CHANGES

Transitions are difficult....

Changes of neighbors, friends, lovers, spouses. Changes in the environment, politics, economy, habits. Flowers die, favorite trees are cut, beautiful buildings crumble, leadership changes, friends and loved ones disappear. Life is constantly changing and challenging us. It can't be stopped.

DELICIOUS!

40 Taiwanese foods I can't live without.....

http://travel.cnn.com/explorations/eat/40-taiwanese-food-296093

My favorites are: 1 - 7 - 14 - 17 - 20 - 21 - 23 - 30.
But I love them all!
And miss them already....

ART & ILLUSTRATIONS

Artists, illustrators, filmmakers, children's book designers, advertisers, and art students: This might be interesting and useful....effective and not effective examples of book covers,
art, and film posters for "Life of Pi".

MIYAZAKI JR.

Scenes from the new gorgeous hand-drawn animated feature film - "From Up on Poppy Hill" [Studio Ghibli] - by Miyazaki Goro (son of legendary Japanese animator, Miyazaki Hayao)....

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2013/03/10/movies/20130310-POPPY.html

TO OUR GRADUATES

Life, as told by Lee Ang

DESERVED FILM AWARDS

Taiwan gave out awards for best student scripts and films....

Taiwan has some of the most creative filmmakers, who all need much more support from the government, society, and Taiwanese audiences.

CONGRATULATIONS,  MICHAEL WU CHIA-HSU !

http://blog.sina.com.tw/movieseeds/article.php?pbgid=122285&entryid=628764

ENGLISH DOESN'T TRANSLATE WELL

My short Facebook comment ("Fighting songs are better than funeral songs!") in full support of the "Do You Hear the People Sing" terrific anti-nuclear protest and photos (posted by 曾智偉 and many others), upset some readers....I want to explain what I really meant:

I know some / many of my comments in English are often misunderstood, because I use New York-style dark or absurd humor to twist English words, ideas, and meanings. Sometimes readers may even be hurt or angry, when I use tongue-in-cheek (indirect) or ironic humor to be FRIENDLY and caring. I apologize, seriously. I do not know Chinese, and will never know the beautiful, complex subtleties of Chinese enough to use it creatively.....My positive anti-nuclear protest march comment (above) is an example. "Fighting songs" refers to anti-nuclear protests, AND resistance to the impending take-over (economic, cultural, political, military) of democratic Taiwan by dictatorial China....."Funeral songs" refers to the memorial to Chiang Kai-shek, the losing temporary conqueror of Taiwan, where the people are protesting, AND it refers to the fact that if the Taiwan government builds (allows the building of) another nuclear power plant, there will be a tragic "accident" (human failure or corruption) in the future, and many people will die.....I'm very sorry for any misunderstandings!

REMINDERS

W  H  A  T     I     L  E  A  R  N  E  D

                      

I was a teacher for the past 5 months. Sometimes I think I was a great teacher. (Some of my students wrote me emotional letters...after I gave them grades.) Sometimes I think I was a bad teacher, because there was so much I wanted to communicate, but could not. (Laziness? Language and cultural barriers? Just Life?)

Most of all, I was and always will be, a student....Paid more than my students. Treated with more respect than my students. With more life experience, self-confidence, and the "wisdom" of age (maybe), than my students.

What did I learn? (Of course, as soon as I learn something, I forget it and must continuously re-learn it.).....

I learned that everybody's pain feels the same.

MUSIC THAT TOUCHES THE HEART

Not all magnificent music is from America, Taiwan, or the Idol TV shows.... This is one of the songs that move my heart and spirit the most. Written by the master composer NGO THUY MIEN, and sung by the great Viet Nam singer, Tuấn Ngọc. Title: "Rieng Mot Troi" (Private Corner of Heaven)....Please give yourself a gift - experience it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyUJuNek-rc

CHILDREN & THEIR FAVORITE TOYS

Revealing, moving photographs of children around the world, by an Italian artist....

http://www.gabrielegalimberti.com/projects/toys-2/#

FILM DIRECTOR FRED TAN

Personal antagonism by certain key Western Taiwanologist film writers have made Fred Tan Han-chang semi-disappear from film history....It is time for Taiwanese and International cinema lovers to rediscover this unique director, who was as important in the 1980s as Ho Hsiao-hsien and Edward Yang Teh-chang.

1st ENGLISH TAIWAN FILM DICTIONARY-ENCYCLOPEDIA

WATERCOLOR

Aaron Gan

LOVE

PRO-LIFE IN THE REAL SENSE

200,000+ peaceful Taiwanese, Hakka, Aborigine, and Han protestors in the Capital city, protesting against the building of yet another nuclear power plant on the pristine Taiwan coast, on a major earthquake fault, subject to tsunamis, yearly typhoons, greed, corruption, shoddy workmanship, and guaranteed human error....near Taipei, the largest city.

Unlike China, no army or police beat them ,or fired tear gas and bullets into the crowd.

Young and old, families, students, farmers, workers, fishermen, artists, sat down in front of the President Building, listening to fiery speeches, passionate songs, pleas from the heart, and terrifying scientific facts.

Controlled Western news media covered the story minimally, with headlines reducing the nearly 1/4-Million protestors to only "Tens of Thousands."

DEAR MARGO ®

Margo Howard is (by far) the best, most psychologically astute, mentally healthy "advice" columnist in the international English media. Her wise advice is not always 100% correct, as she is not a mind-reader or God, but it is as close to constructive and useful reality, (not self-help dogma or nice-sounding politically-correct platitudes), as humanly possible. 

