Creating Kai's Bedroom (for The Teenage Textbook Movie)

I do not think I’ve ever done a proper "layout plan" for my setting of "Kai's Bedroom", for The Teenage Textbook Movie, filmed in 1997/98 ... if there was, I don't have the original drawing (*The image posted below was sketched last night, specifically for the purposes of this blogpost :p). In all practicality, "Kai's Bedroom" was in the same HDB flat unit as "Mui-Ee's Bedroom" ("Scandalous", right?!) and "Mui-Ee's Living Room" - on which floor/level I had forgotten since.


Based on the script, there was no specification of WHAT Kai's bedroom was going to look like, nor what he was to be. I had pitched the idea/concept that the character read "comic books", and not only that, he was a "collector", and collected character toys / action figures as well. To say "Kai"s bedroom was a manifestation of my geek-self, is wholly accurate!

I personally embraced the notion that Kai would be the sort of person who'd stay in at home and rather spend the time reading his comicbooks and dwell in the world of his own making, rather than hang out with folks outside. But with the appearance of "Mui-Ee", he would consider and end up WANTING to head outside, just to date/be with her - even to "watch Hindi movie also can" :)


The required camera shots were planned based on prior location recce and the sizes of the rooms themselves restricted movements. My plan for the rooms would be pedestrian in layout as well, with quite literally a practical application based on a real-time existing HDB-flat.

For purposes of THIS blogpost, I will focus on KAI's BEDROOM, and chat abut Mui-Ee's bedroom and living room at another time.


Based on my approved character concept, and with the allocated budget for this set-up (I cannot remember "how much" though...), I knew I needed modular shelves (knockdown IKEA) and bed - which I managed to snag for a steal at Salvation Army (Came along with its own shelving bed-head), and a IKEA table (I think an office table :p). The chair was out of shot, and quite frankly did nothing for the set LOL


We had pre-painted the bedroom walls, in a blue that matched my own bedroom's years later (*Told you tis me "dream man-cave", innit?), because "Blue" was a dedicated colour I chose for Kai, as "Yellow" was for Mui-Ee.

The entire dressing, was a mix between my own comicbook collection (*cough*), and expensive true-collector's editions posted on the walls! These were on-loan from my regular comicbook-shop in Bras Basah then, and left me quite antsy for their "safety" of! As well all the toys were from said comicbook shop.

And while setting was longer, I remember striking the expensive comics once the shot wrapped for this location - We couldn't afford to loose them! I wish I had an exorbitant price / worth / value to tag this setting with, but alas that too escaped me.


The shots for this location were essentially locked and (upper) mid-shot(s), seeing only a top-torso of the actor, in two scenes - one as he came out of the shower, and another as he is dressed and calling Mui-Ee. The (rotary dial) phone belonged to the producer, and has utterly zero relevance to the age of the setting/movie, but I adored it! And insisted on using it, if memory serves...



"Chung Kai" was played by Caleb Goh.
"Mui Ee" was played by Melody Chen.
My only "regret" - and this has consistently bugged me for yeeaaars since, and still do - was the color of Kai's towel. I am unsure if we did prepare a coloured towel, or if there was a change in the script, but this towel (belonged to the producer? The crew? I cannot remember) was a army towel, and in a drab olive green that stuck out like a sore thumb - not just in hue, but also dated the character, if only we were meant to show he had already finished his conscripted army-stint...

It's funny now, as I asked myself "What color towel would suit the scene?" ... The actor was pretty fair skinned, while the cluttered background was meant for him to "stand out" ... all of whom is irrelevant to me since, as the ONLY thing on my mind was "it would not be olive green" HAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

It more likely would have been a shade of orange, to (eventually) match the orange in the movie poster, but perhaps too close to the actor's skin (dependant on color grading in post production too), and more likely would have been in a similar shade (as the olive green) of blue.

"Cliched colors", one might say? That was the idea for my color palette, to provide a semblance of recognizability, without the need to crack your brains, so you an focus on the story instead... well, that was the plan :)


(Most images here were snapped off 4R-sized printed photographs, via a iPhone6)