In this project, we were supposed to come up with a list of characters that have values which hold a special affinity with us. This list would include characters from fictional references, public figures, and also people that I personally know.
Here’s the list and some details of the more important characters that I had in mind:
Project / Exercise 1 – Alter Egos
| Fictional Characters | Public Figures | People I know |
| Katniss Everdeen | Sylvester Stallone | Father |
| Scott Lang (Ant-Man) | Michael Jordon | Mother |
| Ip Man | Mike Tyson | Maternal Aunt |
| The Joker | Barack Obama | Sister |
| Tony Stark (Ironman) | Lee Kuan Yew | Yu Jie |
Katniss Everdeen
At the age of 16, volunteered to be a tribute in her sister’s place in the Hunger Games, where the risk of dying is very high. She also wanted to overthrow the rulers then to stop this event, and to save her district as well as the others from poverty. Her selflessness and care for her family as well as others make her a very prominent character worth learning from.
Scott Lang (Ant-Man)
Was an ex-convict for burglary, but after his release made good use of his forte of breaking-in to do good. He needed money to be with his daughter again, as his wife could not stay with him because of insecurity. He had to find ways to get back his family, and ended up with the responsibility to fight a supervillain. His ability to make use of his specialty to do good is his plus point, but his indecisiveness and turning back to burglary after his release is a bad example.
Ip Man
Ip Man is a very righteous man and a legend in Chinese wushu history. Since the first movie of Ip Man, he has been portrayed as a down-to-earth righteous man. Despite having very good kungfu, he makes good use of it to protect rather than misuse it to bully. He talks sense into people rather than using his fists, and uses them only when he has no choice. He is very loyal to his friends, always helpful to them and his neighbourhood, including strangers. However, he does at times neglect his wife, and only started to cherish her and spend quality time with her when he found out she has terminal illness. Nonetheless, he devotes all his time to her from that point on and even went to the extreme of forgoing his reputation of Wing Chun just to keep her company. I chose to categorize Ip Man as a fictional (movie) character rather than a public figure as he is from a long time ago, and media exposure has been very different. I have only come to know him after the movies were made.
Sylvester Stallone
Was a very broke man, couldn’t afford food and housing, so bad he had to sell his dog for $25. Came up with his script “Rocky”, offered from $125 thousand to $350 thousand, but he did not want to sell because he wanted to be the main lead, the company did not want him. He finally sold it at $35 thousand and secured the role as the main lead, and bought his dog back at $15 thousand. His perseverance to pursue his dreams despite being very broke, as well as his concern and love for his dog is very inspiring.
Michael Jordon
“I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” Jordan was rejected by his university basketball team as he did not meet the required height when he was young. He did not give up his dream and love for basketball, but played and trained every day without fail, and finally making it into the university team after he grew by 10cm in height, and his hands were also big enough for him to perform slam dunks by then. His passion and perseverance is admirable.
My Father
My father is a hardworking man. We come from a not very well-to-do family. My father used to be the sole breadwinner, until my brother and sister started working. Nonetheless, things did not get much better, especially when my father suffered a mild stroke in late 2014. Despite being poor, my father has never complained about his tough work under the sun, and has always tried his best to provide us with whatever he could. He is also rather selfless, and sometimes offering to treat friends and family despite being tight on cash flow. This is a dilemma as it is both a good and a bad trait at the same time, giving our financial status.
My Mother
My mother is a housewife. Being married to a man not rich enough to pamper her with luxuries that others could enjoy, she seldom complained about all these. She has been contented with our family and did not ask for more. She did not yearn nor ask for holiday trips, branded bags, spa, massages and manicures like other tai tais, but focused on taking good care of all of us. She is an easily-contented woman.
From the list above, I have chosen to do an alter-ego of Ip Man.
Initially, I wanted to do a scene from the latest movie, where he cried after his wife asked for a photo with him before she passed away. He cried because he had been neglecting her and the fact that even such a strong and calm man cries brings about a strong emotion. In fact he did not burst into tears, he held back his tears so hard that it became heartwrenching. It was also relevant to me has I often spend too much time on work and gaming that I tend to neglect my loved ones. The thought of what if it becomes too late hit me when I saw this scene.
However, I could not find this scene / movie online, and was unable to do more research into this scene. I also could not find a co-actor for this and decided to make a change to display another trait of him.
I have been fascinated by his down-to-earth characteristics, and his attitude towards life. He was always helpful to anyone, be it whether he knows them or not. In the movie series, he was often fighting for a reason, and those reasons make his fights acceptable and “heroic”. He was righteous, standing up for what is morally right and in protection of his loved ones or friends.
In the first movie, he was a very simple man, living peacefully but due to economical reasons and the Japanese occupation, he had to work as a coolie with little food. He witnessed his friend get shot after giving up a fight that would let him have rice if he wins. This triggered his anger and intolerance towards such inhuman acts, and he decides to fight, in revenge of his friend and co-worker.
This is the scene from the movie:
After which, I decided to make an adaptation to this scene, but removed the fighting scenes as it was not the main focus of the message I wanted to bring across. I had to give the contextual knowledge of his friend dying, and at the end showing that he did not fight for the reward or reputation, it was for his people, the Chinese.
Throughout the video, there is a slow sad music playing in the background to give a melancholic feeling, showing that he was sad and had to fight because of no choice, rather than because his was good and wanted to show off. After he said his “name”, the music instantly changed to an upbeat trademark music for “Ip Man”, to give a “heroic” and righteous feeling to the video.
Some challenges that I faced was that it was hard to make the video interesting without the fight scenes. Watching “Ip Man” without fight scenes seemed kind of boring, but I wanted to bring the message across within the time frame of a minute. I also focused more on the body language with some frame cropping out the face, to explore how body language plays an important role in bringing across the message.
It was also too awkward to be shouting “I WANT TO FIGHT TEN” in public. People would be thinking I’m crazy. I decided to film a video without making any sound, and dubbing over it back in my room.
It was difficult to find a location suitable to bring out the “darkness” of the scene, as well as enough characters to complete the scene. Thus, some of my shots were closed up to have less emptiness in the surroundings. I could not find a metal grille gate suitable enough as well, thus resorting to the use of staircase railings to film.
I also had to research on appropriate background music, attire, sound effects, and arrange the timing and volume to create the atmosphere.
Throughout the filming process, I had to use a tripod as friends were busy with their own schedule, and this made it harder to adjust the framing and focus of the shots. I was also quite new to Premiere Pro, making the editting process very tedious and hard, and turning out to be less of what I had imagined. Nonetheless, it was a fun experience and learning to explore what emotions I could bring across was interesting.