Tamil TV Comedy 2

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Finally, I managed to get hold of the video and edit my gangster scenes together. This was my first time acting in a comedy, and a Tamil comedy at that, so I was searching for my style - one that is hopefully  exaggerated aesthetically.

For more about the series, click here.

For my other acts in Hokkien, click here.

... for acts in Mandarin, click here,

... for acts in Japanese, click here.

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Film Review: The Great Gatsby

 

There has been some criticisms about the movie not doing justice to the book "The Great Gatsby", which culminated locally in Singapore's Straits Times Life Section article on the 20th May 2013. And so I gave my two cents worth and it got published! :)

Here is what the actors say:

Cathay Motion Picture Awards 2013: Refuge

Hour 0-2:
I was on my way home when I got a phone call from Mark Song about acting in "Refuge" as an entry for the Cathay Motion Picture Awards 2013, 78 hour competition to produce a 78 second film surrounding the theme of "Tomorrow". I have not met Mark or any of the team members before, so I took a U-turn to meet them.

Hour 3:

The team: Mark, Eddy, Daniel and Lydia, were seated around a table at Starbucks discussing the script when I arrived. They had just came out of Cathay's briefing and the clock had started ticking.

Then, we were still busy arguing about the script and calling friends to fill the daughter role. Daniel, the director, fills the role of the robber, I fill the father role and finally Aki came on board as the daughter. This, after many rejections and disappointments at the eleventh hour.

With the cast out of the way, it was down to pestering a friend to lend us a punching bag and agreeing on the location. We agreed to use my condominium gym and the park nearby, for the peace, quiet and convenience.

Hour 7:
I left the crew after dinner, while they sorted the story board, camera shots and call times for tomorrow.

Here is the film proper:

Originally, the father was to defend her daughter against her abusive boyfriend that motivated him to train hard to protect her better in the future. We felt that this conveys the unintended message of revenge and so we replaced the 'boy friend' with a random robber.

Hour 22 to 30:
We met up for breakfast at 10am by the condo pool after lugging the hefty punching bag up the stairs. Shooting started subsequently in a park down the road.

The difficult part in the park were the camera positions and angles, and the actors' movements since there was an action sequence. We repeated it till we got the correct frames without clutter in the background and without my falling onto a tree or seriously injured by stray punches. The ambient light was reasonable. It was not too harsh, neither was it cloudy. There were very few people in the park, if at all, so we didn't need to do any crowd control.















The difficulty in the gym was that we didn't have a ceiling hook to hang the punching bag, and so we sat it on a plastic chair.
















Funny enough, it was the noise of the plastic chair rocking away that enhanced that aggressive sound of punches. Some serendipity. The gym is also small and that is one reason you find many close-up shots.

Unfortunately, the make-up artist couldn't make it, so we relied on Aki and what Daniel rapidly learned from Youtube the night before.

Daniel proceeded to return the punching bag to his friend, while Aki and I went upstairs to chill and have a glass of ginger wine! :)

Hour 30-33
Straight after production, Mark and Eddy proceeded to the reading room to edit, while Lydia worked in tandem with the boys to compose the soundtrack.

Hour 34:

The first rough cut is done and we went for dinner before going home at 10pm. We still needed the refinements, a written narrative and a sound track. 

Some other robber you may meet in future.

Hour 45-72:

After a good night's sleep  the crew continued their work in the morning and completed the film in the 72th hour.

In short, we scripted, casted, got the props, acted, shot, edited and composed the sound track, to produce a 78 second film about "Tomorrow", in 72 hours.

This is the first time I have participated in such a competition. The short deadline forced us to be focused and resourceful. The 78 hour deadline isn't the menacing part, but the 78 second screen time definitely is. It is a challenge to tell a story that is interesting, not straight-in-the-face and yet meaningful within the time frame. And also without long voice-over narratives and explicit dialogues, since films are essentially visual and human beings are notoriously known for making conflicting decisions upon vague desires. Such contradictions keep life interesting and perhaps is the impetus to tell stories that entertain and inspire. :)



Watch out for our voting link to help us win! 

Talk by Jack Neo - Crafting of a Script

Date: 7th March 2013

Venue: National Library, Singapore

Jack Neo related to us his acting and film making experiences in the last twenty years. Here are some points that I remember:

This post is written in the first person for readability. It is not an ad-verbatim of Jack's talk.

The Experience getting funding for Money No Enough

Questions asked by investors:

- Do you have car chases?

- Do you have fights?

- Do you have sexy girls?

