DIRECTOR PHOBIA!!!

Director Phobia = Fear of directing a film/movie

Why?

Today, the verdict on whose Music Video is to be made was being announced and once again *drums roll* mine was chosen~! 'That's good!' most people will say but for me 'That's disastrous!' Let me rephrase...not only my Music Video treatment was chosen to work on the production, but, my Commercial treatment, my minor documentary treatment and my major documentary treatment were all chosen to be made into a video...in just this semester!!!

...people's reaction to me this whole semester...

I'm not quite sure of it myself whether this is a good thing or not but, I am currently suffering from 'DIRECTOR PHOBIA' because I directed the Sundrop Commercial, the Sharp Shooter Minor Documentary and now, will be directing Jason Lo's Old Newspaper Music Video!!! HELL!!! *sweats* Lucky me that I am out of directing for my Hezekiah's Rhythm Major Documentary, thanks to Stephanie who is willing to help me out for this one~~~!

...my stress and miserable look now...

I'm not sure what I should feel at this moment - happy or miserable - but I just can't wait to finish this hell of a semester so that I'll be off from production projects at least for a month. Need rest, lots and lots of rests.

Looking forward for the production and hope that all goes well~!
...will be suffering from DIRECTOR PHOBIA for the next 4 weeks...

Food from J.B.

It was a whole week Stephanie (FTV 222 Producer) was back home in Johor Bahru while the others were left in the journalism lab editing the whole week through. She promised to get us lots and lots of food from JB and this is what she got for us...

...Secret Recipe Marble Cheesecake...

...Lavender Chicken Floss Bun...

...Blueberry Cheese biscuits...

YUM YUM! THANKS STEPHANIE aka NENEK!!!

Cat the Duck

...presenting 'Cat the Duck'...

Wondering why this little creature here is call 'Cat the Duck'?

Catherine was keeping an eye on the so-call 'duck uncle' (an elder man who sells this kindda duck in Pasar Malam) since the day she spotted this duck there, but since then, the 'duck uncle' never showed up...up until today, that is. The moment Catherine saw the 'duck uncle' with a bag of these ducks, she was laughing her heads off at me in *sweats*. She actually bought one and smiled her way back home. So finally, we decided to name this cute duck, 'CAT THE DUCK'!

Ladies' Nite

Finally, after stressing over assignments, exams and productions, we decided to go for a night out (party), so we planned and two groups of people from two different courses came together for a party. First stop, Island. Catherine, Jasmine and I met up with Pei Wen, Yuki, Adrienne, Elizabeth and Juliana at Island for Happy Hour and had two rounds of drinks. I had a glass of Electric Lemonade and a shot of Tequila.

...first stop, The Island...

...the 'Happy Tree Friends'...

Soon after Angeline and the others came, we went to Balcony where the guys bought two bottles of vodka. We had rounds and also due to not many people there, we had quite a big dance floor for ourselves.

...the gang of Mass Comm students...

It was one night to remember where Engineering, Business and Mass Communication students actually come together for a time out from studies...

...a mixture of Engineering, Business and Mass Comm students...
(guess who's who)

Mum's Holiday in Miri

Mum had a 5 days 4 nights holiday here in Miri. It was also a holiday for me as I stopped all my assignments and productions just to make sure I enjoy before stressing again and of course to bring mum out.

I'll just do a brief post about the whole trip...

Day 1
Mum arrives and I had a huge bowl of LAKSA!!! Mum brought BIG APPLE DONUTS too and KOLO MEE and OPEN AIR SEOW BEE!!! It was all about F.O.O.D.! Did a little shopping around Boulevard and Bintang and headed for Bak Kut Teh for dinner and later for a night tour around Miri.


Day 2
Had Dim Sum before driving around Miri, going to beaches and although it was raining, we still managed to take photos. It was all about touring in Miri...and mum cooked KERANG~!


Day 3
Mum stayed at home the whole day as I was in campus for Curtin Sports Carnival as the official photographer. Mum cooked dinner~!

...mum cooked all my favourite food...

Day 4
Went for a long ride to Lambir National Park, walked to Latak Waterfall. Catherine and I having fun in the water while mum was just dipping her feet in it. Later drove to Bekenu town and to the beach and it was beautiful~! Dinner at Jing Wood and had a stroll at Taman Awam (Jambatan Gantung).

Day 5
Breakfast at Miri City before sending mum to airport for her 11.05am flight back to Kuching. Bid farewell and went straight to campus.

Although it was just a short trip but I had a lot of fun and I am glad mum came...
Love you, MUM!

Read more of the trip, click here

Final Cut Pro'ing

...This icon looks familiar...its Final Cut Pro...

What about Final Cut Pro?

