STATEMENT

The group I was apart of was called JC Hope. It was made up of only two members, myself and Jonah from Creative Writing. We are two people whose lives have both come into contact with somebody who has commited suicide, teen suicide especially - more than once. With all these suicides happening and young lives being taken by their own hands, we want to reach out to the youth and let the world know the realness of teen suicide and that it is happening right in our backyards. People need to realise that just because its not happening right in front of you, doesnt mean its not happening. Our goal is to raise awareness of the high percentage of suicide rates, with New Zealand having the second highest male & female youth suicide death rate out of 13 countries. The role I played in our group was visual artist/graphic designer. I contributed to our group by taking Jonah's poem and turning it from worded art to visual art by creating suicide awareness posters. I also contributed through the use of my communication skills, graphic design/photoshop knowledge, people skills and listening skills. I have a passion for the youth. Even though I am still young, I am a leader at the Soar Dance Programme right around the corner from here, at Crosspower Ministries or the old Dziah Dance Studios. The programme is aimed at the youth of South Auckland and helps them get off the streets and into a positive environment, where they can share their passion for dance in a safe and loving community. I believe that these young people are the souls of our future and to see such young kids throw away their lives really saddens me. I want our project to be able to make a difference. Let them know that there is help out there and people you can approach so they dont feel so lonely. Some things I enjoyed while working with Jonah was actually being able to collaborate with someone outside of my art class. We usually just stick to ourselves but being able to see somebody elses art and passion in another form, which in his case is words, is so cool. It was a struggle having to communicate with Jonah though. We only ever saw eachother in classtime and outside of class, I would be really busy. I would email designs but not hear back. I learnt that I need to be more firm and understand that my work is a reflection on myself as well as the group. If I dont like something then I need to speak up or just change it because at the end of the day, I am the visual artist and if it doesnt look visually appealing, thats on me. I think my experience collabing with Jonah was the way it was because of our lack of communication and lack of motivation on my half. I wasnt fully committed to the project and as a result, I produced half-hearted work.  In regards to our project, I think if I were motivated to come to class and get my work done, I would have been more prepared for this assignment. To be completely honest, I never really turned up to class because I have some personal issues regarding me not liking a certain lecturer and not having any friends in my class, but I have realised that these feelings have a major impact on my education and they are things I have to overcome in order for me to better myself as an artist and as a student. I need to put my feelings behind me and be more professional about the situation. I think working in collaboration is definitely a challenge. You are always going to have clashes, especially coming from two completely different art majors. It also helps you keep an open mind. I used to think that words were just words but they are so much more than that. Words are powerful and they can be used to influence and inspire thousands if used in the right way. It was a good experience being able to work with somebody because I usually work by myself on my projects.

TERM FOUR | WEEK EIGHT

Monday

These are some of my redesigns. I still need to tweak them. I dont like the third design, the pictures in proportion to the rest of the poster doesnt look too nice. I also dont like the picture but it was the only decent picture I could find of him. The teenagers in these posters are people whose lives we have been in touch with that have been taken by suicide. They act as a sort of dedication to them. But you also get to see how happy and youthful they were before they passed. Their smiles remind me that they had so much ahead of them, and they were taken so soon. It makes me sad. These posters are much more interesting to look at than the last series of posters. I feel more confident with presenting these posters than the last ones. Hopefully we pass, fingers crossed.

TERM FOUR | WEEK SEVEN

Monday

I continued to work on the poster designs. These were the skeleton of the posters, theyre not in order. Id decided to use a typography layout as it looks more visually appealing but also incorperates the idea of alot of text. It took me quite a while to do each poster. I would say about 2-3 hours per poster. It was still too simple though. It needed more. A different background? I would ask myself. So I added a different background. I wanted to take out a camera and hire out the moving image room to get some shots of somebodys hand or face to make the poster just that little bit more interesting. Unfortunately, majority of the DSLR cameras were booked out and the only cameras left were the snapshot ones so I had to make do with what I had. I even changed the background to grey. It was still too simple. 

I added a background to these designs. It made them that little bit more interesting. I like these designs much better than the design above. I dont really like the first poster because of the ways its been laid out and the fonts I have used. The skeleton of the design could have been better, more interesting but we were running out of time and I still had to keep on top of my other two classes. Jonah did not want these designs. He wanted to go with the plain black because that was the feel he was going for with his poems. Like, I said I didnt mind and I dont like confrontation so I went with it, I trusted his decision.

