It was not long until I started having images in my head (take note, I hadn't seen anything Hamilton at this point) on how 'Satisfied' would play out. The rewind part is enough to make me go crazy; how do you rewind on stage? Everything would be so much easier on video/film. Then I start imagining it if it was on film. I really want to make a film version/music videoof 'Satisfied' because the song itself has a contained story. The song introduces its characters like we're seeing them for the first time in the play. One obstacle though, I have no budget. All of my previous short films were made on practically $0 budget, it was all sincerity and teamwork. Therefore, it was only natural that I start planning 'Satisfied' on modern setting to press all that potential spending away. So I started sketching and storyboarding it. (I posted something on this blog back then, as seen below).
From May 27, 2016
'Satisfied' got pushed back because I had a short documentary project and honestly, because of difficulty in finding the right cast. Scheduling is a big issue and I wanted to have everyone talented in my project; I was greedy and it was not going good. I talked with everyone about this project and how badly I wanted to make it with the thought of 'if talk about it so often, it has to happen somehow.' And around July, we started recording the song for the first time. It was piano and cello by my talented friends, recorded in my apartment at noon.
It was until late September that Nicole (my co-producer) and I started to carefully schedule the project and by then we have locked 60% of the cast who were doing this because we're friends or they're intrigued enough by the project. After securing the schedule and locations, we started shooting late October on location, then continued in the first week of November for the studio scenes and lastly we shot the wedding scene in one day on the second Sunday of November. In total we spent 4 days shooting which was roughly 15 hours in total. It was rushed and I didn't like that I rushed but I would hate myself more if this did not get made at all.
On their first meeting...
Because of work and technical limitations, I finally finished editing and released it just last week on February 13th. I am proud of the result and I am proud of everyone who is involved. Especially after I left Japan, there was one day of reshoot and weeks of re-recording and mastering the track. You can see the video above and I hope you enjoy it. The track might be disorienting if you're familiar with Renee Elise Goldsberry's original take on the song, because the actress, Jennifer, has a very different voice color and style. But it is still a legit good cover on the super hard song in my opinion and she basically nailed 98% of the song in theory. (I just felt like explaining because there are people who really dislike our version just because it doesn't sound like the OBC recording, I thought it wasn't fair to Jennifer who worked incredibly hard on it--but well, it's the internet life).
Location shoot day
To close out this post, I would just like to say a few words to the people who 'moved' this project forward:
- Nadira (Co-Producer)
Basically exposed me to Hamilton from her snapchats and I would make sure I get her approval on just about everything on this project.
- Clarissa (Pianist)
I asked her to play the piano for this because she's the best pianist I know and she said yes. Moreover, she voluntarily asked her cellist friend to join. That officially kicked off this project.
- Patricia
I talked to her about this randomly (as I said above I talked about this to everyone), but she was super excited and we already made a chat group to shoot late July and release during August-September, but it didn't work out. But her pick Jennifer still stayed for the project's 'revival' until the finish line. It was also during the talk with her I realized this project needs to have more girls working on it because it is basically a story about a girl who makes sacrifices for her sister out of love and duty (is this considered mansplaining?). I wish I could get Patricia to join the 'revival' but I didn't, because of efficiency and scheduling (and I didnt re-ask her and probably this would haunt me forever).
- Nicole (Co-Producer)
We worked together as videographers on some sort of summer camp and we said we would do a project together. We did this and she's so talented in everything. She helped with the equipment, scheduling and location. Her work is super efficient. I learned a lot. She also have her own films and videos she directed and wrote.
Ardanti, Hung, and Nicole on location shoot day
- Jennifer (Angelica)
She worked real hard on hitting the notes and making the track perfect. She might take the heat because her voice is different than Angelica in recording (or Sia) but she's still super good in my opinion.
- Ardanti (DOP)
She's always there to join my projects, even though she sometimes doesn't know what its about. She pressed me on scheduling, which I was really bad at. And of course, doing her job as DOP really great. She might not know it but she has the most future-oriented mind; like I know what her job is going to be like and she might love doing that job.
- Italia (Production Assistant)
Helped me a lot in production on sets, location, casts. Her constant support basically drives this project forward.
- Dega (Music Producer)
Tasked with creating three tracks for the video in total. Took a lot of criticism if the mixing wasn't right--literally a lot of criticism from me. There are more than five versions he sent me, and between them I gave notes with like a dozen points to fix and change.
- Chatwara (Alexander)
I felt super saved when he agreed to do this. He's also the best person ever. Alexander's role is the hardest to fill and thank God for Chatwara.
(Felt like just given an Oscar speech--but nonetheless still important)
Wedding scene shooting day
Quick stats:
- In one week, the video amassed over 1.4k views!
- Now holds the title of the video with most dislikes in my channel (12 ds as of Feb 20)
(Quoting from one of my favorite series: if you have haters on the Internet, it means you've made it)
No comments:
Post a Comment