Feb 26th

YES BREAKTHROUGH! Based on a tutorial i found on the net, i have experimented the juno effect onto a free green screen footage i found on the net as well. And it works! But one small issue, is that the tutorial only taught how to keep one colour(The shirt), but we need to keep multiple colours like the pants, shoes, accessories and such. So i do hope that Alan, or Jack may have the solution for this. We will be showing the experimental clip on monday at interim one. Stay tuned for more breakthroughs!

Alex

My Storyboard is Ugly

The block is coming to an end...sad to say that we cannot feel that weight of the module off our shoulder. MOI Project 1 is still on the run and in the process. Not to mention that starting next week, Wafah and I have Animation Fundamentals. These are stressful thought....it is not helping...

Anyway....so for the past two weeks, our group has been trying to visualise the sequence for our video. There many changes here and there, and many choices of how we can go about doing it. And as usual, there is always the variable of the equipment we would need. It seems so complicated, but this is what I chose, I cannot escape it....But I love my course.

We've been doing separate task to make things somewhat faster. I have been given the lovely task of storyboarding. What a joy it is to make the story more visual with through the form of drawing. I'm not saying that I do not enjoy drawing, it is just that I do not like looking at my drawing. I know that Alex and Wafah Appreciate my effort, but I don't like the look of it? Well here is an examples of it.

Rockin out

Deanna

Seriously guys?

What a day today has been for me. During the presentation earlier, the class was, i don't know? SURPRISINGLY QUIET. the silence was deafening. Its like i can hear the million questions the other groups would have in their head, but dare not say.
Seriously, do you guys really understand what we were talking about? Its was way too quiet for a criq session, nobody really wanted to share their views or thoughts?
I don't know. Lets just say, I'm disappointed. The presentation was not well done, and honestly, i can't help but worry excessively about the execution.

Anyway, i think Cheryl's group idea is really nice. i must say i'm awed. Its so simple, classy, neat, and clear.

Lets see. I was reading Ryan's post and he gave a criq for all the groups, except mine!!(:
I then asked him why didn't he critique my group and he said, HE FORGOT. He truly forgot how our group is going to present the video.
I know its not done intentionally( I STILL AM FRIENDS WITH YOU RYAN LOL), and i'm not mad or anything, i'm just, sad, we didn't leave any impression behind.
We were simply forgotten.

Would our video end up like that too? Simply forgettable?
Now thats my biggest worry.

I'm beginning to hate the block system. Its terrible, and taxing.
I really begin to wonder, just how much i've grown as a person, NOT A "DESIGNER"

i would just love to end with something that i truly liked.

"Remember, Art is not about the artwork. Art is about life. To become a better artist,
first and foremost become a better person-not in the moral sense but rather in the complete sense. Remember that the greatest artist is not the one with the best technique, but the one with the most human heart" -www.lenswork.com

I'd liek to think this is true. I'd like to.

WAFAH.

Week four! Tuesday night haha.

Okay today i'm going to update. we actually made quite some progress these few days. We decided on our song choice, and our final sequence. We did our powerpoint, and i hope everything is going well for our group!

Consulted alfie, and...

We've decided not to do on stop motion anymore, since it is like overly tedious and such. End up deciding on video LOL. Oh, and the schedule's done too, for the msot part. Only left with the green screen part. I hope it turns out as planned too. The only thing i think isn't up to my calculations is my HNC next block. I have a feeling next block's going to be a tough one. JIAYOU!

Alex

Third week's thursday.

Oh time flies so fast and it's already now the third week of the block, which means we only have a little over 5 weeks to plan and execute our project. I hope everything goes well!

Today we did a few test shots, and we kind of finalized the storyboard issue. We did a simplified version, and also we consulted alfie. Everything is proceeding extremely well! But i'm still kind of afraid i cannot handle the post production all alone. I hope alan would be there to consult when we're on it.

Tomorrow, there might not be a discussion after all. So, all the best guys! We'll do our individual tasks over the weekend yea?

Alex

WAFAH HERE!

I'm so glad we have arranged our sequence.
We're glad to say that we will start production after tuesday.
nonetheless, i'm worried, infact, VERY worried about the execution.
and more importantly, how we are going to incorporate stop motion with animation in a scene. We have many doubts still regarding the editing softwares, and the editing techniques, ect ect so we will be consulting Alfie again, and Alan too. and i think we willl be bugging alfie alot.
ALOT ALOT.

Oh well. We've got the story, whats next?

The emptiness is making me hungry

The time has come....

to think of more wonderful ideas! 

