Sweet Times: The Journey

Sweet Times

A story about a boy, the girl he met, and the sweet times they shared together…

Prologue: A Night in February

It was probably on a silent night in February when I was browsing through a website showcasing love stories. Some were cliche while some others were fresh but dull. However, there was one that captured me.  The story title was “La Dolce Vita“.  It was a sweet story about a boy who has never been in love. He met a girl, FlyNDance online, and after a brief romance the girl disappeared. I’ll skip the finer details as I do not want to spoil it for anyone out there. Although it was around 1 in the morning when I was reading it, I was totally absorbed in the story that I kept thinking about it for the next few days. Eventually, I asked myself the ultimate question.

“What if I make that story into a film?”

That was it, an innocent question which will make me worked like mad for a few months.  As it was a popular online novel, I had to purchase or asked the rights to make the story into a screenplay. No, I didn’t want to do that. I felt there were some parts which could be improved and some parts which had to be change to make it on screen. So, let’s take it that I was inspired by the  novel, or am paying a homage.

Scene 1: Spines and Spices

Sweet Times is thus about a guy who believes that love brings pain. He meets a girl online, Dancing Butterfly, whom he will later develop a small crush on. After an indirect advice from his friend, he managed to win a date with her. But she will disappeared, leaving him angry and clueless. His search for her will reveal a painful truth and ultimately, will his thought about love change in the end?

That’s it, the basic summary plot of Sweet Times. I changed here and there, and added a few twist of my own. I put in the narrator voice, make it a flashback film but still retains the meaning of which the online novel had.

Scene 2: Tools of the Trade

After getting all excited and aroused (fellow filmmakers will understand me here), I had to ensemble my crew. Yes, what’s a general without his army, a painter without his tools and a music score without notes. Being Akbarian Production second film, and first feature film, I carefully selected the crew members.

D Arvind, as always, served as my co-producer and casting director. A reliable and straightforward friend, I have always relied on Arvind for advices and help. Having been a theater actor from primary school, Arvind has almost developed a sixth sense on the ability of people to act.

Nurul Ain, again, served as the assistant director and the IC (In-Charge) of the Props, Wardrobe and Location department (PWL). My classmate in film school, she worked as my AD for two productions, BEAT 2 and Untitled Horror Project. Hardworking, helpful and dependable, she is an important asset in the production.

Third time’s the charm the say, thus Bruno Hue, served as my Director of Photography (DOP) in this film. Possessing a sharp eye and many wonderful ideas, his involvement in videography started since secondary school working as the school’s official cameraman. Although his schedule is busy, he still took time out to help me in this production.

And of course, the other wonderful crew who are as important also: Aslam and Jeremy, who served as the sound, photographer (respectively) and camera assistants.

And there, the crew of Sweet Times had been finalized. It wasn’t easy; there were changes here and there but these people stood by me and I say “Thank you very much”.

Scene 3: Cast, Cast and more Cast

Unlike my previous films, there are only 3 characters in this film. Many would have thought that with a minimal number of cast needed, it would be an easy casting job.

WRONG!

I think this is the first film in which I encountered many sets of problems with casting. And no, I’m not going to tell you guys ala a soap opera as there are names involved and I would like to keep this entry scandal free.

As this is a feature film, the appointment of cast are vital to the success of the film.(Oh well, not from an economical viewpoint of course). Over the years, I had the opportunity to work with various types of people. There were the bad ones, most were bordering on average but there were some really brilliant ones. I wanted to try a fresh new cast thus Arvind had the heavy burden of finding the appropriate person.

The 3 roles were: Ashraf Khan (protagonist), Dancing Butterfly (love interest) and Ronnie Mittal (best friend).

And here are the chosen ones. After a long selection period; in which a number of people were auditioned, some were dropped, changes was made twice every week, we came upon a decision.

Ivan James, a Eurasian guy from Ngee Ann Polytechnic studying Audio Visual Tech. I first met him in a bus and found him to be charming and suave. As a singer/guitarist in local band Sunny’s Violet Rays, he is gifted with a smooth voice that can melt the heart of many. New in the acting scene, he literally amazed me during the audition.

I’ve known Sharon Seah since my DPA days. She is from Business Studies and is an energetic and lively person. After seeing her performance in my classmate’s final project, I’d decided to asked her. Her experience and love for films made her an easy person to work with during shooting.

I’m not going to talk more on the third actor, as he is Arvind. Arvind was playing out the role in the auditions and I felt that he was natural for it.