The script doesn't, so the investors are not interested. Besides, they said that we (the artistes) appear on TV twice a week, so nobody will be motivated to buy a ticket to see us.

Eventually, we met up with an ad company that was trying to get into the film industry. That meant there were mutual benefits and therefore likelier to work. Besides, the company even have the necessary equipment to shoot a film. To entice them into the investment, we were willing to accept a smaller fee for the production.

When the production started, we realised that this old camera gave an irritating grinding noise. It was unbearable. We were in distress! The producer suggested adding music and so we did. Still the noise was evident. When the day for the press conference drew near, we were scratching their heads as how we could hide the noise.  Stuck in a dilemma, the producer suggested that the film be played on a TV and not big screen, since the noise on TV would be less obvious. Still I was nervous and didn't even dare to be present during the press conference.

Then during the conference, the journalists loved it. They said that it is humourous, uses dialects and even dare criticise the government. They feel very connected with the film as it is truly a Singaporean film. They can feel for the characters in the film.

And this was happening in the midst of the Speak Mandarin Campaign, where films must not have more thane 20% of dialects. We thought we are doomed to be censored left, right and centre, and the artistic integrity will be severely compromised.

However, when the time came, the chief censor felt that the film was fine, as it depicts the Singaporean life accurately and that indeed older folks speak more dialects than Mandarin; and so it was fine.

It was a new milestone for Singapore, breaking many rules using Hokkien, criticized the government and illustrated the typical mentality of the common man Singaporeans.

So the trick is to write something that touches the people's heart. In Singapore, it is commonly about Money and Love.

I also felt that my films are all happy films, in contrast to, and especially student films, that are mostly very dark  - about killing, blood, ghosts,...etc. Perhaps it is easier to write about dark stories than happy ones.

There is social responsibility as a director, especially to children. Children micmics film and bring them to their lives.

Ah Boyz to Men

It was too long a film, so we broke it into two parts. Then we felt that we ought to show a war scenario to catch the people's attention. But whenever a war scenario is thought of, the question is always about who the enemy is. So to circumvent the problem, we made the war scenario into a computer game. Some Singaporeans cry watching the physical destruction of our city state when they watch the film.

The other picture we wanted to impress upon the audience is the recruits' passing out parade march to the city. The display of the accomplished city skyline to remind the audience that there is much to protect in Singapore.


 

Question from the Audience:

How do your films fare in the film reviews? Do you make much of them?

My films always very jialat (dire) in film reviews. But in the end, the box office is a main measurement. Some of my films like "I Not Stupid 1 & 2:" travelled to China and Taiwan. Some of the students who watched the films in these countries cried and asked why the film understands them more than the schools or parents! These are useful feedback. When people can feel what I am going to express to them, that is very heart warming.

I also like to show positive attitudes in my films.

Question from the Audience:

How do you get your actors into character?

We give them training and time to practise.
Sometimes, it happens quite unexpectedly during audition. For instance, the little girl in the film "Home Run". We didn't think she performed well during the audition and rejected her. Then before going out, she said that she could cry, and so we asked her to cry (on demand), and she did. And so she was selected. Eventually, that little girl, Megan Zheng, then 10 years old, won the prestigious Golden Horse Award for Best New Comer.

Question from Audience:

How do you think budding film makers can start?

Do a short film first.

To make a film, it would take S$1m to S$1.5m to target for the Singapore and Malaysian market. That figure is quite tolerable. However, it is still quite some way to go if you are to target for the China and Taiwanese markets. Even if you have more money to hire some of the big stars from Chna or Taiwan, they may not be interested to come on board, as they may not be certain of the success of the film proposed.

Question from the Audience:

Now that you are successful and could possibly raise more money for your films, how do you think your film will change in nature?

What will not change for sure would be the comedy element and to write script that is close to the hearts of the people - about their daily lives. And to offer hope and a positive attitude.

Question from the Audience:

How long does it take for you to finish a script?

It varies. For "I Not Stupid", about two years. Usually about 6 months.

For "Ah Boyz to Men", it is a miracle. We started on December 2011 and finished it on March 2012.

We research everyday for our content. Also there are new technologies that enable us to make more impressive shots, like the recent use of remote control helicopters to capture the aerial view of the Singapore city skyline. If we were to use real aircrafts, it would be near impossible to get the approvals from the authorities.

Lianhe WanBao Interview about Hentak Kaki

"Hentak Kaki" has brought me places. After it won the SIFF Best Film Award and subsequently the SSFA Best Performance Award, I have been invited to radio interviews, film screening Q&A panels and now the Singapore Chinese tabloid Lianhe Wanbao's interview about the film, James (the director) and me.

