Over the May Day weekend two weeks ago, the Singapore Malay Film Society (SMFS) took part in the second 48 Hour Film Project held in our sunny island Singapore. We sent in two teams, Al-Bajet led by Suffian and MatD led by Isnor. Prior to the competition, we had a hard time splitting the already scarce manpower into two teams, but we had to. So here I am, blogging to you about my experience being part of Al-Bajet.
DAY 1
1900 hours
Tisch Asia School of the Arts – Kick Off Event
Shahril was kind enough to drive Suffian, Linda and myself to Tisch, which to my surprise, located at some isolated part of Singapore. Looking back, Tisch is far more inaccessible than NTU. I wonder why the organisers decided to make Tisch their headquarters. So upon reaching Tisch, we registered, paid the registration fee and waited anxiously for the organisers to release the competition details. Each team was required to draw the genre for their short film, and all teams are to use the given character, prop and line of dialogue in the most creative manner possible.
The team insisted I picked the genre though Linda is the one with the magic fingers. I picked a piece of paper from Mike’s (the organiser) cap and read the genre written. You can imagine how surprised I was when it read ‘Detective/Cop’. I was expecting a simpler genre like drama or comedy.
So basically, we were given the following details to craft our short film:
Genre: Detective/Cop
Prop: Scissors
Character: Amy/Andy Yeo, Journalist
Line of Dialogue: Is it supposed to look like that?
Then came the journey to look for an inspiration…
These, my friends, are the faces of thinkers like Leonardo Da Vinci.
2100 hours
Golden Landmark Hotel and Shopping Centre, ModKebaya
We proceeded to Rezza’s dad’s office to discuss our film at Golden Landmark Hotel. It was getting late and we were sort of stuck when it came to finding an inspiration. Then out of the blue, Linda said that till today, life’s greatest mystery has yet to be solved…
Who stole the cookie from the cookie jar?
We are all familiar with this nursery rhyme, especially those who grew up with Barney. And thus, we decided to let our story evolve around cookies. More on that later.
Discussing the plot and story.
DAY 2
0130 hours
The Comfort of My Bedroom
Upon reaching home, I did the script. After a can of Redbull and a cup of Vietnamese coffee, I finished the script at 4.30 am. I went to bed just when my mum woke up for Subuh. Nice.
0900 hours
My House
The cast and crew dropped by my lovely home for rehearsal as well as to survey the location for filming later at night. We met some new faces; Dayang, Kelly, Ilyas and Jas who made up our cast. Shaffira made a cameo appearance in our film as well.
After a few rehearsals and a brief briefing by our Director, Suffian, we headed to a multi storey carpark to shoot our first scene.
Rehearsing at my house.
Feeling-feeling make up artist!
1200 hours
Tampines Street 72 Carpark
So we shot the first scene, and I must say this is the first time I was working with other people for a film. My previous projects have been pretty much individual ones so working with others was quite an experience. Rezza and Suffian may not have the same style as myself, but when we combine ideas, it works perfectly.
Rezza playing around with the angles that work best.
DIY dolly track courtesy of Suffian’s brother in law!
Dayang’s piercing scream!
Ignore the minah sitting like an apek, the focus is on the sound man!
Linda and I having fun with the dolly track. Heh.
1700 hours
Badoque Restaurant, Simpang Bedok
We spent a tad too much time at the carpark, but we still managed to shoot at the coolest hang out place ever, Badoque! It was not packed and the staff were really helpful and friendly. They made sure we had everything we need so that shooting would on smoothly.
Bird’s eye view of how the place was set up.
Rezza doing his thing – being the Director of Photography!
Rehearsing before the first take.
Suffian as director!
2130 hours
Back at my place
Finally, we went back to my place, or HQ, for the final scene – probably the scariest and most suspenseful scene ever. We had fun shooting till 3am on Sunday morning, as well as the rain that made my house sound haunted according to Linda. Oh and the dolly track came for a visit as well!
This is what happens when your talents have too much talent and too little sleep – Ponyo Ponyo dance.
DOLLY DOLLY DOLLY!!!! I’m in love with that track!
FULL FORCE! From left – Me, Keynah, Kelly, Linda, Lina, Shaffira, Rezza, Ilyas, Jas and Suffian!
DAY 3
2033 hours
Tisch Asia School of the Arts
Yups, we submitted the film 3 minutes late. But fret not, there’s always a silver lining somewhere. Hence, I present to you, the trailer of ALIAS | ILYAS.
