My Rants

Haiku of an Epiphany
by BKK


I couldn't sleep.

The stresses of the last week is playing havoc with my head

(and my sleeping patterns).

The plus side:

I had an Epiphany..

at 5am

on a Saturday,

my weekend.

So I've been up since 5 (its now 730).

And have just braindumped my future plans into a word document I have just completed.

I am going to bed now.

Life goes on

I've had a miserable time at work this week (in fact over the last month really). It has been emotionally draining trying to sift through my thoughts about work, its shortcomings and the failure of unrealised expectations and aspirations. This, unfortunately, is the painful side of being an idealist. When you're an idealist and you have this vision that life, and the world in general, should be a certain way, and the reality is that it isn't, it can become very stressful. Stressful because of the jarring cognitive dissonance between what you want to believe in and fight for, and what the world throws at you. It's been very taxing having to deal with existentialist issues in life (why am I here, should I give into the curves ball our created reality throws at me and go with the flow, or fight the system even though it is an uphill struggle?), This is obviously compouned by the very very REAL real-life social expectations and the demands of a family man and a breadwinner. Like I said, it's been a miserable week. I am going to be 31 in the middle of this year, yet I somehow feel like my 30 is like the proverbial 40 for other people. Mid-Life crisis at 30 - affliction of the modern man. I should put myself on a couch and analyse myself considering I am half qualified to do it!

However, on a lighter note, I was sitting in my office and a friend decided to MSN me on our internal server. He has finally found out that I am BORGKINGKONG. He referred me to his own blog, and I have to say, I have found his blog to be extremely interesting. This friend of mine, with a very Egyptian name, poses his superhero toys and takes very nifty looking pictures of it, and then proceed to use his Mac to do a comic book/storyboard style layout for his work. He draws his inspiration and stories from his own life, with each superhero representing someone who's part of his life. I had permission to use one of his comic strip to show you his work.

As you can see, his layout, framing and posing of each shot is superb. As we're both comic book fanatics in our younger days, I can see how it has influenced his current work. Go check out his other works at Marvel Less Talk.

I hope the month of February will be brighter for me. After all a good friend of mine passed me his Feng Shui book and it does say the Year of the Fire Boar should be quite kind to a Fire Dragon. And February sounded like a pretty promising month in the book. Fingers crossed and prayers have been sent forth.

Ever since I started filming and putting the clips on YouTube, I've wanted to have an opening sequence for my video clips. I've tried a few but didn't like it, but a good friend of mine started me off by giving me a lovely lookinf Avatar (Thanks AD). From there I managed to animate some of the layers on the PSD (Photoshop) file and played around with it. Of course given that I have absolutely NO budget at all to do this, I had to make do with whatever I had in my computer. Obviously if I had the moolah, I would change the following things in the final sequence in the clip below:

1) Animate BorgKingKong in some way as well as the laser beam coming out from his eye.
2) Animate the Film Reel so that it looks like it is being played and flicker it at the same time.
3) Probably get a sound tech guy and a musician to come up with a better music intro as well as a catchier tune.

All in all, I'm pretty happy with it at the moment, but I will most likely continue to tweak it as I go along to get it just right. If you have any comments on the opening sequence let me know by leaving my a comment (e.g. which version you liked better).

Today I wandered into the DVD store at the Mall and while browsing I found a DVD called Ashes and Snow.It is a film by Gregory Colbert, a Canadian born artist, who takes *exceptionally* (this by the way is an understatement) beautiful pictures of animals and their relationship with humans. His pictures are all sepia-toned to perfection. After ten years of capturing these images, he launched his Ashes and Snow exhibition in 2002 in Italy, and believe it or not, the exhibition is coming to Asia - Tokyo, Japan to be more specific, from the 11th March to 24th June 2007.

While the film itself has no storyline (yes I suppose it does qualify as an Arts Film and hence is an acquired taste) fellow photographers and aspiring directors/cinematographers should check out his work. No words will describe the beauty he's managed to capture both in photography and film. Below is Chapter 1 of the DVD, a sequence with a small boat floating through a group of elephants. Judge for yourself his work. If you do get the DVD, check out Chapter 5 (I think) the one with a child lying in the sands of a wind-swept desert with 2 cheetahs by his side. Simply exquisite work.

