Projects

About a week (or less) then now, I will be shooting my first project as an Assistant Producer which is "Crush", directed by Angkasa Ramadhan and produced by Lisa Kosdi. Honestly, I am excited, but anxious at the same time. This will be my first shooting with proper management and preparation. We hire crew from outside Binus International, we do proper casting, scouting and readings. We have much bigger budget compared to last year's project and we really take things seriously.

I hope that I really can be a great Assistant Producer for "Crush" and I can learn a lot of things that I may apply to my next project, "Chemistry". I also hope that i can be a great Director for it. 

Yes, it is hard to manage 2 projects, especially when I have to deal with so many preparations. Plus, I work outside as well. It makes me feel even harder to manage my time. At one time, I have to deal with my own script and reading schedules. I have to think about the execution of the story. At another time I have to make sure that all production stuff within the "Crush" project is fulfilled. I go with my crew for consultations, I help them looking for crew/actors, I plan the budget and take notes of all expenses. Then, in between, I still have to do my job outside. Yes, it is hard. It is not easy to manage 3 things at the same time. But that is what I have to do. And I do not feel these as a burden for me.

Honestly, I believe with the belief of "learning can happen at all times". Yes, I do believe that we can learn from things around us, anywhere and anytime. That is what I am trying to implement in my mind. From "Crush", I learn a lot. Ms. Illa once taught us how to use MovieMagic Budgeting and Scheduling in class (the thing we learn in Film Production II and not Film Production I) that really brings ease to my job as Assistant Producer. I learn the harsh decisions in filmmaking, how to work in a group and how to fix things fast without actually changing the essence of it. From "Chemistry", I also learn a lot. I refresh my mind about Directing I lessons. I learn how to fix a script and most importantly, to listen. To listen and make decision.

Yes, making a decision, especially when the circumstance is tough, is hard. But yeah, the hard decision still has to be made.

I actually want to work on a project about "tukang tambal ban" and "tukang sayur" with the same style of "Chemistry". But I do not have time in preparing it, especially when it comes to 2 weeks of shooting it. I want to work on it on holidays. I need people to help me giving references as well, along with my little research about those two "tukang".

Yes, this is just the small start of the real filmmaking. I have 2 projects going. It is tiring and it takes my time. But this is my choice and I will do it. 

Now, I feel like the film world is saying to me: welcome to the real world.

My Favorite Children Book

In Aksara Kemang, technically my job is as Children Officer's Helper. What I do is help the officer of this section. To explain more, our store has several sections:

1. Fiction and Sastra Indonesia - sells fiction and Indonesian literature books
2. Business - sells business and marketing books
3. Design - sells graphic design, fashion, interior design and architecture books
4. Music - sells music CDs, headphones and legendary band anthologies
5. Gift - sells various gifts from birthday candles to antique telephones
6. Children (which I am positioned) - sells various children books from many categories for age 0-12, puzzles, art and craft stuff and many others related to children.

One other section that is included in the store but not physically is the Special Pre-Order section that gives the chance for people who wish to buy something from Aksara but at the moment there is no stock for it.

Once I was in the store. I forgot what time and day was it, but I pretty much remember that it was in the afternoon. Not many people were visiting at the moment, so I spent some time visiting my section to read children books. I was told by the previous officer that I have to spend some time reading children books in order to know the content of the books. So I picked a book titled "A Sick Day for Amos McGee" by Philip C. Stead.

Amos is an old zoo keeper. He is a very loyal person and he always takes care of the animals in the zoo which he considers as friends. He spends time with the animals and helps them when they need him. Every morning, the animals always wait for his visit. But one day, Amos is sick and cannot work. The animals have been waiting for him but he still does not show up until noon, so they gather and take the public bus to his house to pay a visit. Like Amos who is always caring, this day the animals take care of Amos. In the end, they stay over at Amos' house and spend the night together.

Basically, the story is just so full of fantasy  (like playing cards, chess and singing with animals - things you wouldn't do with them especially the ones in the zoo), but that is the point of being children. Children must be full of imagination. Children learn about reality from unreal things so they know that things can come up from everywhere. They learn manners from animal characters, for instance, so they know not just the manners, but also the animals. And this really applies to me. As an aspiring filmmaker, I have to always fulfill myself with imagination. I can't describe how blissful it is to read children books; it makes you feel like a child again, but this time, it makes you think how big a human mind is that it can create such beautiful visual stories. I think it really applies to filmmaking.

I wish I could adapt this book into a film. I want to make people feel the beautiful fantasy from things that is as near as the zoo. I want children to have a fantastic childhood from enjoying a small piece like this.

This is my favorite children book being sold in Aksara, until another book titled "Too Small for My Big Bed" arrives from the USA for the next shipment. It is about mother-son relationship through tigers. It does not replace this book as my favorite though, these two are my favorites

The Coffee and Toast Chat

Last Thursday, we had a 2-session makeup class of Communication, Media and Propaganda. This subject is lectured by Alex Sihar. We had the makeup class in Binus FX, so we held the class in Ya Kun Kaya Toast instead of studying in the classroom because we were hungry and we wanted a class outside the classroom. Our chitchats were so fun and it made my mind opened to many things. There were me and some of the classmates.

We ordered coffee and toasts. At first, we had a chitchat about Cynthia's project which is the LGBT PSA. About how Cynthia should approach and who is the target market. At first, Cynthia proposed to make the PSA for the LG people. But then, after the discussion, we found out that maybe Cynthia can also approach the parents of the LG people. There was even the random chat of "what if your child is a gay/lesbian". Various answers were thrown from all of us. 

But, from all discussions, one of the most memorable chats that I had is about the restoration of the film Lewat Djam Malam. Alex, as the head of Konfiden, worked hard for 2 years so he could get the funding for his restoration project. He asked funding from the Government of Indonesia and talked with 2 ministers but he did not get any response. The one who finally gave funding is National Museum of Singapore (NMS) and World Film Cinema under Martin Scorsese's supervising. When Alex traveled around to many various international festivals, he got praises because he (as the representation of Konfiden) restored this film. Many people gave thanks because this film is counted as one of the films with the most impact within the Indonesian film history and also the society. At first, with many rejections and his decision to continue, he got the reel of the film and he felt so sad. "It was full of dirt, I was really afraid that this might break," Alex said. But in the end, when it finally succeeded and it was screened around the world (including in the cinemas), he was relieved. "I did not give the original of the copy to be screened. It went directly to the place to keep it. I won't let any operator touch it. I worked that for 2 freaking weeks!" Alex cried.

The discussion of the film restoration opened my mind about how "not deep" the Government thinks about preserving our own history through film. We as the future (and all of the "already becoming filmmakers") filmmakers should understand how important it is to know our history through films. It makes us feel that we have to be responsible to make better films after knowing more references.

It makes me feel that we as Indonesians must care about our own films. If not, who else? You sure you want other foreign people funding your own history's restoration? You sure that you do not want to keep something good so that your next offspring can see it? I do not think so :)