Jonah said that purple and teal were the colours of suicide awareness ribbon. I personally did not like those colours but didnt tell him that, we had to compromise on something. We decided to go with black and white. I told Jonah that we could split the payment for printing the posters A1 size at the Warehouse stationery and I could print them out but he was confident that he could get them printed for free at school in A1 size. I asked him if he was sure that he'd be able to get them done by Wednesday, because I had filming all day for our advertisement outside of school. He was persistant. I trusted his word.So I emailed Jonah my designs (the black and white ones) and he told me we would be presenting on Thursday morning at 11am.

Class responses:

Grace/Sam/Monicas group: I really loved their creative use of light and how they used different ways to make different pictures using shadows. I also like how they incorperated spoken word and performance without actually showing themselves. I also got to know each person a little better after their story. Overall, I really enjoyed their performance.

Ali/Deana/Safaiyras group: Deana spoke really well and quite confident. I think their posters/photographs were about how society abuses women or it could be nature, Im not too sure. I didnt quite understand how their first installation relates to their second installation though.

Deborahs group: Their take on a real life video game was interesting. Id never seen anything done like that before. It did drag on though and I feel it could have been improved by use of different music or by cutting some unnecessary scenes out.

Thursday

Today was the day of our presentation and it could not have gone any worse. My mum starts work early these next couple of weeks so I have to drop my little sister off at primary school. We wake up at 730 and leave the house at 815. Except when I went to go start the car this morning, my battery was flat. Ive been meaning to buy a new one for some time but right now, thats not what was going through my mind. I started panicing because 1) my little sister was going to be late, 2) I thought I would be late for my presentation and 3) we were the only ones at home. Its just me, my mum and little sister who lives at home. So I called my sister who lives in West Auckland to come jump start my car. She wasnt too happy to be woken up at 8 in the morning but I was desperate. She got to my house at around about 9. I rushed my little sis to school then came to MIT. By the time I got there, it was 930-10ish. I saw Jonah, apologised for being late and asked him if he'd printed out the posters. He said no, he didnt print them out in A1. I tried to keep my cool. He said hed printed them out in A3 size instead and installed them. Not what I was hoping for but at least it was something. I went to go check on the installation and it seems that he had changed my design. He changed it to purple and teal and cellotaped them to the wall. I was grateful that he had done that but wished I had been there earlier to install them myself because I have pins in my locker. I also did not like how it had been presented with cellotape.... and how he had changed my design without talking to me about it. He asked for me to maybe quickly redesign the chorus posters and put the sunset background onto them while he was working on printing some other stuff. I told him he didnt need to, that the posters will be algood but he was persistant. I didnt think anything of it, so I went to the computer room across from him to redesign them and by the time I had logged in, Deborah walks in and says I had to be in class presenting. I said I thought we were presenting at 11 and she said no, now - in a sort of passive aggressive way asking where our posters were. I asked where Jonah was, trying to explain myself but she wouldnt hear it. So I had to direct the class to our posters by myself. I was so embarrassed to be presenting such, lets be honest, shit work on my own. Everyones reactions were kind of like making fun of it, laughing or not taking any notice. Its the worst work ive ever presented. So I stayed with the class for the rest of the presentations. After Ali/Deanas group, we walked to the next presentation room. We'd noticed half the class was missing after 7-10mins a girl comes and tells us that everyone was looking at "Jonahs Groups" work again, not realising I was in it. I said "wait, thats my group, why is everyone looking at it again?" We all walked back down and by the time we got there, everyone was already leaving. I didnt know what was going on and one of the lecturers say "Well if you were with us then you would know what was going on". I reply with "I have been with the class, we were waiting at the other presentation". People give me the sarcastic clap. I take no notice. It would seem that he had installed other things - Im not too sure what because i didnt have the chance to see it.

Point being, because I was the visual artist, I took the fall for what was visually unappealing which was the posters and how it was presented etc. It was very difficult when Jonah would do things without speaking to me first, we were a team but he was doing things on his own and I didnt appreciate how he'd changed my design and especially didnt print out the posters. We ended up having a borderline pass so we have to resubmit by next week Thursday. I am definitely going to have to take charge and redesign the whole series again.

Class responses:

Ali/Deana/Safaiyras Group: I thought their installation was very creative with the use of a ritual, it was very different. I liked how they used plastic bottles to create a sort of totem pole. I believe that Safaiyra who was dressed in white, represented mother nature or more so, her spirit because she looked pure.

