The Grim Confession of A Movie Maker

I should have anticipated this shouldn't I?

I recently made a general-election related video for a group of friends, but it was not at all smooth-sailing. Far from it.

It all started when the leader of the group proposed to write a song to urge young, indecisive Malaysians to go home and vote. I was basically excluded from the conversation until a day before recording. It turned out that some pro video makers weren't actually interested and so I was called in.

I had only one DSLR camera that could record in Full HD, and I had to make calls and borrow from other. It was a hectic arrangement and I was pretty sure my patience was already excoriated a lil by the end of the day.

The recording session went well and by the time I reached home it was already 4am. Fuck round 1.
I had a plan to make a promotional poster (cheh act pro gila) like some sort of hollywood production, and it came out the next morning. Considering the time given to me I believe I was pretty fast already.

Then came the trouble.

Some people obviously do not understand the painstaking process needed to make a music video (abbreviated as MV henceforth). I don't claim to be an expert in MV making, but I can definitely differentiate the half-brights from the barking packs. The half-brights are those who know enough to think that they know a lot, but don't know enough to know what part of what they know is actually worth knowing, while the barking packs are those who don't know how little they know, and the latter are often the ones who monopolize the entire conversation. And in my case, at least the half-brights did offer some constructive ideas, while the barking packs didn't know when to stop to be funny.

You can infer from the conversation that they thought movie editing is something so simple you could finish it within an hour or so. What they didn't know (and still don't know) is that filming is the easiest part of the job, while editing is the toughest.

They could always come up with ludicrous, frivolous ideas to add on to your agony. Someone proposed to put in random pictures, someone proposed this, and someone proposed that. Those were good and acceptable suggestions by the way, but we all know that too many cooks spoil the broth. And on top of all those suggestions, they wanted the MV out fast.

Image: www.democraticunderground.com

I was like wtf can you please give me a break? I'm not a pro. I have my life, I have my activities and I'm not free like you. I'm not being paid and you should be grateful I'm willing to do this F.O.C already. I was at Johor on a nature volunteer trip when my friend told me that all photos had been received, so I had to find places with wifi to liaise with him, to give ideas, and to comment, and to send photos. And my friend and I editing the MV didn't receive the full version of the song and photos of 44 other participants until  three days after the recording. So how on earth could I even start working without all the photos and music given to me?

I fell from my motorcycle the night I went to discuss the MV ideas at my friend's house, and I started working the moment I came back from Johor. Despite all my commitment, all those ungrateful jerks could do was just complaining and urging and asking why oh why, all of which made an already irritated me even more incensed.

And that led me to vent my anger on a friend when she asked about it on the night I came back from Johor. To be fair though, I was really tired after the trip and her question was akin to peeling the skin off an already fragile, weary soul. Still, she didn't know the circumstances I was in so I shouldn't fault her for asking.

And I worked until 4 am that night. Fuck round 2.

I published the MV the following morning i.e. 36 hours after receiving all the materials.

Please don't get me wrong. I'm not pointing this at ALL of them, only to a handful of them who lacked the innate ability to comprehend other people's predicament. I am glad that a few of them actually realized how difficult it was and they offered support and didn't really say anything provocative (or perhaps they could sense my irritation already). The leader herself had been working all around the clock so she deserves compliment too.

I am born blunt and outspoken. Along with a huge ego.
Like it or not, it's your choice. I don't live to please you. You want it fast, do it yourself you pathetic piece of manure.

And after the rant, here comes the link to the MV. Enjoy~

Malcolm