9 Things #ACAM350 Taught Me; 1 Thing It Didn’t

… And with our “final cut” finally done, I am extremely relieved yet somehow unsatisfied with the version we have handed in. Now that I have been through the whole process of creating a documentary, I can honestly say that the blood, sweat, and tears behind the production of our film was worth it, mainly because I had so much fun with my group mates (I swear we work when we’re together and not just eat! though twitter might show otherwise). Despite our group being the largest with 4 members, I felt like it was the perfect number to have. Everyone had their roles–– sound (Kaitlyn), main interview camera (Kathy), b-roll camera (Mimi), interviewer (me; excluding Vietnamese interviewees). As we proceeded with our 6 interviewees, we all fell into a rhythm of our own. It was a familiar yet exciting routine that I looked forward to every time, as I would anticipate what would happen when we asked our questions, what would be said, what sort of fun would we have while filming. As the important thing is the journey and not the destination, I would say I thoroughly enjoyed my journey as a member of my group, and as a short-term film student.

the pains of editing

Through the course of these past three months, I have condensed a list of things I have learned while being in #ACAM350.
9 Things I learned from ACAM350, 1 Thing I didn’t (not limited to the classroom):

Editing sucks the life out of you.
B-roll is random but is also not; you need to know what you need, but sometimes what you don’t think you need can become what you need.
Translating is never really truly accurate.
Patience is a virtue that will escape you––trying to find music and syncing the film to it will have you ready to give up.
Interviewee’s opinions are important but ummm… uh…… sometimes it’s not relevant and we need to be ruthless.
There are way too many files and content that naming becomes super important yet super random.
I have FLAGGED1.prproj to FLAGGED8.prproj saved on my harddrive; premier autosave saves lives.
Audio consistency and levels makes a big difference.
Documentary film making is not as easy as it looks.

Setting up lighting was like trying to wrestle with wires and frames.

The technical process of setting up pre-interviews, filming the interview, logging, editing, cutting, music hunting, audio tuning, b-roll filming… That wasn’t as difficult as the creative process. From brainstorming to proposal writing, then interview question making, constructing the narrative, cutting out stories, re-constructing the narrative; all of these took way more time and effort, and gave me an insight into the kind of thinking and analyzing that goes into creating a film. The nuances and the little details of each segment is broken down and analyzed by us to try and understand the film we want to create. There were many times when we would be debating about keeping or cutting a certain part, each of us having their own reasons for their decisions. The dialogues that we had regarding the impact of the interviewee’s voice, to the meaning of their words sparked interesting conversations about our own narrative direction and what we wanted to say with the film.

The learning I have done through interacting and speaking with our interviewees as well as my group members has made me aware of issues I didn’t know existed before. Looking back, my school just did the bare minimum of educating us about history, but what can you do. The struggles and the pain and hurt that our interviewees carry over from Vietnam or from their parents linger within them, and how each of them chooses to express that becomes a personal story about the Vietnamese. Sadly, because of the topic of our film we couldn’t delve deeper into a single person’s story. The use of the yellow flag is controversial because of what it represents, whether it be the “lost” Vietnam, or “Freedom and Heritage”. Our video only brushes the surface of the topic and what the flag represents to the different Vietnamese people in Vancouver. With each interview, I learned more about a history I have never come across, and through the creation of this video have become connected––to people, to history, to culture. And not just the Vietnamese, but also to Canada.

Canada has a reputation for being a nice place, somewhere you can go to for better opportunities, somewhere that’s nice to live. I found this motif to be recurring with a lot of our interviewees; and that really speaks to the kind of place Canada is, and to what Canada as a country has to offer to Canadians, whether they be immigrants or first/second/n-th generation. The conversations about being Canadian and living in Canada made me question what being Canadian means to me, and what do I see Canada as, whether its a country of opportunities, of open discourse, of community, or of beautiful natural scenery.

All in all, the film has become a way for me to learn not only about Vietnamese history, but also of the conversations around being Canadian. The technical skills are definitely something that will be helpful in the future, but the dialogues we have had and the stories we’ve shared are ones that I will continue to think about and investigate. I really look forward to the screening, to see how everyone’s films turned out! Thank you for an enjoyable class, and keep creating #ACAM350! (:

A Stamp and A Soul

Because we were talking about oral history, I’ve decided this blog post will consist of my grandfather’s oral history. Maybe this will be the written record of his experiences in English. (:

Story time: My paternal grandfather was a young adult when he made his trek to HK from the outskirts of China. He was in HK when World War 2 happened. He was there at the time when the Japanese occupied the city, and was struggling to make a living after having followed in his brother’s footsteps. He tells stories of when he was young, starting out as a small business owner that sold ivory and the like, including chopsticks and name stamps. There was once when a Japanese soldier commissioned my grandfather to make him a name stamp, and he paid in advance for it too. My grandfather told him to come back in 2 weeks. He waited. The soldier never showed up.