I have been in the editing suite in Journalism Lab in Curtin since Monday for post production for both my production projects namely SUNDROP commercial and SHARP SHOOTER minor documentary. Well, editing is one part of production that I love the most and this time, editing with Final Cut Pro is even better! Since I started working last year, I have always wanted to learn but I couldn't get my hands on a MAC until now and thankfully that Curtin actually has MAC for Mass Communication students.

Yes, been staring at the MAC screen since the whole Monday afternoon, the whole Tuesday as well and will be another whole Wednesday afternoon and hope to finish both edits by then. It was a fast one for the commercial and another quick one for the documentary. Songs are now put into the edits and...walah...D.O.N.E!

~I'm lovin MAC~

A Light From The Sky

Its been long since I last blog because Mum was here in Miri. Post about the weekend trip later...

It is interesting what our human eye sees.
Just as we were leaving home for dinner, I saw a two white lights in the skies and what caught my attention was the fact that the lights are not moving and I can recall that there are no spot lights that high especially in Senadin area. I told Catherine and we were observing the lights from the streets and we stopped by the road side and the lights were still there. As we drove, the lights were still at the same spot only after a while, it started to move. From my point of viewing the lights, it went fast and slow and fast and there were blinking. (Airplanes blink simultaneously but the lights were blinking all over) We started to follow the lights and again, from my point of viewing, it went lower. I was anxious to know what it was (because I know it is not a plane)...

We debated and asked a friend for his opinion and until now, I am still wondering what the light was...

My 3rd Treatment Accepted This Semester

And again...my treatment was accepted. This time is for FTV 222 Major Documentary. Hahaha... I wished so much that it will not be accepted because I have been working on 2 production projects which are my ideas and I am having director-phobia now! Okay, my working title for my treatment was the last written on the white board and I was like *screw me!~* But, I am so glad that at least out of the 4 of us, one was chosen and Amy quickly grabbed the marker pen and wrote their names under mine, so we're in a group again!!! YEAH!!!

...more about the production later...

So, anyway, good news:
- I am granted permission to take FTV 243 and FTV 334 next semester
- I passed my Consumer Behaviour mid term exam with quite a good mark
- I will be the cameraman for my major documentary
- Mum will be coming to Miri tomorrow

hahahah...good news, good news...

Hoping for the best in this major documentary production.
HAPPY WORKING TOGETHER AGAIN, GIRLS!!!

Minor Documentary Production

Title : Sharp Shooter (Working Title)

Producer : Stephanie Keh
Director : Karen Kuek
Cinematographer : Jasmine Wong
Gaffer : Amy Chong
Editor : Karen Kuek

The best production team I ever worked with in an assignment!

This production is about a documentary on a 17 year old girl who is Sarawak state archer...

anywayz...it's not about the documentary I want to talk about, it's the production team! We started from forming a group of 4 where Jasmine & I and Amy & Stephanie worked in pairs for our Proficiency Test. The pitch for this minor documentary wasn't done in a group (coz we didn't know that we are supposed to discuss together and present one topic to our lecturer). So, I pitched my idea and it was accepted immediately... sigh~ so we started our pre-production with gathering information about this girl, Beatric and started doing our treatment and script and got the approval and started with our production paperwork and had a hard time getting approval. And two weeks later, we are off to shoot!

...I'm letting the pictures to tell the story...

*photos taken by CATHERINE CHIA*

We were the first group to finish our minor documentary shoot and the first group to go into post-production. At least la we can be stress-free from one out of four production projects.

THANKS GUYS. GOOD JOB!

ShootingS O.V.E.R.!!!

It's Sunday evening now and I'm here - dead tired, lack of sleep, body ache and blogging...

Sometimes, blogging just releases stress...

Have been shooting/filming since Friday and it had been three days since I last had a time-out from everything. Okay, I love shooting and I am glad I get to shoot here in Curtin as assignments...but...it is just tiring and stressful.

Friday - 11/4/08
Got to campus early to pick up all our equipments which eventually had our car boot and back seats all full. Headed for breakfast and later to the airport to pick up our talent (Beatric) to her house for the interview shoot. Setup and finish our shoot at 2pm. Packed and headed to campus to change our lights and stayed there until 6.30pm for my friends to finish their classes before going back home to do pick-up shoots for Beatric's certificates. Wrapped and headed for dinner and watched movie until 12am and SLEEP~! sounds kindda fun right...but read this: Steph, Jas and Amy had exams on Friday evening and just found out that if they fail the test, automatically, they fail the whole unit (they were all so restless and worried) Steph had to go back to campus by 2.30pm for her class. Body ache was killing me and headache was terrible...

