Keith Murray (We Are Scientists)
9th August 2006
Zouk, Kuala Lumpur 

Took this from my old dA gallery :p

WhatTheHell_FYP06: My Final Year Project

Pixilation Shoot.

After weeks of preparation and running up and down like a crazy woman, I finally did it!  The pixilation was successfully done last Friday. Many obstacles appeared one after another in getting my faculty’s approval to book our studio and filming equipments. In the end, due to sudden and unexpected circumstances I had to find an alternative. And in addition to that, one of my actors actually forgot about the shoot that was scheduled two weeks ago. That gave me more time to figure out some technical difficulties I might be facing during the shoot and in post. But I’m glad we managed to get it all done within one day. 

Redheads were loaned by FINAS (Filem Nasional Malaysia) and the shooting took place at Akademi Semesta’s studio in Wangsa Maju. Anyone need to rent space give them a call! They also do filmmaking and theatre workshops. Add them to your Facebook list http://www.facebook.com/isemesta

The camera I used is a Canon 600D which belongs Lutfi Azhar, who also helped me solve some technical “mysteries”. He is very determined in making this happen so as soon as I told him I could not get or afford a jib arm, he and Nazanudin gave birth to the “Air Slider DSLR Rig”. So smart. 

Lutfi and Hanafi were the people who have been assisting me a lot during pre til now. It was easy to work with Hanafi because he is proactive and has a strong imagination similar to mine. My actor Masrin, who has a degree in broadcasting and currently doing his Masters, gave some technical input which made the set up a lot faster. It would have taken 3-4 hours of set up but with we only took 2 hours with his help. This is an individual final project where I have to follow my own direction with no crew given. So I had to put together one myself. I’m glad I got these boys onboard!

The shooting itself went great! Although it was extremely difficult for the actors, especially Masrin who has the bigger part in the video (very tall too!) to move. Lee Ming on the other hand was already tired from her work and had to wait for her turn. The poor girl actually fell asleep while she was lying down on the mat, waiting to be animated. 

The production took 6-7 hours. 3,364 frames for JUST 2 minutes. This is by far the hardest and funnest production I’ve ever experienced. Not being biased because it is my own project, it’s just pure fun!. So many things made sense and so many brains were squeezed out for solutions. Now I have one last shoot (sketchbook footage) to do where this pixilation will be composed on. I already started it the day after but it is not complete because i was too exhausted from the pixilation shoot. And I did not have a crew that Saturday to help me move the objects and capture it at the same time. Yup, did it with my two hands and  some help from Hanafi whose hands had to be featured in the clip. 

I’m thinking of doing a trailer for this or probably a “behind the scenes” video. I’m very excited to share the process with everyone! The Viva examination for this will be on 16th December so we’ll see if time can tick slowly. Fingers crossed I hope I can get the post done fast and on time.