PICTURE PERFECT ....

Thursday, January 22, 2009

MY BABY EDRYL....

Today is my baby EDRYL'S full moon 1 month so I am happy to share his photo with everyone.... my precious is such a lovely & cute boy.... :-)

Friday, May 23, 2008

It is time I be rid of my digi number of more then 10 years. They have gone big and forget to treat customer's with respect and common courtesy, especially their digi 016.2211800 tele-customer service who thinks he's my grand-father and trying to talk-down to a long-standing customer like me.

Am i using their mobile number for free? Most definitely not. I am paying for the service, hmmmm...what service? i'm thinking to myself other then the use of their phone line.

So, there's many other service providers around that I can pay for service also ..... for those who have seen the animated cartoon circulated last year of "yellowman's I will follow you and ended up being trampled till eyes popped and rolled on the road by the celcom territory giant", well... this is basically the same scenario - I am dumping and trampling my digi for celcom, hahahahaha..

Enjoy this short animation :

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

SHOOTING TECHNIQUE - white on white

There are many techniques when it comes to production shooting as it very much depends what's the required end result.

Take for example : white-on-white. To simply put, whatever's in the foreground is white with a white background...

For better understanding, please see this before & after footage :

Footage courtesy of : Timothy Tio

Saturday, April 12, 2008

TEAMWORK !!!!

This picture reminds me on the importance of teamwork in production - be it producing TVCs, documentaries, movies, video etc..etc.. whether small or big budget.

There are many departments involved in the production process - the production team / Film Directors team / Director of Photography and camera team / Gaffer and lighting team / Key Grip and best boys / make-up & hair / wardrobe / art department / F&B / casting team / location dept / transports etc..etc..

And within each dept will have a list of personnel with specific designated expertise working together to achieve the same goal of finishing the shoot as best & smooth as possible.

When teamwork breaks down, then the entire production will fail... and the project will stall.

Many have the perception that production is a glamour industry but it's actually a work that require passion & interest to be able to sustain the long hours, high-stress and crazy life.

But if you love it, then it's actually a fun career and you will not want to work in a boring, clock-work office that require you to punch-in not later then 9am, with lunch between 1pm-2pm and punch out not earlier then 5pm, with specific dress-code of "NO JEANS" etc..etc..

Think about it.... do you love what you are doing ???

"ANNA and THE KING"....

As I am starting to write about my production life, I would like to start on my stint with "Anna and The King" starring Jodie Foster and Chow Yun-Fatt.

This movie was shot in 2000 in Penang, Langkawi, Perak and Selangor... as the Thai government didn't allow this movie to be shot in Thailand due to certain sensitivities, Malaysia became the next best location due to similarities in weather and people.

I quit my secure job to work on this production as it's an experience that I didn't want to miss, even if it meant having no job after finishing this shoot. But it's all worth-it.

My position was the location assistant in Penang and my location team members became my pals up till today and we still do keep in touch... friendship that will always be treasured.

My experience was an eye-opener - being an Asian female in a "Mat Salleh" production was already a disadvantage, me in the locations department made it a double-disadvantage. There is this double-standard perception by some of the production team that "Asians" are not as smart or are not at par with the whites, and being a female Asian made it worse.

My main responsibility was the Penang Free-Port - from the day the "Mat Sallehs" assistant director, art directors etc..etc came to location, I was like a transparent ghost that they never gave any acknowledgement or respect... they just walked around checking out "my" location without noticing I was even there. I thought to myself, well.... no worries, I shall just bite the bullet and build my respect & credibility when the time comes.

I didn't have to wait long, in 2 weeks.... those "Mat Sallehs" have to start moving their props, sets, animals etc..etc into the Penang Free-Port so that they can start building the sets, setting up the props and those stuff came by container loads imported from Thailand on a daily basis. So, without working with yours truly (me), their stuff were left stranded as they couldn't get permission to get their lorries / vehicles / transport into the port without my authorisation.

