Author: sarah

Well, this is seriously Sarah and that's all you need to know for now.

Saving Uranus! A 48 Hour Film Project

Oh mein Gott.

We took part in the 48 Hour Film Project in the Singapore region. We, meaning Gladius Studios.

48brief

It started at, okay, supposedly 7pm on 25th April, Friday but our official time after waiting for people and stuff is 8.30pm for submission instead. That’s Mike Rogers and Megan Shea of 48 Hour Film Project people thingy briefing us at the Arts House’s screening room.

We had to put in a prop, a line and a character… For Singapore, this is it:

Prop: Ang bao

Character: Ollie/Olivia Sparx the cellphone salesman/woman

Line: I have always wanted to do that.

And for our genre, our team got Sci-Fi.

48runaway

With that, everyone scrambled out of the Arts House once all the teams got their genres and onwards ho! It took like… good grief, at least until 3am or so to get the idea of what we wanted? It was the darned ang bao that stalled us somehow. At that time, we got the story set more or less… Technically less but whatever, it got groovy the next day on Saturday.

THE Saturday of shooting.

48crew

We were doing bits of the script while waiting for the cast to arrive or preparing the area too since we were at an office.

48shoot

And then we were set to go… I totally love the actors and actress since they were SO pro at this.

48minister

Or maybe it’s the fact that most of us in the crew and cast were media students and knew what to do.

48leads

But overall, they were fabulous anyway.

48shadow

What I can say however is that I realized that I hate offices in high floors. Okay, actually to be more specific, I hate riding lifts that goes insane on the pressure and speed as you zoom upwards somehow. It made me go gah even until I got back home with Jer (the guys continued shooting at the office and I picked up Jer so we could do the animated scenes at my house before we headed off to headquarters to edit after all that).

48last

Last day, Sunday… Spent the whole night/day of Saturday through Sunday to edit and animate. Unfortunately, we aren’t eligible for the judge’s prizes cause we submitted late. We figured we’re rather submit late and let it look good than semi bad and have a probability of ending up late there anyway. We’re still eligible for the audience choice awards though!

OH YES, SAVING URANUS IS OUR TITLE!!!

Have a preview of some stuff you’ll get to see in the short film.

48shipsall

Yay for Jer doing it. These are technically the three models of ships used in the intro.

48shipsahoy

OH GEE, is THAT the Singapore Flyer?

COME watch it at Eng Wah Suntec to find out!

No, really. It’ll be screened there.

And of course, the screencap above isn’t the real thing, it has more effects than those. Will post up more info until then but the screening is on May 6! Tickets info will be known soon.

GROOVY JOB YOU GUYS OF GLADIUS STUDIOS!

It was fun!

And I have never eaten so much Mcdonalds ever since that weekend.

EDIT:

Here’s the short film!

To the $2 store!

Okay, so I went to Daiso yesterday to see if they had miniature furniture thingies for my Pinky St. figurines and that I just liked going there anyway. The stationary section is always niiiiiiiiice.

And okay… I admit, the toys section amuse me like heck.

daisoswan1

Like this…

LET US HAVE A CLOSER LOOK, YES?

daisoswan2

Mind you, this in the children’s toy and party section. Never mind that if this was a children’s toy… What kind of party would this be to use it?!

daisoswan3

The instructions… have… a… perverted looking man… on it.

AND WHAT IS UP WITH THE SWAN? WHY IS IT BULGING SUSPICIOUSLY AT THE BOTTOM THERE!?

Fortunately (or UNFORTUNATELY?!) I found a loose pack near it too that wasn’t in a box.

daisoswan4

I can’t open it due to duh, me not buying it but… I CANNOT SEE HOW YOU CAN INFLATE THIS THING.

And… It’s supposed to be attached to some velcro thing?! I HAVE NO IDEA HOW THIS IS GOING TO WORK IF YOU ARE NOT A PERVERTED GUY, SERIOUSLY.

So!

If you guys ever buy it to try it out… Please post pics so we can know how it works?!

Ps. If you guys ever ask me to pet your swan I will smack you with my banana holder.

Tisch Asia Open House!

On the 20th of March 2008, Tisch Asia had its first ever open house for prospective students.

Naturally, I went there because Tisch, oh TIIIIIIIIIISCH, I wantsss you… I’m swayed by either the Dramatic Writing or Film Production master degree but then I’m not rich girl… So… le sigh.

Nonetheless, it doesn’t hurt to just at least go to the open house and bask in it if I’m unable to do the degree in the future..

