It is uncanny the way how right after biblical lessons are taught to me, the test comes. This semester, as we were being placed under inhumane schedules and put together for a studio shoot, peoples' characters and qualities tend to show themselves. The greatest virtues I had been trained to have are those of a godly person, basically possessing the fruit of the spirit. It has been challenging and painful but still more precious and important than being the best director or screenwriting.
My solo really put me through hell. Shooting was quite ok, other than the fact that I had to shoot two scenes with a camcorder. But during post-production, I realised more than half of my footage was missing. That was disastrous. And not to mention that the sound was horrid cos of all the echos that got captured too. While I was recording the cafe scene, there was a bunch of girls talking really loudly and laughing at the top of their lungs. In the end, after doing a rough cut, the remaining clips I had allowed me to fulfill the script. At this point I knew the hand of God was in it. It had been and still is a habit for me to utter a prayer to God before I embark on a film or a project. So the edit was done and it didn't look too bad but still a lot of work needs to be done on the sound. Of course it would have been a lot better if I had with me everything I recorded but ah well. Somewhere down the road I'm planning to expand the script and reshoot the story and have the film submitted to film festivals.
The studio shoot was one of the major items we had for the semester. It starts with each of us pitching for a story, out of which four got selected. So a total of four productions were scheduled back to back. I played a minor role in one and major roles in two.
The Setting Sun
For some reason, I became the editor and then the script supervisor and because Jensen was MIA, I took up his role as a still photographer. As usual, it was fun but tiring. It had been a pleasant working environment I would say because we all just covered up for one another and people did their jobs well. Somehow we were motivated and we even managed to finish ahead of schedule.
That would be me trying to sneak a 10-second break after setting up a tripod that's twice my height.
Lonely Legs
For this shoot, I had taken up the challenging task of being the Art Director. The experience for this shoot wasn't as positive but I learnt a lot more here that in the other shoots. Somehow, the more unpleasant the shoot, the more I learn. Strange enough, it just has to work that way.
Basically, I had to dress up a bedroom, a dining room attached to a telephone area and the stairs, and a balcony. This makes my art direction one of the most challenging because of the number of locations within the set I had to put up.
This is the wardrobe in the bedroom. It actually comes as a board with wardrobe doors. However, the script demands that the mother has to walk to the wardrobe to put clothes in so we had to find ways to use spare planks and grip equipment to emulate the inside of the wardrobe. Not very fun but the result is pretty awesome.
The shelf in the picture on the left was meant to be empty. But at the last minute, the night before the day of the shoot, my director realised that the shelf would be in shot for a scene. So Rena, my props girl and I scrambled to have it dressed. We bought a bulk of the stuff up there from Daiso. The shelf in the right picture was in the boy's bedroom. Those little figurines there are actually the really old MacDonalds' figurines which I'd kept since I was a kid. It proved it's usefulness I guess even after so many years.
The first challenge was to meet the demands of the set at zero cost. Yep, my director had refused to spend a single cent on the art direction. It was tough though it was in the interest of everyone. So I had to beg and borrow. At the end, minor purchases still had to be made. In my opinion, a budget always has to be set aside for art whether there is any intention to spend it or not. I found myself driven to a corner only because there was no money set aside for me to purchase something I can't borrow.
There was a lot of friction between people during the production and somehow I hope these conflicts won't be carried to the next year. I did mention that the previous shoot was enjoyable, this one was not halfway as enjoyable though the personal achievement was greater.
That should be it I guess. Now that its the break, many of us are planning to write our scripts for next semester's solo. Hopefully, I would get my opportunity to finish my script.
