Samantha Wills

Yesterday morning, went to Samantha Wills' office to film a documentary on her. It was really cool and unbelievable meeting her in person. She was very friendly and open. Her jewellery designs were simply awesome. See the photo below.


Samantha gave me those nice-looking brochures especially the red one. Inside them, there are beautiful jewllery designs. 

Spent about 2.5 hours filming her talk, talk and talk about everything with the TVR 950 video camera. Which means I had to hold it in the air while she was talking! Also lugged the audio recorder and tripod back to the resource centre. Now, my arm is sore but not so painful.

It was something of a good experience, having been to her office and film everything about her. Next Sat, my classmate cum interviewer and I will go there again to film her, her friend and her boyfriend having an aerobic session. Hope the documentary wont be so boring with different focuses on her life.

Once again, if anyone of u want to know who Samantha Wills really is, you can do so at http://www.samanthawills.com.au/

Today's Events

Former Colleagues
Things sure change alot now.. just got news that a former good colleague is getting married next month and is going to follow his wife to Melbourne since she's going to work there. I might meet up with him sometime in Melbourne.. i also want to pay a visit to to my relatives there. Another good ex-colleague has recently given birth to a cute baby daughter.

Appointment with Laurie
This morning, was late for my appointment with Laurie who is the equity and disability officer at her office. I thought it will take me some mins to burn video files to the cd but I forgot the files were way too large for a cd. So had to get out the external dvd writer and burnt them to the dvd. Took me some time before I could pass the dvd and cds to her for transcripting. She had said in her email that someone would do the transcripting on the photoshop video files. I really felt good, having known i dont have to find someone to help me transcript these video files or pay him/her to do that. that's an benefit of such a disability law that is enforced here but people have to make an intiative to make use of the benefits. in other words, if u dont ask, they wont help you. karl told me his mum gave him effective advice: "If you dont ask, you dont get it"

Panorama view of Sydney
Was waiting for Laurie and so, went to have a view of sydney outside the building. Saw the plane on the runaway over there, also ocean, little houses, the round lawn and everything else. It made me think and realise why I was here. I am here for a purpose. Sydney looks so different from Singapore. At the same time, I was reliving those memories which my sister and I had the meeting with Laurie the last time. That was the only time we had a talk with her. Today was my 2nd time with Laurie.

Short animated films
Attended lectures as usual. Enjoyed the cute short animation films Steve showed us. It left me wanting to do better in 3d animation - i'm dying to come up with my 1st short animation film like those films. Some of the films were so different, so much entertaining and unusual. The stuff came out alive as if they were real. Also very creative and artistic. One of the film was entirely done in 3d but before I was told of that fact. I thought the background was real except that animated little guy on the table. There was also a hand-held camera style - the screen panned there or here and zoomed on that little guy in and out much like the way an amateur films wih his hand-held camera.

Another short film "The Beauty of Life", I really like that one. Its a German film and won awards, Steve said. I had to see for myself and yeah it was a good one. Sincere and creative!

At the moment, I am doing basic animation on the "puppet" model. I am doing the skipping rope, jumping and squating at the same time. I look at the video clips that I made of my friends doing those actions for reference.

Sans Soeli
Personally, I find it boring. Really. What is it about, u ask? Its a movie, the last screening for today's digital video lecture. It simply showed Tokyo's people and what they were doing and also Japanese stuff such as that cute famous cat where u see at shops and food stalls in Singapore. There is a cat temple! with lots of smily famous cat statues. There was a voice narratation in the background. There were also African stuff. There was a scene where I felt sorry for the giraffee, it was shot in its chest and blood came out splurting ... if you cut your major artery, it will burst and lots of blood will come out like a jet of water. couldnt believe that was happening. and when it was dying, the hunter came and shot its head. poor little animal. yeah horrible sight. *grim*

Anyway spent almost 2 hrs watching that movie and i almost dozed off several times during the movie. its not really a movie, its more like a documentary but no people being interviewed. only everything on japanese and african stuff with the voice saying something on some scenes.

