Cumulative log - Sunday 18 April 2010

7.00am – Although Mr Micheal ask me to came at 6.30am, I decided to go a little bit late as I couldn’t get enough sleep. I arrive at the Cow Studio. There are not only my co-workers from the office, there are also Camera crew, “Geng Bas Sekolah” crew, a few Astro staff, the directors and few other workers. The main talent of the show are also there.

I arrive at the same time ‘the bus’, the main theme of the show arrive.

I search for Mr Micheal and he seems busy setting up his camera before passing it on to the camera crew. He doesn’t seems angry with me.

7.05am – I meet my co-workers and help them tweaking the background cloth. We need to reposition some parts of the cloth, re-paste the cellotape and some minor jobs.

7.30am – I help to clean up the floor by wiping it with a piece of wet cloth.

7.45am – The bus enters the studio. After it has been positioned properly, I and my co-workers need to wipe out the tyre markings on the floor. After that, we are asked to polished the bus using car-wax, wipe and shine all the tyre, wipe the windows so the bus looks clean and good for the show.

Around 8.20am - Breakfast. Nasi lemak, sambal, ikan bilis and boiled egg.

8.45am – We are asked to standby to help the crew when the time comes. Meanwhile the actors are practicing the opening dance of “Geng Bas Sekolah”.

The actors are practicing the opening dance

 

The directors give some briefing to the actors

Starting around 9.00am until 1.00pm – They start shooting. The scene is the main dance and song of “Geng Bas Sekolah”. They retake the shot everytime there was a mistake, or if the director asks to. If my memory is correct, up until 1.00pm they still shooting the same thing, but with a change of camera angle and movement.

Around 1.00-1.30pm – Lunch break. There is nasi putih with ikan masak asam pedas, ayam goreng rempah and few fruits as deserts. There are cold lemon/mango drinks as well. They also provide ice cold mineral water, 100plus and coca-cola in a icebox for any crew, which can be taken anytime.

Around 1.30pm-2.00pm – They start off on what they have left before. According to the main storyboard, there are 16 shots per page, with a total of 4 pages, so it should be 64 shots. However, some shot are replaced and also removed as the director finds appropiate.

The storyboard
If my memory is correct, they are now taking shot of per single character posings while dancing as oppose to before where all actors dance together. Some shots require the camera main track/trolley (I don’t know what it is called) to be moved so I and my co-workers helps the camera crew.

The camera main track/trolley

As for the shooting, they keep re-takes again and again until the director satisfied. If I’m not mistaken up until 4.00pm the shots was still below 20 from the total of 64 shots required.
Around 4.00 to 4.30pm there was a tea break. They serve 3in1 sachets where they are milo and nescafe and whoever wants to drink need to mix it with water themselves. Here are watercooler next to the servings. Mr Micheal asks one of my co-workers, Thabi, to buy some goreng pisang for all of us.

Some scene require the front shot of the main bus. However, some red bulbs cover on the front of the bus was missing so we need to fix that.

The decoy for light bulbs

At first, my co-workers, Jason was asked to buy some ‘tikam’ balls from grocery shops nearby and use it as a decoy. We use the transparent side of the balls and paste a piece of red colored transparent plastic to the surface. The job was done by me and the few co-workers. Unfortunately, the ‘props-master’, the guy who incharge of the props are unsatisfied wih the job. So he ask one of my co-workers to buy paints outside and try to paint it instead. The job was then done by the ‘props-master’ himself.

After the paint dry, we together helps the ‘props-master’ to attached the decoy onto the bus, where  the broken red lights are at. We attached it using ‘UHU’ paste and ‘Super-glue’. 2 light on top are okay but the one in the middle can’t stick properly. So the ‘prop-master’ use the so black ‘cloth-tape’ to stick it, making the tape just like the border of the light cover. It seems to blend well with the bus.

