utopia. We have only heard of it through religious gospels but have never seen it. Yet we are able to visualise it and feel and imagine that place having clouds, angels and somewhere up in the sky. We are able to see all this, without even going to that place. In that way, it has captured us.

Hell, when we think of it, we think of a dark place with fire all over. We imagine it to be a place of suffering. We have never been there, but all humans tend to visualise hell the way i have described it. Why? It follows the same tools as storytelling, we go by memory experience and observation. Throughout our lives, we observe people who do crime to go to a dark place called prison. They are punished and subjected to torture, and the little punishments we gain in life gives us a sort of memory and experience. Which could explain why we all think of hell in the same way.

Somehow, the religious gospels tapped onto our fears of the unknown, guilt and experiences and caused us to flow with the description, to imagine a place like hell and heaven.

Therefore, storytelling techniques is everywhere. Even with God! Another thing, which i also realise is that how we display our story to the viewers. The display is like a portal where the film maker and viewers communicate to each other. And every detail must be clear. If not the audience will lose connection fast.

In the letter to the past, some of us wrote names and never explained who it really was. Maybe because, the intended audience was the person they were writing too. It is something that i realised in the class.

WRITING SOMETHING YOU DONT KNOW

What happens if you have never lost a love one in your life, does it mean you cannot write a story about it? No. That is why we are blessed that all humans share emotions. This is where we become the audience, and visualise and imagine the pain of losing a loved one, in that way we are able to display it. And audience can be captured. And we can also relate to our observation skills, example observing someone who lost a loved one. By seeing their reaction, we can put it in our stories. Movie actors, example playing a role of a cripple, will observe cripples and trained to act like them. Just like that, a flim maker must observe, use his experience and memory to make a story or even write something he doesnt know about.

I hope i got it right.

week 5 reflection

Today Mr. Ryan showed us a movie called election. Earlier on, i had a totally different idea of what Aristotle’s idea of tragedy is. The very word tragedy meant to me what indian movie tragedies were like. Really sad ones.  That you wonder how can one man have so many problems!

Mr. Ryan i am going to write it in such a way, so if i ever have to refer back i can understand what i really mean.

Aristotle Tragedy = Election Tragedy

Aristotle idea of tragedy is reversal of fortune which he called catastrophe. The character is in his highest point, and because of one mistake he makes, he falls down. That is tragedy. And this character is usually a good person.  There is also a cause and effect chain in the tragedy.

Election idea of tragedy

It is pretty much the same.  Jim is a teacher in a high school and he is very happy with his life. He has a good wife and perfect life. Then he meets Tracy flick who apparently has an affair with one of her teachers and causes him ruin. Tracy flick is a girl with a go- getter attitude. When she decides to run for class president, Jim fears that he has to spend more time with the girl. So he decides, to get Paul to run for election too. Jim seems to have a poor sex life with his wife, who wants to have kids after completeing nursing school. Beacuse of that, Jim decides to have an affair with her best friend. And when that happens, his wife gets to know about. His marraige breaks up. Later part of the movie, the election results are out. And Tracy Flick wins. Now, Jim becomes desperate and throws two votes into the bin. Earlier in the movie, they showed a scene where he will be throwing some leftover food out of the bin. I cant really remmeber.

Because of this action, the school will find out what he did and he loses his job. In the end of the movie, he is a tourist guide and in his voiceover he convinces himself he is happy. And then he meets, Tracy flick who becomes a lawyer. He throws a drink at her car and runs away.

WHAT DID I LEARN?

I wrote a summary of the story, so if i have to refer back i can really understand what i mean. My apologies.  This movie has alot of cause and effects. Let us see how it all started.

FIRST CAUSE-

Tracy Flick has affair with one teacher. Teacher loses job

EFFECT 1- Causes fear in Jim when he realises Tracy becomes president, they might have to spend alot of time together

EFFECT 2- Makes Paul run for president.

EFFECT 3- Since Pauls girlfriend was his lesbian sister’s ex girlfriend, Tammy runs for election too

EFFECT 4- Causes frustration in Tracy Flick who gets so mad that she tears down all the posters.

EFFECT 5- Tammy sees that and brings the torn posters and admits she did it and as a result she moves to another school where she lives happily ever after with her new lesbian girlfriend.

EFFECT 6- Jim gets frightened that Tracy may win. When he realises, Tracy DID win, he throws two votes into the bin

EFFECT 7- The garbage man find the two votes and shows to the school’s management

EFFECT 8-Jim loses his job and becomes a tourist guide.