Camera Equipment
I must be an idiot, having to bring all the heavy equipment home without any help. Well, I have borrowed the manfrotto (i learnt that new word, its a camera tripod), TVR 950 (video camera model) and TASCAM DAT, an Digital Audio Tape recorder on loan. In any case (if you dont know), there's a Resource Centre where students especially BDM (bachelor in digital media) borrow camera stuff like the way students borrow books. and yeah we have 2 borrowers' cards each. Anyway, will manage to carry them home.

Sound
Before leaving the centre, i was embarrassed with some people looking at me. The staff said I have to take a proficieny test before I can borrow a DAT and test it on the recorder. what the heck... i thought it's for non-BDM students. anyway if required, i dont mind doing the test, i want to prove to them anyway. but then there's no need. The staff was quite kind, he lent me the manual on the recorder. i cant believe i was actually testing the sound recorder when i am totally deaf... what a joke... i think i am in self-denial partially. Thats probably why I proceeded to study this course.

I want to hear.

I want to do sound media subject for next semester. I told Karl about that subject a few days ago and he looked as if he couldnt believe me. deep in my heart, i want to do it coz i want to try. but if my hearing ability doesnt allow, looks like i have to be realistic and take another subject to replace it. anyway he also told me about simon hunt who is the tutor for that subject, he says simon is very cool and good. very good at music. it added to the reason why i should take that subject but of coz i have to be practical about it. hence i will have to see simon hunt personally before session 2 commerces.

Tomorrow's Documentary
Just a summary to let u guys know what i will be doing tomorrow. will go to samantha's office to film a documentary on her with all the camera equipment with my classmate. hope everything goes smoothly. Oh yes which reminds me.. gonna make it in a funky, moving style like the way the camera people do in reality shows.

John Safran Vs the Exorcist
Yesterday, saw a good documentary "John Safran vs the Exorcist". I liked the way the camera did to John Safran and the exorcist. so much more interesting than seeing a common documentary. and also very intriguing, and even scary. John Safran is a well-known, witty, informative and eloquent host but umm with a wicked sense of humor, saw him talk about music stuff. Anyway back to the topic. Before u watch it, let me warn you, its scary and it may affect you if you are deeply devoted to your religion. That christian (i think) exorcist said John had serious issues and there were demons inside him. He has to get the demons out of John. John was struggling and screaming while the exorcist was saying verses. john was very convincing, dunno if he's acting or not. But if he was really acting, he could go to hollywood. It was one of the best documentaries I have even seen. Two cameras, moving scenes, catching John's screaming and people spouting words at him "Out! Out!" and good sound effects.

End of the Story... Before I sign off, I promise you guys with photos the next time I blog again. In other words, I gonna revamp my blog with some changes. I dont want to bore u guys with same boring and long stories. I know how it feels like reading all the words without photos or graphics. ;)

Till then!

So what did i do last week?

A night with Sis, Ben and the dogs
that friday and yesterday was fun, spent a night with Sis, ben and the dogs at her place. the dogs were sooooooo cute, played with them. also filmed Sis and Ben walking the dogs in the afternoon.

watched some dvd movies "ice age", "monestor inc" and "someone like you" which Sis and Ben rent for me. i liked "monestor inc" better than "ice age", very creative. the 3d effects were so awesome, and i reckon, in order to be able to do something like those 3d stuff in those movies, i would probably take a few years to reach that level. rite now, i am taking baby steps in maya.

Visiting friends' places
went to a friend's place to brainstorm ideas for our project. her home was nice, much bigger. her room was also bigger, got a queen-sized bed! also visited karl's place, he lived in a 1-room apartment. quite nice too. both of them rented those places for $195 and $160 per week.

