Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Today during drama lesson we generally discussed about protagonists, antagonists and the superior objectives of both sides. We also formed a new story and decided how to integrate the important characters and relationships into our play.Main Storyline
Due to the financial crisis, investment companies have developed an enmity between them in competition for the highest profit.
Terrence, 45, the CEO of Terril Investment Company Pte Ltd, has an impressive portfolio. He is divorced with 2 teenage daughters, Charlotte and Cara, 14 and 15 respectively, living with him. His company has just thought of an effective idea to increase the profit margins and they are working towards the goal successfully.
Andy, 39, the CEO of Andell Investment Company Pte Ltd also has a remarkable portfolio. His company has been proposing and carrying out new ideas as well but none of them seem to take effect. However, he has a witty and attractive wife, Melissa, 34, who has convinced him that her plan would work -- she would get a job at Terril Investment Company Pte Ltd and seduce the CEO, Terrence, acting as a spy for Andy's company. She would also try to get closer to Terrence's daughters by buying them anything they want so as to gain their liking. She hopes that the daughters would be able to enable her to get closer to Terrence. She would then relay Terrence's plans and advancements back to Andy.
Meanwhile in Terril Investment Company Pte Ltd, Terrence's Personal Assistant, Sarah, 32, feels attracted to Terrence. Besides that, she yearns for a promotion since she has worked in the company for a few years. However, she truly likes Terrence for who he is, not for his power and status. Sarah is also well-liked by Terrence's daughters as she is kind and friendly.
Carrying out her plan almost immediately, Melissa applies for a job in Terril Investment Company Pte Ltd and was successful. She was assigned the job of Junior Personal Assistant and was told to work alongside Sarah. In attempting to seduce Terrence, Melissa poses a threat to Sarah's attempts to get closer to Terrence and this hence creates competition between the both of them.
The following are the 3 endings that can be considered:
1. Melissa's plan failed. Her conversation with her husband regarding the advancement of the plans was overheard by Terrence's daughters who are (somehow there - Ser Yeen's idea) (details to be confirmed next lesson). The daughters then reported Melissa's plans back to their father. Melissa was immediately sacked and hence there was a happily-ever-after for Terril Investment Company Pte Ltd economically. Also, Sarah and Terrence grew closer.
2. Melissa's plan worked. Terril Investment Company Pte Ltd soon went bankrupt after months of profit losses. Andell Investment Company Pte Ltd prospered with boundless profits (profits were originally Terril Investment Company's) Sarah was forced to leave Terril and hence she had no opportunity to grow closer to Terrence as she wanted to.
3. (can be used as extension to 2nd option) Melissa's plan worked and Terrence fell into her trap. Because of Terrence's liking for her, Melissa soon obtained a higher status than Sarah. Sarah knew about Melissa's plans beforehand but was afraid to reveal the truth as she was threatened by Melissa who told her that she would fire her. Terril soon went bankrupt and the other large companies that were close to Terril Investment Company soon began to suspect foul-play. Sarah, who was no longer able to keep it a secret, revealed the truth. Andell Investment Company was hence sued and was forced to close down by the law. Hence, both companies went bankrupt.
Types of Competition in play:
1. Competition between Andel and Terril Investment Company Pte Ltd
2. Competition between Melissa and Sarah (for their boss's liking and for gaining approval of the two daughters)
Please consider the different endings and feel free to provide more details to the plot since it is kind of sketchy now. Also, the characters are still shallow so we would need to discuss more on the types of personality each character has.
Jiayou (: (Ser Yeen says: happy reading -- being sarcastic)
~Li-Sha~
Thursday, July 23, 2009
hey [:so, we've gone through quite a few points during drama on Wednesday. we have quite a few points and feedback given by our other friends and Mdm. Oehlers as well(who saw our frozen picture and heard our description). perhaps we could get started on the protagonist and other characters of the story, as well as strengthen our plot to let it appear more outstanding. i've done abit of research, hopefully it is useful in some aspects (:
Competition
-a combat between individuals, groups, nations, animals etc. for territory, a niche, or allocation of resources. it arises whenever two or more parties strive for a goal which cannot be shared. Competition occurs naturally between living organisms which co-exist in the same environment (i thought this sentence was really interesting, since it can be interpreted as both literally and non-literally).
i also saw this other sentence: "competition may give incentives for self-improvement". it's a meaningful line, and although slightly cliched, it is true and telling.
okay, now for some pictures i've looked up, and how i think they relate to our topic (:
see how the goldfishes react to the hook? how they get attracted, yet feel tentative about moving forward to give it a bite? this picture shows competition within oneself, and also between the hook and the main goldfish -- who'd get caught first.
i thought this was a really interesting perspective of competition; buildings rising up, trying to go higher than the other. it truly depicts the competitive state that the modern society is in, especially since buildings are used as photograph subjects.
enmity and competition between you and yourself; indeed an interesting and fascinating topic. why and how do people compete against themselves? why is it so important in today's context? many questions can arouse, but i think it's quite a good point to elaborate on. also, with the thick makeup and all, this can also mean competition in looks and materialism, resulting in jealousy, pressure and even hurt.
