Call time, what?

Elena Dardir was one of the first few people I called to ask for advice on film-making. She used to work at a production company and was the one who handled some of my television drama scripts when I began writing for TV in 2003.

You wrote the book, remember? she asked. The one about Shah Alam as a bandaraya and Datuk Abu Sujak was the first mayor. You wrote the book for us.

Seven years ago, the production house had hired me to write a coffee book on Shah Alam but I never got to see the published book. It was more of a copywriting job, my name was not included as an author of the book, so I couldn't really make a claim on it. Very much like writing a slogan for an advertisement.

Elena had declined our offer to be part of the production crew but was more than willing to impart knowledge and experience to us. She stressed over and again on the importance of planning.

You must have a schedule and keep to it. Kena ikut, kalau tak memang susah, she said.

Work schedule: Plan according to the time frame given. In our case from the moment we were awarded the grant to the project's deadline, September 15. The work schedule includes, pre-production (hiring crew, recce, research, interviews, logistics and equipment rental), production (filming, gathering file-footage, stills, graphics, sound recording, music score and more logistics), and post-production (editing, adding graphics, post-audio production, and subtitling). 
Production schedule: Elena asked what was our call time. What? Call time is the crew assembly time at least an hour before filming starts. It is to brief the crew on the day's programme or update on changes. Production schedule covers the filming duration from the first to the last day of shooting. It is also a good idea to have an extra day on schedule for contingency. Be realistic when planning. Allow enough time to travel, set-up equipment, weather, traffic, late interviews and any unexpected turn of events.

Footage list: This is very important, she stressed. Before you start filming, you have to list out all the visuals that you need based on the storyboard/treatment. Check the visual on the list. At the end of each filming day compare what footage is not filmed and re-scheduled it on another day. In that way, it is almost impossible to miss footage when you wrap the production.

Logging the timecode: Log the tapes and what's filmed on it or risk having stacks of tapes with unknown footage or worse, the tragedy of shooting over important visuals.

View the tape: Elena strongly suggested that we view the tapes at the end of the first day of shoot. You must view the tape and make sure that the footage is ok. Anything can happen, off white balance, under exposed, burnt images, too bright, too dark, suddenly green or blue,    not enough head room, wrong sound channel, noise in the background, and etc, etc. Learning the mistakes on the first day will give you time to make the corrections later.

The make-up kit: The basic kit comprise compact powder and applicator, wet wipes, tissue, oil blotter. Don't leave home without it, she said.

So who's the crew? She asked. Sheridan and I gestured to each other. Elena laughed.  Don't worry. You all boleh buat punya. Good luck.