I have been asking around with my friends with some help in designing a logo which I can use as part of my short film clips. It's not easy as there are obviously time constraints and difference in concepts and ideas to fiddle through. Then there's also copyright issues. I chuckle a little though when I say that cos God knows I have broken a few laws by putting up copyrighted music (please don't sue me, I'm just trying to learn how to become a film artist with very limited resources). However IF (and it is a VERY big IF) and when I get good enough, I'll definitely do my own stuff for music etc, but at the moment with so much limitations in Brunei (fellow Bruneian artisans who agree, please stand up), it is tough going. For example I'm REALLY REALLY considering now to do a short film. Not big, maybe 5mins long. Local cast, local script etc. But we have no arts council to support us, no way of getting official support or funding. It's expensive doing films, what with paying local talents, music, scripts, people helping out with lighting, equipment costs etc. The only way to move ahead I guess is if alot of us volunteer to do something up to open up the eyes of the officials.

So this is pretty much my PIPEDREAM: to gather together a group of people who are interested in making films and team up to do something, each chipping in their effort (not financial, just sweat and probably some tears) and all of us ending up with our own little, local short film, all MADE IN BRUNEI. Anyone interested?

In any case, I hope you like the avatar my friend did up for me above. I made a few changes to it and put it up as my header. I'll also probably get a few phone calls regarding it being coyrighted. But it is a gorgeous avatar done up by a very talented and artistic friend who, as a full time job, jets around in his 747 (no, I'm not referring to His Majesty ok).

OK, remember I said I wanted to get the Cavision Rail Support for my DVX? Well it arrived yesterday morning and the shipping company had to charge me an Import Duty. They calculated it at 20% (CRAP!) so I ended up paying 1/5 of the product cost, which is substantial. Given that my previous shipment for my Letus was only charged at 5%, I decided to call the company. Turns outs, if your product is listed as a CINEMATOGRAPHY item on the shipping document, it costs 20%. If it is listed as CAMERA (as in digital stills) it is 5%-10%. So folks (and myself included), if you want to order something from overseas, tell whoever is sending you the stuff to list the items as items taxed at a lower bracket! 20% is a stupidly extortionist amount to pay.

Anyone who has worked long enough, or have done some management/business courses will know what a 'carrot and stick' approach to management is. As you most probably know, carrots and sticks help managers get people moving in the right direction in terms of achieving company goals. If you do well, you get a carrot (or tens of thousands of them depending on how lucky you are) or if you are an abject failure or performer, I suppose you perhaps do deserve a stick. However I have recently discovered a variation of this approach being utilised at work. This new approach, which I shall now affectionately call the 'carrot AS a stick' approach sees an organisation, in the guise of appraising its staff to reward and recognise them, actually use the performance appraisal to allocate rewards that instead of feeling like you've been fed a nice big carrot, you feel like you've been hit by a rock solid ten foot piece of carrot right in your gobsmackers between your legs (for the men that is).

To add insult to injury, they then try to justify it and clandestinely proceed to shove it up your.. *beep*.... I suppose if you're into that sort of thing, I am guessing having a carrot up your arse may not be too bad.. but I'm not keen on that sorta thing, so that carrot is giving me a mighty sore *beep*.. Maybe I'll submit my case study (plus picture of the aforementioned carrot up my butt) into the Journal of Carrot and Stick Management and maybe, JUST maybe, I could be referenced as the guy who coined the term CARROT AS A STICK approach to management.

Featuring the photographic and fiming exploits of 5 photographers & videographers on a lazy Sunday afternoon going around Brunei shooting random stuff. It was good fun.

The footage is now in the editing room being finalised. Once it's done I'll post it up.

DVX+Letus35 la !! If you were thinking of something else, shame on you. I need the support rails so that my Letus35FE won't snap off my DVX's front element as it is quite heavy. With the support I won't have to worry too much anymore. I am hoping it should arrive by sometime next week if I place my order tomorrow.

Cavision Support Rails

PLUS

DVX102B & Letus35FE



EQUALS



That is the DOG'S BOLLOCKS, I tell ya....!

(Note: Not actual picture. The adapter here is not the Letus35FE but it will look quite similar)

I would *love* to do an art film - thoughts and ideas are already simmering and bubbling away in my head...

