Director's Journal Week 14

     In this week, a public screening had been held in the amphitheater in the Faculty of Built Environment. I arrived the place late because I was lost in the Faculty of Engineering (mistaken that the event is held there).

     Honestly, I really like this place. The space is opened and when you move your head up, you get to see the sky with bright moon and shining stars. Breezy air blows your face and the students sit and interact with each other before the screening which starts at 9pm. I feel very comfortable here and I enjoy siting there and re-watch the short films while exchanging ideas on movie.

Photo credited to Abdullah Ahmad Sazili

    

      This will be one of the events that I enjoyed in my university life. The screening is casual and watching films outdoor at night is a very good experience for me. You can grab some food or drinks as you like and you don’t feel restricted by anything. Unfortunately, I had to leave early as I have test on the next morning and I missed the present changing session and FOOD!

       I really hope that this kind of screening will be held at least once a semester. Other than the products of the student, we can show some short films and videos produced by local directors. Or we can have P. Ramlee’s movie marathon which we can watch many of this great artist’s work in one night. Students get to discuss and learn about the movie casually with no borders set like in the class. The more interesting part is, anyone who is interested of the films shown can sit down and join us which enhance interaction with people from other faculties. We will get to know the opinion of other people on movies and other arts. This help to raise the culture of film appreciation in the university.

Director's Journal Week 13

     In this week, let's us pay a tribute to one of the greatest directors in Malaysia.
     
     Yasmin Ahmad was born in Kampung Bukit Treh in Muar, Johor on 7 Jan 1958, the oldest of three children of a musician father and theatre director mother. She was graduated in arts majoring in politics and psychology from Newcastle University in England. She worked as a trainee banker in 1982 for two weeks then working for IBM as a marketing representative.  She worked as blues singer and pianist at night. Yasmin started her career in advertising as a copywriter at Ogilvy & Mather and in 1993 she moved to Leo Burnett as joint creative director with Ali Mohammed, eventually rising to executive creative director at the firm's Kuala Lumpur branch. On 23 July 2009, Yasmin suffered a stroke and hemorrhaging in the brain. On 25 July 2009, after more than 48 hours of surgery, she was pronounced dead at 11:25 pm. It is a tragedy that Yasmin Ahmad, one of the few Malaysian directors to make a name on the world stage, has died aged 51.

      Most of her commercials and films have been screened at the Berlin, San Francisco, Singapore international film festivals and the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival. Her films were featured in a special retrospective at the 19th Tokyo International Film Festival in October 2006.

      Ahmad was part of a new generation of film-makers who reflected the wide ethnic and cultural diversity of her country and the lives and dreams of its young people. Stylistically, her principal influences were Yasujiro Ozu and Douglas Sirk, although she created her own western and oriental mixture. Her films challenged ethnic stereotypes, and she was openly against any type of fundamentalism and racism, making it her life's work to support minority rights. Her films also explored romance between members of different ethnic groups and religions, touching on the issues of parental abandonment, AIDS and gender discrimination, against the backdrop of Malaysia's ethnic diversity.

      Unsurprisingly, her feature films were disliked by the regime in Malaysia, a conservative, mostly Muslim country, for tackling taboo subjects such as inter-racial relations and teenage angst. In fact, the second, and perhaps most renowned of her six features, Sepet (2004), was banned in Malaysia, until Ahmad agreed to make eight cuts.

      Sepet (which could be translated as "slit eyes"), about a relationship between a Chinese boy and a Malay girl, touched the sensitive nerve of race in Malaysia, where the memory of the terrible 1969 riots between Chinese and Malays is still strong. Ahmad, who was married to a Chinese man, made the film for $400,000 and shot it in Ipoh, where Chinese and Malay communities live in close proximity. The film focused on a 16-year-old student, Orked (Sharifah Amani), the only child of well-off Malay parents (Ida Nerina and Harith Iskander), who falls for Jason (Ng Choo Seong), a slightly older Chinese boy, who sells pirated video tapes at an open-air market but like to read and write poetry. Despite differences in class, race and language, a romance blossoms. The story ends as tragedy. Ahmad followed the characters of Orked and her family in two sequels, Gubra and Mukhsin (both 2006).

       Other than movies, Ahmad also produced ads for Petronas, the national oil and gas company. The stories of these ads are simple but touch the Malaysian people’s heart during festive seasons. Her ads were the one I waited to see during festive seasons, my favourites are the one shoot at 2006 and 2008.

