He spins around on the spot. Slowly, surely. He stands, quiet, waiting. “We’re misunderstood,” he whispers. No one is listening. He smiles like he knows something no one else knows. Everyone is crazy, swaying to the beat around him. Veins throbbing. He feels someone’s sweat on his arm. Sweat and saliva. He looks as the droplet, not seeing it. He knows it’s there.
It’s just the way we see it.
He is serene. Chaos makes him serene. It could be the sweet liquid coursing through his veins, the glazed over eyes he doesn’t know he has. He smiles. His lips are pulled back in an almost grimace. His tobacco stained teeth. His purple lips.
He smiles again. He likes being disgusted with himself.
He doesn’t know where the saliva (or was it sweat?) is from. He looks around. He doesn’t particularly care. He looks at the person next to him. Long hair, ears on earrings, rather than earrings on ears, studs everywhere possible. He is spinning around, insanely. Like a madman. He growls. He attempts to grab him. Yells.
“Fuck you!”
The madman turns around. He is high. Smells like cocaine and the high.
More saliva sprays. He smiles the manic smile. Then he chokes. “Stupid, stupid imbecile,” he says. No one can hear him. His hands tremble as he runs them through his hair. He can feel his calloused fingers against his scalp. He is tired. He looks at his hands, and the damage the machines have done.
He feels nothing.
He is unkempt. He looks imperfect. He sees his reflection is one of those crazy light balls hanging on the ceiling. He looks. His face is familiar. Unshaven, slightly balding, he notices, which is strange. Non-descript, really. Not that he cares. He blends in, like a chameleon. Not any different.
He is coloured the colours of the guitars the crashing drums the cymbals the walls the people. It goes on forever.
The noise the space the walls that close in the spiral.
The big fucking vortex.
He looks up. Disco balls, out of place in the noise. Hanging. Each of it’s little pentagons reflecting him, the things in his head. He can see.
It’s those fucking disco balls. Spinning and reflecting. He looks at them like he would watch television.
He is alone. It wasn’t like this before. The sky was a lot clearer in the disco balls, not that murky brown his brain had put up to him seeing everywhere other than the disco ball. Each pentagon, each reflection. He’s was happy.
He sees things in the disco ball. Her, as well.
Her black spaghetti strap is halfway down her arm, haphazard. She is wild, dancing with reckless abandon, in the crowd. Her arms flail against the music. He hair flips, she is beautiful to him, even now.
She is perfect in that way.
For an instant, his heart swells. His jaw clenches. He can feel it, this insane pounding in his chest. It drives up to his ears. It pounds in his head. He hears nothing but his heart in his head. He watches her arms flail in silence.
He looks up at the disco balls.
Smells, like lavender, crying, salt tears, cherry flavours, the car with it’s torn upholstery. All in the disco ball and its pentagon. Her arms flailing, loud laughter and teeth, pulled back in a smile. A real smile. Dimples on her cheeks.
He looks down. Away from the disco balls. “No,” he whispers.
The clarity is too tempting.
“We’re all crazy,” he decides. Cigarette ash spills on the floor, the cigarette smoked, burnt out, over with. His arm hangs limp, at his side. The drum crashes behind him. He hears nothing. It’s insanely silent where he is, right in the middle of the malicious noise.
He smiles to himself.
He is a predator, he works for himself, he hurts those who never hurt him. He moves to the side of the crowd. Everything seems so surreal to him, it floats around him like fluid still. He doesn’t know he’s there.
No one looks at him, he is just another face in the crowd. The guitar rifts ring in his ears, he hears it, closes his eyes. Ah, there, the noise is shut out now.
“Don’t think, don’t think.” The sounds fades off, slowly.
The drums and bass and vortex and disco balls.
They are all gone.His eyes glaze over. They are grey and cold. A smile plays on his purple lips. Sweat has formed on his upper lip. He looks feverish with delight.
He puts his hand in his pocket. He smiles again. The handle is cold, unfriendly. This is correct. There are many choices, and he has chosen this one. There is.
Absolute. Blank. Clarity.
And the barrel is in his hand, out of his pocket now, it’s perfect and cold and forever.
That is what clarity means.
Reflection WEEK THIRTEEN
Uses alternatives to ADJECTIVES.
ACTION vs. EXPOSITION
-Give your character something to do.
-Don’t Describe the scene, tell us what people are doing in it.
BUILDING ENERGY WHITH PARALLEL CONSTRUCTIONS
- “Speak softly and carry a big stick”
- “A chicken in every pot, a car in every garage”
Build your style around one motion.
Write Casually
-Dont overuse fake words.
-Contractions are better, they show us how we speak.
