How about this?

How about this?

link?

or this...

link
:D

moberly

Its 2am now and we are moberly editing...
Wah lao! they changed their prize money from like $500 to $150?!
Haha. Kind of bored now so blogging.
All the best for exams ppl!



Posted by: Aaron, Aileen, Flora and Judex! (He isn't here!) Hahahaha!

!!!

no way! durain eating outing is out! i hate durains! hahaha=P

Yes!

Celest arh... Lazy.

Basically, just buy tickets, go there, sit down and watch films. Films made by different ppl. ITs more on short films lah.. Ranging from... say 10 mins to 20+ mins?

YES! I thought of one more outing! GO OUT AND EAT DURIANS TOGETHER!!! haha. Oh man.. I can imagine all of us, eating and chatting! What a scene sia.. Well that is unless everybody is willing. :D


HAPPY MUGGING PPL!

yoooop

KNOCK KNOCK flora! the website u posted so many words..lazyyy..can u summarise?hahaha!

Hehe

YEah. Carissa... Omg! loved dark knight. As quoted from Carisa, "Exausted" after watching.

U all arh.. Very funny leh.. That time I posted about 1 spec dip outing that we can consider.. NO ONE replied or commented.

As such, KIND flo shall post it again..

http://www.sdea.org.sg/cd2008_films.htm Go check it out ppl.. It will be kinda cool! :D

Ai yo. I don't mind Night Safari..

Pls. Just don't walk at that what Vivo bridge that Ms kwa suggested. Nice place but TIRING for bonding lah...

Flo

yoohoo

haha! sasa! (carissa),i guess everyone "phew-ed" for not watching with u guys! so noisy!! hahaha! but still, i would wanna go for another spec dip outing! haha...lets try some interesting places...like night safari? lol! its been soooo long since i've been there!
alrighty..........cya! haha

why so serious?

after numerous cancellation of our movie outing.....
flora and i got pissed off and went to watch The Dark Knight last sat.
(it wasnt cancelled ying ying!)
and steph came along and omg what an experience.

flora and i kept cringing in our seats.
and i whimpered at some parts :P
and steph was laughing at our pathetic selves.

but it was so intense and amazing.
i'm going to watch the show with my brother again :D

ANYWAY.
SPEC DIP OUTING SUGGESTIONS PLEASEEE.
ANY IDEAS FOR MORE BONDING MATCHMAKING GOSSIPING SCANDALOUS SESSIONS?

yes yes, i know. A very late post, way after the dateline.
Not sure if it still counts but wanna say my thoughts anyway.

CA presentation was really interesting for me. Did alot of readups about the China industry and there were so many events and changes that were relevant to their state of affairs. Got a little confused by some contradicting events but the more you read, the more exciting it becomes for you to discover the facts.

Haha. I think my group presentation went quite well, it was kinda cool and I really got to know more about China directors and they are really impressive!


I really enjoyed HFTV classes, knew so much more about the factory 'Hollywood', European cinemas, how flim came about....

Just yesterday, I was blabbering to a friendly taxi driver about how Singapore once had a booming flim industry which (due to economic factors) died and all. He was like so shocked that I knew about Singapore way better than him and kept asking me about it. Felt sooooooo smart.

My most memorable flims has got to be Cinema Paradiso and Momento (like everyone else). Been really busy the past few weeks so I never got to watch any movies and I'm dying to go on a movie marathon.

Last movie I watched was 15 part II which my friends showed me on crunchyroll. If I'm not wrong, part II are the censored scenes from the movie screened in Singapore. Oh mann...there was this scene that was really really...intense. They were showing how people transport drugs from Malaysia to Singapore - by filling up a condom with the pills and then swallowing the stuffed condom down in Malaysia and then returning to Singapore to shit the whole condom out. The scene really made you feel sick as you watch the rebellious teens realistically force themselves to swallow the condom. And well, I kinda understand why those scenes were censored. Drugs, hinted homosexuality, gay one-night stand, Aids, porn, sex toys... the open-minded ones would consider those scenes humourous and educational but tt's hard to say for most Singaporeans....

Ok enough of that movie.

And please, let's all go for another movie outing!! (Couldn't make it for the dark knight one, but heard it was cancelled in the end...blahs.)

PS Ms Kwa: Send me home again pls?

-ying ying

Reflections

Presentation
Our group was too carried away and we ended up with 60 over slides. LOL. It was quite a tough job to cut down to 30 over slides. Through the presentations, i learnt a lot about the film history of various Asian countries. For instance, i didn't know Bollywood incorporates hip hop dance in their films. Stereotypically, i always thought their dance revolves around the beach and coconut trees. Haha. My favourite out of all those would be JAPAN!! I'm mainly attracted to Japan's live-action films because i'm a huge manga fan! And people, Battle Royale is a really cool film! Highly r4econmended to watch!

And and and, HANA YORI DANGO FINAL(movie) WOULD BE RELEASED IN SINGAPORE IN AUGUST OR SEPTEMBER according to my sources!! InnoForm will be working with Cathay to release HYDF in the theatres. YAYS!!


Chungking Express
Hmm.. Didn't really like it, neither did i hate it. I liked Faye's character though. She's eccentric in a very spunky way. I like her attitude. Wong Kar Wai is really skillfull in setting the mood and atmosphere of his films. The way Chungking Express was shot is very uniquely Wong Kar Wai too. The use of music is very Wong Kar Wai too (Duh, it's his film!).


HFTV
This module is really an eye-opener for me. It's my first exposure to art-house films. At least now if people talk to me about them, i wouldn't have to give them the 'huh?' look. I think art-house films has also cultivated my patience to watch films that are slow-paced but meaningful. Out of all the art-house films that we watched, i liked the very first one that Ms Kwa showed us: Cinema Paradiso. Momento was awesome too but i'm not sure if it's considered an art-house film.


Here's just a random list of stuff regarding to the films or clips that Ms Kwa showed us:

in my opinion...
Most funny film: Singing in the Rain
Most interesting film: Paris, je 'taime-Tuileries
Most 'huh?' film: Battleship Potemkin
Most brain-juice-cosuming film: Momento
Most memorable film: The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari
Best background music film: Jaws

very late post.

My laptop just crashed for the fourth time and I feel like killing it. ahh so irritating!

Okay… I do not watch movies very often and if not for hftv I would not have known all the classic and famous movies that I now do know and have watched. My favourite favourite out of all those we watched in class would be Memento and Run Lola Run. Memento is very special because of the 2 different timelines and how they merge. It was my first time seeing such a film and it completely blew me away. Although it seemed confusing in the beginning, it became clear later and everything just fell in place. I liked the plot. As for Run Lola Run, somehow I liked it a lot. I liked the idea of having three different ‘runs’, three different possibilities and outcomes. I also felt that the transitions used were nice.

I think it is amazing how film has evolved through the various eras and although the equipment, filming and editing techniques may have changed over years, the passion for filmmaking is still there. There are still people continuously making films because they have that passion for it. hftv has built up my interest in film, I borrowed 3 books on Alfred Hitchcock which I found very interesting. There was his life story, the attempts at experimenting with sound and the various filming techniques, how he became famous, everything!

The CA presentations were indeed very insightful. We had an idea of 4 countries’ film industry, how they changed throughout the years and famous directors in that country. I think the Bollywood one was the one that interested me the most as I have never watched a Bollywood movie. bollywood apparently is one of the largest film producers in the world and the largest in terms of number of films produced. wow, didn’t know that. ok so I shall go watch a Bollywood film during the weekends.

And to end off, I just wanted to say I watched The Dark Knight! Now I know why guys like it so much and even watch it 3 times. haha. I think the first one batman begins is better though in terms of character development etc cos the dark knight is action-packed. It has made an impact on me though and I don’t think I can sleep peacefully tonight.

THE LAST POST

this is a very late post
CA Presentation
the presentation was a very exciting one for me as i was not really a big fan of japanese films.however the ca has allow me to know more about the films and learn to love the works of akara kurosawa work. the detail and the extent he his willing to go to to get the perfect effect is admariable. there are alot of skills that the japanese have used that can be incorperated in to ur projects.

the write up of Alfred Hitchcock was also insightful for me as it introduced me to a director the revolutionalize the film industury that we know now. His trademark style is so promenant that the sight of a hitchcock film and you know is his.

