K-Pop Kraze is a documentary which follows the story of an extreme K-Pop fan who's giving up her obsession with 1 final project, in hopes of reconciling with her parents.
THE FAN
Hajar is a 19 year old female who is really passionate about supporting a Korean Pop group, Teen Top. Although K-Pop brought much joy in her life, her passion for it also made her estrange from what's important to her - family.
MESSAGE
K-Pop Kraze is not just another documentary. We go beyond the life of a K-Pop fan whose life has been affected because of her liking for her it. We explore the themes of the costs of being a fan, finding one's identity and of course, love and reconciliation.
written on Thursday, 21 February 2013 @ 05:27 ∞ 0 candies
Have you ever idolised someone so much, you would do anything for them? In a previous post, you heard about “saseang” fans, who will follow their idols around simply to be near them or just send them tufts of their own hair. But there are other fans with same kind of obsession, just for different people and with different methods to show it.
The most recent and memorable event would be the “#cutforbieber” event, focusing on the obsessive fans of famous pop star Justin Bieber. A photo of the pop star smoking weed was leaked onto the internet and due to the suggestions of a few internet jokers, some fans started to cut themselves to get Justin Bieber to stop smoking weed. How that works, I’ll never know but the point is that fans can get really crazy.
In fact, you don’t even need to wait for a pop star to mess up. All you have to do is watch the crowd of a soccer match. For the best effect, wait for the World Cup or another major soccer cup. Fans will go wild over their favorite soccer teams. There have been stories of people throwing food onto the field, attacking fans from other teams or the referees and most interestingly, flashing their junk to distract the opposing team. Bar fights have been initiated over the results of a match, even murders have been committed. Soccer fans are probably the sports variant of Korean Pop fans.
Russian soccer fans fighting during a match. (source)
Fans are everywhere. The target of a fandom does not even need to be real. Fictional characters have become targets too. Have you seen the stories(fan-fiction) people have written about just one TV show? There is a fine line between appreciation and plain over-obsession.
Obsessing over an idol has been around for a while. With the advent of technology that let you see your idol anywhere and anytime, almost anyone could be a fan. But what is it about being a fan that makes everyone go crazy when an idol blows a kiss in your direction? It’s likely the crowd mentality. When someone screams in the crowd, everyone screams. When someone cheers, everyone cheers. When someone cuts their arm to show their support, everyone cuts their arms to show their support.
Of course, it’s always good to realise when something has gone too far. Your life is your own and being a fan does not change that. Just think what would your idol think if you hurt yourself for them?
So what are the craziest things you’ve seen or heard of fans do? Tell us about it in our tagbox and talk to us on Twitter! Don’t be shy even if you were the ones doing some crazy thing. We all have our moments.
Update: K-Pop fans are not the only crazy ones!
written on Thursday, 21 February 2013 @ 05:27 0 chocolates
Have you ever idolised someone so much, you would do anything for them? In a previous post, you heard about “saseang” fans, who will follow their idols around simply to be near them or just send them tufts of their own hair. But there are other fans with same kind of obsession, just for different people and with different methods to show it.
The most recent and memorable event would be the “#cutforbieber” event, focusing on the obsessive fans of famous pop star Justin Bieber. A photo of the pop star smoking weed was leaked onto the internet and due to the suggestions of a few internet jokers, some fans started to cut themselves to get Justin Bieber to stop smoking weed. How that works, I’ll never know but the point is that fans can get really crazy.
In fact, you don’t even need to wait for a pop star to mess up. All you have to do is watch the crowd of a soccer match. For the best effect, wait for the World Cup or another major soccer cup. Fans will go wild over their favorite soccer teams. There have been stories of people throwing food onto the field, attacking fans from other teams or the referees and most interestingly, flashing their junk to distract the opposing team. Bar fights have been initiated over the results of a match, even murders have been committed. Soccer fans are probably the sports variant of Korean Pop fans.
Russian soccer fans fighting during a match. (source)
Fans are everywhere. The target of a fandom does not even need to be real. Fictional characters have become targets too. Have you seen the stories(fan-fiction) people have written about just one TV show? There is a fine line between appreciation and plain over-obsession.
Obsessing over an idol has been around for a while. With the advent of technology that let you see your idol anywhere and anytime, almost anyone could be a fan. But what is it about being a fan that makes everyone go crazy when an idol blows a kiss in your direction? It’s likely the crowd mentality. When someone screams in the crowd, everyone screams. When someone cheers, everyone cheers. When someone cuts their arm to show their support, everyone cuts their arms to show their support.
