I only got to know that this film "Change", is uploaded on Youtube, after a Malay boy told me about it. We met by chance. He recognised me at a bus stop near my home. He was very shy in the beginning, stealing a gaze at me, then followed by a quick smile. However, after I had returned his smile, he rushed into asking if I acted in the film. It is surprising how even a relatively obscure film like this one is being watched and remembered by some people. And somehow, some sharp-eyed ones will remember you for acting in it. Therein lies another good reason not to pick my nose in public. :)
This film was made some three years ago with Leon Tai and his team from Temasek Polytechnic. The story is about the unlikely friendship between a little boy and the local tissue-paper selling vagrant. A friendship that is developed with the boy's generosity, to the dismay of his mother.
Here is the short film:
We shot many of the scenes again as their lecturer felt that I was not tattered and dirty enough in the first round. So in the reshoot, they made sure I look really bad. :) It was quite an experience in itself hanging around the busy parts of Chinatown dressed dirtily. Some passer-bys that didn't know we were in a shoot gave me some uneasy stares.
Vagrancy isn't that common in Singapore anymore, though we do find quite a few old folks and disabled people going around selling tissue paper pads - 3 for a dollar. Isn't there something wrong when this happens in one of the richest country in the world? One local politician even said that old folks who collect cardboard boxes to sell for whatever meagre returns, are doing it for some (physical) exercise. haha.
The boy actor's name is "Horsey". It is his nickname because he loves horses. He speaks immaculate
English, unusual for a boy his age, in a country where Singlish has almost taken over. For those that are unaware, Singlish is English mixed with all the other languages and dialects spoken in Singapore.
Crowd control and clean sound was a problem, as it was a busy location. So, we had many retakes. The director told me that he chose Chinatown for its 'ambience'. But what is 'ambience' when he shot the scenes amid modern looking background in Chinatown? It would not be much of a difference had he done it in the suburban centres of Tampines, saving us lots of time and effort.
As a result, the shoot overran and we all got tired. Horsey, for all his immaculate English and good diction slipped into 'child-mode' of short attention spans.
That is why it is always prudent to shoot it quick when there are children in the cast, even when you have good actors.
Lastly, did you enjoy the film? :)
What do you think is the moral of the story?
Mine is that: "Everyone is important in the society and no one is more important than others."
Ian Lee is dead, finally. His death came suddenly, much to the surprise of many, even close friends and colleagues.
Here is a video...
Do you like the video? :)
Ya, the guy is dead! I don't know about him, but I was scared. And that's no Legacy! We spent the whole weekend at the funeral, giving Ian Lee the best send off we could. However, the plot will continue to unfold. More in the following weeks... We are still in the midst of getting Ian Lee "Certified Dead". It will go on every weekend till the end of May 2015. We need your support. If you are feeling generous, please go to our campaign at Indiegogo.com. Don't wait for the DVD, we need your money now. Lol Click here.
The money contributed will pay for post production, locations, transport and food to feed our cast and crew. As this is an artiste collaboration, none of us are paid upfront, but we hope that there will at least be money to pay for the food for the cast and crew. So please do help us.
How was it like playing dead? It was awkward initially. Talking is cheap, but when it came to actually climbing into the coffin and lying in there, it was creepy. But, the fear was mostly psychological, and after a few times, it was just like lying in any other box, only more comfortable. Sound quality was great as the sides are all cushioned and there was not many other places the sound could leak to. Surprisingly, that made it easier for me to deliver my lines as I could hear myself so clearly. Well, I think I was hearing myself clearly. No alien voices I think.
It was very hot inside though, as the hall was not air-conditioned and I had to wear a long sleeve shirt and a blazer. Lastly, it is a privilege to have such a try-out before the real thing - a live rehearsal (as opposed to a dead rehearsal).
Probably the funniest we-fie I ever had.
Click here to help us spread the word around about our crowdfunding campaign. Your contributions will be greatly appreciated. Is Ian Lee actually a horrible person pretending to be good? Woooah... that can put me in a hairy situation! Can't tell you yet! We need the funds to continue. Watch this space. More in the coming weeks. If you don't hear from us, that means we ran out of money!!! Or it gotten so bad, we got our dead man repossesed. Repossesed... posession... spirits... get it? Lol
The Lying Theory, written/directed by Lauren Teo. Picture: Julie Tan
I was roped in for the minor role of the philandering father less than a day before the shoot, as I didn't put myself forward for it and I swear I don't have any experience in that department. But together with the lovely Sharon Hoo, who played the role of the mistress, we managed to pull it off, culminating with the mother (Karen Tan) dropping the cake, beating the mistress up and young Claire's (Kyra Cheung) childhood bliss for a trusting father broken forever..
