Week 1
Ex 1 - My Best Friend
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On my way to Blochaus Marrickville my phone buzzes. The screen lights up with a text from her. ‘Me arrive 1450.’
I’m grinning as I type in my reply: ‘LOL same’. The sun’s rays scorch the top of my head as I walk towards my destination. ‘OMG why is it so hooooooooooot.’ I send off another text.
Not even a second later before my phone buzzes again. ‘Is so hotttttttttttt’
Another buzz. ‘ALSO I got bread’
I snickered. Classic of her to randomly change the topic from the terrible heat to food. My fingers tap furiously on the screen. ‘Issokay’. ‘I had lunch b4 coming’. I could imagine her pouting at the fact that I said I had lunch, as the ‘…’ pops up and disappears for a few times.
‘Is okay’. She replies. ‘Is good bread’
I get persuaded.
‘Just one bite then πππ’.
‘OMG’
‘Wrong emoji’
‘πππ’
The ‘…’ pops up and disappears a few times again.
‘HAHAHHAHAHHAHHAH’
‘Slssssssss’
‘Diuuuuuuuuu’
‘Me blind in the sun’
‘So shinyyyyyyy’
Reflection:
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The writing exercise was fun, but I had a bit of trouble trying to figure out where to start my writing from. The goal was to show and not tell, which was where the challenge laid for me - I realised I had no idea how to describe my best friend by showing but not telling. My decision led me to use a recent day out with her to reflect her bubbly personality, which eventually resulted in the piece on the right.
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The filming exercise was interesting. With a requirement of 12 different angled shots and a flashback scene, the easiest way to do so was to lose something, with a flashback scene of where I last saw the missing item, then find it later. Later when editing, I realised we repeated a few angles, and also had footage filmed from different advice (due to the blackmagic camera loaned malfunctioning). This led to a bigger challenge when colour grading as iPhone quality was very different from blackmagic camera quality.
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Funnily enough, I acted as the character who lost something in this short film, and actually lost the item later that night π₯²
Week 2
Reflection:
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The writing exercise was exciting. The moment I knew we were to write about a location, I could already imagine the exact spot I wanted to write about - 143 Liverpool Street (featured in my assignment 1 as a location too). Using sound descriptions to capture the essence of that place became easy, as sound was a big part of dance training, and I frequented that place to train with fellow breakers.
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The filming exercise was slightly challenging when we had to also try to provoke questions of who is watching, while starting with what appeared to be a still shot. This week, I was only acting, and while it was fun, there was also a challenge for me to not be awkward in front of a camera as I was very self-conscious about it.
Ex 1- location
Standing across the street from 143 Liverpool Street, the city is shrouded in darkness but lit up by lampposts, traffic lights, and shop signs. The space itself is not much brighter, with just a few overhead lights. Although dimly lit, it feels warm. The speaker blares as breakbeats are played from my brother’s phone. Around me, the sounds of chatter flows over the consistent whirls of traffic, occasionally interrupted by squeaky sneakers on tiled flooring, and other breakers clapping and cheering each other on.
I walk into the spot, crowded by breakers attending the training jam that my brother hosts and looking especially packed. I make my way across the cypher circle in the middle greeting each breaker as I go, and receiving smiles and “how are you?”s in return. My brother is still stretching out on one of the side corridors, switching into his breaking shoes. I tiptoe across, jumping onto his back. “Ouch what the f*ck?” He groans. “Charlene is that you?” I say nothing, giving him a hug. “I didn’t know you were coming! What happened to being scared of 143?” He teases me. I grin. “It’s the people.”
Week 3
Exercise 3 - family
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It was the day I was meant to fly in to Sydney - during covid no less. My block was at risk of being put under lockdown just a few hours before my flight, so my parents decided to make a mad run for my grandma’s place that was just a 10 minute drive away from home.
