ROUGH CUT AND THE ROTTERDAM FILM FEST

2.38am Leiden time, and the first cut is being rendered at the moment. Have also finished filling up the film festival form. Fingers crossed they will select our film! Am going down to Rotterdam tomorrow to submit.

Funny thing is- the title is now changed to Bell Jar.

So this blog is officially misnamed!

LEIDEN

Editing in Leiden.
Deadline tomorrrow!

SOME PHOTOS

Oana and the script for Han!
Chilling out at night
Final recording

SOME PHOTOS!

Severine and Han doing their thing!

SOME PHOTOS

SOME PHOTOS

Tribute to REn

SOME PHOTOS

Packed up Loc's car
Oana helping Sev with makeup
Hanging around the Maas tunnel

CREDITS- INFORMAL ONES- WILL GIVE YOU GUYS PROPER TITLES I PROMISE

Drumroll....

My darling Ren- whose presence gave artistic stability and technical structure to the whole production. Who saw the production from its infant stages to the end. Who said all that needed to be said, and more. Who was a great team player and host. And soon to be partner in editing.

Loc- Everyone needs a friend like Loc- lent his car, never gets tired, always positive, always supportive. Sacrificed his company dinner for the filming. Sacrificed his house for us to thrash and crash. Who tried his best to do the voiceover despite being seriously uncomfortable about it. Loc I promised I wanted to make you angry just because I've never succeeded to. :P

Severine Porzio- Thank you for taking a risk with the team. For coming all the way from Brussels. You gave life to the words that I wrote. Translating it in French must have been a pain! You lived it during the 20 minutes to become more than it ever was in my head. Most of all you made the words charming and the character lovable. And you are so easy to work with.

Feng Han- For saying YES to acting when you've never done it before, and despite having a baby at hand and a team of people to lead to Venice You dared to try new things out of your comfort zone! You were great.

Oana Jianu- Oana got the food, contacted people, and basically did all the things I didn't want to do myself. She's the type of person that is invaluable to have around and always under appreciated. THANK YOU SO MUCH my production assistant.

Carlos Beira- For pushing the wheel chair! I realised it was not so easy after all. For also being a person I could discuss ideas with for the film. For trying with the props. For trying for the part of the GUY. :P

John Malaiholo- For being the professional photographer cum security guard. Can't wait for your pictures!

Chen Qing- For doing all the undesirable things like getting the camera, returning the camera and being and overall good friend.

Tan Yi- For composing the tunes with me for 3 hours last Saturday. You are so talented and I am glad to have "conned" you into this.

Joost Buijs- Thank you for picking up and picking out the noise. And for adding really nice touches to the pieces. Yes we will do a proper recording for the music in October.

THE PEAK

Feels like I just came back from a long trip- back to a messy room from the hurry the day before. Making a movie is like a dream. A temporary suspension of reality. We went through a series of challenges that somehow we managed to overcome.

Yesterday started at 8.30am. Woke up to a list of things to do before meeting Severine at the train station. Print scripts, call makeup artist, make notes about acting, make timetable for shoot, photos, stills and voiceover, pack stuff, clear memory card for photos etc. So by the time I left home it was already 11.40am.

Severine calls and I met her in the sunshine. Thank God the weather was really nice. Loc comes and we all walk to his place. Ren joins us, and together the four of us have our first session- talking about acting, makeup, production, clothes.

Challenge #1:
Severine did not have a jacket.

Ren calls Bea, and we pack into the car (a very sandy one because Loc does kitesurfing) and head towards his old place. Get jacket from Bea. I ran to Saba's place for the chair I talentspotted while at her place. We get to Rotterdam at 3pm and drop Sev and Ren off to get to the Maas tunnel. Loc and I went to 2012 to pick up the wheelchair and the chairs.

Challenge #2:
The wheelchair wheels were deflated.

We went to a petrol kiosk only to find that the air pump is malfunctioned. We drive to Zuidplein and went to two shops before finally managing to get air into the wheels at the third. By the time we got to the Maas tunnel it was already 4.40pm, 1 hour 40 minutes overdue.

Challenge #3:
We had to get permission to film at the Maas tunnel.

We were about to start and someone suggested that we go tell the Maas tunnel personnel that we were filming there. Oana goes and we get to briefing. Oana comes back with dismal news- we couldn't film because we had to ask for permission. Carlos and I went up. The guy was tough- he said we had to call this particular guy Mr X on Monday and that we couldn't film. I told him that we were there and we did ask some guards for permission and they said yes. Carlos started to talk to the guy. The turning point came when the guy went back and wrote down MR X's mobile number. Hope surged in my heart, because this man was actually going beyond the call of duty to bother his superior on a Saturday evening. He said that if Mr X did not reply- it's a NO. If Mr X says no, it's a NO.

