Today in class, we were asked to bring in an example of a piece of media that we would make. As I am writing a script, I brought a draft of the Power Rangers movie script. We were allowed to look through our material before our teacher put us into pairs to reflect on each other's source material and our own projects, both members of each having similar projects. I was partnered up with Jorge, a new student who is writing a vlog/podcast script for their Media Project.
I was the first to explain my material script and my own project script. I explained that the Power Rangers script that I brought was sci-fi and explained the features of that narratives by pointing out the excited-sounding dialogue and language used, as well as terminology used. I also explained that I used the same conventions in my script, including cool-sounding tech names such as "Cross Brace" and analytical-type dialogue. I then summarised the basic synopsis of my script, having it begin with a present, but then the rest of the script is a flashback to the past where it develops a preset-day character in their youth, and end the flashback with that character's triumph over their first villain, but the actual script should end with the character's successor in the present. I then concluded the reflection with explaining that key aspects will be introduced through dialogue, and characters would be introduced through text that describes the character.
Before Jorge explained his sources, we discussed briefly about my inspirations in Ben 10 and Power Rangers as well as sharing our opinions on the respective series. He then showed me a movie review podcast about the latest Star Wars film as his example for his script, saying that there are two people in discussion about one topic. Before he could elaborate any further, our teacher assigned us our homework of making the opening paragraph for our respective works. I had already written it out, but my teacher suggested that I improve it before uploading it to the Google Drive for review next week.
Tuesday, January 28, 2020
Media Project Process Post 1
This week I officially commenced with my Media Project 1 after gathering my inspirations in my Milanote, as seen below.
As stated previously, I have gathered inspiration from Ben 10, Kamen Rider OOO, and Kamen Rider Zero-One in terms of plot and design. In terms of writing, I sought inspiration from the Man of Action team who created Ben 10; Duncan Roleau, Joe Casey, Joe Kelly, and Steven T. Seagle. Inspired by his superhero roles in Supah Ninjas, Big Hero 6, and Titans, I modelled the main hero's appearance after famous actor Ryan Potter and a character with the role of his assistant and wingman after Steven Yeun, simply because I need a face and he looks okay in a beanie for the character. The main equipment driving the plot of the script is based mainly on devices the titular heroes of Ben 10 and Kamen Rider OOO use with the functionality of Kamen Rider Zero-One's equipment.
I have also begun to write the introductory scenes of the script, beginning with an introductory scene featuring the main characters of the proposed television show this script would be a part of.
As I am already somewhat used to writing a script, I had no trouble writing this part. The initial scene would be of a lightning-fast battle between an unknown hero and an unknown villain where the hero defeats the villain and triggers a traffic cam. In another scene set in the next day, the main characters of the proposed People Saver script this is based on appear to analyze the hero's photo taken before their creator chimes into their conversation and begins to recount his days as a superhero, which is when the first act commences. I am still in the process of planning the story but I am confident in this first draft.
Thursday, January 23, 2020
Media Project
I previously blogged about a 20 Ideas exercise in class where I jotted down as many ideas as I could under 20 minutes. I discussed an idea involving a school with superheroes secretly as students, but for my project I have chosen a different idea. This week I commenced in a term-long writing project that involves writing a script about a former superhero reminiscing in his glory days. I have begun to put inspirations on my Milanote of this project. My script is called Rise of Genus, which follows an old superhero reminiscing to his first days as a hero to his successors fifty years later. I actually had this idea for a long while when I was planning out a future television series that I based my Term 1 Major Project on: People Saver.
I was already inspired by several television shows on the premise and elements: the Ben 10 franchise, Kamen Rider OOO, and Kamen Rider Zero-One.
I was inspired by Ben 10 as it made up a large part of my childhood and was amazed by the titular character's ability to transform into aliens with different abilities. Kamen Rider OOO and Zero-One have similar powers, but instead of fully transforming into aliens they use different superpowers based on animals such as grasshoppers, tigers, and eagles. I chose my premise to be related to my previous project because I really like the idea already. Just like my previous Major Project, I will use Celtx to write my script.
I find Celtx, so far, to be an excellent software for writing scripts and I am most used to using this for its formats. There are many other bonus features with subscription plans, but a basic plan with just script writing is already good enough for me.
I hope this idea will be approved by my tutor so I can continue with this script idea.
References:
IMDb (2005) Ben 10. [Online] Internet Movie Database. Available from: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0760437/ [Accessed 21/01/20].
IMDb (2011) Kamen Rider OOO. [Online] Internet Movie Database. Available from: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1825371/ [Accessed 21/01/20].
IMDb (2019) Kamen Rider Zero-One. [Online] Internet Movie Database. Available from: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10333650/ [Accessed 21/01/20].
I was already inspired by several television shows on the premise and elements: the Ben 10 franchise, Kamen Rider OOO, and Kamen Rider Zero-One.
 |
| Ben 10 (2005-2008) |
 |
| Kamen Rider OOO (2011-2012) |
 |
| Kamen Rider Zero-One (2019-2020) |
 |
| Celtx |
I find Celtx, so far, to be an excellent software for writing scripts and I am most used to using this for its formats. There are many other bonus features with subscription plans, but a basic plan with just script writing is already good enough for me.
