Films are Fun

One of my many other hobbies includes making films. Film do not have to be very long to deliver the message. They visualize the message and so the message is delivered, consciously or sub-consciously. There are a few films that I have made before:

Chileague Photography competition winners:

Pollution water bottle video:

 Treasure hunt trailer:

In all of these videos I partcipated in editing them and for the water bottle video and the treasure hunt trailer, I was also the one holding the camera. I feel that when I make these videos, it is a chance to finally tell a story through a media that is widely popularized and also acceptable. These types of videos would also be able to promote things better rather than just a simple poster. In the future I would like to make more of these and improve my filmmaking capabilities. 

Firebit Studios Collaboration

After I found that I had an interest in Art, specifically in game Art (knowing that I love playing games and also making fantasy art. Then one day I decided to search over jobs that are listed online on an indie game community website. It was just for fun and my own curiosity, But soon I realized that people were serious in making these games. Even all of those games were indie and not made by some super sized AAA company, they were pretty good. As I searched down the job offers, I also realized how poorly talented I am in the field of game art. I can't model a 3d sculpture nor animate them. The only thing I can do is to create ideas that may be used (concept art), and then came this job offer.

The job offer was an offer to collaborate with other various hobbyists from all around the world, no 2 person was from the same country, including myself. From this 'job' I learnt how to make notes on things and write things in an efficient way so that it can be comprehended by the 3D artists. Here are some of the examples of the artwork I am doing:

Main Character concept preview:

Kinesis module (one of the pages):

Enemies:

Crates:

Shotguns:

Environment art:

Parody brands:

Possible game logos:

For further information I can't simply post it here as the game my team is making is still in a confidential phase. 

Prime Music Competition (2014)

This year I joined the Prime Music Competition again. This time, I won first place!

I might want do a quick flashback. So, back then as always I had to join the annual Prime Music Competition. I felt excited for this competition yet scared. It is mostly because that I only had around 1 week to practice 3 songs for my performance, 1 for the actual competition and 2 for some miscellaneous performances (which aren't graded). In conclusion, this is one of the most rushed performances ever, I would like to perform again next year with better preparations and maybe playing the bass as well.

The trio performance:

After the competition:

 The trophy:

"I Used to Be A Music Student"

The tittle says everything. I used to be a music student. I am not ashamed of it but it was recommended by all the teachers to join a lesson that previously in my IGCSE programme I have participated in. Because, as they say there are some basic points that were taught previously that is not re-introduced again in this IB diploma program. Not to my surprise I was the only Music student that transferred to Visual Arts later on. Some things were completely new to me and some even had similarity to Music (ex: era names, baroque etc). From my few months of experience in the Visual Arts class, I learnt that art simply cannot be defined. Visual arts has a broader definition in my opinion compared to Music, however they fall under the same category. It is fun learning new things in Visual Arts and as I progress further, I begin to realize that I have a passion in Visual Arts.

I then began to research about the possible job outcomes that might fit to me and have gone to an art camp in Singapore organized by NAFA (Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts). The camp gave me a broader view of the possibilities. I then realize that there is a lot in the potential of Digital Art and Animation. Currently I have not yet to touch animation but I plan to do later on. As of now I am concentrating in perfecting my basic comprehension of digital painting (2D). Here are some of my artworks done on digital media:

'Just Clyde', my turtle in person form (yes my turtle is named Clyde):

 A request from a friend:

 Fanart of Loki, Warframe:

 'Dusk Wolf':

Aside from my personal investigation in digital paintings, I learnt a whole ton of new things because of IB Visual Arts. There I was taught that I did not have to follow my concept art 100%. In 99% of my projects, the final product turned out very differently from the concept I have written on. Thinking again, art is not definite so things can change pretty quick. I thank my teacher Mr Aji for letting me know that people who have a passion in art should not have such closed minded thoughts. We should be open for the change, the better change and should be fearless in trying out the various techniques out there. Here are some examples of my work: 

Positive and Negative spaces:

Watercolor Indonesian Themed painting:

 Mix Era painting of a scenery:

Apart from those painted products, I have also practiced on the traditional media of paper:

Face practice:

 A Siberian Husky, furr practice:

 Self portrait, anime style and drawing pen practice:

 Koi brush pen practice:

To conclude this post, even though I am branded with 'Visual Art Student' on my forehead, I can't simply say that I have abandoned Music. Nope! It is still art and therefore I will continue on my passion. 