RIGHT!

Firstly, I knew where the school was since I had worked at the location before the school moved… It’s technically a place where schools move into before their buildings are done at whatever location it is. Anywho… I went with a few friends and even though I DID know the location, finding the school is like an Amazing Race.

longroadday

That’s the view when you turn back from the road… the main school is pretty deep inside… And after trudging up a hill and passing by a park, we finally get to see the school!

Tisch sign

Or at least the sign. Trust me, there’s still a LOT of walking to do. After handing our particulars to the nice security guard, we walked… UP again, towards the school.

Tisch School

Coincidentally, the path seemed a bit dejavu-ish to me. I actually had a dream where there was a path like that before and a building, only it didn’t have the painted words on it anyway.

open house sign

The newspapers had previously written about Tisch Asia being very discreet… I didn’t know how discreet until I went there that day. The signs weren’t even that big on the open house and those who were REALLY interested in Tisch got to know about it. It’s like… “If you want it, you must seek for the mystical source of blablabla!”.

We got a tour of the school and it is seriously awesome.

Tisch stage 1

It seems like this might definitely be the permanent location as the stages are being built along with the sets.

Tisch kitchen

The had a green screen room too and various screening rooms and stuff. And ooh! OOH!

Tisch sandbag

SANDBAGS!!! I mean, yeah sure, I’ve seen sandbags and used them before in productions and all but LE FREAKING GASP. These were so cute and they were NYU LABELLED ON THEM. You can never mistake a common sandbag for a sandbag of Tisch now.

Tisch corridors

As it is still under construction, the place looks pretty spartan for now. Nonetheless, the walls are decorated with movie posters, some autographed, some not but all of them are movies done by the alumni of the school.

Anywho, the whole tour was informative and it makes me want to take their courses and stuff. At the moment, it looks like I can afford the summer courses at the very least. Okay… not really, I can only afford it next year or something since my monies are going to my studies for my bachelor at the moment.

Check out their summer courses if you can’t afford the degree or don’t have the time to take it! Only, you know… We don’t have summer since it’s summer all year round here. The courses are during May till August for those who don’t know when “summer” is.

Fun fact, FILM STOCK and PROCESSING is free when you do so!!!! Email them for more info or anything like that, I’m sure they’d be willing to answer about the courses.

And if you guys are lucky enough to be qualified under the media schemes by the Media Development Authority, try and check them out as you apply for the courses. You might get reimbursed or have your fees cut in half.

If you’re interested in film making and screen writing, this is definitely the place for you.

Tisch road night

Just don’t be afraid of the dark… It can get creepy then.

An Irish Tour of Singapore

Yesterday was St Patrick’s Day and I chanced upon Rozen aka Rosemary at the parade while I was helping the Jedi in the Star Wars contingent record stuff. Technically, if you were there, you might notice me in this here picture (page 6, 17 Mar 08, Today Paper).

Spot me

Well, I suppose not really unless you zoom in but I was lugging camera equipment around in the background.

Anywho!!

Ten minutes before the parade started, I called out to her for a hello and all and then… GASP!

She shoved me this!

Irish book

An Irish Tour of Singapore, published by Two Trees, her book was finally done! AND it’s published by Two Trees aka HER publishing company. What surprised me most was that it was a HARDCOVER book.

Frankly, how many hardcover books have you seen printed for local books? Not many right? (Books meant for literature class don’t count since those are for students who’re rough on them.) Or they might mostly be for children’s books too… as it is, it’s NOT often!

irish book inside

The paper quality is pretty nice too, smooth and white since there are also pictures printed in it to reference the historical events that has happened.

Although it IS pretty much a history book of sorts, talking about the Irish in Singapore, for some reason, it doesn’t really feel like it. It didn’t feel as boring as some other books I’ve read (for history) and somehow… the writing is sassy.

Maybe it’s because I know the writer or the subject matter of the book but in all, it feels upbeat and you’d go “Woah” over the facts in it.

For instance, I did not know a lot of the roads I’ve been to around Orchard and such are named after Irish people!! Heck, I didn’t even know “Killiney” was Irish. The name only brought “Coffeeshop” in my mind because of the famous coffee and toast around there.

The history it brings makes you realize there’s a lot of Irish in Singapore and the contributions they did in building up the country!

There’s a slight moment on page 59 of the book that hit me as the chapter was about the Catholic Brothers and Sisters coming to set up the schools and teach people here in Singapore (St Joseph’s and CHIJMES for instance). You learn that these people really, REALLY want to help the people back then in giving education, medical help and all.

