Ever since I am being enrolled in Polytechnic, it has been like I have entered into a new phrase. Life in Polytechnic and life in secondary school are in total stark contrast. For example, in secondary school we used to be so dependent on teachers. It is not like we cannot ask our lecturers for help now, but we have to be more independent on absorbing those notes and finding out what is our assignments. I still remember when I was in Secondary 4 and having my O’s, my bunch of friends and I will constantly pester our subject teacher for countless questions. Teachers will print out worksheets for us, brief us step by steps the instructions, and all we have to do is to daydream and making a din in the classroom. Ahh.. we were just too pampered.

Of course, there are pros and cons to every issue. Being dependent was a positive side of  fixed-classroom- education system in secondary school and Junior Colleges. However, to think of it, will we get exposure and more freedom like what Polytechnics can get? Frankly speaking, I feel this is the reason why majiority of the students now choose Polytechnics over Junior Colleges. Junior Colleges adopt the same method as secondary school, and it is tough studying all the way. Pupils get too tensed up in the end. It is just different in Polytechnics. We get to learn like hands on stuffs, experience what professionals do, and attach to the workplace which will be highly beneficial to us when we work in the future. This will prepare us for the tough working environment for our careers.

Moreover, isn’t it agreeable that Polytechnics have so many fabulous CCAs that freshies like us will ponder and hestitate how many to take on? I am strongly for this because for me myself, I signed up for six CCAs but now i only devote to two CCAs – Canoe (Qing, Seri they all love to call it sampan) and Poly Stage Production. Well.. I hasn’t been hearing from Apple@FMS which I signed up too. I heard from a reliable source that in Junior College, they do not give much focus on CCA, rather they will strain individuals on their Physical Education. Students need to run, do crunches, push ups, sit ups, incline arms flex.. Okay this sounds like what I am going through for Canoe, but well, just imagine the Junior College students have to suffer every week when some do not even like what they are going through. My best friend was just complaining me how her muscles just turned to fats, and she is completely helpless about it!

Nevertheless, Junior College allows students to straight away enrol in Universities if one get good results for A levels. Yes, it may not be easy to achieve those results, everyone in Junior College is happy just to pass, let alone getting A or B. It is a tough process for A levels but if one studies REAL hard, a safe place is guaranteed for him / her in University. Compared to Polytechnic, is it true that only 10%, or even only 5% of the cohort is enrolled in University? Well, I am a student myself in FSV, but I am not even sure of this after schooling for two months. If I am not wrong though, I guess 5%? Hard work pays off anything, so I guess I have to strive really hard

Actually to sum it, it really depends on one’s choices ultimately. If one is very hardworking and love the study system in Junior College, he / she will sure excel in it. For me, I prefer the life in Polytechnic – the more experience and extra knowledge. Like what NP logo is “That Something Extra”!

Oh gosh.. this last week of reflection let me thought of all the differences in Polytechnic and Junior College. AND till now I am still amazed how time passed so fast!

To be frank, work are piling up recently and the stress is coming. However I am prepared for all these I am just worrying for the lack of sleep. To prove I am lacking of sleep, I am sleeping like at 3 am every night. I got this unorthodox system of only having all my inspirations late at night.. like now. Haha. I will miss writing reflections! Hopefully I will keep this wordpress still alive even after the two weeks holidays.

I have to highlight on last Friday’s Mr Ryan’s class. T1B2 had to touch on this assignment we did at home, the Letter to the Past, which got almost everyone emo. We were seperated into different groups, which i was in Jacky, Shu Jun and Ben. Shu Jun wrote this letter to this cleaner in her school, Jacky and I were spotted writing the same contents because we were writting to our beloved teachers. I have to admit when Ben read alot his letter to his uncle, i got the urge to tear. Maybe because it’s Ben, i tried to control my tears. It is weird crying in front of someone who is always bickering with you. I can feel for him as I have roughly the same situation as him. For me it is my grandmother. It is just that that she (whom i treasured alot now) is still alive but fighting for cancer too. I am treasuring her double as much and hopes she will leave with no regrets

Poor Seri cried while reading her letter to her father while i spotted Nurrein wiping away tears from her corner of her eyes. Qing confessed she want to break down too and needs hugs. Even the emotionless Ben claimed he actually felt like crying when reading the letter to his uncle later on!

