12.3

I loved the movie, The Fall, we watched in class on Thursday. It reminded me of when I was little and my parents shared with me tales about the Arabian Nights, Greek myths, and their own stories (I remember one about the little fairy who lived in my teapot nightlight.)

The movie's director used great choices of locations, great character concepts (I loved all of the outfits!), and amazing colors. In fact, you can divide the movie into scenes with cold color, scenes with muted color, and scenes in black and white. You could also follow both of the plot of the hospital and fairytale fairly easily. (This is unlike another movie I saw recently, Black Rock Shooter, which had similar intercutting between fantastic and realistic scenes. In the movie, the matches between otherworldy fighters was supposed to parallel the troubles of everyday schoolgirls. But they didn't manage the intercutting between the two worlds at all, so it was quite confusing until the end, where it's finally revealed too late.)

I felt like the movie should have been rated PG-13, but I can also see why it was rated R. Little kids probably would have liked the parts that had fantasy, and would have ignored the more gritty and realistic hospital scenes, so it would be okay for younger audiences. (What's more, the themes of suicide, manipulation of children, and violence were scenes that kids haven't been exposed to already.)


---

The movie renewed my love for stories. I hate to say this, but most of the manga and anime I've read and seen recently haven't held my interest like they used to. (Even among the ones I'm still reading, the stories have gone downhill since I first started reading them.)
I think the message is for me to go back and look at stories older than manga. Stories from ancient mythology, and tales of ancient heroes. I think by doing this, I can gain inspiration and lots of materials for my "library." I have bookshelves in my brain-attic that are waiting to be filled (if anyone gets the Sherlock Holmes reference). Also, those stories are entertaining for everyone, so I think I'll feel happier just by reading them.

Finally, I had been feeling a little down before we watched the movie. I took away the uplifting message that (at least) one person in the world loves you and doesn't want you to give up (not just on life, but on anything you're trying to do).
---

By the way, I noticed an odd connection.
One of my characters, Weiming, looks similar to the Red Bandit. Does this mean something?

-14.3-

I had an odd dream about STAC, and I'd like to share it:

We were on our way home France, and we were waiting for the plane. I was reading on my iPod and looked to notice all the STACies were gone! I immediately felt panicky. I saw a group of students heading out and followed them onto the plane. After we took off, I realized that this was a different class.

I managed to talk to the pilot of the plane, and he landed by the real plane I was supposed to go on (for some reason it was in the water of a docking area). Thankfully, they hadn't taken off yet, and I got on.

The STAC plane looked like it was a huge dish rack bent into the shape of a plane. The seats were the ridges you normally sit dishes on (in fact, towards the back of the plane were some dirty dishes from the in-flight meal) and there wasn't a top to the plane.

As we were flying towards the USA Luke, the Pilot, suddenly dipped the plane down, and we all fell out. We landed in the suburbs of Texas, so we needed a ride home. We were looking for a car - something to rent, when a few STACies wandered off and came back with an old milk truck they "borrowed" (I think those STACies were Jessica and someone else...).

Apparently this is the STACmobile's inspiration
(an old milk truck I saw when visiting a cousin's house upstate)

We all climbed in the milk truck and Luke drove off toward a more Florida-esque scene of boardwalks and beach. I took pictures of the surroundings and at a red light, showed them to Luke, who said that a few were good, but most needed work.

The End!

-11.3-

Edit: I finally got to fixing my blog. I tried posting this before...when it finally loaded my blog was spammed with the same post!

I've been so busy this year, I haven't had a lot of time to draw...however, I did this cloud study today, and I wanted to share it:

(Based on an image/the colors I saw when walking home...)

-10.3-

QVESTION SET EINS:

1) You've worked on a group film and on your own. In which situation are you most comfortable - group or solo? Which do you work best in?

I'm more comfortable working solo. Although a group can give you many opinions, and more hands to do the work, I've had bad experiences in the past where people didn't get work done, and I ended up doing everything. Also, it's hard getting your opinion heard, and incorporated, depending on the people you work with (Sometimes the group doesn't entirely stick to the plan that was assigned.) Conversely, none of the group members may have an idea on how to start, which results in nothing getting done.

2) What did you learn that you expected to learn?

I learned how truly hard it was to write a song, and I also got more experience on song writing.

3) What did you learn that you didn't expect to learn?  


I learned that STAC is very supportive :). I also learned that I should give myself more time to record a song (I had recorded things before; but I never realized how long they took, since I was able to work on them casually.) 

Furthermore: rehearse plenty before preforming something live.

4) What didn't you learn that you expected to learn?

