14_ Suddenly, a Knock on the Door

1. The story is so weird for me, I tried to get the point of this story but not really. I read it for few times and can't feel what's that about. A man is forced to tell a story for three strangers? What's the background story? What is the meaning of this story? Story happens in a room with conversations, and the author must means something about that, but I'm just so confused about that. That's my reaction for this short.

2. The only connection for me might be that guy who is write story who is forced to give stories in front of few strangers. As a computer animation major, we need to keep producing stories during my college life. It's easy to make up stories when I see something inspired when I'm in a relaxing mood, or without pressure. But mostly they are just concepts, not completely structure stories. Our job in class is making full structure stories for three years student life. and we keep producing it only for short term. It's kind of forced for me, like the guy in the story. Sometime it's difficult to make up a story I like, but I learn to tell stories and understood how the process works. It's still kind of hard to forced to make it up, but after keep doing that it getting easier.

3. I would like to use animation type to make this story. For a story to make it in the animation, this one seems like too live action type, I think I will exaggerate it, not just how the character's acting, even setting for the environment can be more entertain. Like to make it more surreal, because this story is just not making sense to me. I can make it just like a day dream type of thing, and exaggerate the proportion of characters, make it more dreaming like. The facial expression is also a fun thing to change in this story, make characters are talking, and their expression can be interested to push it more. The force, I mean the gun they pull out can also push. But anyway, the animation is the medium I would like to use.

11_ Long from Television

    I rarely watch American TV show until recently the stranger thing grab my eye, I heard lots about it around my friends especially last semester, because the second season just about to released at that moment, so I finished it and feel like I really love how the American TV show works, In my age (I'm not really old by the way), I kind of born in the Taiwanese TV show just about to became popular at that time period. And the show type is always same and easier to get tired with. I used to watched TV show when I was in the elementary school and junior high, but then the internet came out, it became the most popular thin around me. I learned to use it for everything even entertainment, so I stopped to watch TV show from living room with families, and kind of lost the interest on TV show. But the Stranger Things get my attentions, I really enjoyed it.

    For this section, I choose Black Mirror for my study point, I saw some reviews and know that is about some weird si-fi topic but also study about human being, that is the most attract me parts. Season One the first episode is kind of disgust me, it satirize many different things like the indifferent government, and the news media who willing to do anything to get the first hand information, and the people who follow the public without empathy with litigant. It's kind of suck and feel real in this world, which just happening around us. Second episode is satirizing the virtual reality and the popular youtuber kind of thing. It's also feel so real because the internet is so popular right now, and vlog is a good way to earn salary, but somehow some people trying so hard to get audience attention, they willing to do something they're not really want to do or even just show something that people would like to see. I like how this TV show about talking something that is really happening in this world.

10_ Reading the Multimodal Narrative

    First at all, this comic is totally different compare to what I used to read in my whole life. And also the American type of comic style sometime make me struggle to read. But this one is so special, when I open the first page I thought it is just a illustration sketches book, or just a rough script before refine and publish. but the authors seems like meant to keep this sketchy style for this story. And also the notebook's ring hole keep making me believe it just a scan version from author's sketchbook, still can see many author's thought and figure sketch in some pages. This one is so special in nowadays, authors make the style stand out and just like a personal art works.
    My favorite thing for this graphic novel is about the main character Karen who loves monster movies, magazine and everything about monster. I definitely like the character setting, she sees herself as a wolf girl and she has a lot of things going around her and this really is playing with this child perspective of adult themes, struggles etc. Real stuff that's happening in the world like war, child abuse eventually the book turns into a murder mystery because her upstairs neighbor is found dead and they presume it is suicide but she has to discover who actually killed her cuz she doesn't believe that it was suicide.  But I'm not sure I like the ending or not, because nothing really get resolved at the end... I heard that there's a second book about to coming, maybe I'll read it when I finish my thesis.

09_ Voice and The Auteur Theory

    Wes Anderson, as known as a famous American film director, also famous on how him directed films in his symmetry style. I watch The Fantastic Mr. Fox. Moonrise Kingdom and The Grand Budapest Hotel.