All these led me to think that emotions play a huge role in writing, especially to what that happened to yourself or a similar situation. I have to confess that i find Letter to the Past pretty easy, because it is all circulating in my head, unlike Visual Trigger where I have to think of a storyline to fit the picture. Emotions are hard to describe also, unless they really happened to the writer itself. Ahh.. emotions.

Okay back to the track, here are the lecture notes that are drilled into me for the last week:

• Screenwriter = storyteller

The cinematic experience is not just made up of words you might put on paper, but the audiences’ emotional reaction to that information.

• Director to people, writer to people or camera to people. NO It’s people to people.

• To connect: Themselves, their unique vision, the material, the drama

• Audiences want to be transported by screenplay.

• Where do you look for a story? Everything to learn about other people is already in you.

Storytelling tool #2

All people have fragments of stories. These potential ideas prompt your desire to know more. Respond emotionally and intellectually to what you heard. Good stories are born in the heart, not the head. Remember the role of an audience. After all, you ARE the audience.

Storytelling tool #3
Memory
Your memory is a wonderful cabinet of past incidents which you have experienced or been told.
These memories are points of references to your own past experiences.

Write what you know & DON’T know.

3 storyline tools – Observation, Memory, Experience
Aristotle’s storytelling theories, 3 acts structure, writing for an audience

Catching the short film Les Mistons by Francois Traffaut linked me back to my childhood moments too. This film is close to the heart as I believed most of us will have such naughty experiences before. I have to agree the ending was kind of shocking, as the children did not feel any sense of guilt. If i were them, i will feel really uneasy, as it is teasing to the extreme. Till then, be back next week!

I find that movies can create a huge impact on audience, affect how they think towards certain objects and instill learning values through meanings that the movie wants to convey. Just like Election that we watched for last Fri’s lesson, it is about this few people snatching for this President position. After the movie, we discussed that the main gist of the movie is how God is linked to everyone and stuffs in Election. I agree and it is surprising how many times the apple appeared in the film. Back to the track, Election also showed how the high school teacher strayed from the correct track and betrayed his wife. It is trying to teach audience not to be tempted by wrong influence. Audience will know we make our own choice, and we face the consequences ourselves.

In last Friday’s lesson, Mr Ryan shared one true and one fake short story, which we are supposed to guess. We came up with our individual fake and true stories, and i cooked up with really ridiculous fake one. Do have fun guessing!

This week reflection will not be that long, because we only caught the movie and did  not really go through any powerpoint slides. till then, be back next week!

PS: i look forward to doing this week assignment! A letter to the past allows me to relate what i want to express to one of my classmate for a very long time. I cant wait!

Yeah, so Mr Ryan gives us a mission of linking two totally opposite and different characters to form a story including conflicts. I immediately thought of a maid and family’s arguement, because Kim’s one is observing a maid, while Nurein is on a noisy teenager girl. By observing, linking and relating them in a story, this is driving us to be more creative while brainstorming. Creativity has no boundaries, so pardon me if my story is a bit crazy

Moving on, it is our group work presentation on Aristotle after the 15 minute break! I like how the way the lesson is taught this week, even though i must admit researching on Aristotle was kind of dry. Mr Ryan taught us while each group is presenting. We not only get to interact with different group members on their opinions, it is also easier to understand as we get involved with the presentation preparation. Here are some of the points:

- A plot is they way the incidents are presented to the audience.

- It involves middle, climax and end.

- Resolution must be caused by the preceding events but not lead to other incidents.

- The end should resolve the problem created during the incisive moment.

