7wist Of Fate

Entry 7
Week 7’s Reflections

4 June 2007

Who can ever imagine that the first term of Tertiary school life is finally coming to an end after 8 grueling weeks of school and the long lost holidays are beginning to surface again. I can hardly wait for the holidays to commence again! I mean, even machines need a break, let alone human beings. This time around, I am definitely going to make full use of the holidays to reflect on my past actions, plan for my future and not to leave out, catch up with my old friends and yes, Miss Chua. Oh and the best part is, I can finally sleep late and wake up late again; just like I used to do for the 6 months of break after the ‘O’ Level examination.

*Slaps himself*

“Nah, wake up Jacky, if you think the term break is for you to slack, dream on because that is SO not going to happen.” Oh man, come to think of it, the term break hasn’t even started and piles of homework are already being thrown to us. Currently, we have 3 assignments at hand and the workload might even increase. Jeez, what a bummer – Gone were the days when one could slack for 6 months without worries and now there goes one’s long beauty sleep and long hours of gaming. I still remember the days during the break when my friends and I were complaining of the terribly long break and prayed often for school to begin earlier. And now only after 2 months of school, I am already ranting about the daily bustles and hustles of school and can’t wait for holidays to approach again. Suddenly, I begin to ponder whether the reverse thought would haunt my mind during the holidays.

With this in mind, I began to realize how true the phrase “People never treasure things until they are really gone” is. We all know that this phrase is a cliché and is commonly heard everywhere, but why is it that people still continue to take things for granted? Take myself for example, I never treasured the 6 months of break, I wasted it and in a poof, it’s gone! There’s no more turning back! I used to complain how boring the holidays were and now I’m beginning to reminisce those days. I don’t know about you folks but have you all ever heard about this sentence? Young people always pray for their time to pass by faster while old people always pray for their time to pass by slower. True isn’t it, I always hope for my time to pass by faster. True enough! I did mention that I was looking forward to the holidays, didn’t I? It’s definitely not a good sign to allow. I think one better starts to appreciate each and every moment of his life and not live life in regrets.

And isn’t it ironic how people take things for granted and only realize their value after they are gone? Just to fill you in with details before I carry on, I live in Singapore with my mum and sister while my dad and my other sister lives in Malaysia, where they work. My mum is a very dedicated housewife and she takes care of everything in the house, be it cleanliness, bills and family politics. For the past 16 years, I have been living under wings and depended rather heavily on her – She does the laundry, drives me to school, etc. This year is rather different, she no longer dedicates herself that much to being a housewife anymore. Instead, she makes frequent trips to Malaysia to help out my dad in his business. At first, I thought it would be great as there wouldn’t be someone here to spot check on me and that means I will be entitled to more freedom. Guess that I was wrong. When she’s gone, my life is totally upside down. I have to wake up 3 hours in advance of my lecture everyday instead of the usual 1 hour. Guess what? This means I have to wake up at 5am if my lecture were to start at 8am. A one-way journey to Ngee Ann Poly kills about 1.5 hours of my life and that means I waste 3 hours of my life everyday on public transport. Well that’s why I always try to keep myself busy with things when I’m on a public transport, say, to think and reflect on my actions. Strange as it seems, I used to take my mum for granted. I used to complain how bad her food tasted, how crumpled my ironed clothes were, and other trivial things. And now that she has left for Malaysia, I came to realize how much she meant to me. I miss her so badly – her cooking, her encouragements and her tender loving care. There’s no longer someone who showers and embraces you with love daily. And now, even if I long for the days when my mum could stay with me day after day, they are never going to return again. When she comes back to Singapore every now and then, I rarely even find myself complaining about her doings. In fact, I compliment them.

They say “absence makes the heart go fonder,” so true, isn’t it?

Guess I better start treasuring every single thing around me and most importantly make sure that it’s not in my sub conscious mind!