    Most of people are talking about his symmetry camera shot, I can understand. That is the most significant style when you first time see his film. Then I start to think about how he apply the color tone into his film, to make it feel oily and surrealism. His film have a kind of color keys tone, it like a filter style, I saw that kind of style in some 80's, 90's film. Like scissorhands edward. The film is doing fantasy and romance story combo in a fantasy world, it keep a filter's color tone to make it feel unrealistic. Wes Anderson usually uses warm color into his film, like The Fantastic Mr. Fox is saturated warm orange tone, Moonrise Kingdom is kind of warm yellowish green and The Grand Budapest is purple pink.

    For me I especially like the opening and the ending from the Moonrise Kingdom. It sets up so well and stylize, you can know it's his film when you first time see it. The opening sequence pan the camera, and establish girl's house. I see the house decoration and just can feel how fake it is. It's clean and neat, but feels deliberately. You know this family is something wrong, and they are trying to pretend they are just okay. It's a family without connection. And the ending back to the sane environment from girl's house, still the same set, but Sam is in the center painting to stand out. You can compare the difference about the girl's change.

08_ Adaptation

    About the writing script, I read the Chinatown script for this week. I know Chinatown many years ago and doesn't really watch it. At the beginning I thought it's a drama about Asian people in the Chinatown. But obviously it not what I thought, it's a Suspense film and not thing really about Asian.

    I realize in the movie script, they use the location and maybe what kind of camera should have at that scene. They usually write down every acting parts, I realize that is the reason why every actor/actress will get the movie script at the beginning. So they can understand what kind of character is it, and how they should act. It's important to know how their character moves and what kind of emotion they should have at that moment. And in the scripts also talking about the environment setting which interaction with players, it is about basic environment idea I guess. The dialogues in the script are necessary, so the player can know what kind of conversation and what is their character's mood in that scene.

    I'm doing computer animation graduation thesis right now, and it in the pre-production processing. Writing down the beat is the most important thing before we get into the storyboard. Every beat are talking about how camera moves and the how characters act. The atmosphere of the scene and what happens there. It's kind of similar as the movie script I think. They all talking about what kind of element should have in every scene. I believe the function of these script are to make the reader understand what happen at that moment, and what kind of setting there. It make all the producer easier to start the production.

07_ Ready Player One

    I love this kind of fantasy topic, and really like how the film version came out. But still, the timing for a film to tell a complete story is difficult. I believe that Steven Spielberg did film most of the story, but he cut out some parts just for matching the time limit. Film version compare to the novel one feel like it lost some build up, and also the relationship between characters.
    In novel version, Author build up the background of Wade, so we can connected with him and understand him more. And also set up the environment issues for the future deeply in the novel one. For me, to have a connection with main character is important, so this is the big miss for me. I want to feel what character's feel, but the film kind of missed it. The biggest difference for me about a film which adapted from a novel is always missing the build up parts. Ready Player One is a good movie for entertaining, but that big missing parts is what I would do.
    Film version change lots of the challenge parts, I know it is a difference choice. But I do like the build up of the first mission from the novel, it's more challenge and solving problem instead of just a action racing. Maybe for the timing, it's necessary to simplify. But feel like it not as strong as novel one.

06_ Marriage of a Thousand Lies

    I listen the audio version of Marriage of a Thousand Lies through Amazon, I can't really finish the entire book because my language issue took me so many time to finish a book, but I tried to understand the story about this book. It's kind of painful to watch Lucky's relationship with Nisha, also she can't see a way forward. And it also feel bleak as Lucky bounces between her options. It's sad, but I can related to her situation somehow.
    In my country, our traditional family arrange everything for us, such as occupation or marriage even more. They always say that it's for our own good. They believe their experiences and perspectives are never wrong.  Confucianism is the central idea for Asian people, it's talk about honor the aged and the wise, respect the leader such as things. So the elder can always affect our life. Fortunately it's changing and getting better now, but still have some conservative people in my hometown doing such as things. Homosexuality in my country is a serious issue, it affecting the traditional society and conservative idea for last generation people. We are still trying to fight for their right, and we are trying to legislate the policy for them. But the most difficult thing is convincing the elder. Most of the families do not accept homosexuality because they educated by the traditional ideas. The limitation of traditional society are making difficult situation for homosexual, they are afraid of telling their family who they truly are. Mostly the homosexuality in my country are not happy, they have to pretend they are straight to become and reach their family's expectation. The characters remind me a character from a film in American Beauty, the gay father who roles by Chris Copper.