Creating the short feature -- 5000NTD

"5000NTD" is my second short feature. NTD stands for New Taiwan Dollar, which is the critical catalyst in this film. The story revolves around two desperate buddies who amateurishly invade a convenient store, and later engage in an embroilment while tallying the loot. Feeling disturbed and unsettled, one of the buddies seeks revenge by pulling an act which would change their relationship and lives forever.


The Idea

The idea of "5000NTD" originated from a personal experience. Once I went through an extremely difficult moment with a longtime buddy, and I felt betrayed by his actions. There were times when I thought of getting even with him violently. Fortunately, my conscious and rational minds prevented me from doing something I might regret later. Hence, in order to get these negative feelings out of my system, I recorded the incident in words. Then I let my creative minds go into play and the screenplay was born. I am grateful for the medium of film which allows me to express the emotional aspects of life. Furthermore, it helps me in balancing the various stresses in life.


The Location and the Style

The film was entirely shot in Taiwan. Locations were Chung Li and Chubei. The shoot took approximately 8 hours, a span of two days. With the experience of the first feature "the rebound", the shoot was much more breezy this time. I adopted the "gun-n-run" style which never relied on a tripod. The whole film was shot with a handheld videocam. Even for the editing mode, I chose the fast-cut which reflected the adrenaline rush in the two main characters. This storytelling method allowed me to present the storyline within 10 minutes, and enabled every frame to serve its purpose. Not to mention, I didn't have to burn the midnight oil for post-production.

Another major relief of the post production was the entire film was dialog-free. Dubbing was a major effort in "the rebound", taken up a quarter of the post-prod time. Dialog is negligible in this story. Action speaks louder than words. In addition, I find films these days are overwhelmed with dialogs. I wished to make a simple film that depended on story, acting, cinematography and score. This feature provided a universal theme, crossing races, cultures, countries, and traditions.


The Crew

The crew was much bigger than my debut feature. Everybody has contributed quite a significant bit to make this feature appear as real as possible. Here's a special thank to Flory Tsai, who did most of the make-ups, Simon Lu, Vivian Chen, Emily Yeh, Deng Yue and others who participated in the filming process.

Kevin Chang, the lead bully, was the lead actor in "the rebound". His acting has improved coming out from the previous feature. This was the debut acting flick for Joy Huang, who appeared splendidly in this feature. I wish to say no human being is injured in the filmmaking, but Joy suffered bruises from various falls. Both actors committed 100% to this feature which I feel very appreciative to their efforts.


The Music

String instrument is the main musical instrument used in this short film. I chose two powerful pieces to reflect the contrast of Act 1 and Act 2 of the film. The selections were Steve Vai's Bad Horsie and another one was from one of my favorite musicians, Gustavo Santaolalla's Breathing Soul. The intention was for the music to further intensify the film emotions. Else, a film without music and dialog would not generate too much attention.


Last Words

This film was shot in Nov 2005, but due to personal matters, I only managed to put it together recently. I wish everybody feel the emotional impact of this short feature and get you to ponder. I would welcome all kinds of constructive comments and feedback.

Keep on supporting independent filmmaking in Asia!

Cheers,
Raymond


P.S. While you are at it, check out Cinetopia (http://www.cinetopia.sg), which will be holding a series of workshops in 2008.