He went back to the office with lots of monitors ( I could see the team sitting around in the tunnel from the screen) and dialled the number. I prayed like mad. The guy answered! Again hope rose to another level. Carlos went in to talk to the guy for some 10 minutes. He came back to a smile- he said YES! I wanted to hug the guard- but had some self control and smiled and said a very sincere THANK YOU!

We went back to the team and started preparations. I explained that the whole process was like a dance around the camera. Severine put on her own make-up with some help from Oana. Oana put some dark eyeliner under Han's eyes and darkened his eyebrows. Carlos practiced with Ren for the camera and the wheelchair. We put the props in place. Take 1! We had this really funny system where Ren was sitting in the wheelchair holding the camera, Carlos was pushing, I was behind watching the camera and controlling the speed, Oana followed behind giving cues to Han when to speak, Loc followed behind giving cues when to pause for voiceovers.

Watched the tapes and took a break. We had take 2 which went much smoother in terms of choreography, but there were glitches such as two people appearing in one frame, and some noise interruption. Sev and Han practiced the end scene again. They got better at the hugging and crying part. Also practiced various poses for Sev and Han. Wanted Sev to have more variation, movement, angles and fingers. (Somehow fingers on screen looked really pretty) And the running part. Ren was invaluable throughout for giving comments and bouncing ideas with.

One million things needed to be decided and done, and the whole team was just quite together. No whiners- just a team who was really cooperative! Severine was very easy to direct.

Challenge #4:
Microphone problems.

We realised that the receiver for Severine's microphone was not plugged in! Then we realised that one of the receivers ran out of batteries! I took the used batteries from the bag. Plonked them in and miraculously the thing worked. Mind you, with batteries that were previously from the mikes. God is miracle working.

We have our last take. An old man was walking towards us and Loc goes towards him to warn him. I was thinking man, we are in deep trouble, the wheelchair was heading right at him and we were in the end scene where Sev was to run. We go into running pace and approach the old man. He almost did a double take at the wheelchair going at running speed towards him. I found this very funny! We reverse and I supposed he heaved a sigh of relief.

That was the last take. Everyone leaves except for me, Loc, Ren and Severine. We did the voiceovers and Loc and I returned the chairs to 2012. We pick up Ren and Severine from the tram stop near the Maas tunnel and go to Whitte de Whit for a drink. Crammed up with loads of people. We hit Loc's at 2am. After meddling around with Premier for some time, we decide to hit the sack. Also to forget about my insane idea for filming again. Was not too pleased with the jerky movements of the camera.

Everyone has strange dreams due to fatigue. We wake up at 11am+. Loc and Ren shared a bed and Ren dreamt of Vietnam and blamed it on Loc. We did a final voice recording.

The whole experience was really enjoyable. Yes it was hard but we all learnt a lot and had fun. We tried to put a lot of thought into preproduction but could not forsee certain problems- like the jerking movements of the camera because of the uneven floors and the mike and camera problems- due to inexperience. In any case, I will definitely make another film.

EVERYTHING COMES DOWN TO THIS

We are shooting tomorrow...
I feel as unprepared as ever before. Here I am in the office still working. Feels like I forgot something.

*chews nails*

I wonder how it would turn out?

LOCATION!

Bleary eyed but happy. We are filming in the Maas tunnel, Rotterdam! After testing out the train station freight tunnel, it was not wide enough, too realistic, and couldn't film full body. Orange colour of the Maas tunnel is really abstract- the skin of the actor blends in with the background...

TO DO

1. Get wheelchair
2. Get lights
3. Get wheelchair
4. Get wheelchair

BELL JAR

I am really tempted to change the title to Bell Jar.
Sylvia Plath uses it as a metaphor for being trapped. The bell jar appears at the end of the script where GIRL says:


Why did he have to do that! Why did he pretend not to know, and keep silent when he knew what to say? Why did he stand in front of the wrong door one day, and try to pry it open with a rusty key of long ago? Why would he put his hopes, shirts, dreams and keys into a bell jar. If only you’d break one day, you, your bell jar and your self-sufficiency. Then you’d come running to me.

Bell jar being how the BOY keeps everything. Hmmm vitrine is maybe a nice word to use.

FRENCH- Thank you Severine

Où aller loin de loin de ton esprit ?
Ou, où fuir loin de loin de ta présence ?
Si je dis « sûrement les ténèbres me couvriront,
Même la nuit sera la seule lumière qui m‘entoure ;
Les ténèbres mêmes ne doivent pas me cacher de toi,
Mais la nuit brille comme le jour,
Les ténèbres et la lumière se confondent pour toi.»

