Camera angle shots KAAAAABOOM*

Extreme Long shot : This is an extreme longshot of three people. All you can see is the body shape, but no clear features like there eyes, mouths etc. They have the sea running alongside them, but hardly any clear details within this picture.

Long Shot (Whole body): Shot which shows all or most of a fairly large subject (for example, a person) and usually much of the surroundings. Extreme Long Shot (ELS) - see establishing shot: In this type of shot the camera is at its furthest distance from the subject, emphasising the background. Medium Long Shot (MLS): In the case of a standing actor, the lower frame line cuts off his feet and ankles. Some documentaries with social themes favour keeping people in the longer shots, keeping social circumstances rather than the individual as the focus of attention.

Medium/Mid Shot (Head & Shoulders) : In such a shot the subject or actor and its setting occupy roughly equal areas in the frame. In the case of the standing actor, the lower frame passes through the waist. There is space for hand gestures to be seen. Medium Close Shot (MCS): The setting can still be seen. The lower frame line passes through the chest of the actor. Medium shots are frequently used for the tight presentation of two actors (the two shot), or with dexterity three (the three shot).

Close Up (Just head): A picture which shows a fairly small part of the scene, such as a character's face, in great detail so that it fills the screen. It abstracts the subject from a context. MCU (Medium Close-Up): head and shoulders. BCU (Big Close-Up): forehead to chin. Close-ups focus attention on a person's feelings or reactions, and are sometimes used in interviews to show people in a state of emotional excitement, grief or joy. In interviews, the use of BCUs may emphasise the interviewee's tension and suggest lying or guilt. BCUs are rarely used for important public figures; MCUs are preferred, the camera providing a sense of distance. Note that in western cultures the space within about 24 inches (60 cm) is generally felt to be private space, and BCUs may be invasive.

Extreme Close Up

This is a picture of my eye and eyebrow. This shows how close up the extreme close up shot actually is.

Made me realised how grateful I am to have everything I have.

Based on the true life story of thousands of run away and abandoned children on the Romanian streets of Bucharest. This documentary follows five young children and their dangerous fight for survival. Mihai Tudose - Age 12 and her younger brother Ana - Age 10, Cristina (II) - Age 16, Marian - Age 8 and Macarena - Age 14. These young girls have had to disguise themselves as boys in order to be tough and survive living on the streets.

The Reign of Romanian dictator Nicolei Ceaucescu had outlawed the use of birth control as he wanted his nation's population to grow. He encouraged his people to have more children and with nearly 20,000 homeless and abandoned children surviving on the streets of Bucharest, his plan went extremely wrong. These children must beg, fight, steal and improvise to get a daily meal. Most have turned to sniffing paint as a recreational way to bare the pain.

My biggest complaint of this documentary comes with the reading of sub titles. The are placed against bright areas on the screen making them hard to read. For me, I found myself spending too much time trying to read dialog than identifying with the children's grim future. However, you don't need subtitles to recognize these children are street tough and already know what it takes to survive in a world that doesn't want them.
Award: 2000 - Sundance Film Festival - Special Jury Prize

I heart which Genre?

Overheard someone..

“It’s too sweet.”

It didn’t really matter what the customer was complaining about, my angst was up. This is a hot button for me since I write sweet romance. Lately I have felt, well, a bit under fire for not exploring the intensity of sexuality in my stories. There seems to be an assumption that sweet stories automatically do not have depth or intensity. Wrong. I deal with difficult issues like death and heartbreak and lost love… not to mention parenthood. And, just as sex scenes can come off as contrived, so can philosophical themes if not handles properly.

Which leads to my discussion in this post about Post-apocalyptic Romance; something the Genre-istas are highlighting in October.

As I found while researching reviews for this genre on net, there is no way to handle this topic without delving into the depths of personal tragedy, pain and suffering that is caused by losing everything you know and love. An author can try, but in every case I found the readers sussed it out as superficial and lacking credibility (and reviewed it as such).

