The Raid Production Blog #3: The Courtyard and Hole Drop

Long fucking day today, so I will get round to answering all your questions in the next blog entry. Just a quick post to add the latest blog where we see the magic and wonder of Moty (leader of my genius Art team) and our use of Airsoft guns in the making of the action sequences.

While I'm at it, big shout out to Freddie Wong and Brandon Laatsch for so many inspiring videos that prove there are creative solutions to shooting big scale action on a low budget.

We're indebted to you guys and we're huge fans of your work.

ENGLISH VERSION

INDONESIAN VERSION

Catch you all next week for the new blog and I promise I'll give you some answers next time.

The Raid Trailer.... and that title

So a few days ago, this went up...

And then a few minutes later, I get about one or two hundred emails and tweets asking me with horror about the title change on The Raid. So now seems a good a time as any to address the situation and give a little more info on why we changed it.

Truthfully, none of us, the guys at SPC included, wanted to change the title from the original. But once we knew we were going to expand the film into a sequel - possibly a trilogy it opened our eyes up to maybe the need for an all encompassing title that could work for all three films.

At first it was just something we toyed around with as an idea to start using with part 2, but then it became an essential thing to do from the get go. The reason why: we found out "The Raid" itself was not available for us to use as a title in the US.

We couldn't get clearance on it and believe me we all tried but with that task becoming impossible and a release date looming - we chose to go with our idea to add a word that reflected one of the elements from the first film. Redemption was the one that fit, and it beat losing The Raid completely after all the work we'd done to establish awareness of the film.

As a film fan that only very recently found myself as part of the industry I do understand the backlash but as someone closely involved in the decision making progress alongside SPC, it was disheartening to see them being bashed for it.

So that's why I chose to give a little more insight into it.

This wasn't an "evil studio" thing, the decision had nothing at all to do with the proposed remake. This was a situation we were all forced into. You guys may not love the new addition to the title, and I'm not about to go and say Redemption is perfect, cos it's not - we all much prefer the simplicity of The Raid.

But the film, it is still the same film we screened at festivals and all I hope is that you all read whatever part of that 5 second titlecard you want to when it pops up on screen,  forget the rest and enjoy seeing my good friends beat the shit out of each other for 100mins.

The Raid Production Blog #2: Studio Sets and Effects

As seen exclusively at UGO.COM here's the 2nd Production Blog.

ENGLISH VERSION

INDONESIAN VERSION

No questions this week, so no answers :)

Check back again throughout this week though as we have some more content being released this week including a new trailer and poster. 

In the meantime please check out the following killer artwork by our Australian distributors at MADMAN FILMS

THE RAID - TEASER

THE RAID - OFFICIAL POSTER

 And also, the incredibly cool press kit they sent out...

 More to come later this week...

The Raid Production Blog #1: Bootcamp and Choreography

As premiered earlier on TwitchFilm here is the first of six production blogs detailing the making of THE RAID. We will release one each week every friday leading up to March 23rd.

THE RAID: PRODUCTION BLOG 1 - Bootcamp & Choreography

First episode covers me sending the guys to learn all they need to know about guns, knives, bombs and military strategy and a little showing the pre-vis storyboards used in pre-production during the fight scene design.

English Version

Indonesian Version

TWITTER COMPETITION

This week we began posting @THERAIDMOVIE and opened week 1 of a 5 week competition for fans to win tickets to see THE RAID at the GALA PREMIERE on March 21st. The contest is only open to Indonesian or Indonesian based entrants.

So after a week of posting captions, the winner is @.

Congrats, we look forward to seeing you at the premiere.

AND FINALLY THE Q&A....

Q. A-Bye - Apakah the Raid Cast and Crew ketika premiere di Amerika akan datang ke sana? 

A. We're unsure yet of who will be going to do any promo for the film, there's a lot of territories opening in a short space of time everything depends on demands from domestic and International promotion.

Q. kunderempFeb 11, 2012 05:12 PM
1. I wonder when Merantau DVD Special Edition will be released?
2. I believe most of Indonesians would love to hear Mike Shinoda and Joe Trapanese score. Is it possible to have it as alternative track when The Raid finally have the DVD version?
3. Is there any plan to add 'femme fatale' in BERANDAL? I can think at least four popular Indonesian actress which have Martial Art background:
- Julia Perez -> Merpati Putih
- Dinda Kanya Dewi -> Muay Thai Boxing
- Sherina Munaf -> Al-Azhar silat, Wushu
- Prisia Nasution -> Perisai Diri silat
4. Is there any plan to have Indonesian old icon of martial movie to be cameo in Berandal? I believe some people want to see 'Barry Prima', 'Rhoma Irama', 'Sandi Nayoan', etc for even 2 second in the movie. ;p
5. Is there any plan to have THE RAID as front cover for any Indonesian movie magazine (e.g. Cinemags, M2)? Being a front cover probably is more effective than having multiple TV Spot;
6. I was amazed by the sound effect when I watch THE RAID in INAFFF. Do you create your own sound effect or using the existing library of existing software? Is it possible to present the process in the Production Blog?

