I spent my day in Hong Kong yesterday...
...Hong Kong street, that is.
There was another Mediacorp shoot yesterday for god-knows-what-show and they needed some firing effects. I arrived at Sim Lim Tower in the early afternoon to look at some recent developments Uncle Jimmy was doing and then we went over to Chinatown for a while to do some shopping. On this shoot I was the weapons handler again.
Mediacorp called up and pushed the call time back to 4pm, instead of 3pm. Fine. So we arrived at 4pm. We arrived and the whole street was empty.
"I knew this would happen..." breathed Uncle jimmy.
"They'll only come at five."
We spent the hour talking about stuff. I had the time to play around with my sister's camera that she lent me.
I like playing with cameras + Photoshop. Makes me feel useful. All these while I've been taking pictures with my handphone camera (surprised?) and finally a proper camera lands in my hands.
Hong Kong Street looks a lot like Kuching... except it wasnt filled with Malays and Dayaks littering and walking-so-slowly along the sides of the street.
The sun these few days felt pretty new to me. I dont know why... but it seemed brighter and more refreshing. i like it.
I stood beside the van, waiting for nuts to drop from the sky, and then from the end of the street I saw the Mediacorp truck making a sharp turn into the street.
The camera crew got out and were quick in setting up whatever they needed, not wasting any time like how some of us KIDS would do on school productions.
Not long after the other buses came and the film crew started to sprawl over the streets, attracting passers-by and residents, no less.
The show this time seemed to be another cop drama for Channel 8. Well, duh, isnt that what they always make?
Btw... i saw the Metamorphosis commercial on Channel 8 these few days. Apparently that was the one I had a hand in at Hendon Camp and Teck Lim Road.
It's pretty cool for me to go out on other people's productions just like that. I saw them make up TWO police cars from some generic white car. I looked at the sirens... the lights... the decals... then I asked Uncle Jimmy where to get this this this and he's a directory on his own.
We had plenty of fake policemen on set. I've never seen policemen laze around like drug addicts... lol.
Every single time I go on productions I cant help to think about whatever politics that has come on is school the past semester. The talk about professionalism.. the talk on Mediacorp sucking THAT much... who won this award.. who won fucking gold... who did this and that.
i guess it's pretty lucky for me to be so ignorant about school politics. They talk about who's good or who's not or who's made it.. all off-hand. Like they're fortune tellers. I ask myself, "Why do you even bother?"
I got my results slip a few days ago. It was the usual Cs and Ds. I expected it. I figured out long ago that school results are jsut an excuse for an easy way out... a sort of.. recognition in the beginning of sorts.
But this borderline-student of yours pretty much has his feet in the industry already. I think about the other kids in school who scream for "professionalism" and the way things should work. Don and i sit back and we shake our heads. It's pretty obvious these people have never been outside before.
It seemed like a very big production this time round. There were about a few dozen people on set with two cars are props. I saw a group of young boys and then I saw a boy who looked like Joshua Ang from I Not Stupid
Since Joshua was Clara's friend I thought hey why the fuck not go up to him and say hi?
Then I remembered he was 18 and in NS and not 13 years old on a bloody Mediacorp production.
I got called up by Mediacorp again a few days ago. The girl on the other line called me by name. She asked if I could come down for a casting audition for Life Story 2 and it was gonna be the episode on some guy named Kim Song.
I said, "Sure, why not?" and agreed to come down the next morning.
Then she asked, "Can you play soccer?"
I paused... and remembered the days I scored many many many goals.... own goals... and i was the goalkeeper.
"Yea.. a bit..."
I went over to Mediacorp the next morning, the Annex Building. I like doing this when I'm alone - I'll go up to the receptionist, who normally's a very friendly middle-aged woman, and started flirting. I've no idea why but I like poking fun at them and playing like a little kid. Most would laugh and smile but those who dont.. who seem like the world owes them everything... are the younger girls who think they have cunts of gold.
Even in the audition room I found myself playing around with the little audition lady.. who should be around my age. They had the betacam camera on me against a green wall and a softbox shining on me. The room was small and bright so I felt comfortable playing around with her. But when the camera started rolling I lost it all and became a robot.
I find the scripts Mediacorp writes are pretty decent. Very nice to read. But then why the toot does every episode come up so bland????
Probably because of the actors...
That evening I was at Uncle Jimmy's place trying to fix his printer (amazing we can never get it fixed. Some serious problem going there...) and I received a call from Mediacorp again.
They went,"Hi Audi... you got the part. We'll email you the details soon."
Oh, fine. They didnt tell me what role I'm getting... or i missed it... but during auditions I was playing two roles - Kim Song's brother, and Kim Song himself.