       The first one is about old folks living in nursing home who swagger about the achievements of their children and they seem proud of their children although they are very busy. Different from them, just say that his son is good and he is coming to fetch her. After that, a white car appear and son appear and said that the family is going to Cameron Highland. The other old folks look disappointed and continue to have their meal quietly.

      The other one happened in a primary school, where students are asked to draw what reunion dinner means to them. While everybody is busying drawing, Thiam Hock sits and observes because he does not know what a reunion dinner is. After that, Thiam Hock is waiting for someone at the bus stop alone and he waves as he see persons and cars pass through. An Indian lady then appears and offers her hands to him when all of his friends are gone. Together, they walk to the orphanage.

     Another of my favourite ads is “Tan Hong Ming in Love” which interviews Tan Hong Ming and his girlfriend. The couple is naïve and do not have discrimination which reflects the unity of different races in Malaysia.      

     Yasmin Ahmad is really a talented director and she is irreplaceable. 

     If she was still alive...  

Reference:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1379108/
http://www.thestar.com.my/Lifestyle/Entertainment/Movies/News/2013/12/16/Celebrating-Yasmin-Ahmad.aspx/
http://www.theguardian.com/global/2009/aug/12/obituary-yasmin-ahmad

Director's Journal Week 12

     We arrived at 5:30 in the afternoon and we saw Ah Leow and Danny sitting on the sofa. We greeted each other before sitting down and then long wait was started. We are told that there will be refreshment but the manager of the event came to told us that there will be delay for it and she apologized sincerely. She knew that we were starving and after a few minutes, the manager came up with a loaf of bread and she asked us to eat some bread first.

      Time don't fly when we wait there, nothing much i can do but stare at the window. Just before entering the hall, puffs were served, two pieces each person. At the same time, we realized that tea and coffee were served, they were already there when we arrived, but the waiter didn't tell us.

      I entered the hall, it is small but it fits the number of people we had well. I sat down and talked to Ah Leow and joined by others later. The event was started by the performance by the emcee and then we listened to the speeches by the manager of the event, the president of Media Club and Head of Department.

     There are 14 videos and there was no break in between, I had to sneak out in the middle of the screening to go to toilet which made me missed some part of the videos. Every video has its own story and style; and every director has his or her own thought and way to tell a story but the personalities were not seen from the video they had directed. Young directors. Among the videos, i like the composition of "Petonah", the pictures shoot at rice field are good with the help of natural sunlight, green field and blue sky. Other than that, the colour of the film "Epilogue" do bring us to old times.

     Buffet was ready after the screening. I didn't eat much because it's late for dinner and I don't have appetite for supper. The food didn't taste good but it filled my stomach. After that, 7 awards were given and then the event was ended.

     Everybody went out of the hall and took pictures; they all had good time.

 
 Overall, the event is smooth and thank you who has contributed.

 

Director's Journal Week 11

I have used by book voucher (BB1M) to purchase these two books. 

One is Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting by Syd Field.  

In this book, there are 18 chapters which tell you what screenwriting is about. From the subject to the creation of character to building story line, the book is a good educational book for the beginner of screenwriting. 

Contents of the book

Portrait of Syd Field

 Another one is Master Shots Volume 1, i bought the Chinese version because it is cheaper compare to English version. 

In this book by Christopher Kenworthy, movie making techniques like camera's position, lighting adjustment and so on are introduced. It is suitable for those people who already have some basic knowledge and skills about movie making. And if you are wondering how to shoot a fighting scene and how to shoot a kissing scene, this book may give a hand.

I'm still reading the book, so no much comments i can make on these two books. Perhaps you can get a copy and find out by yourself.

Director's Journal Week 10

      In this week, we are required to do pitching for a short film. 

      According to dummies.com, a pitch is an animated summation of a script with emphasis on the main characters, the conflict, and the genre. When pitching a script, you use this summation to persuade industry professionals to option the work (purchase it for consideration).

We were corrected after we had presented our own ideas in the class.

Here is my corrected version:

In 2015, five astronauts were sent to investigate the existence of life form on Jupiter. Lucas experience dramatic physical and mental changes when he reached the earth, he find out that he has gained mystical power and able to see illusion from Jupiter but he don’t realize that other people experience the same thing too. Accidentally, Lucas discovers that other people have the same people and they find out that their DNA are altered by radioactive wave on Jupiter and their bodies are used by alien as a portal for them to enter the earth and begin invasion.