HFTV
to me this module is not so much the result that mattered but the lesson learnt the exposure that we got and the bonds that we build that were the most important. the exposure to films i would not have dreamed of watching.


in closure here a 10 films u must watch haha

1) The Dark Knight(joker rocks)
2)21
3)Schindler's list
4)Hotel Rwanda
5)The Pianist
6)City of God
7)Black.Book-Zwartboek
8)Akira Kurosawa - Seven Samurai
9)Akira Kurosawa - Rashomon
10)Platoon

-Fine-

ITs slightly after 12, but miss kwa pls dont blame me for being late, coz i cant rmb my username and password!!!! Tried and tried, finally got in. Sianz. Memory loss. So here begins:

Eating AIR

This is the kind of movie which will leave me with little comments after watching it. I don’t mean this in a bad way, but neither am I full of praise for it. Eating air is just simply a movie that doesn’t impress me nor turns me off.

Basically, the only thing I really appreciate in this movie is some of the effects. I think the use of color to depict the main character’s imaginations is really cool. The music is special and “into-the-story” (sorry for inventing such a lousy phrase) as well. If used in any other films, the music will seem totally out of place.

I always thought that Kelvin Tong is a director who likes to explore new storylines and filming styles. But I don’t really get it when he always ends movies with tears dripping down the face of the female lead. DUH.

Another thing I remember is the way all those running scenes are shot. The director seems able to bring surprises at every turns, sometimes with the strong music and other times with little catchy items from the scenario itself. Interesting.

CA1 Presentation

First thing I would like to say: I really enjoyed working on this presentation. This is the first time I got so fascinated by all my research materials and seriously looked through every single piece of articles that I found.

Having said that, I think it is partly due to my love for Japanese culture as well. Geez. I absolutely love those Japanese serial dramas (still rmb it’s on sat afternoon), anime and movies (mostly horror) that are sometimes shown on channel 8 when I was much younger. So…. its kinda thrilling to work on something that you really like, especially since I can share so much about HAYAO MIYAZAKI!!!!

Anyway, there are certainly things that I will always remember from the presentation. For instances, Zhang Yi Mou sold his blood to pursue his passion for movie (HAHA) and Bollywood films vs hip-hop dance?? (HAHAHAHA)

I must admit although I watch Asian films more than Hollywood films, but it’s mostly Hongkong, Japanese and Korean movies that I watched. Bollywood and China films are areas which I never dare step into. For Bollywood it’s mainly because I can’t stand time being wasted on the dancing in between coconut trees.

On the other hand, most China films leave you with a heavy heart towards the end of the movie. I remember watching a China film 2 years ago. It is a story about this traditional grandpa and his Caucasian grandson. An old man, full of anger, whose lifestyle and temperaments changed after experiencing the true innocence and liveliness of a child.

It was a great movie. But it made me cry soooo much, and think about it for soooo long, that I got scared of China films. It’s weird to say it this way, but I am really afraid of being too emotionally involved with a film. If it’s just for a few days, then fine. But if the film really detached me from reality, then…. I guess I will be scared…. Haha…. (drama works the opposite way for me)

Anyway, I wish to compliment everyone on their great work!

BTW if anyone wants to borrow HAYAO’s movies, come get it from me!!!! I got a collection of them!!!!

Narnia and Our OUTING!!!!

I seriously hope Narnia is not a trilogy. It doesn’t have a fantastic plot or great actors/actresses (sorry if I offend any fans). Anyway, I was too busy acting as a glow-in-the-dark light bulb (thanks to some pal’s prior planning without even telling me) that day. So I didn’t really concentrate on the movie. HAHA.

But I must say I really did enjoy myself that night. I still remember those silly jokes at Carl’s juniors. It is a real bonding session. To be exact, I got to know more sides of Novea, Carissa, Judy, Steph and many others.
Since I don’t have much to share on Narnia, I shall tell ya guys how great Accuracy of Death is!!!!

Accuracy of Death

It is certainly the best movie I had watched this year. I always like movies that are unexpected. Though Accuracy of Death is not THAt unpredictable, but towards the end when I started thinking ‘that’s just another story’, the unexpectedness slowly crept into my heart.

I learnt a lot from the movie, only because I can truly ‘feel’ it. Feel the tempo, feel the emotions behind the lines and scenes, feel the heartbeat of the movie. There are things around us which may not seem very special, but they are very important. The sun, wind and even random strangers. Silent as they are, all of them played a huge part in our lives. That’s something I felt from the movie.

Finally. Everything and Anything

LAstly, this module opened my heart to a lot of different genres and movies which once seemed unacceptable to me. The sensation of appreciating every movie with an open heart is great. Really.

alisia
-Fine-

leon is noel sdrawkcab

German expressionist cinema

I like it a lot, I think its very “cool” for the lack of a better word. Somehow I find the distortion of perspective every intriguing. Reminds me of Alice in Wonderland. I also like that there is no dialogue (at least not in the film we watched), which means that a lot of the telling of the story is done by the body language and facial expressions of the actors.

Battleship Potemkin

I think the director, Sergei Eisenstein is a visionary. His creativity makes up for what filmmakers then did not have now. His use symbolism is just brilliant. Especially the Lion opening its eyes shot and the man/woman/it pleading the soldiers not to shoot.

Memento

Excellent film, I would put it as one of my all time favourites. If you think about it the storyline is not as complicated as it seems. But the director does an excellent job of presenting the movie in flashbacks thus the audience will be on the edge of their seats as they are trying to figure out what is going on. Kudos to the director for thinking of a clear way to show flashbacks and “normal time”

CA Presentation

The CA presentation was a great learning experience for me in more ways than one… like always double checking your slides and your points before the presentation. HAHA! Overall, I think all the groups did great in compressing a countries entire film history in 20 slides? For some reason, I found Bollywood/ Kollywood to be the most interesting. I nearly fell off my chair (I think I was sitting on a chair) when I saw the clip of the Hip-hop inspired Bollywood/ Kollywood. I used to think that the Asian film industry was small and insignificant, probably because Hollywood has so much attention nowadays. But through the presentations, I’ve learned that India film industry, the Hong Kong film industry and the Japanese film industry actually churn out more movies than Hollywood. One thing I noticed, is that these films have a local flavour/context/treatment/lifestyle/trend to it. Take the hip hop Bollywood/ Kollywood for example, though the music is different and the element of large scaled dances from traditional Bollywood/Kollywood films. The Hong Kong Kung fu movies are also a reflection of society’s lifestyle and history.

HFTV

This module has been really interesting but all good things must come to an end (score points). I think it’s really cool how influences can be drawn from any time space continuum. From old films to films from other countries. Thus I think it’s important to know the history of film as what we see today is actually an evolution and I think to continue improving film as a whole we first need to understand its roots. One thing I remember from this class is that film techniques originate from a person’s idea of how to do things. Like in the French new wave cinema, jump cuts were widely used as many of these directors felt there was no need to show what happened in between the main parts of a certain motion/action.

never too late post=)

hi there!
how time flies hasn't it! one term is over and no more ms kwa's class!
anyway, back to the serious stuff...
HFTV lessons has very much made be less amatuer about how film & TV come about, all the little interesting facts that built up my general knowledge for being a film student.
i've learnt how to analyse films in details and not just on general terms. ALSO! i still remeber what we all presented during the CA. i thought it was a great way to expose ourselves to the media evolution of diff countries! of cos i am very much clearer about china's cos my grp did on china. These projects ( plus the genre one) had allowed me embark on researches that i'd never do if i wasn't in HFTV! thus, it really helped me alot in learning and remembering all the facts. This way, when we go out and show faces, we'll seem like we are true blue film student..haha!

looking back, i really did enjoy Eating Air! i think its a smart local film that viewed ah bengs and how they live in a very profound way! not like those that we usually see in Jack Neo's. NO OFFENSE! hmm... my fav is still cinema paradiso from this class! although concept think its "annoying" haha!

As for Narnia, i was pretty disrupted throughout the movie! hahahah! but anyway its not bad a movie lar..just a tiny bit draggy!

BY THE WAY!
i wanna talk about RED CLIFF! omg! its such a nice movie! with two astonishingly gorgeous guys in it how can it be not rite!
anyway! i love the tortise strategy thing they used to fight the enemies! i thought the whole set and the fighting techniques, all the moves and bloodshed were all so carefully thought of and i really take my hat off the fighting-moves designer/director (i dunno wats the name for the person in charge!). "te-ji dao yan" i think..


alrighty! sry for the messy organisation of wat i wanna say...
all in all, i really enjoyed HFTV. i am really glad that our class has bonded really well and i had tons of fun with u guys! and of cos sista kwa! haha..i'll miss those times and i hope this class is over but we'll never be over! lova lova u all!


