And now... Presenting...
Abbdul Kather and Emoham as the nominees for the 'Best Essay Award'!!!
Do vote for your favorite nominees by clicking the 'like' icon in the Facebook link below
Abbdul Kather: http://www.facebook.com/notes/tzang-merwyn-tong/abbdul-kathers-reflections-of-a-dreammaker-best-essay-nominee/387107532524
Emoham: http://www.facebook.com/tzang#!/tzang?v=app_2347471856
Reflections By ABBDUL KATHER
Name : Abbdul Kather
Desired Credited Name: Abbdul Kather
1st Assistant Director
The first time the news regarding the proposal of a short-film is being made reached my ears; I was excitedly waiting to be part of it. I confidently knew the role I was going to undertake, as an assistant director which I know best. My experiences working on a featured-film gave me strong confidence that I can do this job with ease.
At first, things were quite wild for me as I didn’t know what was going on at the pre-pro department. When the dates go
t nearer to the shooting, things were going on the right pace for me. I had to be with Mr Tzang- the director of the film. On lay-man terms, I am the 2nd hard disk for the director. Tzang was very straight-forward in the initial stage that he clearly wanted to concentrate on the shots and with the actors. As an A.D, I had to make sure the talents came for rehearsals on time and the items they need to bring are checked and finalized for the rehearsals. In this moment, with my honest intentions, I would like to thank Tina A.K.A Swee Lin who was a tremendous helping hand for me. She actually helped me with the calling and arrangement of time. Thank you very much Tina.I had to make sure everybody received the schedule for the 6-day shoot. The art-department was actually at snail’s pace at the start but things got fired up during the last 2 days. They erected a beautiful set for Gabriel’s office. I helped the pre-pro department to get some stuff for the shoot and we were doing some last minute shopping at Little India and Mustafa Centre. The last day arrived before the cameras started rolling and everything was just in place. My instincts told me things will not be right during shootings but I was ready to fix anything that fell out of place.
I worked under Tzang himself and I had to say that he is a damn cool guy. From the first day I saw him in school, he had this very good vibrating energy in him which attracted a lot of people towards him. Class B even wrote a petition to the section head when they found out he was not going to teach them anymore. That is the kind of attachment he has with people. I read his script and he has full control with the command of the English language. I liked the way he wrote his dialogues and the creative mind he had for the creation of V1K1 world. I would say he is a kind of a spiritual being too. He always welcomed good ideas. I never saw him saying ‘No’ when someone proposed to him any idea. He can work with actors. The ability to transform his thoughts and convey the idea to the artist has got him some good acting shots in V1K1. The one thing I loved most was the patience he had. I will not say he was quiet all the time. He will rush people when things are getting slow but not in a loud or grumpy manner. He will say it in a clear and subtle tone. Once a while, when the crew is getting tired he will boost them with words of encouragement. I would to like seek an apology from him because there was a day where he had to raise his voice when the crew was making a lot of noise when moving the props from the roof-top. I am sorry I did not control that situation. That was the only time I heard him raise his voice. The other days, he was cool like a breeze and getting exactly what he wanted.
I didn’t receive any scolding from anybody throughout the whole period of shooting V1K1. There were times when I sensed Tzang was unhappy with me. I don’t know if I am wrong but I felt it during shoots when I was not there when he called out for me because I will be handling some stuff outside. I was very late during the one of the days when we had rehearsals, but Tzang explained to me clearly I had to be there with him all the time to aid him in whatever he needs. I took that seriously and I hope I maintained that throughout the whole shooting experience.
Pre-planning, Teamwork and Execution of a product you want to achieve. The bold words are what I took back after the shooting of V1K1. I felt they were like triplets and had to depend on each other. Your pre-planning is very important for any projects you undertake. I had to say the Pre-Pro department did an excellent job of planning it properly. You cannot do everything on your own and that is where a team is worked to help you get what you want. You have to build a strong bond with your team so that the boat will be strong if you have to go through huge waves. There is no point of having done a wonderful pre-plan and combined a good team when you don’t know how to execute your shots. Storyboarding was really helpful and that is one of the things I admire of Tzang, the ability to draw his visions. Sometimes I don’t know understand his drawings but nevertheless it was really helpful on set.
