Category Archives: English 9

Collaboration Book Trailer

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Cover art by John Rocco

Cover art by John Rocco


A few months ago, I created a script and a storyboard for my own book trailer of Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard: The Sword of Summer, by Rick Riordan. It was one of my favorite books I’d read this semester, and contained many fun and interesting scenes that wouldn’t be too difficult to act out. My storyboard and script were sent (with some technical difficulties) to the students of Ms. Lang in Ohio.

SCRIPT


First let me say a few things about storyboards.
It’s a way for movie creators to organize the plot of a movie before it’s actually shot. Basically, how it works is you draw out every scene of the movie and lay it out to see the different angles and expressions . If you don’t like one scene, you can scrap it and draw a new one. If you start filming first—without any plan, organization, or thought—well, you’ll end up with a mile-long list of things you don’t like, and many things you’d want to reshoot.

Storyboard of Disney's Tangled

Storyboard of Disney’s Tangled (source)

Storyboardthat.com is a really good website to use for creating storyboards. I was able to match the scenery and characters (and even their expressions!) to the book as closely as I could without too much effort, and in just 12 simple boxes.

STORYBOARD


Storyboard
Screen Shot 2016-05-30 at 12.39.26 PM

This website has more information about storyboards, including tips on how to make your own.

TRAILER


Well here it is…the book trailer

Ten seconds in I saw that the trailer was different from my script. 49 seconds later I saw that they were completely different.
But…I totally don’t mind.
This trailer was fabulous. It’s awesome how someone took the effort to use green screen to change the setting from an obvious school environment to some other place.
This is like…gah. I can’t. I’m fangirling again.
The music was also really really nice, and the acting was wonderful and also pretty adorable. The trailer still followed the book, which I was really relieved about. I don’t think my partner was really paying attention to this, but their clothes matched the book. The colors were definitely different, but at least they weren’t wearing basketball jerseys or something. Also, the trailer was put together really well. Something about it just flows smoothly, like it was made by actual directors.
There are three things I’d want to change. One is the font of the trailer. I don’t remember whether the font can be changed or not in iMovie, but all the same, it doesn’t look fantasy or action-y enough. It looks more like a movie about a kid growing up and learning about life. Another change would be to add some dialogue. I’d be even more blown away if there was talking in this. The last thing was probably the one that bothered me the most. It wasn’t be their fault, because I don’t know whether they’d read the novel or not, but the name of the book was written wrong. There’s only one “the.” That’s really it, the rest was very impressive. I was staring at the video in awe the entire time. Maybe I’m just brainwashed by the pretty backgrounds, but I genuinely like this trailer.

I liked writing the script and making the storyboard much more than I thought I would. Perhaps it’s because of my interest in reading. I suppose that if you’re both hard-working and passionate about something, you can truly create something incredible. It’s so great to see one of my favorite books come to life in a book trailer. I might even write some more scripts just for fun.

Shawn Schreckengost Jr., you are fabulous.

Pop the Filter Bubbles

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Before this project, I had no idea that filter bubbles existed. I didn’t know that technology had already advanced so much that they saved your history and altered your search results. At first, I thought that filter bubbles were actually good, because they filtered out the things that you didn’t care much about. Then I thought more on the subject, and realized that there are cons to filter bubbles. Kathleen made a good point on Padlet: “We might not be able to have access to some websites due to its filter based on regular search habits we make. Often times, we would search our assumptions and questions for a topic, making the results biased. The search engine would assume we’re on certain side, therefore, showing more information of that particular fraction.” This was building on the idea that everyone had, that we would miss important information because of the filter.

These are the screenshots. The first is mine, the second is my partners.
Screen Shot 2016-01-28 at 10.49.22 AM

Screen Shot 2016-01-28 at 10.49.40 AM
Although we searched the same keywords, I feel like the results were still not very different.

Nevertheless, I still think we should try preventing filter bubbles, because over time, the more we search, the more the results might change, so we should start now. I feel that there actually aren’t any ways to effectively eliminate filter bubbles. The best we can do is just learn to search properly and choose the best websites that we are given.