It was one of the many times I have acted with Karen and my first with Sharon and Kyra, and at that time didn't know that the older Claire would be played by Julie Tan, whom I later acted with in the movie "That Girl in Pinafore". Then, Julie was a student in NAFA, before her foray into mainstream acting at Mediacorp TV.
I didn't have any expectations from this film besides knowing what I had to do in the scene and that it is about a cute 'Lying Theory'. So it is a pleasant surprise to watch it today and discover the more inspiring bigger picture.
If only more people realise that lies no matter how well hidden emit different energies and thought forms than truth does. Lies also compound matters into bigger unexpected ones, often with undesirable results. We can spot a lie by the weaker tone of the voice, the unnecessary longer pauses in between the speech, the defensive body language and the inconsistencies of data that follow. Sometimes, it would be just the inexplicable hunch that something is amissed. If only everyone has Claire's clairvoyant abilities, then perhaps less people will lie and the world would be a simpler place without the myriad of falsehoods criss-crossing our lives and making them more complicated .
Post scriptum:
"The Lying Theory" is nominated for Best Script in the 5th Singapore Short Film Awards 2014.
Just got to know that this training video which I acted in last year was awarded the Silver award at the Australian Cinematographers Society Queensland 2012.
Shooting took place in from sunset to sunrise by waters off Tuas, the West side of Singapore.
This is the third short film that I have acted in a main role in that has won an award. For more, click here
Festivals and Screenings: Apchat International Film Festival, 10th Montreal International Black Film Festival, New Voices of Black Cinema 2015, Zanzibar International Film Festival 2015, San Francisco Black Film Festival, 10th Annual Harlem International Film Festival, 19th Urban World Film Festival, Filminitiativ Koln-African Diaspora Cinema, Kalasha International Film Festival, 2016 San Diego Black Film Festival, Denton Black Film Festival, Pan African Film Festival
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After the overnight shoot of "UnFlaw" at Kranji in Singapore, I rushed home to catch up with some sleep, then woke up to pack and leave for Guangzhou, China, for the production of "King of Guangzhou".
By the time I landed in Guangzhou and checked into the hotel, it was 4am, that after a quick and tasty century egg porridge supper at the local KFC. :)
After slumbering on the bed for a few hours, I woke up to the view of Guangdong TV station building in front. The skyline was hazy. Pollution is really bad in China.
Production was already started on the rooftop of a block of apartments in the neighbourhood. The director decided to move the location to the roof top after the electricity was disrupted in the apartment.
As it turned out, the rooftop view was telegenic. Subsequently, we had a rooftop garden buffet for lunch. :)
The next day, we headed out to the African Quarters in the XiaoBei district in Guangzhou. We nickname it 'Chocolate City'. It is a colourful cultural mosaic of African, Turkish and Han Chinese people living in a hive of commercial activities.
Background: The number of Africans in Guangzhou is estimated to be between 20,000 to 200,000. It is a wide range, as it is difficult to estimate how many have overstayed their visa and are not registered in the statistics. These Africans mostly come to China as traders, sending goods from Guangzhou factories back to Africa. It is very hard for any of them to get a Permanent Resident status, so they either stay as Tourist and renew their visa every time it ends or overstay as an an illegal.
And this set the backdrop of the story of "King of Guangzhou" -about a Nigerian man who has a Chinese wife and child, but now had his visa extension denied. Faced with the horror of leaving his family in Guangzhou, he embarked on a false optimism to pay his way out of his problem, via another compatriot who claims to know the right strings to pull in the bureaucracy. This turned horribly wrong and ugly when his fellow countryman ran away with the money.
This is Quester Hannah, the director and script writer of "King of Guangzhou", planning the camera locations and route of the scene where the Nigerians are fleeing from Immigration Officer Mosquito, played by yours truly. :)
The fleeing route passes through many back alleys like this one. Apartment blocks are built uncomfortably close to one another leaving only a gap of light passing through.
It is along these back alleys that we got most of the scenes captured - away from the glaring eyes of the public. The residents are generally very curious and chatty. Some thought that we were reporters going to capture the filthy state of the place due to the municipal cleaner strike that left garbage uncollected for three days.
This is Officer Mosquito who finally caught up with Chike, the Nigerian character who ran away with the money.
Chike is played by Michael Tochukwo, himself a Nigerian trader in Guangzhou who has lived there for many years and married to a Chinese woman. I find him to be a natural actor with an agile mind. He speaks Mandarin fluently and was diligently learning a line in Cantonese, which I had only taught him in that instance, on set.
This is a surreal scene that is symbolic of the fears of Adede. That of the authorities coming after him, and his losing his wife and his baby.
