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One plus one

ONE PLUS ONE - A short film

One plus one from kellyswee on Vimeo.

Credits

Written by Kelly Swee

Produced by Kelly Swee

Directed by Kelly Swee

Edited by Kelly Swee

Co-produced by Chardy Wang

Narrations by Ting Yen Mei, Roy Ng

Music by Tran Thi Tuyet Mai

Cast

Deddy Wang

Chun Li

Huynh Dang Khoa

Tran Thi Tuyet Mai

The concepts

I was assigned to make a film that has some similarities with the syllabus of my film art module. I particularly like Wong Kar Wai’s “Chungking Express” and I watched it many times after I had found the film online. I like the idea of parallel contexts and missed chances and coincidenences. Besides this film, Eric Khoo’s “12 Storeys” also struck a chord in me. I thought the portrayal of the idea of lack of social interaction despite proximity was very realistic and true. I even thought of Tsai Ming Liang’s “Goodbye, Dragon Inn”. That would really be arty farty and it wouldn’t appeal to the masses. Haha. I do like the film as well and I attempted to incorporate the idea of a realistic mood into a few parts of the short film.

I like to express the inner emotions that one has. I believe everyone has inner emotions or the side that nobody has seen before. Everyone might have felt lonely or a sense of emptiness inside at some point of them in times difficulties or when something is lacking in life or simply in times of unhappiness. Sometimes, we just need someone to understand us. It isn’t easy to trust someone of your own feelings and emotions. There isn’t any right formula to follow to tell us what is right or wrong. We just have to trust.

The film

I used the idea of parallel contexts to narrate a story of two individuals having very similar yearning for somebody to accompany due to their solitary lives and unknown sense of loneliness that emerge within themselves. In the film, both characters are waiting for something to happen or that special someone to appear to understand them.

Youtiao (fried doughstick) and soy milk appear in the film very often. I chose these two items as the motifs in the film for a reason. I thought they are a great combination and should come together. It would also indicate the idea of a pair or a couple.

The bus stop scene appears for a reason too. To me, the idea of a bus stop is to wait. We wait for the bus most of the time, don’t we?

The playground scene was also chosen for a few reasons. First of all, a playground reminds me of laughters and happiness from the innocence of children. I feel that the innocence in us tends to diminish gradually as we grow. I thought that was very sad and often look forward to re-experience that feeling again. Therefore, as the two characters appear in the playground, they envy the laughters and yearn for a similar experience.

Initially, the idea of the bridge was to bring the two characters together. The bridge is often thought to connect both sides, so I wanted the bridge to” connect” the characters together. However, it wasn’t done so in the end due to post-production issues. Haha.

The meeting of the two characters was purely based on coincidence. This could seem totally absurd as we know that the probability would be very low. I will discuss this later. Haha. I worked on the idea of first impression counts. Have you noticed that that sometimes someone gives you a certain impression because of the first encounter with the person? You either like or dislike the person or feel neutral based on the first impression. Whether that certain impression or image remains fixed or subject to change would depend on how things progress between the person and you.

It’s up to imagination for the part where the screen goes black after their meeting. I added the track “The happy ending” in the black screen before the screen comes to light again. I wanted my audience to imagine the result. I don’t like the idea of “soupfeeding” such that the audience see every single detail (as seen in most commercial sources). Instead, I like the idea of giving the space to grow, imagine and create.

The flow of the film is such that the two lonely characters are just meant to meet. The complement of the fried doughstick (or fritters) and the soymilk, the same places they appear in and the same thing they have been doing.

The making

Many might have guessed that the use of youtiao (fried doughstick) and soy milk would remind them of 林俊杰 JJ Lin’s song 豆浆油条 (dou jiang you tiao). And true enough, it was from that song! I was listening this song while I was thinking of the items that should be similar or should complement each other.

孙燕姿 Stephanie Sun’s 同类 (tong lei) also gave me the inspiration and idea of needing someone for company and to understand the inner emotions.

I also like 陈绮真 Cheer Chen’s songs where they are often emotional and about loneliness and solitariness.

I listened to all these songs on my iPod as I travel on the train. I formed my thoughts and ideas by listening to music and looking out of the window at everything else in the world. I also noticed the playground while I was on the train. Haha.

It was difficult to get the actors. Everyone in Singapore is busy. Haha. Thank goodness Deddy and Chun Li came to Singapore at that time and thank goodness they agreed to participate in the film. I had to get youtiao and soy milk for a few days. And as there was a need to do a few retakes, both of them had to keep eating and drinking. Haha. I think they wouldn’t touch youtiao and soy milk at least for a few days after the shoots.

The bridge scene was pretty difficult too. I had to direct and do the camera and do the coordination. It wasn’t easy to give my actor and actress the cues to start moving as I was positioned at the bottom of the bridge. It looks like a simple shot but it took us about 1-2 hours as they also did a change of clothes.

The rain at Little Guilin (The lakeside) got heavier and made the shoots tougher. I had to shift the camera positions and get it into place very quickly. I didn’t have the script and the storyboard with me, so I merely worked according to the mental images in my mind.

More to go, but maybe I shall write more in future. Haha.

The beginnings

It could have also be titled as “The struggles”. Initially, I was in a group of four. However, as the deadline approached, three of them decided to not to be part of the film making. Though I was disappointed as one of them, who had always been the enthusiast in this project, was first to tell me his decision of leaving the group, I still wanted to carry on with the film project. The other two group members made the same decision soon after. I accepted it as I always believe the freedom to choose. I was disappointed yet relieved at the same time. Doing it alone would mean having greater responsibilities but at the same time, I have more freedom to create. I wouldn’t want to give it all up. A few days later, one of the group member wanted to be part of the film making but I decided to turn him down. At that point of time, I saw a lot of positivities in doing the film on my own and at the same time, I wondered if he would be committed to this project. I want to work with people with the similar passion, commitment and direction as I have. Be 100% in it or not be in it. Besides, group dynamics come into play when there are more than one person making the decisions. There was also an issue of freedom that I wanted. I don’t want to be restricted by others’ opinions and I would prefer to do it the way according to my gut feel. Therefore, I chose the more freedom and responsibilities over another person to share it with me.

The critics

My sister was saying that the ending is so weird and it doesn’t make sense. Despite my explanations, she insisted on the peculiarity. Maybe she was right. I should accept the viewers’ opinions.

Yen Mei told me about the clash of colors between the character’s dressing and the background in one the scenes. That was true. I should take note of that in future.

My cousin Gavin watched it and said the ending was so lame and he felt like dying. Haha. But he had described the cinematography as “solid”. Woah I am flattered. Haha. In my opinion, I felt the cinematography for the first playground scene could be improved.

There was this screening session for all the short films submitted. The audience were laughing at the repeated times that fried doughstick and the soy milk went on screen. My motifs turned out to be a comedy. Haha. My lecturer commented that it was a “clever film”. He told me that the idea was well developed. I would suppose he meant that the film has a basic storyline and could be understood easily as most of the short films had great ideas but their development of the idea was pretty unclear. Same sentiments I had, as I found some of the short films with very good portrayal of mood and expression yet it was difficult to comprehend the message behind the film.

Tell me what you think. I love to hear comments.

The thoughts

It was worth the trouble and efforts after all. I spent a total of 4 days for the shoots, 1 day for recording the narrations and 1 day 1 night for the editing. Haha. 1 day 1 night sounds like some hotel stay. I like the process of film making.

From the camera to my computer, I picked up new skills and polished the old. Using the camera and the tripod that comes with it was great fun. I controlled the zoom, manipulated with the exposure modes, played around with the manual focus! The tripod was great to do panning and tilting. So fun! The fun part continues in editing. I love editing. When it comes to editing, it’s up to one’s creativity to piece the parts and play around with it and generate new ideas to portray the expression or the mood. I didn’t sleep until four in the morning.

It was no doubt tiring to do everything on my own. I had to have many issues on my mind. The filming schedules, the weathers, the items on set, the flow of the story and the mood that I wanted to create. It was difficult, together with the deadlines. It would also be great if I could get a producer and a cinematographer and a production designer. Somebody to take care of the logistics such as the actors’ schedule and filming schedules; somebody to take care of the camera; somebody to take care of the location, settings and the props and costumes for the actors on set. And me? I want to be the Director. Wahaha.