WEEK 11 (week8holiday) -FOOD FOR THOUGHT

SOUND VS VISUALS

• Which is more important?
• NEVER go on set with mindset ‘Let’s fix the sound in post’.
• Avoid doing ADR (Automated Dialogue Replacement)
• Sound complements visuals and vice versa

IMPORTANCE OF SOUND/MUSIC in FILMS

• Sound Effects: Fakes natural, humans, mechanical sounds.
• Foley Artist: A person’s job to record sound to match sound effects.
• Songs: Emphasizes dramatic action in non-musicals and may even function as dialogue musical
• Sound Mixing: combines dialogue, music tracks, sound effects.

The combination of sound design, music and dialogue has immense power to enhance a story dramatically.

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NARRATION VS DIALOGUE

-If you want to have narration, you have to pepper it THROUGHOUT your script.

- To connect unrelated images/scenes.

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DIALOGUE

-Is not an edited version of real speech. It is an invented conversation that must still sound real – as if could be spoken by a living, breathing individual.

Functions of a Dialogue

- Moves the story forward

-Reveals character

-Communicates facts & Information

-Establishes character relationships

Characteristics of Good Dialogue

1. Voice: 

(a) Good dialogue reflects where a person comes from, how he thinks, what’s important to him

   2.  Simplicity:

(a) Dialogue must be understood the first time it is heard so it must be succinct, not overly flowery or poetic

   3.  Economy

(a) The best dialogue is lean – brevity of speech is valuable in a short.

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STEPS FOR WRITING DIALOGUE

• The Beginning

* Forget Written Communication

* Learn to listen. Make a conscious effort to hear how people speak

* Think through what you want to communicate and plan your execution.

• The Middle

*Rough out your dialogue at first – pare it down later

*Keep character voices consistent

*Avoid long speeches – long monologues or soliloquies are not effective on screen

*Avoid cliches and common turns of phrase

• The End

*Read it out loud

*Can it actually be spoken?

*Does it sound natural?

*Include non-verbal communication. Also, concentrate on using visual reactions.

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SUBTEXT VS. On-The-Nose-Dialogue

• Subtext: The undercurrent of thoughts that truly motivate characters to behave as they do.
• It is the scene’s latent meaning
• Subtext is not what you write, it’s what you write around. 
• Involves the audience, strengthening their connection
• ON THE NOSE DIALOGUE: Dialogue that rings false because it is too direct or too clear.
• In real life, we usually conceal or deny our emotions not proclaim them out loud

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Week 12: Interactive Location

Now that it’s not compulsory for us to blog, we can be a little more slacker than usual.
Ohwels, let’s keep this going:
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Location:
(example)
1. Siberia
2. Adilah’s Mom’s House
3. Void deck where Jordus had his first kiss

What is a location?
1. A physical place
2. The place in your story where events occur and characters interact.

What is Interactive Location?
1. A setting and surrounding that interacts with the characrers of the film by adding importancer to their actions.
2. An environment which impacts the action and heightens the stakes.

*EXAMPLE: Jurassic Park
-Location: Jurassic Park is a zoo/amusenment park located on an island off the coast of Central America.
-Interactive Location: The island is completely islated, and anyone on it will be trapped until assistance from the mainland arrives.

Weeek 8: In-class Exercise: Writing Dialogue

THE SCENARIO:
* A middle-aged man returns home from work.
* He had stopped for a few drinks with his friends and forgot to phone his wife to tell her he’ll be late.
* The dinner is ruined.

THE EXERCISE:
* Write a short scene composed of dialogue between husband and wife.
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(Pardon th vulgarities)

Man: Honeeyyyyyyy! Where are youuuuuu. Nasty nasty baby is homeeeeeee!

Woman: GRRRRRRRR. Tell me what time is it now.

Man: Why, why honey, why the need to growl. It’s only 10pm.

Woman: 10pm, only!?

