Son of God Q&A on Google+ Hangouts

On last Wednesday, March 5th at 6 pm PST / 9 pm EST, the team that brought Son of God to film were on Google+ for a Live Hangout session. Hosted by Kathie Lee (Today),  SON of GOD producers, Roma and Mark, along with special guests  Eduardo Verastegui (Executive Producer of Spanish Dub), Diego Morgado (actor of Jesus Christ) and Pastor Erwin McManus at Mosaic ( also Author of “The Artisan Soul”), had a one hour chat session answering netizens on the film Son of God and sharing their stories throughout the production of the film. Questions were submitted via the Google+ Q&A App or the use of #SonofGod during the event on  social media accounts.

I was already on the site at 7.30pm EST, ON TWO SCREENS NO LESS. I was too afraid one computer will crash.

So here we go, the producers! As you can see, on the right is where the questions for Son of God comes streaming fast and furious.

Eduardo and Diogo, can you believe they just met for the first time at Google’s headquarters?! But luckily Diogo will be moving to LA so that means plenty of get together time with Eduardo!

And here is Pastor Erwin, telling us about Christ and the part God plays in his life, and others’ too.

Here’s our lovely Host Katie, I love the sheep in the background 😀

At that time, my computer hanged and fortunately I had the foresight to set up a second computer and continue watching the video! My friends will say that it’s because I’m screencapping Eduardo too much.

And I prove them right, here’s another picture with this incredible man, you guys are welcome.

It was a pretty cool experience, about it being live on the net. Seeing how I am so far away, if it was Live on the TV, I would have no way of watching and probably have to rely on someone to upload to Youtube. What I felt unsatisfied was that only a few questions are being answered and what many people wanted to know are the more controversial ones: Why was Satan omitted, the accuracy of the film and if it will ever be screened in the Middle East.  But I understand that these information can only be revealed at official press session.

My own question was answered after I sent an email over, mainly to ask about the screening in Singapore. (It is confirmed for UK) YES!!! IT WILL BE SCREENED !!! ON 17th APRIL! AT GOLDEN VILLAGE

Let’s turn this into a box office film here!! If only there was more promotional events here, like bringing the cast or producers, I will cry, tears of euphoria. Extremely envious of movie-goers at Regency Theatres who got to see and talk to Eduardo on the 7th and 9th March. I highly doubt they will go to Singapore (or UK), given the unfamiliarity with Latin celebrities. One can still dream…. and make it come true right? One day.

The End.

Thank God for playback, you can view the video here if you missed it!

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There’s another related Hangout:

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Diner en Blanc cheatsheet

Next Friday’s the big occasion: THE DEB DAY! (jokingly called D-Day)

That gives everyone an effective 11 more days to get prepared with their white list. Therefore, I came up with an emergency list that last minute panickers would really need.

1) Plates, cutlery

Below is how my table looked like: A bowl, plate, glass wine, spoon, fork, knife, napkin (dessert spoon not shown). The proper french requires way more cutlery but I didn’t want to overload my table and add on to the carry-on weight.

2) Center piece, for aesthetic purposes

I had a scented white candle inside a white lamp I had. Perfect. Some people may opt for a vase or electric candles. It’s up to each individual.

3) Food

Food can either be prepared by diners or ordered through the official website. Last order is 11 October so there’s still 4 more days for those who have not any plans yet! Any food can be brought (oh, bring your tauhuey or chicken rice if you wish!), just remember it’s aesthetics and elegance we’re striving for! And remember the spirit of sharing, we encourage diners to bring some food for sharing!

The below is the food I ordered from DEB. Trust me, it’s fantastic.

We collected our food using coupons

Edit: Clemen just informed me that this year we’ll be using barcodes to collect the food!

And our drinks, the Fuji mineral water comes with an ice bag, so diners need not be too worried about your chilled beverages.

4) Be prepared to walk

Last year, we walked from the carpark basement of MBS to our secret location: Right outside the Arts and Science Museum! And bear in mind, the gentlemen are carrying tables and chairs (I do not expect the ladies to do so, yes gentlemen?) and the ladies will be carrying the picnic basket (for me, I was carrying my partner’s DSLR too, HEAVY!) Therefore, please wear good shoes/heels and your clothes should not be restricting your movements.

Do bring a trolley to carry your tables and chairs, you’ll be glad you did.

This was my partner with our table on top of our trolley and the pink bag is what used to contain our plates, cutlery, etc. As the bag would be hidden under our table cloth, we weren’t concerned about it’s striking pink.

5) Camaraderie

DEB is about the spirit of togetherness. So have fun with your fellow diners, and look enchantingly captivating, both in moment and photos.

6) Camera

Bring a good camera if you are a shutter happy person. It’s one of the best occasions to take stunning shoots. It makes carrying that 5kg bag all worthwhile. If you prefer something more lightweight, a fully charged SLR or smartphone will do the trick.

