A Happy Team

    Not everyone knows that I study films. Indeed, what is it really about studying film? I think it is something like cooking, sewing, drawing, or singing. Well, I'm not explaining that, obviously. I'm still considering myself amateur in this field.
    Now, I'm holding scripts in my hand. An original set with six photo-stated copies of it. On its cover page, it writes my name. The scripts do not come easily.
    In Ipoh, there are not many printing shop. I had been searching a shop which prints, with my two friends coming along with me -Lohsi and Wanton. We had been going from Ipoh town to Ipoh Garden for about thirty minutes.
    With four people in front of me now, I give out the scripts to them. I hope they will read it, and understand it. Of course, I expect them to install an opened mind.
    "Okay, Kim. You can explain it now."
    "No. I want you to read it first."
    I'm not going to do a presentation while the script is there. I usually want my friends to have an empty mind, knowing nothing about the story, then read the script, tell me what they see.
    "E.X.T. stands for exterior. And I.N.T. stands for interior."
    Before hand, I explain some script format and how the paper works for them.
    Four of them start to read. I'm glad they really put effort to read it. Coffee gigs after a while. I think he probably reads his name and response to his role. Dove laughs out loud by then. I don't know why, only she knows why.
    "I understand the story, but ..."
    Wanton want to say something after she reads it.
    "It's a bit weird."
    Dove continues Wanton's sentence.
    I say okay. The script is divided into too many parts. In a way, the script involves too many characters. A complex story doesn't fit into nine-pages of paper.
    Before I could really explain something what I want to bring out, it is a rare concept of filming, they are taking hard time to understand. It requires motivation, sporting action, and emotional involvement. I normally use words that people do not understand so that they could keep way from giving opinion. Trick.
    It is beyond what typical Malaysian watch movies in cinema. I begin to pour out some existing example.
    "Have you watch... uhm.... Chungking Express, a Hong Kong film?"
    "No."
    "Err... Okay okay. How about Zhang Yimou's Hero?"
    "Oh. That's the story which tells many parts of a same story?"
    I'm glad. They have watched it. Then, Coffee say something.
    "That one is different. That movie has a same theme. They focus on a same thing. But yours, ..."
    Discussion is becoming more intense. For now, I understand that, we cannot argue for something we have not agree on. There are five of us here. Dove is looking at Coffee now, while Lohsi is looking at Wanton. I'm looking at four of them.
    "So, are we on? Are we going to shoot this?"
    I expect them to reply me positively. This is something I want them to do, comes from inside them that they want it, not I enforce them to do it.
    "Kim, but your script doesn't make sense."
    After I hear this, I'm glad. As far as I know, many great story like Disney's Herculues, comes from a point where it doesn't make sense. It just need something call "development."
    "The kidnap reason, is not about money. It is about keeping two people apart. Hence, the condition to pay the ransom is very different. There is no way to pay the ransom. This is how."
    I try to explain this new thing. I always hope it works, but usually I'm not the best person to explain.
    "I don't see how I can help you in this project, Kim."
    Wanton starts to be emotional.
    "How can you convince me to help you?"
    The question strikes me for a moment.
    Wanton is a girl who has a very strong personality. I do need her forte. Everyone should has a set of thinking, and voice it out. This is one of the things I like about Wanton. She doesn't afraid to voice out her opinion. I wish there are more people like her in my future group.
    I don't think I want to convince her to join me for the moment. This project aims to have fun together as friends. I'm not going to force her to have fun. If forcing is in the talk, it is fun no more then.
    After a while, I consider this is a great discussion ever. I hardly find people to talk about what I like so much, and they focus on my topic for long, very long. Four of them throw out their own input. They have very firm stand, that the script is not going to work.
    It is a great discussion, yet a great project. Indeed, I believe that a great project needs teamwork. A teamwork needs volunteering people to lead, and volunteering people to help the leader. A happy team indeed.