Sixcretive Secrets

Entry 6
Week 6’s Reflections

28 May 2007

“Jacky, have you been keeping too much things to yourself, lately?” This question seemed to bother me quite a lot when I was taking a ride back home from school today. Is it the truth that I’ve been keeping too many things from my friends? Come to think about it, I do have a lot of things hidden deep inside of me. But why is it that I tend to keep things bottled up inside of me? Isn’t it so much better to tell others your stuffs?

Well, that may be true for some other people, but for me, I don’t reckon so. Unless I really found someone who is trustworthy and patient enough to lend me an ear, I won’t tell anyone about my hidden thoughts and feelings. Now, if you’ve read my previous reflection, you must be wondering, “I thought you used to share your problems with Miss Chua?” Yup, she’s one person whom I’m willing to share my personal thoughts with, but now that she’s no longer there for me to open up, I guess I’m back to square one with no one to share my problems with. Now you will probably ask me, “What about your family? Don’t you trust them?” Well, it’s not that I don’t trust them or anything. I do tell them most of my things but there is still a portion of my life that I don’t tell them, nor do I tell anyone else. I do not want their personal opinions to affect the way I think or feel nor do I want to live my days in fear that one day my secret might be leaked. You know, some things in the world are meant to be secluded and are better off secluded.

However, there are certain people in this world that you are willing to share every single of your thoughts with. There is just this unexplainable yet, assuring and comfortable feeling to tell them about your feelings. Now, you got to concur with me regarding this matter.

Okay, hold on a second. Why am I writing about this topic? Reason being, in the previous reflection, I shared a tiny portion of my life with my classmates and Mr. Ryan and it turned out that, that particular reflection which I wrote about my teacher stands out among my previous reflections and I felt rather accomplished having written a good reflection (in my humble opinion). Then again, today on the way home, I was thinking about sharing more things with my peers but there seemed to be something deterring me from thinking so. My mind seems to have a barrier, preventing me from crossing over it and share my feelings with my peers.

Does anyone else have this problem or is it just me, who has difficulties trusting people? Friends have been trying to open me up and persuading me into telling them problems but I’ve been reluctant to do so. I’m sorry friends, it’s not that I find none of you trustworthy but I need time to affirm myself before I go around telling people about my stuffs. I think I might have a phobia of my friends leaking secrets since most of my friends in secondary school have a nasty habit of gossiping. Who would ever believe that a secret which I told one of my friends few years back, spread through the whole class in just one day? Whoa! Luckily, that wasn’t any major secret or I’ll be forced to live my secondary school days in embarrassment. Alright, I don’t mind telling you all what that secret was since it doesn’t hurt now. It was merely about me and a girl getting into a secretive relationship, which didn’t turn out as secretive as we planned in the end.

Recently, my tertiary school friends have been asking me whether I have a personal blog and they doubted me when I told them ‘no, I don’t’. Active people like Joshua have their own personal blogs. I’m active and fun too, but does that mean I have to own a blog? Is it very surprising that people like me don’t have a blog? I don’t think so. I’ve been thinking if there wasn’t any ‘Storytelling Techniques’ module in this FSV course. I wouldn’t even have created a blog. Not saying creating a blog is a bad thing, I’m beginning to like writing as well as doing reflections. Don’t doubt me, Ryan. It’s an honest answer. I do savor people reading my blog and receiving constructive comments.

However I’m still in a tendency to keep things to myself. I know it’s rather bad and unhealthy for a FSV student to posses such trait because ‘having the ability to express yourself freely’ is one factor that the students must have in order to excel in this course. I really admired how you expressed yourself when you were reading your letter to the past. I was like telling myself, “How in the world is he able to share such things with his students.” I mean, how do you even bring yourself to trust us to the extent that you share your family problems with us? It’s really very brave of you. As a result, I salute you! Mr. Ryan.

Anyway, I will try to learn and slowly open up myself during the course of your ‘Storytelling Technique’ module, but I can’t guarantee that I will succeed because I do have a imaginary barrier and a phobia. They say, once bitten, twice shy. True isn’t it? I wouldn’t dare to take another risk because if you’re twice bitten, then you’ll be forever shy. However, I can promise you that I will work towards it.

No ‘Guaranteed’ chop though.