Man: Yeah 10pm only, is it too late for you-know sex? *Winks* I’m soooo sorryr

Woman: Shut the crap up.

Man: What the hell is wrong with you, your mom just died eh?

Woman: Your mother then die. You were supposed to fucking call me at 6ish to tell me where to meet you for the fucking dinner.

Man: Oh my god, darling. I tried to but you didn’t pick up.

Woman: Hello, are you born stupid, do you not know how to call back again.

Man: Fuck you, you think my handphone bills free huh, you think my father Lee Hsien Yang issit.

Woman: I am sick of you, every now and then you always try to piss me off.

Man: Eh hello, what nonsense you talking about, sorry luh darling!

Woman: Sorry your mother luh, everytime sorry then you think okay already? Know your wife waited for how long not, 4 FUCKING HOURS!

Man: I’m sorry darling, we go for some supper now, then I’ll satisfy you tonight okay, I just bought some new stuff from my friends. We can try thme out, tee heee haaaaa.

Woman: Eh hello, bastard child, you drunk or what, come back from drinking then talk nonsense, Everytime whenever we quarrel, you use sex to gratify me. You think my virgina for free huh, rot how, you pay issit.

Man: Rot, ask your mother pay luh, C’mon let’s go luh, Don’t waste anymore time.

Woman: Wahlao eh, your whole family then die luh. Let’s go luh!

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2. Repeat “THE EXPERIMENT” but:
Husband and wife are YOUR OWN PARENTS

Man: Hello honey! I’m homeeeeeeeeee

Woman: Wah, so late, kan ni na, I cooked dinner, your favourite tau gay know, then you come home so late.

Man: Throw away luh, or you keep for tomorrow, I bring go work. I had dinner with my friends already.

Woman: Wah, you find other woman issit, not bad, anyways, you want you go throw, I’m not gonna clean up.

Man: Gan pua ning lau bu eh lau ji bai, just throw away lah, keep nagging for what.

Woman: Ya lah, later. I watch finish this show first.

Man: your problem, later the whole kitchen all got pests then see whether you wait or not.

Woman: Stop it, I go clean now okay. Kan ni na.

Man: Pass me the towel, in the drawer!

Woman: Wait lah, take yourself, I’m washing the fuckin’ pan lah, kan ni na.

Weeeek 8, one more weeek t VACATIONNNNNN!

Rightttt, no more Aristotle from now on.

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Topic: Dialogue.

Elements of Dialogue…
1. Dialogue reveals Character.
-A character will talk about himelf and other people will talk about him.

2. Dialogue establishes relationships between characters.
-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 of conflict between characters.

3. Good effective dialogue will move the story forward.
-Not a conversation, but just the actual act of dialogue (:

4. Dialogue commuinicates faces and information to the audience.
-It conveys essential exposition.
-Never use exposition in writing
-What is the most obvious example of exposition which we’ve seen so far in films? (Exposition is telling)
Answer: Spiderman 3, the butler, blah blah blahhhhh.
-Characters will talkabout what happened, establishing the storyline.

5. Dialogue comments on the action.

6. Dialogue ties the script together.
-Helps to make story SMOOOOOTH
-It is one of the devices that you as a writer can use to expand and enlarge your characters.

***DIAGLOGUES SHOULD BE USE SPARINGLY
“If you can see it or hear it, don’t write it.” -Neville Smith.

1. Never tell the audience what they can see for themselves!!!
2. Dialogue is no substitute for action

Well, in Hollywood when they look at a page and it’s got too much black, too much ink on the paperm they say:
“shit! It’s freeze the camera time!!”
Meaning, like if you have a conversation between two fellas, and th script’s like 5 PAGES LONG, that means to say that the camera will be at one angle FOREVER SIO!

* Common mistake:
Studetns sometimes never achieve a level of competence as they tend to reproduce conventional spoken language, long statements of “REAL TALKING”, and defend their decision by telling us that:
“It’s how the character speaks.”

*Good dialogue is not somebody’s ability to write authentic speech as heard in real life.

