From home
Salaam
How's everyone doing?
Good?
Good.
I just want to add some comments on the ideas that has been going around in this blog. Generally I think all of you are on the right track. Its good to tell a Malaysian story. The hard part now is to choose an idea incorporating all the ideas that are in this blog. I cant say which ideas are good and which are not. I can, on the other hand, suggest other ways for you to generate ideas first. Its great to be autobiographical. That is always the most sincere.
But some other suggestions for you to devise new ideas:
1/ read the list of questions that I gave during the writing session. i think it was posted on the front door of sspace.
2/ bring newspapers from today, yesterday and the past few months. get everyone to sit down and go through news that you feel strongly about and cut them out and put them on the wall. if possible, sort them out according to the themes. this is a good way to figure out what the group feels most strongly about.
I feel that some of the ideas are too complicated and stems from confusion. Stay simple guys - sorry to say but non of us are expert dramatist. Always write on somthing you know a lot about. If not, you better be willing to do a lot of research on the topic. I like the interracial ideas. It seems to be a running theme among all your ideas. But just put 2 people together and go from there. Try not to add too much complications. Complications comes naturally when you have 2 characters with 2 different objectives. maybe this is something you guys can do an improv on. just put two people, two objectives - put them in a place and see what happens. be open to what can happen.
But I urge you to consider Ariff's blog: He is being a little cryptic. We talked about identity before, and I think that's what YA should be about (correct me if I am wrong square). He asked us to examine who we are not who we are. I dont really understand this but its worth looking into. Dont try to dramatize too much. Dont try to be too 'oh my god' and 'arty'. You guys are arty enough. Go real and stay real. Ariff also brought the image of what happens in a rainy day. It could just be a great location for a series of shorts. What happens when u guys are caught in a rain?
I dont know if I make sense here. But this is my initial response on the ideas that has been going around. Also think of the performers that you have - always think of stories that uses the cast that YA has. Its hard to cast a 35 year old ex lover.
Alia - your premise is a little too confusing for me. What you might want to do is write down the sequence of events that goes on in your story. Now decide on who your central character is and what is her/his objective. With this character, trace backwards - beginning from the ending and go the beginning and see the sequence of events and whether it makes sense and are the motivations real for you to tell the story. Ask youself at the end - SO WHAT? Why do I HAVE to tell this story? Why should you care about this person? Even if she is supposed to be evil - audience has to care about the character. Read Shakespeare's Othello - see how Shakespeare made the "evil" Iago so lovable. I digress.
Michael - at the end of your story, you need to have an answer when someone asks - so what? why should i care? having a premise is step one but what is this banana boy's issue? why do we need to hear his story?
Azhar - great twistsssssss. I know you will always be different. Use that.
Thats what I can comment on right now. But all of you are on the right track. Make sure u guys argue and fight and not talk to each other. Make sure you guys want to choke each other - that means, you are doing it right. Make yourself heard!
I would strongly suggest you to go to the newspaper like I mentioned. It may not be a bad idea. What does Victor think? Segiempat? SumsSums? DoraDora?
All the best guys.
take care - stay sane
ghafir xo
How's everyone doing?
Good?
Good.
I just want to add some comments on the ideas that has been going around in this blog. Generally I think all of you are on the right track. Its good to tell a Malaysian story. The hard part now is to choose an idea incorporating all the ideas that are in this blog. I cant say which ideas are good and which are not. I can, on the other hand, suggest other ways for you to generate ideas first. Its great to be autobiographical. That is always the most sincere.
But some other suggestions for you to devise new ideas:
1/ read the list of questions that I gave during the writing session. i think it was posted on the front door of sspace.
2/ bring newspapers from today, yesterday and the past few months. get everyone to sit down and go through news that you feel strongly about and cut them out and put them on the wall. if possible, sort them out according to the themes. this is a good way to figure out what the group feels most strongly about.
I feel that some of the ideas are too complicated and stems from confusion. Stay simple guys - sorry to say but non of us are expert dramatist. Always write on somthing you know a lot about. If not, you better be willing to do a lot of research on the topic. I like the interracial ideas. It seems to be a running theme among all your ideas. But just put 2 people together and go from there. Try not to add too much complications. Complications comes naturally when you have 2 characters with 2 different objectives. maybe this is something you guys can do an improv on. just put two people, two objectives - put them in a place and see what happens. be open to what can happen.
But I urge you to consider Ariff's blog: He is being a little cryptic. We talked about identity before, and I think that's what YA should be about (correct me if I am wrong square). He asked us to examine who we are not who we are. I dont really understand this but its worth looking into. Dont try to dramatize too much. Dont try to be too 'oh my god' and 'arty'. You guys are arty enough. Go real and stay real. Ariff also brought the image of what happens in a rainy day. It could just be a great location for a series of shorts. What happens when u guys are caught in a rain?
I dont know if I make sense here. But this is my initial response on the ideas that has been going around. Also think of the performers that you have - always think of stories that uses the cast that YA has. Its hard to cast a 35 year old ex lover.
Alia - your premise is a little too confusing for me. What you might want to do is write down the sequence of events that goes on in your story. Now decide on who your central character is and what is her/his objective. With this character, trace backwards - beginning from the ending and go the beginning and see the sequence of events and whether it makes sense and are the motivations real for you to tell the story. Ask youself at the end - SO WHAT? Why do I HAVE to tell this story? Why should you care about this person? Even if she is supposed to be evil - audience has to care about the character. Read Shakespeare's Othello - see how Shakespeare made the "evil" Iago so lovable. I digress.
Michael - at the end of your story, you need to have an answer when someone asks - so what? why should i care? having a premise is step one but what is this banana boy's issue? why do we need to hear his story?
Azhar - great twistsssssss. I know you will always be different. Use that.
Thats what I can comment on right now. But all of you are on the right track. Make sure u guys argue and fight and not talk to each other. Make sure you guys want to choke each other - that means, you are doing it right. Make yourself heard!
I would strongly suggest you to go to the newspaper like I mentioned. It may not be a bad idea. What does Victor think? Segiempat? SumsSums? DoraDora?
All the best guys.
take care - stay sane
ghafir xo
1 Comments:
thanx ghafir for a lovely insight of comments:
but seriously, let's choke ourselves on saturday. we still have a long way to go. which is why i cancel the director and writer meeting. i want to pull u guys more into the story before we decide o narrow. how can we narrow down something when we have no (or not enough) options?
the newspaper idea? I LOVE IT! okay guys. HERE'S YOUR ADDED ASSIGNMENTS:
BRING IN AT LEAST 10 NEWSPAPER EACH AND SCISSORS. DONT FORGET YOUR READING GLASSES. BRING ALL TYPE: MALAY, CHINESE, INDIAN, ENGLISH. WE WANT THEM ALL! PRE-DATED! POST-DATED...wait mana ader post dated newspapers?
we're gonna do some serious look-into session for the first hour. yes we gonna study and criticise the issues laid down by our msian journalist. and get inspired!
thanks for the idea ghaf....
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