I know of this because of a project I had to do in high school, where I had to interview a WWII survivor and listen and record their stories. I had to transcribe them and present it in a report to the teacher. The ones that wanted their works published in the HK Heritage archive could do so as well. There were many stories that were told, many that were recorded, but also many that was never heard. Having our discussion of oral history and the importance of it reminded me of the project. Through it, I got to know my grandpa and his struggles, his efforts, his toil and his fears (of the world wars, of the communists, of providing for his family). Oral history may be someone’s personal history, but it is history nonetheless. The underlying tensions between the Hong Kong people and the Japanese during its occupation, along with the stark realities of war can be easily understood with my grandpa’s story.

Of course, now that he is older, he constantly talks about the old days, of when the communists came. I always hear him talk about communists this, communists that, but the stories aren’t so clear. He doesn’t talk about it. He talks about other people’s experiences, where the communists come and take everything. According to my father, he was sent to America by my grandfather to start a business in order to have the whole family immigrate to the US. Dad worked hard, and the whole family moved.

I’m always confused at the timeline of everything, because I never know exactly when we were in the ivory business, and when it stopped. Grandpa apparently owned a restaurant too. Apparently lots of people went there. Apparently it was popular. I didn’t know that. It’s not there anymore. I ask my Dad about it too, but it’s not a really satisfying answer. Maybe I’ll ask more when I get back to HK (:

My Whole New Mind? I’m Thinking I Don’t Want To Think Anymore

The journey is over. Another term is coming to an end. I’m sure most people have heard the phrase “It’s about the journey, not the destination” or something along those lines, but I am so happy to have reached the destination because Christmas (!!) and winter break! In all seriousness though, the road we have taken in creating design briefs and solutions was an adventure, and I am glad to taken part in it.

Life is a journey, not a destination. It's up to us to connect the dots.:

I had an epiphany when looking at the Compelling Experience Map when it was being taught in class, where I caught myself thinking “THIS is what I’m talking about!”. The questioning is where pain points and solutions present themselves, and being someone that prioritizes efficiency and presentability, the map gave me a way to name the process I intuitively carry out, while also providing me a detailed, step-by-step questioning that can help me refine the process. My group would always come back to the big WHY, the HOW, the WHAT as well. The Compelling Experience map evolved into what our design solution eventually embodied, taking the form of a data mapping system that placed emphasis on touch points at every interaction between the client and Creative BC.

Creating the design brief was the most difficult part of this whole project, because our topic of “sustainable business model” encompasses the entirety of Creative BC and its clients, the creative sector. The reading from A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the World categorizes our journey really well during the first phase of problem finding, because we essentially had to steer away from the left-brained thinking (facts, logic, analysis) to concentrate on the right-brained thinking (bigger picture, synthesis, emotional expression). We spent a whole afternoon trying to map out the possible design brief ideas, finally coming to terms with the scope of our topic by successfully envisioning and piecing together the whole picture. If we were too caught up in all the information and details of the project, we would definitely be swept away by the sheer amount of factors that contributed to the problem, instead of spending our time creating a solution. We decided to categorize everything we’ve learnt of Creative BC into key phrases to help us with our organization. The result was a presentable design brief, but even with all the information condensed into a 10 minute presentation and report, there was so much that still could be included. I feel this speaks to the cooperation or the simultaneous workings of left-brained thinking and right-brained thinking, because you can’t help but consider all the details, but synthesizing the data is what brings solutions to the table, tying everything together nicely.

[I’m right-brained, apparently. So… when do I get to rule the world? (; ]

Our process in collecting the necessary information for the design brief and mapping our possible solutions led to the simple and understandable design solution we provided Creative BC. The design brief was where we completed a large portion of the groundwork, and the ease of creating the solution was all thanks to that, and the experience mapping. The realization of left-brained thinking and right-brained thinking reminds me of the convergent and divergent thinking we talked about in the beginning of the term: the brain is constantly zooming in and out, focusing on the details then the big picture, but you need an equal balance of both, or the photo will simply be out of focus… So, what did I learn after all this? I learned that good design, really good design, solves problems (smartly, beautifully, easily). (:

problems become one, two, three, ta-da!

The “funnel” essay model––where big concepts are “funnelled” and become a single idea (thesis), which is then supported by several arguments, and is then followed by a conclusion that widens the scope once again. I think the funnel captures my way of thinking and information processing rather accurately. Whether it’s assignments or everyday problems, the model has become so ingrained into my thinking by English teachers throughout the years––thank you very much––that I naturally think through the steps of the funnel without realizing it. The idea of thoughts going from “big > small > big” mirrors the “general > specific > general” thinking that our minds go through everyday. Even in the realm of business, I think everything, whether it be products or services, is “concepts > details > concepts” turned into reality.

If I need to explain my thinking in terms of divergent/convergent thinking, I think my initial answer is selected from a quick diverging of possible options. This then converges into one single point to then diverge again to explore the array of solutions within that one point before converging again into a concrete answer… I’ve come to realize through this assignment that the way our brain processes information happens so instantaneously that explaining it step by step is a rather grandiose task. Nevertheless, I will attempt to explain the way my brain handles problems, how it makes its selection among the possible solutions, and how it decides to present that information.