*What is considered a good dialogue?
Ans: It’s not reality, is not what you seen in real life. It’s a the illusion of reality!
You’be got to know how to edit what people say without losing any of the spirit.

** Film is a visual medium**
A screenplay is a story told in pictures.

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Exercise: Developing Characters

Think about 10 characters, and turn them upside down.
Keep them for use in your stories.

01. An ice-cream man who uses his bare hands to scoop ice-cream.

02. A policeman who engages in underaged sex.

03. A pianist hates keeping short nails.

04. A female social escort who hates entertaining guys but ladies.

05. A surgeon who plays with his patient’s sexual organs.

06. A female social escort who is lesbian.

07. A lesbian call girl who loves gagging on penis.

08. A lecturer who loves talking about sex all day.

09. A monk who watches soccer.

10. An old man who loves playing with bylthe dolls.

Number 7; Characters

In today’s lesson, we touched on Characters, so here it is (:

- Every character in all films has a heart, soul, and nervous system of the story.
Well every story starts with a character.
It is through your characters that the viewers experience emotions.
It is also through your characters that people are touched.

- So we know that, without a character, nothing happens to your story.
No action, means no conflict.
No conflict means no story
No story means no script/screenplay.

- Developing Characters
1. Always ask yourself these:
What’s gonna happen to your character.
What is he gonna do next.
Why is he/she………
Who is your character?
What does he or she want?
What is his/her quest?
What drives him to the resolution of the story?

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Establishing your main character.
Right, so bascially, characters should have a 3D Structure.
We should have well-rounded characters, so that they can achieve their goals.
But most important thing in a story; they look and are more realistic.
Trust me, Mr Leslie told us that he has had experiences working with actors which he wrote scripts for.
Then again, all chacters should have a 3-D Structur:
a) Physiology: Sex, age, Height, weight, colour of hair/eyes/skin, posture, appearance, defecs, heredity.

b) Sociology: Class(lower,middle,upper), occupation, Education, Homelife (Important!), religion, race/nationality, place in the community,

c) Psychology: Sexlife, Moral Standards, personal Premise, ambition, frustrations, terperament, attitude towards Life, abilities, qualities, IQ,

Psychology part of the character is the most important part thing of building your character (:

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-When writing your character, think about his/her interior & exterior.

Interior… a process that forms character.
Like how old is he when the story begins, where does he live, siblings?, childhood, single married or?

Exterior life takes place the moment your story begins to it’s conclusion.
It is a process that reveals that character, and as writer only we ourselves know who and what kind of person is your character.
Thus when we think about exterior life of th character, think about…
1. Who are rthey and what do they do?
2. Are they sad or happy with their life?
3. Do they wish their life was different? Another job? Another wife?

-ALL Dramatic Characters interact in 3 ways:
1. Experience conflict in achieving their dramatic need (eg. Need money > Rod a bank/store/person)
2. Interact with other Characters. (Either in an antagonistic, friendly or indifferent way)
3. Interact with themselves (eg. He overcame his fear of being caught by pulling off the robery successfully)

-HOW do you invent Characters?
Ans: Try turning them upside down!

Like a monk who is devoted to his religion

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Right, we watched TAXI DRIVER (1976), AND YES, related to what we’ve learnt in class today.
It shows how the writer(Paul Schrader) reveals the character in the film.
A short brief: Vietnam vet Travis Bickle is 26, a loner in the mean streets of New York City, slipping slowly into isolation and violent misanthropy. In solving his insomnia by driving a yellow cab on the night shift, he grows increasingly disgusted by the low-lifes that hang out at night: “Someday a real rain will come and wash all the scum off the streets.”
(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075314/plotsummary)

And the second film which we watched was THREE KINGS (1999)
Written by:
JOHN RIDLEY
DAVID O. RUSSELL

Short brief: In the aftermath of the Persian Gulf War, 4 soldiers set out to steal gold that was stolen from Kuwait, but they discover people who desperately need their help.

