WEEK 23 FINAL Reflective Writing

During this period of study in LCC, we got to know and worked with many students from different countries. In this year’s diversified learning process, I learned a lot of new things, especially improved my thinking and communication skills. I gained the most in the Academic English class, which has a lot of group cooperation and communication. In one class, our team has two girls from America and a Chinese boy. We had to prepare a speech according to the topic, and then we need to finish it together in class. We first created a study group on Teams, then we need to group the topics according to what we want to study. We all did a good job in the early communication, but after the assigning, the boy lost contact because he didn’t reply to the message for a long time. This led to the loss of his part in our final presentation. I felt sad about this, because it wasted the opportunity of our team’s presentation, and the reason was that we lacked the necessary communication and handover when the task was completed. If I work as a team member again next time, I will find each team member to confirm their work progress and remind them of the due time before the assignment is made.

Another problem I encountered was communication in the class. Because we are taking online classes for almost the whole time, many people do not want to open the microphone for various reasons, and they don’t share their ideas with words in time, which makes it difficult for us to communicate and understand each other, and also leads to the failure of the discussion task. So next time, I will first turn on the microphone and try to have a discussion with my classmates. This will not only further improve my ability to express myself, also lead by example and have everyone talk together. In this year’s art teaching, with accumulated experience, I particularly realized the importance of communication, both in study and in life. When you try to find a true new friend, in this international environment, you must need to try to get rid of their native language comfort zone, do not worry about you will be laughed at, the people who receive you sincerely won’t mind. All in all, let the relationship be based on communication, not later but now.

WEEK 23 Transform Collage

Select two or three images and combine them

· Try to select images that, when put together, change the interpretation of the images.

· How does the process of selecting two images and slicing them, weaving them, weaving them, or layering them change the interpretation of the final image?

· Create collages or words using only fonts and colors.Consider word clarity.

· Create a complete object.

Consider how to convey your story through collages by creating a storyboard, an animated GIF, or a series of collages.

can choose to refer to these kinds of ideas, but it is just a collage between the actors and the background. It’s like the background board is white paper, and the characters are things that we cut out

WEEK 22 Collaboration In Pairs

This day we are work in pairs, and create a series of three developed images. Our images can be still or moving.

What is the object, what tactile qualities does it have and what is it function? How did it extend your ideas for your own project?

We decided to use cookies, which are common snacks, as the objects for this shoot. I cut the parts of two cookies and then exchanged them in positions. Then, because my final project was to make a film, so I made the image into a stop-motion animation.

My work

Did you enjoy working with your partner? What was difficult about the process and what did you learn from it?

Then Mike used my picture, because what he wanted to make was photography, so he converted the cookie and the camera, and finally made two different colors.

Mike’s work

WEEK 22 Transform Workshop

With the passage of time. Objects move gradually from appearance to disappearance.
Bananas and Pitaya.

with my sister’s toy. this time I moved my camera.

Extend The Idea About Personal Project

Because I had already decided on the video I would eventually shoot, and I already shot it during my two-week vacation. Therefore, in the following time, I need to perfect the script and edit the video.
In the production of this video, I am very relaxed in the treatment of the appearance of the environment, and I do not have strict requirements on the actors’ language understanding ability, so it is obvious that this is a comedy-oriented video.

CCS Film Review About Julie&Julia (Feature Film)

When reality shines into the movie — Food and life in Nora Ephron’s screenplay

Nora Ephron is one of my favorite scriptwriters. She specializes in light comedy. She is witty and romantic, discussing of life always stops at where it should be, and laughing over serious topics. Her works are mostly urban romance tales, carefully woven romances for adults, especially women. Like who? Like Jane Austen.

Her work gives people a sense of literature and art. Artsy this word, now you take it to say a person each other may not be happy. It’s part of speech has been getting worse, and now the female artsy in the context is always “delicate and fragile”, or “hysterical and nervous”. But Ephron certainly wasn’t that kind of type. She is a person who discusses daily necessities while watching An Affair to Remember. She can look on coldly when she plunges into this big pool of life and swims beautifully with legs.