I must admit that this story is not good enough and it was made up in a two hours.

But i did learnt what pitching is.

Reference:
http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/preparing-to-pitch-your-screenplay-to-a-studio.html

Director's Journal Week 9

        It all started with the poster of the film, which features the close up of the characters who are having orgasms. Instead of showing naked bodies or genitals, the director used the facial expressions to symbolize that this film is rebellious and provocative. This is the reason I watch this film, I was attracted by the poster. The film director uses the desire and curiosity of man on sex to attract people to watch the film. But after you have watched the film, it not what you have imagined, it’s more than that.

This is a work of pornography, in which fantasy, and the contemplation of it, is the only thing that’s real. David Denby, The New Yorker. 

        The best part of Lars von Trier's fascinating, engaging and often didactic "Nymphomaniac" is that, despite the sometimes-grim tone and bleak color palate, it's an extremely funny film, playful, even. It's outrageous and provocative, intellectual and primal at sometimes the same time. It features of a lot of what looks like actual sex (although we are told in the end credits that the penetrative sex depicted was done by body doubles), and while it is obviously interested in sex, it is more interested in how we talk about sex, how we incorporate it into our identity (or don't). 

Roger Ebert,  March 21, 2014

      The film begins with black screen and the sound of rain hitting on metal. The director wants us to clear our minds before watching the movie and the sound of water drop on metal signifies the sound of sexual intercourse between man and woman. After that, the picture of an old alley pops up with water flowing on the wall which signifies the fluid coming out from woman genital. The rock and roll music starts after the close up of a hole, which signifies that the film is shocking and rebellious. Then an old bachelor, Seligman (Stellan Skarsgård), discovers badly beaten Joe in an alley and takes her into his home. He is a complete stranger and he asks what happened. As he tends to her wounds, Joe (Charlotte Gainsbourg), a self-diagnosed nymphomaniac, recounts the erotic story of her adolescence and young-adulthood. She warns him up front that it will not be a nice story, that she is a bad person. He assures her that nothing she tells him will shock him. He thinks she may be being too hard on herself. There's something almost unfinished about Joe, a flat affect, as she insists that her behavior has been beyond-the-pale. As the rain pours down, she tells him her story which she inspired from the things in the old man’s house. Everytime Joe tells her stories, Seligman comes out with theories which relate to the stories.

        The film is broken up into titled-sections, each with their own narrative thru-line and tone.

      In the flashback sections of Volume I, the young Joe is played by Stacy Martin, being raised by a "cold bitch" of a mother, and a kindly doctor father (Christian Slater) who passes on to his daughter a love of flora and fauna. She discovers early on that when she touches herself between her legs, she gets what she calls "the sensation". She has done “playing frogs” with her best friend, B and she rubs her vagina between rope. Joe views her virginity as something that needs to be gotten rid of pronto, so she hits up a local rough-around-the-edges mechanic named Jerome (Shia LaBeouf) to do the deed; he penetrate her 3 times and 5 times from the back. After that, there are long conversations about Edgar Allan Poe, Bach, and Fibonacci numbers.

       Young Joe, once she lost her virginity, starts her quest to have as much sex as she possibly can. Her partner-in-crime for this is B who is even more daring, and who comes up with various sexual competitions. They board a train and competes how many men they have sex with and the winner get chocolate. Joe is amazed to discover how easy it is. She tells Seligman of her learning curve, the tactics and strategies she used as she worked that train. "Every man is different. She is cold and calculating about it, and the scene really captures the restlessness and kamikaze bravery of young girls first trying out their sexual powers without knowing at all what they are doing.", Roger Ebert. Seligman is not freaked out by what Joe tells him. On the contrary, he is delighted by it, and seems delighted by the opportunity to talk about all of these important matters in an in-depth spit-balling kind of way. Seligman is a big fly-fisher, and much of what Joe describes, her various tactics with men, her use of different kinds of "lures", reminds him of his favorite hobby. "Nymphomaniac" does not judge Young Joe and her friend. The only person judging Young Joe is the mature Joe, wrapped up in blankets, telling Seligman the story. 