I expected to learn a bit more about musicianship. I'm not sure if I did. While working, I wasn't really thinking about variations on chords etc. ...it was more along the lines of: "This sounds cool, it's in the key, so I'll use this!"

5) Praise your amazing achievement and explain your brilliant plan for pulling it off.

Through all of the difficulties, I managed to write and record a song in a short period of time (and, as a bonus, perform it in front of the class). I hadn't done anything close to that before, so I felt really proud. I knew that if I turned song-making into a STAC assignment, I'd get things done that way, and I'd also have more time to work on it during school. Now one of my life long goals has been achieved!

QVESTION SET ZWEI:
1) How much time did you spend working?

I mainly worked during the three STAC periods, but on the last day I brought my work home so I could finish recording/editing on Garage band.

2) How much time did you spend thinking about the work - sort of sitting there and staring at it, or listening to it over and over again, etc.?

On the first day, when I was writing the lyrics, I spent a few minutes here and there being "stumped" about what else I could write. During my time when I was writing the music, I spent more time being stressed over how I should start, and what else I could add on to what I had (maybe...half an hour each day for the four days I did it?)

3) How much time did you spend doing other stuff that seems like work to that make you think you're working but you're not?

I worked until the end. However, on Thursday, I got kicked out of the practice rooms 9th period, so I didn't have any work to do during STAC that period. (I worked on my homework that period so I could have more time to record/edit when I got home.)

4) How much time did you spend socializing?





Again, I mainly focused on my work, but during 9th period on Thursday, I did a bit of socializing because I was in the STAC room around peers.

5) How did you use your community?

I....barely used my community. I asked Luke about a chord, and used a common chord/snippet sheet from the songwriting exercise we did from last year, but that was it.

6) Rip apart your awful project and how did such a disaster happen?

I just charged headlong into it. At first, I had somewhat of a plan, but I ended up doing whatever looked good, so I think I broke some of the rules I set for myself (ex. although I didn't have any sharps or flats, it felt like it wasn't in the key of C....). You're supposed to learn rules before you can break them, so I think I approached it the wrong way....
Also, I didn't give myself enough time to record properly, so I ended up singing it in front of the class and not having a polished performance. It's embarrassing not showing a good final product...


7) You've completed a step on your path. What is your next step?

Since my recording didn't come out great, I'd like to finish adding the audio to it. I'd also like to experiment with another song(/songs?), but with more limits to it, and more instructions on how to approach writing music.

QVESTION SET DREI:
Not given yet

-7.3-

"Big Week 1" Presentation+Reflection post

I felt like the presentations were similar to STAC live from last year, except in miniature form! Ellen's dubstep sounded professional...Matt's film used really cool special effects...John's trailer was impressive...Andrew's skit was crazy (after the initial confusion, you got a hang of who was who- or rather who was he currently speaking as)...Megan's video effects (I have to ask her how she did that light saber one....I feel like learning how to do special effects like that may come in handy in the future...)...Jessica's performance was intense...Emily wowed everyone again...

I was EXTREMELY nervous about singing. Earlier in the week I actually read something to my whole congregation, but the fact that this was something I had created made it scarier than that... Also, I didn't have much practice singing with the instrumental I created, so I was trying to sing along to it in my head all during the school day...

During the performance, I missed some of the lyrics , and I wasn't sure if I sang so people could hear (I feel like I would have been more confident and would have done better if I had more time to practice.)

...But everyone was really supportive, and I was glad of that because I felt like I messed up, but no one said anything about it. I'm also glad that I didn't break down and pressed ahead while I was up in front of the class. (Actually, I felt like I was going to cry when I sat down again, and I ended up getting a little teary with Emily's piece...)

I'm also posting the final draft of my lyrics, in case anyone would like to read them:

Places normally crowded
the heat quickly blows
into cool
-molecules

standing in the sun
then clouds come
tag along
-clinging

Grey clouds
follow me
some say it's a
curse
but I see what I want to see
the green of every tree
and the silence of
the sound

striding (or standing?) in the rain
all around's the same
an umbrella world
population decreasing
-cohesion

one
feeling clinging
time ins moving on
following the way
along the silent path
like the non-existent
shadow
-one

Grey clouds
follow me
some say it's a
curse
but I see what I want to see
the green of every tree
and the silence of
the sound

have to stop have to go
during this time everything's slow
time likes to wait
for the watcher
-drop

-6.3-

"Big Week 1" Post 3+4

Day 3:
-I continued working on the melody (somehow I managed to follow my rule of staying in one key, which was C)
-I figured out which lyrics I wanted for the chorus, then worked on melody for those

Day 4:
-I played my piece in multiple practice rooms (after one period, there was a class in one so I had to move to another room, then was kicked out of there 9th period because choir was there). I also did some last-minute changes to lyrics/melody
-I recorded in both rooms my song (one time with only left hand, one with only the melody)

-When I got home, I tried mixing the two together on Garageband, but it the melody and the left hand weren't on time together, so I had to play it on my piano again. I contemplated writing a whole new part for the left hand, but my Mom suggested that I should just play the left hand while recording the right hand, so they would be on time together. My piano has this recording feature, so I recorded the left hand first, then recorded the right hand with the left hand at the same time.

