2.What have you learnt in each phase?
Being the Producer, I still had to ensure that the necessary paperwork gets completed and filed in, such as camera report, etc. Previously, some group members contributed money to the budget and hence, the final budget is also needed to show them what they still owe, or should get back (if they had paid more).

Although I wasn’t the Editor (Ain) who is hitting the keyboard and staring at the monitor almost everyday, I asked her if I could watch the edit. I gave her some comments but at the same time, I try not to sound authoritative because it would make her feel as if she is a button pusher, and I respect her role as the Editor. I know my comments may not be the best or maybe some of them helped her in certain parts of the edit but I also made sure she wasn’t purely changing the cuts just because I said something. It is also important for her to communicate with the Director, and explain why certain cuts were made to clear up all doubts.

As usual, the sound was done up at the very last part. Earlier on, the edit lacked ambience sound (or had ambience of different sound levels) and a lot of sound effects like neighbourhood sounds, etc and music was still needed. I find that the type of music and the placement really affects your edit and can make it better or worse. Calvin composed a few pieces of music, and I felt some of them contained a “Malay” feel to in and suited the story since our story is about a Malay family. Music should also not come too early, if not it will spoil the mood of the scene, but it is not easy to catch the right moment!

I think that, the AFP module has made me realised several thing, most of which I would have blogged about. It helps us feel more prepared for IBP in a way, and give us a chance to see how others work and even reflect on our own flaws. Until things happen, we won’t feel that there is something wrong.

My WISP lecturer said something during the last lesson, it goes something like “In this world, there are three kinds of people, those who Question what’s wrong, those who Sacrifice and make things happen and those who just Watch what happens”. I think, from what I have learnt in AFP, there are people who belong to one “kind” mentioned above and people who crossover, they sometimes watch and question and sometimes make the sacrifice but not always. Questioning and watching shows that a person is aware of the situation, but who will be the person to sacrifice and make the change? And what will become of that person? What actually propels a person to make that change? What makes people remain “cold-hearted”? Well, I am still wondering where I belong, and I don’t feel that I have the right to comment about other people either because before we want to say something about others, I think we should reflect on ourselves first.

2.What have you learnt in each phase?
It’s the first time me and probably most of my team are shooting a film with Malay as the main language, and the only people who understand it are Ain and Afiq. But, we weren’t really worried about it, maybe partly because it wasn’t a hard to grasp story, and we felt that the story did work better with a Malay setting. There were stuff we don’t know enough about and the best people to approach would be Ain or Afiq. But i guess, doing something in another language might not necessarily be scary (one thing being we’re stepping outside of our comfort zone) if we don’t find it scary in the first place – do the research that can help, and though we cannot understand the language within a short time, at least familiarise ourselves with whatever we can. We never know what the next film we shoot would turn out to be.

Scheduling for overrun could help. We overran on the first day of shoot but the second day was better. We had more dolly shots on the first day, and setting up time took longer but now we all now what to plan for the next time.

It’s been quite sometime after the shoot that i typed this (sorry for the late post) so I don’t remember all the things that happened. But, at the end of it, yea, I know we always feel that we learnt new things that make us better prepare for the next shoot but then, come next shoot and we the same feelings of unpreparedness comes again. Each shoot if different, new things arises and we have to find out new ways to solve problems. It does teaches us this one thing, that is to embrace changes.

The Producer.

2.What have you learnt in each phase?

There is always something new to learn in each production phase. Last shoot, I learnt that if you ask, you might just get what you want (though not always) as we managed to borrow a prosthetic leg from the hospital when we thought it would be hard. This time round, we thought it wouldn’t be much of a hassle to get a school field (from either a primary or secondary school) but little did we know.