Also a romantic comedy, Meg Ryan’s other work is less than the three Ephron scripted film she starred in, When a Man Loves a Woman, When Harry Met Sally, You’ve Got Mail. It’s not the hardware that’s the problem. San Francisco sightseeing in When a Man Loves a Woman is no less than the seasons on Fifth Avenue in You’ve Got Mail. For looks alone, I’d prefer Hugh Jackman at the peak of his looks in Kate & Leopold.

The key is the dialogue in almost every one of Nora Ephron’s plays. There are a few long lines of dialogue in almost ever plays. For example, the discussion on friendship between the two sexes in When Harry Met Sally and the discussion on the attitude of men and women towards love movies in When a Man Loves a Woman let me remember for years. It’s a pyrotechnically-inspired piece of art that seems hopelessly impractical, but when you savor it, you get a taste of life and experience, a hard-tempered meditation on life, and a warmth from a man who has known all the loneliness. (I made this assumption because she mentioned in the book that she had worked as a freelance writer for several years, mostly staying at home.)

The heroines in her plays are always somewhere between “wigglers” and “veteran hooligans,” just as she is in this book. The play peeps into the book, the book peeps into the person, each of her heroines has her own shadow. But among all the movies, my favorite is a movie about food and memories. Julie&Julia.

Nora Ephron

Julie&Julia are a dramatic film directed by Nora Ephron and starring Meryl Streep and Julie Powell. The film tells the story of two women whose ordinary lives are transformed by the alluring French cuisine. Before Julia Child changed the world, she was just an ordinary American woman living in France who’s greatest hobby was eating. “Why can’t I go to a professional food school and learn how to cook?” So, in the kitchen occupied by a group of French men, Julia, a stranger, began to try to make a traditional French meal. And finally she was successful and she even attempted to enlist her experience in a book titled Mastering The Art Of French Cooking

Julie Powell, who lives in the United States, is also a frustrated. As a government employee, her job is dull and boring. But that all changed when she saw Julia Child’s Mastering The Art Of French Cooking. She was so determined to learn to cook every dish in the book that she posted a blog about her experience online and gained a legion of fans.

The film is also directed by Nora. As one of the most influential female directors in Hollywood, Nora had made many excellent film about women before shooting Juliet&Julia. This kind of subject matter is actually difficult to grasp. One is not careful will fall into a stereotype, become repeatedly describe their loneliness and magnify women’s emotional. This is a common fault of domestic romantic film. They are feminist on the surface, but in fact they are all shot for men. But Nora is much more clever, and I think she is the only one who can write a wonderful story while describing the inner world of women.

The film follows two paths of female self-fulfillment in a double-line narration that mirrors each other, without being particularly flashy, except for recorded moderate, straight-talking American humor. May’s performance was certainly commendable, and I looked for the video of Childe’s show to compare it, even the subtle expressions and tone were the same. “You are the butter to my bread, you are the breath of my life.“ Besides, the old villain Stanley Tucci’s portrayal of Paul Child, who climbs on a stool to make a kitchen rail for his wife even though he doesn’t match the size of the tall Julia, is both comic and touching.

I especially like the image of Julia in the movie. She has a zest for life and spreads it out. Even the notoriously bad-tempered French can be brought out on the good side of her, becoming friendly and lovable. A word from Julie’s husband,”Julia Child wasn’t born Julia Child either.” Julia’s transformation from an ordinary homemaker to a famous chief is portrayed half a century ago.

That’s probably what touched me about Julia. She is very happy-go-lucky, cheerful and tolerant, without the hard arm of workplace women. Her words are humorous and high-pitched, and her smile is as artful and innocent as her husband’s surname Child. She was a really romantic kind of person, always smiling like she was drunk, her arm movements were cute and innocent, and she didn’t hide whether she was happy or sad. She had a husband who loved her and supported her wholeheartedly and would be dancing for joy at her success. When someone shares your happiness, you get more out of it. She must know that fun and laughter are the most important things in the 24 hours that everyone shares. Enjoying life and enjoying cooking are in common in a sense.