        Chapter 2 is about Jerome, he keeps entering the film, through various hard-to-believe coincidences. The mechanic somehow is transformed into a pencil-pushing office manager. Joe found herself crush for Jerome, but when she is ready to confess about it, Jerome vanishes.

B: “The secret ingredient to sex is love”.

Unbelievable Uma Thurman

        Chapter 3 is about Mrs. H. In one sequence, Joe relates the difficulties of juggling seven different lovers. Often the lovers meet at her door, one guy leaving as the other guy arrives. Things get messy. Joe may be able to separate sex from emotion (as a matter of fact, that is her goal), but it is not as easy for others. One guy shows up at her door, holding a couple of suits in dry-cleaning bags, announcing he has finally left his wife and is moving in. Joe is horrified, even more so when the scorned wife, known only as Mrs. H. (Uma Thurman) shows up at the door with her three children. She wants the boys to see where Daddy has been spending all his time. "Come, boys, let's go look at the whoring bed!" exclaims Mrs. H. brightly.

     The next chapter is Delirium, talks about the disease Joe’s father has. His father suffered before he died and Joe uses sex to escape from the most painful moment in her life. When she saw her fathers' corpse, she is lubricated and she is shameful about that. But Seligman consoles her that it's normal to reach sexually during crisis. This chapter is in black and white which signifies the moment she don't want to remember.

The little organ school is the last chapter in Volume One. She talks about three lovers relating to the three voices used in Polyphony (it's distinguished by the idea that every voice is it's own melody, but together in harmony).

F is the bass voice, the monotone, predictable and he knows what Joe wants in sex. Joe's orgasm is the F's goal and he gives Joe the privilege that no one has and he is the foundation to the Cantus Firmus.    

G is like some kind of Jaguar or Leopard, he doesn't enter the door immediately but he does, he could take the whole world. He is the one she had to and wanted to wait for and he is in charge in the sex. He is the second voice.

The third voice is the secret ingredient, Jerome, who appear in the park and hook up with Joe. With Jerome, Joe's hole is filled and she is satisfied and happy abut it, she has found her love. At the same time, she lost her orgasm.   

“Sex can be many things, it can express love, hate, power, revenge. It can relieve boredom. It can be overlaid with intellectual considerations, or concerned with concepts such as consent, objectification, misogyny, the entire history of cultural baggage people bring into bed with them. "Nymphomaniac: Vol. I" addresses these heavy topics, but in a way that doesn't feel heavy at all. The film is an intellectual high-wire act, death-defying, dangerous, entertaining, and delighting in its own inventiveness and daring.”, Roger Ebert.

As this is a movie about feminism, which will definitely help in the our production of PSA.

Reference: 

http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/cinema/2014/03/24/140324crci_cinema_denby?currentPage=all

http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/nymphomaniac-vol-i-2014

NEVER BEEN KISSED (1999) movie review

“Let me tell you something, I don't care about being your stupid prom queen. I'm 25 years old. I'm an undercover reporter for the Chicago Sun Times and I've been beating my brains out trying to impress you people. Let me tell you something Gibby, Kirsten, Kristin, you will spend your lives trying to keep others down because it makes you feel more important. Why her? Let me tell you about this girl she is unbelievable. I was new here and she befriended me no questions asked. But you, you were only my friend after my brother, Rob, posed as a student and told you to like me. All of you people, there is a big world out there... bigger than prom, bigger than high school and it won't matter if you were the prom queen, the quarterback of the football team, or the biggest nerd in school. Find out who you are and try not to be afraid of it.”