Signal 5ire

Entry 5
Week 5’s Reflections

21 May 2007

I think it would be better if you’ve read ‘Letter To The Past’ before reading this.

In the blink of an eye, 5 weeks have just sped right pass me. I’ve been with my tertiary school friends for 5 weeks now and I’ve already feeling attached to the class as well as blending well into the T1B2 spirit, especially with classmates who care for me. However, this also means I’m 5 weeks more distant from my secondary school friends. But of course, this doesn’t mean that I prefer my secondary school friends over my current friends because it’s not true at all, I love my current class and savor the times we had, especially during ‘Studio Productions’. It’s just that I kept wondering why do we always have to lose some friends in the course of growing up. Why can’t we just bring them with us as we move along to another stage of life?

Come to think of it, if I were to bring my secondary school friends along, I wouldn’t even have bonded so well with my current tertiary school friends as I will definitely choose to stick to my secondary school friends and not get to know my current friends. So I guess in life, you can’t have everything. When you gain something, you are bound to lose something. That’s just the dynamic balance of the universe and how things work. Don’t wrestle with it because a chocolate is a chocolate (Mr. Douglas’ quote of implying that some things are meant to be that way).

Coincidentally, on Friday during Mr. Ryan’s class, he gave us an assignment and that is to write a letter to someone from the past. Immediately someone came to my mind and that someone is none other than my ex form teacher – Miss Chua, now Mrs. Ang, but I still prefer to call her Miss Chua because of some sentimental memories. It was back in December 2006, during the holidays. At that period of time, she wasn’t at all busy and as usual, we were chatting often in MSN Messenger. I still remember telling her how much I desired to enter this ‘Film Sound And Video’ course in Ngee Ann Polytechnic and she was there, supporting that my choice is right and affirming me that I will make it into the course. In case you didn’t know, I gave up studying in Junior College just because of this particular course. Over the times to come, both Miss Chua and I have kept in close contact until the day I left for Taiwan for holidays.

When I returned from Taiwan, I got the biggest shock of my life. I literally missed the interview for the course and that means I had no more chance to enter the course – my dreams were shattered. Unwilling to give up and remembering the present (a keychain with words telling me not to give up easily with setbacks I face) that Miss Chua gave me, my mum and I rushed to Ngee Ann Polytechnic and appealed for the course. Sadly, I was rejected at first, but nonetheless, I refused to give in and showed them my sincerity. Finally, the person in charge, Mr. Charles Maideen, who is responsible of choosing the applicants, decided to give me a chance. He interviewed me personally and I made full use of the golden opportunity. However, he told me even though he admired me, he was unable to just substitute another person and swap me into the course as that would be totally unfair to the students who came for the interview. I was placed at the top of the waiting list eventually, and could only get in if someone, just one person, decided to drop out.

I was devastated at that period of time. I suddenly felt that my future was screwed, and I hated myself as it was me, myself who have caused all that. It really felt like the end of the world and I never felt so stupid before, giving up Junior College just for a course. I shouldn’t have been so cocky, I always thought that making it into this course would be no sweat at all. How pathetic and foolish of me. Nonetheless, Miss Chua was there to comfort me and she tried to cheer me up. I felt better with her words of consolation and she was also very determined to help me get into the course. The next day, coincidentally, was my award presentation ceremony for the School Video Awards which was held in Ngee Ann Polytechnic. I got a silver award for a home video which was never intended for the competition, rather, it was meant for our class presentation.

Straight after the ceremony, she took me to see Mr. Charles Maideen. We showed him the award and she had a long talk with Mr. Charles Maideen, explaining to him about my situation and persuading him to take me in. However, his answer remained constant. I left the school with close-to-zero faith in myself. As she drove me home, she continued to comfort me and told me not to give up, even with the slightest glimpse of hope available.

Surprising enough, a few days before my birthday, Ngee Ann Polytechnic called after a period of time and alerted me of a vacancy in “Film, Sound And Video”. Eventually, I was accepted into “Film, Sound And Video” course. I was exultant and I felt confidence in myself again. However in exchange, something I never expected and feared the most happened. Miss Chua and I seemed to have lost contact with each other. I don’t know why but she just doesn’t come online anymore, nor does she make an effort to find out more about me. Has she forgotten about me, who she claimed to be her best and favourite student? I don’t know, perhaps she is too busy with her work nowadays.

