Deon & Sheila / A Nocturnal Shoot in Tiong Bahru

I pitched the idea of an experimental nocturnal shoot to Deon & Sheila. With them, I know I can push beyond the conventional creative boundaries. I kept to a few simple rules. It has to be short – under an hour. It has to be simple – no extensive styling. Above all, we wanted the shoot to be fluid and nimble – everything we do, we do in single takes. I also wanted to have it taken in analogue film (wherever possible), which has always been my preferred medium. We picked the precinct of Tiong Bahru, a place we were all very familiar with.

We had to be very selective with locations and we only picked those with a fair amount of available light. The fluid and quick nature of the shoot would also render external lighting useless (I rarely use those anyway). Even with high speed films, we often had to shoot in low shutter speed and with lens opened wide. Because the shoot was meant to be unchoreographed and totally unscripted, Deon & Sheila had full artistic licence to do whatever they wanted. This would mean in certain situations, we’ll venture unknowingly into poorly lit areas beyond what analogue films could handle. This is where digital cameras would fill in the gap. As much as we wanted to keep it all-film, the nature of the shoot was such that, at times, we had to accept that there are limitations with old school films. You either get the shot (in digital) or you don’t (with film).

In the end, we had a shoot that took a course of it’s own.  I don’t think any of us knew exactly how it’ll turn out but we can safely agree now that the end result isn’t too bad at all.

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