          The world becomes smaller when you put a frame on it. High school is like a small society, to have an enjoyable high school life, one has to be popular, and the way to become popular is to be cool and it can be achieved by bullying the weak ones. Those smart people in the schools are the weak ones; they often have dreams which are different from the cool ones. They are bullied because they don’t want to fight back or when they are regarded as nerds, they should be bullied. The cools ones are those people who have confident in themselves, they are fashion forward and have leadership skills. Their confidences are built by bullying the nerds and creating phenomenon (Rufus) in school. The nerds are good at academic while the cool ones are good at sports; they are grouped together by the sense of belonging. There is one place for all of them to shine: the prom night, which the most popular people will be crowned as prom queen and prom king, and it is important for teenagers in Western countries because when a person is crowned, he or she is considered successful in his or her life, just like being rich in adult’s world. After going through hard times in high school and in workplace, Josie Geller understands what’s important in life now. She goes back to the school and manages to become popular helped by her brother, Rob Geller. She fills all her shadows she left when she was young and the contrast is big. She had the taste of being popular, but she soon realized that this is fake when she sees her first friend in school, Aldys, becomes the victim of Guy Perkins, Gibby, Kirsten and Kristin. Unaware of the consequences, she reveals her identity when she is angry and upset for what has happened throughout her undercover life. She voice out as she wants to help these lost teenagers to find what’s important to them. In the outside world (the real society), it does not matter that you were the prom queen, best football player or smartest person in the school, what really matters is you yourself, your choice and the life that you want to live. Never afraid of anything or anyone when you found that who are you and what you want in your life and go for it. Although Josie messed up with her work, her life (Josie’s brother) and relationship with the teacher, Sam, but she manages to fix it back and did a confession on the newspaper. On the night of final gameplay, Josie, stands at the center of the field, get her first kiss by Sam when the countdown ends. High school life, changed Josie’s life twice, one which makes her realized how weak she is, another one which makes her realized how strong she is. 

Transformation from Josie Grossie to ordinary Josie and 

to the copy-editor Josie Geller.  

THE CHOIR (LES CHORITSES) movie review

   

      The film is a French drama film directed by Christophe Barratier. The film begins with the returning of Pierre Marhange to his hometown for the funerel f his mother. He is visited by Pepinot, his former classmates, and he passes him the diary written by Clement Mathieu, their old music teacher. The story is simple but touching, which talks about the change brought by a new teacher to the Fond de L'Etang (Bottom of the Pond). They boys in the school are naughty and the teachers believe that they have to be strict and cruel so that the boys will listen to them. The story is a flashback of Pierre and the characters play important role in telling the story. There are five important actors in the film.        

     Mathieu (Gérard Jugnot), the leading role of the film, rebellious and ambitious, he believes that the boys are not as naughty and stubborn as other people think. Using music, he reveals the side where the children should be and have. He not only understands himself and but help the boys to find their dreams and new hopes when the teacher is teaching in the school.

     
     Rachin (François Berléand) is the cruel principal and he plays the antagonist in the film. Coward and stubborn, he is the one who does not support Mathieu and torture the boys in the film. At the end, his bad acts are revealed and he is fired.

     Pierre Marhange (Jean-Baptiste Maunier), a boy with beautiful voice and great talent. Being discovered by Mathieu, and motivated, he became a great musician in future. 

     Violette Marhange (Marie Bunel), mother of Pierre, which Mathieu fall into. The mother is one of the factor to the volunteering of Mathieu to teach Pierre to sing and help him to get into music school.

     Maxence (Jean-Paul Bonnaire), the keeper of the school, shows the biggest change after Mathieu has arrived. Being persuaded by things done by Mathieu, he support him all the way and tries to rebels against the principal. 

Director Journal Week 8

      On Friday, we did our real shooting.

We gathered at 9am and we started the shooting at 10am. We have one person responsible for keeping the time so that we don’t spend too much time on one scene as we have many scenes to shoot. We have used blue gel for the lighting as it increases the cold tone of the light.

      We had lunch break at 12pm and gather again at 2:30pm. We found out that the small lighting was not functioning and we waited for the camera for a long time.  After that, the director decided to cancel the shooting and continue the next day.

KILL BILL VOLUME 2 movie review

      Compare to Volume One, Kill Bill Volume Two is less exciting but has solved most of the questions we had in Volume One. What is the name of the bride? Why Bill wants to kill Kiddo? Why the bridge left Bill. Other than continuing her journey of revenge, Volume Two also reveals the background of Kiddo, how she became deadly assassin and her relationship with Bill. If you are a fan of old movies, then you will know that there are a lot scenes where the director takes from Shaw’s Kung-Fu movie (Gordon Liu), classic Italian horror movies (when Kiddo escapes from the coffin and walk like zombie n the street) and Japanese monster movies (fight between Elle and Kiddo in the trailer home, e.g. Godzilla and Mothra). Compare to Volume One, Volume Two has more stories to tell and more dialogues between the characters and the dialogues are fundamental elements to keep the story going. The movie opens with a long close up of The Bride (Uma Thurman) behind the wheel of a car, explaining her mission, which is to kill Bill. Tarantino writes dialogue with quirky details that suggest the obsessions of his people. Although some lines does not seem to match with the story, but the lines speaks the characters in the film.

