Thursday, May 13, 2010

Cumulative Log - Tuesday 9th May 2010

10.00am – I came to the office.

I continue working on the abandon city scenery. I gather a few pictures of building in Malaysia as I was asked by Mr Micheal to put in some Malaysian elements onto the scene.

About 11.00pm – My 2 co-workers are being called for a briefing in Ms Winny office. Mr Micheal came to my desk at tell me that I’ll be off tomorrow but I will be assigned to work on this Saturday.

About 11.40pm – My 2 co-workers go out for their assigned tasks. I just continue working on the background.

About 1.30pm – I go out to lunch

About 2.10pm – I back to the office.

About 5.00pm – My 2 co-workers came back to the office together with Mr Micheal. They bought 3 big black box that I assume was the camera and its equipments. Ms Winny and my co-workers then have a few discussions with Ms Winny about something that they need to buy for tomorrow shooting. Mr micheal asks me where is the nearest ‘Tesco’ stores here but unfortunately I have no idea.

About 5.40pm – A person came to the office. They are the Air-cond installer. They bring a new set of Air-cond which is 2.5HP Panasonic brand. After bringing the Air-cond units in, they go out for a few minutes to bring some tools. I then help Mr Micheals to move 2 computer desks that is beneath the place where the Air-cond are to be installed. I then resume my work.

About 6.00pm – The installation started. Drilling and hammering noise echos in the office. It was so noisy that I could not continue doing my work, so I decided to take a rest and enjoy watching their work, haha.

About 7.30pm – The installation done. Ms Winny and Mr Micheal then test the Air-cond remote controls. After a few test, the payment was made. Mr Micheal then dismiss us, however we need to bring down few unused chairs downstairs.

About 7.50pm – We loaded the chair onto the company van. Then my co-workers were asked to drive the van to the warehouse and unload the chairs there. Then they need to bring the van back at the shooting place tomorrow. I meanwhile headed to my car and drive home.

Cumulative log - Monday 8th May 2010

10.00am – I came to the office. I continue enhancing the Monastery background.

About 1.30pm – I rush to UNITEN to pay the late fees for Application to graduate.

About 2.00pm – I arrive at UNITEN. I go to Admin, and to the registrar counter. I was given a some kind of slip and was asked to go to Finance department to settle the payment. After I pay the fees, I go back to registrar counter for further action. I was told that I need to pass up the payment slip to the registrar office, but unfortunately it only opens at 2.30pm.

I decided to call my friend so that I can asked him pass up the slip later.

About 2.35pm – My friend came to the UNITEN Admin building. I pass the slip. I then rush to go back to the office.

About 3.10pm – I’ve back to the office. I try to finish up the remaining Monastery scene.

About 5.00pm – Mr Micheal came to check my work, and I show him the Monastery scene. He seems to be satisfied with my work, however there are some issues, such as some shot color hue is a little bit off, and to blur out anything that might relates to a religion.

Instead of fixing the scene, I decided to focus on the next scene. I search the net for buildings pictures that may be suitable for the scene

About 7.30pm – We dismissed.

Cumulative log - Friday 7th May 2010

10.00am – I came to the office. I notice that my co-workers, Jason are not coming to work today. I’ve been informed by my other co-worker Khabi that he’s back to Penang to see his dentist.
I then continue working on my Monastery background.

About 12.45pm – I go out to lunch before going off to Friday pray.
About 2.00pm – I arrive at the office. Unfortunately the office is locked.

About 2.30pm – My co-worker Khabi came to the office. Because he is the only one left in the office, he was given the office key card by Ms Winny and Mr Micheal.

I then continue working on the Monastery. The scene itself has a different shot, so I have to prepare different background for some shots although the events happen in the same place.
About 5.00pm – After I finish working on the scene, it’s time to add some animation so the background doesn’t look too still. I decided to use light burst plug-ins in After Effects to create a blinking effects on the light fixtures. I also add the plug-ins onto the Monastery window so it looks like the sun is shining thru the interior.

About 6.00pm – Mr Micheal came to see my work. He seems satisfied with my job and telling me that this scene is better that the last scene that I’ve done. However he asks me to modify the Monastery to look a little bit older and abandon. He also tell me that I need to remember that the abandon and old looks must be applied towards the entire scene that I’ll be working on  later.

