kenang-kenangan euforia

Here's the recollection of an euphoria.

On Sunday night I finally shot 'While You Were Eating', a short film that took one year in the making. Was it so monumental that it should take a year to complte? No, it was a relatively simple film, it's just that I was too bloody lazy to do something about it and has procrastinated for this long.

Much thanks to Mien Lor who gracefully accepted this job of producing the film, though I think she has some ulterior motives. Could it be that from here on I will be forever indebted to her; that I shall from here on obligingly serve as a scriptwriter, cinematographer, gaffer, best boy, runner, coffee lady, slave on whatever script that she throws at me. I doubt it, Mien is much nicer than that... and for that I bought her an Alice Walker book. "Much love and respect to you woman".

So, what the hell is 'While You Were Eating'... well, basically this idea was conceived almost 2 years ago. We shot it the other day with me as the writer and director. Prior to shooting it, I was nervous as hell. The clock was ticking, 10 hours to call time and everything seems to be going on smoothly... too smoothly if I must say. Alarm bells are ringing already, I've never experienced such a smooth pre production period before. On top of that, I've not directed a film for a year already... biting finger nails. And to add the cherry to the icing, I realized that 3 out of my 4 actors are involved or was involved in the film industry... biting fingers.

But then, when we finally rolled the cameras, my concerns proved to be unfounded. For the first time, it was actually true when it was too good to be true. Throughout the entire shoot, we had no problems with equipment; me and the cinematographer worked like clockwork; the entire crew had no problems at all; my actors, whom met each other 30 minutes before we rolled the camera had perfect chemistry; and most importantly, no one threw any dramatic fits... not even me, believe it or not.

The best bit was, I have to say that everyone on set had fun... This is one of those shoots where everyone would break out laughing when i call 'cut!'. However, this could have been due to the abundant supply of red wine. One of the scenes went like this...

me: for this scene, I need you to bottom the glass of wine
jon: no problems....
me: action!
me: cut!
later....
me: take 4, action!
me: cut!

... and that was only one lil scene, pretty much every scene involves drinking. So, I reckon the wine probably did its magic on set.

Ahhh... what more can I say (I can almost hear you, the reader, say... 'no more, no more'). I just want to extend all my love to my actors, anis, hannim, jon, and kenneth; my producer, mien; cinematographer, albert; and my trusty production assistant, koma. Without ya'll I'll just have to go look for someone else to do this... but someone else would probably not have rocked as much as you people.

It was 3 AM when we wrapped the shoot. Usually, when it is 3 AM I would be sleepy as hell (especially after a shoot), but I can't help but to have this grin on my face that was impossible to wipe off. Thanks guys, I love you all.



watch out for my new short film 'While You Were Eating' at a space near you. and I mean 'watch out' in a sense as in it may suddenly pounce on you.