The Sound of Music: Voice of the Voiceless
Our Journey
Day 1 (5 Feb 2014):
The first day of filming took place in Singapore Poly's T18, where Sign Language Club (SLC) hold their CCA.
We arrived early to set up the equipment and waited for the members of SLC to arrive.
Angela, our Director and Interviewer interviews Jerome, a member of SLC.
We interviewed some of the members while waiting for Yuki to arrive. Through theirs answers, we gained more knowledge of what SLC was all about. The room was quiet when interviews were held, as the members all signed to each other to lower their volume.
The filming began when Yuki arrived. Her liveliness was felt immediately when the members waved to her happily and they signed greetings to each other.
Capturing a great shot of Yuki sharing a joke with her SLC members.
Kerene, our Producer, makes sure to keep the production on schedule while Cheryl ensures that the sound is good for filming.
Shairel films the SLC members rehearsing for a performance while Cheryl takes a picture for our Instagram account. Keeping up with two CAs at once!
Being in the SLC room allowed us to experience what it was like being a part of a group of people who were there to truly learn the language of the deaf in order to be able to communicate with them.
There were plenty of laughter and smiles in the room and it felt like the SLC members are one big family. They are a group of youths who cared enough to do something. Their friendliness makes it a joy to film.
Filming for the day ended when SLC ended. We headed home to gear up for the next day's shooting.
Day 2 (6 Feb 2014):
When we arrived at Singapore Poly's Auditorium, there was already quite a lot of people as it was the Business School's Entrepreneurship Bazaar.
The students from Diploma in Music and Audio Technology performed a couple of songs before it was time for SLC to perform.
Angela managing the second camera which was in place to capture a wide shot of the full performance.
Shairel, our director of photography, moved around the stage, trying not to get in the way of the equipment and performance and yet managed to capture great shots.
We worked hand in hand to communicate because there were a lot of people and talking wasn't easy. When Shairel couldn't get to the other side for a different angle, Cheryl, the assistant Director of Photography took over and filmed the rest of the performance.
Cheryl filming Yuki's performance.
Through this performance, we saw how little the crowd knew about song-signing as a performance as the crowd dispersed after the DMAT student's performance. Seeing this made us realize how important our documentary film is, to show what song-signing is to people who cannot hear the music.
It was a short but productive filming day.
With the SLC members after a day of work!
Day 3 (11 Feb 2014):
Red Cross Performance
Arriving at FC 5, we saw Yuki who was there early to prepare herself. We quickly set up our equipment and filmed her practicing her songs.
Angela discussing the day's filming schedule with Yuki.
Shortly after, her SLC members arrived and they all practiced together.
We filmed the sound equipment being set up as well and had to take note of the cables that were lying around on the ground.
The lighting at the stage wasn't good because of the light from the outside so we had to work around different angles to avoid light.
For this sequence, we did not use the boom mike because the speakers were really loud. This meant that there was one extra person free during filming so the workload for each person was lessened.
When Yuki's solo performance began, most of the people stopped what they were doing and watched. Unlike the performance in the Entrepreneurship Bazaar in Day 2,this performance had a wider reach because it was part of the Red Cross Blood Donation Drive.
Yuki performing her solo performance.
Shairel filming the crowd watching the performance. Yuki supports her SLC members by signing together with them.
Cheryl and Shairel discussing the shot.
Kerene took over the camera for a few shots while Shairel rested.
We felt that this was good exposure for the SLC. We also noticed that a lot of people had an interested look on their faces. We felt really glad for Yuki and the SLC members.
Yuki in class
This sequence was a change from our production schedule because there was a little mixup in communication with the other lecturer. However, we managed to find another class of Yuki's and contact the lecturer.
When we arrived at T14 where Yuki was having her presentation for SIP, there was already another group presenting so we had to set up with as little noise as possible.
We managed to get good shots of Yuki's presentation, and at the same time, trying to be as quite as possible so as not to disturb the grading by the lecturer.
