Monday, August 28, 2006

SOMETHING IN THE AIR...

I can't explain it...

Every corner I turn to I expect a red dominated cafe... dark with red leather chairs, tendrils of smoke floating above the hand held cigarettes of faceless, middle aged, balding men.

Funnily enough - over the past 4 days, I was in 3 such places... something is surely in the air...

Only 3 days to go before it begins...

3 days...

THE PERILS OF PITCHING

She walks into the door, adrenalin pumping. Already, her sweaty hands are creating fingerprints on the sample prints that she made. She remembers his comments from weeks ago, that the poster for the movie was to be painted. Hand painted according to the film noir style. She had sent a phone message to him just yesterday, asking if he was open to options.

Yes, I am. The message had read.

She walks to the table where he was seated, piles of paper all around him as he worked the storyboards. A grunt greeted her.

I think that means "sit down", she told herself.

Nervously, with words tumbling over each other, she shows him the posters she had done.

"Great for a horror film, this one."
But not for this. That was my favourite, she gulped.

"Quite in the spirit of the occult. But this black one is closest to what I imagine."

Pause.

"Painted, definitely painted. Noir style. Try again."

She sees the top of his head, bent low, working on the storyboards again.

Damn storyboards!

"Yes sir." Her voice tiny.

She slinks out of the room to breathe the air of her defeat.

Monday, August 21, 2006

DINNER, IS SERVED

Finally, a break from my day job. Which has been hectic. And eratic. And left me spastic. At times. I just wanted to rhyme. Ignore me.

Anywayyyyyyyyyy...

I had an RSD "insulin shot" Tuesday of last week. Churned out the schedule, emailed it, introduced the blog to our cast, sat, twiddled my thumbs and waited for emails to pour in with questions. Ah...all in a days work. Called it one by 4pm, took a leisurely drive home and thought to myself:

"Holy moly...the schedule's out. It's really, real. Like real. Real. Really real".

Yes, sometimes we still find it rather surreal that this thing, this thing called a movie, is slowly, but very surely, about to leave the runway and take full flight:

"Good morning ladies and gentleman, welcome to flight RSD 001, direct from dream to reality. We are preparing for take off; please fasten your seatbelts and enjoy your flight. Today's weather forecast - clear skies with a high of huge excitement and sunny disposition. Welcome".

By the way, I'm still working on the "personalized" chairs. Will a taped piece of paper with your name on it suffice?

Cheers!

Friday, August 04, 2006

CINEMA OF ICONOCLASM

(extracted from gtalk with eevon)

i worry myself sometimes because i'm so deeply obsessed with cinema, old cinema especially, that rsd sometimes feels less like its own movie but rather an encyclopaedia of cinematic references: godard, bogart, bollywood, kar wai, karina, takeshi, femme fatale, lynch, assasins, musicals, gangsters. icon after icon after icon, i plough up and fit in. some days, i look at videogirl and ltw and think these are real people, because people connect with them, feel like them. and then some days i think they are nothing but brightly coloured cutouts from cinematic history.

i'm not ashamed. i just think about it and it can be a bit intellectually unsettling. i believe that great films provide you moments where you can zone out and because of a scene or a dialogue, you momentarily escape from the film and think about something. when i saw in the mood for love, i zoned out and saw myself saying the following words "my films don't move slowly. my films don't move at all".

when you say that the actors need a point of reference to begin somewhere, i suspect mine will go nowhere, and they will end up exactly where they started. icon to icon. to say that an actor begins with an icon as a reference point, a starting point if you will, implies that the actor progresses from there and builds something new, albeit in reference to that earlier point. i suspect that no one will go anywhere here. fai will be my image of a takeshi at the start and he will finish the film as an image of takeshi. bel will begin the film as karina and she will finish it exactly the same way. my films don't move slowly. my films don't move at all.

it's the cinema of iconoclasm. nobody is new. everybody is an image, an approximation of the original.

eco said that when the originals are no longer available, the last copy is the original.

in fact, originality is no more and never will be anymore. rsd is a most highly unoriginal film, but still i believe it is unique.

Wednesday, August 02, 2006

GUILT IN STASIS

At times like this, taking a night out to do completely RSDless activity can do very bad things to your heart, as eevon elucidated on in the prior post. Taking two, or godforbid three, can make a grown man go mental.

For me, it was returning home after a late night in the office intent on a quiet night reading my newly acquired Umberto Eco book, which as a writer/filmmaker, can as easily be filed under research and inspiration as billionaire businessmen file rolls royces under company transportation. Nonetheless, i still relaxed with a heavy heart.

On a related front, my conscience will appreciate news that KL Recce part 1 has been confirmed for tomorrow night, as is Muar Recce on saturday. Good ... now I can sleep in peace.