I'm really excited that Alfie likes our group idea for the video. I personally thought our idea was really fun and kind of refreshing ( Great job Wafah!). Somehow it has everything, a story ( 'The Tales of MOI' something cheesy like that?), showcase of our works, a bit of the process of our works, but I'm not to sure of the message. I mean we definitely need the main one, which is to promote our course, but we may need to expand more on the group's personal message. 

The message is good and all, but I still feel that it's missing something. Like it's is still not enough...like a cream puff with no custard inside, or like some ingredient is still missing. So Alex and Wafah, what do you guys think?

Rock on

Deanna

My Thoughts

Good question Wafah? Of course there is the usual "What is MOI all about?" , "What do you learn in this course?" and "YAY Design School!". But what is really important to me, is that we have our personal thoughts in it, like what MOI is to us or what we think about this course. We don't exactly have to say it in the video, just maybe somehow portray that emotion or thought. After watching the videos done by the juniors, it is pretty clear that there are tons of ways to go about doing this video. I guess we can say its like styles, of course we'll choose the style most suited to our idea, but it should have a nice personal touch to it. Something that makes us unique in a way, but not straying from the reason for the video and the main points.

I would say the main message is "MOI is cool! Come and join us!". But my idea would be more like "How has MOI affected your life?" or something silly like that. ( Oh my goodness! It is life changing :)!!!) Make it a bit more personal, give the audience more than just what we learn. 

But this is just my idea, I guess I'll discuss with my group about this. Who knows, maybe they have really good ideas, even better than mine? Right Alex and Wafah? I'm always open to lots of ideas, so don't hold back kay?

Over and out

Deanna

You know whats amazing about alfie?
His classes only cover two main important things : RESEARCH & MOVIES.

He'll go on forever talking about research, the importance of it, the process, the outcome, and yes, whatever he says seem to have made perfect sense.
I like how he makes us watch great films. We are being exposed to movies that has unique styles, and movies that has a message. Be it a powerful or simple message. Because really, thats what making a movie/video is all about the message. WHAT DO YOU WANT TO TELL OR LET YOUR AUDIENCE KNOW?

SO P1, ALEX, DEANNA, WHATS OUR MESSAGE?
(:

Wafah.

Alex's Wednesday post!

Hihi again^^ It's time for my updates =)

today we watched the remaining 20minutes worth of Persepolis, and then we went ahead to watch 11:14.

11:14 was a really cool movie, ended up the girl was a whore of some kind LOL. But i also don't understand why all of the videos alfie showed us made me feel REALLY REALLY UNEASY. It was like every other video was hinting about human nature, and how bad it is. All of these videos showcase and carry the message about the deepest evils and desires of a human. That's why, now i feel that human nature is really scary...

Tha's kind of what we did for today, let's see what we wil lhave for tommorow in the next post =)

Dee's Wednesday's post

Yesterday we watched Persepolis during class, which was a really awesome animate movie. The art style is simple,but the colours and drawings bring the emotion and message across. The characterization is also pretty well done, you get a pretty good idea what kind of people they are. And sometime it is also more relatable. 

I'm personally a bit worried, because when it comes to movies, I'm more into animations. I'm afraid that the choices make for this project might end up a bit bias. Its not that I'm not in to video, I just prefer animation. But I'm confident that my group members will have good or maybe even better ideas than mine, so we will see how this goes :)

This is Dee, signing off.

Alex's Tuesday post!

Persepolis. The animation that we watched today for more than half the lesson. It was intriguing, funny and kinda disturbing for some reasons. I believe that was what was meant to happen. The animation was almost wholly in black and white, and i only noticed a short few minutes worth of coloured animation. Maybe that's because the animation was mostly part of a memory. I felt that the black and white brought out the message mroe strongly than if it were to use colours instead. Black and white gave it a mysterious feeling too. Always gives me an uneasy feeling.

Anyway, alfie said there was to be a massacre scene but i don't remember seeing any i guess... (or am i wrong?)

Today i just wrote the final submission for my exercise one, and i just sent it for submission through e-mail. Also, i requested for alfie to show us our senior's MOIP1 works as examples and motivators. Somehow i still don't get what the brainstorming session would be about tomorrow, but i guess i'll find out soon enough. =)

Bye i'm off! Alex

Alex's Monday's post

Hihi i am back today with monday's post =)

i did promise to post tonight anyway!

Okay today i didn't do much because i thought that i couldn't research much if i didn't have a survey on the younger generation too. Because although i know what the old folks want, but i do not know what the younger people want. So i cannot come up with ideas just yet.

So today i put up a 5 question survey at www.surveymonkey.com and then i just mass invited people off my msn list who are about the same age as i.

I already have results for 18 people, and i hope that is enough.

Tomorrow i'm going to school to consult alfie first, then i'm going to start my idea researching and such. i hope i can complete it on time!!!

Alex

Sunday's post (Interview at Old Folk's Condominium)

I know it's a bit late but hey, i reached home kinda late last night, so i decided to post yesterday's now =) i'll post another one tonight haha. (Today is monday btw)

Okay yesterday, i went with some of my friends from other classes to do a survey at the old folk's condominium at Tampines. It's wierd that the other 3 classes were asked to do the exercise as a group while Alphie told us to do it individually. But oh well, he's the lecturer, he calls the shots haha.

The old folks at the void deck were kinda unfriendly at first, so we went ahead to the higher floors. Our first interviewee was really kind and she even invited us into her house to talk about her grandchildren! She's one of the only ones that i have seen that are so close to their grandchildren.

There were a few others who are really kind and offered us packet drinks too! They're all kind hearted people.^^ But sometimes they talk for a little too long haha. Like on of the aunties she talked so long about irrelevant stuffs in Teochew and we could only stand there and listen. But it's okay, we're all understanding young adults. We listened till the very end =)

But actually we were supposed to ask for permission from the management of the building down at level two, called Evergreen Circle. We didn't know about that, but since it was closed on Sundays, we had to do our interview "Secretly" then. The elderly folk told us that it was because the management wanted the old folks to be protected from any suspicious characters and such, because they're old, people with ill intentions might come to harm them or rob their house or something. Indeed there had already been a case of robbery in the building.

So, we ended up surveying about 15 old folks. And of course i took the shared results too... No i'm not a freeloader =) i did help in some parts! After the survey i was too tired to do anything so we went to have dinner and i reached home at about 10pm. Then i was too tired to blog already.

Anyway, today i'm going to do my research and analysis, and tomorrow i'm going to print and bind my papers together. I should be able to hand up by tuesday. If not i'll do my analysis tomorrow and hand up by wednesday. Cheers!

Alex

Bowling for columbine.

Awards and nominations

• 2002 Winner, 55th Anniversary Prize, Cannes Film Festival
• 2003 Winner, César Award, Best Foreign Film
• 2003 Winner, International Documentary Association (IDA), - Best Documentary of All Time
• 2003 Winner, Academy Award, Best Documentary Features

During the screening at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival the film received a 13-minute standing ovation.^[25] It also won "Most Popular International Film" at the 2002 Vancouver International Film Festival.

-wikepedia.

Boy oh boy, i remember sleeping throughout Fahrenheit, another of moore's well received documentary. Fahrenheit is not exactly what i would pay money for, to watch in a cinema. Bowling for columbine on the other hand was gripping, so good, i tried not to blink an eye. I've learnt so much about this documentary, less about the DOP shots(MS,LS), but how he put the scenes all together and create such a powerful documentary.

I'm truly inspired to a point that i wanna make a documentary on the local music scene someday.
:)
i want to continue blogging about the whole design process, but my toothache is killing me, so later then.

Wafah

Day Four!

Hello everyone again ^^

Today was kinda short. Theory actually lasted only for an hour or so, and then we were left to watch the Columbine video. I forgot the actual name of the dvd but never mind.

Anyway, i left half way in between after about 70% of the video was played. Since i didn't catch everything on the video, but let me just guess. The message from the DVD today was about Americans + guns = not good. I'm not really sure as how to put my thinking into this yet, but that's roughly what i think. Any takers to enlighten me on the real meaning of the message that was supposed to be brought across? Haha.

Alphie has ben stressing over the importance of research these past few days and isn't he getting a little naggy? (Sorry!!! ^^" But that's kinda a fact already.) I understand because i'm also a really naggy person myself. So i'm not going to complain any furthur k?

For now we have quite a long weekend to ponder over research stuffs and etc. from now all the way to next tuesday. So i guess i'll come back with results on tuesday?

Oh and one more thing Alphie, if you're reading this, you haven't already by any chance showed us any examples of proposals yet right? (Yes i have a feeling you haven't lol)

I don't really know the way of going about this, sooo i'd appreciate it if you can give me a rough idea on how to arrange my research findings... Are we supposed to bind our booklet too?

We can do surveys too right?

Alex

Alex is back with Day 2 and Day 3 entries!

Okay, it's day 3 of the block, and i've felt more relaxed than ever because i have finally finished my 2D Fund work at long last. Then i can just concentrate on my P1.