And okay, I admit.

There was one line too about one of the Sisters marrying the captain of the ship (this is legal back then since it wasn’t in their vows and whatever so she wasn’t breaking anything) AMIDST THE BACKGROUND OF TURBULENCE AND PASHIIOOONE.

Okay, okay…

So not really much on the passion but the book described the journey from where they came to Singapore was not an easy one. They had SHIPS back then and STORMS and fevers and stuff! And to think they’d travel all the way through the hardship to just give the people back then education, help, Churches and etc.

This book has pictures and pretty much a LOT of info on the Irish from the past till the present in Singapore. In fact, page 109 made me snort in amusement because the writer had written about herself winning the Singapore Literature Prize Merit Award under the chapter about the arts, culture and media. This is true (she’s Irish!) but I could imagine her saying “HAH!” or “Me, me!” while writing this bit.

Me thinks, if I get to know more writers and read their books, I’ll start to have a mini commentary in my mind on how they write or something.

If you’re a history buff or need research or inspiration about the past, go pick up the book!

It costs SGD$25.

The official launch is in June so I’ll probably post a reminder till then.

When it comes out, it’ll be available in major bookstores and possibly Amazon too, so hold on until it’s properly released!

It’ll also be on sale at their website.

Creative Lighting Workshop at SMA!

 visitor pass

Okay, on the 26th till the 29th of February, I had a creative lighting workshop at the Singapore Media Academy and it was so freaking cool.

cameras

In any case, the course was only $500 but it was totally worth it. That is if you are interested in lighting. The instructors for this course was Don Bachmeier (he’s from Lowel and here are some stuff he teaches) and Brett Smith.

If you ever wanted to learn lighting, this is the course to go. I used to learn lighting in my polytechnic but I found it boring and had nothing to do with lighting since then (I let the crew focus on the lighting while I did my own things anyway since I wasn’t part of the lighting team usually). It was until I got into this course that I got enthusiastic cause it is that good.

green screen

So if you ever wondered to enroll in it whenever you see it popping up under the SMA website, you can be sure it is THAT cool. You get to learn a lot of techniques and the instructors will help you if you have some scenarios or problems with some lighting things you’re doing at work or school or wherever.

light demo

It SO made me like lighting more than I did back then in school and now I’m totally into wanting to do my own so I can improve the feelings and mood of my pictures and videos!!! I know now how to make them look like what I want now instead of just using photoshop or whatever to improve them.

bunch of lights

Plus, you get to play with expensive lights, diffusers, gels, etc!! Including High Definition cameras (le gasp!!!). In any case, you are supposed to do some stuff in the last two days of the workshop so you can be “qualified” and get your certificates, heh heh.

lamp

Yeah, that’s mine, hur hur. I made the model hold the lamp like that and adjusted the lighting so she would look menacing. I hope the organizers will send us the dvd of our stuff soon! Cause they look SO good in HD.

Meet a Literary Agent…

This is amusing because this was the same title Rozen and I came up with when we did an impromptu Agent session last year at the Writer’s Festival.

For those who missed last year, there’s another literary agent holding a session!

Here’s the info!

Meet a Literary Agent

Ever written a novel and never quite knew where to send it? Wanted some advice about getting your works published but was not quite sure who would have the answers? Then chase away your Monday blues and join us at this session with Jayapriya and Priya from Jacaranda Press, India’s leading literary agent now based in Singapore. You can learn more about the business of literary agents and pose ANY questions you may have to them.

Date: Monday, March 10
Time: 2.30pm onwards
Venue: Temasek Room (Level 6, MICA Building, 140 Hill Street)
Admission: Free (kindly RSVP by 6pm on Friday, March 7, to koh_jau_chern@nac.gov.sg)

Curse of Jeju Island

When I saw this book, I went “Hmmm”, seeing a manga styled cover art with Korean text in the Singapore shelf of the bookstore. I then went “You must be kidding me” when I read the blurb.

