Final Thoughts On My Recently Completed Short Film, 'Forced Labour'.

Okay, I've just finished burning DVDs of 'Forced Labour' (my short film) a week ago, and I've also sent my submission to the Euganea Movie Movement 2005, a film festival in Italy couple of days ago. And now that my parents, my little sister and my grandma have seen it, I think it's time for me to give my second feature a proper send-off, and my thoughts regarding the entire experience. (my speech during the celebration party back then was too short)

Here's a summary of the 'Forced Labour', to those who don't know yet:

Conversation with a Star Wars (original trilogy) virgin (or dumbass)

Yeah baby, I've just returned from the second viewing of Revenge of The Sith. Still an entertaining movie. Not entirely perfect, but a movie worthy of my enthusiasm and recommendation.

What I've forgot to mention in my previous entry was the fantastic performance of Ian Mcdiarmid as Emperor Palpatine. My my, what he gave was quite truly, an award-worthy performance. If anyone in SW3's going to get nominated for next year's Oscars, he has a good chance (but highly unlikely *sigh*). So yeah, you people can say all you want about Anakin Skywalker, Yoda, Obi-Wan, but to me, the Emperor's by far the coolest character in the movie. Even one as manly as I would sway to the Dark Side immediately if I am convinced by him. Long live the Emperor.

(In the past, I always thought that the Emperor was pathetic, since he couldn't even kill Luke with his lightning powers in Return of the Jedi despite zapping the bloke for more than ten minutes. Of course, it occurred to me that he was TORTURING Luke, not attempting to kill him.)

Oh, and here's a conversation I had with a supposed 'film student' (some random guy introduced to me by a friend of mine) in cafetaria of my university today that left me very much perplexed.

Stars Wars Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith + my flatmate Duane Semini is the best!

"So this is how liberty dies... to thunderous applause." - Padme Amidala

**THIS CONTAINS MINOR STAR WARS EPISODE 3 SPOILERS, BUT IF YOU ARE WELL-VERSED IN STAR WARS LORE, THEY AREN'T REALLY SPOILERS**

Yup, I've just came back from Star Wars Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith moments ago. It was unexpected, I had the greatest flatmate in the world, and when I ran into him in university this afternoon, he handed a ticket to me for tonight. How much cooler can a flatmate be? Who else can wrestle the 'Flatmate of the Year' award from him when he's such a great and honourable man? He rocks, man! He is the greatest flatmate in the world!! Oh, wait, I'm repeating myself.

Remember how I was talking about Star Wars few entries ago?

Bidding Farewell To Reggie Miller, NBA Legend

Reggie Miller, NBA's all-time leader in 3-pointers made, the greatest Indiana Pacers player ever, the best clutch shooter ever (I never really witnessed any of his heroics against the Knicks, but I can still remember vividly the three-pointer he made from the half-court in 2002's Game 7 against the NJ Nets to force overtime, that was nuts), will be retiring.

He was one of the earlier NBA players I could remember when I started watching NBA back in 1993, along with Jordan, Shaq and Barkley. I could still remember how I've always wanted to imitate his shooting form when I started playing basketball back when I was a kid. And now that he's gone, things will not be the same again. *sigh*

See ya, Uncle Reggie.

Star Wars Episode 3. Playstation 3.

Well, what can I say? The entire world's gripped by Star Wars fever, and I was seriously naive back then to think that I would actually stand a chance in getting a ticket without making advance bookings. I ended up not going for the movie cos' most of my friends are busy today, and I'm still busy burning 'Forced Labour' DVDs (that's the title of the short film I've just made, to those who had just started reading my blog).

After watching the news, I realized that there's no way I'll be able to watch Episode 3 at all during these few days since there are shitloads of people who had set up camp outside the theaters. Damn, there are even some chicks who were wearing that Princess Leia bikini slave outfit too. Argh, should've made some reservations last month.

Pondering The Future Of My Film Career

I am still attempting to burn 'Forced Labour' onto a DVD so that I can submit it to various (obscure) European film festivals out there. Despite the fact that this short film's been completed, I think this is just the beginning of everything. I will now see how it will fare in festivals, competitions and such. ('Forced Labour' probably has a better chance in Europe and Asia, I think, though I might still submit it to some Australian film festivals if possible)

Even so, I'm already making preparations for my next film project, which will be a more intimate, sentimental piece that will take a much shorter time to complete (since there will only be two people in the cast). But that is something I'll think about when study break arrives. I'm in the last three weeks of the semester, two of my three main university assignments have been submitted, so I gotta concentrate on the last one too.

'A Boring Story' Returns!

Yes! I've finally uploaded 'A Boring Story' onto my site, the 5-minute short film I made last year for a competition.

Feel free to view it

Retiring soon from fanfiction. Planning next short film projects.

Seriously, this blog of mine deserves more updating. After all, how could a soon-to-be legendary filmmaker like yours truly ignore his blog like this? But then, I've never really been the type who writes diaries.

FORCED LABOUR done, picking up the pieces of my life.

Many things have happened. Forced Labour's complete, I've just finished making an 'outtakes' feature for the upcoming DVD, and also, I threw a party to celebrate the completion of this movie two nights ago.

Besides that, trailers of 'Forced Labour' are available at http://www.swiftyworks.com

I'm currently suffering from post-creativity depression. Feeling kinda empty that I ain't doing anything anymore after working on the short film for more than 2 months.

