Production Design & Art Direction for Feature Films
In my short stint on local media industry, I had been apart of 6 feature films (5 locally filmed, and 1 overseas), credited as "Art Director" and subsequently "Production Designer", from 1998 to 2004. These are the six feature films in question (With listings from imdb.com):
Film: FOREVER FEVER (Titled "THAT"S THE WAY I LIKE IT" in U.S.A.) 1998
WWW: IMDb-page / Wikipedia
Script by: Glen Goei
Directed by: Glen Goei
Credit: Art Director
*Continued Features on #andyhengart
Film Available: Released via DVD & VCD / Watch Full Film here
BUY ON AMAZON:
Film: THE TEENAGE TEXTBOOK MOVIE (1998)
WWW: IMDb-page / Wikipedia
Script by: Philip Lim, Haresh Sharma, Adrian Tan
Directed by: Philip Lim
Credit: Production Designer / Also functioned as Art Director on Set
*Continued Features on #andyhengart
Film Available: Released via VCD & VHS / Currently watchable here on Netflix.
Film: STREET ANGELS (少女党) (1999)
WWW: IMDb-page / Wikipedia / Chinese Wikipedia
Script by: David Lam, Kai-Kee Wong
Directed by: David Lam
Credit: Production Designer / Also functioned as Art Director on Set
*Continued Features on #andyhengart
Film Available: I have only come across a Bootleg VCD.
Film: SONG OF THE STORK / VU KHÚC CON CÒ (2002)
WWW: IMDb-page
Script by: Wayne Karlin, Duy Tom Nguyen, Quang Sang Nguyen
Directed by: Jonathan Foo & Phan Quang Binh Nguyen
Credit: Production Designer
*Continued Features on #andyhengart
Film Available: Released via DVD (Japan).
BUY ON AMAZON:
Film: PERTH, also titled "Perth: The Geylang Massacre" (2004)
WWW: IMDb-page / Wikipedia
Script by: Djinn Ong
Directed by: Djinn Ong
Credit: Production Designer / Also functioned as Art Director on Set
*Continued Features on #andyhengart
*PERTH POLAROID Features on #andyhengart
Film Available: Released via VCD & DVD (Region 1 & Region 3).
Film: RICE RHAPSODY (alternative title "Hainan Chicken Rice" / 海南雞飯 / 2004)
WWW: IMDb-page / Wikipedia
Script by: Kenneth Bi
Directed by: Kenneth Bi
Credit: Production Designer / also functioned as Art Director on Set
*Continued Features on #andyhengart
Film Available: Released on DVD.
BUY ON AMAZON:
The first notion of "designing for film" was a result of my curiosity developed from set designing for television, having spent nearly five years at our nation's broadcasting station (then "Television Corporation of Singapore", before they turned MediaCorp), which in turn was a morph from my interest with Interior Design, which I had officially graduated from three years' worth, at the then Baharuddin Vocational Institute.
In essence, it is the management of spaces and usage of colors/colours and textures to create a livable environment, or a mise-en-scène.
My tenure in TCS begun and ended with Designing for (Variety) Stage, and whatever few experiences with "long / short form" drama would be in "re-enactments", rather than (heavily) scripted projects, which further fueled my curiosity, which was bolstered then by my incessant passion for watching feature films, which ranged from HBO (during my all-nighters in the office) to commercial screenings in our local cinemas, including "art house" films at The Picturehouse, to chasing after and discovering films in the annual Singapore Film Festival, where I developed a preference for Japanese and French films, and where I had the opportunity to experience "Made In Singapore"-films, which begun with Eric Khoo's "Mee-Pok Man" in Majestic Cinema (and the eternal memory and feeling of more-likely-a-rat scurrying past my ankles).
My first foray into Making Films was developed from conversations with like-minded folks at film festivals too!
I was offered the role of "Art Director" for "Forever Fever", working underneath a Production Designer (Laurence Eastwood), which I initially attribute to being "the local contractor-slash-coordinator" (no doubt a huge part of the job-scope). Having done theoretical "research" while watching films, I had known then I wanted to eventually be a "Production Designer", as the job requirements ticks all the boxes on all that I am curious about, and want to engage in.
Whatever experience I've had with TCS grounded me with the basics of "Set Design", and the documentation needed to manifest concepts and dreams, which in turn was connected to Interior Design, where starting out as a Junior ID in a reputable ID company, I'd been familiar with. Knowing I had not "formal education" in Designing and Art Direction in Film, I knew it would be "on the job" education and experience that would help me develop the skills, and realized very quickly I had to develop the opportunities myself. Once you have the lay of the land, you begin to be able to piece together the puzzle of how to get things made and done, which all exists in the beginning as a "idea" borne from the film script.
And having framed of wanting to draw/illustrate "comic books" for a living, growing up (another story for another time), the chance to draw my ideas and communicate them, was another area of fascination and excitement for me.
No two films featured the same experience, and all six films marked me differently in real and reel life.
It has been nearly two decades since I had designed for and worked on a feature film (at time of this blogpost in 2023), and I both long for the opportunity, but at the same time am conscious of what is needed of a "Art Director" in Singapore, and the lack of "need" for a "Production Designer".
Cheers,
Andy Heng