WITH INSPIRATION FROM CARISSA:
MISS KWA U'RE GORGEOUS!

hahaha!

God bless all!

All in a nutshell

[begin long overdued post]


I can honestly say that I have a more profound knowledge of history and film and television now. For one, I am no longer clueless about the evolution of film and the coming of it. And I am also more aware and expose to the various directors and a their individual styles. Tim Burton, Christopher Nolan, Steven Spielberg just to name a few.

Being a monolingual, (don't test my chinese please) 99% of the films I watch are in English. I'm not proud of it really. The english film industry can only take you this far. And thanks to the very last CA the class did, I have now garnered more interest in the rest of the film industry, mainly Japan. Uh, Japanese film lovers hit me up ;D

With such fast paced improvements in technology now and bigger budgets for the directors worth paying for, I am anticipating another wave of revolution where more ideas and styles can be explored.

Hey, maybe we can all be the one realising my anticipation instead. Haha. I can surely say the film industry will never die and movies won't become a thing of the past (that's a rather scary thought really). I've constantly wondered - In 20 years time, what would have changed in the film industry?

In a nutshell, what I have brought back from the HFTV module is priceless.
After all, how can you knowledge and exposure with money ;)

Oh and well in a bid to get higher marks~~
MISS KWA YOU ARE FABULOUS.

[/end long overdued post]




-CARISSA
p.s no more braces

Check this out!

Hi peeps!
Having Gems now.. Haha! *yawns*

You guys might want to check this out... It can be a POTENTIAL spec dip outing with Ms kwa.. :D

http://www.sdea.org.sg/cd2008_films.htm

I believe it would be fun and interesting. The short film directors include Anthony Chen, and remember the Tak Gui (the DRAMA-MAMA soccor ball film), they will be screening 2 of his films. And many more.

Ticket prices are reasonable. Don't Worry.

The only sucky thing is that the screenings are on the 16th and 17th of August.
I checked our Academic Calendar and our semestral exam week starts on the 18th.
Stupid. I know... ...

So yah! How?
Take it as a form of DE-stress before exams.. :D


Flo.

Reflections

ARRGH. My entire long post was wiped out after the computer suddenly hanged. !@#$% So here's a rather short version...

Chung King Express

I like the use of symbolism in the film as well as the way they link two different sequences together. There is also an effective use of the theme song that keeps replaying. It helps to build up a strong image of the film in my mind.

The only thing that i am not fond of is the underwear scenes. Tony just doesnt look good in his underwear. It is such a turn off.

Narnia

Love it. Love the story. Love the outing. However, the ending is quite a disappointment to me as it was not impactful enough. The parting scene when the children waved goodbye to the inhabitants of the Otherworld was rather amateurish. I was expecting a higher level of filming for their disappearing act.

CA1 presentation

I have to be thankful for being in this course as i would otherwise not have bothered to research on Bollywood at all. I have learnt about the film industries of countries like Hong Kong and Japan and that the basis of all film industries began with the Lumiere Brothers' inventions, followed by the silent, talkie, color eras.

And from the presentations, my favourite industry is still Japan's animation industry. They rock!

My favourites are (in order): Japan, Hong Kong, Korea, China, Taiwan, India.


HFTV

I have learnt about many film techniques from the films that were shown in class. And without HFTV, i would not have known about the existence of The Cabinet of Caligari.

cool.. now includin aaron we have 4 ppl..just nice!

pls add me on msn at dextertay@hotmail.com and we'll discuss this further
:D

cool

cool! I don't mind.. :D

Hmm. Sounds interesting.

hi ppl..
ms kwa sent out an email to all ur SP email accounts regarding this film competition abt social issues..

anybody wanna join with me??
need a grp of 4 ppl..

this is the link

http://revolution.youth.sg/index.html

anybody interested??

ca1 Presentation

CA1 Presentation
Its surprising how much one can learn in 3 hours about the film history of different countries. I've learnt about some famous films such as Rashomon directed by Akira Kurosawa and famous filmmaker such as Zhang Yimou from China.

I agree with Novea that Japan has the best animation industry. From the group's presentation on japan's film history made me realised that the anime movie which I watched on tv ages ago actually came from the famous animator and director, Hayao Miyazaki. The 1st film that I had watched of his was My neighbour Totoro. It is a light-hearted film which captures your attention and makes you glue to the screen until the whole film is finish.


Another anime film which they introduced was Grave of the Fireflies which I had watched before too. It was released in the same year as My neighbour Totoro in 1988 by another great anime director, Isao Takahata. Its a war film about how 2 orphaned children struggled to survive during World War 2 bombings after the lost of their mother to the fire bombings of Kobe and following the lost of their father who serviced in the japanese navy. They were left to face the widespread famine and the cruelty of their aunt who gave them barely enough food.

Its a tear jerker film which revealed the true tragedy of the aftermath of war. It has also won the best Animated Feature Film in Chicago International Children's Festival. This film and the one I mentioned above could be found in the Bizit library.


From their presentation on japan's film history, I was intrigued to find out more about the famous director Hayao Miyazaki. After doing some research on him, I found out that he is one of the co-founder of Studio Ghibli, an animation studio which he and Isao Takahata has since written, directed and produced many films of which some had won several awards and hit the box office such as Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke.

I think everyone's presentation were really done. After learning about Miyazaki, I am now interested to watch his films such as Spirited Away, Kiki's Delivery Service etc...

If you guys are interested in find out more about these 2 famous directors Miyazaki and Takahata and the films they had directed, you can visit this website http://www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki/films/ .


HFTV
Learning the history of film has made me appreciate how film came about from the past. I was amazed to learn that the first movie was actually a sneeze by a man, Fred Ott's Sneeze 1st kinetograph film. And I find it incredible when ms kwa told us that the people actually dodged away from the screen when they were watching a film which they thought that the train was moving towards them. I think we should also appreciate the technology that we have now, it is much, much , much more easier to film than in the past with the portable equipment unlike the past when the 1st motion picture camera, kinetograph was invented, it was huge and heavy.

-Judy-

Kungfu Panda

Minor spoilers up ahead..

watched Kungfu Panda today..

to anyone who wants to watch it...

DUN!

its a waste of precious time.. seriously..

the animations were nice.. had to admit it was a little abv average.
However.. it had a iffy plot

i felt that they rushed through many things.
like the fight with tai long (both of them)
and the montage of the panda training

also.. if u've watched the full trailer of kungfu panda they showed on chn 5 (which i did)
they practically showed all the impt bits to u..
so no pt watching..

wasted my 7 dollars...
my rating would be..
to catch it on TV when they show it abt a year++ later..

CA1 Presentation

I've certainly learnt plenty of stuff from different countries' film industry, how they evolve, etc. MY HORIZONS HAVE EXPANDED! :O At first I didn't know that Zhang Yimou sold his own blood to get his first own cam, till I was doing about Cheena's film industry. It's like whoa, as a film student you should know such facts. I thought Japan's film industry - esp. the animation ones -eg. the Miyazaki films are the most captivating and unique ones. Their story plots ain't cliched and will leave you wanting to watch. I myself watched a number of Miyazaki films and Spirited Away was kinda the best one, though Kiki's Delivery Service was not bad. Go watch his DVD or something, cus I remembered once I watched it, they showed how Miyazaki came out with the stories, and how the team go about drawing the characters etc. Somehow I think Japan has the best animation industry. Look at all the anime they created. Superb. Oh. OH YES I agree Ms Kwa was kinda creepy during presentations. A kwaphobia has created upon me whenever there's a presentation to her. Omgosh.

NARNIA-PRINCE CASPIAN

I've read the entire series of Narnia in Sec1 and for this Prince Caspian, ehhhh the story was kinda different from the book. Geez. This movie has included UNIMPORTANT EXTRA romance between Prince Caspain and the Queen Susan. =.= However. I thought the movie was not that bad. The transitions from one scene to the other was totally WAH! For example: The blowing of the horn to the car horn at London's main streets. It's like WOW. I didn't see that coming. Much tension, side jokes, were created in the show and it weren't children like jokes. Eg. DLF = Dear Little Friend. I thought this movie was better than the first one though, putting the storylines aside. Lol.

I thought the outing was not bad. We had somesort of bonding. Ahh poor Judy. :x
Btw. KUNGFU PANDA is not that bad. Try to catch it? Lol.

