Documenting

Pandan/Teban Gardens (Singapore) neighbourhood kids, circa 2012

Besides dramatic films, my other passion is making documentaries. A documentary is another form of visual narrative but because you’re filming real people in their natural, social environment - normal people who largely have no sense of the camera language, things can/will take a tangent in location.

As much as you’ve done in-depth research prior filming to give bullet points in your script, many times you are faced with extemporaneous, offhand or impromptu situations on location. These require you to think on your feet to deliberate. I think this is where one’s maturity as a storyteller may shine. Sometimes you need to make unpopular creative decisions because you’re closer to the ground. You’re more in tune to the beat as director. Your subsequent decision to follow-up new details or go a little off-tangent may be unpopular on set or with the powers that be.

However, we ultimately need to be looking at the bigger picture - the content of the documentary. The message it is trying to convey. It’s unlike many heavy-handed, lite magazine programme/segment where much is perfect, pretty and on-point - but somewhat hollow. I’ve been there. Perhaps many avoid this process because of the hassle, but I thrive on this challenge as storyteller. The process also takes time (!!) to put together. This nature of documentary pushes your limit as a storyteller - to be that safe doco filmmaker or one that pursues the subject and questions your audience.

On that note, this picture popped up on my memory feed. It was taken 10 years ago while shooting a documentary at Pandan and Teban Gardens (Jurong, Singapore). These neighbourhood kids came out of nowhere and “shot” at us playfully 😄 I decided to film them in their element. Very impromptu indeed.

Documenting kids (as opposed to just filming) - capturing their innocence is up there among filming a socially-troubled subject or one on the brink of death, in my humble opinion.

If you happened to be one of these boys (or know them), please holler! You’ve certainly added colour to the documentary. I think this picture very much summed up the vibes of Pandan and Teban Gardens then.