Behind The Scenes

This "behind the scenes" video clip was actually edited and played during the film's wrap party. Done (by David Ng) purely for "fun" and not as a promotional tool for the film - hence the many shots of the crew sleeping on set (*cough*), and the absolute lack of audio.

In there are quick glimpses of the set/setting, including "Harry's House" where most of the setting had been removed, with location used as a shoot wrap venue, on the last day of filming! We had sponsored sushi, and it was to be the first time I had ever allowed the film crew to "eat on my set" LOL

Movie Trailer

Designing Harry's Home

Design sketches for what I had wanted Harry's home to be, after the initial location recce. images-below are of the original location (sorry no colors) where the setting was bare-minimum, with stark milky-white walls - but was an interesting challenge, as all most designers may relish the opportunity to start with a blank-slate (i know i did :p)


The only daunting part of this endeavour was to (logistically) carry all the items I wanted to this location. It was a flight of narrow staircases 5 stories up. No lift. And in lieu of budgetary constraints of hiring movers, we (ie: Art Department) literally moved every single item up at varying times before the actual shoot. In-between shoots, prior or after other location shoots, we would inevitably end up moving things here, Every single shoot and rest day, without fail for the month leading up to location shoot. We made it a livable home, with working tv and powered-fans. I would've loved to literally "live" there, to be in the mind of Harry, but alas practicality showed me the way ... and it would've been hard to let go of this set, come striking day. A month to set-up and three days to strike.

In the end, this would be my personal most proud setting, as it came as ever close to my designs and mood which I had set forth for myself, and within the budget. (We even came in slightly under-budget)

SCALED-SKETCHES:


FIRST INITIAL SKETCH (you can see it's out of scale and the space looks bigger than it actually is):

Above-right is the night where Harry did his drunken parajump, the living room bathed entirely in red, with the exception of his fish-tank, which i figured is the only "living" company he had after his wife had left him (except for when "Faithful" the dog enters his life) - for which he promptly deep-fried and had the fish for breakfast the next morning (if you can remember the scene from the movie :p).

Harry's Shelf Of Antiquities And The Origin Of The Green Wall

The Green Wall:

I remembered having a hard time convincing Djinn that I'd want to paint the wall "green". He felt we didn't need it (or mayhap the color green leaves a rancid taste with him, he's never said otherwise) and I had been adamant in wanting it.

The rationale:
A predominant color of the 1970's, tis likened to Singaporean governmental institutions and/or clinics, back in the day. A very vile (an irony considering the current retro resurrgence) and let's face it, not exactly a happy color. Nor did I want a neutral white or blah-beige wall. I had wanted a sense of dullness and mayhap a sense of "imprisonment" to Harry's life. And that singular feature colored wall in the entire house would be it.

Space constraints also played a part in this setting, as most times we'd see this particular wall and i had wanted the different ligthings of the day (shining thru the window at side) to "play" with Harry's "moods".

I personally dislike green. With a mild vengence. But I'd felt this was what Harry needed. A prison of his own making, disguised as a sanctuary.


The Cabinet played a big part in the mood of the set and film, at least for me. It was the embodiment of Harry's psyche. Filled with treasures of his past, not of monetary value, but of the memory of the glory days. Mementos of his numerous travels around the globe, a mark of where he's been and who he was and long to be again. A global-citizen, trapped in an age embodied by his habitat and mindset.

Each single item would bring on a different story and memory, and I am sure he'll tell them with a smile and warmed heart. And yet they are encased in a glass-paneled cabinet, much like himself ~ bare to the world but not his heart. Framed by tradition (altar), memory (display cabinet) and (loosing) time (clock and calendar), this wall, to me, is Harry. Even his pride and joy, his son, sits on the top with his old man.


This cabinet came about after Djinn had brought me to visit one of his relatives (Uncle Steve) and he too had cabinets full of mementos, both old and new. A mixture of overseas exotica and coasters, mingled with fastfood toy giveaways - which I had wanted to replicate and embody in a single display. Thriftshops and flea markets were the only way to obtain these items in these current times and my heart yearns for where they all are now LOL.