Patis Group: I really loved their performance. Their use of acting alongside written word and performance art was vry creative. I believe their piece was about rape culture. I didnt quite understand why they were in white sheets though.

Tylers Group: I loved their video. I liked their cultural references and the video editing skills were on point.

TERM FOUR | WEEK SIX

Monday/Thursday

I had started on two very rough drafts of the posters and sent them to Jonah to ask him what he thinks of the designs. I emailed them to him and asked him what kind of feel he wanted his audience to feel when reading his poems, then I could get a better idea of how I could design it. He didnt get back to me which was a little frustrating so I had to wing it. With there only being two of us, communication is key if we both want to pass and he told me he had to repeat this course. But I still have faith in him. For some reason, he keeps writing more poems for me to use but I told him I didnt need them, we could just work with one otherwise it would be too much for me to handle. Keeping in mind, I was doing a series of posters for every poem he made. Having just the one to work with was fine. He also designed another poster with a sunset and his poem on the bottom. He also kept telling me that we needed our research and statistics to print it out and present on the day. He also wanted a video from our research to be presented with the posters but I thought that it shouldnt be shown because it isnt our work, its our research. By this time, I was very confused and I started to stress out because I thought we only needed to present our posters, but from what he was telling me, we had more work than I had planned. So I emailed the lecturers and they told me its not compulsory for us to have our research and it is not time-based performance, it is visual based. I tried to explain this to Jonah but its like he wasnt listening to what I was saying and said he needed to print out our statistics etc. Im pretty chill so I just let him be. I try to avoid confrontation and dont like being mean and bossy so I kept on with the designs.

TERM FOUR | WEEK FIVE

Monday/Thursday

Poems

"Why"

Tomorrow is always the same
You could come back to me
there would be no blame
If God would set you free
fly back to my arms
and take away this guilt
shelter you from harm
restore the love we built

Why did you leave without saying
Only wished you had told me so
Now I am the one thats paying
Why oh why did you have to go
when you knew I loved you so

Why couldnt you tell me?
I would have eased your pain
set your demons free
find happiness again
we could have had a happy life
you knelt down, took my hand
and promised to make me your wife

You could have said what was on your mind
I was your lover and best friend
If only I could turn back time
I would have told you before then
That was the choice you made
So now you will never know
the struggles I have to face
to raise our unborn child alone

"Mothers Rope"

you lock the door
within

take your seat
standing up

the rope
like your mothers cord
you take
for granted

haed down low
your shadow hangs high

you leap
now you fly

Reflection

During this week, we had been meeting with the lecturers as to how we were progressing. We hadnt done much. I did some brainstorms as to what I wanted our posters to look like. I was thinking of doing a photoshoot of some rope, relating to Jonahs Poem "Mothers Rope".

Poster Research

Heres some SUICIDE AWARENESS posters that I found visually appealing. My graphic style is more clean cut lines, with geometric shapes and bright colours. These posters are all simple but get the message across.

Magazine Ad 3 for the SAVE campaign, ww.kmart713.wordpress.com/tag/posters/

I like how this poster is black and white. The hand could represent and 'helping hand'. I also like how the text has been used in the creative way of being written on the hand. I feel like colour isnt needed in this poster. Very simple. I think that they could have used a different font. Can hardly see it against the hand, especially from a distance. You would want something bold and eye catching.

Suicide Awareness Poster, Mateo Stabio, www.old.mateostabio.com/portfolio/print/suicide-awareness-poster.php

I really like the image that was used for this poster. Its quite shocking to look at, as if the boy is being drowned. The poster is very very simple. Little use of words. The story is mostly in the picture. I think I would need to look at posters which incorperate more words because I am collaborating with a creative writer.

Anti bullying campaign, Joe Calzaghne, http://www.thefloatingfrog.co.uk/advertising-campaign/anti-bullying-campaign-fronted-by-joe-calzaghe/

This imagery is quite shocking to look at, almost disturbing. It will definitely catch the audiences attention. Nasty words form a rope around a boys neck as he is clearly hanging from them. This sends a very strong message that 'words can kill'. I love how they have sent this message through the use of text. The perfect idea of incorperating words and graphic design to send an important message to the community.

