WE ARE BACK ON TRACK

after months of waiting and waiting somemore, we are back on track. for the passed two weeks, my marketing guy (whom i hired this month) and i went on a "shopping spree" with sponsors. we called up, force them to see us, and explain the whole idea of sponsoring a feature film. and guess what, they like the idea, and they have never done it locally before. surprise surprise!
but just look at all these potential brands that will be in our movie, it's a 100 minute commercial. right now, its signing the dotted line from the sponsors and we are all set. - producer

YET AGAIN!

yup! we are at it yet again! my production is being postpone again! due to actor's commitment... sigh! well, this is the very nature of making a movie in my country. when budget is so small, actors have to take on more jobs than they could handle. how i wish that we have just a small friction of hollywood budget. say 10% from transformer the movie would be so so so enough. all the actors could just take on one singular job from me and being done with it for the whole year. well! right now i am looking into new actors to replace the old ones. and anopthe challenge is to face the bankers, we have another obstacle from them. they don't really understand how movie making...well! being made...all that we signed upon those agreements stated that we have to use the actor/s that we choose the first time. no doubt that we wanted to but due to their timing, i as a producer must act fast and replace them before i sustain more losses in monetary form. i have already lost near 200k for the past 3 months. not a nice feeling but hey! "no pain no gain"... - producer

PRODUCT SPONSORSHIP

nope. paris hilton won't be in our movie! but carl's jr most likely would be. had spoked to them earlier, they are very keen on making a fantastic comeback. they have missing in action in malaysia for a long time. too long actually. we have approched and still approching and being hopeful for more sponsorship to come in. not easy i must say. we have presented to so many potential sponsorship partners. carl's jr was recently added to the list, we had some casual chit chat and now branstorming on how to make the partnership works. having premium burgers for a week, not a bad idea. - producer

DOMINO EFFECT 2.0

it has happen yet again. production is stalled once more. due to artist timing problem. the pre production are all done. we have the locations, we have the props, we have all the artists line up, all necessary items been book, i even paid a resort in pangkor in advance. now all stop because of one artist, and the best part is he's the lead. welcome to my world. the domino effect of a production, one stop all stop. that is why production is a team effort, team work. one cannot work without the other. not the film director, not the producers, not anyone. and i have made a lost in monetary value more than MYR200K for the past 3 months. not happening. right now i have to make with other smaller production to make money back to cover up the production. what a hard way to make a film. at times, i wanted so much to drop it all. but i told myself that these all are blessing in disguise. - producer

3D WORK REFERENCE THAT WE WANT IN "TAIKO"

this would be the reference we are looking into for the 3D gun sequence in "TAIKO" we are cooking up some crazy ideas on 3D's. hope it would be impressive enough for malaysian viewers. - producer

WHEN YOUR MOCK-UP ARTIST HAS A SENSE OF HUMOUR

in our industry, safety comes 1st. we mock - up items to make it safer to use on set. our movie calls for guns, lots of it and a very interesting piece of weapon. it's called a "kapak siam". a small lil axe thats meant for throwing or flying it. like a flying dagger. we also asked our mock - up artist to make a bigger piece for cinematic purposed. do take note on the on the larger piece of axe. it is way overly scaled. we asked for a 1.5 larger scale from the original piece. it came back with a seriously huge piece. something that you could clobber like a hammer more than an axe. our mock - up artist has sucha great sense of humour - producer

1st CONCEPTUAL KEYART

here's the 1st few keyart thats coming out. wait for it, more to come. tell us what you think - producer

PRAY!

it's a confirmed, we are pushing our shoot til october 4th 2007, roll mid way, break for the raya for about a week and then continue all the way up to 1st week of november 2007. from there we will go into post production for a minimum 4 months.
from the way we see it, our movie will release mid of next year. for all of you have read this, do send a prayer for all us on this "boat". we sure need all the help we could get. pray for us that this would be last of postponent. next month onwards the team will move on to other production, as they will go for a 2 months break till the shoot starts. they have to find other source of money as i could not retain them for another two months. can't afford it. as for these two months to come just for waiting, i have burn another MYR150k at least. no joke, when a production halts, we loose money, the longer we hold, the money we burn. and our bank account is not much of a portfolio right now to go pitch for other jobs. so pray for us, doesn't matter what religion you're in, we just need a lil boost. - producer

Understanding

Defination of us in the team.. my version. Inspired by this site http://sexy.namedecoder.com/

AssistantPM: seductress hungering for erotic, raturous, rousing yeses

to seduce her way in getting all as asked of her from the PM and making sure all the approvals are positive

Production Manager: zillionaire administering caresses and kisses

administrating a gezillion requirements before the shoot and all the affairs that happens on shoot

2nd Assistant Director: bloke rendering yummy, arounsing, naughty touches

he has appointment himself, and we trust him, to pre-approve all the talents suitable to for the film

1st Assistant Director: treasure offering naughty yeses

he holds the treasures @ the schedules, therefore making him a treasure to our team. he will please the director with all his wishes 1st.. to deliver the wishes though is not entirely up to him

The Producer: playful adonis undertaking loving

the 'adonis' ahem.. will be handling all the 'love' being thrown around before and after shoot, to make sure it's all good, fairly distributed pricy 'loving', savvy?

