I'm itching...

Man this picture sure brings back memories... I want to do another one!! Better one!!

LET'S MAKE A MOVIE!!

Sold Out (HUGE 2006) Vlogs

Thanks to Google Video Uploader, I could upload my videos with ease, even with lousy connection.

I was given the privilege to do a documentary for Youth Alive Malaysia on HUGE camp 2006. Apart from that, my team and I had to come up with a video, for EVERY SESSION, of highlights of the day, interviews & announcements. Though tiring & stressful (sleeping at 4am, editting videos while everyone was relaxing), it was a lot of fun. Got to know a lot of people that I would otherwise not know if I don't have a video camera, expanded my horizons & enhanced my skills.

The greatest lesson I learn from all of that is that NOTHING BEATS THESE EYES WE HAVE. No matter how high quality your camera is, the best medium of sight is your very own eyes.

SOLD OUT Vlog #1
SOLD OUT Vlog #2
SOLD OUT Vlog #3
SOLD OUT Vlog #4
SOLD OUT Vlog #5

You should be aware that these videos are custom-made for big crowds. So if you're watching alone & ain't laughing out loud, these videos might seem boring to you =)

I must thank Youth Alive Malaysia for providing me with this opportunity. I hope I can return that trust with a very good documentary. Not forgetting Jason, Caleb, & Joseph, who helped out with the videos. It was fun, I hope we can do it again.

Now You Can Watch The Movie

Dear friends,

The movie, Where There's Will, There's Wei, is now up on google videos. I've split the movie into 4 parts and here are the links:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

If you want to let your friends watch the movie, you'll have to pass them these links, as these videos would not appear on the video search. Also, these videos are not downloadable. And finally, please be informed that the movie would only be up till the end of June, and would be removed from the internet right after that period.

Hope you enjoy the movie. Ratings and comments are much valued.

The Announcement.

Video Link Here.

We made this video right after our first youth service. Everyone was in position, but we had no idea what we should do or say. So this is what we came up with.

Recent Reflections

Writing a brief for MalaysianLah & also for the remake of Where There's Will, There's Wei isn't easy, but it's good. Putting down the 'what's it all about's would be extremely helpful, considering the amount of time & energy I would invest in my passion for movie-making & video blogging - things I'm quitting my job to focus on.

Of course I understand the spontaneity of it all, how there isn't always a need for righteous justification of our actions or behaviour - we laugh, because it's funny; we cry, because we feel the pain. There isn't always another explanation for our modes of expression apart from 'it feels right', 'it's so fun', or 'because that's the only way I know how'. Michael Jordan didn't have to write a thesis on how a flying basketball player could bring about exhiliration & thrill to those who witnessed his flight - he just flew, and he took our breaths away.

You know that feeling, I'm sure. You felt it before - when you heard the piano solo, then the drum roll accompanied with strings, leading to the chorus of David Tao's Who Do You Love; or when Boyz II Men sang the chorus of End Of The Road acapella... it sounded awesome, it felt right. Some of us we even knew what was coming despite hearing it for the first time, and it felt like we were connected the writers & arrangers of the song. Even though we were not part of the production team, we felt like we're part of that music-loving community. Then some of us start to feel disastified just being part of the audience - and it has come to that point for me in movie-making (actually I feel very strongly about music too, I'm just not convinced that I'm good enough).

But feelings can be all so fragile, spontaneity can be put off in an instance. That's where the writings come in for me. I don't want to be without a direction and purpose more than the "feel good" factor. I've seen too many people merely surviving. I don't want to be that ship, wandering aimlessly on that big bad ocean, going nowhere at all, getting battered & bruised for nothing at all, going for repairs just to carry on... frustrations have to at least be standing in the way of something worth persevering for.

(To be continued)

Day 6 Part 1

Part 1 of Day 6 was pretty much uneventful. The scene done was apretty short scene, so there was little error. The difficult part was actually waking up that day, as Day 5 ended pretty late. But we managed to arrive in Brian's house before Anna (the sister) woke up =) The Ong family has been very generous in letting us invade their time & space. They opened their home & we are extremely grateful.



The scene took us back to the school again. We actually were ahead of the schedule & had extra time for breakfast!! Naturally we also fooled around with the camera. The following video includes us having fun in our free time & the bloopers from Day 6 Part 2.Enjoy!!