-Noveaa

CA1 Presentation & HFTV~*

I think that the presentations are very helpful in letting us know more about the film industry of the various countries in such a short time. I think that there should be more time given for each group's presentation so that we can go more in-depth into the film industry of each country. There are a lot of things that I wanted to share with the class but I had to delete away the slides because of the time limit.

The presentations also made me more aware of the many great movies of each country. The movie that I like most (by just looking at the presentations) is the Japan one with the timebombs on the students' necks. But I haven't watch it because I forgot the movie title.

Hftv lessons helped me to understand more about the history of film and tv. The lessons exposed me to more directors, movies, eras, etc. I won't be able to appreciate the technology we have today without looking at what kind of technology they had in the past. I also look forward to what kind of technology the future generations will have. I think that the most important thing i've learnt is that Hollywood movies are actually written on the same format and there are actually good movies out there that are not produced by Hollywood.

Zi Xin~*

Chungking Express~*

I don't really remember if i posted on this movie before. I think I didn't because I can't find it in the list. Anyway, "~*" is a good way to find my posts and keep track of what I had posted, HAHA! I can't remember the movie clearly now. I got a lousy memory!

Chungking Express has got two stories. The part that I like most is the way they link these two stories. If I am not wrong, both stories starts in the shop and ends in the shop. So, the shop is actually the most important place in the movie!

There are also other similarities in both stories. For example, both male leads are police and both had fallen out of love. Both are thinking about their ex-girlfriend most of the time but ends up falling in love with a new girl whom they had just met.

I think i preferred the second one better but i can't remember the reason and other details of the story. Maybe, it is because the second one is easier to understand than the first.

Zi Xin~*

Narnia~*

I find it quite confusing in the beginning because i didn't watch the first Narnia beforehand. So, I spent the first part of the movie trying to figure out who the characters are. Luckily the first part wasn't that interesting yet, if not I would have missed out on a lot of things.

I thought the movie is going to end at several parts but it didn't. Anyway, the ending is nice! They went back to the place where they came from just like the first Narnia (which I watched the day after the outing). There is quite an obvious link between the two movies which I think is pretty well done. For example, a few days in Narnia is only a few seconds in the real world, Peter and Edward can't get along well at the start, them not believing the smallest kid (i forgot the name already, is it Anna?) in both movies etc. So, there is continuity between the two.

I like a lot of parts in the movie. Firstly, the part in the castle where they have no choice but to leave the rest of their army behind the gates. Secondly, the part where Prince Caspian led the half-human-and-half-horse to cut off the pillars underground so that their enemy falls into the trap. Thirdly, the part where the trees and river waters came alive to join in the battle. And many many more...I also like the humor in the movie, especially from the mouse.

Just a comment: The characters grew up and changed a lot especially the two smallest kids.

Zi Xin~*

CA-presentation-Narnia-and-everything-else!

Hey Ho!
I'm just gonna write a short and simple post..

PRESENTATION
I thought it was great. Everyone was really prepared and they know their stuff. The best part during the presentation for me is the Q & A. Although I didn't have any questions for the teams, I felt like Ms Kwa could spot those little loop holes that even we don't realize it. Of course, she's more experienced than all of us.
Oh, I love the videos that the teams played. I wouldn't have even known that Rashomon existed if it wasn't for the Japan group. (*Rashomon sounds like some Pokemon!) So..KUDOS!
I learnt a lot from the groups. Say...I learnt the history of 5, 6 Asian countries all in 1 day! WOW isn't it?
Everyone should get an 'A' for all the effort they've all put in!

NARNIA
Before watching this film, I thought it's gonna be like another Harry Potter clone and it's gonna be magic all over.
I was wrong. It has its own originality. It has Action, humor, drama...the essentials for a Hollywood film. I admit I was a little lost during 15 minutes of the film because I probably didn't know what they were talking about. I still believe that I should watch the first movie to fully understand it.
I thought the scene between Aslan and that little girl was touching. Did they use a real lion? Are lions that big?
And gosh..he's so cool..the powers I mean.
The fight scenes were awesome too!
And their filming locations are so beautiful.
SO..maybe there is a place in this world called Narnia..
Let's all go there!!!
LOL

EVERYTHING ELSE
Everything else will mean HFTV as a whole and all that stuff.
First, I must say that I now know more about the history of film and TV. I didn't know that TV and film are closely related. Honestly, I don't really like history but Ms Kwa has taught it in such a fun way that it just makes it so fun! Like..instead of just giving us notes and telling us bout the history, she showed the videos.
I still remember 'The Sneeze'. And I can tell people that it was the first 'movie' made!
And I know so many famous names...like..the Cohen brothers, Alfred Hitchcock, and some of the French directors' names.
Oh, I also got to know so many people from this class...say ...11?
Everybody rock!

Ok..I've nothing else to say here.
Except..to
CONGRATULATE DEXTER AND JUDY!
For what?
I don't know...
Just felt like saying it.

LOL!
Don't kill me!
BYE!
SYAWAL.

Since I have not blogged for quite some time *sheepish smile*, today I shall slowly recap and sum up all the things I have learnt in this class.


German expressionist cinema

After watching the whole of Dr. Caligari, I finally understood why the movie started this way, and also why Miss Kwa said it was supposed to come out from the warped mind of an insane man (it is very hard to catch this point if you don’t finish the movie). Though I didn’t get a chance to say it, but I really like this movie a lot. I like the way they differentiated morning and night, the way they ended the movie (though it’s so expected) and also the way they created the creepy and unsafe atmosphere as if something big is going to happen next.

Miraculously, I read the big stack of notes on German expressionist cinema. So here are some comments on it:

- Caligari’s sets give an appearance of depth (indeed!)
- Deliberately distorted perspectives and slanted narrow streets which cut across each other at unexpected angles gave the creepy and weird feel which brought out the idea of expressionism.
- Film can be a possible reality. This means that film need not be what is already happening around us or happened before. It can be about things that we never dream would happen, but still carry some possibilities (seems that films nowadays have been hitting on this spot).

I shall end with a question for Miss Kwa. The DVD content claims that there is a short clip on vampire. I re-watch the short clip several times but I can’t find any trace of vampire!!!! Where is the vampire?!!!! *Made me so happy for nothing (I Love VAMPIRES!!!!)*


French new wave

To be honest, I did not feel anything special towards Breathless. The jump cuts are jerky, but obviously people at that point of time are too amazed to pick that out. Perhaps I need to finish the movie to feel something for it. Anyway if I am to pick my favorite lesson, it would be the lesson when we learned about the French new wave. If I never recall wrongly, it is also the lesson which we watched the clip on Psycho and how it is filmed.

I was really touched that day. Was it the way Alfred Hitchcock dedicated himself to his film? Or was it the hard work French filmmakers put in to look for more breakthroughs? I don’t really have the answer, but I was really impressed that day. I remember having many questions and thoughts racing through my mind after that lesson. It was certainly a lesson that impacted me the most.


Chung King Express

I watched this movie when I was really young. It was showed on channel eight at that time. The commercials annoyed me because this movie, once interrupted, will seem incoherent. I remember not liking the movie for many reasons (but I am betting it is largely due to the commercials, trust me, it can really make a difference).

But after watching it for the third time, I learnt to appreciate this movie in a different way. I love the way Wong Kar Wei connected the two stories. A brief touch between strangers can often spark off the most remarkable story, like a bond of destiny. Strangers around us may one day become the nearest people to your heart.

The concept of the first story appealed to me better. I felt that the first story is more “Wong Kar Wei” than the second one. As usual, there are several “theories” that leave an impression on me. Some examples will be the canned food theory and the sweat-it-out theory.

I like the way Lin Chin Xia (direct translation coz I don’t know her English name) remained anonymous throughout the film. It suited the whole atmosphere of this movie. Mysterious is the word to describe most of Wong Kar Wei’s films.

As for the second part, I thought it seemed better because of the natural acting ability of the two leads. I love the scenes whereby Tony Leung talked to the hand cloth, the sponge and practically all other stuffs left behind by his ex. While others may seem loony if they are asked to act such scenes, Tony Leung acted it out so naturally. The carefree style Faye Wong adopted into her role (by dancing around in his house etc) also drew out the spontaneous character of this female lead.

There is a part when Faye Wong was told that Tony Leung was “injured”, the camera gradually moved to the notice board which his letter was pinned to. It hinted that Tony Leung was “injured” by that pin, which was rather amusing. The camera technique whereby everyone around them moves rapidly, leaving the two of them in their own speed, was rather cool. It reminded me of the detachment from world I often feel when I am day-dreaming or really involved in something.