A. That's a lot of questions.
1. Merantau Special Edition DVD is almost finalized and will be released to coincide with THE RAID, most likely the same week.
2. Most likely we will feature both versions of the score on the DVD.
3. We have a femme fatale in Berandal, but not cast yet. I certainly hope to work with some of those on your list, but not naming names and not necessarily on Berandal. We'll see what happens further down the line.
4. Again, we'll see what happens. Too early to speculate.
5. Ideally we can get front cover AND multiple TV spots. Hopefully we'll have something out on the shelves next month.
6. It was a mix of library sounds and foley fx recorded at siam lab in bangkok. Some stuff we completely designed ourselves - the silenced gun fire for example - we hated the library sounds all "pings" and "pyuus" so we stripped it back and I asked the guys to use just the mechanics of the guns with a low deep bass thud giving the guns power but also detail.

Q. Gerardo MayukoFeb 14, 2012 08:05 AM
Hi Gareth,
I have questions regarding the crew of The Raid. On imdb page of The Raid I found these crew names mentioned :

- Gilbert Carreras (color timer)
- Bill Wohlken (post-production executive)

as far as I know, the difference between the US version and the Indonesian version is the music/score only. So how come there are 2 additional Hollywood crew making changes on the color timer and handling the post production? Does it mean the US version will have a new touch on the color and the finished editing compare to the Indonesian version?

I also found couple of names, Kier Lehman & Brian Richards, but both are working in music department. So I assume they were included because of the whole new music/score for the US release.

A. All these guys have worked their asses off in the lead up to the release, while the film and it's main content hasn't changed there are always some small fixes needed - adding more details to the end credits - the original was made before Mike and Joe worked on the score, and little shifts also like timing of the final title cards to stay in the rhythm and beat of the new score.

Q. Reny CamiraFeb 15, 2012 12:15 AM
Hi Gareth,
today I just watched a movie in XXI and you know what, there's no trailer for The Raid played yet. I mean come on, here we've got the trailer for the new Resident Evil movie which will come out in September! We also got a cool big advertising board for Battleship standing tall at Blitz Megaplex which will come out in May. The Raid? None. Nada. Not even a poster! It's less than 6 weeks to the big premiere mate. Do Merantau Films think they can just rely 100% to what Sony can pull up in terms of marketing in their territory to bring effects to our home? I can assure you mate, internet hype of The Raid haven't reached the general audience yet. Many Indonesian moviegoers who aren't really active in the internet are still blind to this movie.

Hope we will see all the marketing stuff - posters, ad board, and most importantly the trailer - showing up here soon.
A. Thanks for the spirited question. We're busy prepping materials as we speak for promo on The Raid. You'll start to see the trailer appearing in cinemas as of next week along with posters also. Other materials: radio ads, tv spots, tv bumpers, billboards, online, print - the rest of our campaign will all follow shortly after. We're not arrogant enough to believe there is an automatic audience for the film and we're working on all we can to maximize it's exposure. Buzz and hype is one thing, but the number of seats filled is what matters in order to give the film a good run in the cinema. We appreciate every single comment and link we see when enthusiastic followers of the film help us spread the word. We can't reach everyone, but hopefully come the release we'll have done enough to make the film a success.

And lastly, thanks to Phrygian, Rocky and Pamungkas 3 Kusumo for the kind words.

Fight Scenes and Promo

I'm not going to even try to encapsulate the last few months into a cohesive blog, way too much time has passed and I'm not a fan of "gloaty, look at me" writing - but I do want to take this opportunity to thank every festival programmer, blogger, reviewer, tweeter who has shown us nothing but support since Toronto til now. It's been an overwhelming experience to see the film play the way it has and I'm truly grateful every time I get to hear an audience freak out when one of our fighters...

[SPOILER] ...Rully Santoso (Machete Gang #2) snaps his back against the wall... [END]  

... it seriously makes my fucking night every time.

FIGHT SCENES...

 

So, I know I'm pretty late with these and they've been circulating for some time but here's some video updates in shiny HD. This film is reasonably violent, so please be warned before you view these clips.

