Helper, Driver, Deliverer, Passenger, Stuntman et al.

Just when I thought my time at The Company was almost over, I reckon I'd lean some help to The Shanster with his stuff at Exclusive. As you know, I wasn't a fan of this new team. They had a strange way of handling things, which is much bizarre than AOG. I'm not going to rant about that. The point is, poor Shanster is usually left clueless of what the hell was happening at the other end of the line and I, clueless too, was helping to make things easier. I doubt it lah anyway.

So as suggested by the title, I was basically involved with automobiles in the past few days. In addition to the van, I also drove a '96 BMW 740IL, Elaine the Stylist's Volvo S80, a Jeep Cherokee, a souped up Iswara Aeroback, a Cooper Mini, and a MZ Moskito scooter.

The BMW wasn't as powerful, the S80 was a bit too responsive to my liking , and the Jeep was a monster. My favorite vehicles were the Mini which would go to an almost halt in the middle of traffic and sod off the cars behind as I fiddled with the misaligned gear shaft, and the cruise-happy Moskito which could easily reach 100km/h while you sit tight and enjoy the wind (although I suspect the speedo lies a bit in the name of Malaysian Ego).

Anyways, I don't think stunt is my piece of cake as I'm mediocre at best as a normal driver. Spinning wheels and wasting rubber at corners are not my level yet. It's fun though. Tiring as it is, I must say that this is something nice to do before you die, erm, I mean end your internship.

no-fark!

Only fools rush in

Happy April Fool! Nope, nobody duped me today, and I'm glad. Having the very predictable April fool pranks year by year is kinda boring.

Come April, and its time to tie up loose ends, say goodbye to some people and say hello to new stuff. My days at The Company are numbered, 16 more days to be exact. After that, my internship is officially over. Kaput! I'm not planning on extending. As I posted, I don't like the new project team. Yeah, call me a picky, because I am. I understand work ethics and perseverance, but screw that for now. I don't want further examples of how tv production work sucked.

It doesn't mean that I wont be into all this after graduation; I still like making movies. But I know which part of the pay grade I want to stand at, and I know what type of person am I and who else I can work with/for. Surely I'll be back. But before all that happens, I know that for now after 16th I will have the second longest term break in college that I could recall. So I'm definitely planning to enjoy it.

no-fark!

Another 20 Episodes of Madness

The new project, codenamed "E.E." (stands for Exclusive Edition lah) started shooting today. I didn't follow the team this time, it just wasn't my game. But what I did do today was paid a visit at their shooting location somewhere in PJ. From what I could observe, it was kanasai.

Not that I really like AOG the project (it was fun listening to one of the production head theorizing how AOG could be a financial flop during lunch), but AOG was preferable than this new one. It confuses me when individuals of different working styles gather together as ONE team and try to work something out of chaos. At least at AOG, those were teams with different styles. Conversely, its fun too to watch 2 ADs working on the same set. I really don't know what are their proper roles but its nice that one of them is so like a daddy, taking care of the entire team. The mommies from AOG are not as good comparatively.

Next, the reason I was there today was to loan them a DSLR (mine loh) for one of the scene. They did not use it anyway, but I get paid, anyway. It was feared that it would not conti with the sponsored Canons due next week. Oh well, I know its a safety issue, but they could've saved some cash by doing some confirmation work first (company got lift and free phone calls ma). Confirm with the director that you are going to use what and what, show him some pictures, explain! So hard meh? Sorrylah, I know sometimes we oversee things, but it helps to see things clearly. It saves a lot of money and time in the long run, and makes the producers smile in the end.

Disclaimer: In case anyone from The Company/The EE Production read this post, please treat this as a plain opinion from a fresh kid. Everyone else, I love this company. Its a great place to work (if you are one of the staff, and tech crew to some extent). There's a few desks on the top floor that is temporary home to me. There's (so far in my case) no supernatural issues too.

no-fark!

One Stop Under

Today I had the opportunity to do a photoshoot for The Company's image-making session. Its actually the second photoshoot i joined since they had one last week. Both are a great experience as I get to work my flashgun and learn some lessons. In the first session I wasted some good shots underexposing the leng-cai, leng-lui main casts. This time I was luckier with the supporting actors, though I still underexpose by one stop or so. The conditions was much similar to the first one. It was a heavily overcast day and the lighting was really bad. To make things difficult, the only light source was a 650-watter, which fought with my underpowered flash.

My shots were all portrait-orientated. Since the camera was vertical, the only way I could fire the flash nicely without harshness on the subjects were straight up to the ceiling. At wider shots, the TTL flash wasn't powerful enough to reach the entire height of the subject. Closer shots were much better, the only problems being hard shadow on the background (because I don't have a diffuser) and uneven lighting (caused by different light temperatures).


The very talented Alvin Wong.


The much-beautiful-than-the-main-cast Joyce Hon.

