i met up with my ex-boss today. he kindly shared with me the lectures notes & things he learnt in a recent animation scriptwriting masterclass by frank saperstein. this guy 's company did bob & margaret, kong, kampung boy lut, unfortunately none of which i really watch before.

some of the scriptwriting techniques i sorta heard or knew of in principle, but of course, since i never really apply them before so it s as good as i dont. nevertheless, there are some jargons used that i find pretty interesting, & perhaps coz it s scriptwriting for animation, & not film or play, i find many rather amusing also.

for example, there are 4 main types of hero characters. the jargon for hero is driver.

the race car driver superman is the best example for this typical hero type, confident & relentless in their heroic deeds.

the taxi driver ordinary man/underdog forced into circumstances to overcome their own weakness to become the hero. popeye is the example given coz he needs spinach in order to achieve his super strength, otherwise he s kinda useless against his archrival.

the demolition derby driver homer simpson is an example, whose worst enemy is himself. too bad i m not an ardent fan of simpson so i think i dont get the full essence of the explanation here.

the anti-car driver this one is straightforward. the anti-hero kind.

& since there r the heroes, there r also villian kinds.

road rage villian eg darth vader, the classic kinda evil-doer, whose goal is to destroy the hero.

aggressive driver villian eg brutus, who competes with popeye only because he wanted olive. in other words, they pit against the hero for something they wanted , not necessary to destroy him.

sunday driver villian eg lucy of snoopy. this kinda villian arent really harmful, just create some trouble or irritate the hero. often seen in sitcoms.

vehicle or open road the iceberg in titanic, a ticking timebomb, such villians arent really characters but rather obstacles/ problems faced by the hero.

there are also other interesting ones like tow away street, green light... but for now ... it s time to chose ... should i be a race car driver, or a road rage villian? the latter sounds really cool to refuse though.
:: daydreamer 7/30/2002 11:47:00 PM [+] ::
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i hear the news that malaysian government will step up action against pirated softwares but permitting students & social groups to use them. i find it strangely amusing yet cant pinpoint why. something just dont sound very proper. at least for sure ppl like me would ask: what abt poor artistes, can?

of course, deep down inside, i hope they arent too serious abt it all. in my very bias opinion, i need not worry much for them on that.
:: daydreamer 7/30/2002 12:57:00 AM [+] ::
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sunday plus 's 'in n out' says gatchaman is in & spider-man is out hahahaa!!!! even got a pic of gatchaman side by side with spidey! finally the world has come to realise who s the real superhero that stands the trial of time muahahahaaha!

but wait, before i pop open the champagne, what s it that i ve done to be in, & even kicking spidey out? what s going on? new movies? new toys? hollywood remake? think of it, what s there to be happy abt? this moment i m in, another i m out, yet nothing really changed abt me.

*gatchaman packs a few books on zen & zhuang zi, & goes to some mountain to lead a life of recluse*
:: daydreamer 7/28/2002 11:45:00 AM [+] ::
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i spent my saturday afternoon watching the lagaan dvd my bro lent me. although he told me it s touching & good, i only watched it a week after i got it coz it s freaking 3 hr 45 min long. i really like bollywood blockbuster nowsaday, ever since i caught asoka on tv. in terms of craftsmanship (& that dun mean special efx but film techniques/lighting/editing) i think they can rival hollywood, yet what makes me like them is they reminded me of the hollywood classic films. perhaps it can be thought of as outdated but since i love many films from that bygone era so i can accept that style pretty easily.

all along my impression abt bollywood films is the very intense, larger-than-life drama, which ll almost always appear to be stoopid if not handled properly. but somehow the indian directors seemed so good with such soap opera materials that i actaully feel quite shiok after watching how their heroes fight against all odds (so much misfortunes that can only happen in 10 ordinary man 's lives befalling upon him in 3 hrs) & emerged victorious.