Spaghetti Machine Competition

The spaghetti machine competition. No it not about spaghettis. Yes it is about machines, but what is a spaghetti machine? Certainly not a spaghetti making machine of course. Basically, we are doing a basic action through a rather complex process. The beauty of the process was the goal of the competition. Back then I had the interest for such things, they were quite interesting to me, but seemed impossible to do at my very young age. Now that I have grown up in Cita hati, by taking physics I was one of the first to be offered by Mr Dedy, our beloved Physics teacher. Being excited, I accepted the challenge and formed a team alongside 3 of my friends, Sellina, William N.G. and Alvin.

We were all rookies basically, no fancy physics background nor fascinating scores. We were all new to the competition. At first we were very excited and fired up to how the possibilities are wide open for us to try, the different contraptions in mind. But then, all of that fire was soon significantly decreased when we realized, it was not as easy as we thought it would be. Most of our plans went to scrap and we relied mostly on spontaneous improvisation. At first I felt that I was working alone, knowing that I was the one who came up with most of the ideas up until one point where I said , "Guys, you gotta improvise". At one of our working days I was unable to come and so I had to learn to trust my fellow friends. When I returned, the progress did not seem much but they have conquered a lot of the major problems that we have faced together. There I learnt that I didn't have to put all the burdens on myself but rather learn to trust people.

In the end we finished the spaghetti machine, after completing around more than 20 trials. Unfortunately we did not win any places in the competitions but the most important thing was not the awards, but the experience and time spent together with my friends.

CEC Debate Competition

On the 22nd of October, the Thursdays of all Thursdays, it was the big day. Okay, before I get into the bit where I stood in a tiny room in the CEC institute at the west side of Surabaya, I would like to share my story to how me and my debate team partake in the debate yesterday. 

So, around 1 month ago, I decided to 'drag' 2 friends of mine to join a debate competition. Well this isn't my first debate but it is for them. I'm completely okay with helping them progress with their speaking, critical thinking and argumentative skills. I was the most experienced there and I feel that I need to help them through the process that I went through around a year ago. Thinking back, I felt what they felt, they aren't really alone and people don't suddenly become used to talking in front of people who are judging you. As time went on, me and my team had to come up with arguments for the topics that has been announced by the CEC officials. There were 20 topics and 2 sides--government and opposition. For each side, there must be 5 arguments and including parameters and definitions. So there were around 20 x 2 x 5 which is around 200 arguments. Thinking of the arguments took us a very long while to come up. We probably used up around more than 12 hours in just thinking about it at Starbucks or at someone's home. The topics weren't just the normal 'cheap' topics, some of them even included politics and environmental health. These topics asks us to research about it, and criticize each side and defend the house's arguments. By researching a lot of these topics, we learnt some interesting facts about the world around us thats always in debate of things. Well thats just one of the challenges we faced, the second one was to train our speaking skills. Truth to be told, my skills have rusted through the year and I have a hard time dealing with sudden stops and 'point of informations' (which are basically statements or questions done by the opposing side). 

When it was our turn to finally shine, we were shaking, like litearally shaking.... It was intense and especially for the two new debaters in my team, it was a whole new level for them. I recalled to what the other team's words, 'confidence is appreciated by them' and so I constantly reminded myself, 'don't stutter' 'this is just like practice' 'do your best'. Those words echoed within my mind and reflected to what I did. I believed that I have done more than what I expected from myself and I am proud of my team. They progressed very well from our first to our second round and it was fun! Even though we did not made it to the next round, but I will never regret this experience. It's something new and fresh + obviously a unique feel rather than the one from last year. 

I wish that I can also improve more in my public speaking skills in the future. 

IB Night Presentation

‘IB night, a night that we can never forget’. It was an unforgettable night, I would not forget about it. It is a night in where I was asked to do something in my comfort zone yet it is not. I am okay with presenting and talking in front of a public audience using a microphone but the material I brought was something weird in my book. 

For the last 2 years, I was a music student back in the IGCSE programme. I just recently went into the art world and discovered it’s wonders as I did last year in music. It’s fun, I must admit it and similar to music in a way. But, I just feel really weird. Getting an ex-music student to represent Cita Hati’s IB Art department? That’s almost hilarious. 

What firstly happened was that I was offered by my Art teacher, Mr. Aji to present something from my recent projects. I said yes, knowing that I was complete in terms of material for what I might present. The realization of me having to represent the whole Art department happened a few days before the big day itself. I question. Why me? There’s a whole lot of people that can do it rather than me, the only ex-Music student that transferred to the Art side. But hey, challenges are challenges. They are meant to be conquered and dominated. 

