Success At Last! (Melissa Mae)

1. What is success?

To me, success is the feeling when you know you have achieved your desired goal after overcoming many, many obstacles along the way. The feeling of success is great. It is when you truly know that all of your hard work and determination -that has been put into a certain goal- has paid of, that you know you're finally successful. 


In this particular story that we're doing (The Maze), success is not achieved only by getting out of the maze, but the journey you had. If you got out of the maze without overcoming any obstacles, it wouldn't even be considered as success after all. The journey you had while trying to get out of the maze is the thing that determines the level of success you have achieved. If you managed to overcome all obstacles in the maze, your level of success would be great. 


"Obstacles are necessary for success because in selling, as in all careers of importance, victory comes only after many struggles and countless defeats." - Og Mandino


2. What is the metaphor of the maze?
[Message and Intention]


- Why did you go into the maze?

I went into the maze to save the lives of my parents. They were on one end of the maze, and I was on the other. I was given a time limit to save them and if I didn't, they would get killed by an UNSUB. Along the way to the other end, I would encounter many obstacles involving dangerous animals and people. After beating each enemy, I would be given a clue that would tell me which route to take next, and eventually lead me to my parent's whereabouts. I wanted to put a little twist of Criminal Minds and Harry Potter in my story.

- What did the maze look like?

Some mazes...

The maze looks complicated, on both the outside and inside. It is as large or larger than a football field, and is made out of leaves and vines. The maze is very tall and long. This is so that it has an eerie feel to it. When you're in the maze, you'll get confused and feel trapped for a while before you decide where you're headed to next. The maze will be easy to complete if you follow all the steps to get to the other side, however if you don't, getting out of the maze would be a torturous experience for you.


Done by: Melissa Mae :)

Aashnaaaaa~

SUCCESS AT LAST!

What is success? 

- Success to me, means achieving something after trying to get it for very long or achieving something after you have given all your best. Getting out of the maze is a success because a person takes very long to get out of a maze as it is a long process. 

FAMOUS MAZES

Richardson Castle

The Richardson Farm has a number of large corn mazes, but the fairy tale castle is perhaps the most…enchanting. The mazes change annually, and this castle is now closed, but it’s thrilling to view regardless.

Victoria Park Water Maze

This water maze is beautiful when filled with rainwater. It is distinctive because it is a Chartres Maze. This special type of maze is based upon Christian mythology, and it features a clear cross-like symbology (at right, below) which the believer is meant to walk in a particular pattern (as shown at left below).

What is the metaphor of the maze? Why enter the maze?

-at the end of the maze there is a huge treasure that is worth million of dollars $$$$$$$ and we need to get out of the maze and finish tasks in the maze if we want that treasure. (something like a treasure hunt)

AASHNA 

Lauren (:

What is Success?

- accomplishing something

- a sense of achievement

- finally reaching the end of a difficult task.

These are some of the things that come to my mind when i see the word success. Getting out of a maze is an accomplishment as after a long walk inside the maze, you're finally out free...a maze is like real life. There are many obstacles and whatnot blocking our way each day, at every corner there could be a wall or dead end stopping us from moving forward. This is like how we face setbacks in our own lives. Dead ends or obstacles are sometimes very upsetting and they can make you feel like giving up is the easiest option but that depends on how you want to see it. It could also be motivation to do better and to try harder. The message of the maze could be that sometimes its good to take small and slow steps and think carefully about where you are going. If there's a fork in your path, make a wise decision or take a chance. You never know what could be waiting for you at the end of that path. 

The maze could be a very challenging one with many obstacles and forks. This could be to show how much people go through in life and what type of difficulties they face. There should be dead ends at some points but always will there be a way out because in life, no one really meets a complete daed end.

One maze that i found was quite interesting was the Snakes ‘n Ladders one. It looks like this... 

I think this maze is really cool cause its an abstract way of playing snakes 'n' Ladders 

Another maze i thought was quite interesting was the Hampton Maze. This maze is so simple, yet very challenging. 

There is a bunch of Labyrinths in Sedona, Arizona which i think are super cool because they aren't like normal mazes and stuff which are made out of Hedges and all. They are put together by rocks and sand! 

Stimuli

1. Endangered Species
When I think of endangered species, I think of the apocalypse. If an apocalypse happens, the whole human race might be wiped out or the human population will decrease, causing humans to be an endangered species

2. Circles and squares 
For circles and squares, I think of wormholes in space. Mainly because the structure of a wormhole has both circles and squares in it.


3. Success at last!
For success at last, I think of an individual overcoming whatever fear or obstacles that he/she has within her/him-self, such as phobias.

