production diary • tiap pagi menjelang, tiap taufan menyerang

I'm supposed to arrange my production book for tomorrow's review with the professor, but idk, I'm too lazy and the pics are not accurate (I'm contemplating on color-grading them myself but I think someone might be offended if I do so) and I'm just looking for a lot of reasons not to do that at the moment. What a bullshit.

Instead, I pieced together a lot of pictures from our production days from few weeks ago, because the trip was hella epic and a beautiful disaster at the same time. Thanks Eve (our BTS person) for capturing us and our topsy-turvy process!

The production days consisted of a total of five days spread around the end on July until mid-August probably? Many people think that it was glamorous because of the word "shooting/syuting" (which a lot of people has so much expectation in because they dream to be a celeb or something) but in reality, it's nothing really special, because, duh, we are just a bunch of film students trying to get through our final project, after all. What do you expect from that, really?

It rains quite a lot during the production days. If it's not a downpour, the sun is shining too merrily and it was too hazy and humid I almost lost my mind. The weather never hits the just right point, but I can't complain about it because it's not the worst thing that happened during those five days. HAHA.

For one thing, one of our required location is an effin' cemetery (also, it is like one of the certified haunted joint in Bogor, lol). We're supposed to wrap around noon, but due to navigation problems and conflict with the weather, the hours extended until dusk. Most of us are soaking wet, frantic hearts thumping to the news that apparently, one of our crews (and only him) heard paranormal whispers or something. It was the funniest! Everyone was like, running away so quick. A total contrast from earlier in the day when everyone slugged around like they have all the time in the world.

But there's so much smalls things that made me smile throughout this whole process. The food was good. We had a massive sleepover at our producer's house due to shooting schedule. It was fun, squeezing like fifteen people (more or less?) into a moderate-sized living room. Also, there's a kampung nearby from the house we chose as a location, and they decided to throw dangdutan and layar tancap at the same day as our production day.

We can't help but dance to the music, lol.

It's a nice break from arranging stuffs since noon and all those other things. HEHE. Please ignore our weirdness. Dancing is so our thing.

Anyway, we're at the post-production stage right now. Please wish us well and look upon us lovingly. Hopefully, the final short film will be done by December, then we'll have our thesis defense things next January! Please anticipate good things, teehee. For more production diary related stuff, visit our Instagram account (Eve also made several video highlights for you to see!)

(๑´ω`๑)

(Title taken from Sampai Jadi Debu by Banda Neira × Gardika Gigih)

production diary • is this the real life?

Holaaa, I'm back to civilization! But I broke my cellphone so I can only be contacted in that medieval way called Short Message Service. Or you can always call me number but I proli won't answer because I lost all my Contacts and I never answer anonymous number. BTW I'm so glad that I'm still fluent in old school way of texting; old Nokia is so fun to use! (Also, it's so tinyyy!)

Just got back from a mini vacay-job, which was a pretty fun (but hella tiring) time-out from the real world. A tiny island smack dab in the middle of the sea, with a beach so wonky you might casually walk ankle-deep first and plunged all the way into the water next. The sea is very ferocious at night, because we went there on the full moon. The time feels very slow there, it's like we have 48H a day. Except for the ruined fort and a family of Varanus, there's nothing much to see in the island.

On the weekend, a wave of tourists came from the land and I can only look at them strangely; I feel like a local that can't comprehend why tourists want to see this place I live in. (The same feeling I got every time anyone ever went on a vacay to Puncak, Bogor.) Like seriously there's nothing to see. (Although I think some people noticed us there producing a short film and took a picture or three.)

A confession: I spent more time playing on the beach, looking for seashells and crabs, rather than working. (It's not my fault really, I mean, after the set is ready, I'm basically useless there, more or less.) Also, trashing mini-yachts is a fun activity. Restoring it back to its white pristine condition, not so much.

End note: I have lots more appreciation for groundwater now. Bathing with saltwater is bullshit, man.

Title from Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen.

dora the explorer • i felt young, never change my crooked heart.

There is something fascinating about getting lost in an uncharted area around your hometown. Almost as thrilling as traveling somewhere new, or going to the uni for the first time. It's adventure! We don't know what will happen, even though it's proli only a kilometer or so from your house. My hometown has a lot of small roads that leads to weird places. The small town itself is about 30 minutes to an hour from the city by car depends on what route you took. There's this one route that I considered 'scenic' because you'll encounter lakes and bamboo forest (sort of) and stuffs.