Posters incorpearating TEXT

Untitled, Camera Film Roll, http://www.camerafilmroll.com/2013/06/fridays-fancy_21.html

I love the bright, eye-capturing backgrounds in these posters and how well the text harmonises with them. I feel that this design is not suitable for our topic at hand because its not serious enough but they do look pretty.

Typography Poster Set No.1, Matt Edson, www.pinterest.com/pin/510806782706213354/

I love this series of typography posters. I love how it goes from black to white and how clean and neat the letters are against the background. I think instead of having just one poster, I could make a series of posters, with every verse on a different poster.

TERM FOUR | WEEK FOUR

Monday

Pitch Plan

Target Audience: New Zealand, mainly the youth of Auckland

Team Description: We are two people whose lives have both come into contact with somebody who has commited suicide, teen suicide especially - more than once. With all  these suicides happening and young lives being taken by their own hands, we want to reach out to the youth and let the world know the realness of teen suicide and that it is happening right in our backyards. "Just because its not happening here, doesnt mean its not happening".

Idea Description: Film of somebody dancing to spoken word/poem or suicide awareness posters

Supporting points: To raise awareness of the high percentage of teen suicide in New Zealand. 

Key message: I want our project to make an impact, make a change, let the youth know that there is help out there.

Next steps:

- Research suicide awareness posters
- Brainstorm/sketch poster ideas
- Take photos??

Research

STATISTICS

- Suicide rates are a sign of the mental health & social well being of the population
- Total of 478 people died by suicide in 2011
- 10.6 deaths per 100,000 population
- Males have a significantly higher rate of death by suicide than females, with an age standardised rate of 17.4 deaths per 100,000 females.
- While the suicide rate is higher for males, more females are hospitalised for intentional selfharm
- Suicide is also more common in deprived neighbourhoods. In 2007 the suicide death rate in the most deprived areas was 13.3 per 100,000. Significantly higher than the rate of 7.7 per 100,000 in least deprived areas.
- A comparison of the latest age standardised suicide death rates in 13 different countries show that NZ had the second highest male & female youth (15-24) suicide death rate

"Suicide - Social Report 2010", Ministry of Social Development, socialreport.msd.govt.nz/health/suicide

VIDEOS

1. "Requiem - Short film on teen suicide" - www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-eOr0LhrGo
Requiem is a short film following the last moments of a suicidal teen as he reminisces about all the pain and torment before he leaves.

2. "Dont give up the fight" - www.vimeo.com/15544348
Santa Maria (producer) in collaboration with the Ad council through DDB New York, created this campaign for teen suicide prevention. Developed a convept for a poem about teen suicide. The piece lives on a teen suicide prevention site along with many other films.

3. "Teen suicide letter" - www.vimeo.com/7397930
Lines from an actual suicide letter written by a young teenage girl. Faith community Chruch used this video as an illustration of how bad suicide really is.

4. "Teens Like Phil" - www.vimeo.com/59096759
Short film of a gay teen, Phil, and his former friend who brutally bullies him. Inspired by the high increase of high school bullying and suicide related tragedies.

Reflection

Today was really last minute and intense. I was in Australia for the first three weeks of school so I started back on Monday of Week Four. I got together with Jonah from Creative Writing as he was the only other person not in a group and I didnt mind working with him. He was easy to talk to, a pretty chill kind of guy. We came up with our pitch on the spot and were the last to present. I thought that it would be much harder for us because there are only two of us so there would be more pressure on us and we would both have to work five times harder but on the upper hand, we wouldnt have alot of confrontation with just the two of us. Jonah already had some suicide poems written out so he decided that could be our subject. I didn't mind, and went along with the idea. We did alot of research on the statistics of NZ suicides over the past few years. I really didnt feel comfortable presenting this pitch because I wasnt prepared or ready for it and didnt know what to talk about. Im also not very good at speaking in front of people or being put on the spot. When we went to present, I thought I would let Jonah do majority of the talking because it was his idea but when he did start talking (keeping in mind I had only met him two hours before), I quickly realised that he was equally as bad at speaking freely in front of people as I was. I did speak a few times about what we would plan on doing, such as I would make posters out of his poems or possibly a video. The lecturers leaned more toward the poster idea. Deborah wasnt open to the video so we scratched that idea. I think we okay for a two hour prepped pitch. I wish I could have been more prepared for it though but we did alright.

