Acting - Beginner's Luck

This video from the Corrupt Practice Investigation Bureau (CPIB) of Singapore won the Gold Award in the International Anti-Corruption Public Service Announcement Awards 2011organised by the International Association of Anti-Corruption Authorities (IAACA).

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It is only a 30 second clip, but took a whole day to shoot, starting at 2 am at the wholesale fish market in Sembawang. That scene took us till 5am, and then, we were to resume at 9am at Republic Polytechnic. With barely a few hours in between, I reckoned it was pointless to go home only to get refreshed and then having to rush back to the set. So I chose to go to Republic directly and slept on a canteen bench for a few hours.

The shoot resumed in one of Republic's student kitchen. Being a training kitchen, it was neat and comfortable, so the shoot was relatively easy compared to the commercial kitchen at Joo Chiat where it was hot and sticky, so I was quite surprised that we managed to pull off with our smiling  and sleazy look. The scene at Joo Chiat was quite long and we wrapped at 7pm!

The next film is the second film that I have acted in that has won an award, also last year,  called, "Hentak Kaki", directed by James Khoo, as his final year project in Lasalle School in Singapore. It won the Best Film, Silver Screen Award in the Singapore International Film Festival 2011. For more about the makings of "Hentak Kaki" and independent reviews, click here.

I attribute the two awards in the last twelve months to the dedicated and hardworking teams that I worked with and in part also to my beginner's luck as an actor. 

A beginner has advantages over older practitioners in any trade. A beginner is curious and  naturally open to explore any  possibilities to get something done, as he is fresh and doesn't know any better. A beginner is not bogged down by traditions and status quo - there is no pre-judgment and preconceived idea of how something ought to be done.

To continue to win awards, I will have to maintain this 'beginner's luck'. Steve Jobs put it differently, he urged young people to "Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish". How true!


For more posts about 'acting', click here.

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