Dialogue CANNOT substitute action. It will be weird if i said “eh punch you hard on the right side of your face.” And someone reacted by saying “ouch! that hurts!” Okay it is an extreme example anyway! It don’t make sense! Get it? It do not make sense. A dialogue in a story cannot tell the audience what is obvious when the audience already know that. It must tell the audience something there is not stated and they are eager to know.

For example:

There is a pot of very colourful flowers in the middle of the hall.

A: Wah! I see a pot of very colourful flowers in the middle of the hall!”

If the character need to say that particular line, he/she must have some other questions in mind like “eh? you bought those lovely flowers?” If not it will seem to be lame!

We watched Autograph Book too. It is about the use of dialogues and not forgetting some actions to introduce us the characters in the story. It also showed us how the “overuse” of dialogues here make the story flow. And told us if a friendship is strong, it can overcome small and BIG obstacles. It “revived” many of my primary school memories. How childish we are, how innocent and pure we are. I remembered how we “fight” in class to get the most attractive autograph book, asking people to sign it with those poems and all.

One of my many autograph books.

See the key?

Friends Chart!

The poem section!

This is completely based on my memory, so here it goes.

Characterization was taught during class. A character is very important in a story. It is basically the the heart, the soul, and nervous system of your story. A character can be anything on earth, it can be a human being, tree, dog or perhaps a water bottle. Without a character there is no story no nothing no whatever!

A character must be three dimensional and all-ROUNDED. Not literally ROUND but it must be realistic( like a real human being) with Physiology. Sociology and Psychology. Cool huh? We must create our character to have a relationship to other people or things. Thus all dramatic characters will experience conflict in achieving their goal, interact with other characters and interact with themselves (overcoming their own fears and etc.).

For example:

Like the picture (credits to Deviantart.com) above. The moment i see the picture i will think that this is a back view of a girl maybe perhaps a lesbian. The accessories she wore represent gay pride(the rainbow colours) and the rest of the picture is in black and white. This may show that she is proud to be a lesbian or her life is actually dull and the only thing she is proud of is her sexual preference.

Character’s name: Colbie also known as Coal

Height/Weight: 168cm,58.5kg

Hair: Short butchy hazelnut brown hair

Race: Eurasian

Religion: Catholic

Occupation: National team footballer

Temperament: A little impatient, chatterbox, stubborn

Status: In multiple relationships

Family members: Parents, grandmother, one elder brother and one younger sister.

Past: A typical Eurasian childhood of going to sunday school with family with regular family outings, goes for weekends ballet classes, attends a convent school.

We shared our “Letter to the Past” with some of our mates. It was kind of contradicting as Mister L told us to protect the page with a password. So in the end I removed the password and made it PUBLIC. I was holding back my tears when i read it out. But when i wrote it, tears came rolling down like a non-stop waterfall. To my surprise, none of the mates cried. Everyone was holding back and acting tough i must say.

We have learnt in class the 3rd storytelling tool: Memory

- Your memory is a wonderful cabinet of past incidents which you have experienced or been told.

- Write what you do not know because you will find some part of you that does know.

Sounds profound huh? But actually it is simple. For example, you are writing a script of a person buying a watch and giving ridiculous specifications and all, out of the blue you realize that your mum did the same thing previously when you accompanied her to the shop. It is like a trigger to ‘refreshen’ up your past memories deep inside of you.

So what’s the difference between memory and experience?

Well, a memory can be a made up of things that people told you and you thought about it again and again. Thus your mind made it up as your memory. Somehow alittle fake i guess! Experience is something that you really really encounter it before – a practical physical contact of an particular event. They are somehow again similar in certain ways. Die! I don’t know how to explain it.

Memories can use to build creative content and develop a very interesting story. It will be more realistic as you can really pen down your thoughts and feelings in a more descriptive way, thus the audience are able to understand how the writer felt at the point time.

A good story begin with self!!

Well, it was kind of cool to watch a film like that. And I have learnt the 3 acts structure more in depth and that tragedy thingy. HAHA!  Mister L wants us to write a letter to past and immediately i know who to write to. A person i miss a lot,really a lot.

