28th
NOV
My shortfilm: swindle
Posted by tsubaki | Filed under Personal
Alright, as promised, I’ve uploaded the short film I was working on a while ago on youtube. Basically for my school, we have to produce short films every semester which is considered as a “solo project”, where we pratically do everything ourselves. Of course, we are allowed to enlist help from others. But I prefer working alone, only getting help on certain parts that I really need help with. So yes, this film was written, produced, directed, shot and edited by myself.
I won’t say it’s teh best film, because I’ll be honest and say I intended it to be a little lame. Lol. But it’s all fun, since we really have full control over everything, as opposed to a proper film crew with assigned positions and all.
Alright, let me throw in the introduction and the whole after thought process under the cut.
This story wasn’t the story that I initially wanted to do. I pitched a story about an erotic novelist who is trapped in novel he wrote, but that got thrown out, lol. Not because of the theme, but the way I approach the story was way too long for it to be a short film. So I then decided to make a quasi-funny film with a twist. I thought about swindlers after watching Liar Game awhile ago, so I started writing the script.
So.. for this film the synopsis is about a really stupid girl getting cheated. And well erm, saying anymore will spoil it, so just watch it and we can discuss about it.
I must admit that for this script, the story has a couple of loopholes, not because I was unaware, but I had to compress it to fit into the 10 minute limit. So if you’re not sure, do ask and I’ll try my best to explain it. I was more focus on the cinematography aspect of it, the camera angles, lighting and all since I’m more of a visual storyteller than a scriptwriter.
Oh and a couple of things I should point out.
My talents are all amateurs, it’s their first time acting. The girl playing Xiao Feng, is tjhan’s girlfriend. He’s a lucky bastard for a nerd (LOL), but he’s also an asshole. See the typical male chauvinistic pig in action:
[22:45] tsubaki: i’ll post my film tonight
[22:45] tsubaki: u can see your wife
[22:45] Lss: cool
[22:45] Lss: can post in on cr
[22:45] tj_han: i havent spoken to her in 3-4 weeks though
[22:45] Lss: rather than youtube
[22:45] tsubaki: u seriously suck.
[22:45] Lss: or even stage6
[22:45] Lss: better quality
[22:45] double: lol tj_han giving the cold treatment?
[22:46] tj_han: not really
[22:46] tj_han: but exam time
Okay, I kid. tjhan is a good husband. Really. Anyway, so if you think their acting is not up to par, well it’s as I explained. Dialog-wise, it’s a mix of english, singlish, mandarin thrown in. I’m sure some of you recall that I absolutely suck at mandarin. But I always shoot my films in chinese or dialect! That’s only because my lecturers are all causasians and they can’t understand it! That’s how I cheat with subtitles, just like how nyoro~n tells you shit about Gundam00!
Just kidding. The real reason why I use them is because I find it more natural on screen. While English is a main language used in Singapore, it doesn’t translate well into cinema for some reason. That’s why the locals tend to shun local English productions on tv, unless there’s some hunky cute Eurasian dude or something.
Anyway, I hid quite a bit of anime influences and music into the film. See if you can identify it.
The answers are in the credits though, lol.
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November 28, 2007 -
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BUT ODEX SUCKS AND IS EVILLLLL!
Noo one reads j00 site no more!
lol i watched that video. you sure you are just an amateur? haha i love the last sentence under the “about this video” section, because i love her too! love the last part of the video, correct, because of the song!! I dont wanna talk about the video here in case it became spoiler lol, let others watch it themselves. =D
@Lianyi : there are, but we’re all lurkers.
@Tsubaki: interesting clip, i almost certainly could have sworn that i was watching a royston tan film. XD
Keeping m00lah in dolls. Hmm …
@tj han Your meme is as old as a stale breaktalk bread.
@LianYL I still get a lot of lurking hits though.
@Seiryuu Well I’m a student after all, so technically I am still an amateur. Though this will be changing soon. Will talk about it in a while. And lol, I had to put it a hirano aya song this time round. xD
@Hatori Royston? Lol! He’s got a different style la. Have you seen his shorts?
@l-lawliet Yeap. Dolfies are useful.
you should have used a candy girl instead of that old doll.
Watched a couple of them before when i was a little younger. Didn;t really make much sense then, but then again, the same thing is still there, passing a message out to others.
Very nice!
that why it remind me of liar game
nice story, i like the ending :D were the $ real???
That was awesome Tsubaki, though the guy’s heavy english accent wasn’t exactly understandable. Good job (and post moar) :]
I’ll have to hit your house instead of your bank account.
