REFLECTION (August 31st, 2009)

YO. I KNOW YOU WANT TO READ THIS, OKAY, SO HERE GOES...
Today in film class the Clean Air Network came to "brief" us on our project (okay, I stole the "brief" part from Vikki). The guy gave us a lot of statistics and how like 3 people die every day from air problems. I guess we should all be scared and feel threatened by the air problems that could KILL US and OTHER PEOPLE, but honestly I don't really care if people die. Just as long as Vikki doesn't die before I die, and I really don't mind dying. At least I can contribute to the statistics, right? :)
Anyway, so we listened to this guy talk and he made us feel like these "corporate soldiers" (I'm sorry I don't think that's the right term, but it kind of just POPPED into my head and it sounds nice, but anyway), we, or I, felt all "professional" and "official" and stuff, like we were in a real meeting, I think it's the shape of the room, really. And I'm actually kind of excited to make the things, because a) it makes me feel professional, and I like that feeling, b) I get to fight for something I don't (really) believe in, actually I do believe in air pollution, but I don't really think that the main reason for reducing air pollution is to save the people, because we have too many people in Hong Kong anyway (oh my Gawd, I'm going to FAIL this course because I said that, aren't I?). ANYWAY, that is a skill that all debaters need to learn, so I should learn it through FUN stuff, like making a film.
Also, this lady from Focus On Film came to teach us about making films and she showed us 2 clips (okay, 3, but we'll get to the 3rd one later). I think the soundtrack of the first one was a kind of annoying but I'm glad that it's there because the whole video would be kind of awkward if it wasn't, really. Of course, they should choose better music, but if you don't want "disruptive" music, I think that music's okay for a video like that. (Being a music video person, I pick the music first and then time the clips to fit the music, sort of like the James Bond one, but not as good).

The second clip was a trailer for the James Bond movie Quantum of Solace. It's basically your typical action movie trailer, and from what I've noticed, they have a pattern. It's basically like this (of course there are some exceptions, but from the ones I've watched, and I'm not a pro or anything so for those of you who are pros, please feel free to correct me, still...): the trailer starts off with either some really dark, mysterious clip (which this trailer used) after the production signs and stuff come on, or it starts on some brighter, rather normal-looking clip then something INTENSE comes up and THEN the production signs come on. Either way, there's always someone doing a voice over, whether it's a narrator or a character doing some kind of off screen talking and then the camera showing the guy talking. Anyway, there are always these fast fade-out-to-black scenes that keep fading out even if it's virtually the same scene and stuff. But somehow it has this effect on people and people go like *GASP!* when they watch it. Okay, so after the quiet part with a lot of audio comes out, there's always this bit with this really intense action music that sounds really LOUD and the people edit in all the scenes where the guys punch each other and shoot at each other or use their superpowers on each other and stuff and make the movie seem all INTENSE (even though in most cases action movies tend to be rather SLOW most of the time when there's no real action). They put in all those scenes from flashbacks and the really intense parts at the start of the film and make it seem like it's the "peak point" of the film and stuff even though when you watch the movie you'll find out that it's actually just a flashback that lasts for like 2 seconds or something. But people like that too. And then there's this quiet part where someone says something and then BOOM the action music comes back on and we all have heart attacks and we keep watching it. THE GENIUS OF THE TRAILER EDITING PEOPLE. Honestly, in my opinion, they're the real geniuses, NOT the directors, NOT the cinematographers, NOT the actors, the Trailer people (whoever they are, okay, maybe the directors directed them to do it so they're genii too, whatever). Because the real success behind the film is how many people WATCH it, NOT how many awards it gets (even though it really does count), NOT how good the camera is, NOT how good the plot is, it's how many people WATCH it. I mean who cares if the critiques all say it sucks when the people all buy tickets to watch it, AND the trailer guys MAKE the people WANT to watch it. Okay, I see that I have gotten off topic again. I'm sorry. BACK TO THE REFLECTION. I think the trailer's really good because I really want to watch the movie after I watched the trailer and it makes me want to watch it RIGHT NOW, which is good because if people all want to watch it RIGHT NOW the box office would be flooded on the first day and BAM it hits the top of the Box Office Hit List, whatever it's called.
After that we watched a clip from this movie, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, which I know and wanted to watch but never watched because of some reason. The clip we watched had a lot of cinematic techniques with the cool lenses and really good shots and stuff. There was this one shot that I liked a lot, like when Brad Pitt as Jesse James was standing in front of the train and the steam of the train comes out all at once and sort of covers him in this really magician-like way, I kind of felt like he was about to DISAPPEAR, you know? Like in those really creepy movies that aren't even sci-fi where the main characters have these peak-human abilities to like disappear really fast or something. But we never got to see whether he disappeared or not because they cut into another shot. So now I really want to watch the movie. :)
I kind of forgot what I was about to write after I wrote all that really useless stuff about those action movie trailers...but I'm really looking forward to starting the film project because I really like feeling all professional and stuff. I think it's good that we can say our own opinions because I have a lot of opinions that are different from others and other people also have different opinions so it's a good chance for us all to be OPEN MINDED (referring to the IB Learner Profile). So anyway, that's all for now.
Over and Out.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: IMAGINATION CAN'T RESIST THE LAZINESS...from Happiness and the Fish

REFLECTION (August 28th, 2009)

"Today" was the first day of the Year 10 Film course so we didn't really do much except go through all the basic stuff and review some of the we learned (or should have learned) before. We also went over the rules for the Multimedia Lab. I have only worked in the Multimedia lab once (for a week) when I took this film editing course with Mr. Chiang two summers ago and I liked using the Macs because Macs are cool. I know a little about using Macs because my friend has a Mac and I helped him with some of his video editing problems on Final Cut Express before so I'm really excited about learning more about all those Mac stuff.

