When Darkness Falls

Here are some moments captured during the night shoots of S'kali. With a round-the-clock filming schedule, it is safe to assume that the industrious-looking faces you see here are generally powered by coffee and/or cigarettes.
-davina-


The 'Bah-ero' parked by the lighting that, no matter how competent, was not able to create the atmosphere for one of the longest filming sessions of the production. The scene was eventually shifted to another setting.


Azlan and a smidgen of Jay, setting up for a climatic scene in Ravin's car.


Jay, Dimitri and Arivind


Bahir and Dimitri making sure the dolly is dandy. Just like Bahir's shoes.


Derek looking demure, Jayaram looking enthusiastically hungry.


Dimitri, Jay and Zaid getting ready for some 'action'.


Dimitri the deer confronts the headlights...


...His slight paunch proudly brought to you by Ramly.


Derek comes in peace.


"I LOST MY SOUND..." No matter how perplexed Arivind can get, he still looks like king of the world.


Arivind briefs Jayaram and I for a scene that's a little trickier than others to pull off convingingly.


The crew remain oblivious to Jason's plea for positivity.

Feel No One: The Theme Song For S'kali

I got turned on to Lo like everyone else, when his track "Evening News" exploded onto the scene back when I was in high school. It was the first time the Malaysian music scene had heard such a sound, comlpemented by such polished production and a really good music video.

At the time, one of the local dailies ran a competition asking young people to review the Days Before Dawn album. I sent in an entry, talking about the sound of Lo, comparing him to the likes of bands like Toad The Wet Sprocket. A few weeks later, I got an autographed copy of the album, and also some VIP backstage passes to the very first Rock The World.

Fast forward many years later, and I am sitting on set in PD in what was the bedroom for the character Bahir. Jayaram who plays Ravin brings in Lo's latest album The Fall and passes it to me to use as a prop within the set. I was not aware that Lo had a new one out and popped it into the G5 we had on set.

The minute I heard "Feel No One" I knew it was the song for the trailer. The energy and pace of it corresponded exactly with how the images for the trailer were playing out within my head. I think it is Jason Lo's best song, though he might think otherwise.

As some of you may have gathered already from our trailer, Lo does make an appearence in S'kali and it is worth checking out as I must say I had a great time in the few hours we had with him to film his scenes.

So go out, and buy a cop of The Fall. There are some great tracks on the album, and of course the track that is now the theme song for S'kali: Feel No One.

Arivind Abraham

So What's Our Writer/Director REALLY Like?

By Samantha Tan

First and foremost, this post contains absolutely nothing directly related to the filming process of S'kali. I simply thought that as the Associate Producer/Perantauan partner with the closest personal relationship with and deepest insight into Arivind Abraham, it was high time for me to reveal what truly inspires the creative mind behind S'kali; in other words, I felt it my obligation to show you what really goes on in his head, what he does in his spare time and generally what our writer/director is really like when not on the set.

It is my sincere hope that after this, all shall be enlightened and no longer live under the misguided impression that Arivind Abraham is in any way serious, business-like, no-nonsense or remotely balanced.

Let the pictures speak for themselves...

Exhibit A: Arivind Abraham and his smurf impression.
When he's not writing or directing, he believes doing stupid things like this provides a healthy outlet from which to channel his excess creative energy.

Exhibit B: Arivind Abraham and Bruce the Bear.
Bruce Indiana Abraham the Bear, to be exact. He says, and I quote, "eh, put that picture of me and my muse up on the blog la." Yes, his MUSE. Yes, it's a stuffed animal. Yes, it's the same one he hugs to sleep. So named after his other influences Bruce Springsteen,
Indiana Jones and... er... himself.

Exhibit C: Arivind Abraham and another stuffed animal
Smurf and Bear aside, other strange varieties such as a life-size donkey in a suit and sunglasses also serve as inspiration.

Exhibit D: Arivind Abraham and his Real Ambition
Originally aspiring to be an MJ impersonator/cheap-lak Eurovision wannabe and failing abominably, he has since found success and happiness making Malaysian feature films.

Exhibit E: Arivind Abraham and the face he makes when things don't go his way.
i.e. when he hits writer's block, when the take won't go right, when his new MacBook isn't ready, when a cookie isn't chocolatey enough, when we're out of Lingam's chilli sauce...


Exhibit F: Arivind Abraham, his producer, and his DOP.
Clearly, it is difficult not to be weird when the team that surrounds you behaves likewise.

Exhibit G: Arivind Abraham and his idea of fun
Going wild at a house party. That plastic ball spells "Nuts" by the way. ROCK ON!

So there you go, now you know. Glad to be of help:)

Samantha Tan

S'kali Gets A Mention On Kaiju Shakedown!

S'kali has got a mention on the Hollywood trade paper Variety's Asian film blog Kaiju Shakedown which is written by Grady Hendrix.

The mention appears under the blog posting titled "Malaysian Moment".

Check it out at http://www.kaijushakedown.com/

www.skalithemovie.com is now LIVE!

Hi all,

When here it is finally! Our simple and concise website at www.skalithemovie.com has gone live. You can access it by clicking on the link above or the link in the sidebar.

S'kali is really a movie that is trying to tell ONE of the myriad of stories that make up the Malaysian experience. It is a story that we hope has elements within it that all of you can relate to. It is a movie made by a young and new company whose only aim is to make entertaining movies for the people who go to watch the movies; you the paying public.

Over the coming weeks we will slowly but surely launch a range of activities to get YOU, the public involved. This is a movie about love, life and friendship, and we wanna try and get as many young people involved to help get the word out and to get as many people into the cinemas come August.

So what's on the website right now? Well you can get information about the film, there are stills in the gallery and our 20 and 71 second trailers are available for download!

So click on to the site, have fun, and we look forward to getting you all involved from now till the release of S'kali!

Blast To The Past

Davina says:

I was saddened to discover that one of my favorite columns in The Malay Mail was coming to an end. Lim Chang Moh, its resident movie reviewer for almost 30 years, was finally going to take a long-deserved break.

His last article was however a nostalgic surprise. He made a mention of The Young Reviewers Column, a side project which involved youths, handpicked by Mr. Lim himself, trying their hand at film critique. Invitations to movie previews were to be repaid via contribution of opinion, all of which would be compiled to offer an all-rounded review on one featured movie each week. Being a not-so-impactful college kid with journalistic aspirations, it was a pride and privilege to see my byline in a national publication.

There were a few names whom I was consistently on the look-out for in terms of outstanding style. As fantastic masters of the English language they were, I held a burning desire to write like them, if not topple their thrones of eloquence. A gist of their reviews were often featured as the main headline.

How I yearned to have my headline there too. How I fought to be numero uno. And it seemed that these two buggers had me with their fingertips pressed onto the middle of my forehead, my fists swinging at them just beyond reach.

Unbeknownst to me until December 2005, I was now looking up to them as heroes in all respects.

"My greatest joy as a columnist was compiling the Shakey's Young Reviewer's Column which ran from January 2000 to 2002. I had learnt a lot from these youngsters and some of them - Arivind Abraham, Davina Goh and Jason Lim - are making a loval movie called S'kali which will be released soon."
- Lim Chang Moh, The Malay Mail, 27th April 2006

See if you can find us :P