The Week.
woa, what a week.my friend's birthday came n went and i failed to remember the correct odd-numbered date (3, 5, 7? No..not national day...ermz..13th? no..that was the day i got my driver's license...i think it's the 3rd..THE THIRD!!! WAIT, that's today!!!).
(I'm sorry Faery Good One! Forgive me! I sent her a great birthday gift to make up for my database error... I swear it was an intricate gift which i really took time n effort to do up!... : (
I got caught up in my emcee assignments (Logitech Roadshow n NTUC Car Co-Op Family Day @ Snow City n Jurong Central National Day Dinner 2005 {featuring Minister for Education, Minister, Prime Minister's Office, Minister of State, Ministry for Community Development,Youth & Sports...) and the run-up to my 1st major tv project (The Little Entrepreneurs 2: it's not an Emmy nominee, but it pays me enough for me to not work a year [if i live frugal. i.e. no clubbing for 12 months. eat only home-cooked meals. don't travel. don't buy original CDs or DVDs...]...so it's major!!).
In the midst of it all, the faery good one did forgive me and sent along a beautiful lo-fi song. She guaranteed i'd love it...and well, as usual she lived up to her promise.
I need to tell you abt my emceeing.
i need to tell you how scared n nervous i was about hosting my very first grand dinner function in front of Ministers, grassroots leaders, and hundreds of guests.
4.12pm, Sat 6 Aug 2005
i swam 10 laps in a 100m pool in an attempt to unwind n lose some body flab that's been building up because of my love for osyter omelettes.
The 10 laps helped remove some of that artery choking gunk around my waist but i was still nervous as hell about my National Day Dinner hosting assignment.
(Feeling stressed....)
Fast forward.
Jurong Spring CC.
7.50pm, Sat 6 Aug 2005
While introducing the Ministers, I fumbled.
DAMN!
*sighs* Let's not go into the annoying details. I screwed up.
You live, you learn...
You screw up, you learn.
The Logitech roadshows on tues n wed, earlier in the week, were better. But sorta better in a haphazardly ok-ishy manner. bumps n brine. but i passed the test. I think.
Pass!
Sunday was the highlight.
Emcee & GAME-MASTER for NTUC Car Co-Op family day @ Snow City.
Was IN A ZONE. ON A ROLL.
People cheered. clapped. hooted. kids smiled. fathers laughed.
mothers giggled..(i flirted with one very hot 40-ish lady AND her daughter during the game segments hahaha. velli gooood).
Car Co-Op manager was happy. Snow city manager declared the occassion a success during the debrief.
(Hot mother not in this photo lar. Didn't get a snapshot of her...dang!)
The pre-National Weekend was a busy, boisterous close to a harried 5-day-ding-donging.
Finishing my emcee assignment for Snow City at 2.30pm on Sunday didn't mean i could finally rest.
There was more work to be done!!
Filming for Little Entrepreneurs 2.
I need to tell you how i made some brave little boys cry and how the scene of them crying broke the heart of my assistant producer.
After emceeing the family event, i drove down frm Jurong 2 Bartley road (maris stella primary school). I was worn out, but a young man looking to make his mark cannot complain about physical fatigue (aiya, it's no choice, ok? NO WORK! NO MONEY! NO MONEY, NO TALK. NO TALK, NO PHILOSOPHY. NO WOMEN. NO BOOKS. NO FILMS. NO FOOD. NO NOTHING...ok, ok, gettin carried away.)
MS Primary School
5.05pm
Sunday, 7 Aug 2005
Here we are! NC, the other producer, is over at YZ primary school. Over here, we have the executive producer hanging around making sure things are ok, and V and YY (the assistant producers) were there to move everything along.
Me? This is episode 1. I'm producing episode 2,4,6,8,10,12, and the co-producing grand finale, so why am I here for the filming of episode 1? Well, producers each have their own way of handling a project from the visual style to the filming process. I was there to see how things in Ep 1 would be done, take mental notes, n then replicate the methodologies for the eps im in charge of. I wanted to see how they would cover the closing segment.
First round competition between MS. pri & YZ pri >
upon arrival, i did the usual stuff u would do as a producer of a reality tv show. got the 5 MS primary school boys to do interviews. asked them separately, away from each other, abt the conflicts, the lessons learnt..stuff like that.
