Blood Ties - Singapore’s first Red feature

Set in a supernatural background centered on Chinese superstitious beliefs, Blood Ties by first-time feature film director, Chai Yee Wei, takes us into a web of love, betrayal and vengeance. The story revolves around the 14-year old character of Qin (Joo Yee Leong) who is possessed by the spirit of Shun, her brother, on the seventh night of his death to exact revenge on those who brutally murdered Shun and his beloved wife.

Director Chai set out to make a supernatural thriller with a very Southeast Asian flavour. “I draw my inspirations from things around me and growing up in a traditional family, I was exposed to many customs and traditional Chinese practices. I like to explore situations which will force people to make difficult choices – and our Chinese traditions in a modern society like Singapore presents a very nice backdrop for an interesting setup,” Chai explained.

This film represents the first Singapore-made feature to be shot on Red Camera. Malaysia, scored a first last year with the film Hooperz co-directed by Moon and Dhojee which was a joint production between KL Motion Picture Company, MHZ Films and Grand Brilliance Sdn Bhd.

Shooting on Red has been looked at with skepticism as it started as a trend among younger film makers. However, at present the Red movement has grown from a small group of believers to a string of disciples across continents.

For director Chai choosing to shoot on a Red was filled with a lot of trepidations. “We struggled a lot with the decision to go with Red. While cost wise it was a huge draw, the fact remained that everyone was new to the equipment and no one could really tell what the pitfalls were until we started production,” explained Chai.

Derrick Loo, director of photography for the film added: “Red was the new kid on the block but I believed in the potential of the camera. That said, we weren’t 100 per cent sure if the camera would hold up throughout the production, but we bit our nails and went with it anyway.”

Ninety-nine percent of the film was shot on Red, except a few shots which were shot with a handheld AVCHD prosumer camcorder to simulate video. Aside from balancing tight schedules and budgets, one of the challenges Chai had to overcome was location.

Chai explained: “Though the film is shot entirely in Singapore, I wanted the universe in the story to be ‘Southeast Asian’. Thus, we looked for places that would not make it too apparent that it was shot in Singapore. The challenge was in trying to find places that gave it a more Southeast Asian look”.

DoP Loo had the same issues with tight schedules. He explained: “The tight schedule meant that I had to find ways to efficiently complete the shot list for each day. That’s why we chose to go handheld for most of the film, as it was not only aesthetically suitable for the film, it also allowed me to steal shots more easily.

“For example, I could move from a mid shot to a close up with a slow push in without needing to wait for the dolly and tracks to be ready. And we could quickly do pick ups in various shot sizes to allow more variety to be done in whatever amount of time we had for them.”

Both DoP and director however agreed that the post workflow was very crucial for this project as shooting on Red meant that they had to work with a post facility that had the necessary skills and was comfortable working with Red Raw format.

Iceberg Design was one of the few post facilities in Singapore that had enough qualifications to handle a Red project like Blood Ties having had finished three TVCs shot on Red and a Nokia N97 TVC demo video also shot on Red.

Chai explained “It was extremely important that the post house we use should be able to exploit the RED RAW codec to its fullest. Also, the special effects team should be able to match and work with the high quality files for this format. Choosing Iceberg was a no brainer as at the point of production, they were the only ones (in Singapore) with a workflow that made sense and was totally able to push the technology envelope. Once they had showed us how they could handle Red footages with their workflow, we were sold.”

For the movie’s DoP Loo choosing the right post house was a very crucial step. The decision to finally go with Red was partly due to the confidence they gained from seeing how Iceberg Design handled Red data and was able to deliver the maximum potential of what the image promised.

Loo added: “Their support right from the start was invaluable. Another thing I would like to point out was the good work of the Iceberg colorist. Because I was involved in another feature at the time of grading Blood Ties, I had only time to supervise the grade on one afternoon. Good thing we had a previous extensive discussion on how we would like to push the images. When I dropped in that afternoon, I was glad to see that they had done a great job working with the images. I only needed to fine tune some of the approaches and I left it up to him to finish the rest using the same guidelines we established.”

