Also two weeks ago (yes its hard to get round to update a blog.) I Extra'd for a Police Training video, posing as what can only be described as a shoot out or bombing and what to do in such situation. Definetly one of the more fun gigs i've done what with all the screaming and blood and all. there was alot of down time on set, but luckily I did bring laptop and edited photos, which I do have a lot to. 

It was set near the airport and as soon as I was let off I went to buy some pretty cool Bata dress shoes for an awesome $39. Don't have to borrow off my friend's bro any more or wear my Heelys Rumble boots for those suit roles. xP

Performance Rating: 8.5/10
 well it was extra work, and I performed well, not much challenge or demand in this one.  

I am featrued in the latest Issue of Peril - Asian Australian arts webzine, after attending the seminar in Melbourne last year they sent me some Qs for As to see my perspective on the production and performance industry/ies in Sydney and a taste of Singapore.
Go have a read ;)
http://www.peril.com.au/2012/qa-jack-ngu/ 

Performance Rating 9/10
Not difficult, but my Writing could always be better, and faster

In the end of February I got a gig with 8pixels, a small production company I came across on FB last year and it was one of my goals to work with them. they are a tight knit crew and seem to offer opportunities to interns and newbies often.
the shoot was a commercial for a private business college and all the talents were actually some of the students. most of what I did was grip the reflector and aim it at faces, no biggie, also carried gear when changing sets.

It got damn hot and i was surprised I did not get sun burned. Of course I also did some production stills, most of the ad was with the Canon's new C300, which is an odd shape, but I'm sure handles like any other pro-production camera, and less like it's HDSLR Uncle 5DII. Production went well, and I noticed that to get the changing background effect to work, tripod height matching was important shot for shot. I sacraficed going to KL to crash a wedding of a friend of a friend of mine & provide the usual snap and roll, probably just broke even doing this instead.
Now I'm Dashing off to go see If I can try a new lens before I buy* the Samyang or Rokinon.  

Two weeks ago I competed in Poesis, a Poetry slam that gave us a few weeks of preparation. I wrote a poem about my stale first love drama salad originally intended as an un-anniversary gift and for myself to come to terms with the situation.. in rhyming couplets , but found another purpose for it. l literally wore my heart on my sleeve for it as it I did have a big red paper origami heart in my hand as prop. Now I'm not really a poet, but It was of course an opportunity to perform something deep, personal and all, a poetry slam which I learned what was in the workshops is a competitive poetry reading, judges then give points on the spot like rating Olympic high diving event.  

The poem i wrote for the first round was about appreciating cows, I didn't spend much time on this one because it wasnt that touching to me and it was to end up being delivered like a Screw attack top 10 game show host tone, also it was more like stand up comedy than anything. Props was banned from this round,  but wardrobe was something you can get away with, I was thinking about getting a white suit and turning it into a cow print suit, lucky i didn't find a white suit because I resorted to using a white tie and it took an hour or 2 and was quite a crafty excercise still and I ruined a perfectly good new black T shirt and a pristine new white tie, it maybe recoverable a I only used double sided tape. I got slaughtered in this event, Competition was tough against a pair of seasoned slam poets who have been partners in the crime for some time and took first and second prize money, although not much it still would have been nice. The dude had a serious piece on nuclear justice and all that ultra deep humanity thing with enough words and intensity to drown the crowd, needless to say the judges were swept away. 

But the real bone I have to pick is that with he was allowed to read off several pieces of paper, sure you wouldn't expect just anyone to remember such thick text, but in all fairness and playing by the rules of the event, I wasted a lot of time. Myself, I consider bad at memorising text, although I often do pull off miracles, I took three days to ingest my text and still was shaky on presenting it, however when I got up on that stage things came out smoothly script-less. I noticed how hard it was because I had wrote about something so moving for me. The cow poem on the other hand I had to deliver as fast as I could and paper was allowed. After this event I knew what real poets are, fearsome word-smiths, I thought I had a chance being such a wildcard with my wit and humour and dynamic dramatic change to something serious, I had more stage and general performing experience than all participants but in the end its the text not the performance, and I don't remember the last time i was that nervous. Poetry nerds as a friend described them as, and I'll assume majority of poetry is melancholic, the world needs laughter, although I didn't win a title or the judges, I am almost sure I won the audience, while taking a pee I was complimented by a parton, and also several other people from the crowd at the event. Although my cow poem held the least water, it probably was the most fun an memorable, however this ends my acting like a poet career.. for now.