We started off by settling on our main locations – Ahmad’s house, which a big part of it took place in Ng Mun’s house at Petir Road, and Ibu’s room to be set in Ronnie’ house in Woodlands. Hence, we wanted to get a school field that was near either of these places as it would help save traveling time. Who knows but as usual – Rejections. We asked several schools around the area – emailed them, then called them, only to be asked to email again, waited almost for a week before they replied to reject (good thing we actually asked early) and then emailed other schools again. The last resort was to use Kismis field, at least there’s a field, but at the end of it, Woodlands Secondary agreed to let us shoot. Initially, they asked us to approach Singapore Sports Council (SSC) as 3pm onwards, their field would be used by them. But our shoot would only take place in the morning, hence they allowed and we didn’t have to go through SSC. Now I learn a new thing, that SSC’s website also provides the schedule and timings of certain “block-offs”. We also thought of using stadium fields because a lot of schools were rejecting our request, till we felt that no other school we agree anymore. But after checking at SSC, many stadiums were closed due to preparation for YOG, further limiting our choices. Then again, a big thank you to Woodlands Secondary School. I’ve learnt it’s really important to contact the locations you need as early as possible because you don’t know what will happen..

Another thing – casting is VERY important. We started out with a Malay mother and son, in the middle we changed it to Chinese mother and son because we were having problems finding the casts. Towards the end, we changed back to the Malay version and whew, I have to say it’s not easy to get the casts you want!

Oh, and this time round the direction Wee Kiat was away in California, despite that the pre-production could still go on, with Afiq being in charge of Casting (he’s the Assistant Director). It was hard to contact Wee Kiat and at one point, he told me he was in front of a waterfall as it was the only place he could find reception. Then, his school’s internet cable got funny and lost connection and later on the motel they went had no Internet (it was at the time where we were doing Media Law written report too) and it felt like, there isn’t a direct way of contacting him except to SMS and wait for his reply. But yes, we all survived as things could still go on without him physically in Singapore. Something else I’ve found out – we’re really depending on technology to contact and stay connected, because we need things fast, we cannot send letters and wait..not just for our industry, but probably others as well..

As the story took place in a Malay family, we had to find out about their dressing, family setting etc. Good thing we had Malay members in our group which helped out, and Ng Mun’s maid as well. Though we may not know something well, but it doesn’t mean we cannot do it.

The art director. Perhaps, I contributed by helping to borrow the Canon 5D Mark II from our schoolmate who is currently at internship. (because we lack b-rolls of traffic lights and bus moving/arriving to make the edit more smooth)

2.What have you learnt in each phase?

Never treat b-rolls/cutaways as ‘minimal’ or unnecessarily
Our third roll of footage initially shot on film (containing b-rolls) could not be used due to double image. The following week after DI, we could’ve gone for a reshoot with either our remaining footage or borrow the Canon camera earlier but it didn’t happen, due to complications I’m unsure of.

When we all viewed the rough cut, I felt it didn’t really flow that smooth and the changing of time wasn’t done well – because we lacked the cutaways. Moreover, we lack close ups shots of the actress, a certain impact was lost. I think it was due to time constraints on the bus, we had to return it by 4.30pm and didn’t have enough time to cover what we planned. Hence, the result was..a sacrificial of shots. But it was a lesson learnt, seeing that so many things are missing will make me consider properly the amount of time we have, and what we have to shoot, and whether or not we can achieve it. Sometimes, during the planning stage, if we had in mind that we might need to cut short our shots in case of anything, perhaps that spells trouble coming already.

Edit on the fcp station..safest
We had problems connecting our footage after it was transferred from the laptop. It was initially linked to a hard disk when it should have been connected to the folder in the desktop. Then, our friend wanted the hard disk back(it wasn’t ours) and our footage went offline. We had to call her back, making her run here and there. Less problems would’ve happen if everything was done on the fcp station, less worries, less trouble, perhaps no need to see my director screaming at the fcp station on the day the Fine Cut was due..