Thursday

Today we went over what the lecturers have told us on Monday. We'd decided to stick with the posters. The only reason why I wanted to choose to do the video idea was because Im better at video. I dont mind doing posters though. We did some more research on suicide awareness posters and what they looked like. I really didnt like majority of their designs because they werent visually appealing. I understand that suicide is a dark and sensitive subject but I just didnt like the designs I had found and couldnt pull any inspiration as to what I wanted our posters to look like. I also had to think about how I was going to incorperate his words into the posters. Jonah did some more research on suicide statistics, I think.

The font used in this poster is quite plain and not really appealing to me. It also doesnt go well with the background or the image used in the poster. 
 

I really dont like this design. The photo looks sort of corny and I feel like no effort was made towards trying to make it graphically appealing. The border doesnt go well with the background colour. I feel like they should have worked with the logos colours.

TERM THREE | WEEK EIGHT

Monday

Silent Communication

Visual, memory & observation:

- View photograph for 3o seconds

- Removes photograph

- Write down as much as you can remember

My memory:

- Chicken masks

- Black and white suits

- Puppy on a leash

- Stockings paired with Chuck taylors (fashion kill)

- Train

- People standing holding bars

- Public transport

Non-verbal Communication: Broken squares

- Groups of 5 & observer

- Game carried out in silence

- Each player given envelope holding puzzle pieces

- Observer + members given sheets to fill out at the end

- Purpose: win but assembling 5 equal sized squares

Self-reflection

1. Did I really enjoy the challenge of this game and take on the task openly?

I found it quite amusing having to communicate in silence. Im always open for a challenge and the activities in this course has definitely pushed me right out of my comfort zone.

2. Do I do this at work and in creative group work?

Usually when I work in a group, I like to let somebody lead the group. I dont like taking charge but I also like to help out as much as I can. 

3. Did I sit back when I finished a square and assume I was done?

I tried to help out where I could without taking over too much.

4. Do I do the same thing at work/life/creative relationships?

Yes, I dont like bossing people around unless it has to do with my own work (creatively) because I like doing things in a specific way. I generally work on my own anyway. In a work environment, I wait till I am told what to do. Im always afraid of making someone mad or getting in the way.

5. Did I assume I wasnt as good at this kind of game as others and only half-heartedly plays, letting others guide me?

I was pretty confident with trying to win but I also like helping out and letting someone lead the way. I like to think that things get done faster if we work together with someone leading the way because if there are too many chiefs/bossy people telling everyone what to do, it wont work out.

6. Do I ever do this at work/life/creative group work?

Yes, I always do what I am told.  I like helping people out whenever I can in terms of group work.

7. Did I have an overwhelming urge to take over, to do it for others?

Yes I did, it was frustrating to watch but I didnt want to annoy them and get in the way so I stayed out of it.

8. What price do I and others pay for doing that?

The other person will get frustrated and may start an argument - like I said before, it wont work out if there are too many chiefs.

9. Am I willing to ask for assistance when its clear I need it?

I only ask for help as a last resort. I usually try really hard to figure things out on my own because I dont have any friends in my class. If Im in desperate need of help then I will ask a classmate.

10. Did I do whatever it took to win at the expense of the rules or other players?

I generally stuck to the rules but to be completely honest, I may have pointed at a square a couple of times.

11. Do I have a tendancy to compete with others and cause the 'game' to be lost?

No. I try to avoid confrontation. Its always fun winning but Im not much of the competitive type.

12. Do I ever do this at work/life/creative group work? 

No I try to avoid it.

13. Did I keep too many pieces?

No

14. Do I tend to do that - to be less than generous in my work/life/creative group work?

No I try to be helpful when it comes to group work

15. The rules say the game is only won when the all teams are finished. When my team was finished, did I care about others?

I was just happy it was finished, wasnt thinking too much about the other groups. I didnt really care.

16. Did I feel good about finishing before the other teams and tease them?

No, thats mean and inappropriate.

17. Am I ever like that at work/life/creative?

No, I tend to feel sorry for people who finish after me.

18. Did I have fun and not take it too seriously?

Yes, playing games is better than having to do classwork.

19. Do i do this at work/life/creative?

Yes I always have fun playing games. Always up for a good time.

20. If I volunteered to be an observer, why did I choose that role?

I wasnt an observer

21. Did I feel safe or special not participating?

I did participate

22. Did I want to please other people by volunteering not to play?

No, I helped

23. Does that move reflect how I feel about working in a team?

I think so, I like being helpful in group work.

