16 Week Films here we come!!!

Whew! All the films have finally been shot and we're now moving into the editing process. I got to play a dead guy in Sam's movie. It wasn't too bad, just had to drink and spit out some fake blood. Since we used golden syrup to make it, it's INSANELY SWEET. I had to wash my mouth quite a bit in order to fully take the taste off.

Everything went fine other than the fact that the group I'm in just drinks a lot. Other than me and Evan, the rest tend to drink excessively. Nothing wrong if you're partying, but not when there's a shoot going on the next day. I had to admit I was a bit upset when some turned up half drunk and hungover at my shoot. Somehow, I get the feeling that not everyone here is serious about their studies.

But nonetheless, I should just put those feelings to one side and focus on the next step. Post-production of the 8 week films and preparation for the 16 week films. Now we get more indepth into character building and plot analysis. We're supposed to have 3 ideas for our 16 week films and I'm thinking of doing a comedy, mystery, or documentary. Which one will work, time will only tell.

Ominous signs are when you're told - pretty soon you're going to be camping out 24 hours in the editing room - followed by evil cackling laughter. Those are the days, I guess.

The Haunted House

Yesterday we went around to Rob's place in Dulwich to shoot his 8 week project at an abandoned derelict building near his place. In theory it was a good idea, since I guess he figured that the best place to shoot a thriller/spook - themed film was in a place that *was* dark, foreboding, and scary. Hell, the place already looks scary in the day, much more at night. I'd had shots of the place if I was attentive enough to bring my camera along but no...so you'll have to make do with pictures of Rob for now. I should be able to get some pics off some of my other course mates later and stick them up here. Just imagine a place which has no roof, walls about to fall down, smells slightly of piss, strewn with discarded needles - something's wrong with this sentence structure but I can't be arsed to sort it right now, however constructive suggestions are welcome, old, rusted beer cans, and Director Wes Craven spray painted on the walls in blood-red paint and you should have some idea of what we were into over there. But without much further ado, here's Rob.



The gist of the film was a guy who's run into the house but has flashbacks of someone killing his wife. He's in the house to facilitate some heroin exchange - how's that for management speak? Facilitate, lol - but amid the said flashbacks, he sees, or he thinks he sees the ghost of his dead wife calling out to him. We have to note that the main character doesn't realize that he's done the dirty deed but it's thought by him to be someone else. Anyhow, it all ends with some delusion ala Identity the movie and with lots of blood and gore.

I thought it was really imaginative, and I'm quite sure I wouldn't have thought of a film like that. I'm more into touchy-feeley films at the moment. But it's good to be working with a diverse group of people, because I've picked up so many things from them already. Oh, and Dulwich sucks hell for mobile phone connections. I swear it's a mobile phone black hole where coverage is concerned. My phone was perpetually on the 'search' mode all the time for a proper connection.

Tomorrow we're going to shoot Johnny's film about a guy with an automobile fixation - it promises to be really good and funny.

To all others out there, happy chinese new year of the Oink!

8 week film project

I've just finished shooting my 8 week film project and it was a great experience. Of course I had to over complicate the matter by over worrying too much about the characters and stuff. Problem is that how much can you show of a character in 5 mins? How much of a message can you put into it? I think I got too bothered or worried after about how our character teacher told us to make 3 dimensional characters and that really got me quite frustrated, working and reworking the story.

But I guess this is the fallacy of an asian upbringing. We're taught to do things as the teachers want it to be. If you don't answer the question, you fail. In film, there is no right or wrong, just whether one likes or does not like the end product. We're told that so many times by our teachers here - most of whom are great teachers - but some push us, like me, into thinking too much about something simple. So I'm crossing my fingers that everything in my shots will turn out alright and that I'll have enough material to get my film done.

What I've always had in my head was that people in europe/america are so creative and less about asians because by nature we're seen as just machines slogging it away in the factories and sweatshops. I don't think that's true anymore, but I think it's because we've been so stuck into the pass/fail set answer system that we're not allowed to think outside of the box. I believe that we need to do that and screw anyone that says that's wrong simply because they can't or don't think about it as viable. Creativity should not be hindered in any way, even if it's passe or if someone's just "borrowing" someone's material as a jumping off point.

I liked the scene in 'Finding Forrester' where Sean Connery's character allowed the kid in the film - I can't remember the actor's name anymore - to use his material to start off. Every story's been told already, it's just how we choose to retell it with our own twist included.

The irony of being in a Film School. There's so much work and assignments that I haven't even had time to actually go to a cinema and see a film - a fact so far that's lamented by all of us. But no matter, I'm sure the chance will come eventually. One film I'm definitely going to see when it's released is the last part of Pirates of the Caribbean if only for Chow Yuen Fatt's character.

Church-wise, I'm been popping down to Hillsongs London which is located next to my school in the center of London and it's been great everytime I've managed to get time off film shoots to attend the services. They have this great projection screen which shows clips and pictures when praise and worship songs are sung and sadly, I sometime find myself trying to figure out how they did some of their shots than on the praise and worship itself. But on the plus side, it's given me lots of great ideas as well to try and implement in some of my films later on,

Now all that's left to do is edit my rushes - ie. shot footage - next week and prepare 3 plot lines/stories for my 16 week project. This'll be my first dialogue piece and I'm hoping everything will fall into place.

No Internet Access

I've been stuck in London for a little over a month doing this film course. When they said intensive, I think they very well meant it. It's no joke being on the go non-stop, but on the other side, it's given me a goal and a sense of satisfaction of doing something I love to do.

Sometimes I feel upset if the finished product - AKA - the film isn't what I expected in terms of shot quality, but the learning curve is so steep so I have to be careful not to lose myself in it. Internet is sporadic at best and although I see The Burning Crusade out here, I've no desire to lose myself in that world again.

First thing you realize when making your first scenes. Film is EXPENSIVE ><. Which is probably why I'm rooting for all the digital makers to get up to speed ASAP as the cost of shooting digital as opposed to film is less than 1%. Besides, being asian and in the middle of tech-land, digital probably will be my medium of choice because what you see is what you get.

I'm still in the works of getting my internet access and hope that it'll be sorted soon.

Oh, and London sucks ass because it's just so friggin' expensive.