Extracted from Wikipedia:

An art film is a motion picture that is presented as a serious artistic work.
Most often, this term is attributed to narrative films with stylistic uniqueness, usually owing to the author(s)'s vision or technique. These are often called "arthouse films" and may include foreign-language films (non-english), independent and non-mainstream films, as well as documentaries and short films. The producers of art films seek a niche audience rather than mass appeal and usually present their work at specialty theatres and film festivals in large urban areas. Art film provides similar kinds of cinematic illusion that one finds in classical Hollywood cinema as well as allusions to previous periods in cinematic history. However, by loosening the ties between its style and narrative concerns, it allows for increased subjective realism and authorial expressivity.
The term "art film" has become a catch-all term for films that do not adopt the main Hollywood conventions of the industry. Therefore, a great number of films, which were presented to a mass audience in countries such as Italy and France, may simply be deemed as "art films" by an average American viewer. This further explains the reason why it is not usually considered as an interpretative term outside the United States.

Production
Often produced on small budgets, these films lack the lavish advertising campaigns of films in wide release. With small initial investment costs, art films only need to appeal to a small portion of the mainstream viewing audiences to achieve huge financial success. Many major motion picture studios have special divisions dedicated to these films, such as the Fox Searchlight division of Twentieth Century Fox, the Focus Features division of Universal, and the Sony Pictures Classics division of Sony Pictures Entertainment.
The most successful American producer and distributor of art films is Miramax Films, which began in 1979 as a studio for the distribution of independent films which were deemed commercially unviable at the major studios. In 1993, Miramax was purchased by Disney and subsequently expanded its library to include more commercial films such as She's All That, A View from the Top, and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. Miramax continued, however, to emphasize less mainstream films, and produced more genre-oriented films like Scream and Spy Kids through its Dimension Films label. When Miramax founders Harvey Weinstein and Bob Weinstein left Miramax in September 2005 to form The Weinstein Company, however, they took the Dimension label with them.

Narrative structure
In the classical Hollywood form, narrative dictates film style. Every event portrayed advances the narrative forward. All characters act as causal agents for the narrative. Additionally, classical films use familiar images, verbal expressions, archetypal characters, and symbols to convey the story to the audience in a short time period. This artificial construction of reality includes nothing that does not clearly help the viewer understand the events of the story.
Art film rejects this as unrealistic. It attempts to portray real life situations and characters where things happen that do not always have a clear meaning or purpose, but instead are vague and even mysterious. Therefore, art films do not clearly explain how plot elements, characters, or events fit together. Any causal gaps that appear in the narrative of an art film are often permanent.

Ambiguity
Art films do not always explain themselves; they often have episodic or meandering plot lines. A character might wander off, encounter something, or do something for no clear reason and no definite explanation provided in the film. Instead, things remain ambiguous to the very end. These films prove challenging to viewers who are accustomed to the classical style, because the final scene of an art film does not tie up loose ends the way classical Hollywood films do.

Objective and subjective realism
Art film deals with realistic social problems in both objective and subjective ways. This genre can more effectively portray its characters true to life by showing their inner psychological state with subjective realism. Therefore, the characters have complex behaviors and relationships.
Classical Hollywood films are also able to portray social issues, but only within the bounds of the narrative. Therefore, this film genre looks at social issues only objectively, from the outside.

Authorial expressivity
Freedom from the restraints of narrative concerns gives filmmakers authorial expressivity to experiment with a style or some other personal peculiarity. Often these filmmakers are called auteurs.

I have been toying with the idea of bringing my film making and digital cinematography to the masses for a while now, and I've decided over the Christmas and New Year's Break that 2007 is as good a year as any to do so. Considering I have a couple of projects coming up (Pusat Ehsan is the main one) and also having done some work for other people already (icklebooks and the wedding doco) I figured being able to share what I can provide would benefit both the people I am sharing this with (memorable events that are forever captured beautifully in motion picture) as well as myself (I get to learn more from doing more and more demanding projects). While there are plenty of different classes of projects to focus on, I've decided the 4 main ones I can make the most use of myself to people is in making Wedding Docos, Music Videos, Video Advertising, and providing editing services for people who want their work to look that extra classy (note: no cheesy transitions or music).