Anyway, last Wednesday is a combination of getting lost and walking down the memory lane at the same time. On April 2015, PT. KAI (the train manager company thing in Indonesia, lol) reopened an old route that's supposed to be operated in the 90s but stopped because of the monetary crisis in 1998. This railway is literally next door to the school I used to go to as a child, so I'm quite familiar with it. We even followed the railway to an abandoned train station once when I was in the fifth grade. Anyway, because the trains got popular (so popular that it is packed and scary most of time), the route is now on again, but only two stations are reactivated. The one on the very end of the line, called Nambo (NMO), and the one I visited in fifth grade, called Cibinong (CBN). There are two other train stations in this route but one has gone terribly ruined, and I didn't see the other one in our trip.

Yes, we (as in, Yunita, Gung, and I; always the trio) took the train to Nambo because we are curious about it.

But first, let's talk about the train station.

(Cibinong Train Station.)

Somehow, it looks smaller than I remember. Almost downright tiny; with no proper platform and seats. The building is quite pretty, though; unlike the modern silver-colored train stations nowadays. Some people said that this building resembles a villa; well, I can see why. To go here, you can take any public transportation that goes to or through Cibinong Bus Station. There's a small road across the bus station, next to Indomaret. The train station is not too far, proli 5 minutes of walking? It's on the right side of the road and if you do not know where it is, you'll proli miss it (just me and my bad sense of direction, most likely). There's an Alfamart next to it, as a pointer.

The platform is bizarre. The yellow line area is so wide, probably because it's made around the 90s and the train is not as slim as it is now? You can stand there and proli still be so far away from the train, because the rail is also a little bit far, so the gap between the platform and the train is larger. It's really funny-looking for me.

Anyway, the route to Nambo is proli also one of those route that I'll call scenic. It is really really pretty, because there's a lot to see, from mini-forest, to huge river, to the highway, to a prison, and a cement industry, lots of industrial building that looks like it's from zombie apocalypse movies, and mountains. If you ever took a train to Bandung from Jakarta, this is like that in ten minutes trip, probably.

In the end, it's nothing really extravagant; of course it's not the same as traveling abroad. But I'm very very happy and impressed with it. There's a lot of beautiful place that you can see everyday, it's proli only around 15 minutes from your home, if you have the will to explore it.

End note: Like every time Berliners hang out, we ended up with a 1.5 liter of soda and various snacks in front of the computer or the telly. It's almost like a tradition, and it's heartwarming that we still do that after all these years. Last Wednesday, we ended up playing the Sims 3; Yunita and I recreated Gung and this one girl that used to adore and like and love Gung so much (sadly it is not reciprocated) and try to make them be a couple in the Sims. I was like, "YASSS" the whole time and we laugh until I cry. 'Twas a good day.

Photos by me, taken with Jess' Minox Leica camera.

{ Find Jess here! }
Title from Wild Heart by Bleachers.

curhatnya • little things

"It's weird how nothing change when I'm here, you know? Like everything is on standstill for so long, but when I left, everything is changing rapidly, and I'm still me, and I can't follow."

"It's not like that, silly. Everything is changing slowly everyday, day by day. You're just not here at the time to witness it, so when you're finally back, you can only marvel at how those little things morph into something you don't recognize anymore."

***

Visiting good ol' high school with my best mates, meeting some favo teaches and hanging out in one of my favo classroom.  It feels daunting to roam these halls again like we were sixteen. Nostalgic too. We even got locked in the second floor by school's security like we often did when we were still enrolling. It's heartwarming to see the grumpy old man, with him still remembering my crimes from high school and all. Lots of shites change while I was away and I'm happy to have this one unchanged.

By the way, it's kinda shocking to see that the building underwent this new face phase and has new horrendous colors. It's fugly, ghastly brown-blue-green combination, like, you must be fucking colorblind to choose the color. But it's proli just me and my sensitive art student heart talking. It's still fugly tho, with it being an old building that only looks good in broken white.

New semester starts in a few days and I'm kinda ready to get busy again, I guess? At least I'll go out and do something, yeah? But I'm so not ready to leave home and my cozy bedroom and Mum's cooking. *sigh*