Movies are beautiful. I am saying that it is something more than a DVD you bought for 4,000 won or a ticket that costs 6,000 won. You can know more about the world, and what people with different tastes might enjoy, and what people with disabilities might suffer. The only movie when I was ever close to crying was Herb, because when the main character’s mother was dying, the girl at first did not know that her mother was dying, and begged for her to get up. When she finally realized that her mother was dead, she was mourning and there was nobody to help her, because they were on their way to a herb field on a bike, in the middle of a pouring rain. Movies are one of the ways to see the world without having to travel, in fact, one of the best ways.

In a movie called Secret Sunshine, a woman who loses her husband who was having an affair (she didn’t admit it) to an accident moves to his hometown called Milyang with her son. She is already depressed, but then she also loses her son to a local who kidnapped and killed her son. She then becomes furious for a while, but joins the church and becomes an enthusiastic church-member. To forgive the man who killed the son, when she visited the prison, the prisoner says that he was already forgiven by God. Confused and angry, she says that God cannot forgive him without her consent and quits church. She becomes crazy and does things that God forbids; having an affair with a married man, interrupting a religious ceremony with a song called ‘It’s a Lie’. All this time, another local she knows stands by her all the time and tries to help her. The clever part of this movie is that it makes viewers think that the local who stands by her side loves her, but it is actually because he is a good man and wants to help her, because she is in a devastating state. This is one of the movies which got some awards outside of Korea, such as 2007 Cannes Film Festival, the Best Actress Award for Jun Do Yeon. Personally, I wasn’t exactly crazy about this movie, but its depth of human mind was amazing. I also thought that the actress acting for this movie had to be Jun Do Yeon, because she is a phenomenal actress. It pictured her when she was in pain, when she was angry, and when she was confused. I want to produce movies that are in depth. I want to produce movies that may not necessarily receive awards, but deserve to receive one. Maybe not from the beginning, but later in my career as a movie director.

I am a greedy person. People who saw me eating may know. I never eat foods that I don’t like, but I eat anything that I like without any limits, so that is, till my stomach bursts. It is the same with my dreams. I don’t just want to make movies. I also want to make soap operas. I also watched a lot of amazing soap operas in my life, such as I’m Sorry, I Love You, Dae Jang Geum, Full House, and My Lovely Samsoon. I was especially moved by I’m Sorry, I Love You, because it was like Romeo and Juliet, where two lovers died. It was foreshadowed in the beginning because the female main character, Eun Chae (Im Su Jeong, pictured in the photo below), always dreamed of a love like Romeo and Juliet. I also want to make influential soap operas that can make people laugh and cry, something like I’m Sorry, I Love You.
I’m not just interested in making movie and soap operas, I’m also interested in making music videos with storylines. That is why I wanted to make a parody of the music video ‘Lie’ by Big Bang (which is not in a good shape, or in fact, doesn’t have any shape because I haven’t filmed it at all). Some music videos I like are ‘Irony’ by Wondergirls, and ‘As We Live’ by SG Wannabe. I want to make music videos because I like music, and it is also similar to films, more like a mini film.

I have not yet reasoned why a person like me would want to become a movie director. I have an interest in movies, soap operas and music videos. I want to become famous for producing good movies like Park Chan Wook, Lee Chang Dong, and Heo In Moo. I want to become successful at presenting my thoughts and views, and getting credit for it.

When I first arrived in Moscow, I thought it was Korea in the 1960s, right after the war. Since Russia hadn’t yet recovered from Stalin and his pathetic idealism (communism, the KGB etc), it wasn’t exactly the best place to live. The school I went to, ‘Anglo American School of Moscow’ was good because it was one of the places where it wasn’t like Russia. The culture was very diverse, because there were students from over sixty different countries, from Albania to New Zealand. The majority of the population was Americans (of course), second was Canadians (I think), and the third was Koreans (yay!). For some unknown reasons non-Korean students loved Korean words, and for some known reasons most teachers hated Korean students (because we spoke a lot of Korean).

Our first house was in a street called Stari Arbat (Old Arbat), and I had to hear at least five beer bottle shatter (it’s a weird Russian tradition to shatter beer bottles to celebrate something), and at least three grotesque voices singing songs in Russian (I wouldn’t have wanted to know what they meant anyway) every single night. Apart from these annoying aspects, the house was fine. Our second house, which we moved to about three years later, was sort of scary. A pack of giant stray dogs lived outside of our apartment, and my mom got bitten by one of them, and I’m allergic to dogs. This was the major reason for why I hated our apartment. One of the only good thing was that the Korean Embassy (where my dad worked) was really close, so I could go on the computer when I wanted to because our apartment didn’t have connection to the internet. Another good thing was that it was also near to a huge shopping mall, so I used to hang out with my friends mostly at that mall.

