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Pre-productions (I can't stress enough the importance of preparation at the pre-production stage. I watched numerous short (and some feature) documentaries and MVs (one of which is Tribe by Theophilus London as shown above) to seek inspiration initially. I couldn't pin down on a subject or topic. The disappearance of Go West - this theme actually had been planted in my head right from the beginning but I was quite taken back for the scale of the project would be rather huge - I wasn't sure I'd be able to handle. Plus I'd need to meet, interview, shoot Brian - I am not exactly an articulate person; I suck so much at interviewing people( let alone a person whom I admire for years) and not being awkward. But then my friend told me - there's no loss in trying. So I made up my mind and gathered up every bits of courage in me to wrote an email (with great fear and admiration) to Brian. Luckily, a few days later, I got the reply: Brian agreed to meet with me. Then I really panicked - this is for real; there's no turning back. I was already buried with other assignments and other affairs so the preparation time was so little that I honestly just rushing through a lot of key steps at this stage. I made somewhat like a shooting proposal/outlines for the meeting in hopes of persuading Brian to give his official nod at the project.. My friend Michael and I happened to have some other questions to seek advice from Brian for another project of ours so I was at least accompanied with someone I'm familiar with for the meeting, which was a HUGE relief to me. The meeting went pretty smoothly; Shooting dates and places were all set. ExecutionThe first shooting location was the actual RTHK station. I'd never been to the station before and so I really couldn't make a fairly detailed shooting plan - that's also one special thing about documentaries - you can't never make plans as thorough as you could have on fiction films - and that's something that requires time and effort to adjust to. There's also a tip to smooth-en the interviews in documentaries; well that's a trick taught by my friend - bring your interviewee a present. It might appear to be of triviality but it did brighten up the moods of both sides. There are, surely loads of trivia shooting at the RTHK station so I'm just gonna skip them and get right to the point. The point I want to make is that if you are shooting a documentary, don't be shy to make requests of your interviewees. I was really timid and constantly worrying that I might bother my friend and Brian too much so I kept plenty of my thoughts and mouth all shut. I really should not have done that. Because of that, I didn't really get the footage I wanted and hence the ultimate result I hoped for. And now I really hate myself for it.
Post-productionPost-production! The biggest obstacle I'd encountered for this doc.was the inconsistency between footage. Even with the extra footage I took, I still found them insufficient to convey the feeling and tone of the story so I used other footage (which I never intended to use for the doc so the footage were pretty shaky. I guess I really need to plan well next time. (and the selection of music and (well, only slightly, but still) audio mixing took up loads of time as well.
Last but not least, I want to say a HUGE thank you to Michael - who has been a great supporter and an invaluable asset of the production all along.
More pictures:
Please turn on the CC caption for English subtitles.
For the making of the documentary, please view the blog post: The making of Off Air or simply just click the picture below.
Not long before I commence writing for this review, Donald Trump gave another utterly racist speech on Muslims (actually more like a call out) , “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on.” Ranting of one mad man might be something we can get by but all those cheering and applause for Trump’s lunatic, inhuman views and stupidity on the matter? That is just plain revolting to see so many with so much ignorance and utter disrespect of life. Ignorance is not bliss! Ignorance leads to hatred, sheep mentality, wars… I sincerely hope that Trump and his supporters would just watch Return To Homs and then just watch it again. And see if they can still keep dignifying their atrocious ideology. The 2013 documentary grants the global audience an authentic look at the transition of the besieged Syrian city of Homs over the course of three years, starting from 2011 to 2013 as we witness peaceful protesters - nineteen-year-old Basset and his friends got swirled into the brutal battle against the regime. The structure of the film only partly follows a certain pattern to enhance the effectiveness of the story-telling and visual-mapping of the city. Generally divided into three parts – The early days, Realization and Revaluation, the film visually depicts the struggles of various kinds endured by the protagonists, challenging the unaffected’s rightfulness to the indifference to the war and the horrendous reality in the Middle East. To me, there seems to be one particular story line or scene to convey the key theme in each part: (if you haven’t watched the film, don’t read any further coz I’ll spoil everything.) PART 1 – The early days This part is with the chief focus to showcase the normalcy of the Syrian society during the early days of the revolution. We see Basset as simply a young, bold, promising footballer. The city seen in this part still pretty much remained intact and there’s smiles hung on children’s faces. The visual map of the city before the war-time is hence constructed in our minds, hard-hitting us as we are shown the utter demolishment of Homs later on. All these are shown to diminish the differences between the Syrians and the global audience – that we are not that unlike. PART 2 - Realization This part is all about people’s adjustment to wars and time of adversity. We get to witness how the gripping horror of reality exactly sunk in the minds of people. Basset’s friend got injured in the early days. The scene in which he woke up only to find the shift of focus of the revolution and friends imprinted such a shock to me. His unsynchronized adjustment to reality was unsettling because it’s honest and real. It triggers a sense of virtual familiarity among the audience for we are receiving waves of shock via the film as the space – history, sense of time, sense of direction of besieged city got figuratively vaporized gradually with the passing of time and the film itself. – Basset and his allies were starting to reside in different houses and buildings; what was home to them? What was homs to them? What is home to us? PART 3 – Revaluation
The mismatch of responsibility of young ones like Basset (he was around 18-19 when he got sucked into this big cluster of mess) makes Basset and us wonder - is it worth it? But then we see supports and consolation from friends and families of Basset. Basset refused to give in to despair and revaluated the actions of his. Revaluation turned determination once again The Structure : The end is the beginning is the end The city alone is a character in the film. I know this saying is somewhat clichéd but it really plays such a central part in the film. The film starts by the crew leaving the war-torn space of Homs and ends with Basset returning to Homs. The end is the beginning is the end. This structure certainly intensifies the never-endingness of wars and Basset and his allies themselves are long long way from true victory and harmony. This is somewhat like a special and delicate note from the crew themselves, having been by the frontlines with Bassets for so long - a way of saying goodbyes perhaps and forecasting the potential transition of the city space and the people.
As a whole, the film triumphs over hooking one’s primitive feelings of fear, hope and faith in God to the predicaments in Syria, reminding the rest of the world of their true identities – the global citizens. Before passing judgments on the refugees and parties involved, we shall put ourselves in their shoes. What would we do? What did they do? |
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