Wednesday, June 29, 2005.
10:11 PM
Today Wu Chu Cai Hong artiste imaging.WAH LAO. die liao. about 70% of the artistes are from Hong Kong. which means i'm in deep trouble coz i cannot speak cantonese! haiz. there's ONLY 2 S'pore artistes in this drama, Jeanette Aw & Julian Hee. pathetic! if i were given a choice, i wouldn't chose this drama. but i don't have the choice. so whatever lah. my first drama, so must try to do my best. :)
AP Shuyi is really friendly. like what i expected. she got the China girl look ah, but she speaks S'poren chinese. haha. and guess what? my director is Huang Guang Rong!!! so lucky to have him. coz the other 3 teams have directors from Hong Kong i think. only my team is from S'pore. thank god. :P
main actor in the show is Angus Kok from Hong Kong. who is he?, i also dunno. BUT, he's very shuai!! looks a bit like Aaron Kwok. main actress, Jeanette Aw. Who looks SO plain without make-up. omg. i didn't regonise her when she came in the door! and i'm starting to dislike her,, coz she sounds so fake, always laughing unnessarily, like wanting to get attention. oops. ok. maybe i should wait until i interact with her before i say anything. :P oh, and she speaks english a lot better than chinese. (which is to my advantage. :P)
i have soooo many homework to do. Shuyi gave me the Master Rundown already. and i have to mark out all the Conti (as in scenes in which outfits are continuous). which also means i have to read the scripts over and over again. Stress!!!! :P
P.S, guys, watch out for Wu Chu Cai Hong, slated to telecast in November. esp episodes 18-22, 28-30, coz i'm filming those! :)
i. just want to SING
Saturday, June 25, 2005.
9:38 PM
went for a gathering my poly classmates today. only it wasn't exactly a gathering, coz only 6 of us were present. :P but i'm still glad to meet up with them again lah. didn't chat much. only asked each other about our jobs and stuff. and the 3 guys went on and on about their NS stuff. i dare say almost 80% of the time was spent discussing about NS. haha. cannot blame them lah. NS is kinda like a big thing for guys. but they say until like very cham like that loh. i really don't get it. maybe we girls should go NS too for a change. i don't mind at all! seriously! :P anyway, can't wait for graduation day. than i can see the rest of my classmates. :)AP Shuyi msged me today, and told me that i'll be on her team. surprised. coz Choon Hua haven't call me back for discussion on the next drama yet. guess Shuyi is an enthusiastic person!...haha. she sounds really nice. looking forward to meet her. and my next drama is confirmed. Wu Chu Cai Hong. a drama with a Dancing theme, featuring various artistes from hong kong, taiwan and s'pore. first drama already so "big". is that good or bad? haha.
i. just want to SING
Thursday, June 23, 2005.
2:22 PM
omg. these 2 days in studio SOOOO FUN!!!!!!! it's funny how things can change in such a short time. the first time we filmed a studio shoot, i felt so bored. but these 2 days, i suggested to Ann to go up to the control room. clever right?...lucky i asked her ah, if not i'll be "trapped" downstairs.Ann brought me up to the control room, and i was in awe at what i saw. they have so many control eqiupments!, i couldn't believe my eyes! than Ann taught me everything. got 3 rooms, 1 Lighting, 1 Camera, 1 main control room. and PAs are suppose to be in the main control room. SO COOL!! took some pictures secretly...shhh...
this is the main control room. as you can see, there are 2 levels of cameras. in studio filming, there are 4 cameras filming at once. so the 1st level shows the diff shots that the 4 cameras are filming. the 2nd level shows what is filming at the moment. 1 cam is for playback, 2 is for tape indication, 1 is for the actual shot filming.
and for the control panel, i'm only using the right hand side, a lot of diff colors one. my job is to take orders from below, when Floor Manager says switch to Cam 3, i switch to Cam 3, if he says Cam 1, i switch to cam 1. it's that simple! :P plus i have to take cue sheet. similar to outdoor. only that studio you have to record the tape timing. for example 33:58,..like VCR. so if a shot starts at 29:31, ends at 33:58, i have to record it on the cue sheet. but sometimes Director too fast, like right after he says Action, he says Cut, i couldn't catch the last point! haha. but it's still very fun!!!! :)
close up on the cameras. can see Edmund & Ivy acting?....seriously, when the show airs, i no need to see liao. coz i watched almost half of it in the control room!!...it's like i'm seeing a free show!! hahaha...
oh, and when in the control room, you can hear EVERYTHING that the actors say. so if they chat in between shots, i also can hear. hahaha..damn funny loh!, coz coming from a ch 8 fan like me, where actors are always so perfect, and i hear all the funny stuff they chat about, it's just so intriguing! :) oh, today we had another actor, Chen Shu Cheng!!!....omg, i always laugh when he talks. coz everytime in between shots, he'll talk Hokkien!!....hahah....i think the people in the other 2 rooms must have thought i siao or something, coz i kept laughing in the control room! hahaha...
at the moment, i feel that i have the best job in the world. :D
P.S : and i'm entitled to FREE iweekly! wow.
i. just want to SING
Monday, June 20, 2005.
