Mohawk Nation

Besides being able to sport this anti-conformist hairstyle, many today seem to ignore the subtext in its meaning. The mohawk and the ‘punk rock’ culture icon it spawned are two very different entities. Its a pity many wear it without acknowledging its roots.

The Mohawk, or Mohicans, as the British labelled them were an indigenous people of what is now known as the New York area in North America. However, they were displaced soon after the arrival of the Europeans, and following what was known as the Trail of Tears, moved North to present day Canada. They called themselves the ‘Kanienkehaka’, or the people of the flint. The name ‘Mohawk’ was only given to them by their enemies. The name itself literally means ‘man-eater’, although it was unclear whether the ancestral Mohawks were cannibals by nature.

The many ‘Punk’ hair-dos that we see today were inspired by the Mohawk culture of having their hair shaved at the sides and held up by cow grease in the middle. This was common practice among the Mohawks in times of war. Most Mohicans would leave their hair to grow as long as possible, sometimes braided, to signify their connection with the creator. However as war approached they would don the hair-do with the hope of not bringing their creator to battle, lest he be wounded.

The Mohawks were just one of the many indigenous peoples of the Americas. With them were Sioux, the Cherokee, the Apache, Comanche, Lakota, and the Iroquois, many of whom lost their native homelands with the on-set of the immigrant Europeans.

Lesson 7…

The Elements of Dialogue:

• Expresses emotion
• Reveals the character
• Thought  
• Defines Relationship between characters
• Reveals new information
• Sets the plot in motion (tells what has / is going to happen)

Tips…

Good Dialogue involves…

- Essential exposition (what the audience needs to know but can’t see on screen)

- Establishing the story line.

- Creating a flow; Leads from one scene to the next.

 - Dialogue ties the script together; creates flow.

Bad Dialogue involves…
- Too explicit; Tells the audience too much.
- ‘Telling’ instead of ‘Showing’
- The dialogue used is too far fetched.

Common mistakes…

- Dialogue should be used sparingly never telling the audience what they can see for itself. (Not too obviously explicit)

- Dialogue is no substitute for action.  

Something Random…

Control freaks; are we really in control? Something I wrote a while back. (Pardon the lame and cheesy nature of it; I’m no aristotle)

The Arms of Atlas

A summer morn when we had to go
The air was fresh, the load was cold
Once onto the wind, no longer king

The seas of trophy, beckons us all
Inch from victory, a step from fall

The North, the South, the Sun and the West,
Take up your creed, pray for the best.
Fame and gold belong to brave and bold

To fight or flight, he had no real right
This is your boulder, your grip be tight

Now friend, don’t refrain,
Take the pill, swallow the pain
Go for the kill, its your right of birth,
And the mighty arms of Atlas
Shall hold the Heavens from the Earth

Week 6 Reflections…

Therapy week I say. All of us have something to say to someone, whether whatever we wish to say is positive, or negative. Do we hate that someone? Do we harbor anger? Did that someone hurt us? Or did that individual touch our lives? Were we loved? Hurt? Was it because we didn’t have enough time to tell that someone? Or was it just because we were afraid? WOW. So many questions and so many things to say. But honestly, why do we ever wait until the chance is gone before we really feel how much we actually wish to say to that someone? Or why do we never ever mention the things that we consider the most important? Strange as it may seem communication between individuals and the sharing of opinions and perspectives is a very important thing, but when it comes to the time when we should speak most, our natural instinct sort of pulls us back, forcing us to keep it inside. Some of us got really emotional, while some of us were (or seemed at least) indifferent. Yet somehow I get this feeling that whatever we wrote had some substantial effect on us. Go figure.

Anyways, the past week has been one heck of a busy one. Well, maybe not THAT busy, but I’m lazy and you all know that. First came photography presentation, then intro to film presentation. I have to say however, that photography is really enjoyable. I can’t explain why, but I suppose that it’s the satisfaction you get when you end up with a good picture (especially if it stands out of a bunch of really bad ones, but what the heck). Thankfully though, the weekend came at a good time, together with a rather hastily planned surprise birthday party for a friend of mine. Food, drinks and company, what could get better?

