Apr
Sony NEX-5N: Photography with a non-E mount lens
With almost any review of an E-mount camera, be it the photo cameras or the video cameras, if there’s one thing that’s always brought up is how the mirrorless E-mount system is a great mount for using practically any other brand of lens. There are tons of cheap adapters out there (with no auto-focus) for a huge variety of lenses, from Leica’s to old film camera mounts, so I thought I’d try out my NEX-5N with my Canon lenses.
I originally wanted to try it with an old Canon film camera FD lens from Mien’s Canon AE-1 which she passed to me back when I visited her in Brighton but my man Jeff at Ampang Park didn’t have that adapter in stock so I instead picked up an adapter for Canon EF lenses and decided to test out some pictures with my 35mm f2 lens.
(Plus, I haven’t gone out to purposely take photos in quite a while and I wanted to see if I still had the eye for it since I’ve been doing quite a bit of video of late).
Apr
On ‘YouTubers’, ‘Keyboard Warriors’, the Wonders of the Interwebs and the Death of Traditional Cinema Paradigms
So the other day I got a call from Ian at The Star who asked me about the My Generasi video that’s been making the rounds and, at the time of writing, has over 1.2 million hits and is directed by Reuben Kang who I first met when he was an intern at Niche Films, the production company where I did my first TV series. Even back then when I saw some of his first shorts I knew the dude had an eye and the short film backs it up completely.
However, at the time that I got the call I hadn’t seen the video yet and instead Ian interviewed me on my thoughts on Youtubers in general and that’s when I gave the quote above - “The traditional film industry is dying a slow death”.
Of course, since it’s a newspaper article that features quotes and interviews from a number of filmmakers there’s no way he could’ve included everything I said but I thought I’d expand on my comments in the article a little bit more here, where in between pictures of Gimme and Tina I ramble at length in reams of text that 90% of the current generation of socially connected hipsters wouldn’t dream of sitting down and reading because if you can’t summarize your thoughts and feelings in 140 characters then what’s the point.
Mar
Sony NEX VG20 & 5N: Real World Test on the set of the Maddthelin Music Video
Some of you who follow this blog may have noticed that I posted some screengrabs from a music video I shot recently as well as some snaps of a camera I haven’t used before.
The music video was for a band called Maddthelin, done for the Astro Music Video Grant’s final episode. The camera, on the other hand, was a Sony NEX VG20 which the good folks at Sony loaned to me for an extended test drive together with a bunch of lenses. I also used a Sony NEX-5N I had recently purchased.
This was also my first time working with Low Angle Productions, a fight choreography team who I’d always wanted to shoot something with.
Unfortunately, I can’t upload the music video itself yet till next month but I’ve cut a little something together (above) showing some of the behind-the-scenes footage Sandie shot of the fight sequences intercut with some of the shots from the music vid (though hopefully not so much that I get a call from the producers of the show telling me to take it down, fingers crossed). However, if you’ve got Astro you should be able to catch the music video and the making-of episode on Astro Hitz (channel 705).
The band was great to work with and the Low Angle guys brought in some incredibly dope choreography. But, as the title suggests, this post is gonna be focusing on the tech side of things. Namely, the cameras.
Jan
‘Relationship Status’ on Home Video & the Intricacies of Distribution as a Malaysian Indie Filmmaker
Before everyone starts asking “where can I get this?!”, here’s the bad news - this is just a test print I did to see how the covers might be. The good news is, I’m actually awaiting the basic quotes for the printing of the DVD’s which I am hoping (fingers crossed) to release in March, as well as on other formats as well.
Why March? A number of reasons. Firstly, as far as the DVD is concerned, I don’t believe in just releasing a DVD with the movie on it and want to get all the extras done. I also need to finalize some of the possible video-on-demand deals and even then that may not come out in March but later on down the line, depending on how quickly the respective parties can get back to me. And then there’s a bunch that needs to be researched and sorted out with regards to on-line streaming, downloads, etc.
So if you missed the flick or simply want to watch it again or if you’re a budding indie filmmaker who’d like to find out the details on how I’ve been going about trying to get the movie released on home video, do read on.
(As always, this is gonna be one of them lengthy posts, so if you’d rather read a blog featuring three short paragraphs and pics of the blogger smiling with the two finger peace sign, please feel free to add to their growing number of followers.)
Jan
2012: Mayans or No Mayans, It’s Time to Shake Things Up
In 2008, my life changed completely. Work and play-wise, I left both the company and the band that I’d co-founded (regardless of what anyone might tell you my involvement in either of them was). Emotionally, I found myself numbed and distrustful of people in general from the events that lead to this. Everything I had believed in, everything I thought to be true up until that point, the direction I thought my life was heading, all was brought to question.
The only thing I knew during this moment was that I was going to carry on and concentrate on being a filmmaker, something I probably should have done after ‘Ciplak’ (my debut no-budget feature film) was released but at the time I instead chose a different path and this time I was going to jump back on it.