A friend's belated birthday
after discussing the project, went to celebrate that same friend's belated birthday at a popular thai restaurant in newtown which was well-known for delicious food (that's what sis said to me). that restaurant was awarded the best thai restaurant in sydney in 2002. yeah there were lots of people eating and others waiting for their seats - they were queuing up. the food there was very good!

Following
lst Thurs, watched a very interesting movie during lecture. its called "following". out of sequence narrative style. in b/w too. at 1st was quite confusing but u finally got the whole picture at the end of the story. something different, u wont follow the story from the start to end as usual. you piece that or this together as the movie went back and forth. overall, very interesting. its by chris nolan.

Pixar Shorts
if u have time or like 3d effects alot, i suggest u watch short animated 3d films on Monestor Inc DVD. Inside it, there are 2 short films called "For the Birds" and "Mike's New Car". That 1st bird thing is damn cute... i like it so much! Mike's New Car is funny. Anyway there is another feature which is outtakes. also funny.

Andy Polaine's articles
Happened to see his name on some Desktop magazine at a friend's place. he wrote articles for that magazine. again i also saw his name and photos on a book "art and media" that karl borrowed. he also showed me john colette who was my lecturer for digital video. his name was also on that book. its cool to see some tutors' names and articles on mags or books.

Projects
most of the projects are due by week 14 which is the 2nd week of june. the last one is due on 15th june. that last one is a documentary. another one is flash project, another one is 3d animation which i have to come up with 2 different actions of the same model e.g running or jogging. another one is i dunno yet. will know only when time comes.

Holidays
Hols should be from 17th june onwards. until 24th july. any plans, u ask? mum and dad will visit me and my sister in early july. havent made other plans yet since my projects will come first. oh yes, i hope to come up with my own homepage if possible... and make some videos and flash programs... and maybe try to make some 3d modelling and animations during the period. maybe visit the blue mountains. and beaches and bondi junction too!

ok. time for me to collect my dry clothes and study. till then!

Lots of things to say...

ahem, wanted to write last week but dunno why i didnt write. i guess submitting projects was 1st priority on my mind. now that i completed a project and presentation, i can start writing!

i am quite happy that i submitted that project and that was a magazine cover. took me 3 days to take photos of the medicine and biology labs and add aliens to the photo. its cool to have some baxter friends who are studying biology and medicine - i asked them if they can bring me there. they agreed. cool! now i know where the medicine and other faculties are! and i feel things are falling into place cause got some results for two projects. was pleasantly surprised that i passed better than expected! it made me realise that if i made efforts and i dont give up, i will pass. at the beginning of school, i didnt know that or this coz it was totally new. could recall the horrible experience i had while doing the test and 3d modelling project. re-did 3d modelling alot of times and i was crying the moment the 3d graphics disappeared. at that pt, i couldnt take it after countless times of redoing that same thing over and over again.

yeah i didnt share that one wif u guys cause i felt embarrassed and also didnt feel like doing that.. anyway there were 2 kind souls that came to offer solace. so kinda a blessing in disguise. totally strangers but they lent a listening eye and offered to help me with 3d stuff. they are seniors in the same course, i found out. nice people! saw them again today at the guest lecture. felt so happy seeing them again. every time i think of them, i feel consoled that there are such nice people out there. not only them but also some of the tutors.

anyway last sat, initially planned to do project and read animation notes but a baxter friend begged me to accompany him, he hated going to the badminaton club alone. i finally relented and went with him. when i came onto the badminaton courts, i suddenly felt intimidated. people were playing so compeitively, u could actually hear sounds of the shuttlecocks flying to and fro the net loudly. told him we shouldnt come here. he agreed, he told me he was average at that. but then we put our names down. told him i'm a beginner (although i played badminaton as a child and last year, i just felt that i was not up to it.) and he looked surprised. "I thought singapore has gd badminaton players" i explained to him why.