Good Luck

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Felix clutched at his pendant resentfully. His grandmother had traveled to Egypt just to buy him a necklace.
So what if it was a so-called good luck charm? Boys don’t wear jewelry. He would get laughed at.
Felix tossed the gem up in the air and caught it, looking at it properly for the first time. It was a bright green emerald two centimeters across. It was raw, so it had many shades of green, but it looked nice nonetheless. Not like that made Felix like it.
It had a hole punctured in the top for a leather cord, which he had already thrown behind him as he strolled down his street. There had been a hurricane a week earlier, and browning leaves littered the ground. The trees swayed slightly, and chestnuts dropped around him.
Felix pondered whether he would be able to throw the lucky jewel into the neighbor’s trash bin from this far away.
Deciding he couldn’t, he jaywalked across the street, nearly stepping on a caterpillar as he did so.
He reached the sidewalk only to find a stray cat ambling out from the bushes and lying down for a lazy nap in the centre of the path. It looked like it had been in a fight. Felix decided that he shouldn’t press his luck and step over the feline. He sighed inwardly and crossed the street yet another time. A boy on a bicycle shot by the sidewalk Felix had left, his eyes glued to his cell phone. The stray had managed to scramble out of the way, but only just. In an effort to avoid the cat, Felix sidestepped too quickly and his foot scratched painfully against a bush.
Felix ignored his injury. His gaze was focused on the trash can. So focused, in fact, that he failed to notice the tree until it was already falling. Whoosh! Felix jumped back, and the tree came down inches in front of him.
Felix let out a breath, the sound of his beating heart resonating in his ears. He was lucky. So lucky.
A man’s head appeared at a nearby window. He started when he saw the downed tree, “Kid! Felix, is that you? Are you alright?”
“I’m fine!” Felix called back.
“You better get home, you lucky boy. Be careful.”
Felix nodded and turned around. Completely forgetting that the pendant was supposed to be good luck, he tossed it clear across the street, straight at a manhole. It bounced off the rim of a nearby recycling bin, did a short spin, and disappeared down into the sewers with a clatter.
At first, he felt triumphant, that was a one in a million shot. Nobody else would be able to chuck a gem into a hole that small on his or her first try. Then realization hit him. Hard.
“Well,” he mumbled to himself, “that doesn’t mean anything. I could have dodged that tree without the emerald.”
He steeled himself against looking down the sewer and made his way home.

My Flipboard Buddy

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For my Flipboard project, I was paired with Brandon. Here is his Flipboard.
View my Brandon’s Flipboard Magazine.

I scrolled through his Flipboard and saw that he seems to really like Walking Dead and the Youtube Channel Good Mythical Morning. And I’m not sure if he accidentally clicked it or what, but he reflipped one of my Percy Jackson posts. This made me pump my fist because I don’t know a lot of people who have read that series, or saw the movies.
I also became a total stalker and found his Facebook account. He has this picture for his cover photo:
Clouds

We were alike in some ways. I’ve never heard of that Youtube Channel he watches, but I do like funny Youtubers like Nigahiga or IISuperwomanII, and Good Mythical Morning are pretty entertaining to watch. We also like Percy Jackson. Personally, I’m not a fan of the Walking Dead. I’ve never even seen the show, but I do know the ratings are really good. Me, I prefer sitcoms and cartoons, so we’re both alike and different at the same time.

A Guide for Story Writing

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Photo by Author

Photo by Author

Choose a topic that you like

You do not need to write about something that’s really popular, like vampires or dystopian novels like the Hunger Games. Write about something that interests you, something that you would feel more passionate and give more into. I have always been very interested in fantasy, and have written a few fanfictions about Harry Potter and Percy Jackson. It’s good to challenge yourself and try something new, you don’t need to keep writing in the same style all the time.

Plan the plot

Don’t just plan the beginning or the ending of a story. What happens with a lot of people, is that they get really caught up with writing a fantastic ending, so they rush through the rest of the book. Either that or they give up halfway through because there’s too many chapters to write before the end, which is the part they actually want to write. You shouldn’t make the ending or the climax the only good parts of the book. Making a basic outline will also prevent you from getting stumped on how to continue the story.

Imagery and Characters

Imagery is one of the things you must have in your story. It helps your readers imagine the story better, and they might feel as if they are in the story themself. Try to use different words. Don’t always use “good,” “said,” or “pretty”. Use a thesaurus to find a better word, and if you’re describing something, make the description longer, not just one adjective. Characters need to be realistic. Meaning they have flaws. You might think that a character who makes no mistakes is the kind of person everyone would like, but that’s not true. If you make a character too perfect, nobody’s going to like them. This website teaches you how to create a character.