I would like to thank God and am proud of myself for getting the blinking LED lights for the lead characters. It gave life to the whole project. I am not really an electronics guy but with the help and advice of some of my colleagues, I was able to land myself at Sim Lim Tower to get the device ready. This is one of the things Tzang was very happy with me. Well, that is where you prove if you are a good A.D or not.
Firstly, I work like to thank my wonderful 2nd A.D Deva for helping and covering during the times and days I was not around. I wanted him to learn as much as I have learnt. I hope this has helped him and able to put in front what he has learnt when he works on his future projects. He was very good and had this ongoing adrenaline rush going on to learn more. Secondly, I would like to thank Tina again for helping me with the calling and arrangements with the actors and crew. She was really stressed during the shoots and I always told her on set that she was going a fantastic job to make her feel better and it did. I like to thank Miss Fee for helping with the pillows and green cloth during the last day of shoot. But in return, she was thanking me for coordinating with her. Miss Fee is a nice and helpful lady. I thank and bow my head to the pre-pro, art and wardrobe department for getting the things right at the right time. They were really efficient especially the wardrobe department. Thank you very much Christina and Ham. Thank you very much Richard and Fat Fat James. The eyes and ears of V1K1. Sam, how can I miss you? I was happy she was around to guide everyone. Many years of experience in the media industry was evident when she did the schedule or arranged for the food. She was a good advicer when shoots were over-running. Thank you very much Sam. I would like to thank the captain of the ship, Tzang for giving me the opportunity to work with him as an A.D. I would say it was a very good and unforgettable experience. Your creativity led us to the birth of this project. It really helped to push everyone beyond their limits and gave them a wonderful learning experience. A Dreammaker Experience. I wish you all the best for the feature-film you are going to direct. We have another Quentin Tarantino in the making.
Reflections By EMOHAM
Name : Heidi Wong Suet Yin / Av0901N
Desired Credited Name: Emoham Saddist Topper
Wardrobe Leader
My role in V1K1 is Wardrobe Leader, Has to prepare Talents or Creature clothing. I need to responsibilities of talents needed like Makeup, Wearing and their accessories also have to make sure they had their dinner and manage their things to be done on the schedule. When Talents was in shooting had to standby at the side to get prepare when the ‘cut’ stop has to give them some drinks, fan them when there is really hot and sweat has their clothes is thick and hot, also have to follow them to the places where is their turn to shoot so when they need anything’s I could get it faster
.I work under a Professional Makeup Artist Christina, I had learnt some skill from her example: patiently & carefully put on the crystal for Viki hand, How to put a fake bleeding injured wounds also abit of hairstyling. She also teaches me some of the reality problem we might face, the attitude to treat everyone. When we had done our own stuff we could help others departments so can push the process much more faster. Although the process thru this whole project is tough and tired but I still enjoy in the process thru learning different and new skill. Thru this whole week of filming the V1K1 I knew more friends and some professionals, we had laughter in sometimes as in thru dinner or supper times. When times up get back to work everyone was very serious, this is the great moment to saw everyone doing their although we had lots of problem in sometimes. In the end, we still success to finish almost whole things, we left abit more to go.
I didn’t get scolded but I learnt a very precious stuff that is use the faster to get the own things complete as fast as possible, also TeamWork is much more important from the start till the end. So we do everything’s on time, although the 1day of the filming we got lack of 1 scene due to most of the people don’t know what to do but at least we still able to make it back to the schedule. I had learn what is real production and we still can know when is time to play jokes and fool around, when is the time to get seriously and pay attention the assistant director instruction. I didn’t contribution much cause I only teach some of the year 1 some stuff that I had learn.
Gonna thanks Yanni alot she helped me a lot in the last day of filming of the creature that day, if not I think I would really gone crazy if going do those things alone, Ruth also help me also for everyday moving stuff or help me take stuff for the wardrobe.
Lastly a very big thank to Mr. tzang given me a opportunity to join in the DreamsMakers family although i am last minutes join the team.