Also, I finally know to the different meanings of super difficult words like Katharsis and Mimesis. Are they even English words?! I realised they got over 10 meanings. We understood the six required parts of tragedies that Aristotle uses over the powerpoint slides too. Learning from this great writer, we can actually aim towards his way and may improve our writing too.

Lastly, (moans) it is the assignment time again! We are required to pick any object we like and develop a story on it. I think i shall do this after my podcast essay as I assume this will need a lot of brain juices.

Oh! I want to announce that i finally presented my bloody podcast to the class last Thurs and I am super relived now!! This is random hah. Till then, will be back next week

“Ding dong” the door bell rings. Philly immediately stops all her housework and runs to open door. It is a typical day for her as a maid in the Tan’s household. She is just lucky that she does not need to pick the Tan’s third daughter, Madison, from school as she is returning home with her friends. The Tan’s has two daughters and one son, which are all still at a very young age.

“I’m back” Madison whines as she takes off her socks, and throws at Philly who is closing the maisonette’s huge door. Madison slumps onto the cushion sofa and ordered like a snobbish boss, “Give me a cup of iced cold tea now!” Philly nods her head and rushes off to prepare, not even having time to rebuke at the rude Madison.

As Philly prepares the tea, she begins to think of how the Tans treat her her and as usual, tears begin to brim in her weak framed eyes. For years, she has been putting up and tolerating with their inhumane orders and rude attitude. They do not treat her like a human, but like a slave. She remembers this significant incident where Philly accidentally burned the Tans youngest son, Maddie, tee shirt when ironing. To pay back, Maddie uses a match stick and make small burn marks on her hands! Crying, Philly turns to Mr Tan, her master, but he turned a deaf ear to her sorrows. Philly wipes the tears in her eyes and throws the ice in the cup. Taking a deep breath, she walks to the dining room.

“WHY ARE YOU TAKING SO LONG? DID YOU GO TO CHINA TO PLUCK LEAVES FOR THE TEA?” Madison growls at her loudest voice. Philly apologized profusely but there is nothing else she can say, because she knows that Madison is once again picking on her. The immature Madison can sense that Philly is afraid, and continues tormenting her. “Go bark like a dog to make me happy!!” Philly is appalled. Warm tears begin to brim in her eyes again, as she squats slowly and begin to crawl. Madison breaks into peals of laughter and is highly amused. Philly is unable to take it anymore, and runs back to her room weeping hardly.

That night, a strange thought runs through Philly’s depressed head. She ponders over a scheming brilliant plan. She has enough of all these tortures all these while in the Tan’s household. She wants her revenge. She must get back to them!! Philly wants to break out from her weak and intimidating character in front of them. “If they torment me once again tomorrow, i shall shock them by pretending to kill myself” Philly smiles to herself.

The morning red, ball of sun rises up from the gloomy, dark sky. Philly rises up and the plans can not leaves her head for a minute. She must show them some attitude too even she is a maid. She smiles again while Mrs Tan and Madison enter the kitchen. “Good morning Madam and Madi” Philly greet restlessly purposely. She must set this attack! As if it is going successfully, Madison scolds, “Early in the morning, what is up with this tone? I want you to sing me a song NOW.” Instead of stopping her daughter, Mrs Tan chips in, “Please! You asking this Phillipino slave to sing us a song? Does she even know Chinese? Oh well then, sing us something in Chinese.” With that, the mother and daughter break into continuously laughter.

THAT’S IT. Philly picks up the knife and hollers like a mad woman, “Keep away from me!! I have enough of you all! I am a human, not a slave or animal to let you torment!” Philly waves the knife agitatedly but shockingly, Mrs Tan jokes, “Oh my god. You are so funny Philly. Stop being funny, put down the knife. It is not as if you this timid little freak has the guts to even touch the tip on our hand.” Madison laughs like it is some universal favorite joke. Philly was mad with anger. Her anger burst into madness and screaming like she never screams before, she darts the knife right into Madison’s small stomach. Blood begins to flow profusely, smearing the gold tiles of the kitchen. Mrs Tan screams as she bends and takes Madison who drops onto the floor. As quickly as possible, Mrs Tan dashes to pick up the phone and dial for police. Philly can not allow her to reveal she hurt Madison! A devil takes over Philly’s angel and Philly stabbed Mrs Tan continuously. The whole kitchen is smeared with fresh, red blood. Mrs Tan stops breathing and lies lifeless on the floor. Madison, clutching her stomach, tries to escape but Philly gives Madison a fatal stab on her head. Madison dies on the floor, eyes still staring wide. Philly laughs like she is a lion, a king in the jungle.