Russians were interesting people to meet. They are racists, stupid, hostile, and ugly. In this post I would also like to clear the misconception of Russian people being beautiful. That is nonsense. Of course, there are some blond, tall, skinny people that come out in magazines, but that is rare. It is like trying to find gold in a pile of dirt. The rest are brunettes (I have nothing against them. I’m just saying they’re not blond), fat, ugly, and short. Some of them are desperate enough to ask Koreans out in random Metro (subway) stations.

Among the Russian population there are a group of people called ‘Skinheads’, and they are a disturbing bunch of air-headed, bold blokes. They are against any race that is not Caucasian, and they beat up and kill the person they pick on. During my stay in Moscow, the skinheads killed the Iraqi ambassador’s son, a couple of Armenians, some Kazakhstanis, and maybe some Japanese tourists.

This is a video about Skinheads. It’s scary.

[kml_flashembed movie="http://kr.youtube.com/v/79wU5B6hAEQ" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

All in all, Moscow is a nice place to live, if you are careful enough to not get bitten by stray dogs, try to stay away from skinheads, and if you can speak Russian.

When I first arrived in Moscow, I thought it was Korea in the 1960s, right after the war. Since Russia hadn’t yet recovered from Stalin and his pathetic idealism (communism, the KGB etc), it wasn’t exactly the best place to live. The school I went to, ‘Anglo American School of Moscow’ was good because it was one of the places where it wasn’t like Russia. The culture was very diverse, because there were students from over sixty different countries, from Albania to New Zealand. The majority of the population was Americans (of course), second was Canadians (I think), and the third was Koreans (yay!). For some unknown reasons non-Korean students loved Korean words, and for some known reasons most teachers hated Korean students (because we spoke a lot of Korean).

Our first house was in a street called Stari Arbat (Old Arbat), and I had to hear at least five beer bottle shatter (it’s a weird Russian tradition to shatter beer bottles to celebrate something), and at least three grotesque voices singing songs in Russian (I wouldn’t have wanted to know what they meant anyway) every single night. Apart from these annoying aspects, the house was fine. Our second house, which we moved to about three years later, was sort of scary. A pack of giant stray dogs lived outside of our apartment, and my mom got bitten by one of them, and I’m allergic to dogs. This was the major reason for why I hated our apartment. One of the only good thing was that the Korean Embassy (where my dad worked) was really close, so I could go on the computer when I wanted to because our apartment didn’t have connection to the internet. Another good thing was that it was also near to a huge shopping mall, so I used to hang out with my friends mostly at that mall.

Russians were interesting people to meet. They are racists, stupid, hostile, and ugly. In this post I would also like to clear the misconception of Russian people being beautiful. That is nonsense. Of course, there are some blond, tall, skinny people that come out in magazines, but that is rare. It is like trying to find gold in a pile of dirt. The rest are brunettes (I have nothing against them. I’m just saying they’re not blond), fat, ugly, and short. Some of them are desperate enough to ask Koreans out in random Metro (subway) stations.

Among the Russian population there are a group of people called ‘Skinheads’, and they are a disturbing bunch of air-headed, bold blokes. They are against any race that is not Caucasian, and they beat up and kill the person they pick on. During my stay in Moscow, the skinheads killed the Iraqi ambassador’s son, a couple of Armenians, some Kazakhstanis, and maybe some Japanese tourists.

This is a video about Skinheads. It’s scary.

[kml_flashembed movie="http://kr.youtube.com/v/79wU5B6hAEQ" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

All in all, Moscow is a nice place to live, if you are careful enough to not get bitten by stray dogs, try to stay away from skinheads, and if you can speak Russian.

This is my lovely storyboard :

Lighting
key light-primar
fill light-balances
back light-separates

Transition
The cut – the point where two shots come together
Dissolve : the blending of two shots to communicate a passage of time and/or location

Shot Composition
wide shot : once
medium shot(two shot)
close up

Once again I feel that making movies are hard.

