Treasure

One of the perks of being an actor is that I get to be at places that I wouldn't otherwise be. Or quite unlikely to be.  In this shoot called "Treasure", we were in a retro hairdresser shop in Boon Lay, the west part of Singapore. Kinda 'Almost Malaysia' to Easties.

To my surprise, it was like a time capsule. Time seems to have stood still and it was like a walk down memory lane. 

And the neighbourhood even oozes the warmth and closeness of communities more commonly found in housing estates decades ago in Singapore.

Some wall motifs.

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There are also Thai and Burmese shops.

... and they would not let me go... would not let me go....

The coffeeshop is still run the old fashion way. In the morning rush hour, he leaves all the coin takings in a loose pile on the counter. 

This is Miranda, a Lasalle Musical Theatre student and my screen daughter in this production. It is a story about the sentimental moments between a father-daughter, three days before her marriage.

This is how the inside of the shop looks like.

At the hairdresser table, I found this old Chinese magazines Lau fuzi, that was very popular in the 1960s and 70s. Most people would have forgotten about them and those below 40 years old probably didn't know these comics existed.

They tell simple stories, mostly slapstick humour, but it was enough to entertain thousands of readers back those days.

A fixed line phone, a transistor radio and phone numbers scribbled on the wall like an open directory. In the age of digital technology and Internet connectivity, who does that?!!!

Some of the scribbles even have pictures drawn. Kind of a code language I guess. Back in the old days, gangsters leave coded messages on public walls for their brothers.

These old fashion barber chairs still have ash trays in its arm rests.

That was why hair salons were smokey. It is amazing how tolerant people were those days.

It is a skeletal crew, so the actress helps to slap the slate.

I like the red monitor cover. It adds some brightness to the otherwise black and grey equipment.

I think that is the wrong way of holding the boom. No wonder he was complaining of his arms aching. lol

The over-the-shoulder shot.

"Hmm... should we have another take? Last one, last one..." - famous last words.

"Ok, the next take..."

It is a wrap!!!

If you like to to see more interesting locations, click at the photo below:

Locations.

Sadly, some of them are already demolished and redeveloped into sterile condominiums.

2018 - My Splendidly Sobering Year

Cramming a lot of lives in one lifetime is exciting as long as one's expectations are well managed. Overall, I am good with two out of three items turning out successfully, with the remaining one flagged as 'work-in-progress'.

In all, 2018 was splendid and sobering. Here are some of my milestones worth sharing:

Hentak Kaki Fan Club

Hentak Kaki Fan Club was formed on Facebook after an encouragng response from a Facebook re-post of the short film of the same name.

Hentak Kaki is a Puttnam School of Film, Lasalle College of the Arts award winning production, directed by James Khoo, for his final year thesis project towards his BA (Hons) Film in 2010.

It is about a career warrant officer who is too afraid to leave the army, after he injured his knee and is deployed into a desk-bound vocation.

The story demonstrates that in life we must all adapt to the myriad of persistent changes around us and continue to grow. This I think, is what resonates with the audience and the reason why the film is successful enough for this fan club to be formed.

The response came as a pleasant surprise as it has been 6 years since the story was conceived. As Lord David Puttnam once puts it, "Film is a very influential medium, as they tend to hang around for a long time, unlike books which once read, would spend most of their time sitting on shelves."

Once  the Club was formed, the membership quickly swelled to over 3,000 members. Some of them suggested that we should make Hentak Kaki into a feature film.

Encouraged by that, a feature film length script surrounding Warrant Officer Lee Teck Hong was written and peer reviewed; and subsequently, a trailer was shot.  

Army films have a good track record in the box offices in Singapore and so there are already interested investors wanting to talk.

McBeth 

Yes, it is "McBeth", we didn't misspell it. It is rightfully "McBeth", to borrow a prefix from McDonalds, as our story revolves around fast food business rivalry. We played to a full-house at the Projector in Singapore.
McBeth, written and directed by Phil Gruber, is my first improv performance and a satirical take on MacBeth as King of Fast Foods, with the Delta Force Group. Amid the rehearsals, we were fortunate to have veteran Jeff Michalski, flown in at great expense from the United States, to teach us about the finer points of improv. There, I learned that it is very important to observe my co-actors and the peripheral area, and learn to mirror and support them - essentially, the core of improv.
I wonder if the number of divorces will go down should every couple were to go through improv courses as part of their compulsory marriage counselling. At the end of the training, they will have had gone through a host of exercises to learn to support and listen to each other. :)

Trump-Kim Summit - 12 June 2018

Incidentally, one of the improv actor's brother is the Kim Jong Un look-alike. He came to Singapore during that the Trump-Kim Summit - much fanfare to the masses, but a nightmare for the security people.
All in the name of good fun and world peace.