HALLWAY FIGHT

FOLLOW ME

FOUR-ON-ONE

That's it for promo clips, coming up next week will be the first of many production blog videos covering the making of the film.

TWITTER

In a desperate bid to stop me from shamelessly advertising the film every 2mins on my own personal Twitter account, we've set up an official account @THERAIDMOVIE

If you should happen to tweet you can follow us and get links, images and info on any news items, reviews, press releases, tv / radio appearances that we make in the weeks leading up to the March 23rd release date. We'll also be running a competition as a giveaway for tickets to the Gala Premiere on March 21st in Jakarta (sorry Indonesian entrants only).

So please follow and spread the word.

AND FINALLY THE Q&A (Big one this time...)

Q. Sakuko Braca MontesNov 25, 2011 05:05 PM
I missed this movie at INAFFF but I saw The Raid trailer in INAFFF which is the Indonesian version. There are some additional scenes with different music plus big white block writing at the start of the trailer. I really love it! It's more hardcore than the Sony's version. Would you like to upload that one as well, so I can download it and loop it a whole day :D

Also may I know who is the music composer of that Indonesian version trailer? If possible I'd love to download it as well. The music is so badass!
A. The original composers are FAJAR YUSKEMAL and ARIA PRAYOGI, I've worked with them since Merantau. They are incredibly gifted and talented musicians who happen to have also been responsible for the sound design / mix alongside Bonar Abraham, Jack Arthur Sianjuntak and Sandika Widjaja. They did a fantastic job, this is a whole new level of sound design for an Indonesian film. They put in tireless hours and worked their bollocks off to get it done.

Q. DhietaNov 26, 2011 04:19 AM
AWESOME SIR. SIX THUMBS UP. Although I'm wondering will you put the scene of you as cameo on the movie trailer. :p
A. I was rewatching the film the other day and my cameo isn't actually there - I must have cut trimmed a few frames and not realized during the offline edit. Matt Flannery (DoP) is definitely in there tho. Keep your eyes peeled.

Q. atchaNov 27, 2011 06:25 AM
Why the release in Indonesia is postponed? I'm expecting to watch the original version before I'm leaving Indonesia for US. and if that happens, i guess I have simply have to watch Mike's scoring instead.. If it's released in US theaters.

We wanted to be able to be fair to all our distributors and have the option of going day and date the same in as many territories as possible. As the first film in Indonesian history to do this its a prestigious thing for us. It also helps us all work together to build a solid online campaign that will assist each others domestic promotion. And one last point, I'm a huge fan of Mike's work on this film. Both scores (original / US) are fantastic pieces that totally compliment the film. I'm beyond proud with the results.

Q. mixolydianDec 2, 2011 03:32 PM
Sometime I wondering how if gareth being once of the victum ikos punch in some scene,... but maybe the title problaby will be Rama vs Giant.....hahaha

A. True story, after Merantau I spoke with Iko about not holding back too much when it came to body hits. We were in a gym and I just told him to go for it and hit my in the stomach a couple of times and see how fast and hard he can hit but with a snap so that it doesn't "wind" the opponent. I figured we could do a practice session and he could use me as a punch bag. First attempt and three punches in that sneaky little fucker with his miserable aim lands a low blow straight to a delicate area. I doubled up almost coughing a ball.

So to answer your question, no I'll never fight in any of the films. Beyond my fear of scrotal bruising however, I'm also a terrible fighter - it takes skill, precision, rhythm and perfect timing to be a good screen fighter. I'm in my element sitting down, watching a tv monitor and telling those incredibly talented people you see on screen to "do it again!"

Q. Monik AsenDec 3, 2011 07:15 AM
I want to catch this movie at JAFF this December but I need to ask you first. The one which will be played there is the same version than the one played at INAFFF or will it be the much censored version?
A. Oops, sorry for the late reply on this one. As you probably already saw at JAFF, it was the same version we played at INAFFF.

Q. danDec 19, 2011 01:15 AM
all people ask how you meet iko at interview, but no one ask how you meet Yayan Ruhian, How actualy you meet Yayan and know his talent at choreography?

A. Thank you, finally! Yayan was actually part of the group assembled by Pak Edwel to handle choreography on MERANTAU. I had no intention at the time of casting him as Eric in that film. Not for a long time actually. We had allocated roles to all the choreography team (Pak Edwel, Sugeng and Berry) but hadn't found a part for Yayan yet. We knew Eric was a role that required a 50/50 split with dramatic performance and fighting skills and we searched high and low for someone to fill that spot. Thankfully Anne, my line-producer, suggested we give Yayan a try seeing as he had been the person training with Iko for that fight scene since pre-pro started.