3:33 PM
wah, today SO much better loh!!...it's funny!, coz it was an overnight shoot, 7pm-6am, another way of saying is Night Shift. :P but it was somehow more fun.we went to the location in Kranji, aiyo, there so deserted!, ok, not deserted lah, got a lot of foriegn workers living there. all indian one, so scary loh. :P Kelvin asked us girls not to go around on ourselves, coz very dangerous. haha....never worked night before, esp when it comes to filming...so it was an eye opener. they actually made the area, that is totally dark, come alive!, so many lightings! :) ....made friends with a few people in the crew. Janet (make-up), Ah Ang (driver), Kenny (soundman), Catherine & Jeff(part-time artistes)...not bad right. haha...maybe coz overnight shoot, need to chat with people to keep me awake. :P
quite a number of artistes were filming today, the usual Edmund, Ivy, Stella and Nick. plus Guo Liang. wah, he chinese accent damn powerful loh, couldn't grasp what he was saying. :P they asked me to go bring the artistes from MCS to the location again. was actually very grateful to leave the place for a while, coz it was kinda stuffy, and i was sweating like hell. :D was instructed to pick up 11 people! omg. but guess what, i did it successfully. again. :) :) ...
chatted quite a while with Edmund when in MCS. coz took some stuff from the Studio 6 mah, and the other batch just finished their filming. passed Edmund on my way out, and i asked him if he was going to follow us to the location later. he asked me lots of questions, which was cool, coz i got to talk to him. he sucha a nice guy!, always smiling and laughing during the conversation. and the best thing is that, he asked me for my name and number!!! EDMUND GOT MY NUMBER! wahahaha...Ivy was surprisingly more friendly today too, dunno why, she kept smiling at me when i walked passed her. have yet to chat with her, but think she won't be as humorous as Edmund.....so, our bus drove out of MCS, and like, Edmund, Ivy, Stella & Nick's cars actually followed behind!! imagine, 1 MCS bus, and 4 artistes's cars following behind it!! what a sight! haha...
not much happened after that, only that it rained for about 1 hour, and we had to stop filming to wait for it to stop. director couldn't finish filming before the sun rose, so a few scenes were postponed to another day. :)
tomorrow Studio again, haiz, sian loh. Kelvin and Ann had better give me things to do, coz if not it'll be boring again. :P
i. just want to SING
Sunday, June 19, 2005.
1:03 AM
just came back from filming...ok, i know i'm crazy if i say this, but it's actually really boring. really. i thought studio was better than outdoor. in a sense it was better, coz there wasn't as much things to do, as there are a group of studio people to help us. but the thing is, i DIDN'T KNOW WHAT TO DO!!!! wah lao, everybody was busy walking around helping in the filming, while i was sitting there doing nothing. i know this is a very wrong, but like, i'm new to the studio mah, have to observe first right? And neither Kelvin nor Ann was there to guide me. so poor thing hor? :( Ann so hao ming loh, stationed upstairs for recording, while the rest of the crew busied downstairs.Think they realised that i didn't do anything. coz Kelvin asked me if i was used to the whole thing. i told him no loh, that it was very confusing. he said that first time is always like that 1, dunno must ask loh. i was like, duh, it's just that you all were so busy that i didn't have the time to ask!! and you weren't exactly very willing to attend to me anyway. so what's the point right? oops. :P the only thing that's worth mentioning about today, was that i met this really cute child actor, called Nicole. she's so bubbly and cheerful! and she likes to like cling on my arm when she talks. so cute!! everybody loves her! :D
filming of Fa Yi X Dang An is becoming VERY boring. i guess this kinda mystery show is usually like that? i wished i'm filming a comedy, like Ying Cha Yang Cuo or something. i'm starting to wonder if this job is right for me. coz it requires you to be very outspoken, extremely good in chinese, and quick thinking. i have none of those. sometimes it's quite embarassing when i speak haltering chinese to the artistes. anyway i'm not gonna give up yet lah. not gonna just drop the chance of working in MCS so fast. :) will try harder to get used to it lah. pray that i will make no mistakes in the future. :P Hope Kelvin and Ann will not complain about my ability. lack of it that is. -_-
i. just want to SING
Thursday, June 16, 2005.