If I had my way, every single item would tell a story and that would've been quite a maxi-series, innit? LOL

Harry's Dining Table

Another old staple of Singapore's yesteryears ~ the green-marbled design formica table top on foldable legs. Got it for a song and over-crowded it with liquor and booze-bootles. This was Harry's next most used area (after his sofa), where he ate and drank. Basically I likened this area to be his most "current" parallel to the "real world" and hence the clutter of veiled desires and neccessities, ie: booze and cigarettes.


The amount of wine and liquor bottles was strangely a daunting affair (but an unfortunate regular occurance in Singapore), for which I had wanted a ridiculous copious number of. What with most folks throwing away their emptied bottles and second-hand vendors not willing to rent out theirs, we had to rely on my faithful Props Master; Sharlyn, to hit on her own private stash resources. Filled with a mix of real liquor, Oolong Tea, regular tea and glucose-water.


One thing about "food" being used on-set: most times if there are no caterers (in lieu of packed or sponsored meals, "craft services" exist not in Singapore film culture), we'd have to pre-prepare food and in lieu of the absence of warming appliances (ie: microwave ovens et al), we try to tupperware them.

In this instance, food was (unfortunately) not prepared for this sequence in time, so we had to make do with morsels of our actual packed lunch (sorry for the hungry stomachs, guys!) and a bowl of soup that nobody should ever touch nor taste.

In a lot of instances, if anyone would notice in our local productions, the actors drink a lot of soup and nary touch the other food. or eat a whole lot of rice. Because rice is always safe, cold or not and soups are mostly always heated-up, to induce "steam", (ie: piping hot soup) hence safe to drink.


But not this bowl of soup. The Actors were warned, thank you :)

Harry's Living Room Area

(below-left) The fan that didn't work but was good for filling up space. The 70's-styled stretched plastic-wicker chair that I had to get and perhaps the pbvious color difference in this set, "reminding" the viewers of the 70's tone. (and still exists in a lot of local homes in Singapore now too).


(Above-right) The bloodied-floor the morning after Harry's drunken para-jump the night prior. Appreciated the folks that didn't stomp all over the set. I made sure of that because i told everyone everytime they come on my set. I'm anal about such things, so sue me. No eating, no drinking, no mucking about on set. We are the Art Department and not janitors or cleaners. (but of course we are when shoot starts, dammit).

The tribal-Australian (or was it African?) totem with a missing wooden penis; stands guard beside the living-room sofa, a thinly-veiled metaphor perhaps for the emasculation of the average Singaporean-male (at least of Harry's generation)


I'm sure Harry's wife agrees :p

(Below-left) A ridiculous stack of newspapers, for which is a very Singaporean-trait. We'd have stacks upon stacks of daily newspapers kept, while waiting for the neighbourhood "karang gunni-man" (ie: 2nd-hand dealer) to come door to door to buy it from us, for mere cents, thinking we'd not "loose too much money and maybe get back some spare change". But we don't normally tie them up, we'd leave it to the folks who comes prepared with string and twine. Harry most likely would be the sort of gentleman who'd "help ease their hardwork" but tying them up himself first :)


(Above-right) As of last count, I had purchased near 12 ash-trays for this shoot. And had peppered them throughout his house (living room, dining, bedroom, kitchen) and of course the cigarette butts were kindly contributed by every one on set :p

Harry's Fish Tank

I had wanted a singular light-source in Harry's living room, if not for light-motivation, then for atmospheric purposes, during the time of day when the main room lights may not be necessarily switched-on. And I had wanted to have another "life" (besides Faithful, The Dog) to keep Harry company, espcially after his wife had left him. And that was a fish tank, which metaphorically parallels Harry's life, trapped in a tank, floating, weightless, nothing to anchor him but the notion of migration.


As most things that clutter, either they are stacked on the floor-up, or they are stuffed into stand-alone structures, brimming with forgotten items threatening to topple the structure, IMHO. (above-right) James, our Soundman does a little jig, mayhap to entertain the fish? yes, it was a working fish tank with a live fish, which we had to feed near everyday :)

About The White Christmas Tree And Harry's TV Area

About That White Christmas Tree:
Djinn had subtly insistent (he does that very well, mind) on having a white christmas tree in the set, which I kinda liked the quirkiness of and helps provide a cross-cultural zone between East (where Harry physically lived) and West (where he mentally longs to be) and of course, a time-warped moment (I lurve time-warps ;p).


Finding a white christmas tree before December was a hurdle that took a couple of weeks to overcome. Bascially, in commercial-land (ie: Singapore), nobody would stock christmas trees, much less an all-white one. Alternatives were to spray-paint existing green ones, but I was determined to find a kitschy-plastic white one. Rubbish-collector pulled thru again ~ one dusky late afternoon, moment before the magic hour, in between the silhouette of the cranky old seller and his gigantor-mount of dusted boxes, laid a single mould of white-like christmas leaves, in pristine dusted plastic. SOLD.


(That's my Set Dresser; Mus, fussing over the curtains :p) All other items peppered throughout the living room were 70% from thrift-shops and flea markets, bought within a span of two weeks. Receipts were a nightmare, but I'd follow-up with photographic evidence.

About Harry's Bedroom And The Mirror Cracketh

Thank the location-gawds Harry's bedroom was in the same apartment (as the living room et al). I had gone for the bedroom with the 70's styled window-grills, likening it to Harry living there ever since he got married and probably has not renovated nor decorated since. From the furniture to even the salmon-colored curtains (another thrift-shop find). His refuge from the "present world"; is his house. Which has also turned into his prison (hence the funky grills).


One primary concept which I had wanted to bring across was that visually (and mayhap metaphysically), Harry was stuck in the 1970's. His glory years. His manhood years, when what he said meant something to folks around him, somewhere he'd be comfortable in, and somewhere where he'd still wish to be in. The bedroom is kept to a bare minimum, as messy since the day his wife left him. I had wanted ridiculous amounts of clutter and stacked junk, but decided it would have taken Harrry away from his loneliness.



THE MIRROR CRACKETH:
The script called for a sequence where Harry bashes his head unto the mirror and cracks it. Which again, provided one of the main "problems" the Art Department encountered for this feature.

No one makes breakable glass in Singapore. The Closest we've ever had were waxed-bottles and even then they were unpalatable for the big screen.

Furied inquiries and calls were made overseas, the closest contact we could find (surprisingly not Hong Kong) was in the U.S. One eventful reply and long-distance call later (which I'm thankful for, unfortunately for whom I've forgotten the caller was), I was basically advised to not purchase a coupla breakaway mirrors, because: (A) we couldn't afford it, (B) we couldn't afford it and (C) we couldn't afford it ... you get the drift? The cost would've come up to near 3xtimes my entire props budget.

One of my contractors (bless his soul, Mr. Jay Hammond) suggested we use regular glass (thinest we could make) and putting a industrial-grade "safety-film" over the surface, while at the same time using a chisel or sharpened-end on the back of the glass, hammered in.

We tried it and it worked. But with the angle if the shot, that would mean someone had to be inside of the cupboard to initiate the hammering. And that someone would be me.

After a couple of false tries (I was in fear of hammering Kay Thong, innit?), by the third take I struck with anger (and severe heat! a 5mm-gap as ventilation? no monitor-playback? was "listening" to Harry's lines for the cue), there was silence after the take. I came out of the cupboard and Kay Thong gave me a silent fleeting glare and everyone else was gasping - the chisel had penetrated the mirror by half-an-inch and was held in by the safety film. If Kay Thing had remotely even banged his head unto the mirror, that would have been the last take for the film. (of course I exaggerate .. err ... maybe...).


But it DID have a nice spider-web configuration in the final sequence, didn't it? *heh*

Designing Bugis Street

LOCATION OF BUGIS-STREET SCENE:

(along Balestier Rd's backlane, down where Harry's home location is)

These are my initial working sketches for the Bugis Street scene. They were intended for both in-production communication, as well as procuring a quotation for the set to be build out-of-house (for which it still was, in a fashion). Alas budget has a way of throwing a spanner in the works, but I felt we pulled thru (pity it was edited out tho, dammit).

The scene was included in the U.S. / Region 1 pressing of the DVD, in the "Deleted Scenes".

INITIAL PRODUCTION DESIGN SET-SKETCHES:


SET-DESIGN / CONSTRUCTION DRAWINGS (for contractors):