Lies – by Small Bang

(A man running away in a small street, away from the police. Grabs the nearest public telephone, dials a number hurriedly, and waits.)
(A girl picks it up.)
Girl – Hello? Hello? (fake tears in her eyes, shaving her moustache, even if she doesn’t have one)
(Man hangs up because he got caught, and the police drag him away.)
(The girl packs her pouch and goes out, down the stairs, onto the street.)
goes down the elevator, into the underground parking lot (5 guys who are supposed to be invisible to her eyes follow her, but then she beats them up after they get annoying)
(remembers something : (in a room, she is screaming at a man, and the man hits her)
she goes into a supermarket, looks around (the 5 guys stuff random junk food in the cart, but then she shoves them away to get a bunch of candy)
(there is a mixture of scenes, the supermarket, and a man beating her up(remembrance))
she is now in sitting on the edge of a bathtub
one of 5 guys sits on the other side of the wall, and another guy is in the standing beside the girl, until she decides to beat him up.
she is now in a disco, drinking something, spits it out, while the 5 guys are dancing
down the corridor, the man who was running away at the beginning of the video is arrested by the police, getting pictures taken. (cameras are shown with flash)
the girl enters the former crime scene, there is a tape around where the body of the person she killed was…she clutches her forehead again.
remembrance (in the same place): a man tries to grab her, but she pushes him away, and grabs a grabs a bulky object, hits him with it, he slumps to the wall, and she keeps on hitting him anywhere with that weapon
Back to present : she clutches her forehead
remembrance : the man at the beginning of the movie comes in, sees the girl kneeling beside the man, and goes in. The girl looks at her hands. The man pushes her out of the room, looks at her for a while as she hesitates, and closes the door. Groaning, he runs to the man and smears his blood (just pretend there is blood) all over his head, shirt, etc
Back to present : the girl runs away from the crime scene. She runs out of the door, just runs, and then she slips
(In the prison)The girl meets the man, who is behind the bars. She puts her hand on the glass, and he puts his hand on the glass to match hers.
Black Screen : written I’m so sorry but I love you.
then the NG parade

I am hoping it will be sarcastic, but I will have to see about that.

I am thinking about making a video somewhat similar to this one. For any suggestions, please comment on this post, even if this is too short, because the previous one was longer, not that it has any relevance.

I like songs so much (listening to them, not singing, my voice is a disgrace) that my MP3 got taken away for a long time, and it still is. I listen to a lot of music, like Korean rap and ballads, I know a good deal about the songs and singers, and I’m not exactly into crime as much as I was in the beginning of semester. I was thinking maybe I could make a parody of a music video, which is related to crime. I have one in mind, and it is Korean, but it is a very good music video, and it has to do with crime. Personally, I think it is the best music video I’ve ever seen. It is far better than the English which has rappers sticking out their middle fingers. The title is ‘Gujitmal’ (Lies) by Big Bang.

Again, I will try make it funny, but I do not think I’ll succeed.

I have just talked to Mr. Burell, and he says that I cannot use copyrighted music, and even though I am still interested in crimes, I am not interested in committing one, so I forgot about the music (sadly). I am now planning to make a parody of the music video that I just talked about, but without the music, and on second thoughts, without the sounds. This is not a happy video, so maybe non-existant sound effects will put more effect(?) into the whole video itself.

Lastly, it may be one of the many little thoughts that come to my mind every minute, but since their name is Big Bang, I might want to add to the title that production is from Small Bang. Haha.

This is the original video.

This is Big Bang. Aren’t they cute? Haha.

For next time, I need to learn how to use the tripod properly, because the whole movie was very shaky and the camerawork had to improve. The lighting wasn’t too bad, because the classroom and hallway that we captured in were moderately bright. What I really like in my movie is the sound effects. Some of them are meant to be funny and ironic, and overall, I think it suits the purpose and concept of the movie. The visuals, such as the titles, are good enough because they have fonts that go along with the movie.

Most IMPORTANT, I have to use my storyboard. I worked really hard on it, and for some unknown reason it slipped out of my mind to actually use the storyboard when I was filming the film. Nice. There are some pictures of my storyboard, so check it out. (My fantastic artistic abilities..argh)

This is the movie, so please try to notice how the movie could have been much better if I used this storyboard.

[kml_flashembed movie="http://kr.youtube.com/v/oiD5HHRBwJQ" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]I uploaded the movie anyway, so please view this darn thing! I’m willing to make the next movie much better than this one, and if anyone would care to look at this movie and comment on it, it would be so much welcomed.

Any lessons learned? I definitely did.

I thought the cool part in the movie was using a real knife and fake blood (which we also call ketchup) and no real blood actually came out (instead, I received some suspicious and disapproving looks from the cafeteria ladies when asked if I could borrow the ketchup).

Sometimes I zoomed in to the wrong direction and got only the nose instead of the whole face, and it was depressing, because for the ‘librarian scene’, I abandoned the tripod because I had to turn 180 degrees, and I was afraid the the stiff tripod would fall or won’t move, because it’s stiff. I’m hoping that the movie will come in a much better shape after I work on it in iMovie, as soon as I learn how to do it without breaking my computer.

Overall, I’m not sure if I can call this movie successful because I don’t think it came out very well. I will keep working on it because I tried.

Thanks to :
Ann, Eunice, Beatrice, Paul (for acting), cafeteria lady (for letting me borrow the ketchup, in spite of the suspicious glances), Mr. Bray (for letting Ann and Eunice get out of the classroom), Beatrice’s Chinese teacher (for letting Beatrice get out of the classroom, and for not being mad at me), librarian (even though she made walk up and down the stairs to retrieve a library pass), and Mr. Burell (for letting me use the camera and tripod).