Yesterday, which was day 2, alphie actually started the topic on why we have to do research. And then we were led on to discuss about a TV drama serial that had aired on local television recently. Seriously, i then realise how important research is. No matter toward the client or yourself, the planner, research is forever important. If you don't do research on stuffs you don't know, you can't do anything out of your own means at all. Then you will end up not being able to keep on improving yourself. So in conclusion, research is like taking in knowledge of a subject, and you learn along the way.

For today, day 3. We had Mr Victric Thng with us for a whole morning, and his videos were quite moody, that's what i really think. And also some parts either made me bored, or half bored half listening. But it always leaves my mind in a "cool" state. Like stunned. Or, "What happened?" kind of thinking. His short talk gave me more insight about how the film industry was, and how he actually "started" out into a film maker. I realise many things are given to people sometimes. Just like Victric, he was given the gift to direct films.

After the session with Victric, we had a short break before a short lesson, and then we watched Eternal Sunshine On a Spotless Mind. It was a movie recommended by alphie to watch, because he says it combines the plot and the software together. This movie is really great, and i also recommend you all to go have a look at it too. It's in the library. The message was kinda strong too, and of course now it left a deep impression onto my mind already. I hope we can watch more of these films to widen our knowledge of the film industry.

Lastly, i'm still not having any idea on the first exercise. So i guess i'd have to work harder...

Alex

Day 3

Oh gosh, it is already day 3 of this jorney! It may not seem a lot, but it is like a count down to the deadline. Three days off two blocks....

Well today we had a screening and Q&A session with director and ex-student, Victric Thng. After watching the 50 minute screening of all his short films, most of us were saying "huh?" One way or another, his films have a sense of longing of someone, and it is done in a very emotional yet simple way. Its harder for the heart to digest, it can be quite depressing. But it is a simple topic, and it is easy to understand and relate to. At first we were all thinking, this guy must be really lonely or something? But he is actually very friendly and quirky, and he explained that he does these themes for his short films because it is the best way to express his concept or story. And no he is not a lonely guy, he has friends.

Right, back to more important matters. I had a few ideas on how we could present our visuals for the final product. And I glad to hear that my group members like it! We're still throwing ideas back and forth, so hopefully we come to a great conclusion. And I'm all for animatics, I hope we could have a few in our final product :)

Deanna

Day 2

WAFAH SAYS:WOOOOOOOO I COMPLETED MY PAINTING:D HARD WORK, THANKS SHUH, RYAN, IYLIA for helping me throughout.

Animatics?
Oh My Goodness!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OUCH! nothing, just a terrible toothache.
:(

Yeah, Animatics. I think its bloody brilliant that we can present it in any medium we want. Lets all not restrict ourself to just video. Other mediums can be equally refreshing and nice.
We have more or less compiled our different ideas about how we'd like to present it, however, i'm now more interested in the whole process than the product.

I've been thinking if I've been steering in the wrong course one too many times,
and i as hard as i think, i never got an answer,not one. Its always in between. Passion alone is NOT enough to survive in this field. It takes a whole lot more than just passion. I wonder if i have that 'whole lot more'.
I will give my level best to P1 and i certainly hope this module would somehow help me find the answer. Sure, i do have that passion, but really, i'm not in it to excel and be oh so awesome,
i just want my message to be sent across. Whether it will be well-received or not, now thats a whole new problem.

DEANNA AND ALEX, PLEASE UPDATE, TYVM.

Hello Welcome To MOI Proj 1 :] we are 1 2 tree.

IF YOU ARE DEAF, OR PREFER TO READ INSTEAD:

Alex:So today is the first day of block 9, we had a briefing for P1 at Lt. Initially i didnt know what project 1 is all about, then later after we went back to the classroom, alfie explained further and i concluded that we'd have to do the individual exercises and later a group project showcasing our dirst year in MOI, yeah thats all.

Deanna: For the first day, was on the bad side cause i was late, but wahidah was being kind and she kept emphasizin on how punctuality is very important when it comes to getting a job. Yeah I guess so??
MOI proj 1 sounds very complicated,from what we've been told. Alfie is very entertaining and its very fun to listen to him, class was interesting but busy with people asking question here and there and it was confusing but in the end we came up with a few ideas for our group assignment and hopefully it will be good.

Wafah:Im really excited cause i got Alfie, he is very humorous Anyway, i'm really looking forward to project one. My group members are Deanna and Alex. They are people i can work with cause we're from the same caregroup and so its kinda cool. We have some ideas for our final and so im looking forward to the final product, so i hope we'll please alfie and get really good grades, OH YEAH:]

OKBYE!