Saturday - 12/4/08
Went to Heritage Center to pick up the props for my commercial shoot. (Thanks Jas & Amy for helping!!!) Bought props and headed home before going to King's Archery Center for Beatric's shoot. Setup and finished shoot at 7pm~good news~! Headed for dinner and went back home and continued prep'ing for the commercial shoot...read this: props were so expensive but shoot was smooth, thanks to Steph, Jas and Amy~ but went home and got myself into a mess when I realized I haven't texted all my talents for the commercial shoot. After all was done, I sent the Sundrop over to Bit Ying to wax and continued my preps for tomorrow's shoot. Cath repainted a part of the wall for the shoot as well. Body ache got worse and all I needed was SLEEP!

Sunday - 13/4/08
Woke up early to look for flowers (the ones Indians uses during festivals) with Catherine. Went to search for it and got ourselves in the Sikh temple where a couple were so nice to show us the way to the Hindu temple and a florist. Got the flowers and headed to Elizabeth's house to pick up the ketupat and went for a short breakfast before starting the shoot. Imagine this: only 2 girls with so many equipments to put on and I directed and acted myself in the shoot and had to deal with a kid! Things were in a mess and I was dead tired and all I wanted was just to finish the shoot...

...it's all bragging in this post...but I will post up the pictures in the next one...
Shootings are just Stressful!

Another week to be over~

It's Thursday again...and usually, Thursday is the day for me to have a break after a whole hell of a week with classes and assignments. This week ain't a break yet because shoots starts on Friday and continues on Saturday and Sunday. For now, it's preparation and trying to rest enough before going for shoots.

I think most MCI 101 students would agree 101% with me that today's class was one shitty class. Not only we have to present 10 out of 15 references for our information bank, things were getting too far off track when our lecturer just keep repeating, 'I had to remark your assignments again last night because the file was replaced or deleted and it took me the whole night to remark.' ...Hello!~ Who lost the files??? It's not the students fault that the files were deleted and why is he putting the blame on us???... We were then suddenly told to submit our draft information bank via email by 4pm tomorrow! What the hell???!!! This class is just so full of craps and just pisses everyone off...sigh sigh~

Anyway, looking forward to shootings tomorrow. Hope everything goes well and we can start with our edits for both documentary and commercial next Monday...

Blogging practically everyday!

OMG! I blog like everyday! hahaha...well, blog releases stress *winks* YES~! Seriously, blogging releases stress and don't be so surprise to see a lot of braggings, complaints, screamings and hell lot of swearings in media students' blogs now - everyone is S.T.R.E.S.S.!

Well, one thing that is so-very-the different meaning of 'STRESS' between students from School of Engineering, School of Business and Department of Mass Communication is our ways of 'STRESSING'. Other students only suffer from mental stress but Mass Comm students suffer from both mental and physical stress, meaning we have double the stress amount compare to students from other departments. WHY? Because although we don't have final exams, we have our creativity graded with marks! How do you grade creativity??? (Answer if you can and let me know)...We have no clue where we stand when we submit our assignments and our marks are always just 'barely pass'. This causes us to STRESS two times more!

Okay, I'm glad that both shoots (FTV 222 Mini docu and FTV 233 Commercial) are both approved and will have our shoots throughout this weekend. FTV 222 Major documentary treatment is on the way and will pitch to our dear lecturer tomorrow.

Wanna know how stress we Mass Comm students are, click here and here.

More updates on how STRESS I am...hopefully not everyday la...

When I thought 'Week Six' is over...

It's Monday again, Week 7 to be exact. Which means, Week Six is OVER!...but...nah, it ain't over until all assignments, productions and exams are over in Week 14...*counting down the weeks* Monday, everyone hates Monday~

Well, got a 'not-so-good' start this morning when I had to go campus like 8am to submit the risk assessment forms to our dear lecturer for approval before we can carry on our shoots. apala, all this paperwork! Went home straight after settling the paperworks and instead of doing my treatment for my Major documentary, I found myself sleeping for half an hour before waking up feeling lousy and hungry. Packed lunch and had it at home before leaving for campus again for class...and class was B.O.R.I.N.G. and again, our dear lecturer extended our class time... *Sigh*

Imagine this:
1. Documentary treatment & pitch on Wednesday
2. Information bank presentation on Thursday
3. Minor documentary shoot on Friday and Saturday
4. Commercial shoot *cross fingers* on Sunday
5. MTV treatment & pitch next Tuesday
6. Editing for both Minor documentary and commercial the entire 'Week Free'
...and there goes my 2nd week free...

After week free, it ain't happy yet. More assignments due, practically an assignment due every week. And also not forgetting the other productions I got myself involve with which are all in May...argh! I'm so, so, so busy...

Anyway, I just can't wait for these two weeks to be over and looking forward to Week Free coz mummy will be here in Miri~!!!

kaYren original now a 'Diploma Graduate'

Date: 6th April 2008

Today is a big day...
A day to wear the graduation robe and getting the scroll which I worked so hard for 3 years...
A day to meet my old college friends again...
A day to celebrate!