VERA'S BRAINSTORM

Stimuli ideas~

1. Endangered Species

• What if literary arts is dying out? We could be the group of students that try to save it by putting up a musical

2. Success at Last

• A group of people trying to break up relationships between people and they succeed, sending the entire world into war

3. CIRCLES & SQUARES

• Different genders represented by both shapes; it portrays how different we are dimensionally

Stimuli

ENDANGERED SPECIES
When i think of an endangered species, i immediately think of an animal or plant, which are most common. However, i really like Ms Lenden's idea of the concept of the IJ girl being extinct. Society has impacted and shaped all of us all over the world to behave in a certain type of way. Another idea could be our ancestral and cultural beliefs that are endangered. Some of today's youth of seem to be losing tradition and have just do not respect culture or religion anymore. This could be a topic we discuss as traditions, culture and religion are what started our small Nation.


CIRCLES AND SQUARES
This reminds me of Obstacle courses. maybe we could do an obstacle course and show how there are many things in our way each day and we as human beings face plenty of setbacks, but we can also show that we cannot back down. That every obstacle can be overcomed. Another thing that reminds me of Circles and Squares is the Galaxy and how unlimited it is. The stars, constellations and planets and whatever they have up there is another world on it's own. It's something new for us to explore.


SUCCESS AT LAST!
To me success is getting everything you dreamed and worked for. So my was of "success at last" is having a perfect family with a stable job and a normal life. 


LAUREN <3

Stimuli

An endangered species?

Endangered;threatened with extinction
What if an endangered species can once again not be endangered? Like just probably maybe it was just a thought that a particular something is going to disappear/wiped off but somehow it is not the case, somehow if you are just able to "ignite" the particular factor, it would no longer face the danger of being endangered.  For eg, Water is "poured" to diminish an extremely huge fire but somehow or rather it wasnt put out properly and there is still a very small "spark" there which if anything flammable is added to it, it would become ablaze again . 


Circles and Squares 


By using the ideas of mirrors we can probably show how diff shape of mirrors (i.e a person's mind ) show the reflection of itself and how it think about oneself. 


Succes At Last '
 
Is like how your life is one huge big milestone that you are facing with
It's like until the death then one realises that he's happy because he fought with his own life before and at least tried and did dnot even hesistate "fighting it" 


Dawn

Stimuli

An Endangered Species?
The question mark leaves room for doubt so i don't feel that this stimuli should be restricted to animals only. For example how innocence is lost in today's generation? Or perhaps chivalry because i keep hearing "chivalry is dead". Maybe the active teen is endangered. It seems that we're all attached to our iphones. However after seeing quie a few of us posting about endangered sort of human beings, i thought some animals won't do any harm. So some endangered animals would be the blue whale, the african lion, broad-toothed mice, desert rat kangaroo and cougars and jaguars.

Circles and squares
For circles and squares, we can do contemporary theatre and this stimuli will allow us to use our body more. We tend to neglect how our body moves on stage so for circles and squares i don't have much ideas for it but i'm hoping it can help us with body language and the use of our bodies.

Success At Last!
For this one, we could do something related to people who want to see a change in society? Or people who have a message. We could do something about Severn Suzuki and how she's still an environmentalist even after silencing the world for 6 minutes when she was younger. We can explore what methods did she take to achieve what she wanted? and at what cost? This could be paralleled to the guy who started the Kony 2012 project and ended up arrested for .. indecent exposure in public. Soo we can show these people with a big message but how does it take a toll on them?


Ili

Ideas for Stimuli :]

1. Endangered species - the first thought that came to me was of animals. i realised that it was very mainstream to think about animals. so here's what i think. isn't the human race an endangered species? sure our total human population is in the billions but the world we know it will definetly die. so, talking about humans, i took my researha step closer to home. there are in fact many endangered species in Singapore. 1. Trishaw uncles (i only ever sew uncles driving them. never any young people.) 2. Hawkers ( many hawkers are retiring and their family bussiness will not carry on because their children would rather work high paying white collar jobs. 3. Ge tai (if im not wrong its the play for the dead people but nowadays i only see them occassionally. apologies if i named it incorrectly.)                                                                
2.Circles and squares - well, circles are indeed a cycle but it also means forever. a promise - wedding rings. Squares  - i like the idea of going back to square 1  . another idea i have for circles and squares is that circles could be rolling into continuity, time and it never stops instead it moves faster and gains momentum. Squares remind me of this invisible wall that all of us have which we build around our vulnerable selves to protect ourselves.  Squares remind me of being claustophobic, trapped, enclosed, and a mental institution.                        
3. Success at last! - when i think of this i imagine someone literally at the top of the world after scaling a mountain and is now enjoying then scenary. i dont know why but i feel that this phrase can be used in sarcastic terms.                                                                                                             Gillian Koh

Stimuli

An endangered species?