AND PROJECT SETTINGS ON FCP IS ALSO VERY IMPORTANT. most of us tend to forget that, and it has been sometime since we used FCP but that really affects the resolution, aspect ratio and everything! Then you, Mr. Lau (as you are reading) told us about patience as you go through every shot and help us enlarge it, changing the settings when you shouldn’t even be doing it. I don’t remember seeing you flare up at the wrong settings, you helped us find a solution patiently, and mention about fishing and..Jiang Ziya. My director (weekiat) was really angry, my editor I don’t know what he was feeling but me as a “third party” ‘cos I wasn’t directly involved in the editing stage, still had this little sense of patience in me. So, what to do besides calming the angry person down..which I don’t know if I did. I don’t know how I will react if i was another role, perhaps even as the editor I would blame myself and as the director, feel helpless. I wouldn’t know..BUT, I think we really need to learn how to enjoy fishing. And remind ourselves that “things that can be solved are not problems”. I think we all were a little tense ‘cos there’s Regional Cinema test the next day, and we were still in the editing room at 6pm..

how would I end off this journal..i think it’s not easy to master the patience or remind ourselves that patience is needed. we tend to let the situation we’re in and negative feelings control us, and things get heated up and, and the group’s spirit goes down – which is not a good thing.

at the end of the day..patience is the word.

I am the art director. I have not taken up such a role before in previous productions where there wasn’t really one single person to take care of the wardrobe, props and set design. Back then, everybody tend to contribute their efforts instead of putting only one person in charge.

2.What have you learnt in each phase?

I now know more about the role of an art director and what he/she is required to do on set. The art director can be in charge of designing the set as well but for this shoot, our story takes place in a bus. Hence, I didn’t “decorate” it or did any specific designs in the bus as it didn’t seem appropriate..

We needed a black leather vest for our actor, and a white blouse and black skirt for the actress. Except for the vest we bought, we were able to get the talent to bring their own clothes which matched our description. As we have a tight budget, the buying of clothes would have increased our budget if we had not approach our talent to ask if they have similar outfits. Some of them are quite kind and brought several sets for us to choose. It is also important to liaise with them properly, if not they might bring the wrong clothes and create a bit of trouble for us.

We initially wanted to have extras wearing school uniforms, people reading newspapers and in office wear. However, we were not able to find that many people, and most of them who came are around our age. We still had to proceed on to shoot even though the scene wasn’t what we initially planned but changes are bound to happen. Also, we weren’t able to fill a whole bus. I learnt that extras are really hard to find especially for a student shoot, and those who come are usually our friends. And when the number of extras needed are not enough, we have to work a way out, like use camera angles or change position to shoot and avoid wide shots.

Props and costumes tend to get placed all over the place on set and this goes the same for a small environment in the bus. Thus I need to be aware of where the talent placed the prop/costume when he took if off as we would waste time searching for them if they get misplaced.

My role for AFP1 is – Art Director. For the pre-production stage, I have helped in the script breakdown and source for props and wardrobe we need. I also went on a location scout together with the team to familiarise with the place.

2.What have you learnt in each phase?
During this phase, there are several things that I learnt.

As our shoot requires a prosthetic leg, I went to research on how we can make or even buy one, as it is not easy to find a prosthetic leg ready for sale. We even thought of doing CGI but none of our team members have actually done something similar. We asked Mediacorp as well but they couldn’t help us.

Initially, I thought hospitals will reject us if we are to ask them for a prosthetic leg that we could borrow or lend, because it is usually custom made and expensive. However, I was wrong as the hospital kindly replied my request saying we could borrow it. If I had continued to think that hospitals would not lend us, and did not even try asking them, we might not have something similar to a real prosthetic leg. We might have resort to use crutches or even changing it to become an “injured leg” instead and loose the impact. Hence, I learnt that we need to keep on trying different channels and not give up despite the slightest deterrence.