A New Friend…

Mike’s Mother tells him to wait by the bench as she ques up to fetch the morning groceries. Mike stands still as he watches his mother disappear into the market crowd before going back to playing with the two little green toy soldiers in each of his hands. He ‘marches’ the toy soldiers on the pavement, as if the tiny green figures were about to be locked in mortal combat. Mike’s actions continue even as a frail, sixty year old man sits down on the nearby bench to light a cigarette. Unknown to little Mike, this man, also known as Ah Sian, was proceeding with his daily routine. It wasn’t long before Ah Sian began spouting out random gibberish. This brought little Mike’s attention to him. Mike’s little green soldiers stopped in their tracks as he turned to look at Ah Sian. Ah Sian, still completely oblivious to Mike’s stares, continues on spouting senseless gibberish. Little Mike tilted his head to one side, still keeping his eyes on Ah Sian. He scratches his head, probably wondering to himself. It wasn’t long before little Mike stretches out his hand, offering Ah Sian one of his little green soldiers, as if gesturing Ah Sian to play with him. Ah Sian dubiously turns his attention from the sky toward one of Mike’s little green soldiers. He dropped his cigarette, and with the same hand, reaches out to take one of Mike’s little green soldiers. Mike smiles at this gesture, but it was just at that moment when his mother catches him with this undesirable stranger, and immediately grabbed him, sweeping him away from Ah Sian’s miniscule world. But life goes on. Ah Sian, with his new found little green friend, drags his feet away from the bench and back into the morning crowd. He now has someone to talk to.

Reflections…

I guess storytelling must be really similar to intro to film. Two weeks in a row we had to watch films during lesson. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that it’s a bad thing to view movies during storytelling. I’m just talking about how weird it is that for us to be actually studying different modules which teach different content, but at the same time use the same materials for teaching. Strange, I know, but what the heck.

Taxi driver looked like a really good movie. I read from somewhere in the web that the movie actually had an anti war statement. Well I guess being someone who takes interest in history and politics, I guess I’d have to catch this one. (btw I really loved his hair…)

But aside from that hint of a political agenda in taxi driver, we learnt more about how characters can shape a story. Characters have interior (past history) and exterior (what is shown) history, and their personas are divided into 3 sections; Physiology, Psychology, and Sociology.

We were also shown a much older film by Francious Truffaut (spelling?), ‘The Brats’. A rather vivid example of the developing pubescence years of young boys. Light hearted and funny, I enjoyed it with a good laugh.

To day I watched a really good example of a tragedy, courtesy of HBO (thank God for HBO…), entitled; In Good Company. Directed by Paul Weitz, the film is about two sales executives who work for a magazine company, and how things slowly fall apart for them. One of them, Dan Foreman (played by Dennis Quaid) used to be the Head of the sales department, and had a great career and family life until he is told that his wife (who already is a mother of a 2 daughters) is pregnant, and that he was being demoted, when things start to fall apart. On the other hand, Carter Duryea, played by Topher Grace, is a 21 year old, over zealous sales executive who has just been promoted to take over Dan’s position. All is well for him until his wife of seven months left him on the anniversary of their first date, on account that she doesn’t want to have babies, while her husband is eager for it. The show revolves around the envy that is going on between the two men as, ironically, they each have what the other wants out of life, but at the same time, they detest each other. This film is an excellent example of a tragedy, plus all the realistic little details of life. A definite must watch.

Week 4…

Lesson 4 wasn’t so much of a lesson, really. We were shown a rather recent movie; Election. My first impression of the film (considering that it was produced by MTV) was one that was pretty funny, light hearted, and for some morbid, unimaginable reason, a brainless chick flick. Somehow, the outcome was somewhat unexpected. Yes, it was funny, and to some extent light hearted, but it was a little impactful. Riding on the issues of ambition and destiny, Election not only gave me a good laugh, it also reminded me of my secondary school life. Spare me I’m nothing like Tracy Flick. She just reminded me of the many over ambitious, overly zealous higher flyers that we all encounter at some point of our lives. Its amazing what some people will do to try and be the best. Tracy Flick was not the only character which reminded of my school life. The other significant character for me would have to be Paul’s sister; Tammy. I guess she was the character which mirrors me the most. I was never a homosexual but like her I was (and in some cases, still am…) rebellious, full of angst, and one who took pleasure out of novelty. Like what some people might say, I was a ‘good-for-nothing’(and probably still am). I offend others REAL easily. I was what you could call (well, somewhat) an extremist. Well my opinions generally differ from most people, weird you could say, but I’d have to call it being unique… =D

Lesson 3…

The class went through with us some of our 50 words stories and we had a rather fruitful comment and feedback discussion. We had to comment on what the author’s story was about, whats nots great, and whats good about it. Five of us read out our stories accordingly(including me). I was rather pleased with my story, and have to thank my classmates for that. An author should be proud of his work should’nt he? =D Anyways we learnt that a long story does’nt always mean its good.