There's another session next Monday. This time with the full cast. Lets see if I can gain back that one stop.

no-fark!

Every Era Must Pass

Legend has it, that Age of Glory is wrapping up principal shooting in 3 more days. That also means that I too have another month left as an intern. I'd say that its nice to be a part of this project.

I was very lucky (really!) to have entered this project at its busiest phase while they were filming primarily on studio sets. As a set design guy, its damn tiring at times, but after you got the set done, most of the time you could drift off. Movie sets are simply magnificent; you take a whole lot of wood and bunch them into something, decorate them with whatever, and there you have a wall, a room, and even a fully functioning dance hall! At the end of the day, you strike it down into pieces ready for the next set, or the next truck going for the dump. That's movie magic.

So what do I think of it? AOG should be fine when its out. For most part of it, it has something. Some of the plot might be a bit boring, but I'm saying this because I didn't look at the big picture yet. I think there's a reason too why these people are so demanding on things that could be seen on-screen (props). This is a very long drama (40 ep), its tiring to see character actions all the time, so they are using settings and props to spice up things (something like mis en scene, and film directors like James Lee likes to do that). That's just my theory. Anyhow, all we did was to turn the mundane and mediocre to some good looking object appearing on your TV screen.

Well, the age of glory is coming to an end, or at least it is for me. My most memorable part was watching James and co. doing the final 'shutdown' scene at the makeup room set. I might have sobbed had I not gone out earlier for a pair of shoes (duh, also partly because I can't stand the AD). I hope it would be equally touching when its aired.

I'm feeling the void already. The new project simply lacks the motivational omph by my standards (there's nothing interesting watching a bunch of middle age men doing fresh idol stuff). AOG is bigger than anything coming, and I doubt they wanna try that again anytime soon. I'm gonna miss working with the crew and the AOG casts, and the blardy ADs too. Hopefully these people are still around next year as I 'proudly' enter this industry as a paid who-knows-what.

Rest in pieces dear AOG sets and props.

no-fark!

All in a day's work

I swear I won't make another kite after AOG! Besides, why not just buy a nice flyable one for less than 20 bucks? Bah.

So it goes that the story of the day (yesterday) was I got my finger jabbed by the blade (my own blade, duh). I always had this little tinge whenever anything big was about to happen, and it did. As if those splinters from the bamboo was some kind of warning, moments later i had the big one; the blade went straight-on, harakiri-style, into my right index. Lesson learned, never put your flesh anywhere near your blade's line of sight (slicing direction).











The people at Tech Dept were friendly enough to help me with the first aid stuff and even Ivy from admin (who happens to be there) was curious. Blood attracts people. Funny too, was my first instinct was to go way up to the Tech Dept and nowhere else. Guess I like support staff more than production asses.

Anyhow, it wasn't a big deal; tiny gash. Had the two kites done anyway. Don't ask me, it ain't 60's or anything. The instinct was the same when I drew the 'kids drawing' for the orphanage. Nothing of a research. Doesn't even guaranteed to be sky worthy.


Want some 'infinite pleasures' anyone?













no-fark!

No Ho Ho Ho

They waste as much saliva speaking with talents as the number of nails I missed in a day's work








And there goes my break...

The thing about production is: everything is like water.

Water changes form depending on how it is contained, so as production. Every aspect has its variables a, b, c dependency. What has been planned one day earlier might not be the plan one day later because of these changes among the dependencies. So at the end, everyone maybe except some artists or directors, took the wrath. We are all the particles in the liquid, being shaken here and there.

On the other hand, I'd like to stress the importance of 2 groups of people in a production. The people that arranges the rundown, and those that built the sets and props. They are the unsung heroes of the industry. Its not easy being in the shoes of these very talented individuals. Talented, because they have this ability and perseverance to breathe in the 'thin air' of a busy day. Many people take credit for their hard work; producers, directors, talents, cameraman, you name it. But not many knew what happens before and after those people wrap up the day's shoot. People like casting managers and set coordinators, they never wrap up. Work is constant like a never ending karma. The moment one thing is done, the next thing starts.

Thats why a casting manager has his/her own single slide ending credit somewhere after the director. How I wish that the set builders had their own single credit line too, maybe above the director.

Lou Gei and Hoi Pin: The Difference

I felt like continuing my post about the first day of work, actually about joining the night's shooting at Kuala Selangor.

So here goes. Firstly, Kuala Selangor is damn far and I seriously don't recommend anyone to go there except you wanna enjoy the fireflies (I didn't see any) or go Bukit Melawati, where there is a lighthouse. The Props and Set Department which I'm assigned to, typically is not required to follow a shooting team. As such I'm thankful to my Ah Tau (Head of Dept), Fung, for giving me an opportunity to go out on my first day at work. It took us 1 hour plus drive to get there.

