Day 21: Right um yeahh um yeahhhh

We planned to film the interview segment today, but had to change our plan as our scripts have not been edited. Instead, we did something else. Met up at the usual timing. Both Kala and I uploaded a series of footage to the computer while Jen and Shuxian did the ending credits and Gina animated the stickman using Flash. Afterwhich, we went to bedok reservoir to shoot a short video clip for the photography module. With still some time left to spare, we then went off to shoot Shuxian doing the demostration for coiling. Filmming can get quite tiring as there has to be different camera angles in a scene. So so so so so..... The weekend is hereeee! All smiles and butterflies!

Time check, 0447. I just woke up to start my blogging marathon. Totally love blogging in the dark. So much excitement and it trains my eyesight. I would say that my typing skill is fabulous! because I can type in the dark without making lots of typos.

Cheers.

Day 20: Sticky cohesion.

We interviewed Alfie today and also filmed Alvin for one of the segments before uploading everything that we have filmed over the past few days. A big thank you to them, or else we would not get anything done today.

So all of us got hungry and decided go to the canteen for further discussion on certain issues over lunch. Yeah, talk about staying focused. We girls always end up doing something else besides work. I like how we feel comfortable sharing with one another, but I guess there's always a time for everything and we have got to learn how to manage our time better.

Okkk, I think I've something to do. Can't remember what is it Gotta go, blog again.

Day 19: Blah blah blah.

Jen, Gina and Shuxian took the foam boards to the workshop for cutting and wrapped with huge mahjong papers as we needed those as props in one of the scenes. I was late (shifty eyes) cos I had to prepare lunch for my younger brothers as my mom had to rush off to work. Cooking is no joke. It's serious business! Oh, don't remind me. Hate it. So I packed some spaghetti for the girls to sample. Ahhhh... hahaha. I know what you're thinking. Hey, they liked it. It was NOT BAD. 

Back to where I was. We then went off to shoot another scene. But because we had a change of idea and didn't have the props that are needed for the new idea, we sat down and started chatting. It was more like a bonding session. Whao. Other than that, Jen showed us the opening of the movie, "Juno". How the video flows to animation is really nice. Looks good but definately not easy to execute. It is probably something which we can only do in year 2 or 3.

I hope we can accomplish more tomorrow. Goodnight world.

Day 18: Ready, get set, shoot!

Silence on set! Camera rolling annnndd, ACTION!

Hey y'all! We are done with filming the opening! We faced a little problem of low battery. Thank God Hanis' group agreed to lend us their camera for that shoot. So nice of them.

So anyway, it wasn't easy having to stand and hold up boards for a long time. Ah, tell me about it, mon. Tiring and time consuming. But all of those negative stuff became secondary when we saw how the "final product" looked. 

A big thank you! to Germy for helping us to manage the camera when all of us had to be in the shot. And and and, for helping us with the stop-motion. Thank you many many, brudder!

Day 17: MOI P1. Block 2. Day 1.

This is the beginning of production block. Gina showed us the flip book "animation" she did over the weekends. All of us liked it a lot! We also discussed about some other issues and added more details to the flip book drawings before proceeding to film the flip book segment. We took quite some time to film that because we had some difficulties trying to keep the flipping of the book at a consistent speed. Oh well, but thankfully Shuxian has the hidden talent in flipping! She did it in just one take!

We should finish filming our opening and finalize our scripts by tomorrow. Oh, plus the selection of works for the video. Gina and I delayed the group because we forgot to bring our stuff for selection. We might also do selection of audio. See how it goes!

Over&Out.

Day 16: NNNNNN!

IT IS THE END OF BLOCK, PEOPLE! I think we didn't do anything today. Yes, girls? We were working hard on our final assignment for Dec H&C module. But but but! From next week onwards, ALL of us in the group will have only one module to concentrate on: MOI P1. More time to accomplish more things! Don't have to shuttle between classes and worry about not having enough time for another module. Feels so good. Okkk, gotta go type out the schedule!

Have a great weekend y'all!