We gave Yayan a ridiculously long 5 minute monologue to audition for the role, this monologue ended up being cut from the film (we didn't even shoot it) but Yayan's audition blew us away and we knew instantly he had a natural gift for performance as well as beating the shit out of people. Yayan truly is one of the nicest people I've worked with and is an incredibly smart, articulate man. His knowledge of Silat both in a technical and a philosophical level is astounding, and I'm so happy he is such a major part of the Merantau Films family.


Q. Andy in San Diego and ElsewhereJan 21, 2012 11:08 AM
Uh. Holy. Fuck. Hurry up and drop this in the US!
 

Alvina EFeb 2, 2012 08:18 PM
Mr. Gareth! When will it be released in the US? Been waiting for this awesome movie since forever--we're dying to see it!:)
 

mcNov 28, 2011 07:24 PM
please tell us that it's coming out before April, that seems so long to wait, the wait is already unbearable. this movie is on my mind all day, everyday!
A. I'm presuming you're all based in the US - thankfully the awesome guys at SONY PICTURES CLASSICS will be putting the film out in cinemas on March 23rd in the US! Day and date the same as our Indonesian release. Please go out and support it and prove there's a market for martial arts cinema!

Q. Hameerudin ZawawiJan 28, 2012 09:21 PM
Gareth, when can we see this in Malaysia? The movie's not listed as an upcoming film in local cinemas yet, unfortunately. I hope that's not the case. Please please please bring it here.
We have sold to Malaysia, but I'm not sure of their release plans yet. I'm hoping to put a list of territories and release dates up soon once I get confirmation.
 

Q. ZakamoFeb 4, 2012 12:58 AM
Great Trailer.... I am desperatly waiting till I can get to see this un the UK eiter at the cinema or on DVD. Also every friend I link to your trailers are too.
Cinema release for The Raid in UK is in May. But I'm going to be attending two festivals in 2 weeks time, the Jameson Dublin Film Festival and Glasgow FilmFour Frightfest both on the 25th February!

http://jdiff.ticketsolve.com/shows/126522679/events
http://www.frightfest.co.uk/Films/2012glasgow/frightfestglasgh.html

Q. Movebee TrailersFeb 7, 2012 06:48 PM
This is a great video nice work! I really appreciate the work you guys are doing keep it up!

If you like movie trailers you might as well like my blogspot check it :)
http://movebee-trailers.blogspot.com/
Thanks for the support!
 

Q. Afac3ristFeb 9, 2012 04:05 AM
Where can i buy/see this movie ...the action is amaizing.
I'm from romania...but if i can pay for it online or if the film will come to a film festival in romania..Please let me know
A. Again, for Romania I'm not sure of the release plan. I'll get back to you on it once I have any information.

And lastly, thanks to Zulfikar Akbar for your kind words. It means a lot.

THE RAID TRAILER v.2 !!!!

At INAFFF we premiered the extended trailer for THE RAID featuring a few extra bits of carnage and also a new piece of music by Fajar Yuskemal and Aria Prayogi (who also worked on the sound design for THE RAID while also composing the score for MERANTAU).

As promised, this version is now uploaded to Vimeo you can click the link or watch the embedded video below.



I promise I will answer your questions soon, most of which are about the delay of the Indonesian release. The reason I'm not saying much about that yet is that I'm waiting to having something concrete to tell you all.

As soon as I have something to announce I will. All I will say is that for those of you outside of Asia who usually are left waiting up to a year for a release, that's not the case this time...

Right, time to shut up now. More to come soon.

THE RAID TRAILER v.1 IS HERE....

Apologies for the wait and my constant empty promises, but finally I've found some time to get back to the worlds worst kept blog and do some updates.

It's almost pointless me uploading this now seeing as it's already done the rounds considerably since the roller coaster that has been the last few months. But here it is anyway, a 720p HD upload of Sony's Red-Band trailer featuring music by Mike Shinoda and Joe Trapanese.

Right off the bat, this is a trailer for a film that has been made for adults. It is not intended for kiddos and contains a significant amount of blood and violence that could be seen as graphic and extreme, so you have been warned.

To quote Todd Brown ....

"Iko Uwais is a charming country boy no more....Twitch is proud to premiere the first trailer for The Raid and while the concept of the Red-Band trailer is unknown in Indonesia let's just say that this first trailer ain't going to get shown on theater screens there any time soon. Or ever. Loaded with a combination of technical fighting and raw brutality the trailer gives it to you straight: This is a movie about a group of men who must kill or be killed and a whole lot of them aren't getting out alive. And as hard as this might be to believe after you've seen the trailer let me tell you this: As crazy as things get this does not spoil any of the biggest moments in the film."