Mr Micheal then gave me a new footage. This footage is about a girl who seems to be lost in an abandon city. Mr Micheal asks me to create a background of an abandon city similar to the first scene that I’ve done before.

However I need to re-worked the Monastery scene before I proceed to the next one.
About 7.30pm – We dismissed

Cumulative log - Thursday 6th May 2010

10.00am – I arrive at the office.

About 11.00am – I’ve called by Ms Winny to her office. She stated that the excessive working hours is not done regularly, and only needed when the dateline is near. The dateline however is given by their client/boss on the last minute and therefore can’t be avoided.

She decided to exclude me from shooting day; however I might have to come on Saturday for additional work on office, but not necessarily in the same office. From what I know, they have a few departments on different locations, 2 that I know is at Kelana Square where I was working at, another is at Sunway Mentari.   They also have a warehouse in Bandar Manjalara, near Kepong.

I told her that although I will continue on the training, I still not satisfied with the conclusion, especially on the working hours. This is because with this kind of agreement, they can still prolonged the working hours as they like, as there is no agreement anywhere stating the official working hours that the company must obey.

I then email Pn Aliza asking for an advice regarding this issues.

About 11.45pm – I continue working on the monastery background.
About 2.00pm – I go out to lunch with my co-workers.
About 2.45pm – We back to the office.

About 4.00pm – I finish working on the monastery. I also have loaded the background into After Effects and put the green screen footage. I then asked my co-worker Jason for an opinion regarding the Monastery background.  Unfortunately he said that the background will clash with the previous scene as the Monastery that I build looks too grand. He also advises me to change the lighting and color moods of the whole scene.
I then continue working on the scene

About 7.30pm – We dismissed

Cumulative log - Wednesday 5th May 2010

10.00am – I arrive at the office

10.10am – I give Ms Winny training withdrawal letter. Inside the letter are list of issues that occur during past few weeks. However I gave her some time to think before making the decision.

10.15am – I’m continue working on the monastery background that I’ve been asked before. I’ve been informed by my co-worker Jason that Mr Micheal are going out submitting the work that we’ve done yesterday.

I continue searching materials for the monastery on the net.
About 1.30pm – Ms Winny told me that she will discuss about the letter when Mr Micheal came back to the office.

About 2.00pm – I and my 2 co-workers go out to lunch together.
About 2.45pm – We back to the office. I continue working on the background.

About 4.00pm – Mr Micheal came back to the office. After a while I’ve been called into their office.

We discuss about few issues especially the working hours. I believe the working hours are too long compared to normal working hours.  The excessive working hours are mostly on the day before and on the shooting day.

Before this, just about a week after I start on the training, I’ve risen up the issue to Industrial Training Committee Pn Aliza but she said that it is too early for me to judge anything. I also had been advised by her and ITC to discuss the issue with the boss of the company first before making any decision.  So, because it is too early to rise up the issue to the company, I wait until one month (week 4).

One problem that I stated is that the usage of my car for family purposes. I also stated that I can only work at maximum of 10 hours. I rise up this issue because after 3 weeks of observation, it seems that the average working hours is about 12hours, and the longest was on the day before and on the shooting day, which is 17 hours a day. The total working hours per week is 60, with the additional of total 30++ hours on Saturday and Sunday.

The discussion took about 30 minutes, and we still didn’t come up to a conclusion. Ms Winny said that they will give the answer tomorrow.

5.00pm – Mr Micheal dismiss us. He said that because we are working until late night yesterday, he and Ms Winny decided to dismiss us much earlier today.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Cumulative log - Tuesday 4th May 2010

Around 9.20am - My car brake failure. I was unable to use the footbrake at all.  I decided to go to a workshop nearby in Klang to check for the problem. I drive slowly and use my handbrake whenever I need to slowdown and stop.

The workshop has 2 -3 cars in the working. So I need to wait the queue. I dont know for how long, so I call Ms Winny telling the situation. I then called my sister to fetch me back to my house.

Around 2.00pm – I called the workshop to asks about my car, and it just being checked. They dont know the problem yet. So I decided to head back to the workshop. My sister fetch me to the workshop.

