As compared
to my past short film productions, the easiest thing in making this is getting
the participation of the wonderful cast and crew that I wanted to work with.
They had no hesitation in being part of this production. I am grateful that
they believed in my story and me. Without their contributions, the story will
never be what it is today. It has been such a joy working with them. I think,
once people understand what you represent, your style and type of stories you
write, and they like it, they will be very willing to be part of your
production.
There are 4
main ‘filming styles’ that I wanted to emulate in the story – Korean,
Bollywood, French and Malay TV Drama. So the most challenging part in this
production is to make each scene unique and distinct from the other as well as
believable to those familiar with these styles. I identified several elements
that are required to work well together to achieve this - wardrobe, dialogue
and location.
It took the
art department and make-up artist 1-2 months to research for the right look,
outfit and location for each scene. The make-up artist started watching
bollywood movies and got hooked to the stories. Hehehe. It is tough for the art
department because without a studio set, it is difficult to find a public place
that does not look like Singapore. Try as we
might, there are some scenes that showed SBS buses in the background even
though it was supposed to be a Korean scene. We did enjoy spraying fake snow on
the actors.
The other greatest
challenge is to create the fake yet believable accents, especially the Korean
one. Truthfully, I did not know what I wanted. I only told the actors that I
wanted something close to the original language as possible. All the dialogues
were in English so they had to suggest something to me. Thankfully, the actors
deeply researched on the linguistic intonations and how words are spoken in
each language and the ideas they gave were amazing! The accents sounded
familiar yet the foundation is basically made up of English words. Instead of
them following the script, I had to closely study what the actors are saying in
post production and while making the subtitles! Our script rehearsal sessions
at Dhoby Gaut were definitely memorable.
This idea
of cultural and language fusion also allowed us to be creative and compose an
OST.
Featuring local musicians, it was fun to make and certainly an experience to
compose a song that has a mix of Malay and English lyrics.
Do you look at "love" differently
after the completion of the film? How so?
My
perception on love has always been the same. I also accept that people have different
understanding of love and their experiences on love are also different. There
are also many elements and circumstances that can affect love. Today, one can
be ready to accept love but tomorrow he/she will not be willing to fall in
love.
What do you hope viewers take away after the
end credits roll? Why do you think this short film is worthy of more people’s
attention?
I want the
audience to enjoy the story. Hopefully, they can find laughter in the different
styles shown in the short film and feel nostalgic. At the same time, falling in
love is not easy. We need to constantly discover ourselves and sacrifices, no
matter how small they are, might be made. Also, the decisions we make in any
circumstances will form our life story.
I feel that
my short film is unique because it has never been told in this way before (4
filming styles). Also, it is a story that Singaporeans can relate to. It is
light-hearted and enjoyable yet it also touches on serious issues like a
person’s mental well being, journey of self discovery and topics relating to
love.
Do you foresee yourself making more films
about "love"? What’s next in your filmmaking journey?
Yes! As I mentioned
before, there are many different types of love. There are many stories that can
be told about love. Together with love, there is also hope and sadness. I
prefer this to, say, horror movies or stories about angst because I want my
stories to inspire people. I also love underdog stories.
At the moment, nothing is
concrete but I would love to continue making stories that can inspire people,
be it short films or features. I really hope that my journey will bring me to
meet more creative people and those who share the same passion as me. I want to
make more friends. I want to learn from those who have vast experience in this
line so I can improve and continue to work with those who believe in my story
and me.
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