After a few takes, I realized that I could record both parts as separate tracks (I liked it that way so I could edit them easier on Garageband) if I just recorded them on my piano on separate tracks first, then used the zoom to record the recordings on the piano (it took me a while to realize that...). I took three separate takes of the melody and the harmony. After that, I put the recordings on garage band and edited them slightly (they were mostly on time on the takes because of the way I recorded them). I tried doing vocals, next, but by then it was 12 AM so I had to stop...(I had a AP Bio quiz in the morning, and I was feeling sick already).

in summary:
1. Touched up song and recorded at school
2. Tested out recordings on Garageband, found they didn't sync together well
3. Recorded the left hand on piano, then used zoom to record left hand(piano recording)+right hand at the same time
4. Had an epiphany and recorded right hand and left hand separately on the piano (I was able to play the left hand track while playing the right, and the piano recorded them as separate tracks). Recorded the recordings with the zoom
5. Put on Garageband and did minor edits
6. Tried recording the vocal, was taking too long to edit, so had to quit for the day.
7. ...Felt nervous about singing tomorrow.

-5.3-

"Big Week" 1 post 2

Quoting Luke's e-mail:
"So...you worked today, what inspired you???"

If talking about specifically today, my inspiration came from this packet of common chords we got from a Cabaret songwriting exercise from last year. I played all of the chord progressions out, and I found that I liked the I IΔ7, I7, I6 snippet (although the way I thought it sounded was a little different when Luke came in and showed me).
I was also inspired by the "just do it" work ethic that we STACies are constantly told we're supposed to have. If you work through something and not worry about if it's good or not, you'll get more things done.
---
If talking about what inspired me to write a song, well, writing a song has been on my bucket list for a while now. When writing responses to the 7 questions, when I was writing that making an original animation had been one of my life goals,  I started thinking about what other life goals I wanted to achieve, and I remembered writing a song I liked was one of them.

Over the past few years, I've been extremely interested in "Vocaloid" songs. If anyone remembers my post about UTAU a year-ish back, they know what I'm talking about. For those that don't, "Vocaloids"is a music software program where the voice is provided, but you can manipulate it and make your own songs with the voice, not you, singing it. Before I liked Vocaloids, I thought songs were mainly for pop stars and classical composers, but when I started to see (well, hear) different kinds of people from all over the world making their own songs, songs that became popular and were appealing to the ears, I thought that if they could do it, I could to!

I also gained inspiration from all of the songs the music STACies were doing last year, especially during the intensives. It seemed like a great challenge to do, and again, they weren't pop stars, they were my age. That gave me more motivation and confidence to try my own hand at songwriting, and here I am (although it's really difficult...so many options to work with and so little time....)!

-4.3-

"Big Week 1" #1

Today I worked steadily, and I was able to write 11 poems/bits of poems that I could use for lyrics.

However, I did have some problems at the beginning of the period. Since I've never seriously written a song in years (I wrote one in 3rd grade for my band teacher's baby...I never did send that to her), I was a little unsure if I should work on the music aspect, first, or if I should focus on the lyrics.

Even then, once I decided to work on the lyrics, I had trouble getting myself to write (I admit...I had a couple thoughts of "this won't be good" and "this sounds stupid" at first.) I remembered what an english teacher once said, As long as you put something on the paper, things will start coming to you", so I forced myself to start writing single words that reminded me of rain (I also remembered past years in STAC where we were urged to "just do it and don't worry about it".) After about 10 words or so, phrases started coming to me and I was able to go off of them and make poems.

After that, writing became smoother, but I did find that I had a few problems finding words for some ideas I was trying to get down...Other times I felt that I was using a single word too much throughout my drabbles.

Tomorrow, I'll continue working on the words, but also start playing around with the music. As I said in the intention statement, I plan on working with simple chord progressions, and working in one key (whether the key is minor or major, I'm not sure yet).