La fille plongée dans ses pensées

Tu vois, les petits bouts de peaux mortes autour de l’ongle du pouce ? Je les mords. Je les arrache. Oui, ça fait mal. Mais tu ne peux pas t’empêcher de les arracher.

Pause

Il neigeait des rêves la première fois que je l’ai vu. Pourtant je voyais à travers lui le tableau accroché au mur.

Guy

Did he see you ?

La fille

Oui. Il s’est avancé et s’est mis à coté de moi. Je me rappelle du tableau au mur. C’était un Rothko. Une tache de rouge foie une énorme mer de brun. On se tenait debout l’un près de l’autre, absorbés par les milles rêves qui parcouraient chaque coup de pinceau. C’est à ce moment là que je me suis rendue compte de sa présence.

MUSIC

Tan Yi and I just made some music today. We went to the cultural centre to hammer on the piano. It was really a collaborative effort- Tan Yi was a brilliant piano player. We first talked about a few notes that we liked, and she expanded on it to become more and more complex. So we made two parts:

Part 1 This would have the voiceover of Psalm 139 and credits and titles. A slow haunting piece. With slightly off key parts.

Part 2 A repetition of part 1 but with heavy left hand- Few parts of variation and strays slightly to the major key. This starts when GIRL is released from hug, steps back, and starts running. So the notes start running with her.

I am very proud of the pieces we made. Thanks Tan Yi!

LOGISTICS

Now that we have chairs to move, I reckon it should be better to have a car. Severine wanted to do it from 12 midnight to 3am. Which is good, considering that everything will be dark. Logistics logistics...

MUSIC AND SOUND

The music in the beginning should be a piano piece, and the end too. Maybe with some sounds? I am a fan of Simeon Ten Holt, introduced to me by a friend.

Maybe I would like Architecture in Helsinki meets Simeon Ten Holt meets John Cage- Adaggio in the beginning and Allegro in the end.

SCRIPT EXPOSE PART 2

Is the character of the BOY real?

As you'd probably know, the script is really pseudo-fiction. Or pseudo-reality. Whichever you prefer. The BOY that the GIRL is so hard up about is really a combination of a few people in my life. In dealing with the intense emotions towards them at that point what I did was to describe them, transcribe them to get them out of my system. BOY is really a culmination of three people in my life. And I love all of them for different reasons.

When the idea of shooting a film came, I thought I could be really mercenary about these feelings by putting them to good use. I dug out my previous writings, and during my holidays, edited them to make a storyline.

I had this post on my blog on February 15 2008:

---
my new idea for film.
i decided that film will be my medium of expression-

as oscar wilde says
the difference between a good poet and a bad one is this
the good poet writes the poetry he cannot live, while the bad one lives the poetry he cannot write.

i shall make characters of that are doppelgangers of myself. if i lived them, i would be nothing but a blabbering emotional wreck. yet they are part of me somehow. i've now found a reason to make films- to put my doppelgangers somewhere where they can exist (harmlessly). catharsis.

---
The struggles are real- the conversations are not. Some events are though. :P

SHIPS SAILING

Excitement again-

1. Called COS and they will be sending some samples, some which we can keep! Yippee.

2. Had a chat yesterday with Ingerbord de Boer and she says probably no problem about using the Rotterdam tunnel. Apparently they outsource commercial requests to an external company- and the person who dealt with us diidn’t want to trouble himself to reply my email.

3. Will be checking out the camera in school tomorrow.

4. Script translated to French.

Outstanding:

Lights! Cameraman! Action!
Tapes
Props
Clip-on mike

ON ACTING OUT THE GUY

A new thought- the actor I chose for GUY was staring right at the camera when he was trying out for the part. While jogging I think it is a great idea for the GUY to maintain eye contact with the camera all the time, while GIRL does not and merely stares into space. Quite a nice dynamic I think. I think.

SCRIPT EXPOSE PART 1

Psalm 139:7
Where can I go from Your spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?

A little bit about the starting and ending of the film- it is an excerpt from the book of Psalms from the bible. A good friend, years ago, made these parts of the psalm into a song. It was kind of quirky and slightly off beat- and my friends and I learnt the song and sang it by the beach in Bintan, Indonesia. Psalm 139 remained with me ever since. I've memorised it many times over. It has helped me through many times of sorrow, knowing that I can never go out of God's radar. :)

I actually really really love these lines:
Psalm 139: 9-10 If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, Even there Your hand shall lead me, And Your right hand shall hold me.



next- is the character of the BOY real?