Day 15: First Interim Assessment

Did an informal presentation just to update Alfie on what's going on in our group. Anyway he won't be judging us on the way we present, but more on the content. So far so good, all smiles and colourful butterflies. We also planned out a schedule for next week to cover whatever we have for now.

gtg.

Day 14: Everything is MACgic!

Yet another afternoon spent at the mac lab cracking up our brains and squeezing them dry of creative juice. Open up the floodgates of creative juice. Watch 'em flow!

Anyway, we surfed a little and chose a few fonts to use in the video. That settled. We moved on to the script. Ah... yes, script.... Just briefly noted down the ideas we had on what's supposed to be touched on for each module before allocating them to the individuals, so we can write out our own script.

I think it is the first interim assessment tomorrow. We haven't got much progress (cos we kept changing our idea) except for our storyboards and finalised idea for the video. Missing out on the schedule! Better get that done soon so we can keep track of time and have better management.

On a lighter, cotton candy-ish, rainbow and all-smiles note, Design History and Culture is ending soon! Woo hoo! Can't wait can't wait!! Its almost the end of block, mon!

Toodles!

Day 13: Howie day.

Today's entry is gonna be short and sweet.

We did our storyboarding at one of those blue bench-tables at design entrance this afternoon. Kala was well enough to join us and we shared the new idea with her. All's cool with it and we can now proceed on to the next level of pre-production. Woohoo. Storyboards are done. Left with production schedule and scripts. One more thing, I totally love doing work at the design entrance. It so windy there that it helps me to relax and not get so stressed up. The wind talks. "Howl, howl, howl...", says the wind.

Gone with the wind.

Day 12: Click lick ick.

Day 12. What's new? Another day spent at the mac lab, squeezing our brains dry. Seriously, the heat outside sucked up all of the creative juice stored in my brain. Mine's fried- Sunny side-up. What about yours?

Back to P1. We were discussing about the content (again). Can't seem to settle on an idea. Oh well, girls being girls, fickle-minded pretty creatures. That's what we are. The reason why we've changed it like ten thousand times is cos all the ideas can't seem to flow and fit in well with the opening and closing. I'm talking about consistency in the video here.

Okay, so we're going with the idea that we've agreed on for the opening and closing on day 10, with a little twist in it., just so it can flow better from the opening to the content and from the content to the closing. Don't wanna keep changing everything or else we'll be back to square one again.

With that done, next target is to get the production schedule and storyboards done.

Get well soon, Kala. And to the rest of us, stay healthy!

Day 11: Please fill in the blank ________________.

Okay people, we are four days away to the end of block. Which also means that pre-production should be finalized soon. A lot more things to be done. Almost there, yo.

Shuxian and Gina were already doing the storyboards for the opening of our video when I walked into class. Okay, I was late. Continued with the storyboards while waiting for the rest to arrive, before moving up to the mac lab. There must be some playful air in there, we ended up digressing a whole damn lot. Can't recall with we did. It's bad cos we still don't have the sense of urgency when we are only one week away to the end of pre-production and there's still so much to be done. Gotta stay focused.

Day 10: Lost and found.

We decided that we already have enough footage, so we didn't do anymore fliming today. It's also because we didn't have an exact idea of how to present our content, and the merging of the opening to the content to the closing. Just felt that the idea didn't quite work out as how we thought it would. Thus, we spent the entire afternoon brainstorming, thinking of new ideas like, some kind of idea generator?

Finally settled on an idea generated by Jen. The flow is better than the previous one. We also made some changes to the opening because we felt that the previous one has too much animation and we might not be able to finish animating in time, besides, it's really tedious. You know how difficult and troublesome animation is. Don't want to take that risk. Yeh, so we shared our idea with Alfie and he liked the new idea better than the previous one. So that's today and we should be starting on the storyboard tomorrow.

OUT!

Day 9: Behind the 'seens'

Someone told me today is everybody's birthday. Hmm, I wonder why.



"You're only in it now, to make more more more."

It was another day of filming behind the scenes during a production. We met up in the afternoon and followed the year 2s around to gather more footage. I heard from the rest that today's filming was fun and more productive as compared to yesterday's, cos there were some changes in location and so, more stuff for us to shoot. It's pretty tiring to have to set up and wrap up whenever they change location.

