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Initiation: Day 1

Principal photography for the short film “Initiation”, by tokuAsia Productions commenced today, marking the start of a new level for tokuAsia.

Director Basil Yeo, Producer Gan Meng Yeow and the entire cast and crew prepared for more than a month for today. They sourced for filming locations and sought approvals and permissions, and helped to gather more cast and crew, especially extras. It was a long and hard month, but for the production, everything was worthwhile.

The F1 track scene was made possible with the relevant approvals from the Singapore Tourism Board, the Land Transport Authority, the Urban Redevelopment Authority and Colliers International.

That day, the main cast and crew gathered first at the Management Development Institute of Singapore for last minute briefings and to collect the equipment. The equipment was checked thoroughly and photos were taken for the main characters’ ID tags. Another team of cast and crew arrived shortly, and soon, we left for the location.

Due to the National Day Parade rehearsals, filming could only began at 11PM, and everyone was there to setup the camera equipment and the vehicles. Going by the tradition of Hong Kong cinema, a short but customary ritual was conducted near the site of filming as the main cast and crew offered incense to appease the spirits in the area to allow our filming to carry on smoothly.

However, there were still certain hiccups that occured during the shoot. One of the car’s batteries died, and despite having four cars at our disposal, none of them had the jump start cables required the restart a car battery, leaving everyone helpless at what to do next. We were lucky to have found a kind someone nearby who was willing to lend us the cable, and filming resumed soon after.

As we only had one camera to work on, it had to be shifted several times to accomodate for different angles despite it being the same scene.

Another problem faced was the timing of the shoot. Everyone was tired, but nobody complained. The cast redid their lines no matter how many cuts or NGs were made. Everyone followed the director’s instructions, even the extras proved that they could be capable and professional on their part, doing their best and not being afraid to make mistakes. Everyone worked hard till the end.

“The most important thing is that everyone puts in effort and does their best, because without these, there is no point,” said producer Meng Yeow.

“Do well, work hard,” was the short and sweet quote from director Basil.

It was a great experience which everyone in the production team could learn from.

Now, the team is not afraid of any problems they lie before them, and will continue to learn and improve, and do a better job in future.

The staff of tokuAsia would like to thank everyone who came and supported the shoot. Everyone who came will have a part to play in this production’s success or failure.

Once again, thank you all.

Andric Teng
Crew member, Initiation
Saturday 20 June 2009