However, that was all I knew - that I was going to concentrate on the filmmaking side. I had no plan, no goal, no agenda, no timeline. I just went wherever life took me and for a while, life took me through some weird and rough parts of town.
Jan
Rage, Ever Present
Stan Lee was and still is a fucking genius.
I say this because those comic book characters all worked for one simple reason - we can relate to them and we either aspired to be them or guiltily wished we could be them. Any geek in the world can relate to Peter Parker. Anyone who’s felt like an outcast simply for being born the way they are can relate to the X-Men.
And anyone who’s ever wished he could just let his or her anger fly off the handle without thought or fear of consequence wishes they could be the Hulk.
Jan
What Men Want & Women In Movies
So I saw this image on my tumblr feed (courtesy of this isn’t happiness) and it got me thinking about women. In particular, how women are portrayed in local movies.
See, I agree with the sentiment wholeheartedly. I am more attracted to confident women who don’t give a fuck. It’s very easy for me to find a visually attractive girl with all the ‘right’ features unattractive. Half the time all it takes is for them to open their mouths.
But confident women? Women who truly don’t give a flying fuck? I like that. And that confidence can come across in different ways. They may not necessarily show it up front but you can sense it. There are enough women (and men) out there who give off the front of confidence without actually having any and those don’t float my boat - after a while, you can kinda see behind the mask.
Confident women? Way more sexier than tits and ass.
Though let’s be honest here - I like tits and ass as much as the next guy. It’s just that those same pairs of tits and ass can get unattractive real quick if there’s no real person behind it. Thank God I don’t have to meet every porn star before viewing their work. That would ruin it completely. Anyway, moving on…
When I saw that image I was ready to click ‘reblog’ on tumblr and then I paused for a moment and wondered to myself - does this apply to local men in Malaysia? Because from what I’ve seen, for a large majority of men in this country it’s exactly that kind of woman they’d rather not be with. They’ll sleep with them, maybe, but they sure wouldn’t have a relationship with them.
Nov
Yup, I Bought It - The Samsung Galaxy Note
Yes, that’s right - I bought it. That huge slab that sits somewhere between a phone and tablet with the 5.3” screen and a stylus (which I used to draw the little strip above), the Samsung Galaxy Note.
Like it says in the comic strip, it’s been a habit of mine to change phones this year - ever since I switched to an Android phone as a matter of fact. After it became apparent that there would never be any new apps or updates for my Nokia N900 (a fate I foresee happening to the recent meego-running N9) I made the switch to a HTC Desire and fell in love with the Android OS.
But something didn’t sit right - I yearned for more power and I missed a physical QWERTY keyboard, so I switched to a Desire Z and if the keyboard didn’t end up becoming really buggy after a few months I would’ve stuck with it, but instead upgraded to the bigger and more powerful Sensation with a 4” screen which made thumb-typing on screen a bit easier.
So why the switch to a Samsung when I’d been so happy with a HTC? And why buy a device that’s literally just come out when in the past I bought my phones just as their prices were going down and their replacements were about to hit the market?
Most importantly, why did I choose such a huge phone that makes my bandmates giggle when I hold it up to my ear to make a call because it looks like I’m putting a small book to my ear?
Oct
Last Day - A Short Film for the KL 48 Hour Film Project 2011
So this is my entry for the KL 48 Hour Film Project this year:
For those who don’t know, the KL 48 Hour Film Project is a competition where filmmakers have to write, shoot and edit a short film within 48 hours. I’d always wanted to enter but it had never come to our shores till last year, but unfortunately it clashed with another shoot I was on.
However, things are different this year and I thought it’d be interesting to write a chronological account of what it’s like to enter this competition.
Sep
Beautiful Minds & Broken Hearts
So I’d just been in a situation where I had to face up to the fact that there was still a lot of emotional baggage deep inside which I have to deal with and for some reason that I can’t quite explain decided to spend the remainder of the night with ‘A Beautiful Mind’ on in the background, a flick I hadn’t seen since it came out.
(By the way, if you haven’t seen the flick, go watch it ‘cos it’s a fine film. Oh, and there might be spoilers in this post.)
I remembered the basic plot of the flick but not all of it, and was content with having it playing in the background whilst I surfed the web until one scene in particular caught my eye.
Halfway through the movie (and here’s the spoiler if you’ve never seen it or know nothing of the man it’s based on) John Nash discovers that he has schizophrenia and that some of the key people in his life were figments of his imagination. He then undergoes shock therapy.
After being released from the hospital he continues living with his wife and child and is under medication to keep his hallucinations at bay. An old colleague pops over to visit who discovers Nash trying to keep up with his work in mathematics but the medication he’s under makes it difficult for him to ‘see’ the solutions to the complex mathematical problems he used to be able to accomplish so effortlessly. He can’t even help with the baby nor can he be intimate with his wife. He then decides to stop taking the medication.
And for some reason I was reminded of the days when I used to go see a therapist and took prozac and xanax to help with my depression.
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