1 last thing. the mass song & dance, the must-have in all indian movies, which is also the common source of ridicule for many, can no longer be simply dismissed as 2 actors chasing ard some trees anymore. the indian songs nowsaday for those sequences get more trendy & the cinematography & choreography are actaully so elaborate & well done.

now, the one thing that ll keep me from watching them in cinemas is probably the freaking length. that would be my only displeasure, i must say.
:: daydreamer 7/28/2002 12:35:00 AM [+] ::
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why would i let the thought of giving it all up lingers for even a moment in my head. i must ve faith in what i do, everyday i do what i do.
:: daydreamer 7/27/2002 06:01:00 PM [+] ::
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Kaleidoscope Collector Directory! what a variety of kaileidoscopes! know this site from a new fren who likes kaileidoscopes a lot. now i ve an impulsive thought to start collecting kaileidoscopes, which i hope ll disappear soon enough before any real damage can be done :P
:: daydreamer 7/26/2002 02:51:00 PM [+] ::
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i m now icq-ing with my fav fren in my previous work place, xiao P. she says she s preparing for her wedding & new house next yr april. although i m a few yrs her senior but this stage of life she s now telling me abt feels pretty remote to me. besides feeling happy for her, i also cant help finding it amusing to think of my lil girlish fren as another man 's wife. i really really like her as my fren. i dont think she ll know that there are some simple yet valueable things, which cannot be communicated through words, i ve learnt from her in our frenship. even now, as if god-send, she appears just the right time on this lousy day of mine, with her nice words.

i promised her a big ang bao a few moments ago. i hope by then i ll not remain a poor jobless man. nonetheless, to play safe, i told her i would start saving 10 cents everyday starting today.
:: daydreamer 7/25/2002 09:47:00 PM [+] ::
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just as i started to animate my characters, i find some flaws in the models. actaully i noticed some of them initially but was too eager to get the modelling & rigging over & done, so i chosed to ignore them. but ............... here i m, rigging characters again!!!! damn!!! re-modelling & re-rigging characters are the only things that irritate me most!!! this damn frustration in my chest ... if a small thing i did wrong in the beginning i ve to start all over again!!! why would ppl actaully enjoy rigging as their job??? frustrating frustrating frustrating!!!! arghhhhhhhhhhh!!!!
:: daydreamer 7/25/2002 05:40:00 PM [+] ::
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Loius Cha (jin yong, famous author of condor heroes, heavenly sword & dragonslaying knife, etc, pardon the crappy translation) disclosed his plan to rewrite his 15 chinese pugilistic novels. he is not gonna make major plot changes but rather refine the details for some plotlines to make them more logical. after so many years, he s still interested to refine his works, i must say: great spirit, old man! ahaha!

my bro is his diehard fan since secondary school. he read them over & over again so many times that he could remember all the intricate details & point out all the changes & inaccurarcy in the HK TV adaptations last time. everytime he won book vounchers for his good grades, he would spent them on his books. it didnt took him too long to own the whole collection since his grades are always flying with colors. he even started writing a pugilistic novel on his own but too bad he didnt finish it up.

last friday, when i asked him if he would grab the new versions of the books if released, i expected a definite & excited 'yes'. however, he wasnt half excited abt it as i ve expected. although i ve forgotten what his reply was, i sorta feel that his passion for those stories arent the same. or maybe it s just me being over sensitive. afterall ppl do grow out of the things they used to like. i m just one of the many exceptions, who most probably didnt even grow in terms of maturity haha!
:: daydreamer 7/24/2002 02:55:00 PM [+] ::
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"make it right for singapore!"

that was what i heard yesterday walking to the escalators down city hall mrt. usually such temporary stands erected at the area outside sogo & the mrt entrance would mostly be for charity donations purposes, so i wont even pay much attention walking past them (erhmm ... yes, since it s a stationary stand i can avoid walking into it but ppl carrying tin cans & bags asking for donation then i ll ve to succumb ehehe!).

but hey, they dont shout such patriotic stuffs when they r asking for donations, & what s more, so full of angst almost like a war cry! i turned & saw jeyatratnam (i didnt spell his name correctly) & another guy standing there, selling this book the truth about singapore at $15 per copy. like most, i m not at all keen in the local political development, so i only vaguely remember that he s the ex-MP from the opposition who ended up being sued to bankruptcy by the ruling party.