Now watch and please don't forget to comment below...

Alternatively, you can also see it direct at Vimeo. Will update with more soon as well as answer some of your questions.

New Poster Design: THE RAID

Apologies guys, I know it's the 2nd time I've promised and not posted the trailer, but I assure you we're working on it. Just happened that we need a bit more time to tweak it. The trailer will be online eventually but we have a few technical hitches that need to be addressed before it is ready to go live. I will keep you all posted when it does.

Anyway, to make up for the delay below are some badass poster designs by @oswarez

First up the main poster for the film...

click to enlarge

And now, the one-sheet character posters (work in progress), click to enlarge...

THE GOOD GUYS

Iko Uwais as Rama

Joe Taslim as Jaka

Pierre Gruno as Wahyu

AND THE BAD GUYS 

Ray Sahetapy as Tama

Donny Alamsyah as Andi

Yayan Ruhian as Mad Dog

Hope you all like the designs, as always any comments you have or questions I'll answer them in the next blog. Awful segue aside....

AND FINALLY THE Q&A...

Q. Mungkinkah bisa milih 35mm cell nya yang adegan Luc??? mauuuu >.< / Can I get a 35mm cell of a scene with Luc? (from PuspitaHassei)

A. We can't guarantee that you'll get one, but will let you know if there is a 35mm cell with Luc in the collection.

Q. Satu hal lagi yang bikin penasaran, kenapa proses post production, sound mixing dan lain-lain itu di lakukan di Bangkok? kenapa tidak di Indonesia? / Why is the post-production process done in Bangkok? Why not Indonesia? (from Ismail Takumi)
A. There are a number of reasons really, right now we are starting to see post-pro facilities emerge in Indonesia but as yet there isn't anywhere that offers us a Dolby License for 5.1 mixing and processing. Also some of our mastering must be done outside because of equipment and materials availability.

And to both Virginie DuChat and PuspitaHassei again, for the trailer - sorry but we have to wait again. It will come out eventually. We're working on it, and as soon as it's out you'll be first to know!

Thanks again everyone for your support and continued comments, keep them coming.

Not going to promise a trailer with the next blog this time. But hopefully it won't be too much longer.

Not the trailer.... But some BTS...

So we're out in Bangkok now at the awesome SIAM FILM DEVELOPMENT Co. (same post-production facility we used for MERANTAU).

We're doing all our color grading, final audio mixing and mastering here and while I finally get a chance to sit back and watch other people work their asses off instead of me - I'm roaming around getting little clips of the "finishing touches".

And here's one of them...

That was our sound team (Fajar, Ogi, Bonar and Sandika - Pak Jack arrived later that evening) over-seeing a mix of one of the earlier scenes in the film as the Swat team work their way up the building.

And here's another...

WARNING: This one isn't suitable for kiddies...

While we're here in Bangkok, Andi (our online editor) is putting some finishing touches to effects that we simply couldn't achieve practically. He is a genius when it comes to digital squibs and blood fx. Here's a very small sample of his work in one of our major fight scenes.

For those hoping to get a more clear view of footage (more than one shot) sorry but I'm trying to keep as much hidden for now as possible. The trailer is coming next week, that will show plenty. 

For now I'm gonna keep on teasing these little clips as I fuck around shooting BTS with the HTC.

AND FINALLY THE Q&A...

Q. Berapa harga DVD specialnya nanti Mr.? / "How much will the special edition DVD cost?" (from Ismail Takumi)

A. I've no idea, that's not a decision made by us, but by Jive Collection. I'm guessing it will be a little bit more expensive than the previous release because they have to cover the manufacturing of the extra disc and all the collectible items.

Q. Babule, yang 35mm film cell itu sepanjang apa yak? / How long is the 35mm film cel? (from Virginie DuChat)

A. It's one frame only, mounted in a card. Similar to the bonus feature on the RUMAH DARA DVD.

Thanks also to Kunderemp and A-Bye for your comments.

Next up I promise will be the trailer for THE RAID....

MIDNIGHT MADNESS!

Put bluntly, I'm fucking ecstatic.

After a mad rush to get a cut of THE RAID submitted in time, I've been overwhelmed by the news that the film will have its WORLD PREMIERE at the TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL in September.

Selected as the opening film of the MIDNIGHT MADNESS program I absolutely cannot wait to see how its first audience responds to the mayhem and carnage we have lined up.