“That's one of the ways he gives his movies a mythical quality; the characters don't talk in mundane everyday dialogue, but in a kind of elevated geek speak that lovingly burnishes the details of their legends, methods, beliefs and arcane lore.”, Roger Ebert, April 16, 20004.

     The film began in black and white before switching to color, which the flashback that the pregnant Bride and her entire wedding party were targeted by the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad in a massacre at the Two Pines Wedding Chapel. Bill was responsible -- Bill, who she confronts on the porch of the chapel for a conversation that suggests the depth and weirdness of their association. There is another scene which the director used black and white, which suggest the claustrophobia of being buried. The Bride and her future family being shoot by the squad; inside her wooden casket, and as clods of earth rain down on the lid, the director used black and white for the most painful moment in her life. In setting up this scene, Tarantino pauses for colorful dialogue once again; The Bride is informed by Bill that Pai Mei hates women, whites and Americans, and much of his legend is described.

“Such speeches function in Tarantino not as long-winded detours, but as a way of setting up characters and situations with dimensions it would be difficult to establish dramatically.”, Roger Ebert, April 16, 20004.

     The director uses a lot of methods which make the movie comic like. For example, exaggerating actions, sudden close up and zoom out.  Pai Mei, whose hair and beard are long and white and flowing, like a character from the pages of a comic book, is another example of Tarantino's method, which is to create lovingly structured episodes that play on their own while contributing to the legend. Pai Mei waits patiently for eons on his hilltop until he is needed for a movie, like a distillation of all wise, ancient and deadly martial arts masters in countless earlier movies.

     In the film, when all the assassins retired, they try to forget their past. Vernita has a daughter and try to be a mother, Budd work as a toilet cleaner in a bar, and Kiddo plans to marry a used record store owner and lead a normal life. No matter how much money they can earn from killing people, they still choose to be a normal person.

      This movie plays a big contrast with real life. Kiddo drives fancy and colourful car for the journey of killing people, she is not killed by the gun shot by Budd, Bill and Kiddo had gun fight without waking up their daughter, Karen used gun in the hotel without disturbing the other customers, five-point exploding-heart trick,  these are impossible in reality. 

http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/reviews/kill-bill-vol-2-20040406

Director's Journal Week 7

     After the presentation, we have received a lot of comments and suggestions.

     We appreciate them and we have found some ways to improve them.

      For the lighting of the video, I was asked to do research on three point lighting.

     Three-point lighting is a standard method used in visual media such as video, film, still photography and computer-generated imagery. It is a simple but versatile system which forms the basis of most lighting. The goal of three point lighting is to create the illusion of a three-dimensional subject in a two-dimensional image. While you can create dimension a number of different ways, there’s no doubt that using light and shadow is a powerful way to accomplish this, and three point lighting is the lighting technique most commonly used.

The technique uses three lights called the key light, fill light and back light. Naturally you will need three lights to utilize the technique fully, but the principles are still important even if you only use one or two lights. As a rule:

•         If you only have one light, it becomes the key.
•         If you have 2 lights, one is the key and the other is either the fill or the backlight.

      The Key Light is the main light used on the subject. It is usually the strongest and has the most influence on the look of the scene. It is placed to one side of the camera/subject so that this side is well lit and the other side has some shadow.

      The Fill Light is used to fill in the shadows created by the key light, preventing them from getting too dark. This is the secondary light and is placed on the opposite side of the key light. The fill will usually be softer and less bright than the key. To acheive this, you could move the light further away or use some spun. You might also want to set the fill light to more of a flood than the key.

      The Back Light is used to separate the subject from the background. The back light is placed behind the subject and lights it from the rear. Rather than providing direct lighting (like the key and fill), its purpose is to provide definition and subtle highlights around the subject's outlines. This helps separate the subject from the background and provide a three-dimensional look.

The basic procedure is as follows:

1.  Start in darkness. Make sure there are no default lights, and there's no global ambience. When you add your first light, there should be no other light in the scene.

2.  Add the key light, to create the subject's main illumination, and to define the most visible lighting and shadows.

3.  Set the fill light to illuminate shadowed areas and to soften and extend the illumination provided by the key light.

4.  Set a backlight to create a bright line around the edge of the object and to separate the subject from the background.

