3 MINUTES

“How much longer?” the director asked

“3 minutes” replied his Director of Photography (DP)

And 30 minutes later, the crew were still building the set. Welcome to the set of my Drama Production module “Adaptation Project“!

Over schedule. Over time. Over kill.

The production didn’t go well right from the start. Surprisingly, we managed to capture indeed a rare piece of performance for the project. Only time will tell.

Okay, I skip past those artistic written bullshit. Anyway, hello dear readers! It’s been a long time. My school term break just started and it’s only 2 weeks. I got many things to do, but first let me tell you all what I’ve been doing for the past 2 days.

Yesterday, on Friday, was the shoot of one of my projects. I don’t really write all the projects I did in school, but this one deserves a post as it’s the best one I ever done thus far. As mentioned earlier, the project was plagued with problems right from the start. Well, normal typical film problems. We even postponed our shoot, which made our lecturer quite pissed I guess, due to casting issues.

Alas, all that might just be a blessing in disguise. Or as they say “there is a cloud behind every silver lining”. As the director, I had to carry the burden of leading this project. Yes yes yes, I am already an experienced director but that was working with my crew. Working with my classmates was totally a different thing. But that doesn’t mean its a bad thing.

The day started of rather hectically for me. Firstly, I had to return back a DVD and print the scripts. I cabbed down to school to only see Afiq (DP) and DJ (Sound) there. Good friend Zane (AC) and Vicson (Producer) aren’t there yet. The three of us had to check every single equipment and it was a time straining job. Everyone finally arrived, and we loaded our equipments onto a lorry, hired by our producer.

The journey to Tampines was definitely exhilarating. I’ve been in the back of lorries before, but being with friends who never had was something fun. We took pictures and videos of ourselves doing funny actions. But I do have to cut my hair which is getting too wavy for me.

After arriving, it was set up all the way till night time. The casts arrived late, pretty common sense though as they are… Okay let’s not get ahead of myself. We had Ika Lestari playing our female lead and our very own Ameer ‘Shan’ Hassaan playing, for the first time, not Shan but Fred.

The script was pretty boring. Hello, its not written by my okay. It was a scene adaptation from the film Kramer VS Kramer. I’m not saying it was a bad movie, but the scene chosen wasn’t really that exciting (read:dialogue-y). However, it was still a fun shoot. There weren’t many bloopers, but there were quite some funny moments.

Our year 1 junior, Alfian, helped us out too although he came from another production as well. It was pretty obvious by 2 in the morning. Everyone was yawning and some even caught quick eye naps. Victor, Vicson’s elder brother, was also there to snap some behind the scene photos. He’s a great guy. I met him the day before, and he helped out asking his friends to act as the male lead. The spotlight definitely was on VV, Vicson’s family dog. She’s a golden retriever and is very cute! Ika and I are quite surprised at how obedient she is. She understands English words and obeys her owners.

As for the shoot itself, it was great! As the director, I can safely say that the performance was truly rocking. Afiq told me that the cinematography is good and DJ informed that sound was nearly perfect.

It was also quite an unhealthy night. We ordered Macs for late-late-late supper and had the same thing for breakfast. There goes my effort to cut some fats.

All in all, it’s truly a memorable production. We will be sending it to ‘telecine’ on Monday and get the results latest by Wednesday. I hope the film turns out well. Because if it does, I’m sure our lecturer will like it as much as we had fun making it.

So there goes my last project before I officially enter Akbarian mode. This holiday will be for me to craft our my script and call back my men into action.

And of course, school work… I’m really not looking forward to that part.

Rule #5

Nothing is original.

Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination.

Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul.

If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic.

Authenticity is invaluable; originality is nonexistent.

And don’t bother concealing your thievery—celebrate it if you feel like it.

In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: “It’s not where you take things from—it’s where you take them to.”

- Excerpt from Jim Jarmusch’s Golden Rules of Filmmaking

The Boy Who Ruled The World

The End by Diogo Glovatski

All Rights Reserved

When I first saw this image, it just struck me. The simplicity yet power of this image is so overwhelming. Try listening to Craig Armstrong “Escape” while looking at it. Inspiring right? My salute to Mr Diogo Glovatski for this awesome piece of art!

Super Kanchiong Man

Seriously, I don’t know why am I blog hopping when I got assignments and own matters to be done.

And I also don’t understand why am I so tired out this weekend?

I think I lost a bit of my mojo. I have to rediscover back my passion before it’s too late.

Or else, the world will lose their only hope.

Heh, how’s that for a script?

Alright, serious matters aside (hah, what did you think that was)

I was in conversation with a couple of friends and lecturers

when one of them, hailing from LA, commented that Singapore Idol is rubbish.

He was making it in comparison to American Idol.

Sad to say, I agree with him.

And to quote someone else, this season Singapore Idol is like watching a “Polytechnic Talentime”.

That was when I searched online to find those that have similar thoughts as me

and chanced upon local celebrity Suzhairhe Sumari’s blog.

Somehow, I’m linking a lot of famous people on my blog.

Well, actually I do know quite a number but I find these celebs blog which I featured to be cool, funny and fun to read.

Okay, I’m off to complete my work.

Be sure to read other famous people blog like Patrick Teoh, Michael Bay, Suzairhe Sumari and D Arvind!

Laughing Out Loud

(no, I really am)

No God

A college student was in a philosophy class, where there was a class discussion about whether or not God exists, The professor had the following logic:

“Has anyone in this class heard God?” Nobody spoke.

“Has anyone in this class touched God?” Again, nobody spoke.

“Has anyone in this class seen God?” When nobody spoke for the third time, he simply stated, “Then there is no God.”

The student did not like the sound of this at all, and asked for permission to speak. The professor granted it, and the student stood up and asked the following questions of his classmates:

“Has anyone in this class heard our professor’s brain?” Silence.

“Has anyone in this class touched our professor’s brain?”

Absolute silence.

“Has anyone in this class seen our professor’s brain?” When nobody in the class dared to speak, the student concluded, “Then, according to our professor’s logic, it must be true that our professor has no brain!”

- Author Unknown, taken from InspirationalStories.com