Part 1.3: Experiencing Production

What is my life like in a production house? A. I was there for a short period of time i.e. one and a half month. B. I wasn’t trained in anything production related. So I ended up doing pretty much nothing significant. Well, I did finish an important piece of paperwork. Thanks to my ingenious mom who had the foresight, I was schooled in both Mandarin Chinese and English. I translated a preliminary movie script from Chinese into English for the executive producer. And I was pretty much in charge of this for my whole time there.

On top of the formal work, I got to experience the drama set! I had to admit, I refuse to get bored of it. I got to experience cinematography first hand. I learned about different types of shots and their uses. I learned about lighting and sound. I acted as an extra and I got to brush shoulders with actors. I even got to act as an assistant director for a scene.

Moreover, I got to know a group of amazing people whom I kept in contact with until this day. I got to know the heroes behind the scene, those whose names you see in end credits but have never acknowledged their importance. The most important lesson that I learned from my experience on a set is the importance of a good editor. A director tells the story with his shots but it’s up to an editor to piece the story together. I spent hours in the editing room witnessing their meticulous work. After that, I get to be one of the first people to watch the episode. But work is done yet. The producer has to scene through the edited episode. I got to chip in a comment or two as well. By the end of the whole editing process, the episode has actually gone through at least two screenings.

Let’s get back to the story of my formal “office” work. I was really involved in the movie script. It came to a point where I treated it like a personal project. It was a fetus waiting to be born. Given my short time at the production house, I knew that I will not be there to witness the birth of my baby. I started to think of ways around it. If all was to go according to plan, the movie should have started filming in Dec 2009.

Suddenly, light shined across my dark path. It felt like the Enlightenment after decades of Dark Age. It dawned upon me that I could be back in Malaysia during winter break and study abroad for spring semester in Asia! Schools in Asia usually start later than schools in the States. This means that I could participate in the production of my baby! The timing was perfect. The actors were cast. All that needs to be done is the setting of the stage. So I got online and logged into my school’s website. Korea was the perfect place in terms of timing and finance. I had missed the deadline to apply for exchange and financial aid to study abroad. So, I had to weight my odds carefully. Hurdles and obstacles waited in front of me and I am determined to conquer them. Problema, come what may!