Anyway, scenes of Tony Leung combing his hair in front of the mirror took me back to his previous involvement in another Wong Kar Wei’s film – Days of being wild.

I strongly encourage everyone to watch “Days of being wild”. I remember this particular scene of Leslie Cheung stopping Maggie Cheung in her way. Both then looked at his watch for one minute. Leslie Cheung asked her to remember XXyear XXmonth XXday XXhr XXmin, this minute belonged to the two of them forever. It may sound cliché to some, because this idea had been used too often, but I think it originated from this movie. I believe this well-used idea also portrayed one of Wong Kar Wei’s perceptions of love. Regardless of its time span, love can be captivating even if it is a short period of infatuation. As long as one once owned the love, it doesn’t matter even if it is not everlasting.

You don’t expect a proper ending to his movies or his handling of love relationship between the leads. Because an exact ending is not needed to leave his portrayal of love a deep impression on his audience’s mind.

Ps: I'll continue the rest next time => It's kinda late.

-alisia-

lazy

Ok! read the dexter-judy thing... HAHA
OMG! Dexter.. In class like so shy.. always deny! Actually... ...
Haiz... *now, more than 1 right?* hehe

Ok. Serious.

Narnia..

I think those who watched the first movie would think the first one was better. I was full of praises after watching the first one while the second installment was ok for me. Not "WOW" lah. The story plot is good and the way the film was developed blended well. The only thing which I did not really like was towards the end when the lion (Aslan..) appeared. Is like you know what is going to happen next. The chase will be over, soldiers/troops surrender or killed and the Narnia ppl wins the war, lives happily.. blar blar.. Can't they just let one of them die? Like the edmund? (*don't kill me ying..)But But But I like the effect of it. The CGI used were really awesome, to me that is. Like the water waves. I like the idea of the 'mini Tsunami' engulfing that human on the bridge. It seems like the water-man is going to eat him up. Nice. Oh! Kudos to the actors. Natural and pleasing to the eye. :D


CA1 presentation

Wah.. First thing. Ms kwa, your face that day was blacker than Justice BAO lah! My heartbeat then was like near death. Haha

I definitely learnt alot more about film and their differnt evolution of film from different countries. The introduction of film was more or less the same for a few countries. The Lumiere Brothers. It changed my perception of films from different countries.

Last time, its Hollywood, Hollywood and Hollywood. But now, I find myself searching all kinds of films in the lib. After listening to the different groups presented, I am really interested to watch the films they recommended and directors who filmed them, actors who made great achievements and etc. Example, the Jap film where they wore time bombs. So intersting!

In my opinion, I have learnt that films are like music. It reconises no geographical boundries, no time frame (as in how old, how new the films are). A good film will be a good film. Be it in English, Chinese or Japanese, etc. It makes me feel that 24 hours a day is not enough! I have so many films in mind that I have planned to watch, but time factor is always getting in my way. So yah.

I enjoyed every moment in spec dip classes! It a little too fast to just end it here.

*Hint back, all on the blog~, *Hint back, gimme somemore~

Wow. The process is so frying HOT! Hehe

*DE-HINT * DE-HINT

hey hey hey. onion ring is a type of fast food whereby you cut the onion according to their rings, coat it with some kind of batter and fry it. THAT is an onion ring. hahahah! =]

Aileen don't push me arhh. LOL!

JOVIS

*Hint *Hint

Is it a ring or is it just an onion ring?

HOHOHOOOO!

er...i am wondering if the onion ring dexter gave me as a bribe should subside by now..hmm..LOL!!

okay back to business,

Chronicles Of Narnia Prince Caspian

First of all, I would like to give credit to Novea who was telling me about the story of part one the whole time when I don't get the story. LOL. I think this movie is not too bad, the lucky thing is that the later part of the show compensated the slow pace of the front part. I think Chronicles Of Narnia is quite an interesting story, from how the Pevensies found Narnia in a cupboard to now, their return to Narnia to fight the war. I kinda like the effects included in this movie, for example when Aslan roared, the trees and river seemed to come alive and they brought down the enemies in their respective ways. The effects are really breath taking to watch. The story somehow reminds me of Pirates of the Carribean: At World's End too. I am usually not into Sci-fi and fantasy type of movies because I felt they are too complicated to watch and they always have a lot of sequels. But now, I think I can accept it more, because both Pirates and Narnia gave me a good time watching. YAY!

Cashback

Although we only watched a little of this film, I felt that it was kinda interesting. I mean, I believed everyone must have thought of stopping time before, especially when you are late or when you did something wrong. It is amazing to be able to stop time! It is like you are the controller of everything! You will not only be the pilot of your own life, but also of everyone else's. Really hope to watch this film in full soon. LOL

CA1 presentations

Honestly speaking, this doesn't feel like an assessment that we are being tested for. It felt more like a learning experience, I think it is really nice to see each team coming up with slides, audio clips and video clips to help us gain more understanding of the film industries in different countries. I think films have the power to bring about cohesiveness because there can be many influences in a film and it appeals to audiences across the globe. By doing research for our projects, what we put on the slides are not the only things we learn from this asisgnment, there are always additional findings that we go "ohh", so that is sort of an eye opener for me. Take our group for eg, I am not a big fan of Bollywood and have never really watched a full Bollywood film before, but after researching on this topic etc, I am interested to watch Bollywood, which I did and appreciate it a lot now compared to last time. The presentations by the various groups made me feel more eager to know about the film industries now, and I will be open to watch any film by this countries because they came a long way to being what they are now and I think the evolution of the film industry seemed pretty miraculous in the way it is being transformed into one of the most important industries in our lives. This meaning that everyone is bound to have at least watched one movie before and our most basic form of entertainment when going out with friends will be MOVIE. That is why I think it is also very important to at least know a bit about each industry of various countries because movies are revolving around our lives right now and it would be a pity to not know how the industry has evolved throughout the years.

HFTV

I think we are all very fortunate to be exposed to the history of film and tv. Without this, I wouldn't have been aware of the famous films like for eg, Battleship Potemkin. Now whenever I touch on any film books, I realise the content will somehow involve Battleship and even Surgei, that is probably how significant they are in the Film world and without HFTV, I will not know about them. HFTV has also brought about my viewing of more and more films. Now it seemed like I watch an average of AT LEAST 2 films per week which is a lot compared to last time! I think this module allowed us to be more alert to the way every film is being made. We will notice the techniques etc, which is something I do not usually pay attention to last time. This course is so amazing it has inspired me even more to be a film maker. It is rare for a group of people like us to come together to be involved in something that we are so interested in and I feel very proud of us as well as the people in the past who believed in film and contributed to the success of the industry now. HFTV rocks! Film rocks!

We also have to give credit to Miss Kwa for making all this happen!Thanks! :)

JOVIS

dun believe wad ms kwa typed!!!!!

lol..
anyways.. i'm off to japan..
bye!

OH, FOR THE LOVE OF LUST.

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL.
I finally read what Dexter said.
And i'm seriously LOL-ing real life at the moment.
Omg, this is so hilarious.
Anyway you guys should totally just accidentally-purposefully leak her contact number out.
I see her in school everyday so I think I want to keep my life for a bit more xD

I'll leave more intelligent posts reflecting deep thoughts for another time.


FOR NOW I'M GOING TO GO EMBRACE SCANDALS~

outing

Yoz all!

I really enjoyed myself during the outing..
Movie, GOSSIPS, 'suaning Ms Kwa'.. All

Lets have more HFTV outings! *Ms Kwa's treat* :D


Flo

Raquiem

wa seh

kinda wished i didnt watch it...

tonight cannot sleep liao la
zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

the story is damn sad.
the music is damn intoxicating (i watched with earpiece)
the acting is damn gd

the way it was shown... really shows how fast life can go wrong in almost an instant
and how drugs really can destroy ppl's lives

i wasnt expecting a happy ending from the start
but still.. i was very much shocked at what happened to the characters

i think the person i really felt connected to was the mother...
i think its because her story was the most complete
and that i could really see for myself how addiction can ruin lives

didnt cry (then again i've nvr cried at a movie before)
but it was really touching and emotional


i will nvr touch drugs in my life..
seriously

cashback: nice movie...

its really weird seeing a guy who has "super powers" but doesnt do anything heroic with it
the humourous parts were also really well brought across.

i particularly liked the part where he broke his nose.

some of the things which would've been better:

they should've developed more on the mysterious guy who could also stop time.
it would have been really interesting if they did

show less nudity
too many parts le..
i went "OMG? WTF??" at the natalie part

watching raquiem for a dream now..

its me again.