Revise and edit

There is always room for improvement and more possibilities. If you can’t think of how to improve, ask for feedback. Revising can change your entire plot and make it better than before. Revising is what makes books so hard to stop reading. Revising teaches you how to challenge something that you wrote, and you will have the skill to determine whether it’s good or bad. If you just write your final draft and that’s it, there could be a lot of mistakes. You might go back and read that work later, and not like what you had written. The best of stories is born from hard work, so put effort into your tale. Make your readers laugh, cry, and remember your story.

Don’t stress

You don’t need to finish a whole story or chapter in a few days. You can take a break and get away from your computer or notebook. This can also help you get ideas or be inspired. A few days ago I was thinking about what to write for this blog post, then a day later I was scrolling through Wattpad, and I thought of writing about this.

Write everything down

Whether you’re in bed, at lunch, or at the park, it an idea suddenly comes to you, you should write it down immediately. Otherwise, that idea would disappear from your memory. If you keep all your ideas together, when you have writer’s block, you will have a great deal of ideas to choose from.

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Some more websites to check out:
How to Write a Good Story
How to be a Good Writer

Remember, don’t write to impress, write to enjoy and feel proud of your work 🙂

How to Stop Procrastinating

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Here is a short video that Santino and I made that teaches some ways to stop procrastinating.

Stopping yourself from procrastinating can be challenging. But if you’re up to it, it’s easier. One way is to get rid of distractions and be organized. You could be about to get started on your homework, but then you can’t find your paper, so you just give up and start playing games instead. And how can you concentrate if your phone or computer keeps making a notification sound every ten seconds? I personally think just forcing yourself to just get started is the best way to stop procrastinating. You just have to pull yourself together and say, “Okay, I’ll do it now.” When I start math homework, I always keep doing it until it’s done. It’s the same as waking up. Once you’re awake for a few minutes, you don’t really need to go back to sleep anymore.

Why Is Reading Important?

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Reading can help you in many ways. It can improve vocabulary, relieve stress, and also make you a better writer.

I really agree that reading is really important. I’m not sure if this is correct, but I love reading and read every single day. I think the reason why my English is good is because I read a lot. People always say that I’m a really happy person, which might be an outcome of reading. I don’t know how true this is, but I think it’s possible. I also think that everybody likes reading, it just depends on what they read. Some people probably like reading the backs of video game cases, or maybe a fashion magazine.

Puppies

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Dogs, especially puppies, can be the cutest things ever. They are loyal to us and can protect us as well.
By Marian and Claire.

I'm waiting for food! Photo Credit: Daniel Stockman via Flickr cc

I’m waiting for food!

Photo Credit: Daniel Stockman via Flickr cc

An old stuffed animal from a long time ago Photo by author

An old stuffed animal from a long time ago

Photo by author

Pwease gimme that treat? Photo credit: Mele☺ via Flickr cc

Pwease gimme that treat?

Photo credit: Mele☺ via Flickr cc

I thought that is was fun searching for dogs on Google Images because they were all so cute! Dogs have always been my favourite animal, because they are man’s best friend, and they are increasingly loyal and fun to have around. I had a Shiba Inu named Dino one time, but when I came to Taiwan we couldn’t keep him anymore. I like all dogs, but Shiba Inus, pomerians, and golden retreivers have always been my favourites.

Academic Honesty

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Academic dishonesty is cheating. Some examples of academic dishonesty are plagiarism, changing the answers, making false excuses, using prohibited resources, forging a signature, fabricating, assisting, duplication of work, and collusion.

Photo Credit: Mr_Stein via Compfight cc

Photo Credit: Mr_Stein via Compfight cc

This is a short video about what happened when someone cheated in middle school.

Academic honesty is important because if people cheat on test, they will learn nothing. Also it’s very unfair to other students because you are benefiting yourself. We agree with the KAS Academic Honesty Policy because after you cheat, other people will want to cheat because you did. People also wouldn’t like you, and they’ll think you’re a bad person. And it’s also not worth it; it’s a really big risk. You’ll get a zero on the test or assignment and you’ll lost the trust of your teachers. Cupertino High School says that, “neither pressure for grades, inadequate time for studying or completing an assignment, nor unrealistic parental expectations justify students acting dishonestly.”

To avoid dishonesty, you can collaborate with others instead of copying others. Collaborating lets you learn more thing from others and you can practice with other people. Copying makes you less prepared. You can also check your work for plagiarism before you turn it in. You should also make sure you are allowed to use the sources you use before you use them.

Sources

Academic Integrity at MIT
KAS Student Handbook, page 23-25
Cupertino High School Academic Integrity Policy