it was our turn and we played quite okay. the first double players were patient with us and even taught us the rules and how to play better. then we played again with different doubles players after alot of waiting. indeed it was very popular with chinese people, u could see almost every chinese person.. only two ang-mohs in sight.

a few days later, that first girl whom i played badminaton saw me and vice versa at cofa! she was taking the same course in her 4th year. a concidence! she was persuasive, even asked me to join in the badminaton club's fundraising cause. i was like " er... see how.." she even asked me if i wanna go watch the latest star wars III movie.. i reacted in the same way.. hehehe cause i didnt want to pay for anything. :p

anyway that night (that same day which i played badminaton), my dear friend, Cherylene came to visit me. I brought her to Baxter and we had dinner. Also brought her around at UNSW and KIngsford which is a small town nearby. Densely populated by the Asian pple. its nice to see her again! we talked about everything all night. long time i never chatted in voice and sign language at the same time. initially tried to chat in sign language solely but it was rusty... haha oh well, i was never good at sign language actually. although it has improved b4 i came here.

oh ya last thurs nite also talked with my classmate all night. we also talked about everything.. many hours.. cant believe it.. she is really knowledgeable about everything on travel and oz! she travelled alot, to Europe, Nz and the snowy regions in Oz so far.. we also talked about ghosts, pyschics and relationships etc. i mean i never "listened" to a friend for that long! actually we were supposed to brainstorm a subject for our documentary project. yeah we are going to shoot a documentary!

we finally decided on samantha wills just 2 days ago. u can go to her website at http://www.samanthawills.com.au/collection/page1.html. my classmate says she's one of the world and australia renowned designers. so its kinda cool to make her as our subject. her earrings are very beautiful, u can see her photos of the jewellery collection. we had to finalise it cause if we present a subject, it will be stuck with us for the rest fo the documentary project. so we had to decide on a subject that we could make. there were lots of topics and some of them were good. but they were virtually impossible to make. for instance we wanted to focus on NSW's 10 years of drought and how water is very important and the need to save. which means we might have to go film NSW's 3 dams and snow ski resort where she visited (she made friends with that owner of the ski resort and the owner said they had to conserve water coz of drought) we might also have to film farms in queensland (yes its famous for farms) which were actually drying up cause of drought. all those details i didnt know. interesting huh, and i agree. that's why i wanted to document that one but will it be worth ... just for 3 mins of video?

anyway. now that we made samanatha wills as our subject and we presented our subject to the class, there's no turning back.

ok. yesterday was an interesting day. attended a guest lecture which was crowded with seniors and the rest. that cool guy, Peter MacDonalds showed us his very own short film called Harvey and also Directors' Reel. he was very good, dude! Harvey is a dark film, yeah... actually there were some 3d effects. go watch it and i'm sure some of u might freak but will sit throughout the whole video - its only 10 mins, i think. he's working for animal logic, a well-known 3d company in oz. u know, when i came up to him .. i was being kaypo.. cause my classmate was talking to him.. i wanted some postcards of that film from him.. :P when i saw him close and quite personal, i felt sincerity and niceness in him. bizzare.. although i dont know him at all! no wonder he said "wanted it to be stories not technology" anyway harvey is kinda powerful.. make you ask questions in your mind. and something u have not seen b4, totally different. and good direction! i like the way the video looked.

after the guest lecture, i also watched another B/W movie called "Stranger than Paradise" unusual style. the lecturer says it's the minialist style. story was kinda unusual - two boys and a girl (i know its cliche). just that it was filmed in an interesting way. suitable for those who have nothing to do.

hmm now i cant think what else to write on... guess its time to stop blogging. till then!