Shairel filming the presentation.
Angela filming close-ups of Yuki presenting.
It was all in all a good filming day.
Day 4 (12 Feb 2014):
Red Cross Performance
Filming the Red Cross Performance the second time was not in our production schedule. The SLC members messaged us and we decided to head to FC 5 because it was a good chance to get reaction shots, something we didn't have enough when we filmed the first day.
Angela trying to get a low angle shot of the audience.
SLC Lou Hei for CNY
When we arrived in T1842, they were preparing the ingredients needed for the lou hei. Pretty soon, the members who were in other classes came in and it was here, for the first time that we see the big family in SLC.
Shairel and Angela standing on chairs in order to get a high angle shot of the group lou hei-ing.
Angela filming close-ups of the group.
Filming the SLC members preparing the ingredients for lou hei.
Even though we were busy filming and did not participate in the lou hei, we had smiles on our faces when they shouted our prosperity phrases.
It was truly an touching moment, seeing them as one.
Day 5 (15 Feb 2014):
Yuki's house
After seeing Yuki's life in school and being with her friends from class and SLC, it felt right to be able to see Yuki as she is when she is with her family.
We filmed Yuki at home, and when we got there, she was busy with her school work. She stopped doing her work for a while and took some time to allow us to film an interview with her.
Yuki telling us the backstory of her life.
Angela listening attentively to Yuki's answer.
After the interview, we sat around and waited while Shairel filmed Yuki doing her work.
Yuki was going to Wesley Methodist Church for the Ministry of Hearing Impaired (MHI) dinner and we were going with her to see how the deaf community are as a whole.
When we got there, we were immediately greeted with warm smiles from the members of MHI.
We introduced ourselves and some of the hearing members interpreted what we said for the deaf.
They were very particular about getting our names right and it felt nice to have people who really wanted to know your name.
We were initially going to film the dinner but it felt intrusive to have a camera there as they celebrated the anniversary.
After the dinner, we left with Yuki and headed home.
It was a very good filming day even though we didn't do much. Visiting MHI gave us very good insights into the deaf community and it made us feel even more motivated to finish our documentary.
Day 6 (16 Feb 2014) LAST DAY OF FILMING:
On the last day of shooting, we headed to Yuki's grandmother's house so that we could film and interview her grandmother and her sister.
When we went in, her grandmother was a little shy at first and only smiled to us when we said hi.
We saw Yuki's sister, Joey, the day before at the MHI dinner so it was very easygoing.
We started interviewing Joey first. Yuki sat with us as well because her sister was shy.
Yuki sitting with Angela as her sister told her us feelings on being deaf.
As the rest were busy with the filming, Kerene chatted with the grandmother and told her about the documentary.
When Joey's interview was over, Kerene took over being the interviewer because Yuki's grandmother spoke in Chinese and the rest of the group's Chinese weren't that good.
Yuki's grandmother telling us how hard it was to bring up two deaf children.
When the interview first started, the grandmother gave very short answers probably because she was still not that open to us. As the questions went on, she started to talk more about Yuki and Joey's life when they were younger.
When we finished asking the questions, Kerene said thank you and we started to move. But the grandmother continued talking and Shairel immediately got the cameras rolling.
Her grandmother revealed more about her feelings and she got emotional. It was a really touching moment because we finally saw the other side of Yuki's life and we saw how hard it was on the other family members.
Our journey reflection:
One word to summarize our experience
KERENE - Inspirational
ANGELA - Heart-wrenching
SHAIREL - Beautiful
CHERYL - Insightful
Better Days Ahead: Jazmine Chua
"I didn't understand why I had to wear hearing aid, when people my age don't need to."
However, through hard work and the help of her teachers and kinder classmates, Jazmine managed to pass most of her exams. She overcame her internal struggle with not understanding why she was different from the world and also learnt to work better with the people around her.