This is the ultimate achievement we could have hoped for as our film becomes part of an alumni of films and directors I have admired, respected.... and stolen from :)

Please visit the festival's website HERE and also the MIDNIGHT MADNESS section HERE

MERANTAU SPECIAL EDITION DVD

Ok, after reading Ben's comment on buying the Indonesian cut of the film on DVD here in Jakarta, I figure now is as good a time as any to mention on this blog about a planned re-release of the local DVD release by JIVE COLLECTION. 

The original release.

We're finalizing the materials for the release but one thing we all agreed on was that if we were to do a re-release it had to be worth a "double-dip" purchase not to cheat our fans who came out and supported the film on its first release.

So here's a rough outline on what will be featured on the release.

• 2-Disc Edition
• Indonesian Cut (135mins) *WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES*
• International Cut (107mins) *WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES*
• All extra features previously released on US & UK releases including Production Blogs, Making Of, Bloopers, Deleted Scenes, Fight Scene Storyboard Comparisons & a featurette on the Bamboo Pole Stunt (English Subtitles provided)
• Promo Reel & Trailers
• Original Soundtrack (included as DVD-Rom content)
• A Sneak Peak at THE RAID
• Character Poster Postcards
• 35mm Film Cell

We're looking at ways to get this release available for online orders, as soon as something is more concrete regarding release date and availability I will post it here.

AND FINALLY THE Q&A...
 
Q. Does the Madman deal that cover Australia cover New Zealand as well? And Did you shoot a making of the fight choreography while you guys shot the film? (from MattK77)

A. I need to double check, but I would presume it does cover New Zealand also. We did shoot behind the scenes of the fight choreography and will look to produce a side-by-side comparison again like we did for Merantau. Thank you also for your kind words, THE RAID has less drama than Merantau, but again we aimed to make the action sequences feel organic and part of the story rather than just random events. Hope you enjoy! 

Q. Are they pretty strict with violence in Indonesia? I know the states is pretty lax, but not sure about other countries. If so, do you plan on having different versions of the film or sticking to your original concept? (from kmiller)

A. It's really hard to guess how the censors will react. I'm hopeful we will get through unscathed, but we'll see once we submit the film. There won't be different versions of the film, usually when a film is cut here the cuts are made direct to the 35mm prints released in cinemas as opposed to the master material. Internationally I don't see anything in the film that would pose a problem for censors in the US / UK etc. It's a hard "R" rating but we don't overstate the violence. 

Q. Can't wait for the red-band trailer. (from kunderemp)

A. Yes I know this isn't really a question, but it's an opportunity for me to tease regarding the trailer. You sir will not have to wait long - the trailer is coming. Maybe the next blog entry.... Unless I write something else first.

Q. Any idea when it will release officially in Indonesia? In the first Jan. or last one? or perhaps february? (from PuspitaHassei)

A. We are looking at releasing the film in the end of January, possibly the 19th or 26th. Once we finalize a release date I will post it here. Not sure if it helps, but there's a possibility that the November screening would be on a weekend.

And that about does it for this blog. 

Next: THE RAID TRAILER (maybe)

Catch Up #2: Distribution

During the shoot I like to edit all the action sequences on location, it's become a force of habit since MERANTAU as it helps us see if the choreography is working and the shots are connecting properly.

Proof of editing on set: I'm only 98% of the time full of shit.

As a result of this, we ended up with 2 fully edited scenes by the time Todd Brown paid us a visit on set. It was after that visit that he suggested we prep these two scenes and any other rough cuts we had from the shoot to present at the Cannes Film Market back in May.

Initially, our plan was to prepare a promo reel - but shooting the film out of sequence and still having a lot of unfinished scenes meant we would instead send 5 sequences from the film that we had completed by that time. These were the major fight scenes in the film that could give buyers a sense of what they would be getting, and how different our approach would be this time round.

We hoped at best that the scenes would whet the appetite for the buyers leading to potential sales later in the year once the film was complete. However, interest started to mount amongst those that viewed the footage and soon a number of distributors started pre-buying the rights to the film in a number of different territories among them SONY PICTURES for the US, ALLIANCE for CANADA and MOMENTUM PICTURES for the UK.

We have been genuinely humbled by the response and are proud to be able to announce that THE RAID sold to the following territories so far.

Following taken from Twitch.