Writers' Lab

I was selected as one of the twelve candidates  out of many (so I was told) for the Lasalle Writerslab 2018. We have an interesting mix in the group comprising people from different age groups, walks of life and profession. This is a list of our profiles and script loglines. 

I wanted to write a story that involves intrigue and action and so I ended up with an action-thriller.

It is about:

"A retired warrant officer turned private eye stumbles into an arms dealing racket while investigating his old friends. As he uncovers more, they expose his shady past to frame and eliminate him."

Towards the end of the lab, my mind was twisted into a chaos of plot revelations, pacing, false climaxes and reversals. I became obsessed and immersed into the plots and characters 24x7, till my head started to hurt.

Tech Assignment

Halfway through the Writerslab, I got a job as a technologist to help businesses go-digital. This includes helping media companies transform and enter the digital eco-system  to become data driven, taking the guesswork out of decision making. 

As for myself, I have been in front of the camera, behind the camera and now beside the camera injecting technology into the production processes.

These days a lot of data analytics and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are used to identify content production, distribution, post-production scheduling and talent casting. As a small nation of many small production houses with very small budgets, we must punch above our weight by leveraging on technology.

Thus far, it has made film production more efficient without hinderance. The creative process (thankfully) is still very much derived from human inspiration. Likewise, I think the acting profession is safe from automation. Or at least the good ones are, those whom have the factor-X and charisma - attributes that essentially require human consciousness. Much as computers can beat us in chess games, they are mathematically finite machines, and are not conscious and incapable of wisdom.

Bloodline Blues Premiere





Bloodline Blues is a 23-minute action film that I wrote and directed and collaborated with Elliot Chan, David and a happy bunch I gathered along the way.

It is about a young heir to an English noble family who escapes from his obligations to reconcile with his lover in Singapore.

We were ready to screen Bloodline Blues in January, but didn't get around to do it till November, as we wanted to find a suitable venue. We eventually did, thanks to the Art House at the Old Parliament and we had a full-house screening. 

RIP

Five of my friends died suddenly from heart failure in the month of August 2018. They were quite young, at ages 49, 53, 54, 56 and 65. 

The one who was 49 years old, was writing a stage play on his laptop, when suddenly his artery burst and he collapsed head down on his laptop onto the floor. 

Another, a very health conscious 54 year old, collapsed after his morning exercise with his group of friends.

Yet another one of them, 53 years old, was the one that gave me the technologist job. We were chatting away less than 36 hours before his death. He was jolly and was telling us that he had his retirement plan all worked out to live in Perth, Australia. Then he didn't wake up two mornings later, on the 9th August 2018, Singapore's National Day.

A bigger surprise is that most of them are outlived by their elderly parents, which makes me wonder what had gone wrong. Is it their lifestyle, their diet or their thoughts that had gone wrong? I know that we manifest through our thoughts. Thoughts become things and if we are not careful, negative thoughts can eat us up gradually from inside.

At their funeral by their coffin, my heart was screaming out, "Wake up! Talk to me!" Though I know it was futile,it was my last attempt to say goodbye properly. How could they leave without a hint or warning?!!! 

Their death is a sober reminder of how fragile life can be. Touch wood, but every night when we go to bed, there is no guarantee that we will wake up the next day. Therefore, every day lived is a leap of faith. Being more aware of that now, has made me more conscious of how I spend my time.

I also meditate more regularly to clear my mental debris and distance the mind from the soul. When that happens, the soul takes charge. The soul is always peaceful. It is the mind that flutters every time emotions are shaken.

I now choose to live life truthfully. Of course, common sense applies as to how we can do that optimally. But basically, there is nothing to fear for living truthfully or speaking truthfully, as more likely than not, we are merely relating to another mortal, or groups of mortals. No  matter how big and intimidating they are now, they too will have to go one day.