i stared briefly into this man who seemed to be selling his books like it s a rally. i was really taken aback to see him with that angry, dignified & dominating look. no, i wont meddle with a man like that. just the right ppl for politics, whatever side this kinda ppl s on, it s strong man against strong man. no place for weaklings like me.

although i m curious abt how the sales of the book, i walked off very fast in case he would notice me staring.
:: daydreamer 7/23/2002 10:36:00 AM [+] ::
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nice one abt the clouds. i love watching the clouds too :)
:: saigonapple 7/22/2002 03:13:00 PM [+] ::
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[a fable --- how i learned to stop worrying & love watching clouds]

there s this favourite spot on the field we used to lie & watch clouds in the sky. i remember how i got so jealous everytime you are able to see so many animals in the clouds ... piglets, horses, rabbits & even dinosaurs. no matter how hard i looked at the particular cloud you would point out to me, i could never see what you see. how frustrating i was, to listen to you describing excitedly about all those amazing sights everytime. there we laid, looking at the same blue sky yet not being able to see the same wonderful things.

sometimes i pretended to see what you see & lived your joy. sometimes i try to convince myself you r just making it all up. no matter how, as days went by, i couldnt help this despair that so close you laid beside me, we were separated heaven & earth by what we could or could not see. you never know this gift of yours had drawn you further & further away from me, dont you?

"you are looking at the clouds & that s why you never see them!" that s all the help you could offer.

my inferiority finally drove me mad. i acted like i hate you all my life & insulted you to defend my bruised ego. we were friends no more after that. but the worst thing i did is to stop looking up into the sky at the clouds anymore since then.

we must be 9 or 10 back then? it is only many years later, when i took a casual look up at the cloudy sky one fine day, i finally understand what you ve been trying to tell me. & i m so glad that after all these years, those lovely animals are still up there, waiting to be seen by those who know where to look.
:: daydreamer 7/22/2002 01:29:00 AM [+] ::
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其实我来这里
只想吹吹风
如何起了随风远走的念头
:: daydreamer 7/22/2002 12:15:00 AM [+] ::
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i must be the most lonely man on this planet now. coz i cant make myself go to sleep when i should be. i wish upon the stars for a heavenly lullaby, & if possible, put me to an eternal peaceful sleep.
:: daydreamer 7/21/2002 01:51:00 AM [+] ::
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i ve been trying to read my expensive matte painting book to make the best of its worth. among the many interesting discoveries, 1 of them is the reason for using the color blue for bluescreen photography. all this while i havent been able to get a definite answer to that. some told me there isnt a particular reason for it & that s why green can also be used. actaully what i ve read isnt a conclusive answer too. just that it is from the inventor of blue screen techniques, larry butler.

he said that the reason he used blue is that it s the least likely color to be found on human beings, which is mostly the subject for bluescreening. well, it sure sounds logical, but even so, he was doubted for it back when he was going to use this technique for the 1st time on technicolor, which was also something very new at that time, on the sfx movie thief of bagdhad. with the ever so confident attitude, the american simply went on with what he believed. he was so cocksure of himself that the staffs at technicolor mistook the outsider as some top executive when he started asking questions ard the premises. prior to that, technicolor had been withholding info on the their newly developed color film from him, afraid that he might produce undesirable results with his untested bluescreen techniques & tanished their good name.

of course, now we know that bluescreen technique indeed holds up to the trial of time, all the way totoday 's digital age. this wouldnt be so had larry butler not only believed in it, but believed in it all the way.
:: daydreamer 7/20/2002 09:28:00 PM [+] ::
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been told that spirited away dvd is selling at laserflair, code 3, double discs, going at 29.90. now for sure it wont be that 'original' but blaue reiter may need your verification of its contents & professional opinions on its difference with the jap one u mentioned to me haha!
:: daydreamer 7/19/2002 12:58:00 PM [+] ::
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batman vs superman movie & wolfgang peterson is gonna direct ... if my memory didnt fail me, he s the one who direct U571?
:: daydreamer 7/19/2002 12:42:00 PM [+] ::
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i recently bought the ultraman cosmos & masked rider agito movie vcds. just finish
watching them. initially, i ve higher expectation for agito coz i got impressed by the new design in characters. as for the new ultraman cosmos, i cant accept that my childhood superhero became more cute looking. & also that it tries even harder to please the kids by letting a kid character to summon him now. however, it turns out that ultraman cosmos is the more entertaining movie (but of coz strictly the opinions of a jap superhero fan).