Even until today, there hasn’t been a single sign from her; I really wonder how she is doing now. Where is that Miss Chua I used to know? It seems to me that the caring Miss Chua has evolved into an apathetic Mrs. Ang. I am really very disappointed, even worse than how I felt when I missed the interview.

Sometimes, I really question myself why have things turned out to be like this. I got what I wanted most in life and I lose something that is of utmost significance to me. It’s exactly like saying someone who has finally found a way out of a cave but on the way out, he loses his source of light, leaving him in darkness haplessly.

Sometimes, I also ask myself, “If you have the ability to exchange 2 things in your life of the same value, what would they be?” Even until today, my answer remains the same. If I were to be granted a close relationship with my teacher, then I wouldn’t mind sacrificing this course. Because without her guidance, I am at a loss and my sense of confidence is gone.

They say, behind every successful man is a woman. How true…

“In the confusion and the aftermath, you are my signal fire.”

“Hold me close because I need you to guide me to safety.”

Who’s The Man

At the window side of a luxurious and brightly lit Japanese restaurant sits 2 very loving young couple, Zack and Avie. Zack is a very notorious defiant and haughty student in his school while Avie, on the other hand, is known for her kindness, diligence and modesty; they are completely exact opposites. Nonetheless, both of them have something in common, they are both very popular among their peers and are very good looking. During their wait for their food to arrive, Zack and Avie are both engaging in a sweet conversation as their hands embrace each other.

Meanwhile, Sam, who has just finished his haircut, happens to pass by the restaurant after leaving the barber shop. As he looks around mindlessly and aimlessly, he spots the young couple dating. Shocked with his mouth agape and jaws wide apart, he storms his way into the restaurant, ignoring the staffs and stops right behind of Zack. He stares down angrily at Zack while the ignorant Zack continues with his sweet talk. Avie, who is aware of Sam’s existence, begins to signal to Zack by rolling her eyes towards Sam’s direction, hinting to Zack that someone is behind him.

As Zack deciphers Avie’s action, he lets go of Avie’s hands and turns his head around. To his surprise, an unfamiliar looking man is staring down at him angrily. The two males then lock themselves in an eye wrestle, before Zack gives in and questions, “ex…cuse me?” Ignoring the question, Sam continues to stares down Zack directly into his eyes. Zack, feeling puzzled, begins to ask another time, “what exactly are you doing, dude?” With his lips shut and compressed, Sam continues to stare down Zack.

Antagonized by Sam’s nonsensical actions and his reluctance to speak, Zack finally stands up and it is now the taller Zack’s turn to stare down at Sam. Zack questions, “hey, why don’t you just fuck off?” This is the final straw, Sam finally opens his mouth and responds, “I am her father.”

A deafening silence fills the entire atmosphere while Zack stands rooted to the ground, remorseful of what he has just done.

The Four Letters Post

Entry 4
Week 4’s Reflections

16 May 2007

I had a great time on Friday during Mr. Ryan’s class. He started off the class by wanting us to read other people’s entry on “People Watch”. For me, I had to read Eugene’s and Joshua’s entries. Then he wanted us to write a short story based on two characters, each from the two entries we read.

I felt that this was a very interesting exercise because this time around, your friends were responsible for generating the characters and had already developed them. In other exercises, for example the infamous “Jacky puts on his hula girl costume and enters the temple” exercise, it’s true that we were given a character but the fact is that we, as the authors, have to create the character’s personalities and actions. Whereas in this exercise, we just have to create a story with the 2 characters we chose. So basically, I felt that this was an easier exercise because there is one less thing to do in the short 20 minutes allocation of time.

