PreProduction AFP 2

Pre-production, there is  a lot of issues happening such as last minute location reccee, communication breakdown and there is  so much thing rush because we have only like two weeks to prepare whereas other groups have like a month to prepare for their production. I still find that the story is week and is like the main focus of the story is the fighting scene which is the warehouse. Even though there is a lot of parts being cut off or removed because it still feels that is there for the sake of being there not for the story sake.  In fact I was rather pleased with the location they got for the warehouse scene because it is visually appealing with the items in the background and I feel that I should have come down and went to the place with them but they went down and search for warehouse last minute because they are too dependent on someone to provide with the location. I told them and keep asking them for location reccee and the days which I was free because there are days for me that I needed to work in order to pay for the production cost.

 

Production AFP2

During production there is a lot of things happen such as people who are supposed to be on set are not be on set such as the sound man. He did not prepare his equipments and everyone has to wait for him and he will take his own sweet time to prepare where everyone is ready to roll. Another thing that irritates me the most is the part where Sunny Pang goes for a break and the director went along together where the camera crew is ready to roll. They like to take breaks here and there and the production day one is kinda slow. For me when I am on set, I will have the visuals in my head on how is it going to look like and the movement but there is still room for improvements and as adviced on set try to find and explore different angles and not to stick to a normal and simple angles. This is what I learnt, pay attention to the small details because that is when you are a good DP.

 

Pre Production AFP 1

During the pre-production period, I was assigned to do Assistant Camera but during this period I had nothing much to prepare. But I helped the DP in some other ways. Me and the DP went down for location reccee at toa payoh. So we looked for old playground to suit the script which the Director wrote it and it was tough to find an old, classic playground. The annoying thing is that all we can find is the new and well-refurbished playground. We could not find the playground and we were told by the residents of Toa Payoh that there is an old playground along the area that we are walking. When we reach we found exactly what we want. But there is another problem for the sound department as the location of the playground was located just beside a busy road. We managed to talk with the sound department that there is not much dialogue for that scene so we are allowed to use that location. The problem we faced is that we are given a short amount of time to prepare, find location, actors. So is kind of challenging for us to prepare all of this in a short amount of time. But it is part of learning as in the real life of production, the team need to present everything to the executive producers anytime they want because they are the “big shot”. The ones who pumped in the money and here we are trained to do that. Other than doing location reccee, I am in-charge of the equipments and logistics side.

 

Production AFP 1

Production period there is a lot of things happened, communication issues and teamwork issues. The problem as a whole group face is that there is no leader in the group to step up and keep pushing the whole group. There is no producer on set as you would have known and there is a lot of miscommunication. What did I do was I tried to keep the fire burning, when the film started rolling, I keep pushing everyone, what shot is next, what shot is next. So my job is also as the key grip ensuring that the grips is always on their feet to prepare for the next shot. That is how a production should work. But there is some people who makes use of people who came down to help for the production thinking that there is no work to be done all he can do was just watch at us doing and setting up of lights, loading and unloading of equipments. He was supposed to decorate the set but didn’t at all. I don’t even see a single prop from him. The mistakes that I’ve done in this production is the film, I should constantly checking the gate to ensure that there is film running. The mistake that I did was when the film runs out and I’m not sure whether they took that shot completely and the grips tears down that scene where I should have just told them to hold on and just do that shot again.

 

Planet Green

All of you might know that there has been advertisements, videos, campaign and many others about saving the world. The most recent video that Singapore has produce is Saving Gaia by Channel News Asia. But I want to ask you whether you know about this show and most of the answer is no. That is not a surprise for me. The government has done many ways to create awareness to the people about saving the world by not using plastic bags instead using recycled bags. But what i have been noticing is that people just do not care and they take this so lightly. They do not know what is really happening to the world. The good thing is that the government is not giving up even alot of people seem to not care about this. They will try their very best to convince the people how important in saving the world. I just hope that the people of Singapore will be aware of what is going to happen to the world if we do not start at this very moment.

 

Everything Is On The Rise

Everything is up, up, and up. Oil prices have went up, and even food prices have went up. Inflation is going to happen again if these prices is always on the rise. I understand if oil prices is on the rise as now it has become limited resources but i could not find any reason why food prices should go up. When this food prices goes up, families from the lower income group may find difficulties surviving. Last time Singaporeans used to flock to Malaysia to buy their groceries and to fill their cars with petrol before leaving Malaysia. But when the Prime Minister of Malaysia increased the oil prices, many of their people protested. The reason he used that Singapore is making use of the oil prices in Malaysia. But the thing is he never think what reactions will he get from his people when he increase the oil prices. But doing this it does not affect Singaporeans as oil prices in Singapore is expensive so we are used to it already. I hope that this will end soon.