Wedding Docos
I have been approached before to shoot weddings but it fell through for various reasons (pricing, style, etc). I know that within the Bruneian market for weddings, the current approach is to have a videographer to shoot the events of the day and then just dump them onto DVD. What I am hoping to provide is to make that wedding day that extra special by giving you a pre-wedding video shoot that captures that special spark between husband and wife to-be. I have plenty of ideas on how to do variations of these, but as part of being an 'artist' (and a savvy enough businessperson) I'm keeping these ideas under the hat from the public at the moment. I will however work out various packages for couples which will cater to a wide range of clients with different pricing preferences. The whole idea behind the wedding doco is that Quality of footage from your special day will outweigh the Quantity, i.e. I'd rather have 60 minutes of beautifully shot and edited footage rather than 6 hours of mundane stuff of guests chatting , waiting in line to greet the bride and groom etc etc - you get the picture. I'd just like to approach this from a different angle and perspective.

Music Videos
Music videos and weddings go well together and I've done a few already to know this. But I would also like to open up opportunities for me to help local bands get their music out to the public. As Bruneians get more internet savvy, media channels such as YouTube will play a more important role in bringing the works of Bruneian artists into the mainstream and getting them recognised. There are quite a few musically talented local Bruneians who would be able to get even more exposure through music videos. I know that at least one local Bruneian production house has done a purportedly professional music video (I leave it to viewers to decide its quality) but I would hope that the work I can do would add additional juice to the songs from our local artistes.

Video Advertising
The world of advertising(as well as Music Videos) is a wonderful playground for film makers. This is where you can truly express your creativity by bringing the world of arts into the world of business together. I have looked at many an advert that is jawdroppingly amazingly shot and done that it just inspires me (the fact that some of them is actually done by my ex-house mate and good friend during our UK days just adds to this inspiration). Some have been classy, some have been funny, and some have been outright surreal, but ALL of them have been ads that inspire and evoke strong emotions from the viewers. While I do not know personally if I have that ability (my viewers will probably have a better perspective on this) my work on the Jerudong Park, and Icklebooks may be a good indicator. And when February rolls around and I have done the Pusat Ehsan Project, I guess judgment will be passed on this ability then. Businesses interested in making adverts on TV are more than welcome to give me a shout and I can do my best to convey the emotion you would like to come across in those ads. Note: Isn't Jerudong Park coming up with some new rides? Wouldn't it be amazing if I had the chance to promote those new rides through my work? Food for thought.

Professional Video Editing
Many might think that shooting footages is all there is to a movie, but for me, getting the footage is only HALF the story. The ability for a director to tell a good story is in the editing process: Is it to long? Is it too slow? Is it fast paced? Is this in the right sequence? Can I tell this story differently? Directors of blockbuster movies sometimes have BIG BIG clashes with their editors because of creative differences because editing is in a way an enabler for the director to achieve his/her vision (at least that's what I think). Now perhaps I might have gotten a *little* carried away by including Professional in my Video Editing abilities, but I'm learning and trying to be one (Apple Certified Editor - A.C.E.) in the long term if I get a chance. I am not sure what it even involves but as long as one has a dream, it can happen (abit off a tangent so back to what I was saying). I am hoping that people who have some footage (either their weddings, travel videos, birthday videos, corporate events, etc.) I will be able to help them build a coherent story into their video through my editing to make it a little more special.

I am hoping to hear from all of you. I hope I'll be able to make some of your memorable moments extra special. (note: this posting is taking me longer to write and post than expected and I'd like to get back to playing with my daughter now..)

As promised, here's the pre-wedding video I mentioned to you about which I shot a couple of weeks ago. It was done for Yusra and Dahlia who got married on the 1st of January 2007 and I promised them I would only put this up into public domain after they have shown it at their wedding. I shot this at Empire Hotel for just under 45 minutes of raw footage edited into a 10 minute clip. You'll see a 6 minute interview followed by a 4 minute wedding music video with the couple. This short clip was transferred onto DVD for the couple and was shown during the reception on a big screen with a projector. I don't know the couple per se but the groom is the son of a colleague and friend of mine so when she mentioned her son was getting married, I offered to help shoot the video for them as a favour.

Couples and Husband&Wives-to be, if any of you are interested in doing something similar, just email me. After having done this video, I've got a pretty good idea on how to jazz up the next one with tighter editing, more raw footage and staged settings, as well as additional supers (text on the video) and motion graphics shot at different locations and times of day..