During the process of writing, I did realize I had little trouble in coming up with a conflict between the 2 characters as our friends, who have generated the characters’ personality, actions and looks have already helped us in coming up with a certain conflict. Take for example, if I were given a sluttish looking female and an ugly looking construction worker. Immediately, a conflict already came to my mind. The worker goes to a brothel to look for sex, while the female refuses to have sex with him. Whereas, if you were given 2 characters without descriptions but just names. Then you’ll have to think about the many possibilities of conflicts that can result in the 2 characters. Maybe other people don’t have this problem but for me, I tend to stress my brain a lot and hence always have difficulty in finishing my story in the short 20 minutes. So what I’m trying to say is that, with characters’ personalities, actions and looks defined, the scope of conflicts is narrowed down and easier to work with.

After this exercise, we had another very interesting section of Mr. Ryan’s lecture and that is the discussions on a man called Aristotle and his work. We discussed about various things but the key element of the discussions that struck me into thoughts was plot.

In Aristotle’s views, a plot is the arrangement of incidents and not the story itself. He also believed that a story should be in chronological order must have a starting, middle and an end. His point of view is worth our consideration when we write a story but in the present, I feel that we shouldn’t be constrained by Aristotle’s views because as long as the audience gets the message your work is trying to portray, be it film, story or painting, it’s a success already.

Aristotle also said that the starting of a film must have an incitive moment, the middle should be where the climax resides and the ending should the resolution. I do not totally agree with him about this. In today, movies that are different often captivates our interest, take for example, the movie we watched this week – The Usual Suspects. The movie did not follow Aristotle’s rules of the chain of effects; in fact the movie has a DABCDE chain of effects. Nonetheless, we get the story of the film and have a feeling of suspense throughout the entire film. I like that feeling, I’m sure many people liked it too, especially when a movie is unique in its own ways. If a movie was to follow Aristotle’s rules, then all the movies will be similar and, in my humble opinion, boring.

Occasionally, there must a very unique movie that stands out from the rest; if not, film will die out quickly as an art. So I disagree with some of Aristotle’s views, maybe they are applicable to the past but certainly not now, especially when the people nowadays have high expectations and like to see something portrayed as different.

However, I do agree his views on spectacle. A film should not depend so much on the effects to create emotions amongst the audience. The film should rather use its story and characters to motivate interests and feelings among the audience.

Speaking of art itself, it has no boundaries and shouldn’t be restricted by rules. There are no absolute principles of form that all artists must follow.

Posting Spreeeee

Entry 3
Week 3’s Reflections

9 May 2007

It was another day in Ryan’s lesson. I just realized that it’s actually one of the lessons which I always look forward to. Reason being, I get to learn a lot from his lectures, for example, I’ve learnt how to be a better writer with his various creative exercises. I feel that, it really helps me to expand my style of writing thanks to his various critics. Another reason is that it is also the last lesson of the week!

Anyway, when the lesson commenced, Mr. Ryan went through some of the “50 word stories”, which we have done in week 2, with us. First he began with a simple question. He asked, “So is it easier to write a story in 50 words or is it not?” For most of us, we felt that writing a story with 50 words was just too difficult, as compared to writing a story with no limits; it was likewise for me too. But also, I felt that it was a totally new experience to me as I have never been taught to write a story in 50 words. After that, with every example we went through, he wanted us to criticize on the stories with the following questions “What’s the story about”, “What works” and “Room for improvement”. It was a good exercise for us to learn to view the stories from different perspectives and most importantly, to learn how to interpret our classmates’ stories the way it was intended by the author.

I wasn’t chosen to read my stories so I don’t really know whether my stories are effective in portraying what I, as the author, have in mind. Some of my classmates who read them think they are really good and hilarious but as for Mr. Ryan, he said although my stories are rather comical, I should try to keep the level of humor low.

To Mr. Ryan: “Point taken Mr. Ryan, thanks for your feedback! I will work towards your intention. Thanks! =D”

Anyway, after going through the stories in class. Mr. Ryan began a little bit on “History”. He asked us a question in class, which left many of us baffled. He asked, “So who was the first one who came up with a story?” None of us, even Mr. Ryan himself, actually knew the answer. However, Mr. Ryan did give us an appropriate answer. He said it was a man, called Aristotle, who came up with the concept of constructing a story. Following that, we were instructed to research on Aristotle in groups of 3s or 4s. I was teamed with Joshua and Thomaline and we managed to finish the research, as well as our presentation rather quickly.