11:18 PM
first day of filming today. wah, i didn't knew it was THAT tiring loh. i can barely keep my eyes open now. used a lot of energy lah..haha...but learnt a lot today, worth it.attached to Ann's(PA) filming crew. Kelvin is the AP. both of them were ok. Ann was helpful, taught whatever that she knew to me, very grateful for that. Kelvin, er..., not really friendly lah, maybe he is always very busy during filming. didn't seem to click with either of them, as in we only exchange conversations in a sentence or two.....haiz, sometimes i wished i'm more sociable...coz i know being a PA requires establishing good relationships with the crew. and the worst thing is that, almost half of them spoke cantonese!, like,..wah lao!, how to understand lah! :P
film with quite a num of artistes today. Edmund, Ivy, Stella, Jacelyn and Nick. Ann told me that this drama quite relaxing (i think otherwise, read on), coz most of the artistes will prepare their clothes b4hand. which is true. we only had to take Ivy & Stella's outfits today. but the thing is taking 1 outfit is already so confusing!...you have to look at the rundown, choose the outfit, see if got contiuity, write down the description, etc..really tou tong!! :P ...besides outfits, you have to also take all the props needed, like SO MANY lah!...carried 1 whole big bag of stuff loh...
the artistes today,...got to talk to all of them. Ivy & Jacelyn were ok. only that they didn't talk much to me lah. oh, and Ivy was surprised that i was from the same poly as her! :P Edmund, Stella and Nick were extremely friendly. Edmund is like Fann, always smile one. :P Stella's really cute, her voice is very unique! Nick, talked most with him, and whenever i helped him, he said Thank You!...so polite! :)
the 1 task that i did the best today, was to help bring artistes, who were reporting later than the departure time, to the locations. was very successful, coz like all of them arrived at the allocated time. :) :) but was a bit unsure at times...coz not used to it mah. the artistes may be laughing at me behind my back. who knows? haha. another task that i picked up immediately, was to write the Cue Sheets...it's for like writing down all the shots taken. and there are diff types of shots, Wide Shot lah, Medium Close-Up lah, Over-shoulder lah....quite cool, coz everytime they were filming, i stood behind the director to look at what shot taking...the not so cool part was that a lot of times i was neglected. coz Ann & Kelvin were always busy getting the equipments and stuff together before every scene, and i didn't really help them loh. but like, i'm new to this show mah!, how do i know which equipment to put?, somemore they had to assemble lots of medical and chemical stuff, coz the show is related to science and stuff...really confusing. haiz.....
still got like 1 week & 3 days more to go b4 end of training?...dunno why leh, i feel that doing a new drama is better. coz you get to start everything from scratch. :P anyway, looking forward to Sat!, coz that day we will be filming in the Studio. think it's more exciting. :) ...pray that i'll leave a good impression on everyone.
i. just want to SING
Monday, June 13, 2005.
10:11 PM
first day of work! overall it's pretty cool! :) one thing's for sure, this job is gonna be a very interesting 1. although the job scope is not restricted, as in there are a lot of tasks to do, but still, who cares right?, this is the kind of work that i want to do. :)today was only intro lah, and tour around MCS,..not really starting the job yet. my supervisor, Choon Hua, is a really nice person. defintely not a strict boss or anything. first thing i did was to sign the contract. there were 4 others going for the same job as me. which is really surprising!, i was only expecting like 2?....but think not all will continue working after the contract lah. hope when the time comes i'll will not suffer that fate. haha. :D
after signing contract, Choon Hua gave us Epi 1 script of shui jia mu ji bu shen dan, plus fliming scedules. wah, i tell you, i see until siao sia. so many chinese words!!...1 episode already got like 50 pages...omg. filming schedule, 1 day can film up to 8 scenes!!...and they like skip here skip there 1 loh, not continuous. Choon Hua was explaining everything, coz there are lots of terms that we need to know. wah, i really confused sia. but after reading a few times, kinda got the gist lah.
ate lunch with haiyang (or was it haiying?), and angeline. both of them were nice. but i'm very sure they are not as interested as me about the job lah. so is that good or bad? :P :P went back to the room after eating, and continue to read the scripts...read and read, wah, sian loh. not that the scripts are sian lah!, just that stay in 1 place for 1 hour, damn boring loh. FINALLY at 2 plus, Choon Hua came in. brief us other details, and told us that after the 2 weeks traning, we'll be confirm in 1 drama. mine is Wo Yao Gao Fei!...although i still don't know who's acting yet, but from the scripts, seems like an exciting drama!....Choon Hua also gave us the filming schedule for this week. Fa Yi X Dang An! cool right!...at least i'll get a chance to film with Edmund, Ivy & Jacelyn. but sian, coz the working hours suck loh. oh well who cares lah, as long as i like the job. must sacrifice a bit mah. :D
after that was a tour around MCS. wah, i tell you, SO COOL LOH!!!!!! got to go inside wadrobe, artistes rest rooms, studios (omg, i was in awe with the surroundings), props room, make-up room..... wow i just love the place i work in!
the tour was the last part of the day. and i had to like lugged scripts of 20 epis home. aiyo, so damn heavy. felt like i was back in sec sch! haha. but i enjoyed the day lah. hope that it'll be the same when i start working. :) *cross fingers*
i. just want to SING
Thursday, June 02, 2005.