So whether you write sweet with emotional depth or post-apocalyptic, how does a writer seek out those feelings within themselves to create believable characters? Not all of us have (hopefully) lost a close loved one or seen tragedy occur right in front of our eyes; so how can we possibly relate to what we want to put our characters through?

In researching this idea of empathy I found that Doctors experience something very similar in their work. While patients expect or hope their doctor will be empathic, (or share their feeling so as to better diagnose or treat them), doctors must also maintain their focus on the patient, rather than on their own, similar experiences or emotions. To do this one article describes the term emotional attunement (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1494899/):

"Emotional attunement operates by shaping what one imagines about another person's experience. In trying to imagine what the patient is going through, physicians will sometimes find themselves resonating. This is not an additional activity to imagining, but rather a kind of involuntary backdrop to it. Further, resonance is not a special professional skill, but a part of ordinary communication. While listening to an anxious friend, one becomes anxious, while talking with a coworker, one feels heavy, depressed feelings. Importantly, attuning to patients does not always involve resonating with strong feelings, but often is a subtle nonverbal sense of where another person is emotionally."

This then is something everyone already experiences living out our everyday lives. The question is how to tap into it, whether as an author writing a book, or a reader trying to relate to one. And this depends on conscientiously observing non-verbal cues, such as a bitten lip, a shaky hand, no eye contact, a lax face, hunched shoulders….. 

The goal for this post then is to observe these cues in those around us; do not react to them but note how they make us feel; Anxious, scared, tired, bored, excited, concerned, hopeful? And then write down the association.

Then, when we go to write that post-apocalyptic love scene we can physically use the appropriate cue to help us recreate the emotion. 

I’d love to hear how it works for you… be it in relating to a hot sex scene, a sweet heartbreak or a lone dog wandering the streets of post-apocalyptic Malaysia.

Baraka

Okay, so how do I start this?
Well, it started with the whole class watching a film called Baraka. It was basically a film about nature and human culture around the world. I don't know how to say this but I don't understand any of them. To be honest, after 30 minutes I was lost into my own dreamland. I tried keeping my eyes open but yeah, I can't.

I didn't really pay any attention to the film and what's it about but I'll just be honest on what I did know about Baraka. The film started with calm music and mountains view which I think is at cold winter place. Haha, I think? Anyway, moving on with the story. I personally think that it was about the differences of animal and human living? I know it's weird to think like that but yeah, this is just me explaining what I know about Baraka.

I know it may a little bit lame for you but I think Baraka is actually a good film to keep one calm. I was so calm when watching it. I realize that all the picture and views are all wonderful views. I can't stop myself but to look deep into it. This obviously happened when I was awake. But yeah, there's so much beautiful views in Baraka.

The part where it shows about poverty. I was crushed. It sadden me to know that there's actually a place like that. Children were starving, parents were out wondering around looking for shelter and food. I feel sorry for that. I literally pause and went into tears for a moment there. HAHA I'm serious.

But yeah, I learn so much things after watching Baraka. I sort of opened my eyes towards Earth and my surroundings. Also on how people in different world live their lives. I am much surprised.

I need some inspiration. I need something to write, anyone?

Semiotics?

To be honest with you, I never heard of the word semiotics until I join Mr. Hardip's class. It was all new to me. During teaching, Mr. Hardip explain to us what semiotics mean. He talked about our surroundings and asking us to picture what we see in it? The point is, do we often ask ourselves why the cloud is blue? Why is the sun red? No right? We just couldn't be bothered because we're too busy with our own lifes. But after realising what Mr. Hardip told us. It quickly went to my head and I start question myself. Why this, why that, what's that? All those sort of questions. Not gonna lie, I was blur and confused. Not knowing what was going on? But after having a group conversation, I managed to learn more things about semiotics. It teaches us to loom deep inside a picture or anything that you see and find meanings from it. It's really amazing how 1 picture can tell a lot things and stories.

Hello guys :)