(On the set of Buddyz 2, with the iconic kombi van and some yellow umbrellas. The guy in yellow and seated in the background is actor Shaheizy Sam, reading the script)
In the past few weeks I have been preparing for Season 2 of Buddyz, which stars Alif Satar, Syed Ali, Eliza Razak and Wawa Zainal, including (numerous) special appearances from Shaheizy Sam (the guy is doing multiple roles, like Eddie Murphy in the 80s).
For this shoot (and many after that), I decided to use a Blackmagic Cinema Camera that I bought literally just a few days before :D
The shoot started on May 1st. Labour Day. Most were having a holiday while we started work.
This was the very first shot of the entire shoot.
May 2nd. Day 2. We were shooting around the Damansara Perdana area.
That was 3 days before General Elections. The sight of the flag made me feel a little patriotic.
I always wanted to try a Snorricam shot. I finally got to do it.
Once again, like the previous season, Elliza Razak and Shaheizy Sam shared the most screen time. Their chemistry is already there, as director, my job was to set up the scenes wonderfully for them to work their magic.
Day 3. Taman Tun Park.
I decided to scatter some yellow umbrellas around the park to make the scene more awesome.
Day 4... well, Day 4 was a hectic shoot where started from 7am to 7pm. There was a live audience. I'll just share some of their tweets.
May 5th. We had a break. It was the 13th Malaysian General Elections. Mom and I went to vote. But that's a different story for another day. If ever.
May 6th. Back to work. No photos. Post-election fatigue.
May 7th. Yesterday. Day 6 of shoot.
Continued shooting in a kampung house. Sometimes, I'm really amazed by the generosity of our Malay brethren, they are always hospitable and agreeable when lending out their homes for film shoots.
Here's Alif Satar, Wawa Zainal and Elliza Razak, waiting for the next shot.
And then, Syed Ali and Elliza Razak in an emotionally intense scene.
Night came. It started raining heavily.
I had to put on the raincoat.
Slightly after midnight, we were finally done. Here's Wawa Zainal and Elliza Razak, shooting the last scene of the night.
Prior to that, Kenneth had actually done a very lengthy email interview with me in preparation for his article. While a number of my quotes were in the final article, I thought I would like to share our entire discussion with everyone. I'm doing it now, with Kenneth's permission. (In truth, I have wanted to do this since January, but, ah, I never had the time.)
So, here we go.
Kenneth's questions are in bold.
My answers will just be... normal text.
Tell me about how you got your start in making short films. I read somewhere you started by video blogging at first? Is that true? How did you transition from that to short films? Did you learn to make short films on your own or enrolled in a course / diploma / degree?
Being a filmmaker is a lifelong dream, so even though I was pursuing a marketing degree in Perth back then, I was filming everything around me with a camcorder, and teaching myself how to edit them. Those videos were posted on my blog, so that was how I started "videoblogging", and these were my first lessons in the technical aspects of filmmaking.
After getting my degree, I did a one year course in filmmaking in Perth, came back to Malaysia in 2007, got into an assistant director job for a telemovie, met the director Woo Ming Jin after that. We began a creative partnership that lasted until now.
(By the way: I don't just direct short films, I am also the producer, co-writer and editor of some feature films and TV works by Woo Ming Jin) You're currently based in Japan now. Are you freelancing there, working in a company, or you're running your own business?
I freelance. But I do come back to Malaysia a few times a year to work together on projects with Ming Jin (both of us run a production company called Greenlight Pictures)
Any particular reason as to why you chose to pursue making short films there instead of Malaysia?
I didn't. I alternated between doing short films in Malaysia ("Love Suicides" and "Inhalation") or Japan ("kingyo" and "Exhalation"), or even shot some in both countries (like my recent short film "Last Fragments of Winter"). Many of my films are considered Japanese-Malaysian co-productions, so no, I didn't exactly turn my back to Malaysia at all, just that ironically, Malaysia is the country that knows the least about my works.
How often do you produce short films?
2-3 times a year, I think. (I don't necessarily direct all these short films, being a producer as well)
What is it about making short films that attracts you so much to it?
