Pilgrims on EventDV Magazine

Us on the front covers of EventDV magazine’s April 2008 issue

 

Pilgrim Pictures is on the front covers of a US-based magazine, EventDV!

EventDV, The Authority for Event Videographers serves the professional event videography business with columns written by leaders in the field, detailed case studies and profiles of commercial facilities and services, and in-depth analyses of key issues facing event, corporate and institutional videographers. It also covers the tools and technologies of digital video production and post-production.

The article about us is also available online. Read it here.

Jen Nee Nominated for Great Women of our Time Awards

Jen Nee, as featured in the January 2008 issue of The Singapore Women’s Weekly magazine

 

Our pilgrim Jen Nee is nominated for the Great Women of our Time Awards, under the Arts and Media category! Organised by The Singapore Women’s Weekly magazine and into its 3rd year, this event honours a new generation of women – outstanding achievers who are driven by their passion for excellence. It seeks to recognise excellence, leadership and performance across 6 categories: Arts & Media, Finance & Commerce, Education & Public Service, Science & Technology, Health, Sports & Wellness, and Design & Style.

Look up the April 2008 issue of The Singapore Women’s Weekly magazine for more details on how to support Jen Nee with your SMS vote.

The MDA Rap

I’m sure most people would have heard of it or better yet, log online to watch the video by now. If not, here it is:

A few weeks ago before the hype erupted, Eng Tiong received a call from a reporter soliciting comments on the MDA video. We’re like, “Huh? What MDA video?” The reporter promptly sent us the link. 

The first image of senior MDA officers prancing around to a rap song – we fell off our chairs! It’s a strange mix of shock, surprised, confused, hair-standing-on-end, laugh-out-loud, what-the-hell-is-going-on??!! and strange curiousity that made us crawl back up for a closer look.

Most people who’ve seen it hated it. Negative comments such as MDA is trying too hard to be cool; MDA is wasting taxpayers’ $, MDA is this, MDA is that… Well, maybe all are pretty much valid points.

I’m one who’s definitely critical and Eng Tiong truly believes I’m born a pessimist. But surprisingly, I thought rather positively of this video. Let’s put it this way: at the least, now MDA knows how it feels like to put a piece of work up for an audience and be judged for what it is, or is not, by the audience. We filmmakers (and our actors) face that all the time. It’s quite a nerve-wrecking experience. Being the policymakers for our media industry, I think it’s a good “bad” experience for them to be in our shoes for a change.

But the most important thing I hope the management did in making the video is to have fun! One thing that I’ve learnt from the making of TRUTH BE TOLD is to have fun. Afterall, for goodness’ sake, I’m doing something that I love!

Now that we’re preparing our next feature project, we’ve shared this philosophy of fun with our director. He totally agreed and we’ve been having lots of fun developing the script. We’re definitely toying with the idea of putting a music video as part of the rolling end credits, starring all cast and crew. Go ahead, judge us then! 🙂

And now, my ratings for the MDA Senior Management Rap: 3/5 (Keep it up! Practice makes perfect!)

And here’s another video worth checking out – a parody called MDArena :

p.s. rumour has it that there’s another video featuring the rest of the MDA staff… 

Our “Pilgrimage” to Cannes

Our dreams came true on May 16, 2007 when we took a flight up to France to attend the Cannes Film Market. It would have been even better if our film was selected for the Cannes Film Festival but hey, one thing at a time. We’re just happy to be there.

We didn’t plan to stay throughout the market/ festival period. It’ll burn too big a hole in our pockets. We were there for 7 days and managed to achieve what we set out to do – meet up with buyers and sales agents for TRUTH BE TOLD, and to suss out response for 2 of our projects currently in development. Of course, on the side is to soak in the atmosphere as much as we can! And that we sure did!

Strongly encourage anyone in the film industry to visit Cannes Film Festival/ Market at least once in their lifetime. It’s worth it! (But don’t forget to bring along your tux or evening wear for the ultimate experience – walking down the red carpet at premieres. We didn’t prepare for it this year. That leaves us something to look forward to next year!)

Flying into Cannes
We’re advised early on not to fly into Nice (nearest airport to Cannes) via Paris as we’ll definitely miss our connecting flight. Anyway, the most afforable air tickets we could find is with British Airways connecting to Nice via London.  If there’s a choice, choose Qantas flights (they code-share with British Airways). The inflight entertainment (read: movies) is better – more choices and it’s Video-On-Demand. Our flight to London is with British Airways. We were bored out of our socks but I guess that gave us time to catch up on sleep. Our return flight is on Qantas. I hardly had time to finish all the movies I wanted to see!

Here’s some things we found at the Heathrow Airport. While transiting with nothing better to do and armed with a camera… (of course all three machines are of differing sizes. I just like to arrange the pictures neat and tidy. But hey, that’s not the point!)