Uuuurgh.

"FORCED LABOUR" Editing Done.

22nd of April, 2005. Editing for Forced Labour is finally complete, with the opening sequences being one of the most bizarre thingie I've ever attempted. Sound editing will begin soon.

Oh, and also, I must remind myself that another few anime I've finished recently are Rozen Maiden and Genshiken.

Finished Forced Labour shoot

It's official, I've wrapped up shooting. Everything's done. In fact, there's only one scene left for me to edit, and it's the opening scene. It's weird that I actually started the editing of 'Forced Labour' with the ending scenes, and end with the opening sequences. Anyway, sound editing will be trickier. I have no deadline anymore since I can't submit this to the Kurosawa Film Fest (the thing's almost 20 mins long, possibly more. That's twice the length allowed by the film fest. Damn). But I'll be able to submit it to the Singapore film fest, I think.

On the verge of finishing the FORCED LABOUR shoot

13th of April= Did a quick shooting of two assassins answering phone calls. It was shot in Justin's kitchen. Pretty scary cos' I only had 15 minutes to get them done.

It's Like 'A Boring Story' Again.

Holy crap. 2 week break has begun, and I predicted that I would have some difficulty trying to finish shooting the entire flick in a week.

Exclusive Pics of Forced Labour!!!

Yeah, just to let y'all know what I've been filming during the past few weeks.

Streetfighting Streetfighters

Yes, have filmed another fighting scene for Forced Labour. The one's different from the previous scene I shot cos' it involves only two combatants (the previous one has five). In terms of coolness, I would say that the previous one is better, but the scene I shot today is more realistically brutal. It's a good thing cos' both involved different characters (or actors). It's a strange thing, cos' I really felt that I was shooting a few different movies at once, I'm sure I've mentioned it before. But it also kinda provides a competitive feel for all cast members, with the cast of one scene wanting to outdo the other badly and such. Interesting experience, might actually try sticking with it in the future. (as in shooting separate scenes with entirely separate set of actors)

Saw Robots and The Ring 2 respectively during the past two days. The latter sucked massively. Not a single scary scene, and found myself having trouble trying to keep awake. It's disappointing that the director of Ring 2 happens to be the director of the original Ringu! Maybe the dude's just not THAT good when it comes to shooting Hollywood remakes of... well, his own movies. Robots is enjoyable, but I think Ice Age (also from the same creators) is better.

Gunfighting Gunfighters!

Finished shooting another scene. Really tiring. Will talk about it in future entries. The above's a picture taken after the shooting. One of the people above's obviously NOT in the cast.

FORCED LABOUR shoot, watching BE COOL, other school stuff

Yes, I'm seriously running out of titles for my entries. Here's what happened during the past few days, to those who cared.

18th of March = Shot the second scene for 'Forced Labour'. Wonderful session, everything needed only one single take. Managed to wrap up shooting within 10 minutes. Not bad.

19th of March = Hm. Not much.

20th of March = Yeap, saw Be Cool, starring John Travolta, Uma Thurman, The Rock, Cedric The Entertainer, Vince Vaughn, etc. Really really funny shit. The Rock's the highlight, man. Andre Benjamin (from Outkast) too.

21st of March = Mid-term test for Advertising Law. Ouch.

22nd of March = Oral presentation for International Marketing. Should be fine. Finished storyboarding a sequence for the gunfighting scene in Forced Labour. Yay.

Shooting Has Begun!

15th of March. Shooting for Forced Labour has finally begun. Everything went pretty well. Since I've not shown anyone the script, it's pretty pointless for me to comment more. Anyway, special thanks to Ipoh Garden (a wonderful Chinese restaurant) for allowing me to film our scenes there. The photo below's taken before shooting commenced. Yeah, they are all mobsters. The guy with a wig is the craziest, most psychotic of them all.



16th of March. Dad's birthday. Also, more people are agreeing to appear in the short film. Drastic changes will be made upon the gunfighting scene. Instead of having a small four against four fight, it'll become four against a shitload of people. Yay.

Preparing FORCED LABOUR

"WHAT? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? YOU MEAN, YOU HAVEN'T SEEN MISS CONGENIALITY?????"
- Some guy to Justin, 11th of March

The above quote wouldn't be that ridiculously funny if the guy speaking it didn't make it sound as if Miss Congeniality is Lord of the Rings or something.

But anyway, been too busy to post anything on the blog these days. What have I been doing? Ah, yes, hunting for toy guns. Went to do that with Justin on Thursday, and believe it or not, I COULDN'T FIND ANY!!!! Tried Toys R' Us, Target, and other shops, but nope, no toy guns (Well, there are some futuristic ones in Toys R' Us).

I almost cried like a child. Even though I did buy a flash light for my camera so that I can have an easier time shooting night scenes.

In the end, I managed to find some guns at Fremantle with Josh's help (one of the actors) and *cough* the person who was quoted above! They don't look too real, but according to the kind people of the Fremantle Film and Television Institute, I need to get police clearance for gun replicas used in films... only if I do the shooting at public places. Scary.

Yeah, so things are kinda ready. I've got some toy guns, and I've received permission to film the very first scene in a Chinese restaurant on Tuesday. Great fun!

Going to start shooting FORCED LABOUR soon!

Swifty's Filmmaking Progress

Had my very first meeting with the cast last night. Shooting for 'Forced Labour', my next short flick, will begin next week. Yippee!