The rain is still pouring sparingly when we arrive at the foot of Bukit Melawati. The rest of the team was already there, taking cover along shoplot corridors. There was 1 outdoor scene and some indoor ones that the team was scheduled to cover that night. The plan was to spend the entire night shooting. When it rains, there's nothing much to do but to wait. The agony and helplessness was apparent in everyone's face, as one crew puts it: Its (the rain) not really heavy, but its not light enough too, and thats why its farking annoying.

We stick around with the older adult crew (not including the director) for a round of tea at the local joint, chatting quite about anything, and breathing an astronomical amount of smoke from the cigarettes the big boys spent. Basically the group was a bunch of gung-ho happy fellas. I did learn bits and pieces listening over their conversation, although here and there you may find them cursing, which is a norm anyway. Finally after awhile, they decided to fark mother nature and get on with their job.

The director chose to begin shooting at the indoor locations first. From what I know, its suppose to be at the protagonist's room, and later some dockyard scenes. The crew arrived at the location, a pier usually used to upload see ham (clams). As soon as we set in, we set up. On one hand, a room has to be cleared for the room scene and on the other hand we have to stuff newspapers into gunny bags for the jetty scene. Suffice to say that it was no easy job, but with the number of people we have plus some help from the local kids we manage to prep the set for shooting.

Shooting was really a complex process. Contrary to my school productions, this one seems more like a streamlined sports car compared to the bicycle we had. The director is at the helm of all things, but he doesn't have to make sure of things himself. There are specified peoples for every job. Script directors making sure actors speaking the right stuff, soundman getting every needed sound on tape, lighting guys providing the right shade, PAs and contis keeping not of things, cameraman getting the correct shots, and much much more. The whole process can't be said as precise, but at least it is under tight control and things get settled efficiently.

The director calls off for a bit of supper after finishing some scenes. Hell, how I wished I was able to do that too, the only times we call off a shoot is during weather changes or its time to go home. So while the rest of the crew enjoys some food, Fung, the Art Director, and me decided to go off another place to eat and chat. The Art Director is a really nice guy, already in his 60s. He mostly ranted about how the production could've improved, but he has good intentions. So after our meal, Fung and me felt we had enough of the business already and decided to skip the rest of the shoot. During the journey back, we chatted and I learned some stuff regarding real world production and the likes. I assumed while I was snoring through my slumber, somewhere a few dozen kilometers away the production crew are still rolling, right till the morning.

Lou gei is the Cantonese jargon for 'roll camera', meaning start shooting. Conversely, hoi pin loosely translates as 'open film', which is more used to mean gang clashes. But for me, production itself is metaphorically a fight. Against weather, time, differing ideas, nature, and anything else I did not mention. Its a situation, where only the physically and mentally fit survives.

no-fark!

Interview with an intern - Part 1

The following are a transcript of a fictitious interview of factitious, well, facts.

Q: So how's the feeling of working again?
A: Damn hungry.

Q: So, what's it like to work in a production house?
A: Damn freaking tired.

Q: Which department did you been assigned?
A: Props and Set.

Q: Which is...
A: Where all non living objects except wearables you saw on TV comes from. The guys who make movies want something, we get it, if we don't have it, we find it, if we can't find it, we make it, if all else fails then fark it (or getting farked at).

Q: Oh I see. How bout sets and stages?
A: Yep. We put 'em up too. Those nice dining rooms or sitcom kopitiams, we make them right inside the studio. Those variety show sets, we did those as well.

Q: Was it fun?
A: No. But then, there's a sense of joy finishing your task first and seeing other people fark over their business, and the best part is if the end of the day when you're able to go home and sleep.

Q: Do you get to follow production teams out for a shoot?
A: Generally we are sitting ducks inside the studio facilities. But as interns, you have every right to learn, so you could join the other people as long as you're free.

Q: Best experience so far?
A: Hey, its only Day 1. But then, I get to join the production team for a drama shoot at night. Was hell of an experience.

Q: So what are Producers like?
A: They are the lucky ones who get more sleep then anyone else of the team.

Q: Then who's the boss on the spot?
A: The Director, of course.

Q: Describe a director.
A: IMHO, someone very good but doesn't always get the big picture compared with everyone else.

Q: What are production people like?
A: Put whatever descriptors you can think of, and add 'plus a bit of mental instability' at the end.

Q: Does that matter?
A: Not at all. In fact, I have it too.

Q: So what's the department busy at the moment?
A: Primarily a 40 episode long Chinese drama which is set in the 60s and 70s. There are other stuff as well.

Q: And that makes you in a 60s mode eh?
A: Haha, literally so. In constant attention for anything Sixties.

Q: What about Channel [V]?
A: That's none of our business, really. They are the mysterious next floor neighbors.

Q: In short, your impression about your work and workplace.
A: Nice place with mostly nice people with a bit of mental instability [sic].

no-fark!