Behind The Scenes: Bebelan Wanita, Sebuah Dokumentari
I guess the highlight of my 5th semester was learning Broadcasting where I had the privilege to learn how to work on a video camera, I learnt who the people are behind every production team and what their job prospects are, I learnt how to write a Public Service Announcement script besides critiquing a movie, and I even did news casting.
One of my assignments was to produce either a short film, a music video, or a documentary. Since my class was divided into three groups, we had to cabut undi and my group unfortunately (or fortunately?) got documentary, towards which we wanted to avoid so much because #1. it's boring, #2. it's based on facts, and #3. it's boring. But we comforted ourselves by saying that we don't have to worry about making sure the music is in sync with the video (like how the music video team has to), and how we don't have to think so hard on a story line (like how the short film team has to). Luck was most probably on our side hehe.
The whole pre-production process on the other hand, was a headache - our topics were rejected repeatedly and it took us long enough to come up with a topic that finally made our lecturer's face lit up when we proposed the topic, "Bebelan Wanita". Phew. Nevertheless, our misery didn't just stop there. We came up with a few seemingly decent scripts but those too were also disappointingly rejected again and again. Hmm can you hear that? It's the sound of our hearts shattering into a million pieces. But despite all that, it taught us the importance of teamwork. Of course it's always good to be independent but when you work in a group, you've gotta be selfless and depend on one another in order to get the results that you wanted. Even in Islam we're encouraged to solat berjemaah and to add to that, we get extra pahala! How cool is that?! Okay cue Wonder Pets' theme song: What's gonna work? Teaaaaamwoooork!
Onto the production process: initially we wanted to shoot around Jonker Walk and Little India because in our original script, we wanted to focus on Chinese and Indian women as well and not just Malay women alone but there was a change of plan when we found out that the short film team was going to shoot in Simpang Renggam, Johor (Intan's hometown). Our dear producer, Zakwan, was keen on tagging along the team so he persuaded us. We were quite excited about the idea as well so we followed them but little did we know, it affected our initial script - towards which we had to come up with a plan B. Uh-oh. You know what that means? Change of scripts all over again! But only a slight adjustment here and there *wipes sweats*
Pre-Johor trip, we shoot around our campus first and foremost to get it over and done with for our opening sequence of our documentary.
Our one and only talent, Alep, who also happens to be our classmate. Curi kejap from short film team hehe.
And then we went to Johor for 3 days and 2 nights.
The mighty tripod. So berat k you don't have to angkat dumb bells because this alone can build up your guns.
Am (Art Director) being all serious on location.
Our scriptwriter, Cik Ten, is all smiles while holding up the mic for our interviewer.
Yang ni terlebih jakun hehe put down the glass, Zakwan!!!
This one was one funny story. The short film team was shooting one of the scenes where the leads (husband and wife) are having a conversation about the food that they had earlier and the husband says something that offends the wife (indirectly saying the wife is fat) so the wife gets pissed off. Alep (their lead actor) kept making mistakes, like he would slur his words or he would suddenly blurt out laughing and the team had to retake the scene for over 10 times or so. I guess it was Alep's first time acting and we understood so much of how awkward it can be, what more when there were over 10 people watching him act. But we all had a good laugh watching the production team continuously getting angry at him after each take, and how funny it was to see the leads repeating the same dialogue over and over again. Sigh rinduuu.
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Took the chance to wander about Intan's hometown and man were we in awe! The kampung was really a sight to see and we found lalang (!!!) as well! I literally went crazy and couldn't stop taking pictures of the lalang and was sad when we had to leave :(
Look at the flowers blooming prettily behind my production team! Gorgeous stuff! *hearts eyes*
The people behind Luna Works Production aka my documentary team. Missing in frame: 1) Kecik, who was snoozing in the car while we were admiring the mother nature. Boooring. 2) Dato', who didn't tag along and was in Lendu with an excuse that he wanted to finish up his assignment. What a nerd. 3) Yours truly. Because I was the one who took these pictures. Dunno if I should feel sad or happy???
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Back in Melaka.
My team being total cuties at Jonker Walk.
At Hatten Hotel's carpark.
Melaka. I kinda miss you. I kinda don't.
The last process which is the post-production process was yet another headache we had to go through. Our first trouble was transferring the videos from the camera to the computer. And then when that problem was solved, we encountered yet another problem - one of our laptops couldn't read the videos but after we had it solved, Zakwan's laptop suddenly got infected with viruses and to add to that, his laptop was the only one that could read the files and the fact that we were juggling between editing the videos and cramming for our finals was an absolute torture. We felt both disappointed and desperate - disappointed because nothing was going our way, desperate because we wanted to get it over and done with - but Alhamdulillah, with much perseverance and obviously our continuous doa to Him, the video was finally edited and ready to be submitted to our lecturer. Us girls had already given up and were already ready to jump off a cliff or something haha but thank goodness there was Zakwan and his A+ patience, it was all made possible because of him and the rest of the boys and Putra's help. Couldn't thank them enough.
All in all, our documentary wasn't that satisfying and the fact that we received a harsh criticism from Sir Shahril didn't make it any better but still, Alhamdulillah. At least we learnt something out of it and it was sort of like a stepping stone for us? There are bound to be bigger obstacles that we have to face if we were to work in the industry later but at least we're fully prepared for it - both mentally and physically. InshaAllah. And well, what's a success without hurdles and challenges, am I right?!
Tadaaa! Our effort, sweat, and tears. Literally. Poster and CD artwork designed by yours truly hehe.
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