Last but not least, Mr. Ryan taught us a new skill which was highly neglected by us – ‘Observation’. He splits up ‘Observation’ into 2 categories – ‘Mindless Looking’ and ‘True Observation’ and explains the difference between both of them. What I really found valuable about this lesson is that I never knew the power of observation nor did I know how important a role observation can play in a story. I always thought observing other people closely is just rude, but I guess I was wrong. The power of observation can also lead to various tangible benefits such as a way for us to come up with better story lines. Mr. Ryan explained how interesting things can be if we take note of more of the things around us when we are in ‘Mindless Looking’ mood. True enough, I just realized that I tend to shake my legs very often when I’m sitting down. I guess that’s probably why he ended off the class with an exercise for us to do – People Watch, i.e., observing strangers and describe their various actions.

Intrigued enough, I’m going to start scrutinizing people! See you all next week!

Against All Odds

A school girl prepares to jump to her death, as a crowd gathers around the building. Standing on the edge of the rooftop which separates life and death, Emily looks down at the cluster of passer-bys, who have converged to witness her. Commotions stir up noisily as the participants begin to comment on the Emily’s silly feat.

“They won’t understand me, no one would!” Emily cries out. Tears stream down Emily’s cheeks as the vanilla sky reminds her of those days, which the word “lonely” was oblivion. Flashes of reminiscence from her happy episodes of life visit her as she gazes at the puffy white clouds which shift slowly across. The carefree clouds are so mesmerizing, tempting Emily to make just another inch forward. As Emily closes her damp eyes, she enters a world of darkness, where happiness and freedom lies at the end of the tunnel.

Just as she is about to attempt her jump, the door behind, kicks open; A familiar voice propagates across the sky, “No, Emily! Don’t!” Emily hesitates as she stands rooted to the same spot which segregates death and life. She couldn’t believe her ears, doubting that familiar voice, yet refusing to turn her around to affirm herself. She is afraid of the presence, especially those familiar eyes, which often leave her spellbound.

Footsteps intensify as a figure approaches Emily. “Just leave me alone.” Emily whimpers, as tears continue to spill down her cheeks. Unwilling to give in, the figure continues to approach her until reaching a distance just a hand away from her. The figure touches Emily’s fingers gently before saying the three words, “I love you.”

Emily pauses, as the three words plunge her into silence. Struck by the forces of attraction which Emily couldn’t resist, she finally turns her head around to look at the face that has left an indelible mark in her memory. She looks at the figure in the eyes and questions, “I thought you said it was impossible between the both of us?” The figure, with sparkling watery eyes, replies, “I thought it over, it’s really not worth caring about what others think of us, we live for ourselves, not them!” Overwhelmed by extreme happiness, Emily lets out a smile which spreads widely across her face. Emily steps down from the edge and falls into the embrace of the figure. Emily whispers into the right ear of her love, “I love you too, Sharon.”

The crowd settles down as they observe the conclusion – a happy couple hugging each other tightly in their warm embraces under the setting sun, indifferent to what others think about them.

The Silvered Post

Entry 2
Week 2’s Reflections

3 May 2007

Hola! It was day 2 of our adventure onboard Captain Ryan’s ship, everyone seems so much more livelier, now that we know each other a little more from day 1’s Introduction Game. That day, on our journey towards an island called “Conclusion”, the captain gave us another chore and that is to write another short story, obeying the laws of active voice, 3rd person and present tense, based on an opener.

However, this time around, we get pick 1 out of the 12 openers written by another crew member. For me, I was instructed to select one opener by Sabreena. It may sound easier, now that we get to have a choice of openers. But believe me, it sure isn’t as easy as you think. By the time we completed our chore, our captain asked us, “So is it easier to write with a choice of openers or is it easier to write based on one opener?” Yun Lin volunteered to answer and she mentioned that it would have been easier to write with only 1 opener. When asked why by the captain, she responded by saying that because with every opener she reads, her brain formulates different ways to cater to each opener, resulting in tons of ideas to choose from and hence causing her brain to malfunction.