I like the fact that short films demand the discipline to tell a story within a limited running time, so you must be precise and do as much as you can. I also don't have to commit too much of my time or money to make a short film, therefore my creativity is not limited by commercial considerations or any other desperate attempts to please the masses. There are more opportunities to explore the content and form of filmmaking.
Do you pursue making short films in the hopes of becoming a full-length feature films one day or are you making shorts just for the satisfaction you gain out of it?
I never treated short films as a stepping stone to making a feature-length film because such a mentality would have been insulting to short films as a medium. There is a lot of joy and passion in making short films because some stories are more suitable to be told in such a manner, however, and once I find the right story to be presented as a feature-length film, I will make it. As a filmmaker, my main priority is really just to tell a good story and immerse myself in this exciting world of filmmaking that I am passionate about. The rest is secondary.
James Lee, Tan Chui Mui, Amir Muhammad and a few others were some of the pioneers of the independent filmmaking movement back in early 2000s. I believe you came into the scene around 2007. Were you close to them? Did you learn from them?
Yes, I knew all of them rather well (Woo Ming Jin is actually part of this group of filmmakers involved in what foreign film academics have called "The Malaysian New Wave") as I attended some of the public screenings and seminars that they gave back in those days.
In fact, James acted in my very first short film, "Chicken Rice Mystery", while I got the idea for the film itself when I was hanging out at Tan Chui Mui and Liew Seng Tat's office and forcing them to listen to my list of my silly film ideas.
The idea for Chicken Rice Mystery was the only one that they didn't react negatively to. So I decided to make the film.
I think my current career would never have happened without them.
When you began making shorts, were there many of your friends who were doing the same? If not, how did it feel like then?
No. It was a rather lonely experience. Which makes those who were willing to work with me in my films so much more invaluable to me. Maybe that is why I cannot stop making films, because only in those moments would I get myself surrounded by people who share my passion.
Today, it seems there are short films all over. Why do you think people are attracted to watching short films?
Youtube and all kinds of social networking websites have a lot to do with it, in my opinion. Since many short films can be easily accessed by many people, it became a more communal experience to watch them and have discussions over them over the internet. That's probably one of my speculations.
What kind of target audience are your shorts catered to?
To tell you the truth, I don't really think of this that much. I don't approach the making of short films like a businessman. I just want to tell a story, or express my certain fascination with certain themes, and see whether what I do can connect or resonate with anyone. It's a difficult concept to explain. But I don't think I am being self-indulgent.
For some reason, a lot of short films we see are very abstract and often times, difficult to understand. Why do you think there is such a fascination for these kinds of shorts?
What is abstract or difficult to understand by some, is touching and emotional to others.
Films, if you look at it more than just a mere form of entertainment, but also as works of art like literature, can be interpreted differently by different people based on their own backgrounds. So I don't think people are attracted to some films merely because they are "abstract" or "difficult to understand". These are merely some terms that people throw at films that they cannot connect with. I find myself emotionally captivated by the works of Wong Kar Wai because its depiction of heartbreak and yearning resonate greatly with me,
I am also in love with the works of Andrei Tarkovsky because his works are complex and poetic.
Some people make dirty faces and accuse the names that I mentioned as pretentious bores, I cannot really do anything about that. I thought the beauty of film is the fact that they can be unique to different people, but perhaps i am wrong.
I realise you tend to explore a lot on abstract themes like these as well in your work. How did you come to decide that this was the kind of short films you wanted to do?
I didn't think my themes are abstract. Are stories of people overwhelmed by the feeling of loneliness really that abstract? Are these yearnings of connection really that abstract? All I can admit is that I don't necessarily go with the formula that directors go with if they solely want to entertain their audiences. Because I would rather make films that are closer to my own sensibilities and emotions. It's depressing then, that what means so much to me are considered "abstract" by some, but it is not up to me to tell people what to think.
Coincidentally, abstract short films are the ones that usually garner awards. Is that a motivation for you to make them too?
No. my main reward is being able to do what I love to do, while constantly improving the craft that I am dedicated to.
To make a film solely to chase awards is the most depressing thing that I can think of. I just want to make a good film. That is all. If the awards come, then they are bonuses, and I accept with gratitude, knowing that what my personal works were able to find audiences that they can connect with. But we live in a cynical society, so of course award-winning works are generally belittled as "abstract. emotionally obscure" works. It's just the way it is.