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In summary,

My 2018 is both splendid and sobering. Through hard work and collaboration, I managed to partake in creative projects that I hope will serve people in the bigger scheme of things in the long run. I think I have spent my time quite wisely, bar some silly moments. We always have those silly moments don't we?

Thanks for visiting my blog and have a happy and joyous 2019 ahead.

You may like to read,

A Rather Morbid Year to Cheer.

Giving Voice to a Museum Objectl

I gave voice to animate a piece of paper, a relic from the Second World, at the National Museum of Singapore two weeks ago. It is part of their "Facetime with History" event, where visitors can get a feel of history by chatting with the exhibits. 

The owner of the piece of paper had used it to take notes during the mandatory Japanese language classes during the Japanese Occupation (from the years 1942 to 1945). The owner, likely a Hokkien speaker, had used Hokkien to phonetise Japanese words, which ironically are themselves Kanji, and therefore are borrowed Chinese characters.

This is the gallery where the piece of paper is exhibited. "Syonan", meaning "Light in the South" was the name of Singapore during the Japanese occupation.

These are some of the exhibits. 

This is the said piece of paper, the one on the bottom left.

This is it.

This is a game to illustrate how Hokkien words were used to phonetise Japanese words, by ethnic Chinese in Singapore at that time.

For example, Ashita is phonetised approximately as "Ah Si Ta" in Hokkien.

The visitors on Friday were more earnest learners, mostly young adults. When it came to Saturday and Sunday, the visitors were mostly young families, whom many of the adults were happy to let their children play the above game to their hearts content - transforming it virtually into a playground.

I had some problems keeping to character as Peng (the paper), with these kids messing around. "Peng" stands for "Peng An", which means Peace in Hokkien, I must have repeated that a hundred times. LOL.

Here are the other voice actors. They acted as a writing desk, a rocking horse and National Stadium seats.

In the end, it was quite a blast. We did our part to entertain our visitors with our improvised voice acting.

For more about Voice Acting ,click here.

For other articles about Hokkien, click here.

Crazy Rich Asians

Crazy Rich Asians the movie, brought a horde of netizens screaming about the lack of minority representation in the movie - that among the super-rich in Singapore, only the Chinese are depicted. The online and offline press were abuzzed with such outcry, with the local tabloid, The New Paper, joining in the fray. See, "Crazy Rich Asians should have been called High SES Chinese" by columnist S.M. Ong (The New Paper, Sept 3).

The article hits a little 'below the belt' in some parts (see quote below), but then, hey it is a tabloid. What do you expect?

Quote:

Dear Kevin (the author),

….

Not everyone in Singapore is Chinese as depicted in the movie, they complain.

But that's not your fault.

Coming from old money yourself, you emigrated from Singapore at age 11 and evaded national service so you probably didn't get to interact much with other races here.

"As a child, you're cloistered in this world," you said in an interview.

"You don't know how other people live until you leave that world and realise not everyone has an airplane in their garage."...

Unquote.

While I respect the opinions of those crying out loud, I too have my views, so I wrote to them and was surprised to get it published.

Here:

(A rewrite of the print, in case display resolution is poor in small devices.)

No reason for Crazy Rich Asians to be like MediaCorp drama

I refer to the article "Crazy Rich Asians should have been called High SES Chinese" by columnist S.M. Ong (The New Paper, Sept 3).

I assume the article is written tongue-in-cheek and I should take it with a pinch of salt. Crazy Rich Asians in not a documentary. It is a film version of a book based on the author's observations of super-rich Chinese in East Asia. So let it be.

Minority inclusion in this instance and context is not necessary. I would hate to see it turn out like a MediaCorp drama with minority races artificially inserted. That is understandable for MediaCorp as it is a national broadcaster. 

But this movie has not such obligations or objectives. Neither should it set out to sterilise or pontificate. It is fiction. It is satire. Cut it some slack. 

Audiences don't want to watch real life. They want drama, art with creative licence to entertain.

For all movie reviews in this blog (including this post), click here.

Hearing Voices

While cleaning up my phone memory, I found some interesting voice-over (VO) audition samples that I had recorded on my phone, over the years.  They are in English, Cantonese, Hokkien and Teochew.

Audition Track 1 (for a short film):

"A long time ago, we used to live in a simple house. Back then, it was just me and my papa. We did not have much money but at least we had each other.