Yoz all!

Eating air

I am kinda OK with this movie and its quite a pity that the viewership isn't that high. For me, the gangsterism films are really typical singaporean films but this eating air film is one of the not so many that doesn't bore me with its story.

I like the shots and how it was filmed. The shots do not cut here and there to show the flow of the story. Hmm. Basically, its the actors revolving round the camera.

The soccer film that we watched today, (not sure what is the title called)

I really enjoyed watching this film. HAHA! So funny. Ok, I like the adding in of humour and drama. So Drama mama... I like the chasing scenes, including the 'showdown' with the policeman in the carpark. Lol.


Ok! So... What does this tell us?

Singaporean filmmakers are not too bad ok! and...
Singapore films are nice LAH!


Flo :D

what dexter said about judy

[b]status:mei ren yao [/b] just a bit lonely says:
i got say i lonely meh?
[b]status:mei ren yao [/b] just a bit lonely says:
ohhh
[b]status:mei ren yao [/b] just a bit lonely says:
my nick
[b]status:mei ren yao [/b] just a bit lonely says:
LOL
[b]status:mei ren yao [/b] just a bit lonely says:
pls la.. i dun even have her contact
[b]status:mei ren yao [/b] just a bit lonely says:
*tats why lonely* LOL

Judy, you must give Dexter your contact to save him from his loneliness!!!

Makan Angin = Eating Air

The title is lame huh?
That's actually the direct translation of Eating Air which also means to go on holiday.
=))

I REALLY REALLY LIKE EATING AIR!
I have to say it's one of the best local films I've ever seen.

I can see that the director is very influenced by Wong Kar Wai. It's shows in the way camera moves and the effects.
It's unique but I feel he follows WKW's style too closely that it might seem unoriginal at some points.
But seriously, it's different that any other local films.
I'm quite sad that the movie didn't do well.
I guess Singaporeans at that time weren't really appreciative and supportive of the local arts scene.

Personally, I love local films.
When I watch it, I find that it's really close to the heart and that I can relate to the situations.
I realize that themes such as gangsterism are quite common in local films.
Take Royston Tan's '15' for example.
It's about a group of Ah Bengs.
Quite similar to the people you see in Eating Air.
But to me, the characters in Eating Air were not really Ah Beng enough.

Anyways,
thanks Ms Kwa for showing us the film.
If it wasn't for this class, I wouldn't have even thought of watching it.
YOU ROCK!

BYE!
Syawal.

The Battleship Potemkin

Borrowed this book at the library today. Check out the cool front cover. Its The Battleship Potemkin (directed by Sergei Eisenstein)-The Film Companion by Richard Taylor. It talks about the production history, analysis of the film, etc.


I realised the picture below is actually of a woman and not a man.. A sentence from the page reads "The mother ascends the centre strip of light shouting: 'Listen to me! Don't shoot!'

Today's Straits Times LIFE section has this article! Hehe.

Ms Kwa!

explain to me the last bit of A Space Odyssey..

walao eh...
abstract until cannot abstract alr...

summer blockbusters

as i mentioned in my class on thursday, we have entered into summer blockbusters season.

if you want to find out more about the movies coming out, go here

i'm looking fwd to hellboy2, kungfu panda and the mummy: tomb of the dragon emperor.

i thought the trailer for the mummy looked a lot more interesting than indiana jones.



indiana jones was ok only. i almost fell asleep during the set-up in the 1st hour. thank goodness it got better in the 2nd hour.

Commented in my long long longggggg post.LOL!

Sorry ppl for always blogging longgg posts. LOL! It is a funny habit that I can't seem to kick. wahahah!

JOVIS

hahahhaa! no comment

ChungKing Express + Eating Air

Yox all!

ChungKing Express
I love this film!I like how unique the film is. It is a case of either liking it a lot or you hate it. I shall say I belong to the former category. Some of the shots are really nice. I realise Wong Kar Wai uses a lot of mirror reflections in Tony's version. The way the camera is being placed is also not the normal Hollywood style that we see. Hollywood films have shots that are cleaner and straighter. The way the camera is being placed is quite standard, meaning you know what to expect. However in Chungking, the camera seemed to be placed in any way the camera person or Wong Kar Wai wants it to be. I like the idea of having 2 sequences in the film, 2 similar plots in different stories. The thing that both Takeshi and Tony's versions shared is whereby they are both cops who fell out of love and tried hard to forget their girlfriends and in the end, fell for another girl. The transition from one sequence to another is so simple yet creates impact. It transits with Takeshi bumping into Faye who was working at the breakfast store. From there, he narrates briefly about the next story, and the next story starts. This film tells a story from a very simple nature. It seemed like 2 love stories are being formed over the breakfast store counter. A very normal breakfast store you can find in Hong Kong. One more thing about Tony's version is the way of using water to represent the tears that Tony had shed for his girlfriend. It did not require the actor to shed a single tear, instead, water soaked in the towel, flood at Tony's place and the unusual way of him talking to soft toys showed his anguish. The song "California Dreamin'" is also so so so nice and suitable for the film! A smart production I feel, and with Tony Leung acting in it totally enhances the substance of this film. He is truly the King of Hong Kong film industry. This film also tells us that probably the nicest things start from the simplest things.

Eating Air
I think as a local film, this is really nice. I liked the colours included in this film. There are red tints and green tints constantly used in this film. For example, Benjamin's imaginations are forever in red and when they are at the tunnels, like the part Mark bragged about his gang fight and at the last part when the female lead walked away with the helmet, they will be in green. The story also relates to us the wild imaginations of a youngster who admires Bruce Lee and probably a big fan of legendary swordsmen comic books. I thought the way that Kelvin Tong had use to explain that Benjamin has fallen in love with the girl at first sight was quite sweet. It shows a sakura falling from the sky and landing on the swordsman's hand, which is supposedly Benjamin's hand. The girl is like a beautiful flower that has entered his life. Music coordination used in this film is also awesome. The sound sequence is probably the best part of the film. It seemed so miraculous and probably one day if we close our eyes and take a listen to our surroundings, we might be able to hear some nice sounds too. The French version that Miss Kwa has posted is more artsy, but less rhythmic. The one in Eating Air is the total opposite. I think it sounds nice and is rhythmic, but the artistic element is missing.

JOVIS

wa lao eh..
i dun even want to guess what the guy on the bed was doing....


=.=

Thats erm, weird. LOL

sound sequence from french movie

the sound sequence from the french movie i was talking about where i presumed that kelvin tong got his inspiration from. name of the movie wasn't city of lost children as i mentioned but delicatessen. it's a hilarious movie about the landlord of an apartment who creates cannibalistic meals for his odd tenants.

another of my favourite movies.

let me know if you are interested to watch. maybe we can watch it when you guys come over to my place in september for that spec dip film marathon.

Eating Air~*

I like the conversations, audio, shots, acting...almost everything about Eating Air except that the story is not real enough. It seems that the actors are living in their own world with no passerbys, police etc.

Though the actors' conversations and actions seems quite childish, it is very funny and entertaining. It is amazing that it is the first-time for most of them. I think that they can really act and tell the jokes well. The shots of Ah-Boy's (Benjamin Heng) imagination are interesting and really very imaginative.

The audio goes pretty well with the shots. They edited the audio very well e.g. the part where the movie shows the happenings and people in the shopping centre (the coffee cups and the spoons, the microphone etc).

Zi Xin~*

run lola run

I was watching Chungking Express but within the first 10mins my lappy hanged so I gave up. However I watched Run Lola Run on wednesday, yes I finally watched it. I loved the show, felt that it was super nice and interesting. Why don’t some people like it? Ahhh.
The starting was weird with this mysterious voice speaking and images of ppl running all over the place. I thought I borrowed the wrong dvd. Oops. I don’t get that part. I particularly like this scene when they filmed the building from the top then zoomed right downwards into a room and onto the telephone. I didn’t really like how the cartoon version of Lola was added into the film. It was weird seeing the ‘real’ Lola run then the ‘cartoon’ Lola run. Is there a meaning to the ‘cartoon’ Lola? Oh and all the ‘cartoon’ Lola does is run, which is kinda pointless.
I thought that the transitions used in the film were very interesting, liked the way they link their scenes together like the cartoon version of Lola running on TV, then coming out of the door and becoming the real Lola.
I didn’t get the part where Lola banged into those people on the streets (like that old woman with the baby pram) and there were those flashes. Is it showing what happens to them, inferring that everyone lives can change in a few seconds? Oh and I also liked how the film was silent at certain parts like where the cop accidentally fired his gun at Lola. There was no music or dialogue but had great impact. Overall I thought it was a nice film but I can’t stand Lola screaming. Deafening lor!