  

Finding our Way Around

Most hotels in Cannes are already fully booked way in advance or the available ones cost us our limbs.

We’ve found a place at Juan Les Pins, a town near Cannes. The most direct way to get there is taking the bus number 200. The bus station is just right outside airport terminal 1, and it’s cheap at EUR 1,30 per person each way. But if you have a luaggage heavier than you are, opps… It’s going to be tough hauling it up onto the bus, especially if it’s crowded… like when we first boarded one. If you aren’t on a shoestring budget, take the cab (or fly the helicopter!) Cab costs about EUR 50(!!) from Nice to Cannes. (That’s like $100 Singapore dollars. I can take a cab from Jurong to Changi at least 3 times!)

Another alternative is to take the train but I think we still need to take a bus first to reach a train station.

So bus it is… except that it’s so packed that when we finally managed to squeeze into one, we’ve waited nearly 2 hours for the damn bus.

Hotel Au Tropico
 
Our hotel is the pink building in the background. The bus stop is just a short 1-minute walk away. The Juan Les Pins train station is also nearby – about 8 minutes’ walk away. Extremely convenient. Just wished that the public transport operates on time all the time and it’ll be perfect!

The hotel owner doesn’t really speak English and we can’t do French. But a bit of hand gesturing here, and halting English & French there went a long way. He said he’s picking up English this September so I guess overseas tourists are coming here in droves!

 
Our hotel room isn’t that bad either. Not too cramp as anticpated. (After Hong Kong where Eng Tiong and I have to make coordinated turns to manoeuvre in our tiny room without hitting each other, this is heaven!) The room comes with a hairdryer, which is really convenient. We’ve brought our own travelling iron but I’m sure the hotel has one if we asked.

Public Transport
Taking the bus is the cheapest option. I’m not sure about express bus services though. From Juan Les Pins to Cannes and vice versa, also with bus number 200, the journey takes between 30 minutes to 45 minutes depending on the traffic. At times, it took up to an hour. The bus time table is not exactly accurate. Worse, the bus may not stop to pick up passengers if it’s already full. There’s 2 important French words we’ve learnt, beside “bonjour” & “merci”. The first one is “complete.” It means full.

So we think of the next alternative – the train. It cost slightly more at EUR 2,10 each way. It is a much shorter journey to the Cannes station – about 15 minutes max. The problem is the waiting. Similarly, there’s a timetable but it’s only useful if the trains keep to it! We wanted to catch PARANOID PARK by Gus Van Sant at 8:30am. We nearly missed it because the train was late… very late.  So the 2nd important French word we’ve learnt – “retard” which means late.

And then we thought we should have taken the bus… So who still wants to be a poor filmmaker?

CANNES!
The weather is fantastic… it’s hot but a cool breeze is constantly blowing so it doesn’t get sticky. At night I do feel a little chilly but Eng Tiong likes it best – it’s natural “air-con”.

  
 

An interesting mural on the side of a building. Spot film characters such as Mickey Mouse, R2-D2 & C-3PO!

Singapore’s advert on the go… SMART cars! It’s really a head-turner seeing a chain of 5 moving together. So cute!

On our last day there, we found the cars parking outside the market. Okay, we’re such suckers… just need to pose with one! 
 

And other things we’ve found along the streets of Cannes…

  

Marche du Film
 

Tons of trade magazines and you may not see in this pictures… lots of people. These photos were taken in the beginning of the day so the crowd is non-existent.
 
 

At the Singapore booth, we had fun getting interviewed by MDA’s video crew. When it is Juan’s turn, his boss Sebastian helped hold the light! So spotting!
 

And Eng Tiong helping CNA journalist Valerie record a short segment. Sigh… I guess you can’t take a camera out of our hands. Itchy, itchy!!!
 

Sales offices aren’t confined to land. Yachts, anyone?

Red Carpet
Just look at the pictures. Need I say more? This is happening every evening & night. We could barely squeeze our way to the front for a better look. We could only see Gong Li, Andie MacDowell & Michelle Yeoh from the huge LCD TV even though the red carpet is less than 50 metres away. (Okay, maybe it’s because I’m short…)

 
 

And there are really people out there all dressed up but with no tickets, begging for one. Like this lady…

Now our turn on the red carpet… catching a screening. This is the 8:30am screening I was referring to that we nearly missed because of the train delay. Gus van Sant’s PARANOID PARK at the Grand Theatre Lumiere. As long as it’s not the evening screening, we don’t have to dress up all pretty.

 

One of these days, we’re going to walk on it like we owned it…
 

Inside Lumiere
The theatre is HUGE! We have balcony seats (wow… we don’t have that in Singapore cinemas anymore). I’m pretty sure if I missed a step, I’m going to roll all the way down, over the balcony and onto the stage. A very, very, very long way to fall. Actually I’m not used to sitting so far away from the screen. I only like seats right in the centre and on a row two-thirds up. Basically the sweetest spot in a theatre. Anything less and Eng Tiong knows he’ll will get it from me.