Performance Rating 4.
I'm going to be hard on me-self, although I performed well and did win audience lols, there were minor glitches ie the stapler failing to staple heart, skip calling a number in the cow list poem, taking three days to memorise a monologue and still stumbling in the last hours (being deep to you is no excuse, you wrote it), being nervous was a minor problem as it has been awhile and I always to like to push myself. People may not always play by the rules, just make sure you have good showmanship. 

Been Occupied for some time and then just relaxing after every day of running around, neglecting this blog.
So that musical I auditioned for back in Feb has taken me on board and it has actually become like an acting course 5 days a week, complete with the usual walking around, breathing and vocal exercises and thinking about intentions, text analysis and all.
 I love my Theatre Club, we are all very different performers but very passionate, as we do meet from 7-11:30pm on occasions, bordering on "I can't MRT home" time. 

Really brings me back, its true you need to go to a few classes to realise that you do actually need a refresher every now and then, so I guess I will be doing a course once a year or two months. 

I didnt make it through an audition for a top office role in an government fair employment TVC but did get to be an extra, featured extra perhaps (which we know is kinda a loose and grey term especially here). the lady who casted me here is Suzy who also casted all the Children in Slum-dog Millionaire, which was on TV 2 weeks ago, Hope she remembers me for when it is my time to rise*


On a epic camera nerd and cinematography operator-fanboy-gasm - The Stedicam opperator is legendary Somsak Srisawat responsible for the spiral staircase 4 minute long take epic tom yum goong fight scene. Here is a photo of me with him. below is the shot, my efforts only turned up with this dub with fighting game sound effects, but you get the idea. 

I was also Extra for a Party scene which needed a reshoot, another next to probono job but I did get a nice photo showing the loudest apartment living room ever, it hardly needed any art department dressings. More updates of last feb soon, need to run off to class now.

Another busy phase, Was cult leader for another Student film, role was fairly simple with few lines and alot of emphasis on stiff and small powerful movements and expressions of strain.. i think thats the best way i can put it.
Budget was smidge but there was a warm effort as we shot till 2am on sat and 5am on Sunday. Met some passionate performers and cool crew, much comfort and enjoyment in working with these guys. I was worried a bit about my accent, still working on the neutral thing, but the others didn't seem to mind, was afraid that I would outstage/tick the other actors off.

Best part was when I got to hold the failed and dead ritual/sacrifice and Cry NOoooo! at the sky  as in every cliche close to heart death scene (yes, I have always wanted to do that. best actors nightmare), i just wish it was raining cos we were sticky with syrup green potion and blood.  
Performance Rating 8/10 (be more confident with the accent and get the neutral thing down!)

Right after holding a dead body and yelling no, it was 5am and we wrapped. 
I rushed home on a cab, it still took an hour to get to bed and I slept for one hour and headed to one of 5 auditions for the day. Read and memorized my part for the duologue script on the train for neurotic man speaking to an old friend, something I actually tend to do. First up I was about 15 mins late to the 10:40am slot because I got off one stop to early and then had to catch a cab. I explained to them I was late because of what I was doing last night and they did seem quite interested, also mentioned which I found out last night my sacrifice above was going for the apposing female role, I was in her time slot because she was late as well, works out and i have an alibi. I did the duologue as if i was in a skype video chat, which went well, I then requested to do it standing, which then I skipped lines, I was to really tease with the start if the the duologue and by the end become friends, did poorly, they then made comments on my accent (really a serious problem now) and i had to do it in what they said was "not hardcore" singlish, the extra challenge meant I had to hold the script. still prob poor performance on this neutral accent. also It was also prob not a good idea to try and perform the duologue on the phone when i was calling in late, the ladies freaked out abit, aww common*
Performance rating 4/10 (yeh for reasons of being late, freaking auditioner out, talking too aussie, failing to practice after memorizing the script and doing it on the train when it just maybe could have been done last night between takes or during the week. also no vocal warm up. terrible)

