Update.
I’ve finally found the time to sit down and blog about the current progress of the NCC video.
I had a few unique experiences over the past few days.
I got shot at with a revolver (went momentarily blind and deaf as well)
I got to carry a film camera.
I earned the trust of Sir Latiff in a form of 600 dollars from his own pocket to fund the project.
I learnt about the general unhappiness of “behind the scenes” people on the way Project Pilot turned out to be.
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This whole preproduction process has gotten on my nerves.
I am indeed angry at the general incompetence of people who have AGREED WITH ENTHUSIASM to be involved with this project, with the knowledge that they are getting paid for what they do and the fullest support of a very dedicated officer, yet, they make NO EFFORT whatsoever to help IMPROVE the project, either by means of giving opinions of the plot, setting a time and day for the proposed shooting dates or even turning up for production meetings with people from ESTABLISHED production companies to discuss important issues like equipment rental or special effects, which is SERIOUS, and really cant be done with one person only.
Not only do I have to squeeze the juice out of them, I had to explain to them in a way that I am doing now just to emphasize the need for cooperation in a production team.
This has indeed gone too far.
I just got off the phone with our star-to-be.
He has declined to participate in the project with reasoning that it does not fit his schedule (we’re shooting on the 22nd, night and 23rd) but suggested the shooting be done on the EVE OF NEW YEAR.
I just cannot allow one man, to halt the entire production team (cast, crew, sponsors) of FIFTY men, just to suit his schedule, on a day which everyone else WOULDN’T come.
Thus, my current “if you can’t make time for it, too bad” approach to people I am sourcing for the project.
This project is not failing, really. It’s just going slow. The logistics side has been settled.
I’ve worked a price for the rental of equipments from Cinegear Pte. Ltd, which includes an entire XL2 package, a tracked dolly, a 2000W and 300W light, reflector, boom microphone and a rain jacket for the XM2, which amounts to a total cost of SGD$280 PER DAY (and we’re shooting for two days), 40 dollars cheaper than the original price.
Today I sat down with the special effects guy. We talked. And he showed me a sample of his expertise; he loaded a revolver, and shot me. There was a loud bang. Smoke. And muzzle flash. Price of that? Momentary blindness and a total numbness in the ears. And a jerky camera shot. No one died. Nothing.
Then he showed me his arsenal of rifles and machineguns and handguns.
Not only is this guy, Jimmy Low from Stunt Productions, very dedicated, he MAKES all his stuff, including gunpowder, and has a license to boot.
Now, I think his 1,500 dollar package is actually dirt cheap for blank firing guns and body hits and explosions.
However, I cannot fit this into the NCC video. This will only result in a rushed job, lousy cinematography and a truckload of arguments between the crew, cast and special effects guy.
Never. I have no intentions on seeing my production turning to be an event of disorganized hopeless bunch of “aspiring” filmmakers trying to make a “movie”. I have a standard to maintain as an FSV student, as a person who has been looking at the world through a viewfinder for more than three years, almost non-stop. (I learnt cinematography and technical works of the camera on my own, from the ground up. It was not easy for a 15 year old. So don’t tell me I’m a loghead. I know I have much more to learn anyways.)
I won’t be surprised to lose more than half of my crew if I were to start another production, even if it has a budget of three thousand dollars and they get a share of that budget (I’m actually working it out soon).
And I should be paid, at least five thousand dollars, for a project like this whereby I am the scriptwriter, the director, the producer, the editor, the cameraman, the cinematographer and the gaffer. And that is not even the industrial price, believe me. I asked.
*storywriters can earn two thousand bucks for their story. That’s for the average type. Let’s not talk about “The Usual Suspects” kind; that’ll blow us away.
Thus I see no reason why I can be considered to be priced way “above (my) standard” when I charge four hundred dollars for a day shoot (this is only as a cameraman. Not editor. Not director.). It is only logical to check industrial prices first, and then compare your findings against freelance videographers. Did you know that they charge a hundred dollars PER TAPE for editing? and don’t hope of getting more than 30 minutes out of a tape. Not even close. We used two tapes for a five minute video. So calculate, people.
*Henry agreed to be my model again. He always saves me from trouble. I’m giving him forty bucks (with extras, naturally) for his service. Sometimes the best people we know are right under our noses. Not those with their heads high up in the clouds.