I hope this idea will be approved by my tutor so I can continue with this script idea.
References:
IMDb (2005) Ben 10. [Online] Internet Movie Database. Available from: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0760437/ [Accessed 21/01/20].
IMDb (2011) Kamen Rider OOO. [Online] Internet Movie Database. Available from: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1825371/ [Accessed 21/01/20].
IMDb (2019) Kamen Rider Zero-One. [Online] Internet Movie Database. Available from: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10333650/ [Accessed 21/01/20].
Wednesday, January 15, 2020
Travel Writing and Feature Writing
This week in my Media I class with Bettina Downing, we were learning about Feature Writing as well as going over our Travel Writing that was set last week for this week. To start off I shall discuss the Travel Writing assignment I was given. We were told to describe a place we know from our home country and describe it with all five senses in a way that it would attract readers. I chose a popular marketplace in Brunei that many people frequented to buy local food. I described it in detail with whatever memory I have of it to the best of my ability and I used an image of the market interior to help the reader.
On the Tuesday it was due, my class were tasked with peer-reviewing each other's works. I was to review Azeem's while mine was reviewed by Weronika and Luisa. Below is what they wrote under my document:
You created a very good in-depth descriptions that let the
reader feel like they were a part of it. The way you depicted it
was very captivating.
Very linear, there is no highlight of the story.
Weronika and Luisa, 14th Jan 2020
I felt very proud of this review, because I loved going to that market to purchase food there. Azeem's travel writing, however, was very short and was not that descriptive beyond sight and sound, so I gave him advice to expand it further with pictures and more sensory descriptions.
As for Feature Writing, we were taught that feature writing can be used in newspaper stories to give a perspective to a certain story by writing a short scenario of a fictional person in a real-life situation to put the readers in their shoes. We were tasked to create a piece of feature writing from some suggested topics or choose our own. For mine, I wrote about the advent of social media through the eyes of a young child who matures alongside the advancement of said technology. This work is due next week, but I have already completed most of the writing.
On the Tuesday it was due, my class were tasked with peer-reviewing each other's works. I was to review Azeem's while mine was reviewed by Weronika and Luisa. Below is what they wrote under my document:
You created a very good in-depth descriptions that let the
reader feel like they were a part of it. The way you depicted it
was very captivating.
Very linear, there is no highlight of the story.
Weronika and Luisa, 14th Jan 2020
I felt very proud of this review, because I loved going to that market to purchase food there. Azeem's travel writing, however, was very short and was not that descriptive beyond sight and sound, so I gave him advice to expand it further with pictures and more sensory descriptions.
As for Feature Writing, we were taught that feature writing can be used in newspaper stories to give a perspective to a certain story by writing a short scenario of a fictional person in a real-life situation to put the readers in their shoes. We were tasked to create a piece of feature writing from some suggested topics or choose our own. For mine, I wrote about the advent of social media through the eyes of a young child who matures alongside the advancement of said technology. This work is due next week, but I have already completed most of the writing.
20 Ideas
Because first week's Monday was skipped over, my first Monday was on Week 2. The first assignment of this week was to put down 20 ideas in 20 minutes. I had only put 13 ideas out of 20, all based on writing. Below is a sheet that I used to write these 20 ideas.
As you can see, all of my ideas are of scripts for episodes of a show.
All of these were already in my head as ideas for my own show idea: People Saver; centred around a group of robotic emergency responder superheroes who would meet the different superheroes in their city, which is full of them. When I was called out to pick a good idea, I chose the idea I wrote in the second column's third row; "Episode script abut school with superhero students". I elaborated more on this, explaining that the school's students were all secretly superheroes. None of the students knew each other were superheroes except for the team-based superheroes. I also added that the school is roughly 25 years old and since then, all the past and current faculty members knew about the students' secrets of being superheroes, but they told nobody out of respect and just deal with the messes they make every week with their fights.
I was inspired by the first three seasons of Power Rangers as the main heroes are high-schoolers who are secretly superheroes, as well as the anime series My Hero Academia, which in contrast the school is meant to teach students about being superheroes. The concept itself is a sort of spoof on the trope that Power Rangers helped pioneered where a team of superheroes are also attending high school, some examples also being some later seasons of Power Rangers, Totally Spies, Atomic Betty, and many other early-2000's cartoons. I thought that this concept would be funny for all the scenarios with all students excusing themselves to the bathroom to fight evil, except that multiple classroom's worth of students running out of the building at once to fight monsters just outside where the teachers and students can see, yet nobody suspects a thing, other than the teachers who are just used to it. It was one of my best ideas on the sheet and also the one that is most easiest to explain in a short amount of time. If I ever make a live-action television show, I hope to make an episode like this.
Other ideas that I liked were "Episode script about UNO-themed superheroes" and "Pilot script about gun-themed monstrous superheroes", both of which are inspired by the Japanese series Kamen Rider Blade and UNO, and the Japanese Amazon Video series Kamen Rider Amazons, respectively. If anyone reads this, please comment if you would like me to elaborate on the inspirations and contexts of the other ideas shown.