Would you say that short films are also used as a platform to raise controversial issues (i.e. things like homosexuality, corruption, etc)? Is this something you do in your shorts as well? Any examples from your shorts?
I'm not an overtly political filmmaker, there are certain sociopolitical issues that I explore, but only if they are in service of the plot. Kingyo was a meditation on grief that revolves around a college professor who has an adulterous affair with his student, it also shows the difficulty of communication and connection between modern urban folks.
Inhalation is about a Malaysian girl who smuggles herself to work in Japan, only to get deported again, and she goes through numerous reasons on why she wanted to leave Malaysia, listing out numerous violent and controversial episodes from our history that have affected our psyche.
I realise you don't post much of your shorts on Youtube. Is there a reason for this?
Maybe I'm a little reclusive. Or maybe I just like to keep an air of mystery.
How then do viewers usually watch your short films? Through screenings?
Yes. Or they can just ask me.
Do you get comments from viewers on your short films? Also, do your viewers comment via online or during live Q & A sessions?
Yes. Yes and yes.
Are there boundaries on subjects that personally would not touch? I.e. sex, nudity, etc?
Hm, well, there are some that I'm not that interested in exploring now, but I might explore them in a different stage of my life, so I wouldn't like to shoot myself in the foot by listing them out now. Haha
On average, how much does it cost you to shoot a short film?
There's no average. I have made zero budget short films where I did everything by myself, or small short films with a crew of three to four people (including myself. And then, there are some bigger ones where I have a crew of 15-20 people. It varies. I don't like to limit myself.
Where do you get the funding to shoot these short films or are they self-funded?
It varies too. Some are commissioned works, some are self-funded, yeah.
Do your short films generate any profit at all?
Yup. (since some of them are... commissioned works) I know this is not the type of answer you want, or it might smack you as self-consciously pretentious, but sometimes they just open other opportunities. That's all I can say, I guess?
What are some projects you are currently working on?
Oh, just juggling a few projects. Am in the middle of a video shoot while replying to this email. Producing a feature film, just finished writing another film that I'm directing, there are also two other short film projects that I may be setting up for myself. It's quite a lot for a guy who is as disorganized as I am.
Where do you see yourself in the future as a filmmaker?
Hopefully, I'll just continue making films. As long as I can continue doing that, it's really enough.
The short film phenomena is at an all time high now. But what about the future? Do you think it's just a hype that will die down soon? Or do you think it has a potential to take over / compete with mainstream entertainment mediums? What do you think is the future for short films?
Short films had always been around throughout the history of cinema, just that they were available in different platforms. There will always be appreciation for this particular medium. Just that with the internet, there are more people who are exposed to short films, which make things great.
The Malaysian director James Lee's Youtube channel, doghouse73pictures had become increasingly interesting recently. Not only is he uploading his short films online, both new and old, he's also uploading his full-length films online so that everyone can watch them.
Fittingly, the first feature film that he chose to upload is his 2004 breakthrough film, THE BEAUTIFUL WASHING MACHINE. The film won the Best ASEAN Film award and FIPRESCI prize at the Bangkok International Film Festival 2005. That was one of the earlier films of a movement that would soon be referred to as the "Malaysian New Wave". Its place in Malaysian cinema history should never be overlooked. This film, with its festival accolades and such, would pave the way for other new Malaysian directors like myself.
After I met James for the first time in 2005, he was kind enough to lend me a DVD of this film. So I immediately watched this film with my high school pal Woan Foong (she later became the regular composer for my short films like EXHALATION, INHALATION and LAST FRAGMENT OF WINTER). At first, we were unused to its languid pacing and oblique narrative, but gradually, we were intrigued and mesmerized by the story. It's not everyone's cup of tea, but it was the first film from the "Malaysian New Wave" that I saw. (this, and James Lee's short films would then be followed by Tan Chui Mui's TREE AT TANJUNG MALIM and Yasmin Ahmad's SEPET)
Anyway, THE BEAUTIFUL WASHING MACHINE is about... a beautiful washing machine, or a washing machine that transformed into a woman. Or a time-traveling woman who used the washing machine as a time machine... my description may be wrong or may be right, it's up to you to figure it out yourself. :D
First of all, thank you to all who had watched this movie online. Your support has given the movie a second life.
