The Singapore Short Film Awards organised by the Substation is back! If you are not aware of it, do try to catch the last few screening by tomorrow.
To further quip your curiosity on this year's nominees, there's a series of Production Talks held with some of the filmmakers.
ASH by Taj J. Musco
Synopsis
Ash depicts the
unlikely friendship that develops between a grieving widower, upholding a
promise
to scatter his wife's ashes before sundown, and a young Singaporean policeman
who
has no
choice but to intervene. Ash was written by Singaporean Su Ching
Teh, and directed by
Taj
Jenkins Musco, a filmmaker from the US. It premiered at the Moscow
International FIlm
Festival,
and also screened at the Telluride Film Festival, Valsele International Film
Festival,
Glasgow
Short Film Festival, and many other international venues.
www.tajmusco.com
https://www.facebook.com/AshShortFilm
What inspired the short film?
Writer Su Ching Teh and I decided to collaborate on a film together while we were both students
at Tisch
School of the Arts Asia. I had been eager to make a film about Singapore, and
Su had
this
wonderful idea for film about an elderly man who is arrested while trying to
scatter his wife’s
ashes
because he does not have the proper permit. He is arrested by a young policeman
who is
determined
to adhere to the law, and they subsequently take a journey together to the — literally
— heights of Singapore’s bureaucratic system. I thought this was a great premise for a
short
film, and
a perfect way to present a subtle satire of Singapore wrapped in a story about
unexpected
friendship.
The film has a very distinctive look black and white scheme, stylised scenes, a surrealistic overtone could
I worked
very closely with cinematographer Jordan Quellman to create the distinctive
look of
Ash. We felt that
this story warranted the use of Black & White, and we decided to shoot on
35mm film
to create a particularly cinematic look. We were careful to choose locations,
wardrobe,
and lighting that would emphasize the contrast and make a powerful Black &
White
image. In
all of my short films, my characters journey to a surreal place and back — be it a
dream, an
altered state, or an undiscovered realm. I wanted to create this journey in Ash, as the
two men
travel from the naturalistic beach setting of the opening and closing scenes,
to the
strangely
timeless and imposing Ministry of Death. It was our goal to make a film that
portrayed
Singapore
in a visual style you may not have seen before.
The old people made quite a presence in the film both the old man and the old lady who manned the
Both of
the elderly characters in Ash were nonactors whom I cast
specifically for their wonderful
faces.
They were both incredibly generous and willing to work for me, even for the
long, tedious
hours of
a film shoot. I wanted to capture their natural expressions and inherent
qualities, so my
direction
was mostly technical; telling them where to look, where to move, when to speak.
Beyond
that, it was my job to make sure I captured their faces on film and had enough
material
to edit.
I must give credit to actor Ryan YongYi (Police officer) who is a professional
actor and
had the
utmost patience and skill in working with me and the nonactors.
Where
was the Ministry of Death shot? It provided a very distinctive and memorable
visual for the film.
The
Ministry of Death was shot in the abandoned Kallang Airport. We rented the
space from the
SLA,
brought in a generator and lights and created the Ministry of Death. The
airport was built in
the
1930s, and I love the Art Deco accents in the architecture. It provided the
film with a look that
is
reminiscent of a lot of my favorite Hollywood films from the 1930s and 40s.
What
were the biggest challenges in making this film?
This is a
common question I receive over and over again, and I haven’t yet come up with a good
answer.
There is no single challenge that stands out; filmmaking in general is incredibly hard. In
Singapore
specifically, casting is challenging, transporting equipment is challenging,
filming in
the sun
in challenging. We do it because we love to, and at the end of the day it’s the people who
helped
make the film possible that I remember the most, and who helped us overcome the
challenges.
So I want to thank everyone who helped make Ash; people who donated time or
money or
labor. It is because of them that I’m able to show this film and answer your questions.
Some of
the scenes resembled the styles of certain European arthouse cinema, like the
works of Antonioni
Our
influences in creating the look of Ash extend from Hollywood films
to the work of European
masters
to classic Japanese cinema. Before we started production, cinematographer
Jordan
Quellman
and I attended an Akira Kurosawa retrospective at the National Museum. Many of
the
films we
saw — Ikiru, Drunken Angel, Stray Dog — influenced our
initial ideas for the look of
Ash. To learn how
to make a beautiful Black & White image, we looked at the work of great
cinematographers,
including Gianni di Venanzo (who worked repeatedly with Michelangelo
Antonioni
and Federico Fellini), and Gregg Toland (who lensed Citizen Kane). Jordan also
studied
Ansel Adams’ book The Negative. Once we started shooting, we let these influences
permeate
in our minds and went to work creating an original piece of film that portrayed
our own
vision.