But for this, we’re just glad to be here!
 

Food
For those that we pay for, that is. Our favourite place will be MacDonald’s. Something familiar and erm… affordable?

Another store we patronise that sells cheap food – paninis going for about EUR 4 each. Bascially sandwich. My favourite (another really junkie item) is the Nutella with bananas panini. How can anyone resist Nutella! But after eating a few paninis, our palates start to hurt. You need skills to eat a sandwich or you’re going to rub your palate raw!

 

Eng Tiong’s “Fetish” – Cinema-spotting
Screenings are also held outside of the main Lumiere & Debussy theatres. We only managed to visit a theatre in Olympia for a market screening.

 

Blue Carpet
The red carpet is for official films in the main category. The blue carpet (Debussy theatre) is for films selected under the Un Certain Regard category. Maybe not as “happening” as the red carpet, but it’s still a royal blue! The press and badge holders still queue up for them. The theatre gets filled just as quickly.

 

Other Crazy Things
Captain Jack Sparrow???!!!

Haha… yeah right!

SUNSHINE & Thinking BIG

 

Have you watch the film SUNSHINE?

I’m going to spoil it for you. This science fiction is directed by Danny Boyle, produced by Andrew MacDonald and written by Alex Garland. And not to forget, it stars our favourite actress Michelle Yeoh.

I love this team’s 28 DAYS LATER, but that’s besides the point.

It’s easy to tell that SUNSHINE is done outside the Hollywood studio system – no big name cast. And the biggest tell-tale sign of all? No happily ever after. Everyone dies at the end of the movie.

It just gets me thinking: wow, I want to make a film like that. (No, not that part where everyone dies at the end of the movie.) I want to make a big action film. If UK filmmakers can do it, I’m pretty sure Singapore filmmakers can do it too… erm… one fine day… I hope?

Then I think harder – can Singapore really make such a film? No, seriously. Can we do it? 

My answer is no. Maybe another 10 years (hopefully shorter) if we continue to expand and grow our industry at the current rate. Eng Tiong and I deduced that it isn’t very hard to come up with a story like this. Of course, the detailed research into physics and all that stuff will be mind-boggling but the basic story idea isn’t that difficult to think up.

The core issue lies in the very heart and soul of being a Singaporean – we don’t think big. Maybe we can’t think big. Maybe we refuse to think big. Maybe we can’t find a reason to think big. Maybe we just don’t see big.

Let me relate my story:

Eng Tiong and I are currently working on a few story ideas. There’s this one particular idea we’re developing that’s somehow getting nowhere. Then one fine day Eng Tiong sugggested, “Okay, let’s think in terms of Hollywood. If we’re Hollywood producers. What will we do? Who do we want to cast as the leads?” 

The most amazing thing happened. My mind frees up. Immediately I see Scarlett Johannson. He sees Jessica Alba. (Okay, we agree that Jessica Alba is a better choice.) And we see Clive Owen as the male lead. I can see how the story has to be told. I can see how the characters are like. Most importantly, I can feel the emotions the characters are going through. I can see the whole action sequences. Car crash, police everywhere…. Everything becomes real. Everything becomes bigger. Everything becomes… possible.

My thoughts before this exercise are so limiting. So… small. I just doubt every single crazy thought in my head. I just don’t believe any of it is do-able.

This is what Danny Boyle says on the SUNSHINE web site about writer Alex Garland:

“What I love about Alex’s work is he has these big ideas,” explains Boyle. “The British film industry tends to make quite small films, but Alex’s writing always contains these massive ideas and concepts, which is wonderful, though complex to finance and realize.”

Ditto, ditto, ditto. BIG ideas. We could definitely use some here in Singapore.

Trust me. It feels almost orgasmic to think really BIG, not confined by the four walls of our HDB flats, by our tiny country island, our pragmatism, our rules and most importantly, by the way we’ve been taught to think.

How about the money, you might say. Well, I think that should be the least of our worries. If the story is damn good, money will come.

The Pursuit of Happyness

“There was no Plan B. I knew I had to succeed. And because I had to, I knew I would.”

                                                                                        Chris Gardner
                                                                     The Pursuit of Happyness    

This is one great inspirational story that every down and out and struggling person should watch or read.

I’ve never felt more moved watching a film about facing adversity than this one. Maybe I can identify with Chris Gardner. Our lives aren’t a bed of roses right now.

2 quotes from the movie that stuck in my head. Maybe not verbatim, but well, you’ll get the point:

“Don’t let anybody tell you that you can’t do what you want to do. If you have a dream, protect it.”

“Because when I was young and I get an A in a history test or whatever, I get this good feeling about all the things that I can be. And then I never became any of them.”

If we never give up and keep trying and trying, hopefully we’ll get to see the light like he did.