Another issue we encountered is the bus availability. We planned to shoot on a weekend initially but had to change to a weekday,  thus affecting our schedule. I think most of us have came across similar problems where things don’t turn out well during or even before the shoot. It’s another emphasis that we have to be flexible and find solutions to our problems, such as re-casting actors to fit the new schedule, as we never know when Murphy’s Law will come knocking on our doors.

oh well, i do admit i do feel like it’s an ‘end’ somehow, but only the end of semester one. in the middle of 11.30pm, i would like to say that i have found a new beginning. this shall mark the new beginning of another day, which will occur is like about half an hour.

and in the middle of doing podcast..i came here to type the probably last blog entry here. it feels kinda..sad. but this ‘mistake’ of the last post’s date actually puts it at the right time. lessons have actually finished..more or less…

well, i did learnt a lot of made very good friends and enjoyed my class. i’ve learnt many things:
- one truly enjoys doing what one truly loves
- time really passes fast, especially when you’re enjoying
- no matter how harsh things are, when we are doing something we like or have an interest in, we can still find the will to carry on
- uncertainty still exists, since probably 10,000 BC ago
- global warming is still going on (i guess so, as usual)

THE WORLD DOESN’T STOPS REVOLVING UNTIL GODZILLA OR SOMETHING FLYS OUT OF UNIVERSE. wahahahahaha, what a joke at this time of the day. not even a joke. oh my..it’s super lame, trust me to come out with something worse like this at 11.35pm. if godzilla exists. probably king kong will join in the fight, with the hulk, and ironman, and all our super heroes..blah blah, this is moving towards lamenss..but one thing is that, MIRACLES do occur. of course, not in the sense where monsters come out and take over our world. Superheroes like ironman, etc..though fictional, aren’t they some form of miracle we seem to need in our real lives?

it’s strange how this possible last post here links to superheroes..i did not intend for that to happen. whatever happened it has got to me – the one typing. suddenly, i don’t feel like stopping. well, i shall continue to let the words flow elsewhere, haha – in my podcast =D

To fellow T1B1s out there, our slogan remains: Chocolate IS Chocolate. forever.

Thank you Leslie for reading like 8 times 16 posts plus more… =)

some time last year, while i was watching this tvb drama call Fathers and Sons, actor Bobby Au Yeung made an interesting statement in the show, it goes something like “If you don’t have $400million, don’t think about raising a child.” (i remember the amount to be 400 mil, though i dunno which currency he’s referring to..)

and last night, in this ch 8 drama, Ivy Lee said that unless she has $10k, she won’t be willing to give birth again. and later, she increase the amount to $100k.

..which just made me think how EXPENSIVE we actually are…every step we take in this world is probably worth a thousand dollars…haha

perhaps we did not realize the price of bringing us up..the education fees, money spent on food, clothing, etc..till we can finally earn our own money. every cent spent on us was like…investment, though parents still care for us actually…and when u leave secondary education, u really feel the tonnes of school fees u have to pay..

..and in the future, how do we actually ‘pay’ the amount of money that has been spent on us throughout the years? erm, by ‘paying’ them to our children if we happen to have them in the future? i guess most people already contemplate about buying houses and cars.

though our parents don’t verbally demand anything in return from us, we never know, haha. depends of what kind of parents u have though..those selfish and money-minded ones might have something up their sleeves :)

sigh, why are so many things tied to money? why is it that almost every single thing can be linked to money? friendships, love, family..ultimately, our society forces us to think about money, without which we cannot possibly live. when u wanna go to the movies, u feel happy cos there’s special student price. u like the idea of student meals everywhere. but what happens after u are no longer a student? Reality becomes harsher.

in this possible last blog post here…im sorry cos im feeing a little *dead* that i seem to make no valid points in my entry? but i’ll still continue to blog at my own blog in blogger, haha.

well..not to bore u people reading this blog anymore, i shall end of with a few lines from a song i heard yesterday, and quite like it..

In younger days, I told myself my life would be my own
And I’d leave the place where sunshine never shone
For my life’s too short for waiting when I see the rising sun
Then I know again that I must carry on
Carry on till tomorow, there’s no reason to look back
Carry on, carry on, carry on..
- Carry On Till Tomorrow, by Badfinger

i decided to just paste the first verse..hmm, cos if i continue..it would make me sound like im sad which isn’t exactly how i’m feeling right now..!