PROVERBS

Proverbs 21:5
The plans of the diligent lead surely to plenty,
But those of everyone who is hasty, surely to poverty.

---
(reflective note): making a movie might sound glamorous and all that, but it is hard, hard work.

UPS

Everything is moving!
Yay.
Spirits up.
Full steam ahead.

DOWNS

Cameraman insisted on montage and says how difficult it is to shoot everything in one shot. I was compelled by his argument to montage- only to realise that the dialogue is quite quite impossible to chop up. I can't estimate when the actors will stop and when they would start talking in front or behind the camera. So we really need to do it in one shot baby!

Other set back is about the filming in the tunnel. I haven't got the permission- yet!

I wanted a cat for the starting shot but Artistic Director says it is self referential. I don't know why he says that though. Think think.

COS

I am an utterly big fan of COS!
So far they rate the highest in terms of the number of clothes in my wardrobe. It would be sooo great if they would work with us!

COS clothes are FANTASTIC. COS would totally totally be just the right aesthetic for the movie. Its minimalistic style will go hand in hand with the abstract green and red landscape!

PRODUCTION DAY

Hello actors, crew and friends who have followed the development of this project

Pre-production has taken tons of hours, and is still ongoing, but production day is approaching!

DOORS is scheduled to shoot on the 27th September, 11,30pm in Rotterdam. If you have expressed interest to hang around during shooting, and contribute extra hands for any kind of help needed then, I hope you are free during that time! It might take a few hours so we might wrap at 4am or so. (hopefully it is earlier)

For friends who've been conned into helping (knowingly or unknowingly), a big thank you for taking the journey with me.

For friends who are going to be in post production, we have 2 days till the Rotterdam Film Festival deadline on the 1st October. (Ren don't worry we can submit a rough cut first)

So here goes nothing!

TECH

Great news on the tech front.
Meeting up with potential cameraman on Monday. Also, called Rob Maas and he said I could borrow the camera from the university!

Yay.

Now I have to decide between a HDV and a digital.

and cost.

PROPS

So time to think about objects that would appear on screen.
I want them to all be red- because the tunnel is has a blue/green tint. The objects become defamiliarised in the setting- it is probably going to be unsettling seeing them. Objects become physical anchors in the conversation. I took out this line from the script so it will sit in a blog post instead.

Red objects scattered throughout would be:
-red chair
-red clock
-red shoes
-ren's red sign
-cable wheel
-red tree branch with a yellow fish (7th image on the 7th page when i googled "red"- ren's idea)
-red ikea pillows like a landscape
-red book (sanford kwinter's "far from equilibrium"
-red bicycle cycling past

TIME IS FLYING PAST

It's 12.48am and I am so tired. But happy because Ren came by and helped me think through the auditions again. I become uncertain of my choice of the male actor. I think I will audition one other person tomorrow.

---

on an unrelated note, a post on RSD. emails from october 2005. now RSD is finally making its circuit into the film festivals.
will DOORS eventually be there as well?

Tue, Oct 4, 2005 at 9:12 AM
subject The Red Street Diner screenplay - draft 2.0
mailed-by

hide details 10/4/05 [RSD.doc]


Reply


Hi y'all.

Draft 2.0 of The Red Street Diner is fresh from the oven. For those who've
never read it, it's a noir musical about four lonely people who prowl the
city streets at night looking for love and attention. I intended for a
greater overhaul of the first draft, but decided that some things had to be
kept, but could be treated differently (read "assassins").

For V, Y T , A & A , i hope you enjoy it. For the rest
of you... this second draft is really better. i promise!

Thanks for being an audience.
Fergs


(See attached file: RSD.doc)
---

AFTER A LONG SEARCH - IT WAS HER ALL ALONG

Adding on to the auditions post, I've decided on Séverine Porzio.

She brought a nice twist to the character of GIRL- a zest of kookieness- that I was most most impressed. She was not afraid of pauses and had really nice touches such as slightly raised eyebrows and a dreamy look. She read the script like it wasn't there. As if all the words came from her.More than that, she definitely looked strong, yet emotional- and unconventional!

Thank you Séverine. Your acting was great. Or maybe you were just being yourself.

I have to give honourable mentions to Elsa Poisot and Chryso. Elsa brought depth and sadness to the character just like how I imagined it. Chryso had such languor in her movements- and Greek is so melodic, it is beautiful.

Thank you one and all for taking time for the auditions.

FINISHING THE RACE

Calling all techies.
Cameramen.
Light.
Director of photography.

Now is crunch time. I need a volunteer tech crew.

Please email me. This is an award winning film. I promise.