As with any other post project, having a reliable colourist helped put the DoP’s mind at ease knowing that even if he would not attend all the grading sessions, the project was in safe hands. “Iceberg Design is truly the mark of a reliable and professional post-production facility which we were fortunate to work with.” Loo added.

There were a lot of flashbacks within the movie, so each scene had to be defined with its own unique colour palette to tell a story of its own. Present day police station scenes were blue and generally clean to portray a ‘cold’ look; the whites and highlights in flashback scenes were lifted to its maximum potential; and murder scenes had a green tone to it. Iceberg chose an ‘army olive green’ tone to represent the supernatural feel with variations in parts of the film. The colours of blue and green were primarily used as colour motifs to build up to the finale scene in the cemetery where both colours we gradually

mixed in the scene. This treatment

was used to signify the convergence of the two timelines in the film.

Iceberg on Red

Last April, Iceberg hosted a forum on DI Workflow for Red .r3D titled ‘Seeing Red’.

“Iceberg’s Red workflow is an efficient and straight-forward workflow, similar to a film workflow and other digitally-acquired materials we’ve worked on; from Phantom to HDCAM to Varicam, etc. It is the DPX workflow,” explained Alfred Sim, technical director and VFX supervisor for Iceberg Design.

“In fact, for Red footages, it is even faster for us to work on as there is no developing time. The data is pure and tapeless throughout the whole DI process.

“Our Quantel eQ system simply uses the Red engine to access the raw .r3d files at its maximum native resolution. eQ will then use the final EDL to conform the .r3d files across network to HD Uncompressed 10-bit LOG DPX file for full grade and finishing.”

The filmmakers hope that Blood Ties will pave the way for a revolution in the region’s feature film industry, with more filmmakers deploying the technology and experiencing the efficiency and flexibility of shooting on Red.

DOP Loo believes the trend will continue. “We will definitely see more feature films completed with Red in the future. Now that the industry is more informed of the camera’s potential as well as having established post workflows to maximise the potential of raw imaging, it is inevitable that future productions will seriously consider using Red, if they have not already,” Loo explained.

Director Chai added: “When we started looking at Red for the feature, we had the same concerns everyone else had. Would it overheat? Would it reboot? The decision to go with Red paid off big time in the end. Shooting at 4K allows for flexibility in post when it comes to editing and special effects. Shots can be cropped without fear of quality loss. And of course, the RED RAW codec is brilliant as it is able to retain plenty of detail and contrast even in extreme cases.

“I love the way the images looked and how stable the camera operated. I didn’t have to worry about the camera breaking down and delaying the set. That kind of ease of mind is priceless. I could just concentrate on what’s important on set – the performance of the actors. And yes, if I could, I would shoot on the Red whenever possible.”

New Feature Film Fund

Blood Ties is the first of nine films selected by the Singapore Film Commission (SFC) which will be distributed by Golden Village Pictures. Launched by the SFC last year, the New Feature Film Fund aims to provide first-time filmmakers in Singapore with the funds to direct their feature film in collaboration with experienced film production companies.

Each of the nine chosen filmmakers received S$250,000 to direct their feature films. Together with the SFC, Blood Ties is a co-production between Oak3 Films and Hot Cider Films. The other eight selected filmmakers are short film directors Boo Junfeng, Ellery Ngiam, Wee Li Lin, Yong Mun Chee, actor Alaric Tay, stage and television veteran T T Dhavamanni, as well as new faces Mika G. Yamaji and Chen-Hsi Wong.

“The SFC is delighted to be a part of Blood Ties. We are particularly excited about this milestone for the Singapore film industry. Blood Ties may appeal to some more than others, but one thing is certain – this film will redefine what Singaporeans and international audiences think about Singapore films. In this spirit we hope Blood Ties will continue to inspire and encourage emerging filmmakers – and Singaporean audiences – long after the lights come on,” said Mr Kenneth Tan, director, SFC and chief operating officer of Singapore’s Media Development Authority.