Behind The Camera

Hi all,
My name is Arivind Abraham. I would first of all like to give a big thank you to all of you who have been coming to the blog and who have been voicing their opinions on what they have seen in regards to S'kali so far.

A lot of times a film gets made, and people tend to forget the collaborative nature that is the medium of film. S'kali only got made because of the amazing production team I had behind me. This post is about them.

ASA'AD ENTERTAINMENT - Exec Producers

A remarkable company that took a chance on us. The duo behind it prefer to remain behind the scenes, but we look forward to a long working relationship with them.


PERANTAUAN - Associate Producers

The partnership of which I am a part of. Made up of the following divisions: Digital Film, Records, Publishing, Performing Arts, Business. These people represent my closest friends, my brothers in arms and the soulmates who helped me realise this movie. Here they are:



Keith Leong. Writer Extrodinaire and Genuine Genius. He heads up the at the moment dormant publishing department but is an accomplished and published writer. A sheer force to be reckoned with.



Jason Lim. The creative business mind and cool sense within the partnership. Jason heads up the records division and brings his business acumen to the plate working closely with fellow producer Bahir Yeusuff.



Samantha Tan. Currently in her 2nd year at the prestigious London Studio Centre doing her BA for Performing Arts, Samantha will eventually work out of the performing arts arm of Perantauan. A tenacious worker and a perfectionist to the hilt.



Bahir Yeusuff. The Man With The Plan. My backbone and confidante throughout this production. Bahir did not only function as an associate producer but also as my production manager. Up there in my opinion with the likes of great producers like Rick McCallum and Brian Grazer. Look out for him on anything else I may one day work on.

DOP - Dimitri Kotselis



A dear, dear friend of mine who was actually intially just meant to be on holiday in Malaysia. A sheer dictionary when it comes to film, music and literature. A true renaissance man. Unfortuntely due to the fact that he was foreign, his role as DOP could only go so far as doing pre-viz with me and the storyboard artist and then keeping an eye on the camera operator on set. Dimi opened up my horizons visually as he saw Malaysia with a fresh set of eyes.

Storyboarding - Kumar Andran



My oldest friend, a guy who draws stupendously with such a unique style. Battled it out with me and Dimi in multiple pre-viz sessions which sometimes went on late into the night. Just great at what he does.

Camera/Runner - Lim Benji



Baltimore Benji! Benji currently studies film in the USA in Baltimore and, as some of you might know, recently had the unpleasent experience of being deported. A superb, diligent worker who brought so much to the team and is a future writer/director to be looked out for.

Plus he has killer dance moves.

Sound - Zaid & Azlan



Jay & Silent Bob. Well at least for the first 2 days till we began to see how funny Azlan was. These guys kept me sane on set with all their humour when the going got rough. Far out dudes...no, BEYOND FAR OUT!

Gaffer - Jay Menon



A guy who is actually an engineer, needed to kill some time for a couple of weeks and found himself falling in love with painting with light. Proves that sheer instinct can sometimes do wonders.

Art Director - Bella Drinkwater



Bella graciously designed the look for each character and with sheer grit dressed up each character's room in PD. Never underestimate the art director, they are there to make your foolish visions look better.

Editors - Luke Yerbury & Ali Maggs



Befour Madness! You'll hear more about these guys as the edit progresses along here in the UK.

Marketing & Design - Elena Harith & Jessica Richer

Unfortunately no pics at the mo of this duo who have been working hard at all the promo images and marketing strategies in conjunction with Perantauan.

I would also give a big shout out to Cinerent Malaysia and Imaginex. They helped beyond belief.

So that is the team. These are the people who made S'kali.

Cheers!

Blog blitz begin!

Today's article in The Star newspaper marked the beginning of the first stage of publicity for S'kali. We hope to let the word spread on the internet first before continuing with more media coverage closer to our scheduled release date. I'm personally curious to see how many bloggers pick this up and support us, before the corporate machinery that is marketing and advertising takes over.

We're a small outfit and everyone involved in the making of this movie is fresh, young and passionate about making a truly suburban Malaysian story about love, life and friendship in a country that's growing up alongside them.

If you're young, fresh and passionate as well, do us a favour and put up our little banner on your blog to help advertise this movie. In all honesty, you're one of the reasons we made this and took great pains to put your soul into it and keep it real.

to link the picture, copy and paste the following code into your blog:
<a href="http://perantauanpictures.blogspot.com">
<img src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4141/1960/1600/
teaser_final.0.jpg" title="Skali" ></a>

Harian Metro

Cast member Zimy Rosan is featured in Harian Metro write up.

"Zimie baru saja selsai menjalani penggambaran sebuah filem Inggeris tempatan berjudul S’kali. Filem itu diterbit dan diarahkan pengarah baru dan biasa menghasilkan filem bebas.

Menurut Zimie, filem S’Kali sudah dihantar ke Finas dan tarikh tayangannya kemungkinan pada Ogos ini.

Ramai muka baru ditampilkan dalam filem itu, dan kebanyakannya model dan belum dikenali.

Walaupun baru tetapi jelas Zimie jalan ceritanya menarik menggambarkan suasana remaja Malaysia sebenar dan pasti mampu memikat hati penonton kerana ia berbeza dengan filem yang pernah dihasilkan sebelum ini.

Apapun ia berita baik buat mereka yang masih merindui Zimie, walaupun tidak lagi dapat mendengar suaranya peminat boleh melepaskan rindu apabila filem S’kali ditayangkan kelak." - excerpt from Harian Metro 220206

Click here for the full write-up :Zimie beraleh ke bidang lakonan

S'kali In The Star

"Taking this opportunity to expound on their creative juices, 22-year-old Arivind Abraham and his group of entrepreneur friends decided to form a company – Perantauan Enterprise – which will oversee film, theatre and other creative productions. The group’s filmmaking arm, Perantauan Pictures, has its first slate – Abraham’s feature film debut, S’kali.

The film’s title is derived from what the waiters at the mamak restaurant asks when it comes time to pay the bill. If you’re in a group, you have the choice of paying individually (bayar asing) or together (s’kali). And since the film revolves around five college friends in Kuala Lumpur who will be going their separate ways as they find their own path in life, Abraham thought the title fitting." - excerpt from The Star 220206.



"THE independent feature S’kali boasts five new faces who answered the casting call almost two years ago and recently finished principal photography for the film. The filmmakers had decided to cast unknowns and were looking for three guys and two gals. They finally decided on KL-ites Davina Goh, Jayaram Nagaraj, Derek Ong, Angeline Rose and Zimy Rozan.

In a recent interview with the cast, who were shooting at the Syed Abu Restaurant in Bandar Utama, the actors revealed what made them turn to acting and what their filmmaking experience was like." - excerpt from The Star 220206

To check out the full write ups on S'kali in The Star go to:

1. All together now

2. Company of five

Cheers.

Writing S'kali

I recently got asked what I was using to inspire me or that I drew elements from when I was working on the script for S'kali over the past 8 years. I decided it might be cool just to add a little in regards to this on the blog.

ALMOST FAMOUS



I love "Almost Famous". The whole idea about 'coming of age' and growing up is such a powerful theme when it comes to this movie by Cameron Crowe. I remember studying this film really to source out the vibe I was seeking for S'kali.


ST. ELMO'S FIRE



This may be an obvious choice but I think you need to watch the obvious stuff to see what works for the genre and what doesn't. St. Elmo's Fire is a film that gets a lot of flak for being cheesy a lot of times, but hey, there are times in your life when stuff like that works.


STAND BY ME



Again I chose this because this is the quintessential coming of age movie. There are some stupendous performances in here from such a young cast, and I looked a lot at this movie to think about working with actors and getting the performace I wanted.

AMERICAN GRAFFITI



A much forgotten George Lucas classic (no he did not only do Star Wars and sell toys!) where the entire story is set over one night after graduation and how a bunch of mates discover that things may really have changed. A theme that constantly runs through S'kali.

So yeah, those are some of the films that have been watched by me whilst writing S'kali and hopefully you guys and gals check em' out too.

S'kali Teaser Image

Well here it is folks. The teaser image for Asa'ad Entertainment & Perantauan's upcoming movie "S'kali".

Good Day Sunshine

Various movie locations included the neighborhood of a member of the Perantauan team, Jason Lim. Angeline was not involved in any of the scenes for this particular shoot.

The following photos were taken by Azimy and Davina.


Dimitri offers a suggestion in the morning drizzle.


Derek and Azimy in the first scene of the day.


Setting up the camera dolly.


Arivind preps Derek for his solo scene.


Zaid is full of youthful exuberance.


Dimitri and Benji are good to go.


(L-R) Actor, chief runner, crew, paparazzi-in-training


Dimitri and Arivind observe a take.


Jay, Bahir and Jayaram portray curious bystanders.


Arivind deflowers Zaid's virgin ears.


Dimitri wanders off to visit the 'Ram-Mobile.


Actors must improvise ways to spend idle time.


Yoga buff Derek and his rebellious little cricket.

Some More Pictures

Befour Media

Hi all,
We thought we would blog a little about another small start up media company like Perantauan who are now heavily involved with the film.

Befour Media is based in Bristol, UK and is made up of four partners: Arivind Abraham, Dan Blake, Ali Maggs and Luke Yerbury who were all colleagues on the Time Based Media course at the University of the West of England in Bristol.

In the beginning, Perantauan approached Befour in regards to designing and preparing the website for the movie which is currently underway and will take some time as the people working on are, as we have said, a little team of perfectionists and will not open it till they see fit.

However Befour Media is now getting involved even futher with the post-production of the movie. When director Arivind Abraham could not find a decent enough HDV edit suite in KL at the price he wanted, he decided to take it over to Bristol to have it cut over there.

Editors Luke Yerbury and Ali Maggs will be working with Arivind on the edit over the coming months. They will be using the Final Cut Suite on a G5 with the Sony HDR-FX1 as their HDV deck for exporting and importing footage.

If you would like to see a little more info on Befour Media go to:

www.befour.co.uk

Baltimore Benji Returns

Just to let everyone know that Benji sucessfully got a new visa and will be on his way back to the good ol' US of A on Saturday.

And also, look out for the S'kali teaser poster which is to be released on this site within the coming days.

Look out also for the trailer which is supposed to be on this blog as well as the soon to be launched website in late Feb/early March.

And word has it the movie should be opening in August in KL and possibly certain cinemas in the UK.

The Dream.

Sometime 4 years ago, a dear friend had approached me with a proposal. To be a partner in a venture that at the time, seemed like almost a fool’s errand. He asked me if I wanted to help him make movies. At that point in my life I thought, why not? It should be fun. And boy was I right.
My name is Bahir Yeusuff, and I function as the Business Operations Manager of Perantauan Enterprise, and play the dual role of Producer and Production Manager for the production of S’kali. This entry will be written, less about the actual production, but more on the foundations of that dream.
I never did film. Or even anything remotely close to the industry. So for me, I approached every meeting from a business standpoint. From meetings with prospective producers, to meetings with prospective sponsors, it was rarely ever about the dream or the passion, but more about the money. Or at least the promise of money. But eventually, the passion takes over. The dream that belonged to someone else is now shared by you. And that is when the real fun starts. That point came for me, when I started to realize that I didn’t want just anybody to be in on the movie. I didn’t care how much money they were willing to put in; if they didn’t share our passion, I wasn’t interested in them. There were those who said it couldn’t be done, not on the budget we had proposed, and there were those who said our proposed timeline was too long, or that we still had time to wait. But these comments only steeled our conviction, if anything to prove that it was feasible, and that these 20-somethings could do it.
So we did it. Armed with a great cast and an amazing crew, we shot our movie. It was a grueling 2 week schedule, in which we learned a lot about a movie set, each other, and ourselves. Personally, it was a sharp learning curve. Only having been on a set, running and managing a set was a totally different ballgame. A ballgame made especially difficult seeing that a few months prior to shoot, I wasn’t expecting to play. But I managed, with a great deal of help.
At the end of the 2 weeks, and as we all went home to sleep, knowing we didn’t have a morning call time, it felt weird. Waking up felt worse. It was disheartening almost. 2 days after the wrap, crew members started calling each other, inquiring about their day, and finally, feelings of longing. Yeah, after a 2 week shoot, the crew started to miss each other. Sad, but true. At the end of that two week shoot, we felt like brothers. It was really weird.
It’s fair to say, that as our first project, we’re not expecting to be millionaires on the coat tails of this production. And neither are we expecting a call from Ron Howard’s assistant anytime soon. (although, if you are reading this, drop me an email Mr. Howard sir) If anything, this was to prove to a lot of people that it was possible. And to find out if we, any one of the people on the cast and crew, were ready for the movies.
The vision we had for the company and this first project was to introduce new talent. Be it the ones in front of the camera, or even behind it, we wanted to bring in new blood to this industry. As had been mentioned, everyone involved is here for the first time. For what it’s worth, I know it wont be my last.

Deported...

Hello all! My name is Benji and I was the chief runner/camera operator on the production of the film S'kali. Let me first just say that serving as a chief runner/camera operator has been the best experience I have had in my entire life. The simple fact that I'm a film major myself has made this experience even sweeter as I have learned so much from the cast and crew, not to mention getting mentored by my good friend Arivind Abraham.

As for this whole episode of being deported from the United States, I must say that it has been a traumatic experience. Well, at least now, I get to spend Chinese New Year with my family. I want to thank all of those who have written in messages of encouragement. Please know that I appreciate all of them and I will continue to keep my chin up through this uncertain times.

And since we're on the topic of deportation, I guess it will be quite useful for those who are thinking about leaving for the United States to further their studies. The reason for my deportation was fairly simple. International students entering the studying in the United States are required to report to the CBP office (Customs and Border Protection) whenever a student was to leave the country. Failing which of course would result in an arrest, fine or deportation.

When I returned to Malaysia to begin work with the crew of S'kali last Christmas, I had missed my connecting flight back to Kuala Lumpur at Newark Airport New Jersey. Following that incident, I had gotten a new flight out to K.L. from Los Angeles' LAX and upon arrival I had inquired about the location of the nearest CBP office to report my deprature from the United States from an airport official. The airport official told me however, that I did not need to do that and that all they needed to do was to remove a card from my passport. He removed the card from my passport and I thought I was done with it. Unfortunately that was not the case when I landed in Minneapolis and was later deported.

After an almost 30 hour flight including transit time to the United State, I was put on the next flight out to Kuala Lumpur within the 3 hours that I had landed in the U.S. All in all I had spent almost 3 days on the plane. The experience of course has been traumatic.

My advice to those thinking of studying in the United States is to really take their immigration laws seriously and understand and know your rights as an International Visitor and as a Malaysian. Knowing your rights, unlike me, helps alot.

Anyway..thank you once again for all your messages of support and please know that I will be fine.

S'kali Production Blog

S'kali Production Blog

It is hard to come down after 2 weeks of intense focus, determination and passion. Working on a film turns into an obsession which always ends up with one becoming blinkered and unresponsive to any stimulus that lies beyond the frame.

I'm giving myself sometime before the editors and I take it into the edit suite back in the UK.

On another note, please send messages of support to our chief runner/camera operator Benji, who after a 36hour flight to the US found himself being deported under armed guard back to Malaysia and uncertain of his future.

Mamak Mia

Apologies for the lack of updates during the shoot. Chief runner Benji was having technical trouble uploading some pictures during the first week. Just to add some color to the blog, here are pictures from my camera too. I took full opportunity to play around with my new Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z20 whenever I was given a breather from shooting. My 'jakun'-induced trigger happiness resulted in me taking on the role of unofficial photographer for production stills.
The first few days of the shoot focused on the mamak scenes. The following were taken during a 7pm-7am session.


Cast and crew prepare for a new scene.


Writer / director Arivind Abraham keeps track of the day's work.


Runners Benji Lim and Jay Menon introduce themselves.


At 1am, actors Azimy Ahmad and Angeline Rose are still in high spirits.


So are Jayaram Nagaraj and I.


Derek Ong, however, thinks he can do with another glass of caffeine.


(L-R) Azimy, Jayaram, Angeline, Associate Producer / Production Manager Bahir Yeusuff and Arivind.


Azlan and Zaid check the sound levels.


Action.


Making a quick reference to the script.


Jayaram and Azimy await their cue to enter the scene.


(L-R) Derek, Director of Photography Dimitri Kotselis and Jay.


Dimitri tries out another angle.


Bahir monitors the monitor.


Zaid's boom shake-shakes the room.


Jayaram taking pointers from Arivind.


Arivind gives me the signal to turn my camera off.

Happy Chinese New Year everyone! Expect more pictures soon.

- Davina

Finding the Friends- The Search for the Cast

The principal photography for S'kali was completed last Sunday, the 22nd of January. It was the experience of a lifetime which could not possibly have happened without our wonderful Cast and Crew. To celebrate, here is the last part of my interview with Arivind Abraham where we discussed the casting of the actors in S'kali.

Q: What were you looking for in your actors? Do you have a general policy or criteria when it comes to casting roles?

A: They needed to reflect the characters I had written. All the people who have been cast have within them a lot of the aspects of the characters within them and that mattered. The rest was gut instinct and the opinions of the associate producers.

Q: Describe the search for your cast. In what order did they get ‘discovered’?

A: We held an open casting call in 2004 and cast them then. I think we cast Azimy and Angeline first, Then we got Derek. We then got Jayram and finally we cast Davina.

Q: Is the Cast of S’kali exactly how you’ve envisioned them to be, or have there been any surprises?

A: There have been lovely surprised in terms of what my cast have brought to the table when tackling the characters. It’s great to see.

Q: How do you see yourself as a director in relation to your cast? How often have you experienced conflict between the two during your career and what do you do to resolve it?

A: I take very good care of my cast. They are my first and foremost priority as a director and that is only right as the director’s job is all about getting the performance. You don’t baby them, but you give them a firm direction to head into and also allow them the freedom to find things out.

Q: S’kali is a movie about friends. Did your Cast automatically click, or did it take some getting used to?

A: One of the reasons this is the cast we selected was because they became close very fast. They gelled very well.

Q: Do you prefer professional or amateur actors? Is there really any difference between the two?

A: I gotta think about this one. Professional actors or semi-pros like our cast just give you a lot more range and demand less work then an amateur I guess.

The Evolution of a Dream- Writing "S’kali"

The shooting of S'kali is now well underway at its various locations. This is the second instalment of my three part interview with the director/writer, Arivind Abraham. This time, Arivind talks about the evolution of the screenplay for S'kali.

-Keith Leong

Q: I understand that the script of S’kali has undergone extensive, if not downright radical revisions in the years that you have developed it. Can you chronicle for us the progression that your screenplay has made from the moment the idea to write it initially came to you till this day? How different is your very first draft to the one that you will shoot with come January 2006?

A: The very seed of the movie came from a dream. One night, for some weird reason when I was about 15 I had a dream about a guy driving in the rain, trying to get to the woman he loved who was about to get onto a plane.

The scene played out U2’s “Faraway (So Close)” from their Zooropa album.

I woke up and knew that that was to be the ending of my film.

I then began to doodle on the script for years. It started out being a film about 5 guy friends and then I got older and things happened to me and it became a love story and then Sepet came out.

That was the best thing in a way that happened to me.

It forced me out of my comfort zone of always ending up at that ending and forced me to write a better screenplay. One about 5 friends. A “St. Elmo’s Fire” for our times.

Q: Just how does an ‘Arivind Abraham movie’ get written? Do you have a specific regime or do scripts just flow as and when they come to you?

A; Well this is my first feature so my technique is still moulding itself. I start with the basic act structure. I know what tent-poles I want to reach by what pages and I know where I want to end up. Then I just let the characters write themselves based on the character essays I have done for them from the very beginning.

And I constantly redraft.

Q: Many feel that censorship is the Number One problem for Malaysian artists from all genres. What is your take on this?

A: I used to use this one as an excuse. And Moon from MFX told me straight off, “How do you explain Iran then?”

Q: Were there any scenes in S’kali that you found difficult or painful to write?

A: Not really.

Q: Now tell me the truth. Either than the protagonists (Ravin, Tze Huey, Bahir, Tzao and Tehmina), who is your FAVOURITE character(s) in the movie?

A: No comment. Ask me again after the shoot.

0330, Monday, 09/01/2006

First day of shoot.

I am feeling a strange mixture of nervousness and sheer blind adrenalin. The entire team is looking forward to making the first day today feel good coz' as you know, first days are when the "machine" starts getting oiled up.

This movie has been about 8 years in preparation, with an intense pace mainly in the last 3. Today begins the adventure that both cast and crew have been working on in order to make something meanigful and special.

Here's to the first day of principal photography on S'kali!

my 2cents:)

Honestly, that all I have in my wallet:). My name is Jayaram and I play the character Ravin in this movie. Like Derek said, better not say to much or they may be an issue with decapitation. The Movie is really cool and we begin shooting tomorrow! I'm as nervous as hell. So nervous in fact that I believe that my stomach has developed a mind of its own and is having a little rave party. Please do drop us little notes on the comment board and we will get to them:)...like the boss said, Negative or positive can also...

S'kali: An Introduction

This interview took place between Keith Leong (Q) and Arivind Abraham (A), the director and writer of S'kali.

Q: Let’s start with how it all began. What inspired you to write and direct S’kali?

A; It all began when I was about 15. I wanted to write a story about friends. A story about growing up and how that plays into the way friendships can be made or broken.

Q: Tell us about how the movie came to be called “S’kali”? What does it mean?

A: The title “S’kali” was actually conceived by the marketing team which is headed up by Elena Harith. She thought the word reflected the “togetherness” that was being portrayed within the movie and it ties in also with the image of the one sheet poster.

Q: There’s a very personal feel to the story and its characters. Just how ‘autobiographical’ (if we can call it that) is it?

A: The characters are using situations that at times are based on events that have happened and the characters themselves are amalgamations of some very close friends of mine but during the rewrites they have become entities on their own in a way.

Q: I think the first reaction people will have to this movie is, “Oh no, not another Sepet!” How would you respond to such comparisons? What makes S’kali different from Yasmin Ahmad's Sepet?

A: S’kali is very different from Sepet. Sepet was a love story at heart; this one is a story about friendship. It’s an ensemble piece and I am aware that everyone is going to be comparing but really that would be like comparing apples to oranges.

Q: Do you think that there is, or even can be a distinctive Malaysian style of filmmaking?

A; There is and never will be such a thing as the “quintessential Malaysian movie”. I think when it comes to Malaysian cinema it is about telling ones individual interpretation of the Malaysian experience because that is how varied the country actually is.

Q: What direction do you think the Malaysian film industry will take in the long run? Can you see yourself still having the dedication and perseverance to still be making movies here or about Malaysian subjects in say ten, or even twenty years down the line?
A: No comment really. I just know that in setting up Perantauan the aim is to develop movies over here with a Malaysian flavour and I see that as a long term thing.

S'Kali Interviews

Hello Everyone,

My name is Keith Leong and I'm part of the creative team behind S'kali. To mark the beginning of the movie's production, I recently conducted a series of interviews with it's writer and director, Malaysian Video Award winner Arivind Abraham. We talked about a variety of topics related to the movie and himself. These interviews shall be available in the coming weeks on this blog. For our first interview, "S'kali- An Introduction" Arivind talked about what inspired the story and his thoughts on the Malaysian film industry. Please keep visiting our Blog as more interviews with Arivind and the rest of the Cast/Crew get posted.

-Keith Leong.