She wins, she tells herself. She wins this battle. Laughing and clutching onto the knife, she rans out of the blood shed house. Since then, Philly goes missing and is never found again.

Carrot and Onion are very good friends. Carrot dies in a road accident, Onion cries bitterly and asks God, “Who will cry for me, when i die?”. God calmly replies, “I shall make everyone cry, from now on, when you die!”. Therefore, God makes everyone who slices an onion, cry.

Here is my part of comment for her : Author: Sabreena
Title: Carrot and onion.
What it’s about: God making everyone cry when they slices an onion.
What works: The humour and how the story links smoothly.
Room for improvement: should sound more like a story, this is too funny!

Also, not forgetting that Euguene, Seri, JJ and Shujun’s ones were enriching too

Conflict = character and plot

Next, Mr Ryan tried out something fresh by separating us into different groups of three, four and five classmates together. Paired with Saka Dada and Zelda, we were given up till 3.45pm to set up a powerpoint presentation. For that, we felt that it’s better to foresake lunch first so we started immediately. (To be truthful, actually I did go down for a quick bite) Our questions were:

Aristotle thought episodic plots were the worst kind of storytelling. What is an episodic plot and why did Aristotle think this way?  

Definition of Katharsis:

Definition of Mimesis:  

Seek out and find Aristotle’s 6 required parts of a tragedy.

Together, we brainstorm and managed to finish by the lesson! yeah! Through this group work to come up with Aristotle’s presentation, I learned more about Aristotle’s beliefs and the definition of hard words like Katharsis and Mimesis. I enjoyed the process of working too as Saka Dada was so funny! She asked me how do I restore her minimized window. Hah she is so cute I am also those who enjoyed group work more. Hope we will have group every week. Heh

As usual, this week lesson ends with homework for the week! I must comment on this as we have very interesting assignment for this week. We are supposed to pick two people on the streets, busstop, school, anywhere (as long we do not know), observe them and write two pages of their details and actions. Liqing, Pamela & I plan to proceed to airport tomorrow to observe!

Looking forward to observing people! Hopefully, my observing skills will improve! Till now, miss me people. Heh

Okay back to the topic, I find last Friday’s lesson was in fact more interesting on the previous one. To start off with, we each individually have to group with one person and elaborate a story with our partner’s openers. And yes, the openers were our “homework” last week. I got to be picked with Seri, and instantly after reading her opener, i came up with a short story. (Luckily Mr Ryan did not pick me as my story was really short. I mean, to me it was really short! Hah) Here goes with the story!

“Maria stands at the door with her mouth wide open. More than 10 of her friends are in her house with birthday poppers and decorations all over the house. All of her closest kins and friends actually remember her 18th birthday!!

Surprised with happiness, she steps into the brightly decorated house while her friends embrace her with hugs. Slowly, Maria’s mother takes the cake out from the kitchen and the whole house is filled with warmt when everyone sings the birthday song. Maria is so touched as for the past few years, she has been celebrating her birthday in the Girl’s Home.

One mistake – taking drugs- that ruins her life forever. Maria thought that she will never gain forgiveness from her mother ever again. It is only one day that she is released and her mother is not talking to her. Sister ignoring her and father showing a disconcerned face. Actually it’s only a planned surprise! Maria’s parents and sister have been waiting to celebrate Maria’s birthday since that year she is convicted with drugs. In fact, they took the trouble to invite all of Maria’s friends to celebrate her birthday to make up for her emptiness the past few years.