Day 5

Day 5 began at 9.30pm. And I believe it was just an hour ago before we informed Chi Wing that he would be play the part of Will's tuition student. Chi Wing took it on his stride (he's cool like that) & he performed well on his first acting role with us. The only problem we had with him was that he was unable to act scared - because he would look too cute.


An hour later, the 2 leading actors, Caleb, & myself arrive at Kepong KTM for scene 11. I initially had doubts about the location, but once I look through the video camera LCD, it felt right. The street lights, the night view, the narrow path & the entire surrounding set the atmosphere.

Scene 11 was the most difficult to write. I took almost 2 weeks to think through it, and with May's help, I managed to complete the script just a day before we shot it. So it's understandable that the actors took a while to memorize the script.

Because the KTM was still operating at the time, there were people passing by & we had to stop from time to time. There was this passerby who made our day that night. We were getting ready to shoot when he asked "Can I pass?" and then as he walk by he wished us all the best. And that was really neat.

We headed back to my house for recharging (energy & camera battery) and a change of clothing. We took longer-than-planned to get out of the house because I wasn't sure of which location to use. In the end we just settled for the abandon shoplots behind my house. It turned out alright, but as I looked at the footages again I realised that there was a spot that had a better background colour (yellow wall) & probably even better lighting...

Doing 2 difficult scenes in 1 night is no easy task, let alone a bunch of amatuers like us. Thankfully the mistakes made were funny enough (blooopers!!) to distract us from the fact that the time was almost 1am. Day 5 was about being spontaneous & flexible, being able to just go with the flow, enjoy the moment & enjoy the results of it. I suppose that's one of the beauties in movie making. I'm thankful for a bunch of friends that has made this journey so enjoyable. Hope everyone involved enjoyed the ride as much as I did.

Read Day 4 here.

Day 4

Day 4 was a Wednesday evening... Initially, these scenes were suppose to be taken on a Sunday afternoon, December 9th. Unfortunately Alina slept in (she forgot about the whole thing), hence the re-scheduling. She was very apologetic about it, and she promised to make it for the next one. With our weekends all taken, I had to use a weekday, and was pleased that both Alina & Jason made it.

So we met in church at 6.30pm. May bought food for everyone, so we decided to eat first, lest we get distracted by hunger. Again, the conversation was enjoyable, so much so I forgot that we were suppose to be shooting 4 scenes within an hour.

These 4 scenes are gists of an interview between Alina & this new young author, Tang Wei Ken, who have just written the book - Where There's Will, There's Wei - which is the title of our movie. These scenes serve mainly as guides to the story of Will & Wei, and to some they're like breathers in the movie. In fact, our movie starts off with Alina introducing the book & its author.

Jason & Alina had a lot of fun doing these scenes. We used the white screen as our backdrop, and since there was only 1 white screen(and 1 camera), we had to do every scene twice. Either of them memorized the script, so they had to keep on checking their lines. Alina was first up, so she made a lot of mistakes & Jason kept laughing at her (blooper video).

There's this likelihood that we won't use these scenes in our remake of the movie. Personally I would want to let the story speak for itself. Would love to put in more scenes, and that does not necessarily mean more dialogue...

Alina is one of our best actresses. But even though I always consider her in every project of mine, I only recall working with Alina once before. The title of the play was Retune, and it's demand was extremely good. We performed in 3 times, I think, one of it we did for 600 people, and they clapped after every scene. But that's another story... It was rather 'last-minute' when I smsed her & requested that she played the role, so I'm grateful that she accepted the job...

Day 3

I've finally completed my post on Christmas... Feels a bit messy around here, because right now I'm going to write about something that happened 2 weeks before Christmas. And I plan the next post to be about the last weekend of the year... And then I'll continue to be writing about the movie... If you do get confused, just click on the labels at the sidebar. Oh, there're video links there too. Hope you'd enjoy and get a taste of the movie making process...

Day 3 didn't start off well for me. There was this scene which we were extremely excited about. It would be the perfect beginning to the story of Will & Wei. It would depict the young William & Wei Ken and how they faired in kindergarten - the beginning from their friendship. It was suppose to serve as a great indicator of their relationship.