So there, you have it, cast and crew all assembled. Roll camera… and action!

Scene 4: Chapter 4

4.

4 is the number for Sweet Times.

We took 4 days to shoot the entire film.

It was a hectic, tiring, mind boggling 4 days. Chaos reigned as things were forgotten, equipments had problems. Luckily as this was not my first time directing, problems went away as fast as they came. Being an organized freak also helped a lot.

Day 1 was shot around Bukit Batok West. It’s my hometown and the place which I knew would not give me problems. It was fun and I had to adapt in the later part of the night. We actually planned to shoot a scene at a pathway but the light wasn’t strong enough. Thus, I had to look for a new location which ended up being in the middle of a hill facing a crowded road. The good thing was that the whole place was illuminated with light – for which I am still confused. The other bad news was that the place was covered with tall sharp grasses. And with grass, comes ants. Lots of ants. We had to persevere shooting there, which took about an hour. The funny part came when Chris Grosse, Ivan’s friend and our boom operator, suddenly ran while shouting, “Snake!”. Believe me, all of us ran in a flurry. It ended up that the boom cable writhed against his leg causing the confusion. When we found out the truth, we laughed all the way.

Day 2 was shot at Dhoby Ghaut, specifically Cathay, Istana Park and Fort Canning. Shoot started  early at 10 in the morning and I was quite shagged already as last night ended around 11 p.m. The day went without problems – everything was smooth. Until I checked the tape. It has been a tradition to check the tape after the infamous Haji Lane blunder. There was a part where the audio wasn’t properly attuned so we had to re-shoot that. But everything else  was great. And also this is the day where I overspent the budget buying MacD for lunch for everyone!

Day 3 was the, second last day (duh!), and it was homely. We shot at Windermeere Penthouse, which belongs to my aunt. It was a fun day, and I let Arvind and Ain do some directing. We basically covered the most scene during the third day, as most scenes are at house. We had a time crisis went we were still shooting at 5, although the schedule said to end by 3. We ended up finishing at 7, but I learnt never to rush shooting as you will regret it later on. Take your time but be efficient.

Day 4, or the final day, was the only day where we had to travel. We first shot at school, Ngee Ann Polytechnic, and then on Fort Canning. I was worried that the travel time might take more than an hour but luckily, we arrived on schedule. This was the only day that Arvind was required to act and boy, did he conjure up a few bloopers. And the final scene was just stunning. You can just feel the powerful emtion that was radiated out of Ivan. It was that moving that it even made Chris cried.

All in all, the 4 days were really well spent and enjoyable. It was tiring, we started early at 10 every day and ended sometimes quite late. But after seeing the product of those 4 days, I have to admit I love them.

Chapter 5: Truly For Your Eyes

Let’s look at the pictures that was taken throughout the entire journey!

Chriss Grosse, Sharon Seah & Ivan James smiling for camera @ Istana Park

Crew getting ready for dancing sequence @ Istana Park

Chris Grosse belting out a tune

Chris Grosse and Aslam setting up equipment @ Cathay

Live shoot going on @ Cathay

Aslam taking over camera for the high angle scene @ Bukit Batok

Nasi Lemak, the staple food prop

Live shooting for the “Melt the Girl’s Heart” scene @ Windemeere Penthouse

Director Ali (me!) instructing DOP Bruno

Ivan James

DOP Bruno, Director Ali (me) and Producer Arvind

Many thanks to Nurul Ain and Jeremy Liu for the photos!

Epilogue

As I’m writing this, the film is ready and has been edited. It took me a couple of weeks to edit, plus I had to record the voice overs and music.

I will upload the trailer soon, although I do not think I will be uploading the film unless more than a hundred people wants to see it.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank a few people who had been instrumental in this film, directly or non directly.

Thank you Mdm Maziyan for the equipments! Thank you Aunt Aini for borrowing your house! Thank you Ameer Hassaan and Serene Yap for the wonderful music! Thank you Sufyan, Ziqe and the people who came for the audition for trying out and those two for helping us in some ways. Thank you to all the cast and crew parents for allowing your children to be in this film and letting them shoot till late night. Thank you to my family for the understanding!

I hope you, whoever you are the reader, had enjoyed reading this as much as I have writing it. If you have any questions, feel free to get to me at asykari@gmail.com!

Regards,

Ali Akbar Asykari

Director/Writer/Producer of Sweet Times

Author and Owner of this blog