On the big day, I waited eagerly for my turn to present. I wasn’t the first one to present it (thankfully) but I saw how well my friend, Laura did. She was amazing, I can’t even match up to her in my practice. And I was downsized in confidence. How am I gonna talk to these parents and junior classmen, about the same topic Laura did? Well it did fell into the same topic but with different contents, but still. I have every reason to feel discouraged. Truthfully, that was the opposite that actually happened. I ignored my possible mistake, talking nervously up front, with all my heart. I did my best. I went through the presentation without hesitation. I conquered my fears. My doubts. And after going down the stage, finishing my journey of doubts, it was all already over. I didn’t even felt it. To be honest, it was the shortest 6 minutes of my life. It went fine and just like in practice. Exactly like practice. 

Band Performances

Over the last year, I have experienced a lot of band performances, both with my usual Aileen and the Green Tea Latte band and also a newly formed band. The first performance that I would like to note about is the performance at the 2512 Christmas Gala. At that time it was the first major performance that my band did in that semester. This time it is also different. No more tiny stages. This time it is a full stage performing to both Cita Hati students and teachers and also people from the public (including my parents too). The challenge in this one was that I have to focus on both the treasure hunt and this performance as well. I have to (of course) practice for the songs played. Unfortunately, I personally felt that it did not go as well as I thought due to the lack of practice and also how I forgot my line. At that time, I told to myself that I will do better in the next performance.

[Sudden flashforward]. It is now February and Cita Hati wants to celebrate it's 25th birthday in an epic carnival, similar to what 2512 was like. This performance has a twist in it. I was not in 1 band but 2 bands. The other one requiring myself to play the bass, an instrument I have never learnt officially nor performed on stage. It is a new challenge and something fresh. It went better than expected for my band but a bit rigid for the other band (Pollution/Green Fix CAP band).

[Another sudden flashforward]. Around another month after the events of Cita Hati's 25th Anniversary was the color run. It was in accordance to Cita Hati's birthday as well but was put on a different date and the venue was in Cita Hati West. Similar to the events of 2512, I was performing for 1 band only, the Green Fix band. The challenge here was I had to learn a song in just 1 night. Ko Harman, the day before the event said that the band should perform 1 more song and I had to play the bass line. Knowing that I do not have a bass at home, I had to learn the song from Ko Harman through Line video call with an acoustic guitar (at that time I accidentally left my guitar at school). The performance went on okay, did some mistakes here and there but I can feel that I have improved with using the bass on stage. I hope that I can further improve by playing more performances in public.

Here is also a music related award that I received during my 10th grade experience:

5 Years Have Passed

So, back then, when I was just another average 7th Grader, I decided for once to join an organization, the student council. I did not know what to do really, other than make the essay that it requires me to do and the interview. Indeed it was truly a great step for my 5 year younger self. I was not that type to socialize in bigger communities, I really was not. In the whole grade, there were also 2 other people who decided to join the party. I felt as if being the little midget among the giants (the other SMA students). For the first year I felt lonely, knowing that this organization tests my socializing skills which was bad at the first place. Years past and I grew more tolerant and understanding towards the people around me. I know what to do in an organization. I have to communicate with each other, see what is on my priority list and sometimes help organize other people.

There were also several notable things that I have done in the past year. Right before the start of the new school year, me and Michelle S.K. were assigned to organize both of the SOP programmes, the one for the new 7th graders and the one for the 10th graders. It was basically a really new thing because most of the time I was given a backseat role or a follower role. I hated the meetings because I had to speak in front of all my colleagues. It was yet another big step which I learnt from. When I was doing the paperwork, Michelle S.K. had to leave for at least 2 weeks because of family purposes leaving me with 2 inexperienced (I myself was too) SMP students. It was not all that smooth. It did went along well, no major cases of people hurting each other or themselves but it was bland. It was oooo--kay. I learnt how to manage other people, how to speak in front and how to face my fears.

A few months later, I was given another chance to help organize an event called the 2512 Christmas Gala. It was an event that has a purpose in giving donation for children who had cancer. And then I was assigned to head the treasure hunt game. Sure enough it was delivered near our exams I had to manage the treasure hunt AND study for my semesteral exams. Great. And there I was, having to plan the treasure hunt alongside the team and also teachers that wanted to help. Aside from that I also help make the trailer video, which I myself video taped it and edited it. Then it comes to the D-Day, the prep before the show was extensive as well. We had to decorate the rooms and hallways so that it can fit the mood perfectly.

A notable problem during the game was that one of the teams just had to take the clue along with them. There were only 1 clues for each game and it was for every team. Right at that moment the problem was at it's peak, I was called down because I had to perform on stage. Thank God, my partners in the 4th floor hall was able to solve the problem and the treasure hunt went on normally. Other problems such as the people queuing was too many and also the whole treasure hunt not being able to eat (too many costumers) were passed along together persistently. I am very proud in everyone that participated in making the game come true.

Now that I look back, 5 years. 5 years has passed and now I am officially a 'veteran' student council member and I am proud in being the longest running student council member on my grade.