We didn't know that we could borrow tapes from Alfie and by the time he approaches us about it, we've already spent $14 on two tapes. Damn.

Anyway, I think we should have enough, if not, more than enough of behind the scenes footage. So we should move on and do something new tmr.

Day 8: Peekture puurrrfect.

TODAY is the day we film.

Okkk, not exactly film-film. More like a video footage of behind the scenes during a production. I couldn't join the girls as I had to attend some company event. So I asked Shuxian for updates! Nothing much actually. Just the usual stuff that goes on during a production, scene setup, how the director directs and interaction between crew and casts, etc. She also told me how long it took just to film a less complicated scene, and how every expression and action matters. Oh, and it is important to take note of shot size. They took some photos too and I've grabbed two photos from Shuxian's blog. Right, tomorrow is gonna be another day behind the scenes. 

Over&out.

Day 7: Rat vibes everywhere.

"Waiting for the rain to stop. Destination is Beautiful."

Oh yes, back to the exciting days in school after the long cny break. Gotta start blogging again. We sat down in class together with Alfie and he talked more about our project. Project brief might change. The lecturers will have to discuss with Alan first. The group had more discussion after Alfie's talk and we planned out our schedule (briefly) for pre-production, production and post-production. Kala got permission from the some year 2s so we could film them during a production. TMR is the day we film. Looking forward to it.

Chinese New Year was quite a pain. Had to put on a mask and meet up with relatives and act like I enjoy spending time with them. Oh gawd, and how can I forget the annoyingly addictive pineapple tarts that elevate insulin levels to ridiculous heights. You see, I only eat the pastry and throw the ball of pineapple away. Yeah I know. Killer tarts, right there on the coffee table. Up! People literally just hand out money. Freely. Which I should think, is totally the way it should be all year round. Also another plus, no work! All the way till the 18th. Happy camper right here.

0137am.. I never know what to do with myself at these times. I'll just go lay in bed and slowly fall into the arms of the big Z monster.

Day 6: Na Na Na Na Naa

GIRLPOWER! \m/



First off, the group has a name!! We are "Stickman Productions". Not because we are all skinny people. But because our mascot is gonna be that of a stickman.

Movin' on, it was probably the shortest lesson ever. We did our first interim presentation this afternoon. Truth be told, I wasn't well-prepared. You see, we were told that it was gonna be an informal presentation. So my group merely did a very brief ppt. But when I saw how the other groups present in an almost formal manner, with very detailed ppt slides, I got nervous. Kinda. While presenting, my mind actually blanked out for a moment and I couldn't phrase my words properly, which caused me to stammer quite a bit. How embarrassing. Oh well, anyway, Alfie gave us his feedback on our idea. He also pointed out some points which we've overlooked.

After class dismissal, we stayed back a little longer and did some alteration to improve on it.

To date,. we've been working well with one another. No arguements. No backstabbing. No catfights. Jen and Gina would cheer us up during dull mmts. Kala and Shuxian would get us back to discussion whenever we (gin, jen and myself) disgress for too long. And Shuxian's ultra nice to take down "minutes" and knowing that some of us have to go to work after school, she offered of type it out for us! Really nice of her. As for me, I openly declare my love for them.

Can't stop smiling. It has been a beautiful day and I'm gonna smile even in my sleep and paint the town red, blue, green and yellow in my dreams!

Day 5: Infociting.

"lover, hand me that locket hanging
'round your neck and near your heart
where all your secrets go when they get lost"

Day five of P1. Did consultation with Alfie for a bit before finalizing everything. So we've finalized the opening of our video and talked about how the animation would transit to video. A couple of ideas for the content were taken into consideration and looks like we're gonna ditch the initial harry potter idea. Instead, we're going with the idea of shooting what goes on behind the scenes of a production (if it works) and also, gotta think of plan B for backup. The closing of our video is pretty much fixed too. So all's cool.

Each of us then chose a portion to prepare the ppt slides for tmr's presentation. Kala will be helping us to complie everything together! Thanks Kala (: