David Schmoeller with our local filmmakers-in-residence Ellery Ngiam, Victric Thng; local filmmakers Juan Foo and Ric Aw and visiting filmmakers Andrea Richards and Norwood Cheek




Tea with Grace and Victric

David's time in Singapore

On David's shoot


Workshop at Objectifs

entry by victric thng

Films with Style
Styling, Make-Up & Wardrobe for films

The session on last Wednesday, 14th March 2007 - Styling, Make-Up & Wardrobe for films, saw a great turnout of nearly 30 enthusiasts coming for the talk. Among them were aspiring filmmakers, professional cameramen, students and many others who were simply interested in the styling aspect for films.

I have invited Kenny Lohwey, both a professional stylist and a good friend of mine to come in and share with us about the work of stylist. Kenny is currently one of the most sought after Stylist in the local film industry. Working for more than a decade, Kenny has a huge body of work that he flashed out “stylishly” during the talk. We were all baffled by his portfolio.

Kenny gave us insights into the world of a stylist, what a stylist needs from the director and producer in order to be effective. Stylist is often taken for granted and expected to create magic during production. What we do not understand that Stylist needs a decent amount of time to prepare and make sure that all things coordinate well for the film. Kenny also emphasizes that, not only working closely with the director and producer, stylist also must work tightly with the art director, casting director, location manager and director-of-photography. He stresses that 3 things a Stylist must have in the beginning of a project are: Script, Budget and Timeline.

During the session, Kenny also gave us his little secret tips on make-up and how to look
great and cheat for camera.

The session was informal, casual and fun. It was more like a talk-show with me like a inquisitive host, asking plenty of questions ranging from practical ones like “how much does a Stylist charge?” to gossipy ones like “your worst nightmare director you ever worked with…”

It just all comes down to the vital understanding how a stylist work, and when you understand that, you will know what to give them so they can return their best for you and your film, simple as that but often overlooked and taken for granted. The work of a stylist is definitely not glamorous, their job is to make you glamorous while they hide in the shadow of your limelight. They really deserve greater respect.

My BIG thank you to Kenny Lohwey who is so kind and willing to come down and share with us his knowledge and experiences in styling for films.

I hope for those who came for this talk, will be enlightened and thereafter make films with “style”.


vt.
16th march 2007

Blog #3 - Grace Lee

This past Saturday, I led a documentary workshop at Objectifs. A group of 10 people came together.. ranging from a road engineer from Kuala Lumpur, a former photo editor from Time-Asia recently relocated from Hong Kong, a couple of media arts students, an administrative assistant, a professional photographer, a PhD candidate in history, an English as a Second Language instructor and a publicist from a film/entertainment company. Of course these are the labels people use to describe “what they do” for a living or how they spend most of their days.. but at heart, everyone who came on Saturday is a storyteller with things they want to say and put into the moving image + sound form. What’s exciting about documentaries for me is just how broad and expansive the medium is, and when people start talking about their ideas for the stories they want to tell, I get really excited.

Because there are so many classes focusing on the technical aspects of film production –I chose to focus on different approaches to documentary filmmaking by showing a lot of examples from filmmakers who have inspired me. These are artists who have tried to incorporate something other than the News/ “Voice of God” narrator approach to documentaries, which seems pretty obvious, but when you’re starting out, it’s easier to follow the models of what is constantly around us. I also emphasized the importance of putting together some sort of written treatment as a way to synthesize and organize one’s thoughts about the film they want to make.

At some point, a filmmaker, no matter what level, has to express this film idea to another person – whether it is a potential funder or sponsor, a subject whom they actually want to participate in the film, or a crew member. This treatment can also be an excellent reference, months or years down the line, when one inevitably gets lost amongst all the footage and all the twists and turns that have happened along the filmmaking process, to remember exactly why they wanted to make this film in the first place. The treatment is a kind of “note to oneself” in a way, as well or a kind of time capsule. It’s always fascinating for me to go back and look at these treatments I’ve written, before I’ve even shot a second of tape to see exactly what my intial motivation was to make the film. It’s that first little spark or inspiration that you hope a viewer down the line will experience in the same way that you did once before.

Anyway, I just wanted to thank everyone who participated in the workshop for spending their Saturday afternoon with me. I look forward to seeing the fruits of your labor! I will also post or email to you the information regarding the call for entries for The Chinatown Project soon.

Grace

Blog #2 by Grace Lee

It’s hard to believe that I’ve been here for a week already. So much to see and do, and way too many things to eat...I’ll try to list some of the highlights here and then try to keep better track on this blog of my impressions during the residency.

Arrived very early on March 21, and in several hours time I found my way to the Objectifs office with the help of a fellow Grace Lee! Actually, Yuemin, one of the office staff told me when she picked me up from the hotel that her English name is Grace, but she barely uses it – only at Starbucks when she doesn’t want the barista to mispronounce her Chinese name.

We headed down to Objectifs on Liang Seah street via the MRT and as we surfaced up the escalator into the Bugis Junction food court, I was overwhelmed by the swirl of colors and smells around me. I realize that this is essentially just a shopping mall, but no food court in American looks like this! I basically try to stay away from shopping mall food if I can help it. Mental note: come back here and try everything; from freshly squeezed sugar cane juice, to Indonesian crackers to Japanese soft serve ice cream, curry puffs, Yong Tau Foo, and on and on. Got settled at Objectifs, where I m et Yuni and Dawn, before heading back home to rest before my screening.

At the Singapore Art Museum a few hours later, had the Singapore premiere of The Grace Lee Project, plus a short film I made a few years ago called Barrier Device. The audience responded well, and a couple of Grace Lees even showed up. We made plans to meet up later during my residency…I’m looking forward to quizzing them about what it’s like to be a Grace Lee here.

My residency time is largely spent working on a draft of a feature film script and teaching a couple of workshops, but I am also here to explore and be inspired by the filmmaking scene here in Singapore.

Objectifs has been great about introducing me to filmmakers and I had already met a few people in my festival and other travels abroad. So far in week one, I’ve had the pleasure of seeing an old friend, documentarian Tan Pin Pin, and she introduced me to filmmakers Eva Tang and Jasmine Ng. Lillian Wang is another filmmaker who I got to know briefly when I was at film school at UCLA. I also met up with Gavin Lim and his producer Emily Moy, who made a short film called HELLO? that was at Slamdance a couple of months ago. It’s great to see them in tropical Singapore – way more pleasant than subzero snowy Park City, Utah. The Objectifs gals also invited me to a screening at The Picturehouse art house cinema – which was run by Oi Leng Lui, whom I met last year at the Pusan Film Festival.

Another event organized by Objectifs is the Digital Film Fiesta – where 12 filmmakers were commissioned to make short films on HD. Went to the awards ceremony, where fellow Objectifs artist in residence Victric Thng won first prize for “The Mole,” a whimsical mix of live action and animation that I really enjoyed. Some of the other entries were great as well – I really enjoyed Superdong and Flat Dreams by Eva Tang. It’s great to see such diversity here in form, genre, and content.

In my first week, I also met filmmakers Tania Sng (and was graciously invited by her to a special screening of CAGES, on which she was producer) and I also met up with producers Juan Foo from Shooting Gallery Asia and Kevin Lee from OneTon Cinema.

Pin Pin invited me to a benefit screening for a film called Pink Paddlers, by Jasmine Ng, that was commissioned to raise breast cancer awareness in Singapore. It was at the Grand Cathay theater and it’s about breast cancer survivors who participate in dragon boat racing, as a way to raise awareness as well as create community. The film is really well done – it’s funny, touching, inspiring, and educational…and very human.

One thing that strikes me most after a week in Singapore is how comfortable I am here. Particularly as an Asian American. Many Singaporeans – at least those closer in age to me – have many of the same cultural references ( largely American TV and movies) and I have a greater sense of camaraderie than, say, some of my peers that I’ve met from other Asian countries. Even though I am of Korean origin and speak the language and have spent quite a bit of time in Seoul, there is something, dare I say, uniquely Singapore, that I’m trying to put my finger on, that makes me feel more comfortable here. I’m sure language has a lot to do with it, and I have a ways to go before I will master Singlish,. But it’s an intriguing connection that could foster many creative collaborations for the future.

More to come…