Here’s the blurb anyway:

Over fifty years ago, more than 60,000 people were killed during the ‘Jeju Massacre’ on Jeju Island, South Korea, when the South Korean army attempted to brutally suppress an armed insurrection by the people of Jeju. The bodies of the victims – civilians, rebels, and soldiers alike – were sealed in a volcanic cave on Mount Halla to rest, or so it was hoped, in peace for all eternity. However, decades later, some of these bodies were mysteriously resurrected as vampires and they are now doomed to roam the streets of Jeju seeking living human prey and continuing the battles that they once fought in life. Thus, the bitter feud between the two mortal factions – The Regiments (former soldiers) and The Guerrillas (former rebels) – has now become immortal. Today, fifty years later, we meet Han Mirae, a young Korean girl who is caught in a love triangle between Jackie Chang, a swashbuckling vampire hunter from Singapore, and Shin Taewoo a powerful vampire of the Guerillas. And, we meet Kim Hyunsuk, the opal-eyed vampire of the Regiments, who abducts Mirae in order to set a trap to kill the other two.

Can Taewoo or Jackie save the girl in time? And who is Mirae’s real love?

I retranslated the blurb in my mind and grinned.

Seriously, how could I NOT buy the book when you have a vampire slayer named Jackie Chang with hot Korean vampires and an alledged love triangle? The current blurb is wordy with educational historical value but what basically got me into buying this is “Singaporean vampire slayer”, “hot Korean vampires” and “love triangle”.

YOU CAN’T RESIST NOT WANTING TO READ IT.

Sure, it is in the Singapore shelf, which is sadly where most local books… die if they’re not marketted strongly by the authors or shops. Or sometimes, they’re not even reviewed and no one realises the existance of these books… So nonetheless, I must read it and review.

Anywho, after buying Curse of Jeju Island, I went off to read it. Okay, I lie, I read it a few days later because I got busy but I DID finish it and if the author is reading this review, I would like to smack you hard, IN A GOOD WAY!

Because you are evil and ended the first book of this trilogy at a part where you KNOW readers are going “WHAT?! WHAT!?!?? That’s the end for this one?!”.

Right, right. Let me do a “semi-professional” review of this book now.

Curse of Jeju Island is pretty much what it is said in the blurb of the book, however the story takes a rather educational tone about Korean culture and language. Sometimes, you might wonder if you’re reading a book about Korean food and greetings or if you’re really reading about the vampires on the island.

It is useful however since not everyone would know what the Korean dishes or terms are but I suppose there must be a better way somehow of integrating this into the story without making it sound like you were having a tour guide in the middle of the book.

The story is pretty simple and while the writing isn’t too bad, the author could get the story spruced up a bit with a little more editing. For those reading the book, well…

Some of the characters might seem familliar to you, perhaps it is on purpose by the author on having a teenage boy named Jackie Chang as the human hero but as you read on, readers of Japanese manga or watchers of anime might wonder if Ronnie is a fan of popular Ninja series.

For one thing, Hayeon, a girl vampire in the story is a timid shy thing with a description of having opal eyes with no pupils at all. Further more, she wears a thick white jacket with a ton of clasps in the front. If that doesn’t ring a bell to some of you, then perhaps it’s purely my imagination going on overdrive.

On an unrelated note, I’m actually REALLY liking Hayeon and hope she’ll have more appearances in the second book even if she isn’t the “main” character of the story. I just can’t help liking her!

Right, on with the story. To me it felt like it had a slow beginning and the action only started around the end of Chapter Six. Overall, it had pretty action sequences and imagery.

I can’t say more without spoiling so just get the book! I got it for $12.89 at Popular. The quality of the book is pretty good and it’s published by Candid Creation. If anything else, the writer’s blog is at http://ronnieng.blogspot.com to see upcoming books.

I’m definitely waiting for the continuation of Jeju Island and… PONTIANAK SLAYERS OF VAMPINES!

Sometimes you shouldn’t judge a book by it’s title.

School is gonna staaart!

While the website isn’t really completed, it’s technically 70% completed since I haven’t done a new showreel yet… Anyway, I figure why not just get on with the show on the blog side?

After all, this side is pretty much complete and you can read what I’m up to yet.

At the moment I’m about to start a part-time course for the Bachelor of Media Arts. Hopefully, I can get very very good grades for this.

Right! Besides uni things, I’ll be talking about LOCAL books. Or rather, some of them that aren’t your usual “Boohoo, agony, agony. I’ma giiiiiiiirl and you sold me” stuff.

I’m gonna try hunt down amusing/fantasy/romance stories published or written locally. If you’ve suggestions of anything, feel free to comment me.

The upcoming book I’ll review on would be a Korean Vampire story with a teenage Singaporean Vampire hunter… Yeaaah, I know but it seems to have a lovely potential about it.

Besides local books, it might have local writing events or perhaps competitions to publicize etc. Anything to do with writing and stories really.

So, let’s do this thing!