(YY n V were supposed to be running the show but i thought i'd dip my fingers into the soup n help the cooks)
n then it was time. Both schools had already counted their profits for the 3 days (the first round of this show pits the business skills of primary school children against each other for 3 days. School with lower profits get eliminated)
i was actually more anxious than i let on...because i wasn't quite sure whether to play the clown announcer (as i did for my emcee events) or play the steady big brother.
in the end, i decided to go with the steadiness. Executive Producer around. Clowning around doesn't really do much for my professional image.
so there i was, off-camera, with a lesser smile, controlled breathing. The MS boys had their red caps put on in the cute n funny ways only kids r capable of. And so, there they sat, in front of the lens n boom-mike, fidgeting while hanging on to nervous grins.
NC, who was at YZ sent over an SMS that detailed the profits which YZ primary school had made.
After reading the SMS, I had to do it.
I had to declare to these Maris Stella primary school boys...
These boys who had worked so hard for the last three days.
These boys who carried the expectations and enthusiasism of their parents, teachers and friends...
I had to tell them ===
YZ primary school won.
MS was of course, heartbroken.
silence.
groans frm the kids.
nervous laughter frm teachers n parents. words of encouragement.
kiddie team leader started to bawl.
The Camera had to keep rolling. i had to ask questions for dramatic soundbites.
The cruel deed had to be done.
I MUST dig the little boy's disappointment n sadness for TV ENTERTAINMENT.
Being inexperienced, i only went for a few shovels...n decided to move on.
The executive producer (a matriarch i firmly respect) however, knew there was much more to unearth and she firmly instructed the cameraman to turn the camera back in the direction of the sobbing boy.
Of course, the message to me was simple.
Keep digging, Khoon.
and, so, well, i had to dig. i asked more questions. And my executive producer chipped in. Probing gently, hoping the boy would describe his feelings for the TV audience.
My assistant producer, V, was sitting one side drinkin in all this with her eyes. V, you see, majored in philosophy. She's really so much more sensitive than she would have pple believe...n well the sight of the crying boy cracked her wall and the dam burst.
While the executive producer, me, the cameraman, the sound recordist were intently shovelling for inspiring n meaningful drama frm our crying boy...V lost it. She began to cry.
it's one of those film/tv moments.
the one where u have a wide-shot of everyone turning over to one direction in unison, and making a collective discovery.
We cut from the wide-shot of the bewildered crowd in the room, to a Close-up, of the Discovered Drama.
We cut back to the Wide-shot.
Everyone still looks bewildered
(ok, the old camera cat, Mr N, he, the one with the ice-grey pupils, he wasn't bewildered one bit. he had a lite laugh. it was soft, but i heard it. i would've laughed that same cat's laugh..n coincidentally, i had grey contact lenses on that day...But i didn't want to appear..i don't know...too aloof....?)
We cut again.
This time, Close-up, V puts hand to face, coverin her burst dam.
Then, Follow-shot she sprints out of the room.
ok, ok, enough tv cut-here, cut-there speak.
(are you sure this will really help the readers' visualization of that scene you're trying to describe????)
Now,
it was the executive producer's turn to deliver an audible lite laugh (this one's a bit different from what we got from mr N. This one we hear, is the sort u get from kind, worldly-wise grandmothers. )
Alright, everyone. Camera is still rolling!
back to business!
So we carried on, finished up interviewing the team leader, n then shovelled for drama from the other members.
And then, the 3 beautiful words = It's a Wrap.
Filming for episode 1 of the Little Entrepreneurs 2 series, Done.
Next week, the showdown between St Andrew's Pri and Northland Primary school will begin, and I will be the TV producer trying to document the business efforts of these 11 - 12 year olds. Shld be a riot!
Emmm...or should that be the other way round? I'll be documenting the business riots of these kids...
Shld be an effort!!!
Oh well, of efforts and riots, the flurry of events this week, n the way they were documented in this blog entry pretty much resembled a mish-mash of both.
*HOOOO
wat a sunday.
wat a week.
creativity, cruelty, crass, crap, cheese.
i msged V later on
"Hey, u recovered from your emotional moment? It's a cruel world yea?"
She replied
"haha, i expected them to lose. But cannot stand kids crying lah."
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posted by audaciousjoy @ 3:38 PM