As your usual animal shows go, we get to see a variety of animals. Birds of prey, parrots, monitor lizard, snake, monkeys, running peacocks and the Siberian husky were some of the few present on stage that day. But what really touched me that day weren’t the beautiful performances they put up. It was the story the parrot, Nana. (if I didn’t get her name wrong…)

Some years ago, a delighted visitor at Sentosa was amazed by the birds he saw, especially parrots. He wanted to keep one of them as a pet. Hence, he spent thousands of dollars to get little Nana. You might think that with such a rich owner, Nana must live a luxurious life. However, things often seem to go the other way.

In order to ‘keep his investment’, the owner kept Nana in a cage and locked her shut inside. Each day, she can only look through the bars, longing to be one with the birds outside. Flying is part and parcel of a bird’s life, and is crucial to the development of its wing muscles. But with restricted space and movement, Nana cannot spread her wings and fly. Slowly, her wing muscles start to waste away…
Besides being locked, Nana is also deprived of nature’s food. Birds need something more besides nuts – they need tree barks to chew on or sharpen their beaks. Without anything similar to a tree bark, Nana’s beak started to waste away as well…

A bird less like a bird…

It was after quite sometime that the owner realized that his parrot is not doing well, and made the only wise choice by bringing the parrot back to Palawan, where they have certified trainers to nurse the bird back to health.

Today, Nana can fly but is still very unstable. She looks different from the healthy parrot we see, she is quiet and trusts only one trainer. Looking at the 10 or more parrots in a big cage just outside the amphitheater, I felt a sense of irony. Why do they still keep bird in a cage, though it is a huge one? Just because it’s larger and does not restrict the bird’s movement, it doesn’t mean that they are not trapped. Occasionally, the parrots climb up fences, trying to break free.

It’s best when we don’t try to force animals or people into doing things they don’t want to. Not just that, we ought to respect them as well.

And this reminds me of the Pandas…have they become an exhibition already? When animals are near extinction, they have greater value in exhibitions. What if man comes near to extinction one day? Will we then try to exhibit the different types of human beings, or will we even have time to do that…?

It’s so wonderful that the couple who produced the Lonely Planet series has backpacked Asia. Who knew that they would start a popular travel guide book series with their experience? And I absolutely love the name of the series, Lonely Planet. How true..

Sometimes, I think of something funny. Nowadays, with budget airlines, a few hundred bucks could probably get you to someplace nice in Asia. I don’t know if it’s possible, but can someone just go there without booking any hotel, and just ‘camp’ at the airport or something when they wanna get some sleep? Better than hanging out in a park, haha. The only problem is probably bathing. But I really wonder if we can just go tour around the country and let the airport be the pit stop. Budget airlines, budget travel. Like say, if I wanna go someplace for 3 days and 2 nights, it can probably work out?? Sorry, I’m a travel idiot…so if I made you laughed like mad at this silly idea of mine, please forgive me…

But the thought of backpack traveling itself is just too nice…I don’t like seeing myself in large suitcases and checking in to hotels, ‘touring’ the country only to shop..NONONONONONO I don’t like this…unless I’m like with parents or something, then I probably have no choice but I LOVE SIGHTSEEING AND TAKING PICTURES. Argh, I don’t wanna get trapped with a shopping group…at least, give me some time to myself…I don’t mind not visiting Disney land, etc. BUT GIVE ME THE NICE VIEWS AND SCENERIES OF THE COUNTRY!! I wanna like really explore the place…and of course, enjoy my journey. And ya, buy some stuff and souvenirs haha. But shopping shall not top my list of activities…

Photographing a place you’ve visited is great…but I feel that having been there and experience everything is much, much better…but of course, we take pictures for memories…

Haha, typed so much…I wonder if it will even happen. Right now, let’s concentrate on FSV and not forget to escape once in awhile too..hehe. And don’t ever try swimming across the causeway just to get to our neighbour Malaysia just because you wanna escape…