video shoot
2008-06-17 8:35 p.m.
so today i did the weirdest of all the weird things i have done in my life.
me dionne jiwei and kyo went for the shooting of some advertisement for some tv station.
i realize how vague that sounds.
but that's about all i know.
when i heard about the project all that went through my mind was '$$$$! GOO!' since my wallet had been feeling the pinch from my many birthday celebrations with various groups of ppl.
but still, i didnt know what the whole project was going to be about (and apparently, i still dont) so it was with an apprehensive spirit dionne and i went to xen, where we were driven to the place in the EAST called crocodile house or something.
when we got there we realized 1) we wouldnt actually be moving about BEHIND a screen as we thought but rather the videos would be taken normally and then changed to silhouette form 2) they were taking VIDEOS and not pictures?!
hopefully nobody caught on our discomfort (it wouldnt have been PROFESSIONAL as manfred had so thoroughly lectured us on).
so the first set!
corporate.
here are some of the few pictures i managed to get.
hair being done. dionne and i would be the ones at the back frantically taking pictures.
kyo looking not the least corporate.
and the studio! which would be that big bright light at the back, not the pearly gates of heaven you were thinking.
the first set of pictures was just us walking around looking businesslike in suits and briefcases and laptops.
the scary part lay in going one by one.
but oh well, i lived.
then there were the stock market scenes.
strangely enough only kyo and jiwei got to pretend to have won the stock market, me and dionne simply 'perused' the 'board' (which was just blank air) looking lost.
not that im complaining they looked really funny shaking their fists triumphantly at nothingness.
after that was a meeting scene around a table which the cameraman and director actually participated in because there was a lack of people.
it was probably one of the funniest of the lot because dionne and jiwei had to pretend to present something with big actions and since sound wasnt recorded a lot of rubbish was being said whilst the 'meeting' was filmed.
'so 20% rise in pay for everyone!'
'yes this is the picture of the toilet you're supposed to clean.'
after that we had to change to casual wear for the second set.
now would be a good time to mention the clothes were rather...strange, and VERY expensive.
my corporate outfit cost about $300 together, and it was just a jacket and skirt. dionne's was about the same, but kyo and jiwei's cost a LOT more for some reason.
and we knew this? because the tags were still hanging off all the clothes and we werent allowed to take them out because the clothes had to be returned to the stores afterwards.
some of the tags even had to be masking-taped on so they wouldnt show in silhouette.
anyway digression aside.
because dionne and i knew there was a kissing scene and a beach scene we bartered it between us and decided that whoever did the kissing scene wouldnt have to do the beach one.
it was even DECIDED that dionne would do the kissing scene and i would do the beach one.
but because i started off doing some bike-and-gazing-off-into-sunset/sunrise/stars?/something in the sky scene with jiwei, dionne pushed the kissing scene to me.
i have yet to strangle her.
but let me elaborate on the stupid bike scene first.
the bike was ridiculously difficult to handle and i, who pride myself an excellent bike rider, was sadly proven otherwise.
not only did we have a very small space to ride in we had to be careful of the cloth set and not brake too suddenly or risk tearing it.
as if i didnt have enough to worry about with maintaining balance and riding smoothly already, i was sometimes supposed to look back cuz jiwei was walking/running behind.
the wobbling was very unglam.
and then someone had the stupid idea of me riding pillon on the bike.
'bike' being BICYCLE.
it was INSANE, and the first time i truly felt like my life - or at least my bones - were at risk.
but thankfully they decided it was too 'high risk' in the end.
in fact the bike scene was much much worse than the kissing scene, which was actually easier because all we had to do was pretend and hold it there till someone said cut.
then afterwards dionne and kyo had their matrix scene which was oh-so-hilarious.
kyo used some toy guns and actually did a pretty good - if funny - imitation of being in the middle of a dangerous firefight.
then dionne tried her hand at the guns but it didnt look very right so she switched to some rubbery toy sword, which wobbled everytime she swiped. there was some cool samurai-ish swipes though, choreo-worthy.
it was good entertainment all in all, and the camera crew actually got into the spirit of things and started stabbing and swiping at each other.
after that kyo and jiwei had a duo swordfight scene and came up with a series of fencing-ish moves apparently out of thin air.
very funny indeed.
the next set were mostly dance scenes.
kyo and i did a salsa scene which was probably the scene with the least pressure.
and the most dips.
then since i was already wearing a (very ugly) dress and my hair had already been (very horribly) curled the director decided that i would do one of the singing scenes whilst the others changed for the hip hop scene.
so i held a fake mike and randomly moved and mouthed gibberish emo-ly whilst imitating the director who was swaying and singing dramatically by the side, trying not to laugh or pay attention to dionne who was making funny faces behind.
when i was finally released from the set to go change dionne and i realized the clothes they had set out for the 'party' scenes were completely not hip hop, and so improvised by borrowing the guys' clothes (including the hairstylist's jacket) and also making alterations to our own clothes till we finally reached a semblance of hip hop.
when we walked out we saw jiwei filming some rapper scene in a hoodie (i loved the hoodie though) and the same fake mike which was oh-so-funny.
after that was kyo's dj-ing and bopping scene with actual disc thingies, and then me dionne and jiwei all did the ipod-hip hop thing one by one, which was basically random grooving holding wires and with headphones on. one of the funner scenes though.
i cannot remember very well beyond this.
dionne and i did another dance scene wearing horrid tops because the director specifically wanted to see curves. rather boring and repetitive though.
after that was dionne's ROMANTIC dinner scene with jiwei and the 'wine' (read pepsi). i was terribly jealous watching her drink the pepsi whilst dying of thirst by the side.
i think we had to change outfits again about this time.
i somehow got saddled with the beach scene because dionne couldnt fit into the shorts but thankfully it didnt involve anything more than hair-flipping and lying on a fake beach chair.
then dionne and i did the shopping scene - the most boring yet - and then the fashion show catwalking scene, another boring one.
i still havent figured out how i ended up having to do that one in 3 different outfits.
after that was the DISCO SCENE, the only scene we did all together which was rather fun and funny because everyone was just randomly bopping about (to hung up, of all songs).
for our last scene we all did the disco thing one by one so they could replicate us and make it look as if there were more than 4 strange ppl jumping about.
and then, finally, we could leave.
after one last surprise.
they told us we could CHOOSE ONE ITEM OF CLOTHING TO KEEP WITH US.
whoohoo!!!
i chose the shorts (which were more practical than the hoodie though i was oh-so-tempted to take that instead) and dionne took one of the more normal tops.
was good value for money though, the clothes were all branded and expensive.
and yes i realize you are thoroughly bored from reading this, but whatever! i want to be able to remember the intricacies of this shoot when the final video comes out.
so taaa for now.
