STAY PASSIONATE, STAY HUMBLE
That's where the best stories comes from
“Muhummad Azman S/O Asaraf Ali, started out in the freelancing industry as a filmmaker in 2011 when he was 17 years old to gain working exposure. Graduated from Temasek Polytechnic in 2015, Azman had taken up various projects ranging from weddings to feature films. Till date, his passion for filmmaking is still undaunted despite the difficulties he faced. Instead, he continues to strive to excel in other areas of filmmaking.
Below is an interview with Azman, where he share insights about his experience
in the filmmaking industry and soft skills from veterans.
by Shirleen Kah
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After graduation, he had to struggle between his family opinions and
work as well. Being in the filmmaking industry requires an immense amount of perseverance and effort. His family tried to persuade him into advancing into a typical working hour office job when they saw Azman being physically exhausted after a long tiring shoot or when he hit his lowest point, going months of not being able to secure a job from outsiders. He hit rock bottom when no one seemed to be supporting his idea and it forced him to rethink his decision between passion or money as he saw himself wasting time away, not doing anything productive.
However, opportunities arose for him as producers whom he had worked with previously, or his mentors, contacted him for help. To date, Azman has worked on a variety of shoots, expanding his circle and knowledge, compared to when he initially started. He had ventured out from corporate and wedding shoots to TV series from Mediacorp and feature films. At the same time, he has taken the step to write and direct his own film.
Whenever faced with problems, giving up is never in his dictionary. Instead, he faces it with an open mind. He accepts his flaws, the mistakes that he made in production and works towards not making the same mistakes again. He learned to be more mature, patient, observant and selflessly provide necessary help - be it camera, location recce, talent scouting or lighting on set.
This is yet the start as he strives to work harder towards his dream.
At the mere age of 15 years old, Azman discovered his passion to carve a career in filmmaking. His desire motivated him to take diploma programme - Moving Images back in 2011. A journey that began with much passion and hunger for knowledge to understand the workings on filmmaking, he started facing his own set of hurdles and obstacles from school, work industry and family.
During his polytechnic years, he started freelancing; ranging from corporate videos to wedding shoots. He started to juggle between school, freelancing work and family. Often late for school, attendance became an issue and he failed some core modules which forced him to retake them, resulting in him graduating a year later than his peers.
It was also that period of time where he was hungry to learn yet, he was impatient and being very dangerous on set as he ignored safety. This caused its own set of problems as industry veterans had to coach and explain to him regarding his attitude and behaviour.
Punctuality also caused issues to his team especially since the course required creating and coming up with concepts for their projects, ranging from short film to documentaries. His teammates stood by him, understanding his plight as Azman made the effort to be more punctual and stayed till late night to discuss the project. In addition, during production days, he made an effort to not be late and helped out with camerawork and producing as well.
A personal story of Azman's lowest point:
HOW WILL THERE BE GROWTH WITHOUT HARDSHIP?
Filmmaking has always been the drive for Azman. He pushed himself beyond his boundaries
and worked as a freelancer for 6 years - juggling between school work and passion.