Journals - THE TEAM

Gotta drop this down before i lose my memory...

It was no doubt, one of the best and fun shoot for me as an independent film maker for the past 5 years. I owe this project to everyone who has helped me in any ways from asking for talents, contacts, just any kind of help they could, from the bottom of my heart i wish to thank them...I will always remember who they are...my families and friends...

Also there are too much love from the guys(crew) for doing this pro-bono... talents and their supportive parents that took their precious time for letting their kids to experience what filming is all about and also playing soccer !

PRE-PRODUCTION stage:

For the first month of pre-production, it was frustrating financially for me and Lawrence who is my co-producer as we couldn't get any sponsors. Tried many companies.. but of no luck...

Script ! Did it for the competition. This wasn't my initial script that i wanted to do. The first one was too provocative and controversial.. and i didn't think it will suit the competition. So, The Team became the workable film.

Securing the location was tough too... did lots of recce, went door to door with Edwin,Shirley,Lawrence,Bobby and begged for a house to shoot. Finally, we met Auntie Sarah who was so kind that not only allow us to use her place, she even cameo in the film. She trusted us so much, i have to say, she is so so so kind...Love her !

Gathering the crew ! To attract like-minded friends is challenging but it was totally worth it. Had so much fun and communication with the crew.

CASTING ! We have a total of 20 kids on set. It was my biggest concern to find them and cast them. With the help from everyone, got all my friends to ask around if they have kids aged 7-13 from Malay, Indian and Chinese.

It was a blessing that i knew Ryan who is an actor whom i had worked with before was also a drama teacher. He introduced some of his students from Ahmad Ibrahim Secondary School. I went down to the school and casted them on the spot. They were brilliant and well inspired by their mentors Ryan Ang. I just watched them perform during the drama CCA and it was no doubt one of the most creative classes you can ever imagine in the educational system we have in Singapore.

Slowly through rehearsals and casting, i manage to build a friendship & trust from these wonderful kids.

A week before the shoot, we were still lacking of Malay boys due to the commitments they have during Hari Raya. I had to do street casting around the block that we are going to film, luckily i was able to convince some of the malay boys and their parents to do this.

REHEARSALS ! We got the kids together for one of the weekends and let them play soccer ! Introduced them to each other and build that teamwork before the actual shoot 2 weeks later.

TEST-SHOOT! We did it twice for the soccer scene. Glad i had YeXiang and Rainer who is the Cinematographer and 2nd Unit to help tried out the possibilities and error we could encounter before the actual filming. Slow-motion on 7D was tricky, even with tips from the internet, we still have problems but manage to overcome it.

I got some friends to do a choreographed scene from the NIKE write the future commercial.

Equipments! Most of budget was going to cater on the gears. We had to restrict to minimal stuff to get the best footage.. Talked to CAMWERKZs' Dan and they were kind enough to do a one time friendship price for us to get some professional top of the line equipments for the shoot.

Production Design: As it was a part of my childhood, i could get stuff from home and friends of my age. Jacky that i have worked together with for numerous project, I had so much faith in him to do the job. He took care of wardrobe and props. One props that shocked me was the price of the fighting fish.. It used to cost $1 per fish but it has since inflated to $5. Holy crap...

Budget!!!: Just one week before the shoot, we still couldn't secure any sponsors. I was jobless and had committed a month of pre-production for this film. Financially it was a total crisis.

I was prepared to call it off 1 week before the actual shoot. We had everything ready... We had to postpone the shoot twice over 2 weeks due to the weather as it was raining for consecutive weekends. The crew and cast had been scheduled for the shoot as well. Everyone was waiting for the call sheet and to confirm the time.

In the end, i had to use my money from my depleting bank account.. and took the risk ! too much work and favors has been used, it wouldn't justify it if i have pull off. I'm glad i did it.

To production !

PRODUCTION:

1st day of shoot:

It was a first time collaboration for many of the crew members, we had a slow start but managed to communicate well and do things faster as we get going.

Rain rain rain... even for the 3rd week, after multiple checks on the weather forecast, we were expecting rain... There wasn't anything we could do, but to think smart how we could catch up after the rain stops. We quickly change the shooting schedule to accommodate the weather but our poor young talents have to sit around and wait so did the parents. I'm so lucky to have such understanding talents and parents for their patience.

We have to race to shoot as much as we could before the sunset… We manage to nail it and got what we want for the first day.

2nd Day of shoot:

Never trust the weather in Singapore just like in Melbourne ! We got unexpected rain in the middle of the shoot. Luckily again, it stopped and we had to catch up the time lost and pick up all the shots we needed.

For this shoot, it was by far the longest track i have hired. I'm glad we successfully capture the essence of these wonderful kids enjoying themselves as they play soccer !

Kids never gets tired, age has finally caught up with me when i see them play and run non-stop.

All sports have a certain risk and injury, we encountered many injuries during the shoot.

I'm so relieved that luckily those injuries were minor, for example, a knock in the face, ball hitting the face, trips and some cuts.

This was my second time directing kids, it was fun and i wanted them to have fun. Fun Fun Fun ! That's the whole idea ! I have to let them feel comfortable in what they do and sometimes i have to communicate and find their needs. To be able to get what i visioned in my head to appear on screen, I have to do some tricks on the field and make it work. For example: Knowing when, where and how i can capture the scoring celebrations !

Like my dad always say, "It's crazy for actors to pull unbelievable acts, but think again, audience always buy it"

We weren't be able to pull through all these stunts without all the professional crews, just to name a few: always on top of the game, first assistant director, Sufyan. The third eye with style, Cinematographer,YeXiang. My shoulders and my back, 2nd Asst director, Edwin. The Ammo of the film, 2nd Unit DOP, Rainer. The feel good with security, Camera-assist, Ben. The Strategist, 2nd unit cam-assist, Najeeb. Sunshine painter of the film, Production Designer, Jacky. The Vest, art department, Jessica. The intel and our ears, location sound and sound designer, Burtt. My die-hard buddies, Grip and runner Rane and CS Lee. Beloved Babysitter that take care of us, Unit Manager, Rachel. Impressionist stills photographer, Pandora. Also, TCP firefighter, Behind the scenes guys Sean and Kun Yao.

I believe, all of the kids that starred in the film will all grow up to be successful in whatever they do because they listen and have shown respect to everyone on set.

POST-PRODUCTION:

Through weeks of ending, I derive to two version of cuts.

One version is better in storytelling and it was very close to the pre-visualise animated storyboard that i did in pre-production.

Second version has a more up close exciting performances from the actors.

But i only have 3 minutes to tell and entertain my audience and the judge.

I showed to different people in different countries for feedbacks through the internet ! I wanted to know what do they understand about our Singapore Identity from that 3 minutes.

It was obvious that my first version has a clearer message. I'm glad they got the story and got to know a little more about the country i grew up in.

Later stage, sound design was well taken of by Burtt. We both knew what best suit the film and made it work.

Music of choice was not the perfect one but due to financial and time, I think i did tried my best to use what i have for the competition.

We have to remake the soccer telecast commentary due to copyright issues. We could have pay or got it free for the rights since it was for patriotic reason, but the related local TV station didn't barge. It was so fun to have collaborated with the natural and my lecturer in Temasek Polytechnic, Ernest Paul to do the commentary recordings. Ernest was the best choice to do the job because he was physically present in that very same match in 1994, when Singapore won the Malaysia Cup against Pahang.

That ends off my rough journal for THE TEAM.

I'm glad I took the risk to use all my money in my bank to film it, when no companies wants to sponsor it.

There is a will, there is a way.

- Ray Pang