Self Directed Work

Questions & Responses

How is achieving success in this exercise similar to achieving success in a collaborative creative team?

We learnt to communicate with eachother and that communication is important if you want to work and achieve as a team. It was really challenging not being able to speak. I think when I work in a group, Ive learnt that I know how to communicate quite well with the other person and I listen to what the other person has to say as well.

List of skills/qualities I am already good at:

- Communicating

- Graphic Design (Photoshop)

- Video Editing (Premiere)

- Dancing

- Speaking to people

- Photography

- Listening skills

List of skills/qualities youd like your future collaborators to have:

- Communication

- Hardworking

- Persistant

- Organisation

- Easy to get along with

- Performance

- Confidence

Quiz

Juilian Treasure: 5 ways to listen better and make a response

 I found it interesting how our brain reacts to certain soundwave patterns and how we pay attention to them. Listening is our access to understanding. We choose to pay attention to 'filters' which are; culture, language, beliefs, values, attitudes, expectations and intentions. I also found it interesting that just 3mins a day of silence will help your ears adjust so you can hear the quiet again. Im usually always in a noisy environment with classmates, dance music etc. A helpful fact.

TERM THREE | WEEK SEVEN

Thursday

Creative Writing

Public Speaking Tips:

- Know your content

- Practice open speaking

- Share your writing out loud

- Not being afraid to fail

- Acknowledge that you have a body present

- Body language

- Meditate

- Lone time

TedxAuckland Video:

Grace Taylor the power of words

- Being afakasi: half-white, half-samoan

- Spoken word

- Sense of belonging - one place?

- First generation of Samoan living in South Auckland

- "Afakasi has no right to speak on these full-blooded affairs"

- Segregation

- Afakasi: badge of identity, product of migration

- Sharing her poetry aloud, carrying her journal with her, learning the power of words

- Vulnerability + poetry = freedom

TERM THREE | WEEK SIX

Monday

Trade off day

Weaving: Tyler taught us how to weave with paper. It was a very simple process but the paper tore quite easily and was hard to bend the way I wanted it to without fully folding it. It was still quite a neat technique to learn. She is in my visual arts class and it was good being able to learn something more hands on because my work usually consists of Photoshop and Premiere, which is on the computer.

Video: Jackson taught us some editing techniques on Adobe Premiere. I was already quite familiar with the programmes functions because I enjoy editing videos in my spare time and I also take moving image as my Workshop class. Its always good to learn new editing techniques though. He taught us how to use slow motion, cut and paste videos, and to reverse the video speed, which I didnt know how to do before.

That was all the time we had for our trade off day because Jacksons technique took up majority of our class time. I was planning on presenting how to edit a photo in Photoshop and changing the RGB curves to give the photo a more grainy/professional look to it.

Thursday

Treasure Hunt

We had to be in groups of 5+ and were given tasks to complete during class. We worked mostly as a team to get the tasks done but eventually ended up splitting into two groups where one half stayed at school to get the research tasks out of the way while the other half went to Fresh Gallery and did the running around/physical tasks.

Our tasks we completed:

Im not too sure if you can see the images clearly, but these were our notes from the treasure hunt. I will hand them in physically if needed. We thought we had finished everything but turns out we got some of the questions wrong and had to re-do them. We didnt end up placing but was interesting working with other people. I felt like I was doing majority of the researching though, but was still a fun exercise.

TERM THREE | WEEK FIVE

Monday

Video: Two cars, one night

Three children named Romeo, Ed and Polly wait in two cars in a parking lot while their parents are inside a bar drinking. The girl and boy who start off as rivals, soon become friends, possibly more than that.

Q&A:

1. What aspects stand out for you in a positive way?

The children remind me of my little cousins and the dialogue is quite funny. I can relate, being maori myself. It is like a typical scene you would see up north.

2. What aspects in terms of film making did you notice worked in this movie?

There was dark/little lighting and it was filmed in black and white which gave it a sort of 70s/80s feel.

3. How did the movie portray benign violation in terms of humor?

The boy telling the girl that shes ugly, the girl retaliates by calling him a dick. She also pokes the fingers at him later on.

4. How does the music affect or influence the audience?

The music is a kind of soft, subtle, high pitched tone and is used sparingly. I think they use the music to create a 'moment' in the short film, where the audience has to think between the lines as to what is really going on when the music starts. Like when the girl looks at herself in the rear view mirror, the music begins and it makes us think that she is probably looking at herself wondering 'Am I ugly?' in reference to the boys name calling because she may actually care about what the boy thinks of her.