The Sahara Desert, Ghost & Sneaky Mouse

Just came across some beautiful photographs of the Sahara Desert.. well, i didnt know the name of that desert until i saw the English Patient on DVD at my sister's place a few days ago. That movie was a very beautiful story (no wonder it won some oscars!). Conicidentally there's an upcoming movie also called "The Sahara Desert". Well, I have seen that same kind of desert scenes flash across movies and TV but i just didnt know its name. all i did is admire the beauty of its nature... i know it's no man's land - lots of sand dunes, camels, no greenery and water.. yet i still kinda like the way it is... perhaps solitude and mystery of that desert draw me to it. Last year, i watched abit of Dune and Children of Dune miniseries. Again I was fascinated with infinite sand dunes and the dangers of the desert. Someday I hope to visit there and take some photographs... and if I have time, I will go read up everything on this wonder of the world in library.

Ghost.. u must be thinking whether i have seen ghosts or not. oh no, havent done it yet and i never dare to! way too freaky! if i really see a ghost, i would faint right away. ha ok.. last night watched Ghost, one of the popular romantic 80s movies. one of my old-time favourites.. when i was young, i didnt understand but i watched on cause of the magic moves the guy (ghost) did.. such as walking thru doors, trains and walls and moving something.. okay i was a little girl who didnt know much about ghosts then. i now full understand what the movie was about, thanks to closed captioning. another beautiful story. liked the ending where the guy was called back to heaven... it made me think... sorry but i might freak u out at the next moment. i know there are ghosts out there.. and i believe. Heaven and Hell too.. at the same time i'm scared.. i know there's life out there after death but i dunno where i go after death.. yaya i know u guys might say "dont say like that".. i'm also scared for my family.. kinda wish we all go to heavens but for me, i dont think i am qualified to go up there yet coz i am no saint.. i would feel much better if i stay on the earth.. i also dunno what'll happen to my family and i hope they will go to heavens.. then my mind will rest at ease. anyway.

Sneaky mouse... some of you asked me via msn.. its that computer mouse.. i was trying to do stuff on my computer as usual but the mouse didnt let me have my way. helped clean it up but it was not satisfied. still stubborn as ever. hope it'll get better after more cleaning up.

so what did i do last week? my classmates and i presented our projects (interactive program and video) and the tutors seemed to like 'em ... although they gave comments that could improve our projects. anyway watched others' videos and they were really really good! the same applied to interactive stuff. i remember 1 program which let the users click some food and the stomach will fill. when the stomach was way too full, a video clip appeared and showed the spinning of the scene and vomitting everything out in the sink and the gross sounds of the vomiting! another one which the users can click any type of musical instruments and click the guitar strings and there would be guitar sounds playing.. the same applied to drums where u click its metal "saucepans" and drums. sounded like u were playing drums in real life.

in between, there were so much stuff to read.. i havent still started reading although i read abit everyday... darn.. shouldnt have procastinated.. havent been doing weekly journals too (not this blog) i want to learn and practise on 3d stuff and photoshop. ya i wanted to do that during research week but those projects were taking much of my time.. didnt know editing video could be difficult especially when the unedited video was shaky and there were a few good scenes. yeah also realised relevant storyboarding and visions of what we wanted was important.. at least it would make editing easier.

oh yes, i remember now. really liked "The Littlest Robo" made by students of the Royal College of Art in UK. it was 2d-3d animation clip.. very nice! u should watch it if u have time. the tutor says students made that one with only 1 computer. cool! i guess, when u have a few resources, u will make best use of what u have to produce the best that it can be. its about a little boy and his Daddy. when the scene opened, it made u feel that you are watching it from 3D perspective. good art direction. the ending made me realise something..the ending was kinda a test for the audience.. whether the audience was good or bad. there was the little robot (playmate for the boy) who saved him from drowning while he was sleeping. the robot died coz water came contact with the electric currents of the robot. Daddy left it and carried his little son away. it made me and maybe some of the audience ask "where's the robot?" when the scene appeared to have an ending soon. if some didnt ask about the robot, then they might be heartless. yea, movie endings stir emotions and actions inside ourselves. anyway. do watch that little clip, its good!

okay. time for me dry my clothes and read up 3d animation notes.