US (Sony), Canada (Alliance), the UK (Momentum), Australia (Madman), France (SND), Germany (Koch), Japan (Kadokawa), China (HGC) and Turkey (Calinos) with further deals currently being finalized that will cover the Benelux, East Asia and other territories. I'm not going to hit you with the full press release but here's the reaction from Scott Shooman of Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions:

In a Cannes market filled with serious award-caliber dramas, it was so refreshing to see someone get throat punched!  We knew right away that we needed to get involved.

So there you go, if your country is listed above THE RAID should be coming your way in the near future. If not, I will keep updating any other territories sold as and when that happens. Fingers crossed we can announce more sales in the coming months.

AND FINALLY THE Q&A...

Q.  Will be in Jakarta and Bali from october 17 to oct 31 and was wondering if there is any early viewing schedule for the movie? (Ben)

A. First up, huge thanks for the incredibly kind words in your comment can't begin to explain how amazing it feels to know a film I made connects with a viewer. Your support goes a long way.
To answer your question, unfortunately we don't have a screening in Indonesia during those dates but we do have a sneak screening lined up in Jakarta sometime mid-November. Where are you based? We are touring the film at festivals starting September so who knows, it may play nearby.

Q. When can we expect a trailer? (Kmiller)

A. Our plan is to release a REDBAND trailer sometime this month. It's pretty brutal and action packed, really hope you guys like it. As soon as it's ready for release I'll be posting it on here and I'm sure it will end up on a bunch of other sites also. 

As a sidenote the trailer is pretty violent, so please bear that in mind. I got a lot of complaints locally from people about MERANTAU being too violent for kids, and my response is "absolutely it is too violent for kids - I made it for adults". THE RAID... it's 100% made for adults. I've never been one to dwell on violence in an explicit way but the violence here is like a gut punch, it's fast and brutal but it has a lasting effect.

And Alex thanks for your comment also, hope these updates make up for such a ridiculously long absence!

Next blog will cover the announcement of our World Premiere. 

Until then, thanks for reading!

Catch Up #1: The ActionFest Promo & Official Stills

Last year at the first ActionFest in North Carolina, MERANTAU was honored with the prize for Best Film. As a sign of thanks and goodwill to a festival that shows so much passion and respect to a genre that often is neglected and ignored at major awards ceremonies, we decided to prepare little video for the audience that played before one of many truly kick ass films.

The video has since featured on Twitch, you can find the article HERE or play the clip below...

ACTIONFEST PROMO (HD)

PRODUCTION STILLS
 

Also released was a gallery of stills again at Twitch I've added them below along with a few new images...

As you can probably see, there's a bit of action in this film.

Next up we have some distribution news to catch up on...

A shit ton of stuff to catch up on, but first apologies...

Okay so I'm useless at this. I've followed many filmmakers blogs, ones that regularly update with ease and I honestly have no idea how they can stay so disciplined. I tried but failed.

The production process on this flick has been killer, way harder than anything we encountered on MERANTAU. We wrapped on June 8th at around 5.30am after a stupifyingly long day that literally left cast and crew with nothing but fumes to work from. The cheers from that final call of "its a wrap" a mixture of happiness and relief. We all got our normal lives handed back to us, and finally I could spent time with my family (before launching straight into post-production).

I won't even try to cover what happened over the course of the rest of the shoot in one blog. It's futile, there's too much to talk about. From the schedule which changed on a weekly sometimes daily basis, to the action scenes that we adapted to fit our shooting time, stunts that went according to plan, others that took way too long for us to get right. It all culminated in one clear thought.

Filmmaking is a bitch to get right.

But there is nothing I'd rather destroy my health and sanity doing.

I'm so shit at updating you all that I've actually wrapped the film, began and finished the offline edit and in a few days time will be winging my way to Thailand to complete color grading and sound mixing on the final cut of the film ready for it to make it's way to it's World Premiere...but more on that later.

I will at some point get round to writing up an adequate report that covers all the goings on in the shoot and my later equally sleep-deprived editing sessions but before then I need to backtrack a fair few steps and release a shit ton of news that I really should have covered a long time ago along with some recent and just plain amazing news that has left me both excited and terrified in equal measure.

Thanks to Sam and Xino for their kind words in the last blog. Again if anyone has any questions feel free to ask away I will do my best to answer each of them in upcoming blog entries.

Week One, Week Two and a bit of Three...

I told you I'd be a shit blogger. 

I originally started to write this in week 1, now a few weeks later I'm having to add more just to bring it up to date. In my defense, I've been just a tad busy. I do regularly post little snaps and comments on twitter so should you be interested you can follow my exploits here:

@ghuwevans

You'll have to excuse my sometimes emo-ish rants about nothing of particular importance, sometimes I forget I'm a 30 year old man.