One of the Nigerian actor that Quester hired didn't turn up. So, Quester picked some other Nigerian he in the market and hired him. As it turned out, this new guy we picked up from the street acted well, with a clear diction and a booming voice.
Rest time with Karen Tan. She plays the factory worker wife of the lead character Adede.
This is the fifth time that I am working with her. In the other acts, she was
- a neighbour whom I was trying to have a relationship with;
- an ex-wife amid a child custody issue;
- an angry wife when I brought home a mistress;
- a mother of a little boy who was persistently buying tissue paper from me out of sympathy.
In the end, it is all good fun and fantasy. If life is one big dream, then these productions are dreams within my dream.
This is Officer Mosquito in full glory! :)
The weather is a comfortable 20 degrees Centigrade this time of the year, so wearing this crazy trench coat wasn't bad. The alternative of wearing official police uniforms didn't go down well with the local police. Hence the creation of this plainclothes undercover cop.
These are the two lead actors: Uchenna Onyia and Karen Tan. Uchenna is a theatre actor based in New York. He plays Adede in the story.
This is the factory place where Meiling, Adede's wife works.
This is our devoted Director of Photography, Neville Jackson. All the scenes apart from one, are captured hand-held. The scene not captured hand-held was done on a steady cam rig. It must be a strenuous 10 days for him.
In this picture, he was capturing the moving frames of Aede and Meiling as they cycled along the road.
He worked hard. Everyday after I have wrapped, I would go back to the room and crash on the bed, while he continued to work on his shot list for the next day till late in the night.
With Tiger, the local production assistant, who also played a part as an immigration officer in the script.
This is my first real overseas shoot and my 100th assignment in the last two years. That is, barring recent forays into Malaysia and Indonesia. Acting per se, is the same whether it is in Guangzhou, or anywhere else. The way to get into character and draw out the appropriate emotions is no different. However, I have noted the following in Guangzhou:
1. Language: Speaking Cantonese or any other alien language to your co-actors, in this case Nigerian actors, was a little tricky.
2. Culture: The Nigerian actors come from a contrastingly different culture from the Chinese, so reading their facial expressions and reacting to the little nuances was a new experience for me.
3. Geography: A lot of things are unpredictable in a location like Chocolate City. So, there were a lot of working around the script, the crowd, the authorities and the bystanders.
These are our local translators. In China, it is necessary to have a local team to sort things out when there are issues on the ground.
I am so glad that I could speak Cantonese to the local people. On one instance, I even spoke Teochew to a restaurant owner, his native tongue from another Guangdong city called Shantou - perhaps to his delight, as we got a free pot of Chinese tea and some cups later!
Speaking the local language goes a long way towards building relationships. I must better the languages I speak, especially those that are still very basic.
The "King of Guangzhou" production has been a splendid experience. It is a new chapter in my acting journey. Working together and living together with the cast and crew also added a lot to the team spirit.
There are two lessons I learned in Guangzhou.
1. Bring enough Reminbi cash. Very few places take credit card. Don't rely on converting your dollars to Reminbi in Guangzhou. There are only very few legitimate money lenders in the city, if at all. There are also those that are ready to exchange your dollars for some counterfeit Reminbi.
2.The local Chinese are very tolerant, given that they are used to living in chaos, congestion and a polluted environment, but don't let that make you complacent, as it would take only one nasty one to pick on a small mistake you make and amplify it enough to stall your shoot.
Here are some wild clips that I took with my mobile phone...
I have been on a back-to-back acting schedule for three NYU Tisch films and a Mediacorp TV programme and so have not posted fresh articles in the last week. It has been a satisfying experience, but one that was exhausting. Below is a sneak preview of what I have been working on...
With an insane wife that locks herself in the bathroom and refuses to come out, the mundane trip for groceries becomes an escape from the daily torments at home, for the lead character "Liang".
This short film is called, "Alone/Together", directed by Abigail Prade. It is about the struggles of a husband with his depressive spouse who locks herself in the bathroom for two-and-a-half years!
Confronting the daughter for purportedly speaking to imaginary characters in the night.
This short film is called "Yishun" (working title), directed by Philip Liao. It is a suspense story of a man trailing an attractive young lady from the train to her apartment that ends with unexpected results.
An otherwise happy family during Reunion Dinner, before tragedy struck
This is a Mediacorp TV production called, "UnNatural", directed by Joey Chan. It is about a tragedy of a family when they moved into their new apartment.
This is not an aftermath of the wrap party!
It is an act and part of the production for a Peranakan sci-fi film called "Ersatz Aria", directed by Elizabeth Lyon.
More about these productions later. Meanwhile, I have to catch up with some sleep as call time is early tomorrow! It is Good Friday, but the show must go on!