Typed up poems/potential lyrics:
1. Sneakers squeaking
against the rippling waves of drops
a walk alone, the repeating
sounds quietly keep the volume down

2. The waves fly
down the street
imitating reality
in their soft palette of muted tones
one could almost
sleep

3. In the calm of the storm everything is as it seems
clarity between the drops
or perhaps it's
all an illusion
well...one I like

4. (Something about looking out at a boring/ugly landscape and the rain makes it shiny and better looking)
sitting staring out the window
a splash and the grey pavement shines
sparks sprouting out
of the ground
as green leaves fall

5. Grey clouds
follow me
some say it's a
curse
but I see what I want to see
the green of every tree
and the silence of
the sound

6. Every time it rains I feel younger
riding in the car
sitting by the window
the world was
less black and white
but the grey
and the green of the earth

7. I think it's fine
to see the sun
go take a nap
behind a blanket
of cloud
the leaves shine bright
there's not a sound
and I think it's
just fine
no one's out and about

8. Recycling recycling
refreshing the green
a silent scene
of a never-ending movie
umbrella out
but there's no one about
on the set of my show
the only players are thoughts

9. I'm not blind
the world around is grey
so it's time
to go out to
play
in the world
of umbrellas
no one's hurt
no one cries
people just want to
get inside
and I walk about

10. Places normally crowded
the heat quickly blows
into cool
-molecules
standing in the sun
then clouds come
tag along
-clinging
striding (or standing?) in the rain
all around's the same
an umbrella world
population decreasing
-cohesion
one
feeling clinging
time ins moving on
following the way
along the silent path
like the non-existent
shadow
-one
have to stop have to go
during this time everything's slow
time likes to wait
for the observer
-drop

11(?) The palette of the suburb fades
bring another world
into play
pay attention to
the world of what's
important to you
green leaves
brown bark
it brings a stark
contrast of what
you need
green money
brown coach
when rained on, which
really is a treasure?

-3.3-

Draft intention statement for "Big Week 1"

 I will be creating a song based on my love of rain. In contrast to the negative stereotypes for rain, I will explore my positive feelings for it. The lyrics to the song will be derived from poems that I will write the first two days of this process. Since I am new to song writing, I will be exploring basic techniques involved (ex. staying in one key and using simple chord progressions...) As a final product, I will either record the song and play it in class, or record an instrumental version and sing it live in class.

-2.3-

I figured that I should blog about my experience with the Be Kind Rewind film, since I did so the past two years.

I felt that working with strictly veterans this time made things run smoother. We all knew each other, so there wasn't much confusion about what to do.

This year, I believe our main problem was that we jumped the gun a little. Even before we came up with a genre, we started suggesting ideas for plot. We tried to stick to the steps, but with ideas already in mind, it was a little hard taking things one thing at a time... (Then again, jumping the gun seems to be a problem every year.)


I had a bigger acting part this year! I think I did ok...I told myself to not care about what other people think, and to let myself go in front of the camera...if I let myself go, everyone would think it was great and not awkward... but I still had a hard time doing that. (However, I have a much easier time expressing myself in different characters through writing.) I'll just have to work on this if I continue to be put into acting roles...

Looking at everyone else's videos, I really liked the one with the bike (and bad subtitles), and the Morgan Freeman one (the plot was a little hard to understand/hear. but...Peter's voice over was nearly spot-on!)

...I think using the shot of Caitlyn clapping from three different viewpoints may become an official STAC meme this year...

Also, a random point:
Isn't it great when you're singing along to a song, and you hit the exact note/notes? There's this feeling of synchronization that goes on, and you feel one with the tune that's playing....

-1.3-

FIRST POST OF THE NEW YEAR!

Questions:

• 1. What is the first creative moment you remember?
• The first creative moment I remember was when I drew myself as a Powerpuff Girl. I believe I named her Skye.

An attempt at a redraw

• 2. Was anyone there to witness or appreciate it?
• I forget if anyone was there while I was drawing it, but I do remember showing it to my Mom, who, being my mom, liked it!
• 3. What is the best idea you’ve ever had?
• ....There are lots of good runner-ups, but deciding to do an animation for the STAC quarter 4 project last year was probably the best. 
• 4. What made it great in your mind?
• I achieved one of my life goals: make an original animation that I like, and that people appreciate. It also showed that if I worked hard, I could do great things!
• 5. What is the dumbest idea?
• ....Again, there are a lot of good runner-ups, but the one I remember most vividly is filming a scene on my friend's roof for the 7th (or was it 8th?) grade Chinese project.
• 6. What made it stupid?
• My friend's roof was fairly high off the ground, and during the process, we had to climb out of a window in my friend's older brother's room to get out there. In order to get out of that window, we had to move his desk and disconnect his X-BOX. Not such a great idea...
• 7. Can you connect the dots that led you to this idea?
• Well...we were filming a movie about ninjas/assassins/something Asian, and we thought a roof scene would be "cool" and "authentic." I personally thought it would add a lot of mood to the story. We also thought that this scene would make our movie better than all of the other groups, and we'd get an A+ for sure!

