Movie making
I've given it some thought and I felt that I should share it with the rest of the world. Well, in case fellow Malaysians haven't guessed it already, the local commercial movie scene is very very very very very terrible. I use the term commercial because our indie movies are the raves of the international film festivals. Soppy load of crap like the nauseating Sembilu saga (now they have it in a serial form......in the high-school-type of setting ala Smallville) and the slap-stick porridge of sad jokes, the Senario franchise are sadly lacking in many aspects that have made even budget films using low-tech gadgetry in poor countries like Indonesia, and Thailand a Ben Hur. I have nothing against love stories, heck, I love love stories (pardon the pun) but our movies just don't have the "IT" factor. There is no chemistry, no passion, no feeling, no emotion. Everything looks wooden and scripted. I've watched Iranian movies that really moved me. And they had children playing parts that would've put many of our "veteran" actor and actressess to shame. Which brings me to.....
1. Quality of actor/actresses/directors
I'm of the opinion that our actors and actresses are highly-overrated. Their roles are very much stereotyped and lack the emotion to get into character. Our potpourri of films with basically the same storyline year in year out doesn't help them much either in helping them develop their acting skills. Most of these "Stars" are talent-spotted, not at theatrical performances or operatic houses, bur rather they were picked to model and parade products. It is only after this that they get this brainwave that they have "IT". They have the star power! Star quality! Then, they begin by getting small roles in advertisements and move on the big screen with teeny-bopper movies. They establish their fan base who praise the ground they walk upon not because of their superior acting skills but rather the ability of their make-up artists to doll them up. Hence, it's actually the make-up artists that are the true stars of our cinema. Every big star started small...by getting advertisements, extras in serials...then graduate to higher grounds of cinematic glory. Stars like Denzel Washingto for example started by playing drama in theates. This is the factor that separates our stars from that of other places. They start at the right places. They KNOW how to act, carry themself, portray a character, get into the groove...etc. Ours however are multi-faceted with skills in most of their portfolios. Things you read like, Ms. So and So is a vj/actress/host/model...bla bla. You don't catch fantastic actors like Samuel L. Jackson and Tom Cruise doing a whole lot of vj'ing/modelling/hosting...bla bla. They know what their good at, and they keep improving themselves. Ok ok, they may do a little hosting at awards and all, but that's all. They stick to their specialty. Their talents. Ours prefer to hog the spotlight. Who holds the biggest portfolio is the biggest star seems to be the tagline for our artistes. Enough of our amateur up-coming stars, let's move on to the already established ones. There are fantastic actors and actresses whom I give credit like Erma Fatima, Azean Irdawati, Eman Manan, but these select few are about the tip of the iceberg. The submerged ones should just stay submerged. The only quality that they have is pretty much looking photogenic on the camera. 'Nuff said.
This brings me to the directors. Now if directors with resources but terrible talent like our Datuk Yusof Haslam keeps churning out tragically (stupid) love stories, our actors and actresses will never be able to assume roles that may enhance their skills. No doubt, these movies bring in the cash, but at least do a better job of it. And the sad part of it is, THERE are people watching it. I suppose this is where the star factor comes in. Majority of these mindless zombies seem to originate from a certain sector of our society that doesn't seem to appreciate art. One could argue that it is art from a certain viewpoint, but I'm sure you'll agree with me that slapping your turd on a piece of paper and saying that it's an art is harder to swallow. Perhaps these cinema-goers are in the cinema for altogether different reason.... hmm... Now that's PG 13.
2. Soundtrack/Sound technology
I you'd notice many of our local serials and movies lack sound to bring out the atmosphere. The usage of these sound is confined to only crucial parts of the movie/series. Just take any B-rated movie off the shelf from Hollywood and they would have a better sound system than our 5-star movies. Each scene needs to evoke more than 1 sense to really heighten and surround the viewers. Even simple scenes could benefit from a simple sound like a small flute solo when the camera rolls in on the sprawling view of the meadows... you know, small details like that. Instead, we get sounds of crickets and sometimes no sound at all when such scenes are played. There is no emotion. The screen is dead. Heck, my eyes hurt! They hurt so bad!
Soundtrack. Now this is something that should always be carefully thought of by the producers and directors. A soundtrack can help float a movie like it did for The Bodyguard featuring the amazing I Will Always Love You by Whitney Houston. The climax of the scene had this song played. And the raw emotion that overtake your senses when you see Kevin Costner rush towards Whitney to save her from the bullet. With this powerful song playing in the background...now that's theatre of the senses. Do we get this here? No...we have songs, yes, but they don't evoke this kind of emotion from viewers. Then there is the Titanic. Need I say more?
3. Camera and film rolls.
Having said all that, I'm looking forward to seeing Episode III. Don't even get me started on the disparity between that movie with our mountain princess movie....
1. Quality of actor/actresses/directors
I'm of the opinion that our actors and actresses are highly-overrated. Their roles are very much stereotyped and lack the emotion to get into character. Our potpourri of films with basically the same storyline year in year out doesn't help them much either in helping them develop their acting skills. Most of these "Stars" are talent-spotted, not at theatrical performances or operatic houses, bur rather they were picked to model and parade products. It is only after this that they get this brainwave that they have "IT". They have the star power! Star quality! Then, they begin by getting small roles in advertisements and move on the big screen with teeny-bopper movies. They establish their fan base who praise the ground they walk upon not because of their superior acting skills but rather the ability of their make-up artists to doll them up. Hence, it's actually the make-up artists that are the true stars of our cinema. Every big star started small...by getting advertisements, extras in serials...then graduate to higher grounds of cinematic glory. Stars like Denzel Washingto for example started by playing drama in theates. This is the factor that separates our stars from that of other places. They start at the right places. They KNOW how to act, carry themself, portray a character, get into the groove...etc. Ours however are multi-faceted with skills in most of their portfolios. Things you read like, Ms. So and So is a vj/actress/host/model...bla bla. You don't catch fantastic actors like Samuel L. Jackson and Tom Cruise doing a whole lot of vj'ing/modelling/hosting...bla bla. They know what their good at, and they keep improving themselves. Ok ok, they may do a little hosting at awards and all, but that's all. They stick to their specialty. Their talents. Ours prefer to hog the spotlight. Who holds the biggest portfolio is the biggest star seems to be the tagline for our artistes. Enough of our amateur up-coming stars, let's move on to the already established ones. There are fantastic actors and actresses whom I give credit like Erma Fatima, Azean Irdawati, Eman Manan, but these select few are about the tip of the iceberg. The submerged ones should just stay submerged. The only quality that they have is pretty much looking photogenic on the camera. 'Nuff said.
This brings me to the directors. Now if directors with resources but terrible talent like our Datuk Yusof Haslam keeps churning out tragically (stupid) love stories, our actors and actresses will never be able to assume roles that may enhance their skills. No doubt, these movies bring in the cash, but at least do a better job of it. And the sad part of it is, THERE are people watching it. I suppose this is where the star factor comes in. Majority of these mindless zombies seem to originate from a certain sector of our society that doesn't seem to appreciate art. One could argue that it is art from a certain viewpoint, but I'm sure you'll agree with me that slapping your turd on a piece of paper and saying that it's an art is harder to swallow. Perhaps these cinema-goers are in the cinema for altogether different reason.... hmm... Now that's PG 13.
2. Soundtrack/Sound technology
I you'd notice many of our local serials and movies lack sound to bring out the atmosphere. The usage of these sound is confined to only crucial parts of the movie/series. Just take any B-rated movie off the shelf from Hollywood and they would have a better sound system than our 5-star movies. Each scene needs to evoke more than 1 sense to really heighten and surround the viewers. Even simple scenes could benefit from a simple sound like a small flute solo when the camera rolls in on the sprawling view of the meadows... you know, small details like that. Instead, we get sounds of crickets and sometimes no sound at all when such scenes are played. There is no emotion. The screen is dead. Heck, my eyes hurt! They hurt so bad!
Soundtrack. Now this is something that should always be carefully thought of by the producers and directors. A soundtrack can help float a movie like it did for The Bodyguard featuring the amazing I Will Always Love You by Whitney Houston. The climax of the scene had this song played. And the raw emotion that overtake your senses when you see Kevin Costner rush towards Whitney to save her from the bullet. With this powerful song playing in the background...now that's theatre of the senses. Do we get this here? No...we have songs, yes, but they don't evoke this kind of emotion from viewers. Then there is the Titanic. Need I say more?
3. Camera and film rolls.
Having said all that, I'm looking forward to seeing Episode III. Don't even get me started on the disparity between that movie with our mountain princess movie....