For me, I concur with Yun Lin that, having more choices will pose a difficulty to story writing but I would also like to air my point of view. Having more options will hinder a person’s ability to write a story because it gives him more path ways to walk on. Take for example, if a person is working on a story and he is unable to develop the story anymore, he may likely discard that particular work and work on another option but if he doesn’t have any options, he will be forced to complete this story. Hence, deterring him from giving up halfway and allowing him to concentrate better in his work without being distracted by other options. Also, there’s another thing I would like to mention and that is, if you have more options, especially if they are all good ones, it will be really hard to pick one out and start writing on it. Unless you’re like Joshua, who claimed that by listening to classical music, one of the options will ‘speak’ to him, hinting him to develop it.

Anyway, my story is completed and posted (in a separate post). It is based on Sabreena’s opening sentence which goes “A school girl prepares to jump to her death, as a crowd gathers around the building.”, please read it and comment on it! Thanks a lot in advance!

After our task of writing a story is completed, Captain Ryan began to brief us on the day’s mission. He questioned us, “What is the thing that you always see in movies?” We had a lot of funny answers, ranging from script and smooth continuation to humour and good cinematography. Unfortunately, none of them are right, he was actually looking for the word “Conflict”. So he began to give us a lecture on the fundamental element of a screenplay, which is “Conflict”. He taught us that there are basically 3 types of conflicts.

- Man against man
- Man against environment
- Man against self

Frankly speaking, I never knew how important “Conflict” is in a movie. Come to think of it, our captain was really making sense. Take into consideration some of the good movies we’ve watched, say “The Matrix” and “Star Wars”. In both of these movies, there are conflicts between the forces of good and evil. Hence, when Captain Ryan wanted a definition on “Conflict”, my version of definition was correct – Oppositions of persons or forces.

Another thing I learnt throughout the adventure was that the climax of a movie is actually the scene where either the protagonist or antagonist approaches their goals. I used to think that the climax of a movie is when the protagonist and antagonist clash and the audience is hung in suspense, wondering which force will emerge out victorious. Well, like they say, we learn something new everyday and I’m glad I’ve learnt a lot in Ryan’s ship.

Before we conclude the day’s journey, we stopped by a harbour and spent time here watching 2 short local films – “The Call Home” and “The Secret Heaven”. These 2 movies really sum up what we’ve learnt in Ryan’s ship – Conflict. In “The Call Home”, the protagonist has a conflict with the environment and himself. He doesn’t want stay in Singapore to work and he had to lie to his wife. In “The Secret Heaven”, the little girl has a conflict with her mother, who wants the reluctant girl to learn piano. I pretty much enjoyed both of them and Captain Ryan was really in using materials to convey his message of the day “Conflict is the fundamental element of a screenplay.”

Well, that’s all for this entry of reflections. Will be back for the next entry!

As Granted

Jacky puts on his hula girl outfit and enters the temple. In the middle of this dreaded temple of the cursed resides the statue of the Laughing Buddha. Sheen of dusts has accumulated on top of most of the statues, except the Laughing Buddha, who is still glowing brightly and lively in the center of the room. There was not even a single breath of life in the temple; this oblivion temple has been isolated from its place of existence, Thailand, sitting in the remote jungles of Zambawee – a location not even marked on the map.

As Jacky proceeds with heavy footsteps, echoes of his footsteps transmit through the hallway of the poorly-lit temple, with each footstep sounding even more accented than the previous. The footstep sounds come to a halt as Jacky stops 3 feet in front of his hope. He raises his head, 35 degrees up, to get a closer look at his only hope, he drops to his knees and begins to pray. Roused by the smell of sweat, the Buddha comes to life, he opens his eyes and as he looks at Jacky, lushly green symbols hovers ahead of Jacky, revealing his place of origin, his wishes and his gender.

