In this week, a public screening had been held in the
amphitheater in the Faculty of Built Environment. I arrived the place late
because I was lost in the Faculty of Engineering (mistaken that the event is
held there).
Honestly, I really like this place. The space is opened and
when you move your head up, you get to see the sky with bright moon and shining
stars. Breezy air blows your face and the students sit and interact with each
other before the screening which starts at 9pm. I feel very comfortable here
and I enjoy siting there and re-watch the short films while exchanging ideas on
movie.
This will be one of the events that I enjoyed in my
university life. The screening is casual and watching films outdoor at night is
a very good experience for me. You can grab some food or drinks as you like and
you don’t feel restricted by anything. Unfortunately, I had to leave early as I have test on the next
morning and I missed the present changing session and FOOD!
I really hope that
this kind of screening will be held at least once a semester. Other than the
products of the student, we can show some short films and videos produced by
local directors. Or we can have P. Ramlee’s movie marathon which we can watch many
of this great artist’s work in one night. Students get to discuss and learn
about the movie casually with no borders set like in the class. The more interesting
part is, anyone who is interested of the films shown can sit down and join us
which enhance interaction with people from other faculties. We will get to know
the opinion of other people on movies and other arts. This help to raise the
culture of film appreciation in the university.
In this week, let's us pay a tribute to one of the greatest directors in Malaysia. Yasmin Ahmad was born in Kampung Bukit Treh in Muar, Johor
on 7 Jan 1958, the oldest of three children of a musician father and theatre
director mother. She was graduated in arts majoring in politics and psychology
from Newcastle University in England. She worked as a trainee banker in 1982
for two weeks then working for IBM as a marketing representative. She worked as blues singer and pianist at
night. Yasmin started her career in advertising as a copywriter at Ogilvy &
Mather and in 1993 she moved to Leo Burnett as joint creative director with Ali
Mohammed, eventually rising to executive creative director at the firm's Kuala
Lumpur branch. On 23 July 2009, Yasmin suffered a stroke and hemorrhaging in
the brain. On 25 July 2009, after more than 48 hours of surgery, she was
pronounced dead at 11:25 pm. It is a tragedy that Yasmin Ahmad, one of the few
Malaysian directors to make a name on the world stage, has died aged 51.
Most of her commercials and films have been screened at the
Berlin, San Francisco, Singapore international film festivals and the Cannes
Lions International Advertising Festival. Her films were featured in a special
retrospective at the 19th Tokyo International Film Festival in October 2006.
Ahmad was part of a new generation of film-makers who
reflected the wide ethnic and cultural diversity of her country and the lives
and dreams of its young people. Stylistically, her principal influences were
Yasujiro Ozu and Douglas Sirk, although she created her own western and
oriental mixture. Her films challenged ethnic stereotypes, and she was openly
against any type of fundamentalism and racism, making it her life's work to
support minority rights. Her films also explored romance between members of
different ethnic groups and religions, touching on the issues of parental
abandonment, AIDS and gender discrimination, against the backdrop of Malaysia's
ethnic diversity.
Unsurprisingly, her feature films were disliked by the
regime in Malaysia, a conservative, mostly Muslim country, for tackling taboo
subjects such as inter-racial relations and teenage angst. In fact, the second,
and perhaps most renowned of her six features, Sepet (2004), was banned in
Malaysia, until Ahmad agreed to make eight cuts.
Sepet (which could be translated as "slit eyes"),
about a relationship between a Chinese boy and a Malay girl, touched the
sensitive nerve of race in Malaysia, where the memory of the terrible 1969
riots between Chinese and Malays is still strong. Ahmad, who was married to a
Chinese man, made the film for $400,000 and shot it in Ipoh, where Chinese and
Malay communities live in close proximity. The film focused on a 16-year-old
student, Orked (Sharifah Amani), the only child of well-off Malay parents (Ida
Nerina and Harith Iskander), who falls for Jason (Ng Choo Seong), a slightly
older Chinese boy, who sells pirated video tapes at an open-air market but like
to read and write poetry. Despite differences in class, race and language, a
romance blossoms. The story ends as tragedy. Ahmad followed the characters of
Orked and her family in two sequels, Gubra and Mukhsin (both 2006).
Other than movies, Ahmad also produced ads for Petronas, the
national oil and gas company. The stories of these ads are simple but touch the
Malaysian people’s heart during festive seasons. Her ads were the one I waited
to see during festive seasons, my favourites are the one shoot at 2006 and
2008.