More than 50 years later in Queens, New York. Already famous in the United States, she has become a little clerk Julie’s spiritual mentor. Under the advice of her husband, she decided to change her habit of giving up halfway. So she followed the Mastering The Art Of French Cooking completed 524 course in 365 days and posted on her blog. It can be said that every time she finishes a dish. She gets closer to Julia. Julia’s ebullient lifestyle also changes her subtly.

In her hands, the food became more delicious. The comments on her blog began to go from one to three digits, and she attracted more and more followers. The ordinary, worry-looking office worker gradually became more optimistic. In the end, she ended up as a grass-roots blog hero, marking a perfect end to her year-long project.

With 524 dishes in one year, the mouth-watering food has become the place where the movie Juliet&Julia interprets life with food. The movie shows the marriage life and career of two women in a time travel l way. The two story lines of Julie and Julia are interspersed like a flowing stream. Nora’s excellent narrative technique and score also make the film a feast for the eyes, and also deeply moved by two ordinary women whose lives have been changed by food.

Julia was ebullient and Julie was depressed. They are two very different people. One is like an idea and the other is more like reality. The two stories in Julie&Julia are both taken from real events, and their existence tells us that the ideal life is real. It is not only an inspirational film, but also tells every audience that love and happiness are the most indispensable ingredients in cooking. When Julie learns Julia’s recipe, she learns not only how to cook, but also how to be a better person. The growing process of Julie is like an ideal reflected into reality. When she finally can enjoy life like Julia, she sincerely thanks the person who taught her about kitchen and love.

It’s a beautiful movie in itself, and the addition of delicious food is like melting butter on a saucepan, making this light and beautiful movie fragrant.

In fact, many of us, like Julie, are confined to a fixed area of work and takeout, which leads to less and less enjoyment of the food we really enjoy. It’s not just food. Many people lose their passion for life and get by, struggling to cope with everything. The kitchen was Julie’s coping strategy and it finally allowed her to find joy outside of her ordinary life. What about our exports? It could be food. It could be something else. Whatever it is, feel it in your heart and find the small, subtle pleasure in life.

Finally, a summarize with director Nora’s words. “I hope everyone who sees the movie wants to go out and eat right away, because life is so good!”

WEEK 22 My Own Personal Time Capsule

Choose 6 meaningful objects/ visual opportunities for your own personal time capsule, decide on what form your time capsule will take, is it a box, digital space or some thing else?

If I had to choose something to preserve my precious memories or objects, it would be a bookcase or a smart cat.

  • Study Aspect ( objects and visual picture )

The reason why I choose this picture is that it can well illustrate my interests and my childlike innocence. I want my personality and interests to be preserved forever.

Photo taken at student residence in the UK

The reason why I choose this picture is that it is the first homework I have done since I started to contact art. This is a graphic design course. We will make a poster for the “Ukiyo-e” exhibition as required. This is my final product.

Image made in the winter of 2019

  • Extracurricular Interests ( visual pictures)

This is an interest I have fallen in love with since childhood. I will write my own novels or movie scripts in my spare time. Below is a picture of one of the main characters in two of my favorite novels. So that’s why I chose them, because I really like my work.

  • Music Attainments ( object and visual pictures)

This is my favorite singer, Michelangelo. The pictures were taken at musicals and live performances that I went to see. His music has been playing for almost my entire childhood and to this day.

Shot in Beijing 2018 and 2020

  • My Life Time( object )

This is my dog.I have fed him for nine years. So you can see how important it is to me.

It was just taken on my sofa

  • My Regret ( objects )

Because I’ve always loved animals. But I will feed and take care of stray cats outside because I can’t keep cats at home. These two pictures were taken in my community. They are both stray cats that I feed. I hope this love will continue even after I get my own cat.

It was shot in the community where my family belongs. The first is often found in my downstairs garage. The second is often found in the neighborhood pool