But it was not to be, for us. One of the child actors backed off & refused to take part in the shooting. Furthermore, the noise in that place was not suitable for shooting at all - bad management on my part. It was really hard to chew. I remembered the time where the initial planning group actually talked about this scene & how their faces lit up... It was suppose to be awesome. I wonder if they would be as frustrated as I was if they had to face it head on.

For the next hour or so I was absolutely blank. Everything just stopped. I felt disappointed. I wanted to just go home & sleep, but I had to get myself together quickly - we had another scene to take & I was suppose to preach in youth service the very same day. I couldn't pick myself up in time, so I had to ask Jason to help me coordinate the shoot. He agreed to help without asking any questions, and that really comforted me. The scene was well done, thanks to Jason & the participation of the youth. I would then proceed later to preach about how life can be frustrating, and how easy it is to just throw in the towel & give up doing the things that are right, true, just, and necessary. I talked about how amazing it is, that in spite of all the pain, the passion of Jesus took Him to the cross & how that perseverance has given us so many good things. 2 of those things I was exceptionally thankful that day were HOPE & FAMILY.

Day 2 Part 3

Third installment of the longest day in our shooting schedule.

This part is one of the longest scenes we have. It's a bit too long for me, but it could be just me. After all, it was quite late when we ended the shooting, & I spent a lot of time editting, so... Anyway, this scene is one of the most important scenes, as it conveys several things about our 2 main characters. Knowing that it might get draggy & long, I tried to put as many comic-relief moments as possible, but it didn't turn out the way I imagined it to be.

First, it showed the aftermath of Wei Ken's intervention in Will's trouble with the coffee shop boss - Did Will keep his job? Or did Wei Ken make matters worse? Secondly, we wanted to tell the audience the dreams and aspirations of the 2 childhood friends. And lastly, we lightly introduced the role of the leading lady of the story, Jean.

and I think Brian did quite a good job in doing that. What do you say?

In the script it was specifically stated "smile like an idiot". I recall the audience having a good laugh at this.

In spite of the long day & the time, we still managed to have fun and enjoy ourselves. All thanks to Brian & Jason. Check out the blooper and you'll know what I mean.

Read Day 2 Part 2 here.

Day 2 Part 2

Second installment of the longest day in our shooting schedule.

After getting Brian & Jason wet (find out more here), we headed to Brian's house, where we'll shoot the coffee shop scenes. This part is actually a continuation of the singing scene, where Will does a lot of damage with his singing, and of course pisses off the boss.

I don't know if anyone noticed, but there's a glitch here. You see, Jean was suppose to be see in the previous scene, following her angry mom (the boss) into the kitchen. But because we shot that scene at a different location and on Day 3, Jean did not bring the clothes she wore for this scene, so she couldn't be involve. Did anyone who watched the show notice that? Hehe...

Anyway, here's how the story goes. The boss gets angry at Brian, rushes into the kitchen, where the other 2 colleagues (played by Caleb & Daniel) were resting. Jean tries to comfort her mom, as Brian pleas for a second chance. The next picture is suppose to depict 3 faces terrified by the boss' anger, but I think it doesn't do justice to their great acting. Sorry guys.

We wasted quite some time here. We actually shot the scene in Brian's house kitchen, but it was only until May and I saw a nicer spot in the dining room area did we decide to reshoot the scene. That spot was bigger, the background was nicer, & we could actually do a bird's eye view on the scene (you'll have to see the movie to catch that). Good thing the actors were cool with that. Now back to the story.

So Wei Ken comes in, & tries to be the hero - the right man in the right place at the right time. He tries to save Wei Ken's career. And as you can see, he went quite a great length to do so... Do you think he'll succeed?

See? The background colour nice right? The black & white effect was used in the movie. Click on the picture to see the blooper.

Read Day 2 Part 1 here.

Voice Dubbing Gone Wrong

As the original had too much noice (captured at a parking lot), we tried to do some voice dubbing. Initially there was a suggestion that we should dub everything, but after this attempt, I think we'll just work on capturing voices at the shooting itself. In the end, we went with the original video, which wasn't that bad after all...

Yesterday night was the special screening of the movie Where There's Will, There's Wei, and we received a lot of feedback, both positive & negative ones. And since now the movie is over, I'll focus more on making the bloopers & blogging about my first movie... Cheers, everyone. Happy New Year, enjoy the movie.

You can also view the video here.