Maria’s sister, Mareen, comes up to her and embrace her warmly, with a smile on her face.

Tears brimming from the corner of her eye and holding on to the cake, Maria beamed, “I make sure i will turn into a new leaf, everyone.” “
Short isn’t it? heh
After this we got to get in depth with Conflicts. Yes personally i find it is a lesson specially on conflicts! (warning: all these below are really all about Conflicts) We got to learn some imperative stuffs that for a successful story, character, plot, smooth continuation, climax, organization and moral all contribute to it. Ultimately, character and plot must have a pinch of conflict. I do agree on all this! Imagine a plot without conflict. It will be weird!

Other notes we learnt are

Conflict = change
Change is common to everyone.
Change is universal!
Bodies change
Seasons change
Lives change
Relationships change
Feelings change
Locations change
Technologies change (Science Fiction)

This is the part where everyone got hyped up and started to dash out different movies as examples for the changes! However it all revolves around Spiderman and Catwoman. hah. I think its because these movies which plots are based on the comics include more changes abit in everywhere. However, as universal as change maybe, people often resist it for fear of the unknown. People must learn to cope with change if they want to survive. The action in drama depends on conflict!
To sum up these truckload of conflict matters, conflict is the opposition of people or forces. It is the interaction of opposing ideas, interests, or wills, and creates the plot. Plot cannot be constructed without conflict. As our characters attempt to reach their goals, they come into conflict with each other. THEREFORE, LOOK HOW ESSENTIAL CONFLICT IS IN A PLOT!

Yeah after this lesson on conflicts, Mr Ryan showed us two short films which i personally enjoyed “A call to Heaven” more. I love how the little girl makes the whole plot more lightening and her vivid and real acting. I just can’t forget her big and watering eyes! To me, i prefer homely clips as it is closer to our hearts, we have been through that phrase before so we can understand deeply how the little girl felt (: Till the end of the short movie, there is a moment when the whole class cracked up in laughter just because Saka dada (Sabreena) gasped “What! The whole kinder garden died?!” at the last scene. Actually it is just a dream! hah!

ohmy.. how naggy have i been in this post. Luckily i am those who loves to include conflict in my stories. Till then, will be back for the next reflection! (:
 & i better prepare myself for all the assignments up this week ><

Right in the afternoon, we caught this movie -Wizard of Ox- during our weekly lecture. This movie attracted me alot as there was a scene which i found it unforgettable. It was when the scene started with sepia colour, but Dorothy (the female lead) opened the door, instantly, everything outside the door became full colour! It was amazing and the whole lecture mates were taken aback but pleasantly surprised and welcome by the colourful garden backdrop All in all, though some of the music can get too draggy, i enjoy this film alot!

Ahh.. wanted to comment on another film which i just caught with Josh and Liqing after school today. Its The trouble with Harry. This is the second movie i am watching from the director, Hitchcock, and i personally find his films very witty and literature-based. His movie will make us anitcipate and have this hidden messages here and there from the the actor’s and actress’ conversations. In this movie, its narrating about this guy, Harry, which is dead from the beginning. When humans see a dead corpse, their natural reaction is to be apalled and will ask for help immediately. Ironically, everyone is treating Harry’s dead so naturally! People can walk pass the corpse, tripped over it, looked aftet it (but not informing the authorities!) and even steal his shoes! So this whole show is about misconceptions and how they use different ways of hiding Harry. However, i do enjoy that Hitchcock added some love elements into this movie and presented it to be more warm Its so cute seeing the two old actor and actress dating each other! haha. It was hilarious too how they bury, took out the body of Harry, and bury and took out.. again and again! Can you imagine? Liqing and i was laughing so hard at that part! All in all, it’s another recommendable movie by Hitchcock, do catch it when you have time

this is e dead Harry, whose body has been placed for weeks, moved here and there.

Shall write till here first, be back next week! (:

PS: i shall have plenty of sleep, and finish up all my assignments asap!

PSPS: HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY PAMELA AND JACKY!