THE 2ND CAUSE IN THE MOVIE

CAUSE 2-Jim has poor sex life with his wife who wants to finish her nursing school.

EFFECT 1- Wants to have affair with wife best friend

EFFECT 2- Has an affair with her

EFFECT 3- Wife finds out and breaks up marraige

RESOLUTION- Jim who had a happy family and a great job, loses everything. This is the idea of tragedy

WHAT I LEARN FROM THIS

Tragedy doesnt have to be like indian movies, where the hero has a dying mother, a drunkard father, a sister who always gets raped by the villain, or girlfriend who cries every five minutes.

Idea of tragedy can be simple as this as long as there is a reversal of fortune because of one mistake he makes. And there should be a cause and effect chain that causes this reversal of fortune.

And i think i just went through ANAGNORISIS- Change from ignorance to knowledge

I still want to make a beggar have tragedy. Now that i know what is tragedy. Imagine a beggar, who lives from hand to mouth. And he sings for a living for his family.Even though life is hard, he has the support of his family. One day, a shoot out happens in front of him. And one of the gang members call him into the gang. He makes a decsion, intending his life may become better and his family will finally be free from poverty. He takes that path. And he loses his family in the process. He loses one leg. And he gets shot himself one day and lies dying. People walk past but no one wants to help the beggar. The beggar dies. Is that finally a tragedy?

Reversal of fortune is small. But he did lose a very supportive family. The very people he took the gun for, all died. It defeats his purpose. So i guess it is reversal of fortune. There is a cause effect chain. He takes gun, effect family broken, in turn causes effect of losing leg and leads to resolution his death where no one helps him. I hope this is something!

Notes and reflection WEEK 4

WEEK 4 NOTESTRAGEDY?

WHAT  IS IT?—->

- IMITATION OF ACTION (MIMESIS)

-MORE OF DRAMA THAN STORY, SHOWS NOT TELLS

-ABOUT REVERSABLE FORTUNE , FROM SOMETHING GOOD TO BAD

-AROUSES PITY AND FEAR

SIX IMPORTANT PARTS OF STORY

-PLOT

-CHARACTER

-THOUGHT

-DICTION

-SONG OR MELODY

-SPECTABLE

 PLOT—what is it?

-Arrangement of incidents presented to audience or structure of play

-Must have beginning, middle and end

-Begining should start with cause and effect chain, Climax must be caused due to prior incidents and end should be resolution and not lead to any more incidents.

-Must have unity of action->plot must be internal or self contained and incidents should be drawn internally and have no outside’s influences interfering

-Should have magnitude and not be brief,

-Plots must be SIMPLE OR COMPLEX.SIMPLE refers to change of fortune which is called “catastrophe”, COMPLEX plots involve perpetiea and anagnorisis. Peripetiea-refers to effect opposite to what which character intended. anagnorisis refers to is change from ignorance to knowledge. e.g finding out your uncle is an evil man when you believed in him.

CHARACTER

-Support plot

-realistic

-consistant

-”fitness of character”, according to aristotle courage fits warrior but does not fit a woman

-idealized

-necessity or probable-must follow law of necessity

THOUGHT-Proved to be or not to be

-Refers to themes of a play

DICTION-Expression of words

-Aristotle believes this must suit characters, plot or tragedy

SONG OR MELODY

-not very important

-Aristotle believes it should act in giving unity to a story

SPECTACLE-

sPECTACULAR EFFECTS THAT CAPTURE ATTENTION

The 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)

Some important words
katharis- purification of a motion
.mimesis- look like real life, mimic
anagnorisis- ignorance to knowledge
.perepeteia- turn/twist tragedy
hamartia- flaw

Hello again!

My reflection on Aristotle

Today we had a holistic view on who Aristotle exactly is. Earlier on, we did a small research on Aristotle and episodic plots. I was telling Mr. Ryan what i felt about Aristotle. Initially, when i read his qoutes i had a very good impression of him. Storytelling is a form of ART. There are aboslolutely no rules in telling a story. If there are rules, there is no difference from your story and a textbook. It is true a story needs a structure. A body. Or a backbone to be more precise. But, there are so many forms of structures, in fact you can create your own. Storytelling is about creativity. THERE ARE NO RULES IN CREATIVITY

As long, as your audience understand your story, it means you did a great job! Aristotle belives in chronological order in stories. He seemed to have emphasized on it alot. And he also believed story should have a proper start, middle and end. The idea is to be creative! So you can capture the intrest. It is a pity, that Aristotle did emphasize on spectacle so much. But why cant the order of the story be a spectacle itself? Something that catches your attention!