Below are links for further reading:

  http://vimeo.com/25449708

http://www.izzyvideo.com/three-point-lighting/

http://www.andrew-whitehurst.net/3point.html

http://www.nikonusa.com/en/Learn-And-Explore/Article/hojlp4dt/introduction-to-three-point-lighting-other-video-lighting-techniques.html

Director's Journal Week 6

     In this week, I have learnt how to use the software “Adobe Premier”.

     As one of the member of director team, I was responsible for the editing of the video. I find this software much more complicated than Windows Movie Maker but it has more functions than it. You will find this software handy after you know what button to hit for a certain effect for your video.

     I am happy that I have the software and manage to edit the video in a short time.

     The video will be presented in next week’s discussion and hope that the response is good.

SUPER 8 movie review

      Syd Field, in his book, Screenplay and The Screen Writer's Workbook, has outlined a paradigm that most screenplays follow. A paradigm is a conceptual scheme and is the structure that holds screenplays together. Screenplays follow a three-act structure, meaning the standard screenplay can be divided into three parts: Setup, Confrontation, and Resolution, according to Field.

     Act 1 (Setup) comprises the first quarter of the screenplay. (Act I would last approximately 30 minutes for a two hour movie). Here is where the story is set up; the main character is told; what their goal is and introduces the main conflict that becomes their obstacle. The tone and style of the movie will also be set here. Act I must also present a strong hook: an exciting scene early in the script that grabs the audience’s interest. Part of that hook is the inciting incident that takes place somewhere in the beginning of Act I. This inciting incident often provokes a change in the protagonist’s routine – something new they experience that could either challenge or encourage them.

The story starts with the change in Joe’s family life, the incident happened in the factory causes Joe and Jackson lost their loved one. In the first two minutes, most of the characters are introduced (in sequence: Joe Lamb, Mr. and Mrs. Kaznyk, Joe’s best friends; Preston, Cary, Charles, and Martin; Jackson Lamb and Louis Dainard. In Joe’s house where the funeral is held, the setting is sad and moody. The children are curious about how Joe’s mother died, but they are naive, and they blur the discussion with zombie and food. This shows that there will contrast between adult’s world and children’s world in the movie; adults are serious and kids worry about other things which creates sense of humour in the film. Other than that, the cause of the death of Joe’s mother, Charles’s film, the relationship between Jackson and Louis are the hook of the movie. The main conflict in the movie is the relationship between Joe and his father. From the conversation between Mr. and Mrs. Kaznyk (00:01:55 Mrs. Kaznyk: “But he has never had to be a father before…I don’t think he understands Joe.”, the couple remains silence), we know that Jackson is not having good relationship with his father and they do not have much contact (Jackson is looking for the son in the house while the son is outside). Joe rather be alone and memoirs his mother (holding the necklace in his hands) than join his friends and family in the house.  

     According to Field, the three acts are separated by two plot points. The "Plot Point" or “Turning Point”, often called as reversal, is an event that thrusts the plot in a new direction, leading into a new act of the screenplay. Later screenplay gurus have built on Field's theory by stating that Plot Point 1, which leads into Act II, is the moment when the hero takes on the problem.

The turning point 1 will be the adding of new character Alice who will be the wife for the detector in Charles’s film. Together they go to the train station and shoot the film. Joe finds out that a car goes onto the train track and hit the train, there is a big explosion. Joe find cubes and keep one of them in the pocket. The kids discovered Dr. Woodward and he warn the kids to keep secret about it. This creates a big question in audience’s head.    

      Act 2 (Confrontation) comprises the next two quarters of the film. (Act II would last approximately 60 minutes for a two hour movie). The writer faces the challenge of keeping the story moving forward and not boring the audience. The elaboration of subplot is the device to solve this. The subplot is a minor story layered under the main narrative. It often adds a three-dimensionality aspect to the characters by allowing them to engage in a behavior that is not related to the main plot, but still relevant in the overall narrative and often connected to a central theme. Here, the main character begins confronting the series of obstacles standing in his/her way at this part.  They also reveal more about themselves (backstory & secrets) and what motivates them.  They suffer setbacks that test their desire for their goal, often culminating in a “darkest hour” when all seems lost right before Turning Point 2.

