We from The Mediashock Team leaves the audience with this diary-esque account and our short film: Gratitude. Catch it right here, right now:
Be it young or old, religious or not, we believe everyone looks forward to the festive season of year’s end – especially so Christmas. A holiday that wraps up the year and prepares us anew. But, what is Christmas truly about? Is it about spending time with loved ones – enjoying their company near a warm fireplace with hot chocolate as snow falls outside? Or maybe it’s all about the presents – the suspenseful euphoria that overwhelms us before we open our present to see what’s in store? Perhaps the feast; fresh oven-baked turkey with roasted vegetables at a brightly lit dinner table with the chitter and chatter of stainless steel cutlery, china and conversation. Well, we feel that whilst those indeed are elements that make up a special yearly affair, Christmas is a lot more than that.
To us, Christmas is not just about spending quality time and gathering with our treasured ones, but also a time to genuinely showcase our mutual love, care and appreciation. A time of festivities that wrap up the year, of gratitude – being thankful for what we have, and appreciating what we’re given, forever and always. Because lest we forget, Christmas is not a one-size-fits-all programme with strict guidelines and rules. Everyone across the globe celebrates it differently. Some of us have big houses and luxury cars, some of us shoebox apartments and state-of-the-art ovens, and some of us a humble abode with a TV and a fireplace. Yet, Christmas ignites a feeling like no other festivity in the world – it puts smiles across people’s faces whilst they queue up to buy presents for their loved ones, it motivates us to open our doors to others to enjoy the warmth and glow of family and feast, it teaches us to be grateful for whatever we receive from such bouts of kindness, and to create the best moments out of what has been handed to us generously, further spreading it on even further. A time of giving generously without any expectations mind you – unless you count the expectation of returning kindness.
So, we took this definition of Christmas and decided to fulfill a crazy dream which lay way beyond the scope of our day-to-day: to create a heartwarming, positive short film that revolved around this very definition of Christmas to us. Amidst chasing client deadlines and corporate briefs, we we all still very much so determined to dream this into reality. And thus, began the chase. From 3 weeks of pre-production planning – firming up our concept, detailed props-listing, location scouting, talent casting, meetings and discussions – we were all hands on deck even after office hours (yes that counts the weekend too). Once we had everything and everyone gathered, D-Day only loomed closer, lying in wait for us.
And just like that, like a thief in the night, before we realised it, Production was there, knocking on our doors at 6:00am in the morning on a Saturday. We must say, everyone seemed as fired up as they were anxious upon first take. It was almost like you could hear a pin drop across the globe during our first take, with the exception of setting up and character dialogues. And just as quickly as it came, soon enough we were at our final location – and time was not on our side as light faded from the bright skies we were familiar with at the start of our shoot. Nonetheless, the 13-hour ordeal turned out better than expected, granted the common hiccups.
Work was yet to cease thereafter, though. After a short hiatus of the weekend, we were back at it entering the final lap – Post-Production. First came choosing the absolute best out of the 149 takes we had, followed by audio-visual sequencing of the footage, ensuring the story flowed just as how we planned. Now, most of the time, we would stop here, but guess what? We decided to kick it up a notch just so we could amplify the perfect feel – by colour grading and sound designing our product, thanks to a few extra hands.
Alas, this is the where we are in this journey as of when the author is writing this article – the proud promotion and screening of our completed work. And now on Day 46, as we look back and wonder “What is Christmas truly about?” – the very question we asked ourselves on Day 0 – we can say with utmost confidence that our unwavering definition of Christmas has come into fruition.
And while we’re at it, we’d like to take the opportunity to sincerely thank each every single one of you who helped us on and off set, as well as you, members of the audience, for listening to our story. Thank You.