Anyway, back to the blog. The first week has been an exercise in sleep deprivation and chaos that has given me an instant reminder of what I've missed so badly since the shoot of MERANTAU. Despite having to walk around the dusty set wearing what ends up being a foul sweat filled cup of a mask every day I absolutely love being back behind the camera.

Minor discomforts aside the only thing I truly hate during the whole shooting process is "time" and the fact that it has a limit. Ten more days would be one bliss comfort. Especially for the fight scenes.

The first week of a shoot is a litmus test for cast and crew to see how we gel, naturally some shots/scenes get dropped and me and my brilliant AD team (Dondy, Plenthonk, Gita, Bendolt and Oim you guys kick ass) search frantically in our tight schedule to re-arrange or re-shoot.

While writing this all the days are a blur, day one is no different from day 8. I remember sights and sounds but not the order in which they happened. Shooting a film is a delirious experience with time hurtling you forward while you see each scene unfold on the monitor with varying degrees of success. I've had every frame of this film in my head for just under a year, now its sitting on my laptop.

I'd love to share anecdotes about shooting but I have a deep hatred of "pat yourselves on the backs" promo materials where everyone says everyone is great, best person they've ever worked with etc. Having said that I've got nothing but praise for my cast and crew who have withstood intensely long days with over 2000 slates within 15 days. To give a shout out to any individual person would make me an inconsiderate asshole to the remaining 100+ people who we have worked with so far. So you're all brilliant, you're all amazing and the best people I've ever worked with. Readers you can feel free to call me out as a fucking hypocrite for that one.

One of the overwhelming feelings I've had this time round is just how much action we're shooting, I don't necessarily mean fight scenes but manouvers, chases, any moment where its all physical rather than drama. So far in just over 15 days we've shot around 95% action 5% drama but even then the drama has been more of a lead-in to the action. Panic set in until I saw the schedule again and finally focused on how action heavy the shoot is in the first 2 months. If all goes well we will only have 2 more martial arts scenes left to shoot by April. Time for Iko and the fighters to rest, which they desperately need cos this has been a mean shoot each day with more injuries than I'm comfortable with.

I'm not going to go into details about the fight scenes as I'm not too keen on giving away plot details associated with each fight but from what we have shot I can say that our intentions with this film are becoming a lot more clear and a lot more focused. This is a major departure from what some viewed as soft choreography in MERANTAU. Gloves are definitely off for this one with all the guys performing 100% with some mean and nasty slams, stabs, punches and kicks. My mum wouldn't approve but I'll make her that rom-com I promised someday to make up for it.

We've had a few set visits this time out, we were happy to have the winners of our competition arrive and take a look around on set. They got to see first hand how boring and time consuming it is to shoot an action film. You don't get to 2000+ slates without a little repetition. We were also graced with visits from the guys at Filmoo.com, The Mo Brothers and Joko Anwar.

Then the mighty Canadian, Mr Todd Brown came along after the Hong Kong Filmart to check up on things. I should explain a little about his involvement - Todd came on board way back when we were shooting MERANTAU. After taking a look at our initial BTS promos he took an interest and along with our sales agent Golden Network helped us pretty much get all of the international recognition that we ended up getting for our first flick. We were beyond naïve until Todd came along, we had no idea how the industry worked at an International level. So with him on board suddenly our little project that we had intended to only hit at a local level expanded significantly with Todd putting us in touch with our sales agent and handling our festival strategy.

Suffice to say, we wanted to work with him again. So we are. Todd is on board as Exec Producer through XYZ FILMS alongside partner NATE BOLOTIN. They have been a huge support to me and this project since I first proposed it so in all honesty the set visit had me just a tad nervous. There's more at stake this time round and playing the footage and rough cuts warts and all is a horrible experience. Thankfully they seem more than happy with the results so far. There will be a lot of tweaks before its close to how I envision it being in the final cut but its given us more drive and energy to see each day of work go towards something that people outside of the four walls of the studio consider special.

I'll close by shamelessly publicizing some links to Twitch where you'll find a bunch of stills taken by much more talented photographers than I with my shitty blur-cam phone.

Behind The Scenes Gallery

Behind The Scenes Report

Until next time, here's my shitty snaps...

Wardrobe and Art prepping the Swat Team.

Ass Kicker of the month Yandi getting into character.

Yayan (Mad Dog) and Joe Taslim (Jaka)

Tegar Satrya (Bowo) and Iko Uwais (Rama)

Batik Day.

The All-Star in final make up check before shooting.

A POV rig - works perfectly as a rig but sadly not for the shot we planned.

Cheers for reading.