If everyone does everything the same way. There is no spice at all. I believe always in one thing. Being different! If there is a black dot on a wall, people notice the black dot, not the whiteness around it. Stories should capture attention. Stories are not about a good plot. It is also very important how you arrange your incidents in a plot. Incidents can be arranged in so many ways. Like Momento, such a movie can create a sort of confusion in the start. But, a confused mind is always attentive, it wants to clear its confusion, therefore it concentrates on its surroundings to gain a better understanding. That is the same way with movies like Momento. You capture their interest, they follow you and they become a part of the story!

I totally disagree with Aristotle. I find him very conventional. But, let us not condemn him so much. Let us think, about the good he has achieved. Maybe, people last time arent as educated as the audiences today! Therefore, complex storylines probably would confuse them. Or in other words, episodic plots may have never interest them. Times change, people change. There is no absolute rule. If you do not change with time, you will be lagging behind. The demands of today’s audiences are very high. EVERYTHING MUST BE INTERACTIVE! From computer games to ( i dont know what else). They want to be a part of the story, not a third person. So it is important to experiment!

My reflection on EPISODIC PLOTS

I enjoy them. And i did enjoy Moll flanders very much. The main reason is, it is different from other stories. A totally new feeling! It is sometimes comical to relate to a REAL life character just like you, who faces the same problems as you do. Even though, climaxes go up and down. It creates a sense of anticipation. Unexpectedly, you find yourself going through different climaxes. In fact, i wonder if there were movies with episodic plots. It would be a great experiment!

My reflection on ARISTOTLE and tragedy

Aristotle sets too many rules. His rules may serve him well. But not in the field of art. There are no boundaries in art. For an example, i was speaking to Eugene today about his openers. I dont know but his openers caught my attention. His choice of words arent conventional at all! Therefore, i thought it was great. To me, it felt like the openers were very unperdicatable starts. What i mean is, it can go this way or that. Even though, he didnt elaborate much. The fact that he didnt, gave me a resticted vision of WHAT IS GOING ON! And it interest me, like i said earlier, a confused mind is always attentive. Another person, i admire is Ray. Even though, witticisms are peppered all over her stories, it catches attention. No doubt, it is madness! But i like it, she is different. In today world, only people who are different make it BIG! I admire her style even though i would not want to adopt it. Like there was once, she wrote about turning mother’s volume down? I was like, what does she mean by that? And she told me, its up to your imagination. The human mind is a very powerful tool, we can actually make things happen. That is why i do not like Aristotle’s point of view. I believe anything is possible in a story as long as you can convey your message to your audience.

His idea of tragedy, i hope i remmeber it well. He mentioned about the character being propserous. And he hits rock bottom.

Ok i got a small idea of tragedy from the net. Take a look

He defines tragedy as “the imitation of an action that is serious and also as having magnitude, complete in itself.” He continues, “Tragedy is a form of drama exciting the emotions of pity and fear. Its action should be single and complete, presenting a reversal of fortune, involving persons renowned and of superior attainments,and it should be written in poetry embellished with every kind of artistic expression.” 

Mr. Ryan was mentioning a begger cannot stoop any lower. I do quite agree with him. Maybe Aristotle wanted to show the magnitude of the character’s fall. But fall, is not necessary in the form of wealth. I dont know, but i feel like making a beggar fall further and also having a huge amount of tragedy. I feel like its a challenge. Ok, let us imagine a beggar. He has no money. Let us imagine, one day as he begs, he loses his leg. But yet he tries dancing with one leg (Inspired by “BY THE PEOPLE” not trying to plagerise). And maybe he meets a girl, let us make it another beggar woman. And he loves her alot. Maybe she leaves him for another man. Let us add more tragedy, let us kill the character. So, one day the beggar guys gets hit by a car and loses his life! I dont know if this is a good tragey enough. I just made it up on the spot. So you see, a beggar can fall. And there is magnitude. It is already bad enough he is a begger. The form of magnitude of his tragedy can be seen in his pityful life. Then we added more and more tragedy by making him lose his leg.

Let us compare! A rich man becoming poor and a poor beggar guy losing everything and dying. Who do you feel more pity for? Rich guy or baggar? Atleast the rich guy was happy in one part of his life! But the beggar, he suffered in the start, middle and end. That is what i feel PURE tragedy is. It is like falling to the deepest pit ever, and breaking your legs and your disability prevents you from even dreaming of climbing up again. That is my intrepretation. Why must tragedy be potrayed in only one pattern. I am sorry. I find this ridiculous like the education system of  this country. The education system here tells you to be creative BY THE RULES? How can you be creative if you create limitations to yourself?

