Gloves, millions of gloves!

Latex bounty. Our team gears up to film workers unloading a tanker ferrying raw material

The YTY Group commissioned us to produce its Corporate Video and for that, we went up north to the town of Sitiawan. Together with Chin, our photographer, we packed up and headed out. All excited to see and learn how gloves are made.

Baron directs staff of YTY Group. Some sequences need to be slowed down for the camera.

When we arrived, we set about our job by doing a recce of the two impressively huge glove producing factories. The reek of sulphur and ammonia hung in the air. Two items most prevalent at the plants: The ammonia fumes and gloves- millions of gloves, everywhere!

Wait for it... Pureen instructs factory workers to await her signal as she in turn waits for the camera to roll.

We found ourselves in the middle of a spacious glove manufacturing factory. Everywhere we looked, it seems machines were rolling out gloves by the millions.

Rows upon rows of formers (hand-shaped templates) take turn being immersed into Dipping Tanks holding chemicals essential for the manufacturing process.

Our uneventful trip up north paid off by giving us the opportunity to see glove manufacturing at one of the country's leading glove factory.

Who needs a hand? At this stage, the gloves are ripe for the picking off their formers.

The YTY Group is a multiple award-winning manufacturing company consisting of two subsidiaries: YTY Industry and the newer Green Prospect. It employs thousands of multinational staff from all over Asia to meet its customers' orders. Almost all their completed products are exported to international markets.

The harvest. Workers slip completed gloves off the formers. This is just one isolated row of the numerous production lines located around the factory.

The biggest challenge we faced here was the issue with our LCDVF. This is an attachment that clips on magnetically to our HDSLR's viewfinder. We can't depend on the viewfinder to do a focus check. The LCDVF magnifies the LCD view so we can determine if focus is sharp. An essential tool for HDSLR cinematography, all the way from Estonia.

Francis makes the call. At the Quality Assurance dept., Francis of YTY Group instructs workers to be on standby

The problem is this: The LCDVF doesn't fancy our hot weather. The adhesive that comes with the metal frames (which are attached to the viewfinder and are in turn clipped magnetically to the LCDVF) don't stand up well to heat. During our shoot outdoors, the LCDVF started to slide off!

If it leaks, get rid of it. The Water Leakage Test, where they make sure gloves are good to go.

I clamped it down onto the viewfinder but it won't stay there long. Lucky thing it came with a strap so I hung it from my neck when the LCDVF was not in use. Later when we got back, I found a way to handle this problem. I'll write another article to document this.

Cool ride. Chin, our Photographer, shares the cramped quarters with Film Director Baron.

To get a 'bird's eye view' of both factories, our client hired a sky lift (evidently the same one that ferried the crew up to paint the plants as there were still green paint drips on the bucket). I rode the sky lift  up to about 100 feet for the shot. Going up and down was slow and at certain points, a little bumpy making it tough to shoot on the move- boom shots were hard to pull off.

How's the weather up there? The Sky Lift takes us way up yonder for the money shot- aerial view of the factory

There weren't any clouds and it was just one solid blue sky. I would rather there were lots of clouds. Less clouds means we had to frame more factory and less sky.

Training scene. It was no easy task getting the multinational staff to act out some basic scenes due to the language barrier.

Unexpectedly, filming the training scenes was not a bed of roses. The talents were actual workers from the factory floor. They were from Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand... so many nationalities in one room. They couldn't grasp the concept of repeating the same action for another camera angle. They missed their cues and some stared at the camera. It was tough but we managed. In the end, our team managed to shape them into a cohesive group.

Lab connection. Lab technicians listen as Pureen gives comments on their last acting performance

The lab was exciting. There we filmed researchers at work. We pulled a few cool camera moves using the Pocket Dolly. It was fun getting to compose and shoot scenes similar to the popular CSI TV series. It's not often one gets to shoot chemicals being thrown together by lab suited technicians in a lab.

Chin, our Photographer, snaps off a few shots of lab technicians in their element

We must thank YTY Group for its hospitality. They arranged our cosy and clean accommodations and took us to sample their local delicacies.

Wolf pack. Some of our Photography and Videography team pose for a shot. Francis is with the megaphone

Francis of YTY Group took good care of us. More than once he stopped entire production lines so we could set up our equipment to film great shots. If they didn't make their quota that month, we're not sorry because we captured scenes that make YTY Group look great. Francis was attentive to our needs and enthusiastic about the shoot.

Lakeside meal. This authentically malay restaurant serves excellent roti canai and nasi lemak. All races gather here for great food.

All photos are courtesy of Kanageswaran