Anyway, we mostly just sat there and listened to Ms Wong talk about the basic things about film. I knew most of the things (such as the diagetic sound thing, I actually knew it but I just didn't say it in case I was wrong. Mr Ubly, my english teacher last year, told us when we were analysing films) because I took film last year and even though Ms Riddell wasn't here for a few weeks I still remembered most of the things. But there are still a lot of things that I don't know, such as the 180 degree rule, which is this rule that tells you to only film from one side of an "imaginary line" because if the camera is on the other side of the line the people will look like they are in reversed places. I never really thought of that before, but I know that a lot of films have continuity problems. In one film I watched, called Dead Like Me, there was a scene where two girls were talking and at first one girl's hair is in front of her covering her front part and then it cut into the other girl's face and when it got back to the first girl the hair was behind her shoulders and the third time it was in front of her again. I think editors in movies should really pay more attention to the little details when they edit the scenes together so it would look better because the audience always notices things like that and they concentrate on the little "goof" instead of what's going on next. However, I think it's okay to break the 180 degree rule if you include the part where the camera moves from one side of the line to another instead of just editing two clips together because that would actually make a really cool camera technique in a way.

So far I have enjoyed this course (but my "opinion" might change when we get to the hard stuff haha) but Ms Wong was kind of speaking really softly and my ears are all messed up from too much iPod so I can't really hear but I think the Powerpoint is really useful because I can watch the screen to get the general idea of stuff when I can't hear clearly. I think I should also find a better seat because the Macs are sort of blocking my view of the board and Ms Wong writes on the board a lot. ANYWAY, I have to work HARDER to get a nice looking 6 or 7 in film because I have BIG PLANS for myself. Not really. :)

QUOTE OF THE DAY: HIGH SCHOOL NEVER ENDS

now the serious stuff: IB LEARNER PROFILE

As a Year 10 film student, I can be...

AN INQUIRER by looking up interesting things and/or things I don't understand about films I watched at school or at home or just films in general. I should also ask questions about things that are related to film that I find interesting so I could learn more.

KNOWLEDGEABLE by looking up the history and facts behind the events in films inspired by real people/events and also by learning more about the jobs in "occupational" films (or normal films), such as cop movies, doctor shows...etc. I can also read about the places films are set in before or after I watch them.

A THINKER by paying attention to things in real life and how they could fit into film or the things we are learning. I can also pay attention to different camera angles and techniques and soundtrack inside films when I watch them (whether it's for school or not) and think about how they affect the way the film looks and what effects they have.

A COMMUNICATOR by actively sharing my ideas with the teacher, my group members or other people in the class (and maybe even my parents...) and maybe, uh, making a video about my ideas?

PRINCIPLED by being responsible for what I do inside the multimedia lab and during class time and obeying all the rules. I also need to hand in all my assignments in time and do my part properly when I'm doing group work.

OPEN-MINDED by being open to ideas presented by other people in the class and accepting views and opinions that are different from my own. I should also be open to watching films that I don't usually watch and using techniques and software that I am not used to. When doing work in groups, I should be okay with doing things that I might not want to do (such as using an idea that I don't like) if it benefits the group.

CARING by putting the group before myself when doing group activities and thinking about how to be environmentally friendly when making props and other things for our projects. Um...

RISK-TAKERS by trying things that are out of my comfort zone when making films, such as crazy camera angles and really fast editing or maybe even being in the scene instead of behind.

BALANCED by balancing between having fun and learning when I am in class (because film is a fun subject) and doing our projects. I should also do a bit of everything (like being cameraman, editing, acting) when we are doing our create stuff instead of just focusing on one thing.

REFLECTIVE by thinking about what we did during class after class and writing thoughtful reflections and try to learn more about myself and what I'm good/bad at through the things we do in class. I should also accept other people's feedback and try to improve myself.

read at your own risk:INTRODUCTION (because all blogs need one)

THIS IS ENTIRELY IRRELEVANT TO THE YEAR 10 FILM COURSE. SO IF YOU'RE MS WONG, YOU DON'T HAVE TO READ IT. HOWEVER, IF YOU'RE NATHAN WOO, YOU HAVE TO READ IT.)

FIRSTLY, the name. Happiness and the Fish is a song by my favorite band Our Lady Peace and I'm seriously loving that song right now so for now my blog's called Happiness and the Fish.

SECONDLY, you should all watch Temptations (yes that means YOU too!). Temptations is a fan-made music video series made with clips from TV shows such as Heroes, Gossip Girl, Skins and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and also the Spiderman movies. It's created by one of my favorite Youtube vidders (video editors), luvinbigbrother, and it's amazing so you should all watch it!



That's the short promo for Temptations. Since Miss Wong says we should post stuff on our blogs, okay RELEVANT stuff, but this is pretty relevant to me, so anyway, I'm going to post it here. I have the long promo on my iPod but I can't find it on Youtube. So there.

THIRDLY, I can't spell, so please try not to pick on my spelling.

FOURTH, a little thing you should know about me. I'm a vidder on Youtube, which means a person who edits copyrighted stuff and risk getting arrested while they're bored. Yes, I do that, so TRY not to arrest me, okay? Thank you. :) My username's midnyte2811, in case you're interested in knowing. I'm the proud editor of THIS opening sequence:



Yes, now you get how bad I am. Try not to lower my grade because of this. Because it's not relevant.

Now, SECOND TO LASTLY, we should all watch Nate's videos. His username is absolutelygossipboi.

Aaaaand, I know you're really desperate for me to finish, so LASTLY, I am going to work SO HARD now, really. So I'm going to start doing real things instead of Youtube stuff. But you've got to admit, Youtube is awesome, and useful.

SO THERE...
P.S. I turn 14 and 9 months today. Yes, I'm very old.