Infographic of my thinking process

My thinking takes shape in the form of writing, if scribbles count as actual writing? My mind map isn’t so much a map rather than just blocks and points of sentences and thought segments that continue itself down the page. I guess you could say I organize myself with words rather than with pictures or by visuals (English major, go figure). Despite this, the way I present my thoughts could end up being very visual, as with the infographic I created in an attempt to explain the way my brain processes information (I hope it helps). As much as thinking and analyzing is involved to create a single idea, the effectiveness of transmitting the message is key if I want people to actually understand what I am thinking. No matter how efficient or how brilliant my ideas are, if I can’t translate that into comprehensible data, then all is for nought. Because of this, I consider being able to think through how to create an easy to understand and effective presentation is just as important as the whole thinking process.

Of course, showing is always more effective than telling, and luckily I have some outlines of previous papers lying around my desk. Exhibit A: Photo evidence shows an example of an outline to a research essay I had to write for an English course. The left page is my initial scribbling and brain blabbing on the possible arguments and theses, while the right is a more organized, well defined and explained version of the scribbles. Those are both incomplete as I suspect there was a third piece to the puzzle, but alas it is lost among the chaos of term papers and finals. Notice the use of colours too––I get bored easily and using colourful pens makes it easier to cope while making my thoughts easier to organize as well.

Exhibit A: My research paper outline

I look forward to the Business Innovations course as a way to further refine my way of thinking and problem solving, as well as finding effective and creative ways to present information to the world outside my consciousness. I am always for simple, beautiful and effective types of engagement, and if I am able to learn about design processes during my time in this course, I will for sure take advantage of this chance to further improve my skills.

As a wise woman (a.k.a my mother) once said: “We never focus on the effects of the problem, always on how to solve the problem. Because what is the point of getting emotional when you can do something about it?” And I truly believe this has affected my way of thinking way more than any other methods I was taught, because part of the fun of constantly thinking through problems is the smile on people’s faces once you’ve solved them, rather than being upset over how much the problem is well… a problem.

Hello! (:

Hi, everyone! Welcome to my Canadian Literature page! This is the second time I have used a blog for a class so for convenience sakes I just decided to categorize my posts so I don’t have to make a completely new one and fumble through again. Feel free to browse around!

My name is Cherie, and I am a third-year English Lit. major and Management student here at UBC. Many people have asked me why I’m pursuing a major in English and they always ask “what are you going to do with that? Are you going to be a teacher?” to which the answer is a resounding “no” because I, sadly, just do not have enough patience. In response to those inquiries, I’ve decided to do something about it by enrolling in the dual degree program offered here in order to quell the “what are you going to do with your life” questions, because I honestly don’t know and giving the “I’m in management” answer somehow seems to satisfy them better than “I’m in English Lit.”.

Moving on! I’m an international student from Hong Kong, and I have lived there all my life so the big move to Vancouver was an entirely new experience for me. Most of the time I’m just struggling with how cold it is here (it was 24˚C in HK when I went back this Christmas break. Yay… Global warming..!)

Being from a small city, my holidays generally consisted of traveling and exploring the South East Asia area with family and friends. Needless to say, I really like to travel, and have even visited Tokyo to see a friend there on exchange this past Christmas break.

Tokyo from Roppongi Hills, looking at Tokyo Tower

It was really fun because I got to do things I wouldn’t normally do with my parents–– really getting into the local and small, out of the way shops to try their food or look at their crafts. I would say my dream is to travel the world, but who doesn’t dream of that? (:

My interest in this course mainly comes from the fact that I am a Canadian (I was born in Toronto then moved back to Hong Kong when I was 3 months old) and that I attended a Canadian International School growing up. Though I have some Canadian knowledge, it’s not all too in depth and there are still some large gaps left to fill, and I hope by participating in this course and by reading the literature of Canadians, my understanding of what being “Canadian” means will deepen and broaden.

I look forward to getting to know you all!!

Cherie.

b l u e .

Who?
Cherie Au.

Where?
Hong Kong.

About me:
– I was born in Toronto.
– I love traveling & exploring, especially the feeling of getting lost in exotic places.
– A city girl but I love nature too, which is part of the reason I chose UBC.
– It takes me awhile to get used to new people & environment, which is why I’m quiet most of the time…

Fun facts:
– I have been in the same school (a Canadian international school) for 13 years before attending UBC.
– I don’t like soft drinks; I’m really picky with my food…
– I’ve never watched Titanic.
– I tend to remember people’s birthdays.
– I have an unhealthy addiction to milk candies.

Quote:
“When something goes wrong in your life, just yell ‘PLOT TWIST!’ and move on.” -fb/joy of dad

… nice to meet you (:

t u r q u o i s e .

Archives: About me