Act 2 is about the events caused by the train accident, the Air Force has plans, but the residents of the town are not acknowledged about that. Charles decides to go back to the scene to shoot but Alice refrains from shooting. Then Joe goes to her house and tries to persuade her, but he is chased away by her father, at the end, Alice accepts Joe’s request. When they go back to the train to shoot, Joe finds out that the train is an Air Force train. On the other hand, the Air force collects the cube and refuses to explain which makes the accident more complicated. Then strange things start to happen, Sheriff is attacked, unstable electricity, people vanishing, dogs run out of the city, engines, generators and microwave are stolen. Entering of Air Force into the town add mystery to the involvement of them in the accident.

     After that, the story will comes to the Mid-Point, which is the scene or event halfway through the second act, and therefore halfway through the script, which gives a change in direction to the story. The mid-point functions as a setback, reversal or turning point which sends the character in a new direction, pushes the plot into a higher gear or raises the character’s commitment to another level. It can also be a “lynchpin” that helps to connect Turning Point 1 to Turning Point 2.

Joe knows that the Air Force is looking for Alice’s father’s car and Dr. Woodward’s research. There is an old man which helps the deputy to listen to military chatter through the radio. The Air Force is planning an operation named “Walking Distance”. Louis told Jackson that Jack’s son is approaching Alice in the police station. Jackson is so angry and sends his son back home when he is with his friends.

     An important element of this escalation inherent to Act 2 is Plot Point 2, which shoot off the story into the third and final act. Much like Plot Point 1, Plot Point 2 also affects the main character by turning the narrative drive of the story into a new direction. The difference is that the stakes are much higher. This is often a moment of crisis, in which all hope seems lost. Sometimes it is the “light at the end of the tunnel” which is something that gives them new information or inspiration to move beyond the “darkest hour” and push toward the climax.

After Joe argued with his father, he goes to the graveyard and memoirs his mother. He hears noises from a house in the cemetery and something is digging the ground. When Joe is feeling emotional, Alice visits him and has conversation. Alice sees the home video of Joe’s family and tells Joe that her father is one of the causes of the death Joe’s mother and she hopes that the victim is her father. The Air Force killed Dr. Woodward who can tell the truth. After that, Alice too, has argument with her father and his father crashes his car when he is chasing his daughter. Alice, unprotected, caught by the alien. On the other hand, Jackson goes into the trap set by the Colonel and locked in a room. After that, the Air Force starts a fire and urges the residents of the town to evacuate. Joe is united with friends and found out that Alice is in danger.

     Act 3 (Resolution) comprises the final quarter of the film. (Act III would be the final 30 minutes for a two hour movie). At this stage, things pick up speed now as the protagonist moves faster and closer to achieving their goal, putting the final pieces of the plot’s “puzzle” together and racing toward the climax and dénouement. Climax is when the character faces the biggest obstacle of all in a climactic showdown and, in doing so, finally achieves the opportunity to realize his/her outer goal. Denouement is the “wrap-up” after the climax.  It quickly ties up the script’s loose ends, i.e., “They lived happily ever after.” The third act also offers a resolution to the subplots. The resolution can also give extra information for a more elaborate character arc.

Joe and his friends go into the town and break into the school by the help of Donnie and Charles’s sister. They discover the big secret from the documentary left by Dr. Wood. Jackson escapes from the Air Force and with Louis, they try to look for their children. In the car, their misunderstanding is resolved. The alien finds the bus and kills all the Air Force people including the Colonel, while the kids, lucky enough, able to escape and saved by Donnie.

The climax will be the kids run into the town and separate, left with Joe and Cary, who are able to make it to the cemetery. They find a big hole which leads to underground where the alien lives; they also find the vanished people, including Alice there. Cary distracts the alien with firecrackers and Joe goes to save Alice, Sheriff and accidentally a lady. They meet Cary when they try to escape but things turn out when the alien discovers them, at the end, the kids are trapped at a dead end. Joe is brave enough to face the alien and talk to it. Then, the alien is distracted by sound of machine which the spaceship is ready to operate.

For the denouement, the fathers and their children reunite on the road. After that, there is a force pulling metals, guns, cars and cubes to the water tank. Joe lets go his mother’s necklace which makes the final piece of the spaceship. When the spaceship is completed, the alien goes back home and the characters are happy about that.

Reference:

http://www.cod.edu/people/faculty/pruter/film/threeact.htm

http://scripteach.com/?page_id=223

http://2012.scriptfrenzy.org/node/402156

http://www.elementsofcinema.com/screenwriting/3-act-structure.html