Lights, Camera, Action!

One of our posters for “2359” is up! We’re still in the process of creating more posters and maybe a trailer or two to further make known our film!

This was done by Aung. Good job!

-Sakinah (:

Editting of “2359” is done! Infact, it was completed by 31st December last year. (last year sounds so long ago!) I have seen the final cut and I am very satisfied with the final product. The music compliments the visuals well and the film do make my hair stand.

There are many areas though, that can still be improved.

1. Video quality

Lighting can be used during production in order to achieve a better video quality. Experimenting with lighting around the set helps to determine the best lighting without affecting the high quality of the video.

2. Audio

Equipments should be checked carefully right after loaning to ensure its in good condition. For “2359”, the audio was slightly soft during the process of recording.

3. Camera angles

As commented by my T204 Production Practicum, facilitator, Amran. What he said was definitely true. Exploring much more camera angles would have made the film much more interesting for viewers, instead of the same angles which could make the film draggy.

4. Starting credits

He also commented on the title, being rather confusing for viewers who might misinterpret our film. Also, the font and animation used for it. It was rather futuristic and using a simple yet warm-coloured font would have complimented the film well.

Overall, I love the final product! Everything has its faults and flaws, and this film definitely could have been done better. The feedbacks will be looked into and taken into consideration for the next projects. For now, I shall focus on editting “Obsession”. The completion of “2359” makes me so eager to start editting!

- Sakinah (:

As the title suggests, “Cottoncandy” has been renamed! We had another meeting today to transfer all the videos and also discuss the plans for editting. “2359” suggests about the sequence of events in the film which happens before midnight, and the climax, when midnight strikes. We decided that “Cottoncandy” might sound a more like a chick flick or romantic movies. However we are trying to portray romance, but in a mysterious and thrilling way, thus the renaming of the film title.

Besides discussing plans for editting and renaming, we also did our foleys and sound design today. Can’t wait to see the end product!

I think the experience for this film is really good. I’ve learnt a lot about effects and how green screen is being put to use. I do admit using green screen is tough for the actor/actresses to just use their imaignation to act without any background, which seemed kind of weird. And for that, I have to express my gratitude to my wonderful actror and actresses; Moe, Linn, Atiqah, and Katini.

Being an assistant director, I had to work closely with the director during the production in order to achieve the picture he had in mind. Mostly, I assisted the actor and actresses in their portrayal of characters. Since there were minimal dialogue, I had to focus more on facial expression and body language. I have to be able to also act the actions out and I truly enjoyed it! Acting has always been fun and putting character into the cast is really a great experience. I can’t wait to direct more films!

This film wouldn’t have been possible with the help of the other crew of this production (SIXTH SENSE PRODUCTIONS!) - Aung, Katini, Mas and Poy. Thank you all!

- Sakinah (:

Day 2 of filming is here. Today we made use of my residence for the home shots. We had a very big challenge today. We were supposed to be filming night scenes, and there were, shooting in broad daylight. Thanks to the brilliant crew I have, we did succeeded in creating a night mood with the lighting and reflectors!

We then proceeded to film outdoor scenes nearby for the accident screen. You heard it right, ACCIDENT. So yes, we had green screen again!

We had another problem today. Our main subject of the film. COTTONCANDY! We didn’t manage to find it anywhere. So we had to do production design on the go!

The recipe:

1. Cotton

2. Pink paint

3. Water

4. Straw

5. Lots and lots and lots of UHU glue

Steps:

Lay out cotton, fluff it up, sprinkle pink paint with water onto it, and put together with glue. Garnish with a straw. Best served but not eaten.

Alright! So yes, we did manage to do up not one, but two cotton candies! It’s also good that we created it instead of bought it. We were required to drop it several times for the film.

So we ended the day with the last scene of bedroom, which was rather emotional. It touched my heart, and I certainly do hope it does, to other’s.

And with that, we have officially completed our filming for “Cottoncandy”!

- Sakinah (:

After discussion yesterday, we had a short trip recceing around locations we needed for the film. We also tested some shots as a start.

We started filming earlier today in school. We needed an office atmosphere and thanks to the library, we found one. A problem arose. The audio wasn’t working, again! We had to find a solution, and we had to find it fast! Then I remembered, we can actually make use of the handycam! So we recorded all of our audio for that fateful day using a handycam. Post-production will always do the trick ;)

We get to put in our production design skills into the scenes for today! First was the office scene. Then later in the evening, the restaurant scene. It was fun designing the set. Filming is already a very fun experience (:

Didn’t have much problems today, except for the audio. Everything went pretty smoothly, and unlike Obsession, we get more costume and makeup today because of the visible age difference of the character and the actor. It was a challenge for us. But we did well!

We did things a lot differently for this production. Since we have the special effects, we have the GREEN SCREEN! A homemade screen (:

The day ended with 4 scenes completed!

- Sakinah (: