options and attempts

an excerpt from the most recent thing I wrote for ISSUE Magazine:

Enough people are now aware of the quick-trigger nature of the bigger sites and have started to create options for cutting through the noise.
It was in this vein that here in our own part of the world a website was set up to focus on Southeast Asian short films.
Viddsee, a video-sharing site, founded by Derek Tan and Ho Jia Jian in Singapore, offers an outlet for filmmakers within the region to showcase their content to an audience interested in stories from around the region, in the different languages that are spoken in these areas.
Recounting the site’s origins, Derek explained that it all began with a short film.
“The pain that we saw as filmmakers was that we had a film that was going round festivals, and right after the festival we were thinking, how can we distribute it out to a larger audience apart from just the festival circuits?”
“What we realised is if we put it on Youtube or Vimeo, there are billions of videos out there, so how does a film stand out among the rest? We were put alongside cat videos and Harlem Shakes, which are entertaining in itself but ultimately a different type of content altogether.”

at least he got to speak this time

So yesterday was interesting for a couple of reasons, but mostly because that small little project I did with Nazir was well received.

 I’ve nagged quite a bit about this ISSUE Magazine short about Penang here, so I won’t repeat myself.  What I’d like to add is though it may be not as flattering to Penang as Penangites would’ve liked it to be, but really that was what happened.

It’s been really interesting also getting feedback from people, and discovering which particular parts they found appealing, what works for whom.

Different people have told me that they liked very different bits of the short, which makes me wonder, does that mean as a storyteller I’ve failed to put together a uniformly attractive yarn?

Anyway, I'll add in English subtitles soon, as soon as I finish this long painful drawn out process of subtitling every single noise in the video. I have new found respect for the subs community.

"Pulau Pinang" preview

In lieu of a slug, this is I'm working on right now for this March's edition of ISSUE Magazine.

The trailer is for a short film that me and NHF  worked together on while we were travelling in Penang during the Chinese New Year weekend.

The island has a lot of old world charm, being rich in history and culture. What we had hoped to capture while we were there is the struggle that's going on right now between a dying local culture and a consumerist appetite for shallow pop that even the government now funds.

Though the movie was shot during a holiday, it is hardly a light-hearted jaunt down a dusty row of shophouses in old Georgetown.

'Pulau Pinang' will premiere March 15th in ISSUE Magazine.

catakserukin

Banyak rupenyer video x uplod lagi lam computer...

And this is a particularly interesting one. It's a video of national laureate and Bersih Co-Chair reading out his piece 'Pemimpin Catakserukin' at the Sultan Sulaiman Club in Kg Baru.

There aren't any crowd shots in this video, but this was a few nights before Anwar Ibrahim's Sodomy II verdict, and the club's grounds in front of the stage where this video was recorded was just packed with people that night.

 And it has since been one year.

ucapan hari raya saya

KADANG-KADANG, 

kita terpaksa berjauhan dari mereka yang kita sayang. 

Perasaan dan kesedihan pedih kita rasakan 

tetapi perlu kita terus bertahan, 

demi masa hadapan.

Selamat 'Aidilfitri 1433 Hijrah.

Aziz Bari Demo 21 October 2011, UIA

a video cv

I'm not sure if I should make a showreel or just send out this playlist link to people.

'Tis the season to be jiwang

and watch jiwang videos.



made by me and Jia. more videos on ASAM on facebook.

2/30

1/30

kembara jejaka

I was browsing through Vimeo, and was really inspired by some of the work I saw there. Since I was going to be stuck at home with a group of Russian tradies anyway, I thought why not just make something today?

So here you go. Feel free to discuss hidden meanings.

Kembara: Across the east-west highway from Lutfi Hakim on Vimeo.

If you no like vimeo, this is the Youtube link.
Unfortunately Premiere messed up the final product. Missing a lot of transitions, sound cues, and some bad pixelation in parts.

It was a good exercise in any case, got the engine warmed up again.

Now time to sleep.

Kalu buleh Mok Long nok buak besa-besa drang

Cut through the pain, and your film gains

Video is unfortunately a poor disseminator of information. It’s effective; it engages the mind visually and aurally in a way unmatched by other media. Try to cram in too much details, however, and  it won’t be long before you find your audience glazed like a box of donuts.

You have to make choices, and decide what to leave in and what to take out of the final cut.
 You need to know your subject matter and your material thoroughly. You need to keep on message and dispassionate in your editing.

Often you’ll find the scenes you love most to be the ones most irrelevant to your story.
When that happens, you have to put aside any emotional attachment to the specific material and cut it out.

Detachment to something you worked so hard on doesn’t come easily, that goes without saying. Suffering through the early starts, the hours standing by under the blazing sun, the late nights and temperamental talents; you grow to love even the blandest of projects.

Ruthlessness in editing does not come easy. The ability to be objective towards your own work is a skill and needs to be trained.

To do that, you must first acknowledge that you may be biased towards your own footage. Get another pair of eyes to a look at it to gain perspective. There should be harsh comments, it's not empty praises we're after. Be open about them but don’t put your entire trust in them either.

The idea is not for you to ape the opinions of others, but to be able to be objectively critical of your work, and improving it.

You’ll find the more you do this, the more clear-headed you’ll be, and you’ll find your projects better for it!

More Melbourne

What is ASAM?

sebab Melayu semua bodoh kan?

sebab your identity starts and stops at the colour of your skin.

sebab you're only a cog in the system.

sebab all you are is skima.

Ini baru post panas, kalau kau cari.





Identiti sebagai seorang Melayu tidak patut dibentuk secara reaktif.
Kemiskinan, lemah, malas dan lain-lain idea yang biasa dikaitkan dengan identiti Melayu Moden bukan hanya negatif, tetapi juga sonsangan ciri-ciri 'Other-other' domestik Melayu yang dianggap antagonis.

Ini dunia global beb. Malaysia, sama ada sedar atau tidak hanya pak pacak di pentas dunia.
Jika kita sedar akan hal ini, kita perlu hentikan kekeliruan identiti Melayu yang timbul dari pandangan dunia yang berbataskan Laut Cina Selatan dan Selat Melaka dan sebaliknya raikan nilai-nilai Melayu yang akan membenarkan orang Melayu menjadi lebih dari jaguh kampung. Nilai-nilai seperti kreativiti, diplomasi pertuturan yang berkesan, dan sebagainya.

Dengan harapan keyakinan yang terbina terbit dari dalam dan mampu bertahan.

KR Asamtv video

There's a lot more from where that came from, believe me. Some of the things he said in the interview gave me ideas for a longer piece, maybe a documentary, on budaya dan warisan. Things like cultural hybridisation, the Australian non-culture, Western interest and indigeneous indifference towards heritage, etc. etc. Of course, ideas jelah.

Anyway, I still think whatever's left in this stuff is still good. Pretty solid stuff for AsamTV, even if I do say so myself!

Malaysia yang lawa

Melbourne in the rain

My love letter to the city of Melbourne

1430 Raya message

(NOTE: Post-Khutbah edits)

By the time you read this, it may already be eid in your part of the world.
You may enjoy the festivities and celebrations, or you may not. You may like the custom and traditions, or you may not. Whatever your view, the holiday's back again so might as well make the most of it.

Many will already be - or have someone else- ironing their colourful new clothes. If you, like me, are of Malay persuasion, you may also have ready by now your buttons, and songkoks, and songkets. I've only mentioned them in plurals but it's ok to have just one.

Most will now be with their families. Maybe you're reading this in the Klang Valley, the last chance for access to a working internet before balik kampung tomorrow. Maybe you won't even see this post until the meriam buluhs are silent, and your Paklong Makngah Ayah Cik all on their way back to their respective homes all over Malaysia.

Or you could just be at home watching Ria, and ignoring all the children scarfing down your mum's kuih. But you'll be there: Home.

Me? I'll be here in Melbourne working on my assignment, with raya songs playing in the background.

Don't bother with pity. It may not be home, but it's close enough.

Now for the difficult matter of forgiveness.

Let's for a minute believe that the Eid practice of seeking forgiveness is no superficial ritual, and that those are real tears rolling down her cheeks.

Cynicism makes all that difficult to swallow, but  forgiveness is as much a part of Eid as discipline and abstinence were for Ramadhan. Religion teaches us that without reconciliation - of conflicts, misunderstandings, disputes, etc., everything we put in the past month hangs in limbo.

Interesting idea isn't it? That the improvement of your relationship with god is entirely contingent on your making peace with your fellow men. It's like saying being religious is pointless if you can't get along with other human beings.

So let's give it a go.

I'm no saint, and I'm pretty sure my wrongs fill volumes.
I therefore humbly and sincerely take this opportunity to minta maaf zahir dan batin from you and everyone reading this. Let's let bygones be bygoneslah ok?

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri dear readers. May Allah accept your Ramadhan's worth of fasting worship and good deeds.