Subtitling TRUTH BE TOLD

We were at Mega Films Enterprises subtitling our film to English and Chinese. They are the only laser subtitling facility in Singapore. If I'm not mistaken, all Holllywood movies with Chinese subtitles for Singapore release are done here.

With the subtitling complete, TRUTH BE TOLD is now all ready to roll!

Mega Films' Elsie preparing a reel of our film.

Director Eng Tiong doing the "spotting" i.e. looking through the subtitles, making sure the timing & the sentences are right.

Trailer & Teaser Poster Spotting

Teaser poster at GV Vivocity, just outside hall 8 & opposite the female restroom


Teaser poster at GV Plaza Singapura, just outside the female restroom

Trailer playing at GV Plaza Singapura, before 881.

TRUTH BE TOLD *Blog Aloud @ Cinema Europa*

Meet our female lead Mediacorp artiste Yvonne Lim and of course, us (Eng Tiong & Jen Nee) in person on September 28!

We'll share with you the truth behind the making of TRUTH BE TOLD.

Title of Film: TRUTH BE TOLD
Date: 28 Sep 07, Friday
Venue : Cinema Europa at GV Vivocity
Time: 7pm screening time (running time 95 mins)
Blog Aloud (Q&A with director & cast): 8.35pm (45mins dialogue session)
Ticket Price: $10
Student Price: $8 (only for sale at Vivo Box Office)


Book your tickets here!

Win Tickets to Our Premiere!

Eng Tiong posing with our teaser poster.

Our teaser poster will be up in GV cineplexes this week! The above picture is a test of our poster in the lightbox. Looking good!

In addition, our trailer will also be out this week in selected GV theatres.

Help us spot our posters and trailers! Leave a comment and tell us where you've seen them. Especially for our trailer, let us know:

1. Which GV cineplex?
2. Which movie you've caught with our trailer?
3. Which hall?
4. The movie's showtime

That'll greatly help us evaluate our marketing strategy!

For your kind help, we've rummaged through our drawers and closets to find a good reward...

The one who spots the most teaser poster locations & trailer spots will win A PAIR OF MOVIE TICKETS TO OUR CHARITY PREMIERE OF TRUTH BE TOLD ON SEPTEMBER 27, 2007!

Happy spotting! :)

Test Screening at GV

Back in Singapore, we've tested our 35mm trailer and feature at a GV Grand theatre last week. Our DP Amandi was also with us. It felt great to finally watch our baby in 35mm film print and in a commercial cinema theatre!

Everything looks in order - no damage to our film on the way back from Hong Kong. Phew!

10 Days in Hong Kong

July 26, 2007 officially wraps up post production. TRUTH BE TOLD is finally on 35mm! *pops champagne*

For the past 2 weeks, we were back in Hong Kong to complete the process. At Digital Magic, we went through a final round of colour grading on Da Vinci for film output. Then it's the kine transfer (from video to film) at Mandarin Labs.

It's quite strange to be in the lab alongside other upcoming Hong Kong films such as Flash Point and 19 Gates of Hell as well as Filipino & Indonesian films. But well... we'll get used to it!

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Colour grading at Digital Magic on a Da Vinci system & monitoring through a true HD professional monitor.

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At the Mandarin Lab's Preview Room where we view our 35mm trailer & feature answer prints. Eng Tiong (facing camera) conversing with our Digital Magic Production Manager Ka Lik before the screening.

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A workroom in Mandarin Labs. 1 word - WOW!

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This machine colour grades the film print. It kicks out a strip of paper containing the encoded info and feeds it into the film developing machine.

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A film can - Reel 3 of 5 - containing our feature's answer print.

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The moment we've been waiting for... watching TRUTH BE TOLD on 35mm!

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Viewing a reel on a Steenbeck - Eng Tiong (left) with Ka Lik (centre) and "Sifu" reviewing scenes that require some further colour tweaking.

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Eng Tiong holding on to our "precious". 4 years of blood and sweat!

Jen Nee holding on to "precious no. 2" - trailer prints!

Packing them all up to bring back to Singapore! TRUTH BE TOLD in 5 reels weigh approximately 20 kg.

1 Day in Hong Kong

Eng Tiong was in Hong Kong on June 26, hand-carrying our precious works to Digital Magic for film transfer.

Here's his journey, in pictures...

In the News

All thanks to the Cannes trip & MDA’s strong support, Pilgrim Pictures and Truth Be Told is covered rather extensively in the media within the space of a week!

• TV News on Channel News Asia on May 22, 2007. (Although we completely missed that because we’re still in Cannes. What a bummer!)

• The Straits Times Life! Section (page 8 & 9) on May 24, 2007 - “Singapore films go pitch perfect in Cannes”

• Today (page 54) on June 1, 2007 - “Good Times”

• The Straits Times Life! Section (page 4 & 5) on June 6, 2007 - “Growing Pains”

• I-Weekly Magazine (Page 64) on June 9, 2007 - Movie Reviews (under upcoming local films releasing this year)

• UW Magazine (Page 42 & 43) on June 9, 2007 - Hot Reels (also under upcoming local films releasing in 2007-08)

Cannes Film Market 2007

The most important trip on any producer's calendar - the Cannes Film Market. Eng Tiong and I are really excited to finally make it to Cannes. Our maiden trip is a short but really fruitful one.