From 4.30 up until 7.30pm – we still doing the same job, cleaning the floor whenever the camera track move or if necessary. Some scene require the bus to be moved as well so we need to wipe of the tire markings.

At one scene, on the actual show, the bus is supposed to move, and as soon as the bus stop, the children of “Geng Bas Sekolah” are running towards the bus. The shots was done properly, and the director seems to satisfied, however one of the camera crew, which I believe the head of the camera crew, tells the director,

“Eh? Ini bas siapa bawak? Hantu kah?”. The director, Soraya realise her mistake and quickly find someone who can be the driver.

And then he found out that I was the only guy who wears formally (I wear long sleeve shirt with long slag pants) so she asks me to become the bus driver. For that scene, I was required to hold the steering wheels and stay stills. There was about 3 to 4 re-takes before the shots ends.

I became the bus driver

7.30pm – I asked permission from Mr. Micheal to go out until 8.30pm. I drive to the mosque about 2 to 3km nearby to pray and rest for a while. Meanwhile it’s raining outside.

8.40pm – I drive back to the studio. I’m a little bit late because there is still raining outside causing the traffic to move slow. At the time I arrive, they are on dinner break and almost all staff are eating.

Around 9.00pm up until 11.00pm – The shot starts again. A couple of minute later the director asks my permission to help her on a few shots. I am required to become the bus driver again but this time only my hand and feet get the coverage. It’s about the shot of the driver turning the steering wheels, switching on the signal lights,  press accelerator pedal and changing gears.

Around 11.00pm – 2nd last final shot.  Its about the bus moving towards the camera. It’s very dangerous as the bus are driven and not being pushed towards the cameraman. At the first bus move and stop shot it seems that the bus is braking too early and not close enough to the camera. The next try brings the bus very close to the cameraman.

The bus coming towards the camera at the right side (not in the picture)

Everytime the bus is nearly enough, the cameraman shouts “Oo...op!”, afraid that the bus failed to stop. I and my co-workers meanwhile just watch the scene.

Around 11.15am -  The final shots. The cameraman are positioned on the back of the bus near the exhaust pipe, to capture the smoke coming out from the pipe. The driver (the real one) are required to press the accelerator a few times. The smoke is vast enough to cause us to cough, let alone the cameraman. After a few smoke, the cameraman can’t take it anymore and request the cameraman head to stop. The director satisfied with the shots.

Around 11.30am – The bus moved out from the studio driven home by the driver. The camera crew then packed up their camera stuff. The track and the camera trolley (I don’t know the exact name) are already dissamble by us. The camera crew and ‘props-master’ climb up the crane and dissamble the lighting on the ceiling. I and my co-workers helps on moving the camera stuff and accesories to the lorry.

At around 11.45pm – Item loaded to the lorry before need to be returned to ‘Cinerent’. I and my co-worker Thabi,  follow the lorry from behind to the location. Then I and Thabi helps to unload the item from the lorry onto the storage facilities there. There was also one camera crew help us out.

I at Cinerent unloading the items from the lorry.

At around 12.30pm – We finally finish unloading, and head back to the studio.
The camera crew and the ‘props-master’ finish up dissamble the lighting. We would like to use the crane to dissamble our ‘white cloth’ background, but they are very kind to help us to do that as well. All we need to do is to take off the white cloth from the wood piece, take off the cellotape and throw away the tension wire.  Then we fold up the cloth and put them aside.

We then need to return the studio lighting that the camera staff dissamble before to the back of the studio. I and my co-workers moved the lighting using trolley and also by hand.

At around 1.20pm –We load our own stuff onto Mr Micheal car. The stuff are brooms, some pails, mop, paint, and few stuffs. These item need to be put in our warehouse, where the old office are. Mr Micheal however dismiss me first as there are already enough people to do the job. I asks my co-workers friends whether they are okay and they don’t really mind. So I decided to go home first. Mr Micheal give us a day off the next day (Monday).

At around  1.55pm – I’m home.