Cutting a trailer – 5:13

I’ve spent the last couple of days cutting the trailer for 5:13 with director, Arivind Abraham.

The one thing that actually really annoys me about trailers, in general, is how much they tend to give away.  It’s at the point now where I actually AVOID trailers as much as possible.  Especially when it comes down to scary films – I want to go and see a film and jump at the scary parts.  I want to be surprised.  I don’t want to sit there and know what’s coming up.  I want to experience the film with the characters.

Examples of decent marketing campaigns would be Taken and Cloverfield.  Taken’s trailers tended not to feature anything that happened outside the first 20 minutes of the film (for the most part, they featured just the phone conversation between Liam Neeson and the kidnappers).  Cloverfield was pretty much a teaser campaign – going into the cinema, I didn’t know what the ‘event’ was.

I think it’s been several years since anybody’s gone to see a film solely for the special effects.  That might have washed a few years ago with Jurassic Park, but I think the audiences are (more than) aware that great visuals don’t guarantee a knock out film.  That’s sort of why I don’t understand it when film makers fill trailers with all of the killer moments from the film.  I mean, sometimes trailers are treated like a “3 minute version” of a film.  And that’s bad.

So, going into the 5:13 trailer edit, the idea was to make the audience want to go see the movie.  We didn’t want to give away the story, we didn’t want to blow the “jumpy bits” in a trailer.  The goal was to present a minute-or-so teaser that leaves the audience wanting more.

Trailer to follow soon.

Post Production Updates

Youch, it’s been a while since I’ve posted here.  Last time would have been about half way through the S’kali edit.  So, yes, an update is long over due.

We’ve been cutting the trailer for 5:13 over the weekend.  I was hoping to have some video blogs for you on the editing of the film, but there’s been all sorts of issues with codecs, editing software and formats, that it’s been a little bit crazy.  I’ll blog on this at some point in the near future, but I guess the down side of using the latest technology is that you’re often in uncharted waters – that’s certainly been the case here, with all sorts of issues early on in the edit, typically regarding brand new camera, the format they output to, incompatibility (or, at least, inconsistencies) between PCs and Macs, codecs, how editing software handles file formats…  You name it, we’ve come across it.  And of course, using the latest technology means that there’s very little documentation out there (even on the interweb).

The end result is that we’re using a Sony Vegas suite now, and the edit is running smoothly at long last.  In fact, we’re about two scenes away from having the first rough cut of the film (minus sound treatment), which is pretty exciting.

Sony Vegas itself is rather new (relatively speaking), and certainly not nearly as well known as, say, Final Cut, Adobe Premiere and Avid.  But, rather oddly, it’s the only suite that’s been capable of handling what we’re throwing at it.  It’s audio facilities, incidentally, outclass any editing suite I’ve come across, which – seeing as we’re working on a horror film, warrants its usage alone.  It’s also creeping its way up the Hollywood ladder at the moment.  For me, the way it has allowed me to cut in HD without the need for rendering, and to run with such a smooth frame rate on an external monitor, has been a treat.

Anyway, the first cut of the trailer is doing the rounds with the 'higher-ups’ today.  So, we can hopefully bring that to you very soon.  It’s all rather exciting.

Oh, and if you fancy a peek at the editing suite, it’s covered from head to toe (or, rather, door to window) in storyboard….

I’ve booked a weekend on the crazy farm once I’m done with the edit…  Surrounding myself in pure blue horror can’t be healthy…

Ali

Some Pictures From The Set Of "5:13".

Perantauan Entertainment & Befour Media are currently midway through the shoot of new horror movie "5:13". Filming has been progressing well and below are some shots from the rushes. Enjoy.



Cast member Samantha Tan getting prepped for her scene.



Cast Member Iki Putra.




Arshad contemplates.



Vivien recovers.

There'll be more pictures and hopefully some video blogs to come as well so keep dropping by.

Cheers,
Perantauan Entertainment

Leading Male Actor Required for New Horror Film "5:13"

Perantauan Pictures and Befour Media UK, the team behind S'kali are now casting for their new feature-length horror/drama, written by Arivind Abraham and Keith Leong and to be directed by the former. Details as follows:

Title: 5:13
Genre: Horror/drama
Looking For: Male actor, playing age of 20-27 years, Malay/mixed race (or whose looks could pass for Malay/mixed race), slim/average build, very fluent English and excellent acting ability. Acting experience good but not essential. Professionalism and a great attitude are a must.

Shoot Dates: 5 May 2008 to 24 May 2008
Filming will comprise of night shoots between 2000hrs and 0500hrs, and the individual hired will be needed for 12 days within that date range. We are happy to negotiate whether these days are continuous or spread out, depending on your availability and our scheduling needs.