Jacky, upon realizing the Buddha’s presence, says, “Please grant me my wish. I have traveled across the seas, trekked over all lands and even climbed over the Hills Of Death in search for you.”

The Buddha, uninterested in Jacky’s proposal, closes his eyes with aloof dignity. Distressed by the Buddha’s actions, Jacky immediately proceeds with his second plan, codenamed “Plan Sure-To-Work”. He drops his hand bag to the floor, gets up on his feet and starts to dance, swaying to and fro, back and forth, hoping to catch the attention of the Buddha.

Incited by the rustling sounds of the leaves on the hula outfit, and jingling sounds of the lei, the Buddha opens his eyes once again, this time, captivated by beautiful yet hilarious dance performed by Jacky. The Buddha bursts into laughter, like never before and begins to understand Jacky’s desire. He stretches his arm and opens his palm to Jacky. Jacky stops dancing and realizes that the entertained Buddha is willing to grant his wish. As delighted as a victorious gorilla could be, Jacky steps onto the Buddha’s palm. Radiance circulates around Jacky and the room is illuminated. Within seconds, Jacky’s wish is fulfilled. “Thank you so much, my savior,” Jacky says, overwhelmed in gratitude.

Jacky, still with the same hula girl outfit exits the temple, this time, with a rejuvenated and jubilant mood. As Jacky blossoms out of the temple, shower of pink petals fill the atmosphere, groups of vanilla colored sparrows fly pass Jacky as they emigrate. She pauses to observe the phenomenon, with a big smile plastered across her face.

The Virgin Post

Entry 1
Week 1’s Reflections

25 April 2007 

To be frank, I didn’t really know what the module, Storytelling Techniques, was all about in the first place. I got onboard, much like everyone else, feeling lost and unaware of what lies ahead in a brand new adventure.

Just as I expected, an unfamiliar looking lecturer stands in front of the classroom, waiting for his crew members to get onboard and all set to engulf them in a brand new journey of storytelling. As he commences the adventure with an Introduction game, I felt that he was rather different from the other lecturers and I was really thankful to him – I didn’t know most of my comrades’ names. Although the Introduction game was simplistic, I was another step closer to my peers. It was through this game, that I got a glimpse at who were the bashful ones and who were the bold ones. For me, I guess I was neutral.

The adventure was as interesting as it got, our captain briefed us on different aspects of a whole new way of touching the world via a new technique – Writing in 3rd person point of view, using present tense and most importantly, the visual voice. I did throw a question at the captain about what the visual voice is, to which he replies, “This is what the class is about, you’ll find it out”. Well though I was unsure of what the meaning of visual voice was at first, I believe that I got the meaning throughout this leg of the adventure.

Visual Voice

The visual voice brings the reader closer to the story, allowing him to easily depict the actions involved, making the sentence livelier.

And there sure wasn’t any time for us to slack, we were promptly given a chore to do after the conference and had to complete it in an allocated time of 20 minutes! The captain gave us an opener of a story, which goes “Jacky puts on his hula girl outfit and enters the temple”, and wanted us to stress our imaginations and give the opener follow-ups. The first thing I did was to examine the opener closely; I paid great attention to a few words, which are “hula girl outfit” and “temple”. I was telling myself to make sure that the story must be somehow connected to these 2 expressions, the result of which is that I did waste a lot of time thinking about various ways these 2 expressions can be integrated to the story. Hence, I only came up with 2 paragraphs after the 20 minutes time allocation.

But thanks to the captain, I found out something about me which I hadn’t realized in the past. I have changed into someone who thinks a lot about various pieces of things. In the past, I remember vividly that I didn’t have any difficulty in coming up with a composition within a time limit. Perhaps the 6 months of movie screening spree changed my perspective, molding me into a more imaginative person. Well, I guess that’s not a bad thing after all, considering the fact that I aspire to be my own director, scriptwriter and actor.

So without much delay, here’s the story which I’ve finished (in a separate post). It might not be the best story you’ve ever heard but I assure you I’ll get better in the times to come. And that wraps up my reflections on the first leg of my journey, stay tuned for the latest updates to come.