All pictures Copyrighted by Deviantart.
***
okay, that's pretty much it for now. oh, and i've just started on a few 'Competition' script startings (: shall upload them onto this blog after i'm done with them and all, so that you guys can browse through and maybe get ideas/develop from them. hopefully they'll upload successfully when i want them too (:
kay, happy researching/getting ideas!
hugs,
Rach.
Competition within a Family.
The role i froze as was The Father, who is the sole breadwinner.
Research on Office politics:
Trouble with bosses- Bosses that do not acknowledge work done, that do not make an effort to show concern about employees, that make employees feel insignificant (see the movie: The Devil wears Prada or the trailer at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zicgut4gpwU cant upload sorry!)
Backstabbers and whistle blowers
Stealing credit- We might already have these unplesant experiences in school.
Rumours- Sexual harrasment? How to deal with it?
Climbing the ladder- and stepping on everyone along the way? or being too nice and ending up at the bottom?
Boss's pets- jealousy/envy!
co-workers who are: overachievers? bootlickers? appear helpful to all?
main ideas from http://www.officepolitics.com/
Ideas!
In addition to what we had brainstormed, about the father having "trouble" in the workplace and feeling unhappy with his wife's constant comparisons,
maybe we can add some more dimensions to his character:
+ he could be involved in something illegal? (if he is an accountant, maybe faking the financial records?) This could make him even more stressed and snappy towards his family.
+ he could be sexually harrassed? (and maybe so unhappy with his wife that he encourages it?)
+ he could be a workaholic because he would rather be at work than at home (and face the feuding siblings and disgusting [to him?] wife)
ZhiPing!
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
TODAY IS 22.07.09 :DD
(Click to ENLARGE)
HELLO EVERYONE!
so today we had DRAMA lesson again
at the beginning of the lesson, we sat in our groups in a circle.
Mdm Oehlers gave us coloured markers. There were four different colours and each colour had 2 markers. We sat beside the person who was holding on to the same marker as us. later on, Mdm Oehlers gave a blank piece of paper with a word in the middle to each pair. In pairs, we were to write down other words which we thought linking to the word. when Mdm Oehler shouts for us to change, each pair would move on to the next piece of paper and add ideas, as well as circle interesting words.
SO THE PICTURES ABOVE ARE THE OUTCOME!
4 WORDS:
- Rivals
- Competition (our theme)
- Winner
- Stress
The purpose of this activity was to broaden our ideas and perspective of the theme.
after this, we moved on to another activity --- Looking at the papers and ideas, think of 2 or 3 different storylines.
So, these are the storylines we thought of after brainstorming:
HELLO EVERYONE!
so today we had DRAMA lesson again
at the beginning of the lesson, we sat in our groups in a circle.
Mdm Oehlers gave us coloured markers. There were four different colours and each colour had 2 markers. We sat beside the person who was holding on to the same marker as us. later on, Mdm Oehlers gave a blank piece of paper with a word in the middle to each pair. In pairs, we were to write down other words which we thought linking to the word. when Mdm Oehler shouts for us to change, each pair would move on to the next piece of paper and add ideas, as well as circle interesting words.
SO THE PICTURES ABOVE ARE THE OUTCOME!
4 WORDS:
- Rivals
- Competition (our theme)
- Winner
- Stress
The purpose of this activity was to broaden our ideas and perspective of the theme.
after this, we moved on to another activity --- Looking at the papers and ideas, think of 2 or 3 different storylines.
So, these are the storylines we thought of after brainstorming:
1.FAMILY
CONSISTING OF:
the mother; housewife: She has a group of friends and they often compare their husbands (e.g: Job, income etc.)
the father; husband: Faces many office politics during work; stressed. he is also stressed over his wife, who compares him with her friends.
the first child; sporty one: She uses physical competitions to get her parents approval (medals)
the second child; smart one: She uses her good academic results to get parents approval
RESULTING IN: SIBLING RIVALRY
2. Growing up
A protaganist going through different stages of life.
Young: During kindergarten, there was friendly competition over trivial matters between her friends and herself. (e.g comparing glitter pens, coloured pencils)
School: During Primary/Secondary/College, students compare results, and there are more challenge as well as competitions, whether acadamically or sports.
Work: experiences fierce competition between colleagues. (for higher postion) Resulting in cheats and dirty tricks being used.
3. Fake Friendship
Protaganists: 2 girls who were 'best friends' since kindergarten
As they grow up, there bound to be competition or comparision between both of them, whether or not it is acadamically or others. (e.g exam marks) One of them (the scheming one) usually loses the other, and she started being jealous of her friend's achievements. slowly, she becomes overcomes with jealousy. The friend, (innocent one) has always considered her as her very best friend, but as she grows up, she realises that their 'friendship' is not that pure anymore.