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Dammit, somehow, somewhat, I’m just very irritated with you low-life whores.
Stfu, you batty whorebags. Esp, you, quit gaggin’ now.
Your perpetual, fugly str8 black strips; your pimplish face; and maybe even you.

I need a new toy, this month.
The matriarch needs the Marni balloon bag

Chloé MYRTE Sunglasses!

Sent for replacement.

Goooodbye, enjoy your weekends! (:

Wait no longer;

Know, somehow, I just cannot wait for 14th December t come.
Yes, it’s th term breakkkk ballsSzZXx!
I’ve been an enthusiast about school since Semester 1 Day 1.
But I guess it’s all th overdued and piling assignments that make me fear school.
Not that I’m already starting t abhor school, but just trying t run away from these devilish work.
Makes me feel squeamish at th sight of these deadlines
Ha, I wanna feign innocenceeeeeeee.

Save me, no time t lose.
But yet, I don’t wanna repeat modules.

Pictures from ZOUK (:

No. 6, that’s for now.

Well, we all just read t our partners our Letter to Someone from the Past.
And tadahhh, that brought us t what we learnt today, this afternooon in Storytelling Class (:

EXPERIENCE & MEMORY
Ohwels, let’s touch on Experience first.
- Everyone has their own personal; fragments of stories.
- These potential ideas prompt our desire to know moreee.
- Well then again, good stories are born in the heart, not the head.
- Always remember the role of an audience! Why? Because when we write from an experience, we must always give them the same feeling and exprience as how we’re feeling.

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So how is memory different from experience?
- Memory is a wonderful cabinet of past incidents which we’ve experienced or been told.
- These memories are points of reference to our own past existence.

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TIPS:
\WRITE what you dont know because you will find some part of you that does know.

\Creative Content: Good stufff!

Th two films we watched today:

1. Sunat (2006), directed by one of th EX-FSV Student, how cool yo!
Right, th short film is damn cute balllxZzzx! It’s about this recollection of memories and experiences when he was younger, well he went for circumsization(Spelllll). HAHA, So cute!
Pain is th memory, is of fear and feelings when we all think about th experience, BUT I’ve never experienced this before, yes I guess now you know why. Teeheehaaaa!

2. Les Mistons (1957), about a bunch of brats who are crazily in love in this woman, but somehow what they’re just too young to know what’s love all about.
No wait, they’re just spying on th two lovers.(after watching).

“A virginal heart has its own logic”

- Emotions are universal.

Week 4; Aristotle & Week 5; Election

Well, class two weeks ago was boring t th max balllxxZzzZ!
We did a research on Aristotle, the Greeeaaaat Greek Philosopher and later present them using Powerpoint.
The Greek tragedy is an analysis and constitutes of core discussion from Aristotle’s Poetics.
Ha, but I was absent during Presentation week, so I guess both Natra and Jiayi presented them.

Oh one thing that I’ll never forget when I was doing th research; the Basic 3 Act Structure!
1. Set up
2. Confrontation
3. Resolution

Ohwels, it’s more like a strategic way on how t write your story, th breakdowns and thus making things easier.
Well, even until now, I still do not have th ‘interest’ in writing, I just do not have the “gift” for writing.
I admit, whenever we’re asked t write during Storytelling Class as an in-house exercise, I’ll have this sudden flare of intense emotion within me.
It’s just not me, but then again, I did it for 5 short stories. That was because I really had nothing t do two nights before, and I decided t settle down properly and start workkkkkkkkk.

