(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)
Last year, I made a passing mention that I was involved in a TV shoot for a series of 5-minute episodes called Buddyz. The series started airing last June.
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.
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.
(they even got to hang out with the cast members)
Jom sarapan dulu! #buddyz #BuddyzSam @putra87 @yayannnnb @fuzzhafira @annanuarr @shaheizy_sam @melakaboy twitter.com/DiGi_Youths/st…
— DiGi Youths (@DiGi_Youths) May 4, 2013
#buddyz shoot today with #BuddyzSam! @shaheizy_sam and casts are ridiculously fun and funny! =D twitter.com/kyension/statu…
— Kok Yen Staci Tan (@kyension) May 4, 2013
Not just there to give @shaheizy_sam moral support, #BuddyzSam got to join him on screen as well. Lucky!! twitter.com/kyension/statu…
— Kok Yen Staci Tan (@kyension) May 4, 2013
There were even (quite a lot of photos) posted on Facebook.
Tweets of those events had the hashtag #BuddyzSam
It's fascinating.
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.