When we knocked on her door at 4pm she was very surprised. “δ½ εεεε©εοΌ” (“What are you guys coming here for?”). “ειΏι£ε” (“To take refuge.”) She laughed, smacking me on the arm. “ι£ει£ι£―εοΌ” (“Do you want dinner?”) We nodded. Tying on her apron, she set about to working in the kitchen. I stood at the kitchen door, watching her busy herself around in the small kitchen. The sizzling of the oil, along with the aroma of her tasty cooking reached me. I stood there, silent, taking in everything for one last time. It would be a long time before I would get to see this scene again. Seemingly sensing my low energy, she turned around. “εε’εεοΌ” (“Everything okay?”) I nodded, sniffing slightly. Gran saw through my facade, and pulled me into a hug. “εδΊε οΌε₯½εΏ«θΏεγ妔 (“It’s okay, you’ll be back soon”) I nodded again. It would be before I knew it.
Reflection:
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Family was always hard to write about for me, as I had never had a good relationship with them. I was racking my brains trying to find something to write about for this exercise, and the only thing that I could come up with was this small moment that was more or less rare for me.
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In terms of the filming exercise, I partook in quick sketching a storyboard (which was unfortunately not on my iPad), and also coming up with the storyline. Our plot twist for this was that the stalker is the online profile of the stalked, which essentially meant whoever was acting would have to act as both. Again, I was editor for this week as well, and faced a minor challenge when the transition shot from the stalker scrolling on the phone to when "she" looked up. I could only use a cross-fade transition, which i felt like could have maybe been improved by using masking instead.
Week 4
Exercise 1 - Audio recording
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Reflection:
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The audio recording was the script for my assignment 1 photo essay, and while recording itself wasn't hard, I felt like my reading the script sounded kind of flat - there was not much emotion in it apart from me trying to make it not sound flat, which in hindsight was still just as flat.
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In terms of the filming exercise, I took a more passive role, suggesting ideas for the rought storyline and only acted in it. However it felt like some improvement from my acting in Week 2, as I was interacting with someone, which made it easier for me to forget about the existence of the camera.
Week 5
Exercise 1 - 2 still shots, identify all lighting
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Exercise 2 - bird's eye view set design of above shots
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Reflection:
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This week's exercise was the hardest so far in my opinion, as I had always not been sensitive to light, especially when it came to specific lighting requirements and shots - I could tell if the lighting was good or bad for a still photography, but not when it required specific identification of lighting type and its positioning. As such, these 2 exercises took much longer than I thought, and I ended up working on it at home instead. While it was challenging to complete, I also had a lot of fun analysing the lighting, which gave me a deeper understanding of how to play around with lighting, as well as how composition works in tandem with lighting.
Week 7
Ex1 - 50 words on what your project is about that is unique to the group. What is ur interpretation of this great scene - your point of difference? What will you bring to it that is fresh?
It is an indoor scene set in a dark little room, featuring 5 male actors. An interrogation scene where emotions are high and everyone is tense. I would like to try and bring a change of gender to this scene, as to me the scene traditionally portrays masculine aggression and power dynamics. By changing the gender of one or more characters, I hope to explore how tension, authority, and vulnerability shift when these roles are reimagined — revealing new emotional textures and social commentary within the same dramatic framework.
Week 9
Ex1 - How will u market ur film? Poster? Trailors? “Press interviews?” “Blog? Bts?
If I were to market this short film, I would definitely make a social media account for it. Content posted would include behind-the-scene moments from pre-production all the way till post-production, even before the "official release" of the short film. Preferably, these content posted would all hint or relate to specific moments in the short film to create curiosity and suspense within the audience. This would lead to the audience in actually watching our film.
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After the release, I would try to hold various mini-screenings with friends and family, where they would watch the short film, followed by a short QnA session, where they could ask questions and I could also share about fun moments during filming. I would also ask them to share the film with their friends and family, thus further spreading the film to public.
Assignment 1
This story is heavily based off my own dance journey, mostly focusing on the 3 years since I arrived in Sydney for university. Starting in 2022, going through all the ups and downs over the last two years and gradually improving currently, I’ve come to see dance as more than just movement—it’s become a mirror of my personal growth. Every routine I struggled with, every injury, every breakthrough in confidence reflects the larger process of finding my place in a new city, community, and version of myself. Through this piece, I want to capture the uncertainty, resilience, and quiet determination that come with learning to trust your body and your path, even when both feel unfamiliar.