Maybe we could do something like what our generation used to watch/play with/eat/do.
E.g, playing with Barbie dolls, using erasable drawing boards, watching Dora the Explorer/Blues Clues or just using our imaginations to entertain ourselves,etc.
Then showing how the modern generation nowadays have iPhones and iPads etc. when all we had last time was a Nokia we used to play Snake.

I guess it's also showing the generation gap nowadays because of how much the world has changed, and showing the contrast of what the modern generation have nowadays as compared to the generation last time. To return to the topic, I suppose the "endangered species" would be what we had last time as compared to now.

Circles and squares.

I thought we could do something like having Circles and Squares as two different types of people(like what we did in the earlier term, being the ball/stick/cloth). So the people who are Circles could be fun, carefree, cheerful, bouncy etc. while those who were Squares could be rigid, unwilling to change their mindsets just like the frame of a square, down to earth or in other words, a possible opposite of the Circles.

We could show how these Circles and Squares co-existed no matter how different they were(conflicts between them), and show how people can overcome obstacles if they just try hard enough instead of turning on each other.

Success at last!

This idea could be portrayed in the form of different scenarios: what one person could consider a success might be different from others. For example, some might consider finishing a marathon to be a success but others might consider surviving a school day or finishing a book, a success.

Rodrigues

Stimuli

An endangered species?

Children’s childhood that does not involve technology and gadgets. A simple, fun and exciting childhood where children gather together to play instead of always hanging out through the Internet or having their eyes glued to the television.

Capturing dreams that you once had. You can never remember it fully and wonder why as time goes by the dream fades and become fuzzy.

Circles and squares

A six sided square dice. Probability of landing on 1 number is 1 over 6. Symbolizes how life can have many possibilities and outcomes. With everything done, a consequence follows. For example, like a chessboard. What paths are taken and wrong choices made on the way to ultimately reach your desired goal. Or either what choices are made which landed you up at the losing point. Everything that is done is a gamble with no correct answer. Portray this topic on a game board or chessboard, with dices and everything.

Success at last!

Walking through a maze wondering how to get out. When problems are encountered, this is what you will feel like. Portray the inner workings of your mind and how you come about the epiphany you suddenly had which led to your success.

Nicole Cheah 

Stimuli Ideas

An endangered species:

When I first saw the topic 'endangered species', I immediately thought of 1. Wild animals 2. Extinction 3. Hunting 4. Death. However, I also thought about it in a deeper level... For example, people and how endangered we are. By definition, endangered means "threatened to extinction" and when I saw that, I thought about the different ways a person can die from. I don't know why I had such depressing thoughts the first time I saw the topic but I definitely found it cool to do a piece on methods of death somehow... We could have different characters telling us how they "died" and going into the methods of death. 

Circles and Squares:

I thought of a rhythmic pattern when I first saw the topic. In my opinion, circles and squares are basic shapes, therefore, we could do a piece on an average student's everyday life and daily routine. Because I thought of a rhythmic pattern at first, I thought that it would suit my idea well as it could show how that student's routine is repeated everyday. For example, wake up, wash up, get changed, go to school, stay for structured lessons, come home, shower, eat dinner, complete homework, watch TV, brush teeth, go to bed, and repeat the routine the next day. 

Success at last!:

"Success at last!" made me think about victory, exams and competitions. My first thought when I saw the topic was my canoeing competitions and how success was hard to achieve when competing amongst other great canoeing schools. Then again, success doesn't necessarily have to deal with competitions. It could be how successful you are in school and your grades. Whenever someone gets their desired grade for whatever subject, they'll definitely feel successful. I was thinking about doing a  play-within-play. I don't know why but it seemed pretty interesting. We could show a bunch of drama students who had just finished performing at their drama showcase and show how successful they felt afterwards. That way, we could relate to the characters and it would be pretty fun to play characters alike ourselves. 

-Melissa Mae :)

Stimuli

An endangered species?

-mention about dinosaurs and and show how they became endangered and what life was like when they still existed.

Circles and squares

-set of theme park with children playing on the ferris wheel or merry-go-round, etc.

Success at last!

-the latest story about Dawn Loggins (Homeless to Harvard), she gained success after struggling a lot and after facing a lot of hardship

Aashna