Around 2.30pm –We arrive at  the workshop. The mechanic said that there is a problem wih my Master Pump Brake and it need to be replaced. However the mechanic said I need to wait for the item to arrive at the shop as they don’t keep the item in the workshop.

Around 3.40pm to 4.00pm – Ms Winny called me and asks me about the situation. She then asks me to come to the office at any cost, with taxi, bus or anything. This is because they need to submit all the scene by tomorrow. I then asks my sister to fetch me to the office.

Around 5.00pm – I arrive at the office. I was given a 3D footage by my co-worker Jason and he asks me to add a background to it. I then search the net for suitable material.

Around 5.40pm – Ms Winny and Mr micheal come back to the office from offsite work.

Around 6.00pm – I working on the scene little by little in photoshop.

Arounf 7.00pm – I import them in after effects. The 3D footage is a movie of some kind of platform rotating around the camera. It is so difficult to match the movement of the camera to the background. I also been asked by my co-worker Jason to add a somekind of flash on the platform ground which require a bit more work as the scene is moving to much.

Around 9.00pm – I managed to completed the scene, and show to Mr Micheal and Jason. Mr Micheal asks me to change some things and I reworked on the scene. I then pass the scene to Jason to add the green screen footage on top of it.

Because the dateline is near, we need to focused on the scene that need to be submited, and Jason are currently working on the most important scene. So we separate the work where I worked on the background while Jason worked on the character from he green screen footage.
 The character has some kind supernatural power which need a complex special effects to be added, that happen to be my co-worker Jason expertise. Because that special effects took much time to render, he pass the background on me.

At around 11.00pm – We dismiss. I meanwhile have to wait for my sister to arrive from Klang.

Around 12.00pm – My sister arrive

About 12.45pm – I’m home.

Cumulative log - Monday 3 May 2010

10:00 pm – I came to the office. I continue working the scene. The scene has about 6 to 7 different shots. As far as I can remember, shots 1,3 and 6 both has the same background, 2 and 5 has the same background and other with different background. Eventhough they may use the same background, the may use different type shots, wide shots or close shots. So the background need to zoomed in accordingly to match with the footage.

About 1.30pm – I go out to lunch

About 2.45pm – I’m back to the office.

About 3.00pm – I’m been asked by Ms Winny to go to Vision New Media for sending the remaining item that we borrow last time. I’m been explained by my co-worker that the “Geng Bas Sekolah” show is made by Vision New Media, and for the opening scene for season 4, they sub-contract Evo-Pictures to do the shooting.

That is why we need to borrow the item from them. I’ve also been told that the original paper big logo of “Geng Bas Sekolah” that is pasted in front of the bas are replaced with more high quality steel plate that Evo Pictures bought themselves on the last shooting. This logo however are not being returned to Vision New Media so we kept it. If next time they want to filming the show with our steel logo, they will need to rent it, if I’m not mistaken.

About 4.00pm – We back to the office. However someone has came to our office before I back telling that there will be electric cut-out due to some problem. All the computer has been shuts down first to avoid losing data.

About 4.30pm – Black-out. Ms Winny and Mr Micheal asks us to go out from the office for a tea break.At ground floor, me and my friends separated from them and go for a walk around the building.We been asked to come back to he office once the electric are back on.

About 5.20pm – Ms Winny called my co-worker Jason and told us to come to the office. The electric still isn’t turned on yet. Once we arrive at our office, Mr Micheal told us to dismiss but to come office tomorrow at 8.00am, instead of 10.00am.

About 5.40pm – I drive my car to go back home, but I first have to fetch my 2 co-workers to the LRT station nearby. However in the middle of the road, Ms Winny called my co-worker Jason and to go back to the office as the has already electric come back.

About 6.00pm – I and my 2 co-workers Jason and Khabi arrive at the office. Before we came, we managed to bought some food at 7 eleven at ground floor.

About 7.00pm – I finish rendered the scene and submit it to Mr Micheal. Then he gave me another scene, where I need to put a monastry as a background. I then search the net for monastry.

About 8.00pm -  I start to develop the monastry little by little in Photoshop.

About 11.00pm – We dismiss.