So, I'm playing a Chinese? As Daryl would say when I told him about it,"WHAT THE FUCK???!!"
lol.. daryl..
Yesterday's shoot had a part where the guy commits suicide with a shot to the head. Then his son comes crying.
It seemed pretty dangerous because we're firing blanks at such point blank range. The crowd got bigger and bigger and the evening traffic rush was building up just outside.
I positioned myself as close and safely as i could to the gun because I wanted to get a clean shot of the firing.
The gun went bang... and the actor fell off his chair... dead.
No, wait. Everything went fine. The board seperating his head and the gun barrel blocked the gas flying out of the barrel. It was pretty cool to be so close to a live gun.
I made a video of the whole shoot too...
There were a few more live firing shots after that. It was a nice ego boost after that for me to go up and take the gun from his hands, check for ammo, then put it into my pocket like it's a harmless handphone. I turned around and the crowd had it's eyes following me. Who is this little boy?
What an ego-boost.
Uncle Jimmy and I hung around a little while longer, awaiting for the cue for us to leave. I had the oppurtunity to shoot some nice shots and see those young boys in action. What paedophillic fun!
My dad seems to be having some sort of problem with me in this industry... or me under Uncle Jimmy. I dont blame him. I dont tell him much about whatever I do anyways. I dont think he'll understand. I dont think he'll understand why I can stand being in a community where everyone speaks Cantonese and old men talk about sex. Well, I dont think there even should be a reason. Why the prejudice and the color bar?
While editing the video I was looking at the clip of the boys acting. I was brought back to the time yesterday night when I caught a glimpse of a familiar figure waving at me from far across the bus interchange in Yishun. It was Henry.
I didnt think he ever knew anything about whatever was in my chest so i went up to him, for old time's sake. We talked, and i noticed some sort of happier air around him. He seemed interested in my days with Uncle Jimmy and productions. It's the kind of bittersweet feeling; he wants to know, I thought i shouldnt talk about it. I left after his bus came and headed home; I had work to do. In a way, I was glad he asked so much.
Then I saw that there's a new email in my account...
I opened it...
... it was an email from him, sent a couple of hours earlier. I understand everything now. :)
Uncle Jimmy will be out of the country from tomorrow till the 22nd. As fate would have it, I'll probably be out on that Mediacorp production that I'll be acting in. And just nice, Kang Sheng is back in Singapore and it's high time I whack his fat ass back to Slim City.
...Hong Kong street, that is.
There was another Mediacorp shoot yesterday for god-knows-what-show and they needed some firing effects. I arrived at Sim Lim Tower in the early afternoon to look at some recent developments Uncle Jimmy was doing and then we went over to Chinatown for a while to do some shopping. On this shoot I was the weapons handler again.
Mediacorp called up and pushed the call time back to 4pm, instead of 3pm. Fine. So we arrived at 4pm. We arrived and the whole street was empty.
"I knew this would happen..." breathed Uncle jimmy.
"They'll only come at five."
We spent the hour talking about stuff. I had the time to play around with my sister's camera that she lent me.
I like playing with cameras + Photoshop. Makes me feel useful. All these while I've been taking pictures with my handphone camera (surprised?) and finally a proper camera lands in my hands.
Hong Kong Street looks a lot like Kuching... except it wasnt filled with Malays and Dayaks littering and walking-so-slowly along the sides of the street.
The sun these few days felt pretty new to me. I dont know why... but it seemed brighter and more refreshing. i like it.
I stood beside the van, waiting for nuts to drop from the sky, and then from the end of the street I saw the Mediacorp truck making a sharp turn into the street.
The camera crew got out and were quick in setting up whatever they needed, not wasting any time like how some of us KIDS would do on school productions.
Not long after the other buses came and the film crew started to sprawl over the streets, attracting passers-by and residents, no less.
The show this time seemed to be another cop drama for Channel 8. Well, duh, isnt that what they always make?
Btw... i saw the Metamorphosis commercial on Channel 8 these few days. Apparently that was the one I had a hand in at Hendon Camp and Teck Lim Road.
It's pretty cool for me to go out on other people's productions just like that. I saw them make up TWO police cars from some generic white car. I looked at the sirens... the lights... the decals... then I asked Uncle Jimmy where to get this this this and he's a directory on his own.
We had plenty of fake policemen on set. I've never seen policemen laze around like drug addicts... lol.
Every single time I go on productions I cant help to think about whatever politics that has come on is school the past semester. The talk about professionalism.. the talk on Mediacorp sucking THAT much... who won this award.. who won fucking gold... who did this and that.
i guess it's pretty lucky for me to be so ignorant about school politics. They talk about who's good or who's not or who's made it.. all off-hand. Like they're fortune tellers. I ask myself, "Why do you even bother?"
