The television production house, DV Studio (and supported by MediaCorp Suria, the Work Development Agency & Media Development Authority), had conceptualised a new show called Projek Showcase (telecast 16 April - 4 June 2012). The series gathered 8 prolific local Malay actors with more than 10 years experience. These actors were each tasked to direct a 35-minute drama in 4 days.
It would be like the reality show, The Apprentice, for newbie television directors - but without the elimination. To prepare themselves for this task, each director-in-training had to undergo a 4-day crash course into many aspects of television production, ie script writing, producing, taking turns as production crew, casting and of course on-set directing.
I was invited to be one of the mentors. I was to mentor actors Siti Hajar Gani and Zaidi Ibrahim. I must admit that I was a little hesitant about accepting the invitation. The elitist director in me said that these directors wannabe were way out of league from my film-school background to be moulded into directors. I asked myself if these actors would rise to the challenge effectively. After all, directing is not a 4-day course. I’m still learning my craft and the 3-year film school training (plus the film-related BA I pursued afterwards) was my solid foundation. I even tweeted addressing fellow film-school students not to take talents from reality-television seriously.
The directing language is not something to be taken lightly. Perhaps Gary Oldman frames it succinctly here.
But certain things changed my mind.
I’ve observed that the local Malay television industry is facing a drought in creative talent to drive the visual narrative forward. There are many folks without the ‘proper’ training who have taken task in directing and trailed – producing works that are, for lack of a better description, lackluster and bland. Yet, the industry needs fresh talent with creative ideas to beef up local Malay television. Thus, I have decided to put my experience to good use by mentoring these upcoming television drama directors.
Knowledge should be shared. In the current television climate, it is wise for me to impart my film-school training to these upcoming directors.
My thoughts observing Siti Hajar and Zaidi on-set.
1. Coming from proper acting background, they would have the advantage (and they do) for being able to communicate with their cast the acting ‘language’. Ideas get communicated well among similar-minded individuals.
2. On many occasions, they made the mistake of totally handing frame composition and general camerawork to the cameraman/DOP. From my experience, to hand these tasks totally to the cameraman/DOP send signals that the director does not have that mise-en-scène. Mise-en-scène gives the director that extra je ne sais quoi when in comes to visual aesthetics.
3. The director has his own vision at how the filmed footage would eventually be assembled. Different directors have their own way of interpreting the narrative visually. The mise-en-scène determines the frame and composition. The shot arrangement highlights the subtexts. Siti Hajar and Zaidi still have a long way in their mise-en-scène. It determines why some films look bad while some are visually pleasing.
4. Perhaps, Siti Hajar and Zaidi were too familiar with the crew and vice-versa, from previous drama productions. Any sense of command and control was absent. Negotiation has to cease at some point. Different individuals have a unique way of commanding, but eventually the director need to take control of the set. Sometimes being ‘nice’ may not be effective, especially when one is faced with a jaded filming crew.
5. Personally, I would like my finished product to look sleek. I am not fazed by plug-ins in editing software. Unless the concept requires it, I would try to avoid as much as possible cheesy visual effects in my drama. I stress that my actors emote their respective characters vis-a-vis the situation. These are the only way to communicate and connect to their audience, ie real acting work. Visual effects tend to get gimmicky and cheap when not handled properly. With this in mind, both Siti Hajar and Zaidi tend to adopt such editing gimmicks.
Overall, I’m quite pleased that their drama segments remain watchable, albeit ‘unpolished’. Furthermore, execution seemed predictable in many areas. I am glad that Siti Hajar and Zaidi went through the directing process. I believe this experience gives them an advantage when communicating with their directors, crew and cast in the future.
On-set, the director is the conductor between the cast, the crew and the bosses. There is so much negotiation one can handle. Eventually the director needs to take a stand regardless the situation. However, the set is a highly collaborative process. Patience and guts go hand-in-hand but not many folks can balance the two effectively. I’m still learning the craft.
It would be like the reality show, The Apprentice, for newbie television directors - but without the elimination. To prepare themselves for this task, each director-in-training had to undergo a 4-day crash course into many aspects of television production, ie script writing, producing, taking turns as production crew, casting and of course on-set directing.
I was invited to be one of the mentors. I was to mentor actors Siti Hajar Gani and Zaidi Ibrahim. I must admit that I was a little hesitant about accepting the invitation. The elitist director in me said that these directors wannabe were way out of league from my film-school background to be moulded into directors. I asked myself if these actors would rise to the challenge effectively. After all, directing is not a 4-day course. I’m still learning my craft and the 3-year film school training (plus the film-related BA I pursued afterwards) was my solid foundation. I even tweeted addressing fellow film-school students not to take talents from reality-television seriously.
The directing language is not something to be taken lightly. Perhaps Gary Oldman frames it succinctly here.
But certain things changed my mind.
I’ve observed that the local Malay television industry is facing a drought in creative talent to drive the visual narrative forward. There are many folks without the ‘proper’ training who have taken task in directing and trailed – producing works that are, for lack of a better description, lackluster and bland. Yet, the industry needs fresh talent with creative ideas to beef up local Malay television. Thus, I have decided to put my experience to good use by mentoring these upcoming television drama directors.
Knowledge should be shared. In the current television climate, it is wise for me to impart my film-school training to these upcoming directors.
My thoughts observing Siti Hajar and Zaidi on-set.
1. Coming from proper acting background, they would have the advantage (and they do) for being able to communicate with their cast the acting ‘language’. Ideas get communicated well among similar-minded individuals.
2. On many occasions, they made the mistake of totally handing frame composition and general camerawork to the cameraman/DOP. From my experience, to hand these tasks totally to the cameraman/DOP send signals that the director does not have that mise-en-scène. Mise-en-scène gives the director that extra je ne sais quoi when in comes to visual aesthetics.
3. The director has his own vision at how the filmed footage would eventually be assembled. Different directors have their own way of interpreting the narrative visually. The mise-en-scène determines the frame and composition. The shot arrangement highlights the subtexts. Siti Hajar and Zaidi still have a long way in their mise-en-scène. It determines why some films look bad while some are visually pleasing.
4. Perhaps, Siti Hajar and Zaidi were too familiar with the crew and vice-versa, from previous drama productions. Any sense of command and control was absent. Negotiation has to cease at some point. Different individuals have a unique way of commanding, but eventually the director need to take control of the set. Sometimes being ‘nice’ may not be effective, especially when one is faced with a jaded filming crew.
5. Personally, I would like my finished product to look sleek. I am not fazed by plug-ins in editing software. Unless the concept requires it, I would try to avoid as much as possible cheesy visual effects in my drama. I stress that my actors emote their respective characters vis-a-vis the situation. These are the only way to communicate and connect to their audience, ie real acting work. Visual effects tend to get gimmicky and cheap when not handled properly. With this in mind, both Siti Hajar and Zaidi tend to adopt such editing gimmicks.
Overall, I’m quite pleased that their drama segments remain watchable, albeit ‘unpolished’. Furthermore, execution seemed predictable in many areas. I am glad that Siti Hajar and Zaidi went through the directing process. I believe this experience gives them an advantage when communicating with their directors, crew and cast in the future.
On-set, the director is the conductor between the cast, the crew and the bosses. There is so much negotiation one can handle. Eventually the director needs to take a stand regardless the situation. However, the set is a highly collaborative process. Patience and guts go hand-in-hand but not many folks can balance the two effectively. I’m still learning the craft.
No comments:
Post a Comment