As the producer for AFP 1, “The Third Occurrence”, I scheduled a set-up day before the actual shoot date at my aunt’s place in Sunrise Close 10.
Since I have already pre-booked the equipment, the equipment transfer to the location was pretty smooth if not for the heavy rain.

I helped to call for a Maxi Cab and decided to send the whole load of equipments from Ngee Ann Polytechnic to my aunt’s place in two trips.

As a group, we took the lights we needed, 2 arri 650W and 2 arri 350W and also some gel-filters and the flag up to the fourth floor attic.
We lit up the room we have decorated a few days ago, and asked Clement to stand in as the model. Since the logistics portion have been settled after the equipment transfer, I helped the director of photography in the setting up of lights. As a group we discussed and finalized the basic setup we need for the shoot.

Here’s the initial setup we had for the setup day. A 650W on the right for the key light, a 350W on the left to soften it slightly and also a 650W with a diffuser as a back light. I actually suggested using an orange filter to make the overall colour scheme look orange but after a second thought, I realised that this type of colour tweaking can be done during DI and post-production. Hence I focused on eliminating unnecessary and harsh shadows by putting diffusers and 1/4 flags.

While we were measuring the light temperature with the light meter to make sure we get a balanced F-stop of at least around the 4.0 – 4.5 range throughout, two of the light fuse went out and caused a sudden short circuit for all the six power plugs on that level.
I panicked for a moment as these were the only lights we brought for the setup day and the rest of them are in the mobile cage. I also recalled that we have tested all lights before taking them to the location. It was basically an unlucky event and we initially suspected that we have made a mistake by using the six power plugs that lead back to the same power source on that level.

Beatrice, the director of photography called Mr Lau for consultancy in terms of short circuits and voltage per power source. I learned that it is actually alright to use the same power source for the fourth floor as it should be distributed evenly in smaller voltage for each of the 6 three pin plugs. The short circuit was indeed caused by the overheated fuse for the 2 650W arri lights and this eventually caused the circuit switch to trip, shutting off power from the fourth floor’s power source. We turned on the circuit switch and as it was explained by Mr Lau, we managed to get some of the lights back.

Clement and I cabbed our way down to Ngee Ann Polytechnic mobile cage to return the faulty lights and replace them with the two 1k arri lights and also took the box of Kino-flow in the event that more light fuse will go out during the shoot the next day.

From this incident, I have learned that unexpected accidents might occur out of nowhere and calmness is required of the producer to sustain the morale of the team. I was glad that I didn’t over-react and I managed to solve it calmly by volunteering to get more lights from the mobile cage. Additionally, I realised that we should have brought everything in the mobile cage, regardless of whether we might need them as it was definitely safer to have back-ups in the case of incidents such as light fuse going off, lights overheating. I should not take convenience for granted and learn to for-see unexpected incidents to happen in the future.

The setup day was useful as we locked down the position of the lights for the shoot on the following day. I ordered Pizza yet again for the entire group for their hard work and even asked my aunt’s family if it was okay for my group mates to stay over in the room on the fourth floor.

The shoot started at 7am and everything went smoothly according to the call sheet and shooting schedule stipulated by the assistant director. I bought two cartons of mineral water in case people fall sick on the set. I figured that I should be efficient in making my teammates comfortable by catering to their thirst and hunger. Water and food are the two important things to keep the hungry director  and the rest of the crew members going. The shoot was paced out evenly and yet we have the tendency to under-run. Towards the lunch time period, we have already used up the first roll of film and we have only shot the first portion of the three occurrences.

I was quite worried that we might not enough film to cover the last portions of the three occurrences and hence I asked the Director and the Assistant Director to balance out the shots that they feel it’s more important.

The shoot was carried out at a slow but steady pace since we happen to be over-running and at the same time having insufficient film to cover all our shots. We have to decide carefully and take our time to rehearse before we go for an actual take. I feel that by shooting on Film, it trains us to be more decisive and analytical in terms of priority of shots and also intention of shots. For the rest of the shoot, I helped out to flag the lights to ensure that there is lighting consistency. I took note of the levels of shadow caused by the key light and made sure that the shadow cast was not ridiculously ugly by moving the fill light and back light. 1/4 flag helps to soften the shadows cast by the key light a little but it also reduces the brightness of the light and at the same time limiting the depth of field since we have to open up the aperture. Our A.D helped to measure the incident lights using the light meter while I shift the flags and the diffusers to achieve something slightly harsh but not over the top.

By being the grip and the gaffer and the producer at the same time, I learned to judge the aesthetics of the shoot. The experience that I got by helping out in the lighting decisions were priceless. It was something that I didn’t get to do during the course of the internship. Being a grip and gaffer in the working world, you only take orders by the director and camera man and you shift the lights in accordance to their command. However in a collaborated student project, even as a grip and gaffer, I got the opportunity to control the lights based on my own judgment. This film production has taught me quite a few life skills such as decisiveness, logic, common sense and also rationality, especially in the midst of an unprecedented incident. Shooting on film is different from my preference of shooting on HD. For my projects in directing class, I have the proclivity to take it for granted and plan quite a lot of coverage and safety shots and this results in my dilemma and indecisiveness when it comes to editing. However, while I am shooting on film, as a producer, I realise that I play an important role to remind the director on the importance of his shots and make sure that he does not overshoot or spend too much footage on covering a particular scene. During internship, I was constantly told off for my lack of rationality and common sense due to inexperience. I learnt that as a producer in a student shoot, I cannot afford to be hesitant as it will disorientate the morale and thoughts of the entire team. I had to decide on the most sensible and logical method to solve any obstacles that might drive the shoot off course.

I was glad that everyone put in their best to analyze and balance the importance of the shots. We worked hard and we were satisfied that we have completed the production in a single day. Only major problem we encountered was the addictive nature of my uncle’s signature chicken curry. I preempted my crew not to take too much of the alluring curry as it has the proclivity to cause ulcer growths and sore throats. After the shoot, a couple of them fell ill .