Of course, it’s always good to realise when something has gone too far. Your life is your own and being a fan does not change that. Just think what would your idol think if you hurt yourself for them?
So what are the craziest things you’ve seen or heard of fans do? Tell us about it in our tagbox and talk to us on Twitter! Don’t be shy even if you were the ones doing some crazy thing. We all have our moments.
About Kpop Kraze
What?: K-Pop Kraze is a documentary which follows the story of an extreme K-Pop fan who's giving up her obsession with 1 final project, in hopes of reconciling with her parents.
Who?: Hajar Salim, a 19 year old K-Pop fanatic, is the profile of this documentary. She is a huge fan of the Korean boy band, Teen Top. Although she found joy in supporting the group, her passion has resulted in family problems. She spends most of her time in her room, occupied with K-Pop and hardly talks to her parents. She has done many things in secrecy and has to constantly hide stuff to prevent her parents from finding out how much she has spent on the group. However, an incident served as a wake up call, made her re-think about what she was really doing with her life. Now, follow her story as she wraps up her passion with 1 final project, celebrating Teen Top's 1000th day anniversary, in hopes of reconciling with her parents.
Why?: This story is important because the Korean-Wave it at it's peak right now. We all have seen and heard about Kpop, thanks to Psy, and we have heard of how dedicated Kpop fans can get. However, we have never ventured into this.
Kpop Kraze unveils the stories of the costs of being a fan, finding identity and love and reconciliation.
When?: K-Pop Kraze is a documentary which follows the story of an extreme K-Pop fan who's giving up her obsession with 1 final project, in hopes of reconciling with her parents.
Where?: Get the latest updates on this story through our other social media sites:
The Team are all students from Singapore Polytechnic, pursuing a diploma in Creative Writing for Television and New Media (DTVM).
For an assignment, we have been tasked to produce a film that features an interesting profile, through whom we have to tell a compelling story that explores a theme or social issue. In our case, you can view our idea and story through this blog.
THE TEAM
WONG KING LAM
Cameraman
King is a 19-year-old DTVM student in Singapore Polytechnic.
KYLIE KAY
Editor
Kylie is an 18-year-old DTVM student in Singapore Polytechnic.
NUR HAZIRAH YUSOFF
Soundperson
Hazirah is a 19-year-old DTVM student in Singapore Polytechnic.
HEIDI JAMAL
Producer
Heidi is an 18-year-old DTVM student in Singapore Polytechnic.
OUR JOURNEY
King's Journey
Filming a documentary has always seemed like a very boring task to me. After actually filming several, they have taught me filming a documentary is actually much more difficult than filming a short film. There are no re-takes, you have to wait for the right moment and just hope that you capture it. It has made me respect those great documentary makers. Another thing I’ve learnt is that sometimes, a smaller group is better. The individual we wanted to film was less shy when there were less crew, so sometimes you have to understand the person you wish to film and adapt to them.
This scene was tough to film as Hajar got pretty shy. Some of us had to leave the room so as to allow her to open up.
Kylie's journey
I realized that for documentary, you'll really have to be constantly on your feet and look out if there's anything interesting to capture. For our documentary, I felt that we missed out a lot of important or key moments because we only had one camera and we were not alert enough. Also, having a backup plan is always important. In the case of being unable to film a particular sequence, having a backup plan will most definitely help. And for the number of footage, the more the merrier. These are some things that I have learnt.
Hazirah's Journey
Firstly, I think this experience has been a huge eye-opener for me as documentary making is really unexpected. You think that everything is going according to plan, but then once we review it and go for consultations, there are a lot of things missing. However, I really did enjoy my time, and I’ve discovered that its good to have team members that help push each other to be the best. Also, certain things can be a blessing in disguise. For example, during the Chinese New Year period, only Heidi and me could go for filming, but because of that day, we were forced to learn a lot of things in regards to handling the camera.
Heidi's Journey
A documentary is not easy, although it’s only 5 minutes. You have to move quick and think on your feet. You have to be brave to take risks. You need to sacrifice your comfort zone and do whatever it takes to make sure it works.
Here we see how Hazirah had to uncomfortably lie on the floor to get the soundbite during the interview.
I learnt the importance of always checking the sequences that has been filmed. I learnt that we need to check immediately after filming because in the hustle & bustle, you might forget to film some sequences.
The film was also close to my heart in a sense that the profile is my close friend and that I like K-Pop too. Filming her and researching more about K-Pop made me understand both her and K-Pop much better.
K-Pop in Singapore
