No Comments for Sunsastera

I missed seeing pay checks. It was about a year ago, our company hasn’t been able to secure any real jobs for the last several months that time. Rogue called Mclelun and I into the meeting room and told us that he would understand if we wish to leave the company. Then Lun suggested we enter IPCC with Sunsastera.

Sunsastera was originally an animated film idea I conceived three years ago, inspired by Lake District during my visit there. It tells the story of a machine that manipulates the weather in any way possible for as long a distressed teenager it cares about can become happy. I wrote the script in my free time before sharing the idea with the team.

I was not too keen on the idea of joining IPCC at first. My skill set, I felt, was simply not ready to attempt something like Sunsastera. However, we were short in money and had no choice but to bring the project forward. Necessity is the mother of invention, they say.

This meeting took place just a week away from the submission deadline. One year before this meeting, we proposed Mesinaut for IPCC 2010. Long story short: it wasn’t even shortlisted for the preliminary round. Learning from that experience, we decided to put more effort on the documentation this time around, reinforced with character designs by Daim who had also joined the team upon our invitation. Our efforts paid off this time when we receive an e-mail congratulating us. With only a week away from pitching day, we scrambled to make a teaser and managed to finish it in four days. It was nerving as the judges had no comments after we presented the idea. But our hard work paid off as we were selected to be among the 20 grant winners.

On the first month of production we had to move out of Plaza Damas because the company could no longer afford to pay the rent anymore. We end up tumpang-ing a room of another company belonging to Rogue’s friend. For 5 months, we had to brace the hot room because the air conditioning wasn’t working. Fortunately we later moved to a more comfortable office in Cova Square. We discussed about the trailer at length for many months mainly on Facebook so that Daim, who was in Japan, could get into the discussion as well. We were very fortunate to have Su Ling, Steven Bones, and Hazo to voice the characters. Our friends and the mentors were also kind enough to give their feedbacks ever since the animatic stage. After endless deliberations and hard work, the trailer was finally completed last June. The judges liked what they saw and we became among the 11 shortlisted for the Super Pitch stage, where this time local and regional broadcaster reps would gather to judge our works instead.

Three months passed and the big day at Cyberview Lodge came. Many presentations didn't get any comments at all. Only three manage to collect very few comments from the judges. It was certainly a suggestion that the number of comments reflected the judges’ interest. When our turn came, I presented while Lun assisted with the changing of slides. As Rogue had previously thought us, we made sure there weren’t too many words in the slides, Steve Jobs style. And learning from a prior presentation, I spent more time on describing the characters, and from there expand the detail regarding the world they inhabit. We ended the presentation with the trailer itself.

Our presentation was done, but the judges did not give any comments. At that moment we felt certain that something went bad, and that getting top place was now out of the question.

We had to wait till nightfall to receive the results. We were very lucky because, to our surprise, Sunsastera shared first place with Rimba Racer, which I believe was the work everyone know is going to win. I became a little dazed when our team collected the award. So spaced out was I that I’ve forgotten to pose and smile for the cameras. Some people approached me macam nak borak but I only managed to answer with thank you-s. If you happen to be one of those people, please forgive me, and feel free to approach me to talk about Sunsastera should we meet again. I’ll be more graceful next time, I promise :)

Right now we’re discussing what’s the next step, including whether or not to start a new company to help push Sunsastera for full production. Have you seen the trailer? Then take a gander below and please enjoy it. If you have any comments please leave em in the youtube page itself. Thanks for reading, watching, and supporting!

Update #1: Unfortunately the team members are not ready to start a new company. So the IP currently resides under a new company owned by Rogue and his business partner, Dhojee.

Update #2: I've since left the team to work elsewhere.

Update #3: Daim choose to leave the team as well.