In brief, it covers:

the story in the film, the introduction of James and me; the positive remarks made by netizens (including one that says that "Hentak Kaki" is better than "Ah Boyz to Men". They also interviewed Mr Jack Neo the director of "Ah Boyz to Men" about Hentak Kaki and he remarked that it (Hentak Kaki) is a film well made.

Hentak Kaki has gone viral in Cyberspace. Here are the sites and some interesting remarks:

Hardwarezone

KohChris: Nice film! But why so short?
 
daylight: It's a short film, that's y so short

racife: quite good. ups for LT - local talent
 
cute_togepi : Yah agree, this should be Ah Boys to Men 3.

Kronuslee: thanks for the sic, really meaningful short film. (I'd) rather they shoot it into a movie......than keep coming out with (other) crap army films

kampong boi: so good and funny, that I watch it a 2nd time...

makan007: Well done. Great short film

Reddit
derektrex: who's in the prison? the counsellor or detainee?

simbunchPuff: Such a heart wrenching film - the "counselor" turns out to be the one being counseled. I hope it gives pause to the locals who doubt the dedication of our regular personnel. A shame they used a kaki beret ;)

lozo: pretty interesting film, I think it would strike a chord in most regulars currently in the corp. Other audience outside Singapore or the SAF may not appreciate it as much.

Yahoo! News
Ta:  To survive,we must adapt.

Brad: This short film is amazing. Thumbs up!!!
   
Richie gan: Life is a reality lah. If really injured and can no longer take a combat role, there are other non-combat roles that you can serve. You still got a job and it is not the end of your career. Cheer up lah !!

SG Merc

Ah Bui: That's e real life..... I'm a very good example..... Had I stayed.... I could easily be a WO... Or a what they called Weapon Expert III or IV... But with a damaged knee.... There's nothing much for me.... So my advice to most is... If u are feeling stagnant.... It's time to move on.... Like Raj says.... Outside I got family... House... Car and freedom..... Inside.... Only respect... And nothing else..... 

My Car Forum

Rncw:  "good short film....this is what you get straight in the face kind of reality....either be contended and hentak kaki or get out to the real world "

Sammy Boy
Blondi : Almost every WO will have to face this decision. He is not the only one. 


Black Technology

ST Communities

SG Forums

Forums SG Club

Elijah Tan 

Lancerlord

Lynk.ly

vbagata

Visualising the Script

I have started converting an idea for a story into a script. After drafting the character bible and scenes, it was time for visual verification to check that those words can be told in pictures.

I am not formally trained beyond those basic art lessons in school, which was decades ago; and I haven't been sketching for a long time too.

My first difficulty and probably the toughest one, was to determine the perspective - that is, the position of observation. Inherently, this corresponds to camera positions and angles during production, though this is early days yet to dwell on them.

After fixing the perspective, the next struggle was to find enough space to represent what I want within the frame - objects that are symbolic of what I want to tell in the story!

I am terrible at drawing human bodies.  A consistent trouble to draw them in the correct proportions and perspective. Sigh!

The next challenge would be to put the facial and body expressions in the characters - very much like directing the characters to perform on paper.

After that, the shading and details are easier.

Through sketch, I get to understand the characters better. Some characteristics previously left nebulous, became evident once the picture was drawn. This in turn inspired new ideas and plots to the script.

In this particular picture, I am depicting an Indian family where the father and the son are often busy watching football on TV. The  young and attractive daughter, though educated to be an engineer chooses to be a fashion model. She also spends too much time hanging out with friends and clubbing till late nights, to the dismay of the mother. The mother spends most of the time cleaning the house and taking care of the husband and two kids and lets her frustration off  through her persistent nags.

Sketching is fun! It is quite therepeutic, letting the logical mind rest for a while, while the visuals take over. However, it is time consuming, so I may resort to getting some friends to role play and test out some of the scenes instead. That is, if I can gather enough friends.  :)

Stay tune for more sketches in this blog.

This is the 40th post in this blog, which was started 1 year and 10 days ago. Which approximates to about 1 post every 9 days. They have taken quite of lot of my time during my off-days and time in between takes on set.

At the time of writing, there are about 11,472 hits: which approximates to about 1,000 hits a month or 30 a day or 1 an hour.

I have also noticed that the popular posts are those that are longer and are richer and deeper in content. The online statistics probably explains, as it shows that about one-third of readers are production professionals; one-third are actors, aspiring actors or people who aspires to act; and one-third just movie buffs or laypeople.