5. Did you think the film follows Aristoles pity, fear, catharsis?

Yes i do. The pity part is when the boy calls the girl ugly, and she looks in the mirror asking herself 'am i ugly?'. The fear is when the man with the moko/maori tattoo on his face drives past looking quite intimidating. Or it could have been the part where the boy tries to scare the girl by getting out of his car and jumping up by her window. Catharsis is when the girl gives the boy a plastic ring to remember her by, creating a possible love interest. It is only something simple but to the boy, it meant alot to him. This leaves us with an open ending of whether or not they will see eachother again.

6. In terms of script writing, how well did you think the script worked?

They used alot of slang and causal speech. They have a very thick New Zealand accent, making the film very realistic and relatable to alot of people. 

Thursday

Ideas for Trade-off on Monday 1st:

- Photoshop skills

- Adjusting contrast & levels

- Make a paper flower

- Make a loom band

Above is my brainstorm for my trade-off ideas. Below is the video I was going to use for my tradeoff.

 
Creating a gritty, high contrast, desaturated look for images
My video for the trade off on Monday 1 September.

TERM TWO | WEEK FOUR

Monday

Performing Arts

Activity Responses:

Status game: We were all given a paper that was stuck to our heads with our 'status' of if we were a high status, or a low. We had to guess what status we had recieved. I learnt that people treat you differently because they see you in a different light. People were generally more polite towards the higher status's. I ended up with a 'H' but thought I was an 'L'. I was confused because I had recieved a compliment from a girl which made me think ' Okay, I must be an H'. But then Jackson came along and said that my eyes were red as if Id been somking marijuana so I just assumed I was an L. Interesting game to play. In relation to how I think of myself in real life, I think of myself as more of an M kind of person. I try to carry myself well, being confident but not cocky and I always try to be nice to others. Im also quite shy in front of people who are more louder and outgoing than I am but get more comfortable if I get to know them.

Tail game: My partner was Amanda and our task was to grab other peoples tails while still trying to protect our own, similar to tag. I had alot of fun playing this game. I also interacted with people in the other arts classes. I found it hard to protect my own tail and trying to grab other tails so I just focused on protecting my tail. The funniest part was when the whole class split into two long lines.

Story game: One half of the class was sent outside and they were to to come up with a story to tell the other half of the class in pairs. I was apart of the group who stayed inside and our goal was to act as if we werent interested in what they were telling us, then in the last minute, suddenly react to what they were saying and be completely into the conversation without giving it away. It was like a subtle acting activity. It came naturally to pretend like I wasn't interested, I kind of just looked away and played with my nails, even though i did feel abit mean/rude. It was easy to tune in and listen in the last minute. Debs from creative writing said I was really good to the point where she actually thought I was being rude LOL. I took it as a compliment.

Script/improv game: I was in a group of four and I chose to do improv because the script seemed a little awkward and Im not very good at remembering things when being put on the spot. Our task was to incorperate the storytelling formula of having pity, fear and catharsis. Our story was that we were going camping, Amanda and I argue because she didnt want to help with chores, she storms off and Grace feels sorry for her - that part being the pity. The fear part was Grace and Kat worrying about Amanda going missing. Our ending was that Amanda just went to go take a poo (we couldnt come up with a better ending). I found it really hard to act in front of others. It is definitely outside of my comfort zone and made me feel really vulnerable while everyone just watches your body language and what youre saying, you have to pay attention to everything your body is doing. Even though I dance outside of school, acting is much more different and its quite difficult to think of things on the spot. Happy I pushed myself to do something out of my comfort zone though.

TERM TWO | WEEK THREE

Monday

Guest Speaker: John Pulu

- Tangata Paskifika

- Industry Based

- Word experience at OC for Tangata Pasifika

- Communications degree at AUT

- Unpredictable job

- 'Stories that make a difference'

Class response: I like how his job is unpredictable. He could be in NZ one day for a wedding and the next, in Tonga for the Tongan King's funeral. I also found it interesting how he edits his own interviews. I thought that someone else gets paid to edit Tangata Pasifikas videos. I wouldnt mind getting into the television industry for video editing, filminf, photography or graphic design. John's speech gave me abit of an idea as to what its like to work for TVNZ.