With the audiences now online and around the globe, I have finally found a more passionate reason to continue making independent films. As the cinemas and exhibitors around the world only screens big and lavish commercial films, which will be a continuing trend for a long time, independent films especially in Malaysia will have no space in the cinemas. Other than fighting for halls, independent films have to deal with powerful publicity and marketing machines of commercial films. This is the fact, and does that means independent films have no space in the industry?
So with your support, this crazy ambitious project of mine of building a platform for independent films will be a success. I always believe there are audiences out there looking for alternative films. This year I will be uploading some of my selected feature films online and the same time I will be churning out brand new short films, namely the first one Paper Crane Love will premiere in mid April. Other than that I'll be producing three horror shorts by young & new directors for the Chinese Hungry Ghost Festival in August. And by year end, I'll release an original action comedy web feature After School Complex.
So please subscribes to this page or the YouTube channel for updates and also with enough audiences we'll continue to bring more quality films for you.
And hence now I have to really say goodbye to my beautiful washing machine.
我相信您的支持将成就我的疯狂点子——专属于独立电影的平台。我深信依然还有很多观众在寻找不一样的片子。今年我将陆续上载一些过去的长片，以及拍摄几部新的短片，第一部是将于四月中旬首映的《纸鹤之爱》。此外，配合八月份的中元节，我也会制作三部新晋年轻导演的恐怖短片，并在年底在网络推出原创动作喜剧片《After School Complex》。
Growing up as a film lover was sometimes very lonely, because I found it difficult to have any long and in-depth discussions about cinema with those around me. Therefore, in order to cover up this void in my life, I decided to devour everything about films, reading film reviews, following news of the film industry, going through books about movie people, through this I could find the discussion of cinema that I so thoroughly craved.
Even as a child, Roger Ebert's writings had been a big part of my readings. Whether I have seen the film or not, I wanted to go through his film reviews to see what he thought about it, it was like hanging out with a wise uncle who knew a lot about films. I don't agree with all of his reviews, but I liked reading his writings, what he said, the glimpse of humanity that shone in his reviews, revealing more of himself than just the film that he was reviewing. He was, all in all, a film lover. (and oh, I enjoyed it so much whenever he ripped a film apart)
This is a video of him and his reviewing partner, the late Gene Siskel, on the nature of film criticism.
He was the first film critic that I really followed, and because of him, I started following other critics, those were the days before Rotten Tomatoes.
In recent years, despite cancer robbing his ability to speak, he was never silenced, in fact, to me, I felt that he became more prolific than before. His blog, which covered a wide range of topics beyond cinema, was a joy to read. He was active on Twitter and Facebook too, constantly sharing great essays and other useful links.
In 2011, he wrote a memoir called "LIFE ITSELF" which I, sadly, have yet to read. But he shared the opening pages of the book on his blog, and they were absolutely enthralling. The book was released on September 13, the birthday of my sister, and also someone else.
The opening paragraph:
"I was born inside the movie of my life. The visuals were before me, the audio surrounded me, the plot unfolded inevitably but not necessarily. I don't remember how I got into the movie, but it continues to entertain me. At first the frames flicker without connection, as they do in Bergman's Persona after the film breaks and begins again. I am flat on my stomach on the front sidewalk, my eyes an inch from a procession of ants. What these are I do not know. It is the only sidewalk in my life, in front of the only house. I have seen grasshoppers and ladybugs. My uncle Bob extends the business end of a fly swatter toward me, and I grasp it and try to walk toward him.