!!!

jia lat. Am i the only one who doesnt find Das Kabinett des Doktor Caligari boring?

Anyway, this book is real cool. Its almost everything that we learnt during lessons. It talks about The Great Train Robbery, people ducking when the train appeared to move towards them, Kinetoscope, the Lumiere brothers, and many more!

Title: Cinema is 100 Years Old

Author: Emmanuelle Toulet

Shinigami.

I've watched accuracy of death too!I loved the storyline, it's totally unique. And there are many scenes that make you really laugh. SO cool. Different styles, etc. It's kinda sweet too, you won't expect a stereotyped cold blooded grim reaper/deathgod to fall in love with a girl which was supposed to die. Which is what happened in the Deathnote anime/manga. Lol. This movie reminds me of Deathnote, though Accuracy of death is somewhat more lighthearted.

Let's talk about Paris Je'taime.
TUILERIES - an entertaining sequence by the Joel and Ethan Coen brothers. Guy sitting in subway scene.

I loved the way they made mona lisa a so called side character to build up a meaning in the film, which is: avoid eye contact in paris.

PARC MONCEAU - dir Alfonso Cuaron. A young girl and an older man discuss their future and her fear for a certain man.

The long shot was really awesome. I was amazed that he could actually come up with such a storyline and take it in a long shot. It makes u stay in suspense. At first I thought the oldguy was her outsideaffair and the guy that she kept mentioning was her abusive husband. In the end, it turns out to be that the old guy is her father and the guy was a baby. I felt stupid and cheated. LOL. A clever plot. Seriously.

As for the olddddd film -Das Kabinett des Doktor Caligari.At first I really dozed off. The storyline didn't make any much sense and things were going darn slow for me. Annoying. Till the part when Dr.Caligari introduced the sobermist/sumberlist (argh dunno the spelling) with the thick eye liners in conjuction with the mysterious murders, I finally got my eyes back glued to the screen and somehow get the story. Ah old films. The music + the visuals make me groggy.

-Novea.

Chungking Express is kinda sweet *spoiler alert?*

HEY HEY HEY!

I was so glad I got hold of the Chungking Express DVD from the school library.
I thought the movie was really nice.

I guess everybody was right about the movie.
The first part of the movie is really slow but I didn't fall asleep.
Though I yawned a couple of times.
I know that Ms Kwa said that we should watch only the 2nd part but I didn't know how Tony Leung looked like at the first place.
So I wouldn't know where to start watching.
I decided I should watch the whole movie to understand the whole thing.

Let me briefly comment on the 2 parts:

Takeshi Kaneshiro's part:
Oh, he shares the same birthday as me in the film - May 1st.
And gosh, he's so obsessed with canned pineapples!
Oh, is May a drug dealer? The one with the blonde hair?
And what's with the INDIAN men?
Can someone please explain it to me?
Thank you =)
And why did May shoot that guy at the bar?

Tony Leung's part:
I have to agree that this is the more interesting part.
And there's just something about the song that keeps playing - CALIFORNIA DREAMIN'
Oh, the May who works at the shop is the same May who dealt with drugs in the first part right?
A few things I have to stay about the way the camera moves in the film...
I really really like it!
It's like, the audience is really part of the film.
In other words,
the camera is your eyes.
The storyline is unique.
It's not very typical.
Gosh, I'm so lost for words on anything else that I want to say about the film.

Overall, it is not your typical foreign film!

Will probably comment more about this in class =))

Now, just a quick one..
comments on The Cabinet of Dr Caligari

I forced myself to stay awake to watch it.
It is a little boring.
If it was a little faster and if there are dialogues, I might probably enjoy it.
Nonetheless, I have nothing against this movie as it has influenced a lot of films.
Dr Caligari reminded me of The Penguin from Batman Returns.
Probably the director got his inspiration from Dr Caligari.
To me, he wasn't that scary.
But probably back in those days,
he must've been really freaky.

I guess that's it for now.
See you later.

Syawal.

hi everyone=))
i watched accuracy of death....i must say the twist was very smart! and the changing of styles for takeshi was cool...and its hard to both read the subtitles and look at takeshi..lol!
oh anyway, i watched this show "Hua Yang Nian Hua" ( in the mood for love) by Wong Kar Wai. Abit artsy but kinda smart way to film. the side characters most impt to the main characters never showed their faces..only backview or their legs and stuff...and the film had another side character, the female lead's boss, depicting the summary of what happened. and i like these kinda movies because the emotions and the atmoshpheres of the sets are so strong. but the ending is always rather abrupt for these kinda art film. haha.. i always don't see the ending coming, then the "the end" will pop out. haha..this show's available in biz lib btw!

anyhows, have a good public hol!

cel

I wanna watch 'What Happens in Vegas' and 'Accuracy of Death' soon. Like maybe next week if i have the time.

ok, about Paris, je t'aime.
I decided to talk about my fave short story from that movie, it's one that Ms Kwa didn't show.

Loin du 16e
Far from 16th

The movie first shows a young woman waking herself up very very early in the morning. You can see how early it is at the sky is still dark. She got herself ready and leave the house with her baby and a large pack of things needed by her baby. She then leaves her baby at a daycare centre but as she walk away hurriedly, her baby began to cry loudly.

Hesistantly, she went back to the baby's side and sings a Spanish lullaby "Que Linda Manito" cheerfully, stoking her precious baby's nose. After that, she rushed off to her workplace, inter-changing from many trains and buses to reach a wealthy family house.

It turns out that she's a baby-sitter for the wealthy family. She then sings the same lullaby again, but this time she sang it half-heartedly, with a depressed look on her face.

The whole sequence was flimed with a dull, blue tint to show that it is early in the morning but also to bring out the sadness behind the young woman of having to babysit someone else baby.

I thought it was the best storyplot among the 18 stories. (Actually I didn't watch all 18 films, caz it made me sleepy.)


PS: I just caught "Two weeks notice" and "Blue Crush" on channel 5 yesterday. Was amazed by how they captured the surfing scenes in "Blue Crush". "Two weeks notice" was a weird movie for me but i love the leads Sandar Bullock and Hugh Grant (even though they have no chemistry at all.)

Ying

What Happens in Vagas

Yoz!
I watched this movie yesterday.
Well, as what Jovis mentioned, its not a EXTEMELTY GORGEOUS MUST WATCH movie, but it really brings laughter to the audiences.

Sometimes its nice watching Hollywood's comedies as they use clever and smart jokes unlike local films who uses lame jokes. Their sacarsm are pretty interesting too! The way they fight, argue and try means and ways to get back at each other are the humourous parts.
Well, no harm catching this movie in theatres if you have the time.

Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher are truely great actors. Loved their acting alot. Not sure if they were screen couples before, but somehow before the show, I felt that they don't seem compatible. But after watching it, they have created the chemistry that lovers should have. Nice.

Flo

Paris, je t'aime and Das Kabinett des Doktor Caligari

Paris, je t'aime
My favourite clip out of the 5 that ms kwa showed us is Quartier de la Madeleine (the vampire one).. Although the storyline was weaker than the others but i found the visual effects to be the best out of the 5. And i LOVE vampire stories/movies so i might be a bit biased. the whole clip was creepy in a very fascinating way.


Das Kabinett des Doktor Caligari
I couldn't quite catch the film at first but after a few minutes, i sort of get it. The background music was a bit exaggerating to the point of comical. But i guess that was their way to create the dramatic feel in the old days of silent films. With their eye makeup, they could have been the forefathers of the punk rock genre. HAHA.


Side track a bit:
Ms kwa showed us a short trailer of another vampire film, "Queen of the Damned" because the film used a few elements in Das Kabinett des Doktor Caligari. So being the vampire lover i am, i went to watch it online. It was then that i realised that it was a sequel to "Interview with the Vampire" (i can't believe i'm so lag).

The film was quite disappointing though. From the trailer i saw, i was expecting more action and a much darker feel to it. The first half of the film was quite slow-paced, the plot and character development was kind of weak too. The film wasn't bad, it just wasn't as good as its trailer promised. Compared to it, i thought Interview With the Vampire was more stylish and tight. I only sat through the whole film because Stuart Townsend was hot as Lestat. But i think Tom Cruise was more charismatic as Lestat. :p

Films!Films! and more Films!

Wassup everybody!Let's share!