This was where I made my lasting impression and gained respect by assisting them & arranging for fork-lifts & other assistance in order their work at the port gets moving without any glitch... That's a pat on my back, for achieving respect on my own hard-work and persistence.

As days go by, those "Mat Sallehs" knew my name at the tip of their tongue - as whenever they needed support or help, I am THE contact. And when they see me at the port, doing may daily rounds, they will wave and shout out to me just to wish 'a very good morning' or just to ask 'how are you'. I think I made progress...

I made many new friends - some crazy, some weird, some "ham sap", some cranky and met some arse-holes and many many more species of human being..... that makes the world go round ;-).

The one that takes the cake was the Irish Executive Producer, John .... :-) not gonna reveal the name. He's the worse of the lot, throwing his hand-phone to show tantrum, a real bastard, giving unpleasant comments about dress-code - let me elaborate the incident so that you know why I was really pissed.

We, the locations department, on a daily basis have to run around the Penang Island getting approvals from government depts, police, bomba etc..etc and check-up on all locations and many many other work that the locations department do. And we do so, in of course our jeans & t-shirts. Then one day, at 6.30pm when we just finished our daily rounds... this Irish Executive Producer invited us to dinner with him at 7pm at Rasa Sayang hotel (Batu Ferringghi) as he's entertaining some guests. I said, I rather not go as I do not have time to go back & bath & change, moreover all my available attire were jeans & t's - who would have thought that I needed to bring along my Little-Black-Dress for my job in this production. My other 2 colleagues, also didn't want to go.

However, this Irish EP insisted and said that it's ok... he shall meet us at the hotel at 7pm. When we arrived, he had the gall to be sarcastic & say that I am not properly dressed for dinner.. I started to F*** him when my location manager kick my leg and signalled me to just let his remark slide & to just forget it... I was not very good company that night, but as I didn't have transport to leave, I just enjoyed the food.

From then onwards, the EP is no longer in my respect list so he can just F*** himself silly and whenever he tried to bond, I would just, as the Malay saying goes "angkat kaki jalan"... which basically means I leave without excusing myself.

And what gave me satisfaction was, this EP had a mental breakdown half-way of shoot and he had to be shipped back to the UK... not long after, my Penang location finished shoot so it's my time to leave as well.

Come to think of it, not all "Mat Sallehs" were biased because I do remember meeting a very nice Art Director, name Christian - whom were one of the few that were really, really genuinely nice people....

Don't even get me started about those "ham sap" ones..... :-0

I have many pictures, but as it's all captured on film & not digital, I only scan a few to share here..

After "Anna & The King" was shot in Malaysia, there were talks of many other foreign productions wanting to shoot here, but then Sept. 11 happened and as we are a Muslim country, those production didn't happen. All thanks to the great & smart, Osama bin Laden for bombing the US Twin Towers that spoiled the worldwide reputation of Muslims & made people weary of Islamic countries. He basically spoiled good business opportunities for all Muslims.

Such a sad case....

In short, that's my experience on a foreign movie shoot - I would love to work in more such productions if given the opportunity...

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Experimental film : SIX

Shot in 2000 by my friend Timothy Tio - a film director in the making then but now is a full-fledged Film Director directing TVCs, documentaries & movies...

What I like about this experimental film is that it's shot only with a Hi-8 handycam - as I strongly believe, the best way to judge creativity & talent is when a good job is produced under limited budget, equipment or manpower... and not many can actually deliver good work under such conditions.

Anyone with money / budget can produce decent work as technology can enhance the finish look to make it look like a million dollars - which might cost just as much to get such results...

Just wanted to share this video with everyone.....

MOVING ON....

10th April 2008... I shall be moving-on to write about other stuff now.

I will still research & write about my beloved Peranakans on a as & when basis and share new information with everyone.

But for now, I would like to move on to share on new topic which is about my passion and work - PRODUCTION !!!

Production of any kind, be it TV commercials, documentaries, movies, tv programmes and anything related to audio-visual.