Finally, thank you for visiting the blog and keep your comments and suggestions coming. You may also like to subscribe to this blog at the bottom right hand side of the page.

Script Writing with Dov Simens

The following is an extract from Dov Simens Newsletter. I found it useful and so am sharing it here:

Own something…Write a 3-Page Treatment! …First, always remember “Nothing is written, it’s re-written” so stop putting pressure on yourself that the first attempt or first draft of your Treatment must be great… That is an impossible task and you have just succeeded in creating Writers Block when you start off with too much pressure.

Now, let’s start moving your fingers. First a little structure.

Everyone in Hollywood states that storytelling or screenwriting or movies are a “3-ACT STRUCTURE”… Huh? I go to a lot of movies. I’ve read 1,000s of scripts and on the Opening Page I never see ACT I (Beginning)… Then about 25-40 minutes into the movie or script I see ACT II (Middle)… Then about 30-45 minutes later or pages later I see ACT III (End)…

So what the f*ck are these alleged pros talking about?

Their response to me would be “Dov, everything has to have a Beginning (aka: Act I), a Middle (aka: Act II) and an Ending (aka: Act III)…and my response would be after I say, “Duh”…I’d pause and say, “You know you’re right”. Everything needs to (A) Start, (B) End and (C) have a Middle.

So start off writing a Treatment by taking out 3 pieces (8.5 x 11) of white paper and we are going to think of Page-1, as the Beginning (Act I) and Page 2, as the Middle (Act II) and the Ending (Act III).

Next, the Beginning and the End do not take as much time (pages typed) as the Middle. Therefore, we are going to allocate only the Top Half of Page-1 for the BEGINNING and the Bottom Half of Page-3 for the ENDING, with the Bottom Half of Page-1, all of Page-2, and the Top Half of Page-3 for the Middle.

By-the-By: while writing this 3-Page Treatment if it becomes 4-pages that’s fine, 5-pages that’s fine, 10-pages that’s fine…but don’t just bulk it up for bulking purposes alone. Don’t be excited to be able say you have written a 60-page Treatment for a Development Executive when reading it is he/she is ever bored (more chance in 60-pages than in 3-pages) then he/she will literally and figuratively “Throw It away”… Thus, let’s try to keep it to 3-5 Pages.

ACT I: Take the Top Half of Page-1 and in 3-4 long, run-on, grammatically incorrect sentences type the “5 Ws & H”… WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, WHY & HOW.

EXAMPLE: Los Angeles, 1986, South Central, a ghetto area where hubcaps have a 3-day life, JOEY GARRAGIOLA, 15, an anchor child of an illegal family with dreams of riches, …

For ACT I, Type the 5 Ws & H and each time you type a new character, type him/her in all UPPERCASE letters (this helps the reader to identify that a new character just came into story), thereafter, if you type his/her name again type it in Upper-Lower case letters. Then after you type the new character in all UPPER CASE LETTERS, type (A) his/her age and (B) a 10-15 word physical or emotional description of the character.

Type ACT I: 3-4 lines, double spaced typing and introduce the 5 Ws & H, with each new character having (1) UPPER CASE LETTERS, (2) Age and (3) Description-Visualization.

Now, let’s go to ACT III; the Bottom Half of Page-3 and in 3-4 sentences describe the 3 B-Stories and how they resolved themselves in a way that they come together and make the primary A-Story resolve itself.

Write ACT I (Beginning). Write ACT II (Ending).

Now, let’s write ACT II (The Middle).

Remember, if you ever write a piece-of-crap and send it to someone in the industry who actually reads it and you can then (I doubt it) get the reader to tell you why they didn’t like it their answer will always be some variation of “ACT II… Was A Little Weak”

ACT II is the key, combined with great dialogue, to great writing and having a Great script.

Again: The key to the Great Script and, its first step, the Great Treatment is writing a Great ACT II. The Beginning (Act I) and the Ending (Act III) are easy to write. Its’ the Middle (Act II) which is tough and, in essence, Act II…is the story.

More than likely you have a Great Idea but no real story.. Therefore, it is imperative to flesh out Act II (The Story, sometimes called Structure)…

Tomorrow’s Hot Tip will be how to (A) Create a Great Story and (B) how to Write a Great Story (aka: Act II) within your Treatment.

"From Dov Simens, founder of The Movie Cloud, and creator of the "2-DAY FILM SCHOOL" (www.DovSimensfilmSchool.com) 

 copyright (c) 2013, DOV SIMENS