Hal Holmes has a red tricycle and I cry because I want it for my own. My parents curiously set tubes afire and blow smoke from their mouths. I don't want to eat, and my aunt Martha puts me on her lap and says she'll pinch me if I don't open my mouth. Gary Wikoff is sitting next to me in the kitchen. He asks me how old I am today, and I hold up three fingers. At Tot's Play School, I try to ride on the back of Mrs. Meadrow's dog, and it bites me on the cheek. I am taken to Mercy Hospital to be stitched up. Everyone there is shouting because the Panama Limited went off the rails north of town. People crowd around. Aunt Martha brings in Doctor Collins, her boss, who is a dentist. He tells my mother, Annabel, it's the same thing to put a few stitches on the outside of a cheek as on the inside. I start crying. Why is the thought of stitches outside my cheek more terrifying than stitches anywhere else?
The movie settles down. I live at 410 East Washington Street in Urbana, Illinois. My telephone number is 72611. I am never to forget those things. I run the length of the hallway from the living room to my bedroom, leaping into the air and landing on my bed. Daddy tells me to stop that or I'll break the bed boards. The basement smells like green onions. The light beside my bed is like a water pump, and the handle turns it on and off. I wear flannel shirts. My gloves are attached to a string through the sleeves because I am always losing them. My mother says today my father is going to teach me to tie my shoes for myself. "It can't be explained in words," he tells me. "Just follow my fingers." I still do. It cannot be explained in words.
I have a lot of lofty ambitions and fantasies as a filmmaker, and one of them, was actually to hope that one day, just one day, a film of mine that I painstakingly crafted, would be seen by Roger Ebert. Perhaps he would love it, perhaps he would hate it, either way would be fine. Yet now I know that this fantasy will remain mainly a fantasy.
Rest in peace.
I end this with another quote of his. (Ebert was full of great quotes)
“Life always has an unhappy ending, but you can have a lot of fun along the way, and everything doesn't have to be dripping in deep significance.”
I was in Shibuya yesterday evening before I headed off to Haneda Airport for my flight back to Malaysia.
Even though I have been in Tokyo for five years, I still find myself discovering something new all the time. And the joy and surprises of these tiny discoveries can sometimes accumulate into something wonderful.
For example, I don't think I've ever seen Shibuya at dusk looking like this.
The above photo was taken with my iPhone, but in the end, I decided to whip out my Canon 7D to get a few more shots.
I then found myself wandering through the Shibuya Crossing, a place I absolutely loathed and despised when depicted in cinema (seen it in too many student films of dubious quality, or films of Tokyo by foreign filmmakers of dubious quality), wondering whether I could just catch something interesting with my camera. I started snapping photos at people, at places, at faces, at lights, seeing whether anything would end up nicely. (in my deluded mind, I imagined I was doing something similar to what Simon Yam was doing in the movie "SPARROW", by Johnnie To)
I liked this photo. A woman lost amidst the Shibuya chaos, perhaps she is in a hurry, perhaps she is trying to run away from something, someone, from the gaze of my intrusive camera.
Meanwhile, above me, the Starbucks in Tsutaya was crowded as always. Five years in Tokyo and I think I have only managed to get a seat there once.
I saw someone holding tightly to her phone, I imagined that she was waiting for a phone call from someone, an important one. Or maybe she was just in the middle of a game of Candy Crush.
Where is she going?
Where was I going?
Where was I now? I had no idea. No idea at all. Where was this place? All that flashed into my eyes were the countless shapes of people walking by to nowhere. Again and again I called out for ________ from the dead center of this place that was no place.
When I arrived at Sapporo, I was a little surprised that the place is still snowing. It's already the end of March, and in Tokyo, the cherry blossoms were already blooming.
So, 29th of March, at night, Sapporo started snowing. It wasn't part of the weather forecast. Dad was surprised.
Two days later. It snowed again. Mom and sister were delighted.
After that, I decided to visit some famous Sapporo tourist spots that I didn't have the time to visit before. Also, the last time I came was summer, I wasn't exactly in the mood to walk that much back then.
This time, despite spring having arrived in Tokyo, Sapporo is still 0 degrees.
First, there was the Sapporo TV Tower.
Then, I walked through the Odori Park, which was partially covered in snow.
The nice thing about Sapporo is that everything is within walking distance.
Nearby was the Sapporo Clock Tower, its inside had been converted into a museum.
After that, I went to the Former Hokkaido Government Building, which was also converted into a museum.
I think these pictures of my sister standing in front of these famous Sapporo places in various different poses are pretty amusing.