-Shorten your sentences.
-Fragment of sentences.
-Singlish can be used.
-Don’t overuse Singlish, allow the audience to understand what you are saying
THE ROLE OF CONFLICT
—>central feature of the screen play
-man against man
-man against environment
-man against self
->Variations of sex, age, religion and culture which provide variety to the show
CONFLICT=CHANGE
- Change is common to everyone
- Change is universal
- Bodies changes
- Seasons changing
- Lives change
- Relationships change
- Feelings change
- Locations change
- Technologies change
As universal as change may be, people often resist it for fear of the unknown.
People have to cope with change if they want to survive.
CONFLICT
- Definition
- Plot cannot be constructed without conflict
- For one’s characters to reach their goals they have to come into conflict
- The protaganistnand antagonist approach their goals and conflict rises.
Atypical Vs. Typical Singapore.
I am different from a typical Singaporean teenager because I do not watch local television, dO NoT TyPe LiKe tHiS and use abbreviations in my typing, read the newspaper every morning (not just Life), have more aim in life than to save up to buy a bag, do not wear glasses, do not need to use public transport, prefer not to eat asian food, don’t like rice and noodles, don’t care how I look. Do not go through fads, use one bag for school everyday, am not socally apathetic, am not going to say music is my life, like to play checkers, don’t enjoy sleeping that much, am not kiasu or competitive, not interested or bothered enough for people to get in my way and I refuse to admit that I am boring even though people often tell me that I am.
Reflection WEEK SEVEN.
Dialogue:
-Conveys essential exposition
Dialogue should be used sparingly, never telling the audience what they can see for itself.
(Dialogue is no substitue for action)
Dialogue needs to equal real dialogue, or “real talking”
Dialogue must be used to:
-Portray(express) emotions
-Express thought
-Build a connection w/ audience
-Define the character
-Communicate messages
-Move plot forward
Elements of dialogue
Dialogue reveals character, ties the script together.
-A character talks about himself or herself
-Other people talk about that character
Dialogue establishes relationships between characters
-Characters express attitudes and opinions that are in opposition to one another
-Good effective dialogue will move the story forward
-Dialogue communicates faces and information to the audience
I had a problem during this week’s tutorial. I couldn’t for the life of me, think of what would happen if my parents were to quarrel over my father being drunk. Honestly, in my family, it’s near unheard of. My only reaction would that probably my mom would throw my dad straight out of the house, seriously. Bu I guess that’s going to be my biggest challenge, imagining something I know would never happen.
Reflection WEEK SIX.
Writing for an audience
Screenwriter=storyteller= person who must make sure audience understands what he is trying to convey
Purpose of writer:
-To connect themselves, their vision, the material, the drama
-Audiences want to be transported by a screenplay
Root of a story?
Apparently from ourselves.
Everything we learn about other people are already in ourselves.
Figure out a CONNECTION.
Experience
All people have fragments of stories which are potential ideas prompt your desire to know more and we respond emotionally and intellectually to what we hear.
Aristotle’s storytelling theories
-3 act structure
-Developing 3 dimensional characer
-Writing for an audience
3 Storytelling Tools
-Observation
-Memory
-Experience
Reflection WEEK FIVE.
Character as :
-Heart, soul and nervous system of the story.
-Characters impact audience reaction.
-No character, no action, no conflict, no story, no screenplay
Character Development
Who is my character?
What does he want?
What is his quest?
What drives him to the resolution of the story?
Interior Vs Exterior
Memory
- An experience bank of what has happened and an inspiration on how to write your stories.
- WRITE WHAT YOU KNOW vs WRITE WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW?
The lesson was all right, fun, like almost always. We had to write about the two people we did in people watch, a conflict between them. That was cool. Although I kind of wished I actually WATCHED the people I was supposed to be watching. But then again, I can’t help it, I don’t have a very long attention span. I’m usually thinking about the next time i’m going to get food. But rest assured, Mister Ryan, I enjoy your class,or I would sit in the back and cover my head with my jacket and just not talk.
Reflection WEEK THREE.
I liked today’s tutorial, I like all storytelling tutorials. But this one was honestly kind of dry and not at all my sort of thing. Too much information. Way too much. I don’t like learning theories, although sometimes i know it’s necessary. But I took lots of notes, Iliked it that way. There’s something very exciting about looking at a page filled with notes and know what you’re writing because oldly enough that’s the only way anything will get in my head. I really don’t have anything else to write.
Aristotle Lecture
Aristotle
-Born 384B.C.
Aristotle’s POETICS
- Book
-Foundation of Renaissance Poetic theory
-Explains poetry thtough 1st Principles
- Classifies poetry in genres and parts
What is GREEK TRAGEDY?
