Nearly a year ago, on August, I wrote in this epic entry (a MUST-READ if you want to read about how my dreams of becoming an actor were repeatedly dashed throughout my life, it was me in my eloquent best) about going for the audition of a Murdoch University 3rd Year Production by an all-Singaporean production team (it wasn't until the audition that I found out that the director, Jean Choong, coincidentally, was an acquintance).
A Mandarin-language film, the summary given to me and the script excerpt they allowed me to read were pretty vague. Just something about a girl committing suicide, her mom and brother grieving, and then the girl returning as a ghost on the seventh day of her death. I was auditioning for the brother. I never got chosen. I never heard about the short film after that.
Well, until last semester, when my Screen Production 2 class lecturer, Andrew Ewing, made a passing mention about the short film, Qipao, and to my surprise, it was actually a film about INCEST! Yeap, the girl actually killed herself because she got pregnant after an INCESTUOUS RELATIONSHIP with her brother! And I would've played the brother!!
Anyway, between me and some other guy... er, the other guy was chosen. Thus destroying my dreams of becoming an actor (again). And the film ended up becoming rather well-received last year, being nominated for numerous awards for THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCREEN AND SOUND 2005, including yes, Best Male Performance. The film could've been my big break, the launching of a promising acting career! And with that, I wouldn't be stuck at being just a writer filmmaker...(and thus I have indirectly revealed that the reason why I always had cameo appearances in my own films is solely to fulfill my hunger for acting...)
But I wasn't aware of the film's success until just now when I did some research at the NASS website. When I went to get a copy of the film from the university archives for reference last afternoon, I was driven purely by curiosity and nothing else. And after viewing it, I realized that it was a damned good short film. The story was simple, but the cinematography, the atmosphere was good, and the soundtrack was GREAT. Especially the last scene at the beach, which was so startlingly poetic and beautiful that it elevated the film from mere good to immediate 'damn, I'm making a copy of this film for myself and bring this home to write about it!'
Yeah, pretty impressive, although I'm still stubborn in my belief that, as good as the lead actor, Chau Goh was, I would've given an equally good, if not better, performance as the guilt-ridden, angsty, big brother who destroyed his own life and his sister's because he forgot to wear a condom when he was screwing his sister.
And man, it even had love scenes too, well, rather chaste and subtle ones, but hey, I would've enjoyed the shoot!
(Although I would wonder about my parents' reactions if they knew that I had appeared in such a film)
Alas, my dreams were never achieved, so all I could do is comfort myself by photoshopping a screenshot and convincing myself how great I would've been if I was given the chance to act!
Behold!
Man, what a magnetic screen presence!
Oh well, back to preparing for my production meeting tomorrow. Sometimes, a filmmaker dreams too.
A Mandarin-language film, the summary given to me and the script excerpt they allowed me to read were pretty vague. Just something about a girl committing suicide, her mom and brother grieving, and then the girl returning as a ghost on the seventh day of her death. I was auditioning for the brother. I never got chosen. I never heard about the short film after that.
Well, until last semester, when my Screen Production 2 class lecturer, Andrew Ewing, made a passing mention about the short film, Qipao, and to my surprise, it was actually a film about INCEST! Yeap, the girl actually killed herself because she got pregnant after an INCESTUOUS RELATIONSHIP with her brother! And I would've played the brother!!
Anyway, between me and some other guy... er, the other guy was chosen. Thus destroying my dreams of becoming an actor (again). And the film ended up becoming rather well-received last year, being nominated for numerous awards for THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCREEN AND SOUND 2005, including yes, Best Male Performance. The film could've been my big break, the launching of a promising acting career! And with that, I wouldn't be stuck at being just a writer filmmaker...
But I wasn't aware of the film's success until just now when I did some research at the NASS website. When I went to get a copy of the film from the university archives for reference last afternoon, I was driven purely by curiosity and nothing else. And after viewing it, I realized that it was a damned good short film. The story was simple, but the cinematography, the atmosphere was good, and the soundtrack was GREAT. Especially the last scene at the beach, which was so startlingly poetic and beautiful that it elevated the film from mere good to immediate 'damn, I'm making a copy of this film for myself and bring this home to write about it!'
Yeah, pretty impressive, although I'm still stubborn in my belief that, as good as the lead actor, Chau Goh was, I would've given an equally good, if not better, performance as the guilt-ridden, angsty, big brother who destroyed his own life and his sister's because he forgot to wear a condom when he was screwing his sister.
And man, it even had love scenes too, well, rather chaste and subtle ones, but hey, I would've enjoyed the shoot!
(Although I would wonder about my parents' reactions if they knew that I had appeared in such a film)
Alas, my dreams were never achieved, so all I could do is comfort myself by photoshopping a screenshot and convincing myself how great I would've been if I was given the chance to act!
Behold!
Man, what a magnetic screen presence!
Oh well, back to preparing for my production meeting tomorrow. Sometimes, a filmmaker dreams too.
