Decoding Voices Video

All the projects are finally done...for now...
When i look back to it...
Since the event of City mosaic last year, then it is Get It Right summer camp, then 927 fundraising, then 1120 fundraising...
wow...that's alot..and almost non-stop...
and finally get a chance to breath and rest...=P

Thinking back to the production of the 114 Video...
it was just after the 1120 fundraising event...when everyone was really exhausted and tired..
but cause there isn't much time left...only about one and a half month...
really tight timing...
and to have to come up with the script and do the shooting (during Christmas time), and do all the editing... sounded really crazy already...



I was really scared and had lots of pressure too...
having really done a long script before...
all i did before for fiction pieces was without lines..
shooting, writing, directing, editing, everything... all done...by myself...
so it is really crazy to think that having to lead a whole team to do this production...

and also at the same time...
it is like a chance to test myself..
if i really have a talent in this area..
i am really scare one day to find out that...hey... all these studying and watching film... is only good for watching film..
when it comes to actually shooting and directing a production..
i am no good...i don't have the talent...(i am not saying i am really good right now)
so it is kinda a time when i have to face my worst fears...
But thx for everyone's support...
giving me strength to go on...

When thinking about the script... the first idea was to do a modern version of the prodigal son... to give the msg of how youth today learned a set of values in church which they can't really apply to real life...
Then came up with the idea of setting the story in the future...
where we try to address the struggles that we have in our daily Christian lives...
with the two sets of rules...one being the church/parents..the other the world/mass media..
which later becomes the Gene Alpha and Rebel X system in the story...

Gene Alpha- i was thinking about Genesis... the beginning when everything God created was good... so hence... Alpha, the beginning of the letters...
So it kinda represent the church... as well as the parental voice as well...
ppl just knows a set of rules given by Gene Alpha..don't really know the real reason why they have to follow it...

Rebel X - we are at a time when God will be coming back soon... the end of times..
so i thought about Revel XX in the beginning... which sounded really out...
so changed it to being a REBEL...represents the mass media...
It posses the voice of each youth's fav. idol... which tells them what they should wear.. how they should live...
Isn't it true today as well??

If you notice in Samson's room...
there is always the poster of "Clockwork Orange"...
if you know the msg of the movie.. it really enhance the meaning of the scene..
where Clockwork Orange is about youths rebelling against the adulthood and they are programmed to have no evil thoughts and behaves as a perfect example of the society..
isn't the church kinda like that in a way nowadays??
saying u can't do this/ can't do that...
i mean... yes there are some things that Christians really shouldn't do..
but if u cannot give a good reason or the logic behind the principle...
it is really hard to enforce it...


As well... in Jessica's room...
there is the Natalie Portman's photo from Leon, the Professional...
which is again..a young girl growing up in a dysfuncional family... living in a violent society... trying to adapt to her surroundings...very ambitious..well wanting to become a professional killer one day.. that's pretty ambitious for me..
And Natalie Portman is always staring straight at Jessica in the last scene with the medium shots and close ups... comparing the 2 characters...

There were lots of arguments about the last scene and how ppl may not be able to get the msg of the film...
If we look at the purpose of the video for the whole event..
which is to just inspire audience to think about the issues of society and masses and themselves... and lead them towards Alfred's msg... then i have achieved my purpose..
but yes.. if it is to be watched alone..
then it will be stand on its own.. as it only brought up the issues without the characters really going deeper into it...

The film doesn't want to TELL its audience what to do..which is right/wrong...
which is just what the film is Criticizing about...listening to other ppl without thinking...
I think a good film... it is an interactive medium..
where it gives each audience its own meaning... draws them towards their own experiences and let them find their own meaning of the film...
i just provide a platform for them...

Someone says that i am too influenced by the French New Wave or European cinema.. to have too much style at the end... with the long shots and an open ending...
not caring about who my audience are...
Yes i agree that i am greatly influenced by those movements and styles...

However...
for me... i wouldn't really listen to ppl telling me what to do... so i don't think the youth or ppl today like that as well...
and we give them too little space to think about things today... not having enough faith in them...
so we tell the msg straight out everytime... this film's msg is about this this this...
why can't we give them more confidence in finding their own meaning and experience what a film should really be like??


There are still lots of area that can be improve in the video...
the lighting is Definitely one of them..
the coaching of the actors for me... an area really lacking..
the script can go deeper...
but overall...
i think the whole production team has given everything that we have in such a short amount of time and i am really proud of it!!!
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After the show...
Someone came up to me saying,
they didn't expect this kind of good quality in the Christian circle...
i know that he meant it as a good thing...a compliment...
but it makes me think...

Why can't Christians be serious about a production and give out this level of quality??
Isn't it a GIVEN that we have to work our ass off for God??
So if it is a church thing... then we can be more laid back and relax??