The Bigger Producer: dreamy adonis needing indulgence and erotic loving

he conjures a totally dreamy, self- indulging, loving group session that is so erotic it'll blow you pants off and drop you name on the dotted lines to sign up for further experiences (only ppl with big bank accounts need apply for this loving session)

{the word 'adonis' is use to help with the phrasing, girls take note.}

from yours truly -line producer

DOMINO EFFECT

we're at it AGAIN! we are pushing our shoot till another date just because of 1 person. and the best part is, that 1 person can't even confirm his schedule AGAIN due to his other commitment on another production. moolahs are fyling off, my bank account is drying up, yet i have to pump more money from God know's where is it coming from. someone please pray and pray hard that i win a lottery ticket to make this movie happen. it's a domino effect. the rest of my stars are not too happy with the situation.
JUST BECAUSE OF ONE MAN! - producer

YOU'RE FIRED!

there's exactly 33 days left for principal photography. counting down on the day that we start filming our movie. today I have fired my wardrobe artist. for the past 3 months in pre production, i have not see a wardrobe reference presented to me. the excuse, " i need more time". just yesterday in mere half a day, he and his assistant came out a so call styling board, mainly made from reference from my previous production. i have paid him a hefty sum for salary for the last 3 months. when the time is drawing so near, he came out with stylings and reference used from my previous production. he sure got the nerves! if u ever do a film production, make sure you really scan thru peoples resume before hiring them. don't make the same mistake i did. now i have to look for a new wardrobe stylist that can actually deliver. oh! the best part is, he send in a requisition for wardrobe purchases, it costs more than MYR20K for wardrobes that you could buy from factory outlet. even though i don't shop much, i'm not stupid either. i went around to look at prices. with a MYR20K budget, i could get stuffs for the whole entire production personnel and all of the artists, even the "extras". i have never fired anyone in my years as a producer, this is the 1st. it was not easy. but like donald trump said "nothing personal, it's business" and for my wardrobe stylist, he is ruining my business. - producer

TEST

in order for us to save up on time and money! every production requires to do "test". so that during on set (when we are actually filming), we won't waste unnecessary time trying to figure out how to it. in hollywood, moolahs are spend just to "test" stuffs out, to make sure it works. they built it, write a software for it. peter jackson's team wrote a sofware to manipulate every individual characters in LOTR. look out for scenes that has lots and lots of creatures/men. all those are designed in a computer. back home, NOT HAPPENING AGAIN! we go back to the old school version. draw it on paper, use ourselves, and dear old "BOB". our action figures. since we're making an action film, must got some posing shots mah! this is what happen when you put a few guys who passed puberty long long time ago. - producer

THE HARDWARE 2.0

the main function of a production designer! "Production Deisgner is responsible for creating the physical, visual appearance of the film-settings, costumes, properties and character make-up, all taken as a unit. The production designer works closely with the director and the cinematographer to acheive the "look" of the film. The production designer will also work closely with the production manager and producer on budget allocated for prop buy/rental/sponsorship. "IN OTHER WORD! HE OR SHE HAS TO STEAL/BEG/BORROW" to make the film look how it supposed to look. here comes the hardware. believe it or not, what you're seeing is all "fakes". nothing works. not a spark would come out from this toys. but they sure look real isn't it? these "hardware" will be modified by our pyrotechnician for "sparks". unlike hollywood whereby you could actually get real hardware for a film production, in where we come from, not happening! too dangerous and too much red tape to go thru to order or buy from overseas. so! we do what we do best! modify the piece and make it do what it was meant to do in the 1st place. of course we have to also have to get permits from the local law enforcement for "special plastic made hardware that can't hurt caused its a toy that don't work". if you have the time, go watch a local tv series thats about cops. see it for yourself on the hardwares they are using. "don't laugh" after watching! - producer

SPECIAL EFFECTS

what do you think? think my line producer got slash on her face and got beat up real bad? welcome to the wonders of special effect make - up! we could go way further than this! we're trying on getting the hand chop off. do come back soon for the next posting! - producer

REACHING THERE!

last saturday we went for a recee on a rally track, how does a rally drive near 180kph on a curvy road filled with nothing but dust and soil? fantastic! the 4X4 we're in was red in colour when we came out. it was black when we went in. i almost proud to say this that we're near to our shooting dates. near in completion of what we're supposed to do in the 1st place. to make a movie without a movie budget. well, a lil better than rodiguez when he made el mariachi for 7,500usd. i got about 2million myr to spend on this. yet it is absolutely not easy to do this. when you want to amke a good movie out, i'm not even talking about making a great movie. and this is just malaysia standard, not even close to hong kong or india yet alone to compare to hollywood.
at times it's a great disappointment that we have such ridiculous budget to run with. i mean, we're trying to make a movie, not just any movie but "A MOVIE", something that will impress. Right now, we're squeezing water out from rocks, asking for favours everywhere, next thing you know, i don't have any favours coupons left to ask for anything. this is actually sad.

well, the only thing i can do is pray and pray hard, i think its time for me to go back to church on weekends. ask "favours" from GOD this time around. wish me luck on my production. - producer

lite fun pix