After that, mdm Oehlers told us to make a picture (using human) to express the storylines to present to the other group and herself, so that they can give suggestions. Lisha and I were the two friends from Fake Friendship, Zhiping was the Father and Xindi was the mother, Shiyin and Jiashin were the competing sisters from Family. Seryeen represented the storyline, Growing up.
Feedbacks given by mdm oehlers/classmates
- growing up story told using monologue
- Overlapping. e.g: Fake Friendship could be the flashback of Growing up storyline
- the Family storyline was abit confusing as there were many conflicts within.
Suggestion: Research on office politics can be done (for first storyline)
absentees today: CLARE
Cheers! :D LYNN!
Saturday, July 18, 2009
hellos (:so, since Competition is our main topic, maybe we could like show different kinds of competition in our play. We have 9 people right? So maybe we could each be portraying a form of competition.
Since competition is sort of interlinked with the 7 deadly sins, (e.g. how greedy people always want more and more and hence create competition with others to obtain the things they want.) we could try to incorporate some of the sins into the play, not forcing it in though, since Mdm Oehlers mentioned that it wouldn't be exactly beneficial to force all the seven sins in.
Like Rachel suggested, we could weave everything into a story by connecting them together by certain events. Then we would have smooth transitions from one form of competition into another (:
These are just some ideas, amongst many more contributed by the others (: jiayous everyone!
-Li-Sha-
Friday, July 17, 2009
Deers in the Mating Season....
I figured that such scenes are actually quite related to competition. Since animals have the natural instinct to fight for territory as well as for their mate.Here is the link to the article: Deer - Mating Strategies (So as not to offense any copyrights>.<)
~Ser Yeen~
Please Vote For Me...
The video below is about a class in China, voting for their class monitor. We all know that China is a communist country and democracy is entirely new to them. But in the video below, we can see how the children responded to the election. It is interesting how such scenes are actually so common in our daily life. Enjoy! >.< I think that competition can actually lead to much unhappiness for others as well as yourself. Just like the video, the fat boy was going around telling his friends to vote for him and even to the extent of using bribery and making them insult the other candidates. In our modern world, elections might seem like a fair competition, but one cannot assume that there are completely no injustice somewhere in between.
Competition was originally of a good nature, to motivate and to make people strive for their best. But sometimes, when competitiveness becomes too extreme, it becomes bad. Instead of allowing everyone a fair chance to do their best, many are hurt for the sake of one to reach the goal.
This is a short review on the video. Please comment!
P.S this is where I got the idea from: http://www.kk.org/truefilms/archives/competition_stories/
~Ser Yeen~
okay, so we chose 'Competition'. it's a big topic, and it's pretty general. maybe each of us could come up with 2 scenarios on competition, and we can compile everything and probably try and merge them into one story.
Examples:
-competition at the workplace (trying to get the boss's attention, trying to achieve a higher position)
-competition at home (sibling rivalry, comparability of good grades/achievements among siblings)
-competition at an event (race, marathons, swimming... very literal forms of competition)
...etc. the list goes on [: we can then list the consequences of these forms of competition, like what competition will lead to (like what Zhiping was in the frozen picture -- a result of over-competition, stress). and maybe we could include what competition is like in our world now? and how it has affected people. then we could turn it into a story :D
ha, loads of ideas, we'll keep contributing then.
hugs,
rachel.
7 sins
hello hello!here's the 7 sins, i looked it up (in case we need it)
1. gluttony
2. greed
3. sloth
4. wrath
5. envy
6. pride
7. lust
shiyin
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Hello eveyone! :DHere's our new drama blog!
WHEE.
Today's lesson:
We were split into two groups based on odd or even register numbers.
Then, we had to brainstorm ten topics we were interested in.
What we came up with was:
1) Eating
- Disorders: Anorexia, Bulimia; Obesity
2) Relationships
- parent-child
- rich-poor
3) Sleep!
- not enough?
- insomnia
4) Competition
- hidden?
- for: approval
- modern society
5) Clothes
-teachers? (style: dressing/fashion sense)
- represent personal thoughts/beliefs?
6) Boredom
- of class
- of Life?
7) Journey to the West!
(like our chinese one last year :D)
- reenactment? modifications?
8) Jealousy/Envy
9) Economic Crisis
10) Fate
- is it true?
- or just an excuse?
11) Faith/Belief/ Hope
-religion
12) Conflicts (very general!)
13) Braces/Specs/Nerdiness (8D)
14) 7 Deadly Sins
Our 3 chosen topics were Competition, Faith, and 7 Sins.
We acted these out in freezeframes!
For Competition,
we tried to portray different types: sibling rivalry, in the workplace, on the running track.
we also had a person right in the middle, clutching her head. To illustrate the stress of life in modern society!
We interpreted faith in the religious sense, with our group curling to form a u shape.
from stage right to left, we had the devout, in decreasing degrees, to those completely against religion.
The Seven Deadly Sins was apparently hard to interpret.
As Lynn was absent,
we had eight actors.
So we decided to have seven embody a sin each,
and one (in the centre) personify "perfection".
Final choice of topic: Competition
JIAYOU US! :D
<3, ZhiPing!