I like how Marjorie  did her video, it was really cool. She can really make a dull video of an uncle in the bus really interesting. Good Job Marj!!

Well, i took my video a year ago. I was at BK,Causeway point enjoying my Double Swiss Mushroom burger when i realized there was this lady who was doing something errr gross. So i took a video of it!!  Click on “Oh My God! People Watch” for that video.

Aristotle was a philosopher who was involved in arts and science in his days.  He followed under the great Plato. For my Aristotle presentation, my group was suppose to present on the his philosophies on “How to tell a Great Story”. He believed that the plot is more important than the characters. To me if the story revolves around the characters, the characters in this case is more important than the plot, vice versa. Scriptwriters also learnt to use Aristotle’s 6 elements of drama in their scripts: theme, plot, character, dialogue, music and spectacle. I think most of his philosophies may not be applied to the modern society we live in. As things have already evolved and changed much. But we the things we do still revolves around his philosophies just that we “modify” it. He’s a dead man and there is nothing much it can do now(opps!).

Plato and Aristotle.(like teacher like student.)

I’ve learned to be more observant than usual. Like noticing things around me those nitty gritty stuffs more for example an ant walking. Everything around us can develop into different stories but with the same character. The only thing we have to do is to let our imagination run wild like a horse. Everyone has different and their unique point of view in whatever they see like how positive and negative works.

We were supposed to do a presentation on Aristotle. I found out that he is the “father” of many philosophies (I think he might be feeling kinda bored in the past) and he is multi-talented. He was involved in arts,science and etc. Some of the philosophies still can be apply in the modern world while others were outdated. Aristotle is a great man!

Actually i enjoyed the two films Mister Leslie showed us. But i preferred the 2nd film with the little girl because it had climax throughout the film. The storyline was also nearer to our daily life with our mums nagging and scolding us. Forcing us to do things we do not like for example the little girl who did not enjoy playing the piano. The little girl was as rebellious as youths today, showing attitude and defiance towards her mother. I am fortunate that my mum isn’t like the parent in the film. My parents allowed me to do whatever i like for example i enjoy water sports alot, thus they sent me for swimming courses, kayaking courses and etc. They gave me their full support in everything i do. I really thank God for understanding parents like Mister Wong and Mrs Wong. HAHA.

To me ” A Call Home” is something like a documentary which is trying to send a specific message to the audience. I feel that the film is trying to tell us not to stereotype the foreign workers. We often think that the foreign workers are perverts and disgusting (sorry about it!). But actually they contribute to Singapore’s economy a lot because they helped us to build commercial buildings, housing places and clean up our area. Sometimes I just feel that Singaporeans do not know how to appreciate others for what they have done for us. I must confess I do stereotype them, but come to think of it, if you’re overseas and others discriminate you according to your skin colour, you won’t feel good either. So ya, STOP ALL STEREOTYPING AND DISCRIMINATION!!!!

I wanna fill this photo album with pictures of love

But I realize that I can’t find any of them

I looked through my negatives and all are blank

They’re empty.

[Inspired by The Click Five.]

Blogging is such a good way to vent your frustration, kick up a fuss, voice out your thoughts, backstab someone (opps!), comment on idiotic happenings you saw, talk about your boring daily routine, update your friends about your life and etc. And now I’m actually using this to ‘hand in’ my assignment. Cool shiat!

Storytelling is way more fun than writcom. As we don’t have a mountain of rules/guidelines to follow through. Let those creative juices flow man! FLOW~ Well, the first lesson of storytelling was fun and I hope I will have hell of fun during storytelling lessons. By the way,I crapped my way through this paragraph.

Let me tell you something about myself. I enjoy water sports a lot for example swimming, kayaking and wakeboarding. I am currently in canoe polo (water sport). Canoe polo is a sport which you have to kayak and play with a ball at the same time. A team consist of 8 players which include 5 main players and 3 substitute somewhat like a basketball team. Teamwork is very important in the game of canoe polo, no one man show is allowed. Thus the bond every team members share is very important.Canoe polo is the sex!

I shall end here then! Storytelling rocks pink socks!