Nanyang Film Festival Special: Heartstrings

In Part 2 of the Nanyang Film Festival series, NYconneXions meets the people behind i.Nnovation’s second film, ‘Heartstrings’.

Heartstrings is the story of how Hong (Ang Soon Heng) brightens up the life of his girlfriend Cai (Samantha Soon), with the colours of the rainbow. Soon Heng, Samantha and Dickson Sim (producer and director) coloured up this interview on their filming experience with interesting and amusing details.

NYconneXions: Tell us more about your character in the film.
Samantha: My character is playful but rather insensitive.
Soon Heng: He’s a cool guy. But he doesn’t really know how to express his feelings to the girl he fancies.

NYC: Do you resemble your character in any way?
S: While I did imagine myself when writing the script, my character and I don’t share many similarities. I suppose one similarity would be that we both love the colour blue. In one scene, the girl got the guy to bake a blue cake for her.
SH: Not really

NYC: Have you had any prior experience acting?
S: Yes, I acted in last year’s film festival. But in spite of having the experience, I still find acting in this year’s film festival challenging.
SH: No, I haven’t got any prior experience. It was Dickson who ‘talent-scouted’ me so that was how I got to play a role in Heartstrings.

NYC: What problems did you face while filming?
S: Although I managed to come up with a story, I had some difficulties putting it to words. In the end, I wrote the entire story out in essay format.
SH: Aiming a paper airplane into Samantha’s mouth! We managed to succeed an hour later. Another difficulty was memorizing the script.
Dickson: Dealing with abrupt changes of venue. I also had to be strict when it came to money spent.

NYC: What did you enjoy most about the film?
S: To tell the truth, it wasn’t really enjoyable. This was mainly because filming was tiring, especially when we had to re-shoot scenes. But it’s fun when there are friends around. There is also the sense of satisfaction derived from a job well done.
SH: I’ve gained some insight to film-making! Acting was a totally new experience for me! But yes, it is tiring.
D: That has to be working with friends. We support each other and there’s always bonding time to look forward to at the end of filming.

NYC: What has the experience taught you?
S: There wasn’t much of a problem when it came to balancing school work with filming because we filmed during the June holidays. I believe it is important for one to pursue his or her passion because if a person is a jack of all trades, he won’t be able to get the best out of a job.
SH: One should venture out of his comfort zone and gain new experiences.
D: Flexibility is crucial! So is being able to visualize what you want to achieve. And being stubborn doesn’t get you anywhere.

Some trivia:

- Besides directing and producing Heartstrings, Dickson also helped in scriptwriting, editing and handling the cameras. That’s multi-tasking for you!
- Samantha was inspired to pen Heartstrings after reading a Chinese story entitled (literally translated) ‘Waiting for one’s coffee’
- There are 3 different endings to this film

This year’s Film Festival sounds like a really promising one so grab your tickets before they snap up! For more information on the Nanyang Film Festival, do check out i.Nnovation’s blog which can be accessed at the school home page.

By: Yeo Kheng Meng and Wan Ying Yi