Learning to Foster Creativity in Filmmaking

Creativity is an essential skill for a filmmaker, especially when you are faced with obstacles during the filmmaking process. SUSS’ Film Studies students had the opportunity to learn how to foster creativity in filmmaking from Mr Jacen Tan, the director of the comedy-action film, Zombiepura (2018), during a virtual Q&A session!

In the face of challenges stemming from limited resources, Jacen had to inject creativity into his work. For example, he shared that clever camerawork made 30 extras look like a hoard of crazed zombies, while strategic set dressing made an unused power station look like an army camp.

Apart from sharing these interesting behind-the-scenes facts, our students took the chance to ask Jacen burning questions about the movie’s script, budget, location scouting, production crew, and so forth. One hilarious aspect was finding out how Jacen had to audition people to play zombies. The selected actors then had to go for zombie movement workshops!

Ng Gin Gin Verna, a Bachelor of Communication with Film Studies student shared: “I love these industry talks for Film Studies. It helps people like me in the media industry know that we are not alone. As a producer of content and variety shows, these industry talks have allowed me to gain more insights into the processes of filming a movie."