I got my results slip a few days ago. It was the usual Cs and Ds. I expected it. I figured out long ago that school results are jsut an excuse for an easy way out... a sort of.. recognition in the beginning of sorts.
But this borderline-student of yours pretty much has his feet in the industry already. I think about the other kids in school who scream for "professionalism" and the way things should work. Don and i sit back and we shake our heads. It's pretty obvious these people have never been outside before.
It seemed like a very big production this time round. There were about a few dozen people on set with two cars are props. I saw a group of young boys and then I saw a boy who looked like Joshua Ang from I Not Stupid
Since Joshua was Clara's friend I thought hey why the fuck not go up to him and say hi?
Then I remembered he was 18 and in NS and not 13 years old on a bloody Mediacorp production.
I got called up by Mediacorp again a few days ago. The girl on the other line called me by name. She asked if I could come down for a casting audition for Life Story 2 and it was gonna be the episode on some guy named Kim Song.
I said, "Sure, why not?" and agreed to come down the next morning.
Then she asked, "Can you play soccer?"
I paused... and remembered the days I scored many many many goals.... own goals... and i was the goalkeeper.
"Yea.. a bit..."
I went over to Mediacorp the next morning, the Annex Building. I like doing this when I'm alone - I'll go up to the receptionist, who normally's a very friendly middle-aged woman, and started flirting. I've no idea why but I like poking fun at them and playing like a little kid. Most would laugh and smile but those who dont.. who seem like the world owes them everything... are the younger girls who think they have cunts of gold.
Even in the audition room I found myself playing around with the little audition lady.. who should be around my age. They had the betacam camera on me against a green wall and a softbox shining on me. The room was small and bright so I felt comfortable playing around with her. But when the camera started rolling I lost it all and became a robot.
I find the scripts Mediacorp writes are pretty decent. Very nice to read. But then why the toot does every episode come up so bland????
Probably because of the actors...
That evening I was at Uncle Jimmy's place trying to fix his printer (amazing we can never get it fixed. Some serious problem going there...) and I received a call from Mediacorp again.
They went,"Hi Audi... you got the part. We'll email you the details soon."
Oh, fine. They didnt tell me what role I'm getting... or i missed it... but during auditions I was playing two roles - Kim Song's brother, and Kim Song himself.
So, I'm playing a Chinese? As Daryl would say when I told him about it,"WHAT THE FUCK???!!"
lol.. daryl..
Yesterday's shoot had a part where the guy commits suicide with a shot to the head. Then his son comes crying.
It seemed pretty dangerous because we're firing blanks at such point blank range. The crowd got bigger and bigger and the evening traffic rush was building up just outside.
I positioned myself as close and safely as i could to the gun because I wanted to get a clean shot of the firing.
The gun went bang... and the actor fell off his chair... dead.
No, wait. Everything went fine. The board seperating his head and the gun barrel blocked the gas flying out of the barrel. It was pretty cool to be so close to a live gun.
I made a video of the whole shoot too...
There were a few more live firing shots after that. It was a nice ego boost after that for me to go up and take the gun from his hands, check for ammo, then put it into my pocket like it's a harmless handphone. I turned around and the crowd had it's eyes following me. Who is this little boy?
What an ego-boost.
Uncle Jimmy and I hung around a little while longer, awaiting for the cue for us to leave. I had the oppurtunity to shoot some nice shots and see those young boys in action. What paedophillic fun!
My dad seems to be having some sort of problem with me in this industry... or me under Uncle Jimmy. I dont blame him. I dont tell him much about whatever I do anyways. I dont think he'll understand. I dont think he'll understand why I can stand being in a community where everyone speaks Cantonese and old men talk about sex. Well, I dont think there even should be a reason. Why the prejudice and the color bar?
While editing the video I was looking at the clip of the boys acting. I was brought back to the time yesterday night when I caught a glimpse of a familiar figure waving at me from far across the bus interchange in Yishun. It was Henry.
I didnt think he ever knew anything about whatever was in my chest so i went up to him, for old time's sake. We talked, and i noticed some sort of happier air around him. He seemed interested in my days with Uncle Jimmy and productions. It's the kind of bittersweet feeling; he wants to know, I thought i shouldnt talk about it. I left after his bus came and headed home; I had work to do. In a way, I was glad he asked so much.
Then I saw that there's a new email in my account...
I opened it...
... it was an email from him, sent a couple of hours earlier. I understand everything now. :)
Uncle Jimmy will be out of the country from tomorrow till the 22nd. As fate would have it, I'll probably be out on that Mediacorp production that I'll be acting in. And just nice, Kang Sheng is back in Singapore and it's high time I whack his fat ass back to Slim City.
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Audi
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Jimmy Low
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