-49.2-

Yesterday (8/28/2012) I went with my parents and saw the movie "Ruby Sparks".
At first, I was bothered by the fact that everyone seemed to be speaking in mumbles, but after the story started to pick up, I quickly became interested in more of the story line than the audio (also, they speak louder later on thankfully).
The movie is about a new, young, best-seller author who's in a bit of a writer's block. His psychiatrist gives him a writing assignment, and he starts writing about a girl, Ruby Sparks. Somehow, Ruby comes to life and thinks that the author is her boyfriend (I'm not going to go on from there, since there would be spoilers, but I am going to mention that the author discovers that he can control Ruby using the pages of the story he wrote about her)!
Although there is a fantasy element to it, the movie is more of a slice of life. Many of the scenes surrounded the author's relationship with his family, work, and relationship with the girl rather than focusing on why and how the girl came to be (even then, the story barely went into detail about that... she just appeared in his house one day!) The fact that the author could control Ruby was more of a plot device to transition to their different relationships, and show how insecure the author was, than anything else. The plot climaxes as the author becomes more reliant on controlling Ruby. But...I'm happy to say that the ending is an uplifting one, in that it gave the main character another chance!
I tried to pay attention to how the movie was shot, and I noticed whenever they used the rule of thirds. Two scenes, especially, stood out to me. The first was when the two main characters switch places, all the while staying in the rule of thirds (one is on the steps in the background while the other is in the foreground, then the person on the steps moves into the foreground while the other moves into the background). The second was when Ruby was in a room, and the light flicks on showing the shadow of the person who entered in the glass window.
The acting was extremely well done. At first it's subtle, the characters act so normal that you don't even think that they're acting, then later on as Ruby becomes more controlled, her quick changes in mood emphasize how well the actress can change....almost at a drop of a hat! (Some scenes reminded me of our improv games in class where we switch the mood in the middle of the scene...)

After the movie, as the credits were rolling, my Mom pointed out that the screenplay writer was the same as the actress of Ruby Sparks. Later on, I found out that "Ruby Sparks" is the actual girlfriend of the main actor! Learning about these outside-the-screen relationships put a whole new level on the story....it's like Inception with how mind-blowing it is....

Misc. points:
-Interesting story line...reminded me a bit of the death note storyline >.> how the author slowly abused his power via. controlling people (in this case, a person) through a writing journal

-50.2-

Last post of the summer!

Today I got up early and went into the Cloud City exhibit in the Metropolitan. I had visited the exhibit before with a friend, but the line to go up in it was 2 hours, so I left to come back another time.

From the outside, it's hard to see the path where people walked through. The many mirrors, open spaces, and clear floors created optical illusions. However, when my parents and I went inside, it was pretty simple finding your way around.

We climbed metal stairways, crossed see-through floors, and finally (finally being five minutes) came to the grant event: a space that hung the farthest off of the sculpture ("It was supposed to create the closest experience to hovering over the ground," the guide told us.)

Only two people could fit in this space, so my Mom and I went in first. At the first step, you felt the thrill of being so high in the air (and...the floor squeaked as soon as your foot hit the ground...eek!) I thought that being on the roof held a great view of Central Park, but the extra 15-20 feet gave you an even wider view!

The whole exploration only lasted max. 15 minutes. I wanted to stay longer, but there were other people behind us, so we didn't have the luxury of time...however, I enjoyed the whole experience...it was like a big playground structure! (It was also a nice sculpture to photograph. All of the reflections and open spaces gave you a lot of angles to work with and lighting situations to use.)

(It would be cool to see how STAC would react to going up there!)

After that, we meandered our way out of the museum, but I saw a nice exhibit on plant drawings (done by Ellsworth Kelly). The description said that they were mostly contour drawings. Some were rather simple (a circle for oranges), but others I loved how graceful the lines were, and how well they captured the delicate curves of a flower. I tried to copy a few here:

Then we popped into an exhibit on the history of naked photography and I had some nice examples of photos used for anatomical studies.
---

'Looking forward to STAC tomorrow! (I don't know any of the noobs at all, so I'll be happy to meet them~)

Here's to a great STAC year,

-Shiana