Paris, je t'aime
I felt that this collection of short films was a brilliant idea to sort of promote Paris as a love city to the world. It brings out the different meaning of love, be it love for a city, love between a couple or even love between father, daughter and grandson(yeah, that initially thought to be old man-mistress film.LOL). It epitomised Paris as not only a lovely place for couples to visit but also for anyone else. Paris je t'aime, with the amazing ideas from the 21 acclaimed directors, accompanied with 18 plots and 50 stars, shows us that we do not need to include million dollar hollywood actors or actresses or even heart-jerking action stunts to bring out the flavour and attraction of a film. I am swooned by their techniques of shooting the different films that we saw and was so inspired!haha! Here are some of my comments for the particular short films we watched that day:

TUILERIES - an entertaining sequence by the Joel and Ethan Coen brothers. Guy sitting in subway scene:
I like the zooming on the words because I think it triggers a little of thrill. The Mona Lisa way of expressing "Avoid Eye Contact" is wonderful! It also tested the acting skills of the actor as he must express his lines with facial expressions. It is an interesting film because the main lead is the one without the lines.

BASTILLE - dir Isabel Coixet. A man meets with his wife at a restaurant, to break up with her, so that he can run off with his mistress.
The thing that I like most is the narration part of this film. I always thought that narration is a very good way to express thick emotions. A person reflecting on the past, therefore a narration in this case. No doubt that this is a story about a man who loves his wife and cared for her after knowing she contracted cancer, the people behind this film added in humour too. Humour by itself has massive powers to capture the hearts of the audience. Just by looking back at most of our Hollywood A list films, humour is a quite an important component.

PARC MONCEAU - dir Alfonso Cuaron. A young girl and an older man discuss their future and her fear for a certain man.
This film has a nice twist. Most of us watching it would have thought that it is about this man who cheats on his wife with the mistress that he met up with. It is just a very simple film with a long take of a conversation. Thinking back now, it was quite amazing of the director to be able to create interest in this film even though it is just a conversation and people mostly have negative feelings towards films with long conversations because we are pampered by the action-packed scenes and speedy pace of Hollywood films. The longer they chatted in this conversation, the more we want to know who is the guy they are talking about and how are they related. Nice suspense I would say.

ARTIER DE LA MADELEINE - dir Vincenzo Natali. Vampire.
This film is very cool and yet carries a little of fun within. When it started with scenes of empty streets, coupled with the music at the background, audience will be interested to know what this film is about and the mystery, whether if there is one. The look of the female vampire also creates some creepiness. The luminous blood gives a highlight to the main point of this story, where blood is the thing that brought about the pair of odd couple. I like the ending because i thought it was kinda cute.

14TH ARRONDISSEMENT - dir Alexander Payne. An American tells in her French class about her trip to Paris.
This film, as I shared with Judy and Dexter, is probably one of my favourite ones. I like it because I feel that it relates a lot back to people who live overseas or even people like me, who hope to go overseas someday. It is also shot simply with no complicated effects and help of computer made gimmicks. It just shows this woman, walking on the streets, leading us to follow through a day of her life in Paris. It also appealed to me because I felt it was touching when she sat at the park to think about her people back at home too. It is sure to bring some nostalgia to people watching it who live away from their homeland. This film is very real and in a way or so, close to our hearts.

Das Kabinett des Doktor Caligari
I think this is quite tiring to watch. LOL! Tiring owing to the fact that we have to read the dialogue for ourselves and as if it is not tiring enough, they had to use funny fonts. I agree with Flora, Times New Roman might be a better choice. hahaha! With these comments, it does not mean I hate this film, but I would not say I like it though. Probably just fine I guess. It is strong in its story because I have never watched a film with this kind of storyline before. It is very unique and witty of the people behind this film, to come up with this story and I think the way of portraying the characters as creepy is very successful. They do appear VERY creepy to me. I cannot imagine myself watching this film alone at night. It is also interesting to see how people in the past use man-made, painted art as a background and how it evolved to film makers of our era using real environment and sometimes even travelling to places of better scenery to capture the type of feeling they want, like having different country background for different scenes within a fim. Film makers in the past did not have such luxury I suppose. The suspense that embraced this film was also excellent.

Psycho Bathroom Killing Scene

This is the scene that I am DYING to watch, since the day I read about it in a book. Film makers in the past had far more restrictions compared to film makers of today, so it was really awesome to see how Alfred Hitchcock shot such a bloody killing scene that audience in the past might react negatively to. It demonstrated what Surgei Eisenstein brought about, the montage theory. Images of different actions to relate a story to the audience. This film, is an example of how we do not need mind shattering gore to portray murder. Just snippets of the props, sound and expressions to thunder fear into the audience and give them the feeling of fright so that they feel for the character. Alfred Hitchcock is a legend.

What Happens In Vegas

I watched this on friday night. This is an example of screwball comedy if I am not wrong. A pretty funny movie starring Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher. This movie is not a 5 popcorn rating film, but I would at least give it 3 popcorns I reckon. It is not too bad judging by its ability to spread laughter around the theatre with barely 10 minutes into the show. A clean story with lots of humour thrown into it. A nice one to watch when you are bored and hoping for a good laugh. I like some parts of the editing. Especially the part where it shows a complicated part of the film whereby Cameron and Ashton did the all the wrong things and ended up geting married within about 30 seconds or even lesser. The clips are basically flying past before your eyes, chopping of different snippets accompanied with appropriate music and finally "Boom!", into Cameron waking up in the morning. I thought it was nice and cool editing.

Bride and Prejudice

Watched the dvd today and I totally adore this film! It is by Gurinder Chadha, one of the directors who was involved in Paris, je t'aime, and probably more known for her film, Bend It Like Beckham. I have never really watch an entire Bollywood film and I think this one is quite a good one to start with, to expose ourselves to music and dance that is so iconic of Bollywood films. I like the story which is also the plot of a novel. The music and dance part of the film is the best part of it! The music and dance is so so so infectious! It was a good way to engage the audience. The mixture of western and eastern culture in this film is a very fresh idea that shows how film can bring people and culture together. Nice one to catch!

JOVIS

Du mußt Caligari werden (You must become Caligari)

Oh man, i like Das Kabinett des Doktor Caligari! I dont find it boring at all (though i find it creepy). Reading the words help kept me awake. Heh.

Checkout the story here if you do not really get it.

Anyway, i was reminded of Charlie Chaplin (maybe thats because of the heavy eye shadow) instead of the vampire sequence (pretty lame i find). The film's really cool! Unfortunately we do not have time to watch finish the entire reel.

Here are some interesting trivias i 'koped' from this site (Credits: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0010323/)-

• "Writer Hans Janowitz wrote the female lead character for his girlfriend Gilda Langer, an actress at the "Residenz-Theater" in Berlin. Unfortunately she died shortly before filming began, and so Lil Dagover got the role.
  


• Writer Hans Janowitz claims to have gotten the idea for the film when he was at a carnival one day. He saw a strange man lurking in the shadows. The next day, he heard that a girl was brutally murdered there. He went to the funeral, and saw the same strange man lurking around. He had no proof that the strange man was the murderer, but he fleshed the whole idea out into his film."
  

As for The French New Wave, im not particularly fond of it as it is too confusing to catch up to the storyline. Kind of similar to what i feel about Memento except that this french film is probably a zillion times simpler to understand than the latter.

Memento

Before i watched it that day, i did some research on the storyline and regretted doing so terribly because my mind kept saying "ok, so the ending of the story will be like that". Hence, my brain was rather straight that day. Throughout the film, i found it extremely difficult to follow through because it kept twisting everywhere where i least expected it. It was nowhere near the simple synopsis given on a certain website that id went to check out the day before. I finally gave up attempting to link the story ideas somewhere near the beginning of the film and simply continued munching on my apple and fries. Hence, the reason why i came out from the classroom with no words but "har?" that day. Until now i still couldnt quite piece the black white and color images together in my head. Ive learnt my lesson. I shall NEVER read any synopsis before watching any films again. It totally ruined a great movie.

Paris, je t'aime

My favourite sequence is the first one, which is the one with the train setting. I love the lead actor's comical expressions which tell alot about everything.

I do not really like the long take although i must admit that the film had me fooled into spectaculating about the relationship between the father and daughter initially. The sequence was too dark for my comfort and i couldnt really see their faces even with my spects on.

For the last sequence, i was expecting the lady to find a guy instead of its current ending. I dont feel anything much about this film. I find the story empty and it definitely does not qualify to be classified under my favourite favourite film category.

Signing off,

(Hehe =X)