7) Interview

Always look your best for you may be interviewed anytime! Below is the founder’s family!

8) Of napkins, sparklers and balloons

The magical moment is when every waves their napkins, light up their sparklers and released their balloons! Napkins are waved before we commence on our meal, and when nightfall, sparklers are lighted. This is the 25 year tradition of DEB. A cue will be given, so don’t worry about the timing.

9) Dancing

Lots of dancing. At around 9pm, a dance floor opens up.

There’s also an After-party, this year it is held at 2 locations: Lantern and Post Bar at Fullerton. At time of writing, Post Bar still has some vacancies. Only 150 RSVP are allowed in each location due to the overwhelming response.

Do wear comfortable shoes if you intend to groove. Ladies can bring a pair of flats if heels prove too be too straining on the legs!

10) JUST HAVE FUN!

That’s the most important goal of DEB ♥

By the way, I regret to inform you but our helpers are not allowed to be employed as part of dining service.

Still have questions on night white? You can consult your bus/pedestrian leaders, post in the DEB Facebook group or write in my comment box 🙂

Film lessons with Director Kazuhiko Mizushina Sensei

This is such a late post, but I feel that I must post nevertheless! He’s a marvelous director and a really funny and sincere one at that! Sensei usually goes by the name of Kaz Mizushina.

I was first introduced to his video “I don’t need a golf course”.

Being an environmentalist and a Zen, I love this concept of his and how a short simple video managed to convey the message of letting nature retain its natural characteristics and how we don’t need commercial entities to disrupt this peace and beauty. There’s only 2 main character, the monk and the business man, and filming was mostly done in the graveyard and a small part in a temple.

Seeing that my group on meetup.com decided to go, I thought it’s a good chance to learn about filming from Sensei!

The workshop was held on Deepavali, titled “How to shoot a good video/film” and presented by the Japanese Cultural Society Singapore and Shizuoka Prefectural Government Representative Office in Singapore. Location was at JCSS, 112 Midland House, middle road, 05-00, S188970.

The opening slide

Test shoots of the tea box, we had some Shizuoka tea too! I still have the really Moe cup the staff at JCSS served us with. It’s a little paper cup with an animated Mt Fuji Face. And we tried some of the honeydew and it was simply delightful.

The Vice President of JCSS, Mr Tan Jong Lek, explaining to us about the partnership between Shizuoka Prefecture and Singapore. Mr Tan is a really amiable gentlemen and we had a great chat about Japanese and my love of photography after the workshop. Which reminds me…. I HAVE YET TO SIGN UP FOR JLPT! -exam phobia-

The star of the day, Kaz Mizushina Sensei!

Some photos I took of the slides. It’s in Japanese and kinda small from the view of my blog. Can you read? Let me translate some (some degree of accuracy).

ZOOM

The position of the camera doesn’t change but the size of the subject of the photos are being changed.

ZOOM IN

The position of the camera doesn’t change but the size of the subject of the photos isare being enlarged

ZOOM OUT

The position of the camera doesn’t change but the size of the subject of the photos is being shrunk.

Pan (Panning means to shift in a continuous smooth motion in one direction)(horizontal)

Pandaun (vertical)

Size of the subject of the photo

Full body, Above knee, Upper Waist, Above Chest Level

Important notes:

Shinmetori – align left and right, image to be balance

Flaming – Subject of the photo, position of space, measurement of distance  (near, far)

Light

Natural light – sunlight, light from surroundings

During videoing, awareness of the light source is important (not sure the accuracy of this statement)

Light from the back during filming – subject will be illuminated

Light from the front during filming – subject will be shrouded in darkness

(then I’m still trying to decipher the bottom two lines)

Noise

The noises in the video can affect the viewing of the audience

Sensei just played 2 videos of the Godfather to show us how the mood can change with different music scores.

So that’s about the end of Sensei’s workshop.

In the workshop, Sensei showed us some good YouTube videos and highlighted the good and bad points of them. I take it that the  recent STB video does not make the cut. One point he emphasized is that we need short and precise videos because of the short attention span of viewers. 3 mins is the ideal time for a video and any longer, people will be inclined to change channel.

And the catchphrase of the whole workshop was SHIOK , owing to this commercial. We were explaining to Sensei the meaning behind SHIOK, which was repeated throughout the commercial – basically it means enjoyable and i’m lovin’ it! And we found out that SHIzuOKa has a SHIOK too, so hurray for Singapore-Japanese relations, the ambassador of Shizuoka was pretty amused by us.

If you are keen to watch more of Sensei’s work, view his company’s channel on Youtube.

TAGATA Inc 田方映像 YouTube  Facebook

I think he got the name from TAGATA District in Shizuoka, Sensei is from Shizuoka!

View his playlist here:

Learn about the Shizuoka Prefecture Website

And JCSS Website !