-A form of genre—-> DRAMA
Tragedy is an imitation of an action( Mimesis) that is serious, complete and of a certain magnitude; in language embellished with each kind of artistc ornamen; in the form of action not narrative; with incidents arousing pity and fear, wherewith to accomplish its kartharsis if such emotions.
In lay man’s terms, the hero suffers misfortune intentionally.
Example of a movie which follows Aristotle’s theory of tragedy:
Saving Private Ryan
The SIX parts of Tragedy
1. Plot
2. Character
3. Diction (Rhythemic language)
4. Thought
5. Spectacle
6. Song
Tragedy has a cause and effect chain.
Cause= Reason
Effect= Result
Chain= Domino Effect
Each event should lead to a reaction after it.
Good Plots—-> Unity of Action
3 unities:
- Time
- Place
- Action
*As little confusion as possible
PLOT:
->What the story is about
-> The ARRANGEMENT OF INCIDENTS in the story.
(*Not the story itself)
THE BEGINNING
- The incitive moment
- It must start the cause and effect chain
THE MIDDLE
- Climax
- It must be caused by earlier incidents and itself cause climaxes
THE END
- Resolution
- Must be caused by preceding events but not lead to other incidents
- The end should resolve the problem created during the incitive moment
Episodic Plot
Definition-> It is a plot where less focus is placed on connection between scenes and is only bonded by common chracters
*Deux Ex Machina
Character
- Supports plot
- Personal motivations are connected to the cause and effect chain
- The protaganist in a tragedy should be rich and famous so as to see his change from good to bad
- Main character will accidentally bring about his own downfall, due to ignorance
- Characters are flawed, with lack of “self-knowledge” which is known as “hamartia”
->Katharsis- Cleansing or purification. Audience can identif themselves with the characters as they are able to experience what the characters feel
->Mimesis- imitation or representation. The extent to which art imitates reality/ life.
->Anagnorisis- the point in the plot particularly the tragedy where the reality of the situation dawns upon the protaganist.
->Perepetia- reversal of circumstances, or turning point, a sudden reversal depending on intellect and logic.
Three-Act Structure
First Act (Setup)
Second Act (Complication)
Third Act (Resolution)
Reflection WEEK FOUR
So, we watched a movie. Election, was it? I kind of forget to analyse something when i’m enjoying it, i completely forgot the whole idea that it was supposed to reflect a Greek Tragedy. It was fun, I suppose. The movie was brutally honest, sometimes graphic. I’m not a prude but it was graphic. I guess you make a better film with crude honesty rather than tact and happiness. I don’t particularly have anything to say about the lesson, it was fun, I guess, most storytelling lessons are.
I didn’t make any notes really, I didn’t know how to note down anything, it’s not just an excuse.
Reflection WEEK TWO.
I personally don’t know what to reflect on. I guess there was a whole lot of work thrown at us, caught me quite off guard, but not off guard enough for me to do anything on time. First few GROUP assignments, as opposed to the individual ones. The Aristotle assigment was out of the blue. I completely didn’t expect it but the information was pretty easy to find so I’m not that bothered. I guess we had problems meeting up and stuff because we don’t always have the same schedules, etc. But we still did our work so i suppose it’s ok. I don’t have much to say, there wasn’t any lesson.
Reflection WEEK ONE.
Week one storytelling was a very different module from writcomm. Actually, I didn’t think it would be anything like it, I wasn’t worried really. I just didn’t like the idea of being forced to creative write, I thought it was pretty pointless. I don’t think you can teach people to be creative, you either are, or you’re not. I also kind of figured out that i’m not that awesome at deadlines OR following instructions either. I wasn’t muddled but I didn’t bring my laptop so I was a little peeved that I couldn’t make my blog and get started on it as fast as possible because I figured I would procrastinate if I didn’t do it then and there, like I did. But storytelling was fun, it’s always good to have a module to let loose and write whatever in the world you want, regardless of anything. It’s freedom.
Notes:
“Rules” of Storytelling:
- Write in 3rd person
E.g. She, he, it
- Write in present tense
E.g. Running, playing, jumping
- Write in an ACTIVE voice
PASSIVE vs ACTIVE Voice
Passive:
-uses weak verbs
-less visual reading, tells, rather than shows
-gives reader less information about story/character
Active:
-Uses strong action verbs
-More visual reading, shows, rather than tells
-uses the immediate structure
Pointers:
ALWAYS KEEP WRITING. DON’T STOP. KEEP GOING. DON’T DISRUPT YOUR TRAIN OF THOUGHT.