The first one is
about old folks living in nursing home who swagger about the achievements of
their children and they seem proud of their children although they are very
busy. Different from them, just say that his son is good and he is coming to
fetch her. After that, a white car appear and son appear and said that the
family is going to Cameron Highland. The other old folks look disappointed and
continue to have their meal quietly.
The other one happened in a primary school, where students are
asked to draw what reunion dinner means to them. While everybody is busying
drawing, Thiam Hock sits and observes because he does not know what a reunion
dinner is. After that, Thiam Hock is waiting for someone at the bus stop alone
and he waves as he see persons and cars pass through. An Indian lady then
appears and offers her hands to him when all of his friends are gone. Together,
they walk to the orphanage.
Another of my favourite ads is “Tan Hong Ming in Love” which
interviews Tan Hong Ming and his girlfriend. The couple is naïve and do not
have discrimination which reflects the unity of different races in Malaysia.
Yasmin Ahmad is really a talented director and she is irreplaceable.
If she was still alive... Reference: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1379108/ http://www.thestar.com.my/Lifestyle/Entertainment/Movies/News/2013/12/16/Celebrating-Yasmin-Ahmad.aspx/ http://www.theguardian.com/global/2009/aug/12/obituary-yasmin-ahmad
We arrived at 5:30 in the afternoon and we saw Ah Leow and Danny sitting on the sofa. We greeted each other before sitting down and then long wait was started. We are told that there will be refreshment but the manager of the event came to told us that there will be delay for it and she apologized sincerely. She knew that we were starving and after a few minutes, the manager came up with a loaf of bread and she asked us to eat some bread first.
Time don't fly when we wait there, nothing much i can do but stare at the window. Just before entering the hall, puffs were served, two pieces each person. At the same time, we realized that tea and coffee were served, they were already there when we arrived, but the waiter didn't tell us.
I entered the hall, it is small but it fits the number of people we had well. I sat down and talked to Ah Leow and joined by others later. The event was started by the performance by the emcee and then we listened to the speeches by the manager of the event, the president of Media Club and Head of Department.
There are 14 videos and there was no break in between, I had to sneak out in the middle of the screening to go to toilet which made me missed some part of the videos. Every video has its own story and style; and every director has his or her own thought and way to tell a story but the personalities were not seen from the video they had directed. Young directors. Among the videos, i like the composition of "Petonah", the pictures shoot at rice field are good with the help of natural sunlight, green field and blue sky. Other than that, the colour of the film "Epilogue" do bring us to old times.
Buffet was ready after the screening. I didn't eat much because it's late for dinner and I don't have appetite for supper. The food didn't taste good but it filled my stomach. After that, 7 awards were given and then the event was ended.
Everybody went out of the hall and took pictures; they all had good time.
Overall, the event is smooth and thank you who has contributed.
I have used by book voucher (BB1M) to purchase these two books.
One is Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting by Syd Field.
In this book, there are 18 chapters which tell you what screenwriting is about. From the subject to the creation of character to building story line, the book is a good educational book for the beginner of screenwriting.
Contents of the book
Portrait of Syd Field
Another one is Master Shots Volume 1, i bought the Chinese version because it is cheaper compare to English version.
In this book by Christopher Kenworthy, movie making techniques like camera's position, lighting adjustment and so on are introduced. It is suitable for those people who already have some basic knowledge and skills about movie making. And if you are wondering how to shoot a fighting scene and how to shoot a kissing scene, this book may give a hand.
I'm still reading the book, so no much comments i can make on these two books. Perhaps you can get a copy and find out by yourself.
In this week, we are required to do pitching for a short film. According to dummies.com, a pitch is an animated summation of a script with emphasis on the main characters, the conflict, and the genre. When pitching a script, you use this summation to persuade industry professionals to option the work (purchase it for consideration). We were corrected after we had presented our own ideas in the class. Here is my corrected version:
In 2015, five astronauts were sent to investigate the
existence of life form on Jupiter. Lucas experience dramatic physical and
mental changes when he reached the earth, he find out that he has gained
mystical power and able to see illusion from Jupiter but he don’t realize that
other people experience the same thing too. Accidentally, Lucas discovers that
other people have the same people and they find out that their DNA are altered
by radioactive wave on Jupiter and their bodies are used by alien as a portal
for them to enter the earth and begin invasion.
I must admit that this story is not good enough and it was made up in a two hours. But i did learnt what pitching is. Reference: http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/preparing-to-pitch-your-screenplay-to-a-studio.html
.jpg)
