Caishen (财神)

"Caishen" (The God of Fortune, 财神), directed by Ding An, is a 20-episode web series in Singlish, shot in the year 2016 and released in time to greet the start of  the Lunar New Year in 2018.

Singlish is a version of English patois spoken in Singapore, often associated with the funny bits of a conversation and its informality. It is English spoken with Chinese speech structure, spiced with Chinese dialect, Malay and Tamil vocabulary.

This series is about the calamitous adventures of Roy Kee, a middle-aged anti-hero and gambling addict who is given a phone app that ironically can only make others, but not himself rich.

For non-Singaporean viewers, do not be put off by the quirky delivery style. Trust me it is quirky even for Singaporeans. That gives it the charm and uniqueness, amid the surreal nuggets of wisdom that you will find useful. They are usually interwoven into the recurring silly moments. Overall, it has this unexpected sarcastic undertones that cynics will  certainly love. I particularly like the deadpan moments.

Here is Episode 1 of the series [19 minutes]. After finishing it, click on the prompt to proceed to the next episode. If you are unable to link to the next episode at some point, then continue watching it via Youtube.

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In Between Takes

Actors wait a lot in between takes. During that time, there is little we could do other than rehearsing our lines. Some actors read light novels and yet others get some work done on their laptop off their other full-time/part-time job. Mostly, time is wasted browsing Facebook and indulging in mindless chatter.

I tried exercising, but that will make me sweaty and ruin my makeup and costume.

Lately, I have started taking photos and videos of the crew while they are setting up. So they shoot me 'on-air', I shoot them 'off-air'- all just using my mobile phone to shoot and edit them into one-minute videos, on the same day - all in between takes.

Here are some of them...
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4th Feb 2018 @ Changi, Singapore (lots of mosquitoes).
Production of "The Road", an original music video, directed by Lesha, music written by Yiam, with crew and cast supported by a bunch of students from Yale-NUS university.

I played the role of the father - an depressive one.

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5 Feb 2018 @ a coffeeshop at 503 Jurong West Avenie 1, Singapore. 

"Silhouette", directed by Ashley Tan Han Wei, is a story about two boys looking for their missing father. A Puttnam School of Film, Lasalle College of the Arts, Singapore production. 

I am the missing father. :)
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8 Feb 2018 @ 15 Kismis Road, Singapore.

"Stray Roads", directed by Royce Tan, is story of an elderly taxi driver who cannot cope up with technological advances and competition from private-car hire cabs.  A Ngee Ann Polytechnic student production.

I acted as the taxi association leader speaking out against the competition.

Incidentally, I found this online article: 

S’porean, 70, feels too old to study 298 pages for private hire driver license tests

Shooting and editing on 'rapid-fire' is addictive. I find myself doing more and more of it. I will post them here when they are done.

For more photos and videos, follow me on 
INSTAGRAM: jupilier.

Have a Happy Lunar New Year!