Dont limit yourself. A human mind does wonders. You can create and destroy. Screw the rules. I dont like swearing. But seriously, THINK OUT OF THE BOX!

slave

Robert lee xian long walks unsteadily towards Crystal’s desk. He throws the books on the table and sinks into his chair opposite Crystal. Crystal looks at him annoyingly. Robert ignores her and flips his book roughly. Crystal mumbles in a voice full of irritation. “Do you know how long i have been waiting?”. Robert without gazing up from his book, whispers “Do you think it is that easy to get the stuff?”. Crystal stares at him. Hardly blinking. Her gaze projecting anger.

Robert continues to ignore her gaze, incensing Crystal further. Crystal stands up angrily and walks away. After a few minutes, Robert follows her looking around as if checking if anyone notices anything going on.

Robert continues to walk to a dark corner outside the library. The sound of sobbing becomes distinctly clear. He finds crystal kneeling down, her face a crimson red. “You made me addicted to this Robert, and now you are treating me like a slave!”.

Robert kneels beside her. Anger clear on his face. “You deserve it! And you are right about the part that you are a slave. MY SLAVE!”.

Crystal looks at him helplessly and shows him her hand. Her hand full of marks. Marks from numerous injections. Robert grabs her hand roughly and takes out a shiny object from his pocket. An injection. He slowly injects her. Crystal winces in pain.

WEEK 3 NOTES AND REFLECTION

RECAP FROM PREVIOUS WEEK

Conflict is key element to a story

->Characters

->Plot

Most important in a story

Aristotle

-Man who wrote a memo on how to construct stories

OBSERVATION

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

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MINDLESS LOOKING AND OBSERVATION

Mindless looking

-Watching movies

-In the train

-Actions or things we are familiar with

TRUE OBSERVATION

-Distinct new events

-Emotional attachment

Observation takes place when we have a certain intrest in an object. This is my opinion. Or, if the object is unfamiliar and we want to get familiar with it. Whereas, mindless looking is more of things that are familiar and happens to us in a repitious routine, so much so we do not need to pay any extra attention for further observation.

REFLECTION

Mr. Ryan told us to do a short research on Aristotle. And i realised that he pretty much dislike stories with episodic plots. Stories like Moll flanders. He believed a story should have a proper start, climax and ending. Moll flanders was a book i read. And i find the book rather amusing. It is a life story of a woman who was married 5 times, once to even her own brother. She was a theif in one part of her life and even a whore! In stories like this, the emotional drama goes up and down in zig zag patterns. The tension does not increase as we reach the end. It is as unpredictable as life. Aristotle’s definition of a story maybe different. But, i believe that art or imagination has no specifc rules? The more different or unique you are, the more you shine! I love Moll flanders! Unpredictable. And so easy to relate to, since our lives are like that. A movie or a story, Aristotle talks about is focusing on ONE episode of your life. Whereas, in episodic plots, you have multiple plots and multiple events, sometimes they dont relate to each other? But isnt that life? Is it wrong to make a story like that. The idea of a good story is to capture the intrest of your reader and put your message across sucessfully. If you had done that. YOU ARE A GOOD WRITER!

My reflection on observation

I am glad that Mr.Ryan brought up this topic about observation. In the past, i didnt feel observing people to a very close scale is important. I thought it was impolite if the other party senses you. But, all my life i have been doing one crazy research after another. And observing people, were once my obsession. When i was working in a tourist line, an eldery Australian man looked deeply into my eyes and said. “Do you know you can read a person through their eyes?”. I looked at him and asked him to read me. He told me, to research on that topic. And truly enough i did.

If you are displaying any form of emotion, whether its a smile or sadness, all your face muscles work with it. Like if im smiling, you can tell if it is a fake smile or not if you dont see my eyes squinting and lines appearing all over. Another thing about eyes. If a person lies to you, he would either look to the right or left. And by observing the direction, you can say if he is lying or not. And i look into people’s eyes when i speak to them. Some people find it rude i guess or scary maybe because they find my gaze scary. Another thing, if you want to READ  a person, never look at the BIG expressions he shows you. Like gestulations(hope its correct), distract us. Look for minute details, is his expression changing? Are his eyes looking left or right? A liar can never make eye contact? Look at all these details. Sometimes its important, espcially in a world with hypocrites, to save yourself from alot of trouble.

A small tip, if you want to find out if your date likes you. Look at the eye pupils. If it gets bigger, he or she really really likes you!

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.