After 50 words story discussion, we proceeded to our Aristotle’s poetics presentations. I learnt new words such as

‘Katharsis’; The effect of the movie ‘cleansing’ your feelings and invoking new ones and most importantly the secret in writing a tragedy story.

and…

Mimesis: The act of copying reality

I also learnt about the differences between complex and simple plots as well as the 6 elements of a tragedy.

Simple; straightforward story, change of fortune takes places without reversal of situation and recognition.
Complex; action accompanied by reversal or recognition or by both.

Plot (The most important)
Character (Moves the plot)
Diction (‘Script’ or the like)
Thought (Speaks for itself dont it…)
Song
Spectacle

Lesson Two…

WOW

Finally. It took me a hell of a long time to finally drag myself here and actually START doing some work. I’ve been feeling so lazy these 2 weeks. Why? I guess its the whole idea of this being the ’slack’ semester after the busy one. Maybe. Maybe not.

 Anyways, there was not much for lesson two except the class exchanging openers and writing our own personal version of the stories. Its funny how an opener was actually meant for something, but somehow, one way or another we could introduce a whole new idea to it. I guess you could set out to do something, but end up with a totally different outcome eventually. Interesting. Though sometimes the outcome could be extremely undesirable.

Lesson One…

LESSON 1
Lesson one was the style of writing in which we will be using, as well as how story telling fits into the big picture of FSV. We also learnt ways in which to make our writing more interesting toward the reader.

Grammar…

1) The grammar involved in story telling should always be present tense, this is to stimulate the ‘showing’ rather than ‘telling’ of the story, and what is happening, to the reader (Think movie…).

2) The story should also be written in 3rd person (eg. Mark picks up the gun and holds it in his hand. It begins to tremble as if alive.)

3) The active voice of 3rd person uses strong verbs, shows action, and has immediate sentence structure, thus conveying the story in a lively manner [eg. The white clouds drifted across the cyan sky]. While the passive voice does the exact opposite, the 3rd person presents added impact (the unknown and presents and immediate and urgent feel to the material).

4) The character of scene should never be stagnant or static. Something must always be happening.

Tips against Procrastination…

1) If you have a work in progress, never stop for the night if you’re stuck
2) Always solve the problem and keep going until you are in safer water. A good nights sleep is good, but sleeping on problems is a myth.
3) If you cant get started, start writing anyway. Doesn’t matter what you write, as long as you trigger your chain of thought.

Reflections…

As someone who loves cooking up my own stories and putting them into words, the first lesson of story telling has been rather enjoyable. Personally, I love writing and reading novels, short stories, comics and sometimes, song lyrics. Television, gaming, and the movies have also been a source of inspiration for me. Its interesting how these channels of media inject images, attitudes, emotions, and ideals into the audience.

Yet I have this uncanny ‘ability’ to procrastinate, thus my biggest mistake of starting and not finishing. I must have like several unfinished ‘novels in progress’ as well as comic strips. Hopefully, I might be able to reverse this with what I have, and would learn from story telling.

Strange as it may seem, I love writing, but dont have any experience with a blog. No offense to dedicated bloggers and the like, but I used to have the perception that self descriptive blogs are narcissistic. I mean not everyone wants to know about what you did yesterday? Maybe its just my procrastinating nature that stops me from starting a personal one, but then gain, its just my own opinion. Hopefully, however, this new found Story Telling is going to change my perception of things…

One reason why I love creating stories or sequences is the aspect of character design and development. Every individual in the environment around us, in my opinion, is different. This is perhaps why we sometimes perceive others as ‘weird’ or ‘appalling’. I suppose then, that is where the conflict arises; differences. It is then this constant conflict which would either shape or destroy the character. The intricacy and spontaneous nature of character design and development is, in my opinion, what creates a story that is both interesting and fun to write.

I guess I could say writing in a third person, descriptive kind of style, is no novelty for me. Yet putting that together with writing in present tense is something I still need to learn.

The most applicable aspect of story telling would have to be script writing. As FSV students, its no surprise that script writing plays a large role in what we do. A few friends and I have already banded together and written several scripts of late. However, I’d have to say that those are far from perfect. Then again, I suppose that’s why we’re all here, right?