Next Audition was about 3 hours away, so I had some time to eat and relax abit, there was not much to prep, aside from wardrobe and I packed light since I had to move around so much today. I wore black pants they were a bit oversize, the loose and small prisoner stripes in blue T, my rumble boots and took a singlet and white shirt. after lunch I found a furniture store, sinked in the sofa and then a bed, and took some time to rest with my shades on. I arrived to the audition early and waited a bit as it was a more demanding audition. it was for a TVC for a new game show, where you may get wet.
the auditioner was really nice, as they do take their time to get you to perform your best in a few takes for the role here, she even shows some youtube samples of expressions and lets me review takes.
Roles I had to audition for were a beng*, a man on a date and an aquarium shopper. the man on a date needed me to act surprised and then turned on by the lady who was to then pour champagne on herself, id have to say i have a mediocre pervert look. then I was a beng which is the young try hard here, this look was a bit more natural to me and i wore just the singlet, had to act like i didn't care about working at the aquarium and was exaggeratedly crazy upset that the customer was getting the place wet. as the shopper I had to pretend to dunk my head in a fish tank and shake it off in bullet time, masculinely sexy like, perhaps something you would like to practice/aim for this jackman... (See video)

A marvelous week with an audition and shoot back to back every day for three days!

Monday saw me on a Tourism TVC, another pro-bono extra role with sandwichment and freeflow but I got to meet people and see some familar faces, and that should be what counts. shot at an indie fashionable lane with lots of fashonable clothing and gears. Here is a photo of two friendly models that I met on set, good company.
Performance rating 9/10 (i was just an extra after all) 

While they went on to shoot other scenes (one was enough free taste), I headed to meet an agent. much like in Sydney money was involved in joining, in this case the portfolio photos. Though the lady I spoke did word it a lot better with a package of printing comp cards and marketing one to all casting agents, still $500+ was way too fetching even if after they didn't take commissions.  I found out that at least this agent has promo work as a major part of their services, if Sydney had such I wouldn't think of switching agents as much as they would keep me busy with promo work, kinda away from my goals tho.

Performance Rating 8/10 (she didn't seem that impressed, and I couldn't negotiate something better.)

Tuesday saw me at as a Travel agent for a learn English language program for jap speakers. The entire crew flew in for the shoot, so there was some language barrier between takes with interpretations by the bilingual directress. the scene was for the lead lady to book a flight, I was coincidently  and rightfully representing Qantas. They were strapped for time, which meant I had pressure to hit my marks, It was a fairly difficult shoot as I had to deliver my lines word for word to the script (and I am a sorry improv-ad-libist) since it was a language program, had to strike a balance between being natural, pleasant and articulately clear, I stumbled and croaked a bit because i didn't have a drink or perform vocal exercises, the actress, Mika however did a few horse buzzes in between takes and I was reminded then. the actress has been acting for 10 years she tells me, very cute and sweet, she performed confidently even speaking in English, and never broke her gaze on me (perhaps i am pleasant to stare at) she went stellar when speaking in jap at the end of the ordeal during the talk to camera/student forth wall break xD. 
Performance Rating 7/10 (do your vocals exercises and relax with word for word)

 After this was an audition for a Policeman role, thanks to the shoot I was able to be dressed in black and white with a black tie, which is fairly office police like despite the audition invite saying casual is fine.
In the first take the auditioner did note/complain about my aussie accent, so I had to go for the neutral thing again. he seemed quite pleased from then on. 
Performance Rating 6.5/10 (could do vocal exercises and get the neutral down)

Wednesday saw me at an audition as a 30+ aged  condo buyer. I was to pretend I had a spouse, something i'm well experienced with Cough* Cough*
Had to walk through a room thinking that I was looking at a pool and an amazing view. I need to give it more energy, favor the camera and most importantly practice an eyes wide open smile.
stupid Asian eyes --_-- 
Performance Rating 5.5/10 (perform your vocals, smile better and more energy plz) 

Next I did a scene for a student film. I was a pretty twisted film writer with movie posters pitching to a funding body. my film ideas included a gay fireman tragedy, an Asian avenger for KKK, a dead horse woman and a dead fish. lines describing such ridiculous films were not so hard but I did fumble a lot with pulling out posters and getting every adjective.
Performance Rating 6/10 (do vocals exercises, learn the lines better and just cause its a student film doesn't mean you can slack of even though the students are slacking off.)  

this is a sentence in the blog to acknowledge its existence.