When the 1985 recession hit, papa's hardware business was severely affected. However, I knew that he loved me very much.

But we all know that happiness is always temporary one..."

In English with Singapore Accent

A bit changed.

In English With Hokkien Accent


Audition Track 2 (for a documentary, I think):

为了推翻满清，华侨慷慨解囊相助，甚至义无反顾，投身革命事业。我绝对不会辜负你们的一番心意.我相信 这次起义，必能成功！

Roughly, it means: In order to overthrow the Manchus, the overseas Chinese have generously helped each other and are committed to the objective of the revolution. I will never disappoint you.  I believe that this uprising will succeed!

In Hokkien

In Teochew

In Cantonese  

This one for "Forget Us Not" - a support group for people with dementia and their caretakers



This one for the National Problem Gambling Council Ad in 2012





For other VO posts in this blog, click here.

Dinner - An Honour Singapore Short Film

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This is an Honour Singapore Short Film called "Dinner" (2015), dedicated to all working fathers, particularly those who have difficulties expressing their love for their children. 

Honour Singapore is a non-profit organisation dedicated to promoting a culture of Honour and Honouring. For more about the organisation, click here.

To watch the film, CLICK HERE.

2015 was a traumatic year for me, as an excruciating pain that started from my spine, persisted and took over my body. I was living through electrifying pains every single moment without a break! Despite that, I tried to live as normally as I could, enduring every second that passed by slowly.  Not wanting to miss out on life and acting, I continued to go for shoots, rehearsals and auditions, keeping quiet about my ordeal from those around me. For more about my trauma and how I overcame my chronic pain,  click here.

I had to drag myself to go for the audition of this film. I remember I had two other auditions that day and this was the last in the evening. I was exhausted just enduring the pain through the day. Ironically, the director. Saraniyah Saranavan, then a final year student at Ngee Ann Polytechnic's Film Sound and Video Course told me later that the moment she saw me entering the audition room, she thought, "This is exactly the father character I need! He looked so tired!" lol

I am impressed that Saraniyah, an ethnic Singaporean Indian, directed the film in Mandarin, as I know of some directors  that would only direct films in their language of proficiency. In some ways, that made her focus more on how the actors deliver the emotions.

Generally the production went smoothly, apart from a supporting actor pulling out, or rather, failing to turn up. That meant that I had to work with a hastily installed actor plucked out from the crew, who was unfamiliar with acting, whom I had not  rehearsed with, whom had no time to learn his lines and whom had some difficulty getting into character (and understandably so). The rude shock is that the absentee actor is supposed to be a friend, or at least I thought he was! Clearly, he was not honoring his commitment! Honour! Honour! Where is the honour!

I have worked with Evalee on several other productions. One of them had her acting in a TV episode of a plastic surgery gone wrong, and the other, of her being a victim of a school bully. lol

I think she did well playing the rebellious daughter, particularly those awkward and subtle reconciliatory moments at the dinner table. Eventually, love finds each other.

Overall, I enjoyed the production. I even learned to cook from a professional chef, whom happened to be the director's father! :)

For other short films pertaining to 'dinner', click here.

Stray Roads

This is a Temasek 20/20 Project, written and directed by Royce Tan.

It is about old taxi drivers losing clients and going out of business with the presence of private hire cars competiting for passengers.

Technology is becoming ubiquitous and a disruption to traditional businesses. This is a reality that is already happening and will persist.

In the taxi business, even the private hire model like Uber, will be overtaken by the use of automatic driverless cars. Prototypes are already there and statistically, they are safer than human driven cars. 

Many other professions will also be disrupted by technologies, for instance:

• Artificial intelligence software can diagnose cancer at 90% certainty compared to a human oncologist achieving only 50% certainty.
• Real time credit ratings will tear current banking processes apart.
• Genetic engineering

Information security will be a big issue. See Augmented Risks.

Here is the behind-the-scenes:



So where do we go from here? Today's young people will be tomorrow's 'old people'. How will they cope with yet newer technologies coming into their lives? Or will even the meaning of 'old people' be redefined?

For more short stories about how old dogs must learn new tricks to move on to new jobs, watch:

- Hentak Kaki

- Unemployed PMET Achieves

And another vision of the future... year 2022:

- PRISM