If your newspaper doesn't have it, you can read her column at no charge on the net, from Creators.com [This is not a paid endorsement.]

GARDEN

RACISM & ME

Am I racist when I feel uneasy around black people who are poorly dressed in "street" clothes, look uneducated or culturally unsophisticated, and give off antagonistic or angry energy? I also feel uneasy around Hispanic and "white " people who are similar.

No, I am class-ist. I allow my class (not upper) to determine my animal instinctual preservation reaction. Once the potential adversary acknowledges me in any friendly or open way, my "classism" instantly disappears and we become two human beings on the same insane planet.....

CHINA vs. A MAN

The monstrous Chinese government is so terrified of one tiny aging man who smiles and talks of the spirit.....Is a dinosaur terrified of a butterfly, or even a bee?  This gladiator competition is surreal and absurdist bad theatre.....No government can remain is power for long that has no sense of proportion or reality, though it can kill millions of its citizens in its vain attempt...a bloated version of Syria.

CINEMA LANGUAGE

SCRIPT

Idea
(High-Concept or Low-Concept)

Theme
(Genre, Sub-Genre, Sub-Sub-Genre; Target Audience)

Points and Goal
(Communicating to Audience)

Style
(Art, Entertainment; Entertaining Art, Artistic Entertainment)

Plot
(Main Story, Story Details)

Subplots
(Linked to Main Plot, Not Linked to Main Plot)

Storytelling
(Direct, Indirect; Clear, Suggested; Surprises, Twists)

Structure 
(Linear Timeline, Non-Linear; Memories, Flashbacks, Dreams)

Pacing
(Smooth, Fragmented, Tension; Small and Big Climaxes, Ending)

GENRES & SUB-GENRES

Stories can have 1 or 2, even 3 different genres, but if you use too many genres, the audience will be confused and not like the film.  These genres are generalized, flexible, and cross over into other genres. Remember, there are no RULES in filmmaking or art…..

DRAMA:  real life, tragedy, murder/violence/rape, biography, period (history), costume, docudrama.

MELODRAMA:  very emotional, larger than life, soap opera.

ROMANCE:  classic, adult, teen, love, romantic-comedy.

COMEDY:  slapstick, physical, language (jokes/puns), satire, broad, dry, manic, teen gross-out.

ACTION:  war, violence, police, gangster, robbery, chase, martial arts, special effects, comic book, animé.

ADVENTURE:  travel, road movie, exotic, romantic-adventure, comedy-adventure, action-adventure.

FANTASY:  romantic fantasy, sci-fi fantasy, fantasy-adventure. (Tim Burton, Terry Gilliam.)

SCIENCE FICTION (SCI-FI):  hi-tech, lo-tech, apocalyptic, disaster, disease, alien, monster, time machine.

HORROR:  classic, ghost, vampire, werewolf, mummy, zombie, psycho, body parts, buckets of blood.

MYSTERY:  detective, mystery-suspense, courtroom, supernatural, film noir.

SUSPENSE/THRILLER:  political, murder, spy. (More tense than scary, many twists and surprises.)

MUSICAL:  singing, dancing, classical (MGM), rock, jazz, big bands, swimming (Esther Williams).

WESTERN/SAMURAI:  classic, revisionist (modern), end of the Wild West, end of the Samurai.

SCRIPT PROCESS

There are NO rules in scriptwriting, filmmaking, or art.

Art is not science, mathematics, technology, or academic theory.

(Even in science, mathematics, technology, and academic theory, rules always change.)

Art (including film) comes from the always-changing human spirit and heart.

Books and teachers only give you opinions.

Sometimes the opinions are stated very strongly, and you may feel intimidated.

Think deeply about the opinions, use the opinions that are useful, and forget the rest.

The following are not rules, but only suggestions.

These suggestions are based on my personal experience, and that of other professionals.

They can be very useful.

IMPORTANT:

Give your imagination complete freedom.

Do not try to judge your own work.

Artists are usually the worst judge of their own work. They are too emotionally close to it.

Do not show your script drafts to anyone (except good teachers)….

Normal people do not know how to read scripts, or how the films will look.

Classmates opinions may be too limited, or they may feel jealous.

Friends don’t want to hurt you.

Parents want you to quit being a writer and get a good job.

Bad teachers want to prove they are smarter than you.

Do not edit your script until after the Rough Draft is completely written.

Show the Final Draft of your script to carefully selected people whose opinions you respect.

CHARACTERS

Every major and minor character in your script should be a real human being, with a past and a childhood.  (Even animals and animated characters should be real in their own worlds.)

It is very important that YOU know these things about your characters, even if it is not used in the script.

Create a short history for each of your characters.  It may seem like a lot of work, but I promise that your script will be MUCH better if you do this. Use these ideas as a guide……..

TARGET AUDIENCES

KEY TARGET AUDIENCE: 16-25

Child:  5-9

Pre-Teen:  9-12

Teen:  13-19

College:  18-25

Young Adult:  25-35

Middle-Age:  45-60

Senior Citizens:  60+

Adult (XXX):  21+

Guy Movie:  Action, Horror, Science Fiction, Suspense, Cop, Martial Arts, War.

Girl Movie:  Romance, Soap Opera.

Date Movie:  Comedy, Drama, Romance, Horror.

Family Movie:  G or PG-rating (Disney, etc.)