But, where am I?
In MIRI~ *sob sob*

Yes, I am disappointed, frustrated, sad and envy.
I am officially a Diploma Graduate but I did not attend the graduation ceremony which is in KL.
I am so looking forward to meet my old college friends back, but all hopes was lost because I'm currently in Miri.

By all means,
I had a great time too...thanks to my dear housemate, Catherine who brought me for lunch at Pizza Haven and gave me this...

*drums roll*

I am glad that everyone in KL had fun meeting up each other, walking through a whole day of raptai and finally to walk on stage to get the graduation scroll. I really wish I was there, too.

Congratulations, my dear friends. All the best in your future undertakings!

...kaYren with the graduation bear in Miri while her friends are in the graduation ceremony in KL...

Sonic Gear Evo

I have been searching for computer speakers since I came back to Miri and none I found was something that I wanted and in my budget. Sigh~! Why are speakers so expensive and yet there are no functions in them? I need an external speaker because my current laptop speakers are crackling if the volume is too loud, so in order not to let my laptop speaker explode, I rather get an external one. And further more, with me, doing video editings here and there, an external speaker provides better sound when it comes to editing audio...

Was searching for props for my Sundrop commercial where I went into a computer shop in Mega Hotel and found this...

*drums roll*

...SONIC GEAR EVO III...

The sound was great, there are functions and it comes in black and white. Best of all, it's only RM119!

*Promotion ends in April*

Taken into consideration and hoping to get one...hoping and can't wait to get one!!!

SUNDROP Fever

...presenting, the Sundrop family...

First stop was e-Mart then to GK Supermarket, to Piasau Supermarket, to Boulevard, then to Survey and finally to Giant, Bintang Plaza. All in just 2 1/2 hours. Finally by 9.30pm, we bought all seven products of Sundrop.

Why?

My pitch for FTV 233 (Advertising and Music Video) was selected to work on the production to produce the Sundrop 20 seconds commercial. I am the director, working along with Elizabeth and Bit Ying and the first and foremost important task is to hunt for all 7 products of Sundrop (it is just impossible to find all 7 products in one supermarket).

Now in pre-production - looking for talents, props, wardrobe and final confirmation on script and storyboard and finally hoping to shoot by next Sunday...

...one part of the commercial is something like this...

Looking forward to the final product of the Commercial!

April Fool!

1st of April is back again in 2008 and it is a Tuesday, a horrible, terrible and 'vegetable' Tuesday~! And again...another post in my blog with me bragging about my day...

Early in the morning, I received a SMS from Tiffany 'I'm getting MARRIED!'. I was still asleep so it took me a while to realize that it is just a fool. So, I replied 'That reminds me that today is April Fool. Congratulations, Tiff! Mana kad?' ...okay, lame reply...

It wasn't a good Monday yesterday and it was not a good Tuesday either. I was suffering from 'information overloaded' in my 8am class with my lecturer talking and talking and talking about...hmm...what was he talking about??? So, I sat there, text messaging Elizabeth who was also complaining about her class. Second class was...oooookaaaay...coz it ended 1/2 hour earlier. We were the only group who submitted our final draft script and storyboard but yet, we were in dilemma with our talent...how sad is that?! Then it's off for lunch and my food was...tasteless!

Things started going round the merry-go-round after lunch. Stephanie, our producer called bringing good news to Jas, Amy and I - our talent is allow to come back Miri for the shoot~! ...and minutes later, another call came, bringing bad news - her actual coach don't allow and not happy with our production team for not informing him anything~! ...third call came, was a good call - her actual coach finally agrees to let us shoot~! but, at that point, he wasn't happy with us anymore. So, final conclusion, we need to spend RM230 for our talent's air-ticket just for the shoot.

FTV 233 workshop was a hell too where we waited for a whole week to see whose proposal are chosen to work on the advertisement. First name written was 'SUNDROP' and I was like 'OMG! NO! I DON'T WANT! NOT MINE!' and bang my head on the table as my lecturer wrote my name on the board. DARN~! so, I had to work on my pitch...and that means, I'll be directing another project this semester. Will be working with Elizabeth and Bit Ying on this advertisement.

Got a call right after class from Stephanie again...saying that the coach is not sure whether he will be at the archery center tonight to sign our form. So, we are on-call tonight and if he will be there, we need to rush all the way to Bintang for one signature - how pathetic~!

And so, I'm at home, typing this blog out of 'kegeraman', 'keletihan', 'kerisauan' and 'kelaparan'. I'm praying that tomorrow will be a better day and I won't have to post such entry again...

What an April Fool?
God Bless us all!