 

Pedra Branca

We all know that Malaysia and Singapore have a dispute on who should own that lighthouse an two other small islands in that same area. But the results from the International Court of Justice or known as ICJ has made the decision that Singapore own Pedra Branca and one of the island belongs to Malaysia. But there is still another island which is still under consideration. For what i have know is that Singapore agrees to settle it with Malaysia in a peaceful way. The minister of foreign affairs in Singapore has said that this dispute of Pedra Branca will not affect the relationship between Singapore and Malaysia.

Actually, I think that these two countries should have settle the matter themselves or rather in a peaceful way without involving another party to help to solve the matter. It is just a small matter and they need to bring the matter all the way to the court just to know that who should own that islands. It is so ridiculous. But after the ICJ made their decision, I feel that the ICJ had made the right one so that they will be fair to both parties. And for the other island, I am glad that both countries are willing to settle themselves and also hope that this kind of small matter will not happen again. Both countries should learn how to communicate better thats all because both countries are lacking in communication.

 

Disaster Strikes

This never happens before. The same cyclone hits two countries. Shocking. This tragedy should have reach to you by now. Everyone in the world knows that a terrible disaster have strike two country which is China and Myanmar. The toll of death or missing has reached almost 40,000 and Myanmar has reached 100,000 and counting. When the neighbouring countries recieved the news that these countries has been strucked by a disaster, an urgent meeting was held by the ASEAN leaders. They discussed on how they can help in any ways. Most of the countries offered their helps in terms of money or medical aid. Singapore has collected money in many ways including in our school. Other than money, Singapore has decided to send their medical teams and rescue teams to these disaster areas. The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) has sent their DART teams to the affected area.

I am proud to be a Singaporean. When disaster strikes, singaporeans try to help in whatever ways they can to help this people who are affected in this disaster. There was once I was waiting for my friend near the toilet and there is this AXS machine where people used to pay their bills and fines. But this man did not do that. What he did was he went into this Red Cross portal which allows people to make their donations easier. But this man donated a huge sum of money without thinking. I hope that others will follow the foot steps of this man.

 

Pangea Day

Most of you guys are wondering what is Pangea day right? Basically in a world where people are often divided by borders, difference, and conflict, it’s easy to lose sight of what we all have in common. Pangea Day seeks to overcome that – to help people see themselves in others – through the power of film. During that period there is a broadcast of short film produced by film makers from all over the world. Their aim was to spread the love and peace too every corner of the world. This was a dream of a film maker,Jehane Noujaim who wished to change a world to a better place. Thousands and millions of people from all over the world supported this one day event and the outcome of it was tremendous.

I feel that it was a very successful event bringing people together from all over the world making them feel that they are one family. During that live broadcasting of short film, I was moved of what was happening at the other end of the world and I sympathize those people who do not have a proper living. The short film which moved me was kids in africa have interest in sports which was soccer. But they do not have money to buy a proper ball but they made used of other stuff. What they did was the buy condoms from the shop and blow it like a shape of a ball. Then they wrapped it with a cloth and got some strings and kept rolling it a few times. They keep repeating this process for a few times till they get a hard solid ball. So they played with it. Their determination to play soccer was so great that they will do anything just to get a ball so their dreams won’t go to waste. I hope that more of these movements will happen in the upcoming years.

 

Animal Abuse

Can the people in the world stop doing stupid things. I seriously do not know what is really in their mind. What makes me say like this was. I was surfing a video website in youtube and I came across this video. It is a video recorded by this man using his handphone on how they skinned animals ALIVE for their skins. As in the animal is breathing for air and fighting to live. Actually i can put the pictures here but some will not like it. Even myself. So these men will like keep them in a cage. When the time comes, they will tie the animals leg and let it lie on the floor. What they do is they take a bat and hit the animal till it cannot retaliate back. After that, they take a sharp knife and cut a small opening and they will rip the animal skin while the animal is alive. Ya rip it open like how you rip a christmas gift. Blood keep gushing out from the animal and the animal without skin will be thrown into a dunkster and let it die by itself.

I hope that politicians and leaders of the world will watch these video and stop them from doing these cruel thing. I did not say that they cannot hunt animal for their skin but do it in a proper way. At least kill them first before ripping their skins off. Not when they are alive.