Fee: RM1,000 lump sum, to be paid at the end of the contract. Food, petty expenses and transportation will also be covered for the duration of the shoot.

To apply, please email your CV and headshot to perantauanpictures@gmail.com with "5:13 CASTING" as the subject.
No time-wasters please, we are auditioning for a main character with specific qualities so only individuals that fit the description above need apply.
- Hide quoted text -

Please note that shortlisted candidates will be required to submit a video clip as the director is currently based in London, however we will provide details for this later on and there is no need to do so until we have informed you that you are selected.

GOOD LUCK and we look forward to hearing from you!

S'kali Opens The 2nd London Filmmakers Convention

Perantauan Entertainment is pleased to announce that S'kali will be opening the 2nd London Filmmakers Convention on 07/12/2007. Whilst the organisers have misspelt the title of the film and writer/director Arivind Abraham's surname (they have promised to rectify it on their website) we are pleased nonetheless to finally have the film shown in London which is Arivind's second home and place of work.

The screening is free and open to all members of the public.

Here are the details:

Location: Westbourne Studios, 242 Acklam Road, London W10 5JJ
Time: 1800hrs
Westbourne Studios Website

Festival Website

Arivind Abraham will be there to introduce the film.

So to all of you Malaysians who are in London at the moment, c'mon down if you did not have a chance to catch it when it was on back in KL. Also, you will be getting the see the movie uncensored unlike your mates who watched it back home!

Perantauan Entertainment

One Year On

It's been one year now since we premiered S'kali in KL and 2007 has proven to be a difficult and disappointing year somewhat for the team.

We look forward to having some news for all of you soon.

Perantauan Entertainment

S'kali Available as Digital Download on Firecracker Media

Hi all,

We just wanted to announce that S'kali is now also available on demand from Firecracker Media. Also featured is a great interview with writer/director Arivind Abraham about the process of getting the movie on its feet.

All this can be found:Here

The interview can be found: Here

And to our fans in Malaysia who can't purchase the digital downloads at Jaman and Firecracker due to licensing reasons, a HDDVD and regular DVD will soon be available on demand via Amazon.com. We are working very hard on getting a local DVD available as well, but it has proven to be very difficult for us being a small movie and all.

Thank you all once again for the continuing support, and we promise, soon we will have an announcement about new projects!

The S'kali Team

S'kali Available as Digital Download on Jaman

Hi all!

Would just like to inform everyone that S'kali is now available as a digital download from Jaman (http://www.jaman.com/). You can either rent the movie for $1.99 or purchase it for $4.99. Prices quoted are in USD.

Just search for it under the genre of "Drama".

So for all you guys who have been asking to see it and were not in Malaysia at the time of release, get downloading!

Cheers,
Arivind Abraham

Popcorn & Soda

Hey all, KLue magazine is hosting a series of screenings called Popcorn & Soda beginning this Sunday and every 2nd Sunday from then on..Check out the attached poster for all the screening dates and movies..

Do come for all the screenings (especially the one on June the 10th) and support the event. Earlybirds get free popcorn & soda. Make a day (or a date) out of it..!

S'kali @ Towson University, Maryland USA

Hi all,

Last night, Towson Uni faculty and students had the opportunity to watch S'kali, followed by a post-screening Q&A with writer/director Arivind Abraham & cameraman Lim Benji. Attended by about 30 people, here are some pictures from the event.



Questions fielded included ones on racial politics and production methods.



Comments from the audience touched upon the way they liked the naturalistic feel of the actors, and the lighting in the cars.



So all in all it was a good night, followed by dinner and drinks with some people in the audience who had some further questions!

Perantauan Entertainment

Coming Soon.

Hey All,

So it has been a long time since we have posted anything on the blog. There have been reasons for this, one being most of us on the team have been very busy but also because we had nothing really significant to talk about. But we figured it would be a good time to post an update and have a little chat with you all.

Perhaps it would be good to start with what we HOPE to be making this year. We stress the word HOPE as post-S'kali, things are still a little up in the air. But anyways, first off, here is the movie we HOPE to make maybe at the end of this year:



Working Title: “Captain Bangla”

TAGLINE: GO BANGLA GO!

Captain Bangla tells the story of Khaled, a young Bangladeshi man who comes to Malaysia with the hope of finding a better life. Unfortunately the stories of an Asian utopia fail to be true, and in an ironic twist of fate Khaled finds himself working for another immigrant: his Indonesian boss in a fabric store in downtown KL.

Alone and despondent, his only solace is the company of his neighbour-the strange, silent Sikh known as The Colonel-as well as the love he secretly harbours for the local girl who comes into the store ever so often.

One night, Khaled stumbles upon a snatch theft taking place and inadvertently stops it. From that moment on he is convinced he has found his destiny, and decides to prowl the streets fighting crime as Captain Bangla, accompanied by his sidekick The Colonel.

But Captain Bangla is no superhero, and soon he stumbles on a crime so big, it may just be the undoing of his destiny.

An absurdly hilarious yet heart-warming tale that is more Don Quixote than Captain America, Captain Bangla is a story of courage, friendship and making a home in a foreign land.


So that's the movie we hope to be making very soon as a follow up to S'kali.


We've also been very busy pitching some ideas for telly which we hope to get greenlit, and allow us at Perantauan Entertainment to break into TV sometime this year as well. Here's a taste of some of the ideas we've been pitching:

Drama:
THE OLD BOYS
CREATED BY KEITH LEONG
Three Boys: One School; Three Destinies: One Nation.



Comedy:
Country Club (Working Title)
CREATED BY BAHIR YUESUFF
Step into the Kota Bangsawan Country Club, a world of glitz, glamour and utter chaos…


Let us stress that at this point of time, we do not know if any of these are going to get greenlit and we're just working our darndest to make it happen. We are however busy with work left on S'kali which includes getting our long-delayed DVD/VCD release off the ground, sorting out some internet distribution deals, and special one off screenings around the world like in Towson, Maryland USA this March, Cyprus sometime soon and some other dates being worked on.

So there you go! That's stuff that we hope to have on our plate this year and if all goes well, it will be stuff you'll all get to watch come 2008!

Perantauan Entertainment

Coming To America!

Perantauan Entertainment are extremely excited that S'kali will be shown at Towson University, Maryland USA! The screening will take place on the 30th of March and is being organised by the Motion Picture Association of the uni.

Writer/Director Arivind Abraham and Cameraman Lim Benji will be in attendance and will participate in a post-screening Q&A. Students on Towson's film degree have already had a chance to view S'kali as part of their World CInema module, and liked it enough to organise a bigger screening for the rest of the uni.

We will most definitely get a post up letting you all know how the screening went down, including pictures from the screening itself.

Perantauan Entertainment

S'kali Screening in Athens

S'kali was privileged to have an exclusive one-night-only screening at Hoxton in Gazi, Athens, thanks to Director of Photography Dimitri Kotselis who DJs at the venue and who took the time to organise the event. Despite playing to a Greek crowd unfamiliar with the many Malaysian references in the film, we were surprised to still receive good feedback from the 40-odd members of the invited audience.

By a lucky twist of fate, media artist Christopher Malapitan also happened to walk in to the bar during the last half hour of S'kali and expressed interest in having the film screened in Cyprus. We are now in discussions to arrange the event some time in the near future.

Arivind, Dimitri and Hoxton owner George preparing the white screen
Dimitri double-checking the player and projector
Chatting with audiences after the show

The S'kali Team

NOW HIRING!

Hi all,

Perantauan is now beginning its first phase of hiring for our upcoming feature to be shot mid 2007. Here are the posts open for applications:

1. Location Scout

Must have own car at your disposal at ALL times.
Must have good knowledge of downtown KL and Klang Valley area.
Must be able to think outside the box.
Must have own digital camera.
Must have constant access to the internet.
Must have own handphone (who doesn't right?)



2. PA to Associate Producer

Must have own car at your disposal at ALL times.
Must be organised and self-motivated.
Must have good eye for detail with exceptional people skills.
Must be an all rounder. (Interests in producing, marketing, and the nitty - gritty business side of the film industry)
Must have constant access to the internet.
Must have own handphone (who doesn't right?)


All roles are full time and paid. Contract details to be discussed prior to hire.

For both roles experience is of course great but above all,we want people who will be committed, punctual, driven and serious about the craft.

Interviews will take place on the second week of December 2006.

Please email all CV's to : perantauanpictures[AT]gmail.com
ATTN: Bahir Yeusuff
Subject: Location Scout OR PA



PS: Good taste in music and movies is a plus.

S'kali Available On Astro Box Office This November!

Hi guys & gals,

To those of you around the country who did not get to watch S'kali in the cinemas, you will now be able to watch it on Astro Box Office this November. Just check out all the details in your new Astro Guide for subscription instructions to purchase the film!

Cheers,
The S'kali Team

What Next For S'kali?

Well with the run at Cathay now over, what is coming up next for S'kali?

Look out for our VCD/DVD release somewhere towards the end of the year, and of course the film will be on Astro around that time as well.

Thanks to all of you who have supported the movie, it was great having you all along for the ride.

Writer/Director Arivind Abraham is now busy co-writing a comedy with fellow screenwriter Keith Leong which he will be shooting sometime in the middle of next year.

Love, Life & Friendship to you all.

The S'kali Team

A Chat About How It Looks

Hi all,

In almost all the reviews for the movie, both in the print and online media, including reviews by bloggers, there has been mention about the way S'kali looks in the cinema, particularly issues in regards to blurriness and pixellation. Some questioned as to if it was due to inexperience on our team, others if it was because of issues in regards to projection. In light of this I felt, that as writer/director of S'kali, I would write a post to explain the reasons for this.

Like all other digital filmmaking teams in Malaysia, our first port of call once the shoot was over, when it came to talking about getting the movie into the cinema, was GSC. This is because at the time, GSC was not only the one chain with 3 E-Format screens, but in fact the only one with E-Format screens. What transpired in the end was that, for a variety of reasons, GSC would be unable to show the movie till sometime April/May 2007, if they decided they liked the movie enough to show it.

By the time we were made aware of this, the momentum had begun and we were slowly getting the word out via the press and other avenues and thus there was an expectation that the movie would open in 2006. Also, we knew that if you leave a movie on the shelf too long, it can become a 'stale' product.

At the same time whilst we had been talking to GSC, we had also been talking to Cathay and they were very interested in the movie and what we wanted to do with it. So when GSC did not work out, Cathay stepped up to the plate, moving up the installation of their E-Format screen from the end of the year to September just to get S'kali out. Now the thing was, Cathay's E-Format screen was only going to be able to screen the movie on DVD. Digibeta was not a possibility.

Now most of the production team have seen S'kali in it's full HDV glory. It is sharp, clear and looks pretty good for something shot on digital film. As most people would know, HD-DVD is only beginning to emerge, so when one has to burn a DVD of a HDV movie, it means compressing it, which means a loss of quality. Now that loss is not that noticable when you pop the DVD in to watch on your TV, in fact it still looks pretty good. But once you blow it up via a projector, then yeah, things don't look so good anymore.

So we were faced with the following decision:

1. We could wait till 2007 and release the movie on more screens on digibeta but run the risk of the momentum dying. Also, there was no real guarantee that the movie would get shown anyways.

OR

2. We could make the compromise and get the movie out with Cathay who were really eager and supportive thus getting the word out because that was more important to us.

And we stand by that decision. What was important was that people got to watch the movie, got to talk about it and that the name of the team and the company got out. It was the best decision because it led to us getting a significant chunk of money now for our next movie which is being shot middle of next year.

But what is also important to glean from this is the implication E-Format holds for other emerging digital filmmakers in Malaysia who do not have huge budgets and will be gunning to get their movies in the cinema. We were lucky that the people at Cathay were willing to step up to the plate and get the movie shown. E-Format is our first step in what should a constant and unrelenting march towards proper digital projection where one pops a hard drive into the projector and screens the digital movie in full digital quality.

This is vital as digital cinema is a cinema about innovation and Malaysian cinema from now on will be about digital cinema. Thus it is only right that we continue to push the boundaries not just when it comes to production, but also distribution and exhibition.

Because to remain showing digital films on E-Format would be akin to screening 35mm films on video.

Thanks for reading,
Arivind Abraham

Blogger Reviews

So we've got some good reviews and some mediocre reviews in the printed and online press but what about within the blogger community? Here's just one review we happened to stumble upon:

http://kopi-o-satu.blogspot.com/2006/09/movie-review-skali.html

Love, Life & Friendship to all!

The S'kali Team

NST on S'kali

Today's edition of The New Straits Times has carried a review on S'kali. You can check it out online at:

http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/nst/Wednesday
/Features/20060926151547/Article/index_html

Don't forget that the movie is still screening until the 4th of October at Cathay Cineleisure Damansara!

Showtimes For S'kali Up Till 4th October

Hi all,

Well here are the show times for the movie at Cathay Cineplex Damansara till our very last day on October 4th.

Wed 27 Sep
2:25pm 4:05pm 5:50pm

Thu 28 Sep
1:15pm 7:45pm

Fri 29 Sep
1:15pm 7:45pm

Sat 30 Sep
11:30am 1:10pm 7:40pm

Sun 1 Oct
11:30am 1:10pm 7:40pm

Mon 2 Oct
1:15pm 7:45pm

Tue 3 Oct
1:15pm 7:45pm

Wed 4 Oct
1:15pm 7:45pm

Tickets can be booked online at www.cathaycineplexes.com.my

All you have to do is register with the site which is free and easy to do!

So to those of you who have not seen the movie, or would like to do so again, you've got one more week to go experience love, life and friendship!

The S'kali Team