Thursday

Performing Arts

Aristole

Storytelling Formula: Greek Theatre

- Develop pity

- Turns into fear

- Catharsis

American movies:

- Fast rolling/hitting

- Less talk, less dialogue

- Action

- Happy ending

- Visual

European movies:

- More dialogue

- Heartfelt

- Less action

- Sad ending

Video:

The mystery of Storytelling: Julian Friedmann @ TedxEaling

Actors:

Watcher: someone who takes in information & gives it back

Pusher: someone difficult to work with, a know it all, usually gets main parts in acting because is noticed more

Class response:

Name game: Kind of boring and pointless because I forgot everyones names afterwards.

Zap game: Boring at first but was quite interesting to see my classmates, especially creative writing being taken out of their comfort zone which is usually at a desk with a book and pen in hand

Trust game: Definitely broke the ice. Talked to some people I dont usually talk to. Everyone was much more talkative after this activity. I enjoyed the feeling of walking with my eyes closed, it was very thrilling. Also funny watching other people become skeptical as they got nearer to the end.

Storytelling game: Found it a little difficult to think outside the box. Amanda and mines story was quite hilarious though.

Grandma game: Really fun game. Had fun collabing & working as a team. Im so used to working by myself for visual arts. I enjoyed the game.

TERM TWO | WEEK TWO

Monday

Creative Writing

Where I'm From Poem:

5 Senses

Feels like: hot towels fresh from the dryer

Smells like: burning wood in the cool night time air

Tastes like: sweet potato in my mouth

Sounds like: the birds chirping at 5 in the morning

Looks like: mountains and mountains of forest in your backyard

5 Word Poem

Where I'm from morning dew turns grass to crunchy green icicles

Where I'm from smells of dirt and fauna from the forests sheddings

Where I'm from, the air tastes sweet and fresh

Where I'm from is surrounded by the sound of childrens laughter

Where I'm from, the front step is muddy from visitors

Where I'm going, I don't know

Second Poem

I am Samoan-Maori and proud

I wonder what my grandfather was like

I hear the kettle boiling

I see my family working to cook up a storm

I want to know the Samoan language

I am Samoan-Maori and proud

I pretend to understand when people speak to me in native tongue

I feel uneasy not knowing enough of my culture

I touch the rough material of the falas

I worry about my lack of cultural knowledge

I fear about not being able to pass it onto my children

But I am Samoan-Maori and proud

I understand to respect my elders

I say talofa and tulou, to be polite

I dream of going to Samoa

I try to understand the fa'asamoa ways

I hope to fully understand one day

I am Samoan-Maori and proud

Questions

If you could tell a story, what would it be?

A story of a samoan girl who was brought up in a culturally deprived environment - no knowledge of her history, ancestors, family, language etc. Attended a predominantly white/asian high school. When she leaves school gets the opportunity to meet her extended family and the opportunity to work with people of her own culture, she finally realises what she has been missing out on.

Thursday

Creative Writing

Metaphors

Subject (untangible

+

Object (tangible)

+

Action

eg.

Joy + Cup + ?

Emotions paired with Objects

- Depression + Book

- In love + Ocean

- Happiness + Cup of tea

- Sad + Ink

- Bored + Wind/breeze

Own metaphor:

- The depression engulfs me as if flipping through a boring book

- My love is as vast as the ocean

- My happiness was as fufiling as a hot cup of tea on a rainy day

Found Poetry Exercise

The Struggle is real task

- Rip out words from newspaper articles

- Relate to struggle

- Create a 'found poem'

- Using environment around you

- Pulling words

- Books, magazines

Our initial sentences:

- A supersonic bloodhound living the dreak in a pure filthy supermarket playing lotto with power blasts

- Complex sale looms as pot properties causes mania in Onehunga

- A big statement when good buys become goodbyes

-Savage new prices

-The struggle is obsessed with power

- Death notices down and dirty

- Electric rubber in the world, numbers and colours hurry limited

- Used kuga charmed by sexy four - door. The struggle is real

- 2014 is a struggle. Yeah the struggle is real!!!

Actual poem:

'The Struggle is real'

The struggle is down and dirty

The struggle is the ultimate death notice when living the dream

The struggle is when good buys become goodbyes

'The struggle is real'

Class response: There were five people in my group, we all ripped out words and put them into a poem by working as a team. It was an alright exercise. I found the metaphors very hard to work with because I'm not very strong with words, like explaining things or getting my point across clearly let alone being creative with words. It was a good challenge though.