After having been to Pusan, Taipei and Hong Kong, this is our best market ever. We received strong interest from buyers and sales agents. Besides making new friends with contacts from around the world, we've met up with friends first established at other markets.

Compared to the first time at Pusan last year when we hardly know anyone, we're slowly but surely building up relationships.

Eng Tiong - outside the market, entrance facing the sea. Using this entrance is preferred as there's less people using it than the front entrance, which is always packed.

The main entrance to the film market. On the left side is the Cannes Film Festival red carpet for films in competition in the main category. On the right side (not in picture) is the blue carpet for films in the Un Certain Regard category.

The Singapore Booth at Riveria F9 - front view.

The Singapore Booth at Riveria F9 - side view.

Jen Nee - looking busy... with our movie poster right on top.

Advert by MDA at the film market.

TRUTH BE TOLD found right at the bottom of the advert. Moral of the story - like everything else, don't name a movie at the back of the alphabets!



At the Australian-Singapore Co-Production Panel Session at the Australian Film Commission Office.


The view from the Australian Film Commission's office along the La Croisette. Splendid!

At the Singapore Networking Cocktail Party (would have loved to take more pictures but was really busy getting acquainted and re-acquainted with guests.)

The Singapore delegation. A rep from each company - 1st row (left to right) Mun Chee (Big Machine), Chris (Monsoon), Mr. Man (MDA/ SFC), Pok (Creative Room) & Thomas (Lighthouse). 2nd row (left to right) Andrew (New Asia), Eng Tiong (Pilgrim), Savi (Teamwork) & Juan (Shooting Gallery). Last row (standing, left to right) Zai (Oak3), Julia (LeBrocquyFraser), Titus (Cubix) & Emida (Ark).

Read more about other aspects of our trip at Pilgrim's Blog.

A Year Ago... A Flashback

Bernard, our main cast member playing cameraman Damien Pang, called me this morning to say hi. Cos' today a year ago, we officially started the shoot!

I remembered April 4, 2006 clearly. The weather was great in the morning and early afternoon. And then it turned dark, there's thunder and a heavy downpour. We had to call off the shoot after just completing 1 and half scenes. Today's weather is a little like last year's. Fine in the first half but gets dark around 3 pm.

Just remember - if you need bright, sunny weather all day long, don't shoot in April!

Actually, it marks 2 years for Eng Tiong and I since we put pen to paper drafting this story. Juan wasn't kidding when he said it's going to be a marathon. 2 years whizzed by just like that. By far it's been the toughest 2 years of my life. Strangely, I think they are my most well-lived. (Probably means I've aged tons but hey, wrinkles = got character! *wink*)

Right now we're preparing our next trip, this time to the Cannes Film Market in May. We're also starting preps for our film's release in Singapore in the 3rd quarter of 2007. Yes, still have lots more to do... jia you, jia you!

Hong Kong FILMART 2007

Very excited to be at the Hong Kong Filmart, since it's our first time at this market.

It's very different from Pusan and Taipei. It's much bigger and it's definitely a stars-spotting extravaganza - Asian style.

We've also had a great time meeting and getting to know more people!

Would have loved to close some deals though, but well, seems like most buyers aren't very serious about buying at this market.

Eng Tiong outside Hall 5, where the main film market activities took place.

At the Singapore Pavilion.

At the Asian Film Awards ceremony.

Tony Leung (podium centre), the ambassador of the Entertainment Expo

Andy Lau giving a thank you speech after receiving the Nielsen Box Office Star of Asia Award

The power of Andy Lau... need I say more?

BUT the one getting the most screams... Rain, of course!

At the Singapore Networking Luncheon, Eng Tiong and Jen Nee with Danny Chan, Editor of Asia Image.
(photo courtesy of Marcus & team - thanks!)

Eng Tiong on "My Paper" Web Portal

Eng Tiong was recently interviewed by the Chinese-language newspaper "My Paper" or "WoBao". He is featured talking about our trials and tribulations of finding buyers for Truth Be Told at film markets.

Watch the cliplet here:
http://www.mypaper.sg/myvodcast/20070319sporefilm_a/20070319sporefilm_a.html

Read the news article about Singapore films here:
http://www.mypaper.sg/myvodcast/20070319sporefilm_a/20070319sporefilm_main.html

View trailers of some of the local movies here:
http://www.mypaper.sg/myvodcast/20070319sporefilm_a/20070319sporefilmposter_main.html

Final Colour Grading Session

We had our last colour grading session at Digipost last Wednesday. Here's some pictures:

Colourist Azman tweaking the colours for an outdoor scene.

From L to R: Colourist Azman, Director Eng Tiong and DP Amandi (back facing picture) in discussion. I doubt it's over the colours cos' it's pretty much agreed upon & fixed. I think it's over digital cinema encoding issues.

Director Eng Tiong & Online Editor Chris hard at work. Guess why are they so serious? What else but the time code! They are doing a final check to make sure that in/out timecodes are correct cos' we're breaking the movie into 5 different "reels". What for? For transferring the movie to film. Each reel must not be more than 20 minutes cos' that's how long a reel of film is. We're also checking the timecodes very carefully as the sound is done separately. So when we put the images together with the audio, whether on film or as a D-Cinema digital version, the audio is in-sync with the image.

Whether you love or hate the colours you see in the final movie, the culprits - Colourist Azman, Director Eng Tiong and DP Amandi.

Oh, and erm... moi the Producer too!