Anyhows, the Basic 3-Act Structure brings me t my next topic.
Somehow, I could still remember, vaguely though, that LeslieTan said something about “Election”, th movie which we watched last friday.
Yeah, like how “Election” also has th Basic 3-Act Struture too, well th main concern is that its tragedy.
Maybe th tragedy of JimMcAllister, and what not.
Right, so Jim McAllister is a high school teacher’s personal life becomes complicated as he works with students during the school elections
And another character in this movie is Tracy Flick, she’s a very very very very driven student at Carver High.
So things start t happen along th way, like having affairs and yeah, th version which LeslieTan showed us was th uncensored one. And of course, there were a lot of crude stuff, sex-related dialogue and like a scene of drug use balllxxZzz, ! Teeheehaaaaa!
\Oh no! One thing which I must say, I was a little put off by how graphically the subject of underage sex was dealt with. Well, no love lost for them. Pathetic people!

And so, I guess, what comes around goes around.
Watch what you do/speak!
HAHAHA
Anyhows, this is Aristotle for all of you!!

“People are like tea bags – you have to put them in hot water before you know how strong they are.”

Haaa, th weekend’s here again! Weeeheeehooo! Make full use righttttt, t make up for Monday Bluessss.
Love <3

Pictures from Photography’s Clinic

Deepavali, an occasion for blacks

Rightttt, hello fellow humans!
Happy Deepavali!
I’m gonna stay home today to try finishing up assignments.
I’ve not done the video which is due by tomorrow 12.30noon.
And my podcast, due tomorrow 9am.
=\ At least I speak th truth.
Ahhhh, work has been piling uppppp already

Whatever it is, I’m just gonna stay home this afternoon and complete as much as possible.
Yes, ‘afternoon’. Because I want to rush down to Isetan Scotts, for the sales!
Ha, I sound like I’m getting demented! Noooope.

Look at these:
CC Skye!!!!

Beautiful aren’t they? Vogueeeee!

Oh yes, I read Jeri’s entry on the personality test which all of us did during IAC Class yesterday.
Ha, and I realised that we both share the same results!
But somehow, I think it’s not that accurate, a tad bit though!
Ohwels, the only part that isn’t accurate is that I am not organised.
However, the thing is that I am a veryyyyy organised BIGBOY
I cannot stand the sight of things lying around everywhere, it only makes me wanna throw them away.
I guess it’s from my dad. Well, my dad is a very systematic guy! What do I mean?
(So let me just point out a few examples, and a few of which may be irrelavant!)

Firstly, whenever my dad picks me up from school or anywhere, he’s very punctual, no rubber-band timings at alll!
Like when he says 5pm at the atrium, the latest he’d be there is around 5.03pm, no later than that. And he has no patience. You’ll hear horns if you do not get into the car by 5.05pm, HAHA.
Secondly, he’s the one cleans the house, not that my mom doesn’t do any shit, but most of the time, my dad does those chores. he mops the ENTIRE HOUSE, three times a day. Once in the morning, when he gets up, and when he comes back from work, and last before he sleeps/after dinner. So don’t try to spot a speck of dirt/dust in my house (:
Thirdly, my dad is very organised, he’ll label everything in the house, and whenever he buys something new, and keeps it, he’ll tell us where is he gonna place.
Yeah, and the list goes on.

I’m very much like my father; character, looks, temper and the way I speak and do things.
Yes, my dad smokes, explains why?
But th only thing in which I do not take after my dad is that he’s slim
KNOW I’M THE ONLY FAT SLOB in the entire LIM FAMILY? Sigh, that sad…

So last night was a blast! For th first time, by far, I enjoyed myself at Phuture on a Wednesday night!
I guess it was the company that I was with too.
I was feeling so grumpy when we stepped into Phuture, grrrr! But the songs were reallly loud and good. DUH! HA
Yes, cabbed down to ZOUK, f**k, there were so many ‘ants’ outside please. And I didn’t have to queue! I blatantly went straight into VIP’s. Got chopped and we went up to the Members area, and started mocking at those silly humans who were still queueing.

And guess which bitch did I bumped into, after so long.
Shirley

There were a few familiar faces, but we just said hi, shooks hands and what not, no pictures taken.
High-life! Vogue! NOPE
LET’S GET BACK TO WORK NOWWWWW.

Random picture:
Casstan, Jiayi During movie screening (: