Director's Post - Pre Production Trip 3

Hello Investors and Friends!!!

JC and I just got back from our final pre-production trip. It was a great weekend, and we are ready to hustle.

During this trip, we needed to interview and decide on the Lead Cast, finalize the production schedule, start on wardrobe and props and extra equipment search.

We started with our "Search for Delisha".

Sapril and Ucok took us across the water to a neighboring coastline village where Roby and his family lives. We decided to search for the mother character there.

Coastline Village

Sapril and I on the boat over

We stumbled upon a wedding, and Sapril was very kind to suggest that we look for women that we like in the crowd.

Me and JC with groom and bride.

At the end, we interviewed two who we liked, IAH and ZABIAH. Roby came back from school around the time of Iah's audition so we did some acting exercises with the two of them.

IAH (Sony Ex1 Still)

It felt good to get on my feet and start working with actors/nonactors. One of the big challenges this time though is working in a foreign language. Sapril and I have been figuring out the quickest and most honest way for me to communicate with the actors through him. It has been fun and challenging.

We invited Iah, Zabiah, and Roby for callbacks the next day.

Later that afternoon Sapril, JC, and I left for the fishing village of Kawal to check on the house that Rene (Art Director) would be decorating. We also scouted the new location for the restaurant scene and boat junk part area.

Character's house in kawal at low tide. (SONY EX1 still)

Me walking on planks of wood high above the ground - notice the kids.

Wide shot of coastline. (SONY EX1 still)

That night JC and I went to a hotel where he did scheduling and insurance work. JC is very proud of our paper work and receipt trail. We are very lucky to have a producer as knowledgeable as JC about producing internationally on our team. Meanwhile, I worked on the acting exercises that I would run with the actors the following morning.

The next day Sapril picked us up and we dropped JC off at the local office. JC stayed and continued working on the schedule while Sapril and I went to Rivud's house to meet with him again and see what things from his home we could use to re-create the house where his character lives in Kawal.

As always Rivud and his family were extremely welcoming and warm.

Rivud Wardrobe Front

Rivud Wardrobe Back

Wife's Clothes

Prayer mat

After a pleasant hour with Rivud and some Bird's Nest Drink and cookies, Sapril and I headed back to the office so I could begin working with Iah, Zabiah, and Roby. Rivud joined us a few hours later for the final round of acting exercises so we could see how everyone gelled.

It took almost 3 hours of work to decide between Iah and Zabiah. We are very thankful that Zabiah took her time to work with us but in the end we cast Iah.

Roby and Zabiah

Roby did brilliantly and even sold the performance of playing dead while Iah and Zabiah were crying and screaming on his body.

Iah cries over Roby's body

Roby plays dead

We hadn't seen Rivud act until he arrived but he did amazing and played drunk very convincingly. At one moment, I was watched him retaliate towards Iah, and you could see the rage in his eyes while never losing his physical drunk interpretation.

Rivud Playing Drunk

I was impressed, relieved, excited, and as always when I am in Bintan - smiling.

A big thank you to Sapril as my Interpreter. It has been a pleasure working with his so far and we are excited about the collaboration.

WEIRD FISH (IKAN LANGKA) ....... IS CAST!

Final Cast: Iah, Roby, Rivud

Cast with Basil and JC

The last hour was spent with Sapril and JC going over the schedule and then JC and I headed back to Singapore.

This is my the last director's post because we leave for production in two days. We will continue with the posts after principle photography.

Thank you for reading and your support.

I will leave you with a few more from the beautiful village of Kawal, and then a photo of me struggling.

(Sony Ex1 Still)

(Sony Ex1 Still)

(Sony EX1 still)

Sincerely,
Basil Mironer, Director

Director's Post - Pre Production Trip 2

Hello Investors and Friends!!!

On September 19, 2008 we set out again for Bintan, Indonesia. This was our second pre-production trip.

The first goal of the trip was to start casting the Lead fisherman character as well as the Lead Mother and Son.

The second goal of the trip was to do some camera tests for the Sony Ex1 camera that we have chosen for principle photography.

This time we brought Alexa, the Director of Photography. It's priceless to see people's faces when they get their first glimpse of Tanjong Pinang and Kawal. Alexa was grinning ear to ear; and I will admit that I was grinning as wide as the first time.

The people, culture, and beauty are really one of a kind.

I was initially very concerned about trying to find a man in his 50's - 60's that would be able give his time for rehearsals and 12 hour work days for a full week. On top of that, even if we found men willing to do that, it didn't mean that they would be right for the role. So, the search began.

Now.... ever since that first weekend in Bintan - I had this feeling that is hard to describe.

When you relax and take in the environment you feel this energy running through its people and places. Everyone is genuinely happy and when it rains they don't run for cover but instead enjoy the way it feels on their skin. And that's life.

This second trip - I knew it. This place was a going to be magical for us, and we are lucky to find it and for it to have found us.

An hour later me, JC, Alexa, Ucok, and Sapril arrived at a house somewhere in the middle of many small winding alleys.

There we met Rivud, a 68 year old man. We talked for an hour with the help of Sapril who is my interpreter. This included many questions, playing a few games to analyze psychology, him singing to us, discussion of the script and life-death-nature-acting-love-etc-etc-etc.

I stepped outside for a fresh of breath air, shaking a little. We would keep searching just in case but my gut was jumping around screaming at the sky in excitement - YES!

For the rest of the day we did camera tests in Kawal. JC at the time was constantly working on taking location and transport photos for our insurance company.

Crew Boat

Floating Kalong

The next morning Alexa continued with camera tests.
Sapril, JC, and I went on a hunt for one more location I had written into the script. After a 30 minute hike along the coast we found what we were looking for.

New Location - Jetty

Me and Sapril

Then in the afternoon, we interviewed a few potential mothers and two boys. In my mind, the mother character was a bit fuzzy at the time since I was constantly rewriting the script at the time. Although the women we interviewed were nice, they didn't jump at me as possibilities.

From the two boys we interviewed I preferred one. His name is Roby - 10 years old. We did a few directing exercises to see how he would behave and play on camera. I wasn't completely sure but his smile is golden and lights up the room. We decided to see him again next time we would come.

That late afternoon we got on the boat and headed back to Singapore. JC, Alexa, and I stood sided by side looking over the railing at the sun setting over Bintan. For a while, we stood in silence looking out at the slowly disappearing coastline..... and we just smiled. (That part didn't really happen but I'm kinda tired and it was fun to write).

Thanks for reading!!!!