Wow that was pretty cool…a bit of background static, otherwise it could’ve passed off as something professionally made. The girl reminds me of Nodame lol.
Nice twist ending.
Job well done ^^
Woot~ Interesting. Definitely gonna check it out. Good luck for the next assignment.
it seems like a lot of film schools are doing the same thing. I have a friend who justed called me today to see if she could borrow my room for a film shoot.
I hope no one sees this before viewing the video because I have a question that might spoil it for those who have yet to view the show.
How is that middle-aged man related to both the girl and the guy who tried to swindle her? Ya gotta cure this itch of mine.
Nice one Tsubaki ^_^
The climax was also well executed. I oO and lol’ed at it.
Oh, and I think the reason why english doesnt click with local films is that we are actually speaking singlish.
Wow, nice film. Certainly the best amateur production I’ve seen, although I haven’t seen much lol.
man, e front was lame, bt e ending was teh power!
lolololol @ the ending
Why don’t you try getting the entire cast to speak in a Scottish accent next time ? :P
Haha…Nice one. The middle part got a little blur, that can’t hear clearly what they are speaking….
Loved the video… ESPECIALLY the ending thats damn nice.. and the ringtone made me laugh like mad hahaha
Lool,
the girls character reminds me of a dorama i just recently watched, just wondering did u borrow it form “Liar Game” tsu?
@Lol Well if you sponsor me one, I certainly would use it. Lol.
@Ascaloth Thank you!
@Loke Like I mentioned, it was inspired by it.
@Lavin Thanks. I made the money myself. Hahaha.
@Lenners Aye, I realized that not everyone can handle his singlish. Guess I’ll have to put subs next time for those.
@V That’s not my house though, lol.
@faye Background static? What do you mean by that? Oh yeah, I told my actress to model herself after nodame, hahaha.
@§oL Glad you like it.
@Jairo Thanks!
@ModelX My next one would be quite a large scale project.
@魁 Which school is she from? There’s only a few film schools in Singapore. The rest are just video courses.
@Sojourner The clue lies in the opening video actually. The old man is the mastermind behind this whole setup. He’s also a sleeper agent kind of swindler, pretending to be Kenneth’s friend until he pulls a job on him using Xiao Feng.
@abao Thanks. Glad you enjoyed it. Aye, singlish doesn’t translate to well unless it’s abused like PCK.
@Chraen Thank you! For almost one man show production, that’s a really big compliment.
@|c3^sNoW Heh, I enjoyed the ending the most too. My favorite scene.
@Kesenaitsumi Is it the audio level or his accent?
@kaladbolg >D I told you there was hidden anime influences. Lol.
@Takumi Yeah, I was inspired by Liar Game.
I see… Sorry but I am real busy body, Tsubaki.
Just wanna affirm my inference regarding the film. So was it that oji-san who arranged for Kenneth to somehow notice that Xiao Feng existed, so that he would try to swindle her out of curiosity due to her reputation of being guilible?
This video is kinda funny….the anime music inserts felt a bit cheap though…the funniest was the “Kimama” by Nakagawa Koutarou which is actually my morning alarm on my phone. Coincidence or not?
@Sojourner Bingo. You got it. Lol, it’s nice to see people reading into it.
@exaltdragon Can’t help it since I don’t have a composer, so I slap on ready music, which is teh anime ost.
That was quite good. I definitely enjoyed it. I’m not a film expert, but I thought the cinematography and editing were especially strong.
well there was a bit of background noise….or that could be my lousy speakers perhaps. Dont worry about it. :)
Excellent film, you rule !
I recognize Death Note Theme for the fist seconds of the music, and also Aya Hirano xD
Continue in this way !
Nice film, agree MegaVolt, the editing, lighting, etc… are nicely done other the part (*refering to YouTube video of this post*) 3:45 transition to 3:46, the actress’s hair started ‘flying’/floating. I feel a bit weird, since her hair wasn’t ‘flying’/floating before that, lol
So I feel it’s a little ‘overdone’ at that part. Overall I think your film should be good enough to score, but I am no pro on the film and video stuff, hehe
god i was using that hayate ringtone a month ago lol it was great for waking me up
Nice work tsubaks. This work ain’t amateurish anymore… looking forward to see your next film.
well, some of the proportions in the show can be much better (since i did take film and video studies when I was a undergraduate), but the theme and feel of the show is quite cool. Well, for now, I am just going to say that it’s a decent piece of work, since it looks like you only have 1 camera man, one lighting personnel (if any, i didn’t see much lighting in the whole show) and 1 director. It’s decent work for sure. ^_^