11:35 AM
I got the job at MediaCorp!!!!!!!!!OMG!!!
I can't believe it!
I'm so happy that i think i'm gonna cry!!!
it's like my wish come true!, i didn't expect my wish to be fufilled so soon! haha....ok well, frankly speaking, this is the easiest interview that i have attended. coz the interviewer was kinda testing me if i know the job well, and of course i'm very familiar with the job scope, so it was a breeze.... the whole thing was quite fun actually! :P the interviewer, Ms Lee, is sooooo friendly loh. we spoke more like friends, instead of formally. :)
1 thing i have to say is that, it's pretty weird, coz last time always go MCS for filming as an extra, but now i went there for a REAL interview. weird, yet exciting! haha. knew the grounds well, so it was easy finding my way around. was supposed to report to Annex Building, level 3, which is the Chinese Drama division. the building was very nice, exactly like what you see in TV dramas, when they filmed in MCS. :P Ms Lee was already there waiting for me. so funny, coz i was looking for her, than suddenly she came out from a door beside me, saying "are you here for an interview?" wah, so qiao! :)
here is the exact dialogue we had:
Ms Lee: Did you had difficulty finding the place?
Me: oh. not really. *smiles*
Ms Lee: Have you been in MediaCorp before?
Me: Yes. i attended a few shows in the studio. and i also worked as an extra before.
Ms Lee: Really?? which company?
Me: i think is Kim Yoon.
Ms Lee: ic. so you did you observed the filming process? what things are the PAs and APs supposed to do?
Me: Yes, i did observe. APs have to assist the Director, and PAs have to assist the APs. PAs have to see to crowd control, and have to control the extras too. and they have keep track of the outfits that the artistes wore. APs do the same tasks, but they have to also go through the filming schedule, and prepare for the production.
Ms Lee: *nods head* good. so, do you know of any of the directors?
Me: Huang Guang Rong (Rach, i owe you 1 :])
Ms Lee: Oh! Guang Rong! what show did you filmed?
Me: Feng Niao.
Ms Lee: *nods* ic...
Ms Lee: *looks at resume* so you have a Diploma in DICT? it's not really relevant to the job. you don't want to work in a job which is more relevant?
Me: Erm. I'm a lot more interested in working in MCS, coz i have a passion for TV.
Ms Lee: ok. but i have to inform you that in this job, the working hours is irregular, sometimes you have to working until the evening. and there is also no medical benefits. (who cares anyway? :P)
Me: oh. it's ok with me. i'm prepared to work irregular hours.
Ms Lee: ok good. so, do you intend to further your studies?
Me: yes. but i want to gain some experience first.
Ms Lee: *nods* so which direction do you want to go towards?, what do you want to be eventually?, coz you can't be a AP for your whole life right?
Me: Well, my ambition is to become a Producer.
Ms Lee: ic. but you have to really work hard in job. coz usually APs also need about 4 years to be promoted to Producer.
Me: *smiles and nods* (4 years? wah!)
Me Lee: ok so, we will let you have the job of a PA first, all APs have to go through the PA stage. and we will give you 2 weeks of traning. is that ok with you?
Me: yes. do i start work immediately?
Ms Lee: you'll start on 13 June. we'll put you on training first, you will follow the production crew and see how the PAs & APs work.
Me: ok.
Ms Lee: and your starting salary is $1400. and all PAs will sign a contract. if you do ok on the job, we'll of course renew it.
Me: *$1400? i put $1200 in my resume! wow.* how long is the contract?
Ms Lee: 6 months.
Me: ok.
Ms Lee: so any more questions?
Me: *think think think* oh yes, can i take leave for my graduation ceremony?
Ms Lee: when is it?
Me: 25 July
Ms Lee: sure. just tell us 1 week before.
Me: ok *smiles*
Ms Lee: if there is no more questions, i'll see you on 13 June at 10am?
Me: yes. thank you.
Ms Lee: thank you! bye!
Me: bye!
and so i walked out of the room, feeling like i'm on cloud 9. haha. i swear i could have do a victory dance right then and there! :P .....can't wait to start work!!
i. just want to SING