As you can see, all of my ideas are of scripts for episodes of a show.
All of these were already in my head as ideas for my own show idea: People Saver; centred around a group of robotic emergency responder superheroes who would meet the different superheroes in their city, which is full of them. When I was called out to pick a good idea, I chose the idea I wrote in the second column's third row; "Episode script abut school with superhero students". I elaborated more on this, explaining that the school's students were all secretly superheroes. None of the students knew each other were superheroes except for the team-based superheroes. I also added that the school is roughly 25 years old and since then, all the past and current faculty members knew about the students' secrets of being superheroes, but they told nobody out of respect and just deal with the messes they make every week with their fights.
I was inspired by the first three seasons of Power Rangers as the main heroes are high-schoolers who are secretly superheroes, as well as the anime series My Hero Academia, which in contrast the school is meant to teach students about being superheroes. The concept itself is a sort of spoof on the trope that Power Rangers helped pioneered where a team of superheroes are also attending high school, some examples also being some later seasons of Power Rangers, Totally Spies, Atomic Betty, and many other early-2000's cartoons. I thought that this concept would be funny for all the scenarios with all students excusing themselves to the bathroom to fight evil, except that multiple classroom's worth of students running out of the building at once to fight monsters just outside where the teachers and students can see, yet nobody suspects a thing, other than the teachers who are just used to it. It was one of my best ideas on the sheet and also the one that is most easiest to explain in a short amount of time. If I ever make a live-action television show, I hope to make an episode like this.
Other ideas that I liked were "Episode script about UNO-themed superheroes" and "Pilot script about gun-themed monstrous superheroes", both of which are inspired by the Japanese series Kamen Rider Blade and UNO, and the Japanese Amazon Video series Kamen Rider Amazons, respectively. If anyone reads this, please comment if you would like me to elaborate on the inspirations and contexts of the other ideas shown.
Tuesday, January 14, 2020
Welcome Back!
This is [REDACTED] Studios back in a new academic term. In this post I want to talk about something that I did over the winter holiday, which was watching Kamen Rider.
As I had mentioned in the previous term, I enjoy watching a long-running Japanese Television show called Kamen Rider and I have used it as inspiration in some of my sci-fi work. I had watched the weekly episodes of the concurrent season, Kamen Rider Zero One (pictured above), as well as finishing Kamen Rider Ghost, Kamen Rider OOO, and Kamen Rider W. I adore the series in a variety of aspects, from cinematography to storylines and themes.
The designs of the characters are also very intriguing, as all have an underlying insect theme in the presence of large eyes. Alongside with the design are weapons and equipment that are unusual for superheroes, such as the usage of USB drives in Kamen Rider W.
Displayed above is the titular character of Kamen Rider W; their design includes the iconic "bug eyes" found on every other Kamen Rider, which goes back to its roots in the original 70's show. On his waist is the Double Driver, which enables two people to transform into one superhero using Gaia Memories, which are devices that are used to transform. I admire the uniqueness of the character designs and it opens up new possibilities for superhero themes.
Basically, I like it because it's cool.
References
As I had mentioned in the previous term, I enjoy watching a long-running Japanese Television show called Kamen Rider and I have used it as inspiration in some of my sci-fi work. I had watched the weekly episodes of the concurrent season, Kamen Rider Zero One (pictured above), as well as finishing Kamen Rider Ghost, Kamen Rider OOO, and Kamen Rider W. I adore the series in a variety of aspects, from cinematography to storylines and themes.
The designs of the characters are also very intriguing, as all have an underlying insect theme in the presence of large eyes. Alongside with the design are weapons and equipment that are unusual for superheroes, such as the usage of USB drives in Kamen Rider W.
Displayed above is the titular character of Kamen Rider W; their design includes the iconic "bug eyes" found on every other Kamen Rider, which goes back to its roots in the original 70's show. On his waist is the Double Driver, which enables two people to transform into one superhero using Gaia Memories, which are devices that are used to transform. I admire the uniqueness of the character designs and it opens up new possibilities for superhero themes.
Although it is a children's show, because of different regulations in Japan than the rest of the world there are more serious elements to the shows from mental illness to actual murder. To contrast this, there are main characters who are optimistic and always ready to help others in need, whether they are Kamen Riders or their non-superhero friends. They are like this to act as a role model for children so that they can become better people through emulating their own heroes. One example is Gentaro Kisaragi, otherwise known as Kamen Rider Fourze.
As Gentaro Kisaragi, he is an extremely extroverted high-schooler who aims to make friends with everyone in his school, teachers included.
As opposed to Power Rangers' realistic interactions between human characters, Gentaro Kisaragi keeps an unrealistic belief that he is able to perform such a feat of befriending everyone he meets in a way that could be considered comedic. This comes to my next point: comedy. While Power Rangers typically have designated comedy duos for comic relief, Kamen Rider depends on running gags and occasional messing around casually by most of the main characters from heroes to villains. This allows for comedy to pop up unexpectedly without the intervention of two random dudes who would otherwise interfere with the plot.
References
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