as an adult now i find the ultraman stories more & more childish & chessy, although i do understand ultraman has always been made with the kids in mind in the first place. yet i still hope that they ll make him more sophiscated & make ultraman stories with more depth. soon i realised it must be selfish for me to think that way. why should they cater to ppl like me who cant grow out of their childhood obsessions & disregard the appeal to children with healthy politically correct themes.

in this case, i ll ve to continue supporting ultraman for other things like his looks (new impressive costumes) & his new 'shoot power' scenes instead. hey, maybe it isnt that i ve grown to be more sophiscated for ultraman. it s just that i ve grown more superficial.
:: daydreamer 7/18/2002 04:45:00 PM [+] ::
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i m finally bck from my freelance from hell. i never work so hard in these 2 yrs like i did in the las 2 weeks. too bad it isnt an happy ending after i push to my limits for this project.

watever. i go sleep.
:: daydreamer 7/18/2002 12:02:00 AM [+] ::
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i will survive!!!!
:: daydreamer 7/16/2002 04:05:00 AM [+] ::
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this would be the second time i m buying kaileidoscope as a gift to my fren. it s one of those things i always like but not enough to buy it for myself. so the next best option is to buy it for some nice frens, which can also satisfy myself in a way.

i ve always wanted to take a photo of what i see inside a kaileidoscope but unfortunately, the cams i ve got just aint good enough to do the job. i even got a short story idea related to kaileidoscopes & thought of recreating that effect as a title sequence or signature scene kinda thingy. alas, it s too hard an effect to pull off for me now. i arent that good an efx animator.

i remember seeing a creative photo hweeling took through a keyhole on her blog. i m curious to try it out with my cam. but since it cant do the job through the small eyehole of the kaileidoscope, i m kinda doubtful of it with the keyhole.

maybe there is simply no way to capture such beautiful things like what u would see inside a kaileidoscope. unless i give the same one to another person to see inside it. yet even so, can i be sure that we ll seeing the same beautiful view in the same kaileidoscope? it can be such a difficult thing to do, for something seemingly simple such as sharing a special experience with another person.
:: daydreamer 7/13/2002 11:50:00 PM [+] ::
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very very xiong ...
:: daydreamer 7/12/2002 10:23:00 PM [+] ::
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aha ... ordered waking life dvd which ll be delivered together with my amelie dvd!
:: daydreamer 7/09/2002 10:35:00 AM [+] ::
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this noon, i was walking towards clarke quay flea market during a short break from work. after i took a sip of my bottle of grape-flavoured mineral water, i lowered it down casually. just when the opened & a-quarter full bottle reached my waist level, a car zoomed past beside me on the road, followed by a steady gush of air. at that very moment, a fantastic whistling sound was created by this gush of air blowing over the opened mineral water bottle, & it lasted just that moment.

what a wonderful sound, i thought.

i instinctively noted the time to be 12:20 pm but never managed to catch a glimpse of the car that went past. i toyed with the idea of keeping the remaining bottle but soon realised the futility in it. i thankfully let it go.
:: daydreamer 7/07/2002 11:42:00 PM [+] ::
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since i cant work on my part of the job for today, i can head home early instead of slaving infront of the com. but luck arent on my side. i was activated by SAF. although it s really my hind of the feet that s hurting from abrasion, my hands dun feel like typing more now.
:: daydreamer 7/06/2002 10:26:00 PM [+] ::
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got some pretty tough freelance at a post pro house. i wont be able to blog for the 2 weeks i guess. all the best for myself, hopefully i survive the ordeal & this open some doors for me : )
:: daydreamer 7/02/2002 08:51:00 PM [+] ::
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