My Actor's Blog

I have started a new blog to chronicle my acting journey. This is to separate the more technical and commercial aspects of my acting experience from the purer spiritual aspects of Vacuum State. This blog will continue to post articles from a spiritual perspective, whatever the subject matter may be, and that includes the subject of 'acting' and 'film making'.

Do visit the new blog "Michael Chua", by clicking here.

Do give me your feedback, as it is a new blog and comments and criticisms are critical to determine its future path.

And about the subject of "Who Am I?" as it depicted in the picture above. We are seen as different things to different people, but we are never what they think. We are not even what we do, for what happens is all outside in the phenomenal world in the physical plane. Who we are is more esoteric and more peaceful.

Kid's Play - Acting

It takes longer to act with kids, as their cooperation depends on their moods, and if you happened to hit on their lows, then your production will be stuck there for a while.

I was acting with a kid two days ago, in a scene which the kid character was supposed to have just gotten a severe scolding from me and that he was to sulk and to look miserable. However, he didn't play to instruction, and was instead, cheerful and restless. There were two ways for us to proceed: One, which was to scold him and make him really miserable (on and off-reel); or the second option, which is to persuade him.

We went for the second option, as we didn't want to run into the risk of putting him off acting permanently.

So the persuasion went:

Director: Imagine your teacher gave you a big scolding and you are now so sad.

Boy: But she didn't.

Director: Imagine if your most favourite toy is broken and you can no longer play with it! Forever!!!

Boy: But it is not!

Director: Ok, let's play a game. If you do what we tell you to do later, you will get a chocolate cake.

Boy: Ok.

Then we went for the shoot, but it still didn't quite work. He was still moving around and not looking sad at all.

So, the persuasion continued:

Director: Who else wants to play the game? But only the best person can get the chocolate cake as there is only one chocolate cake!

Everyone in the set quickly raised their hands. The boy then went into the set and performed!!! He saw competition! :)

For other articles on Kid's Play, click here.

If you like to visit my actor's blog, click here.

A Tale of Two Film Schools

I know of two film schools: School A and School B. 

In School A, the teachers deliberately mock their students' scripts and challenges them to substantiate or illustrate their story. The teachers expect the students to be able to stand up for themselves and defend their script. These teachers do not believe there is such thing as a ridiculous story (no matter how outlandish the students cut their story out to be), but whether it is one that is properly researched, structured, substantiated, depicted,...etc. They do not go along the directions of whether there is a 'right' or 'wrong' answer to the script, but only scripts that are well or poorly substantiated.

In School B, the teachers on the other hand, correct the the students' scripts, pointing to them what is wrong with their script and what needs to be corrected, what needs to be there in place and how to do it. The teachers get annoyed if the students think that they know better and argue against the teachers' suggestions. Teachers here believe that with their prior training, experience and maturity, they know better and that these young upstarts are merely wasting their time going one big round arriving at the  same 'right' answers.

For instance, in School B the teachers may comment that to play the role of a detective, the actor must look the part, ie. strong willed, lean, a good body gait, and other stereotype traits of how a detective should look like; and the students are supposed to cast an actor that looks like that.

In School A, the teachers will not change the student's choice of the actor, but will ask how the students are going to make that actor come up alive and feels like a real detective.

[Note: There are indeed examples of  untypical looking detectives in Hollywood, like Detective Theo Kojak in Kojak (who is wheelchair bound) and Jessica Fletcher, who looks more like a loving grandmother,  in 'Murder She Wrote'.]

In School A, students are assessed according to their final product, but also on their ability to defend their ideas and scripts. The final script may still appear to be ridiculous but yet well substantiated and described - that is, one that is able to convince the audience possibly of an unusual but interesting story. 

In School B, students are assessed according to their final product based on how they have corrected them according to their teachers' guidance. Errant students who refused to follow the guidance are  penalised.

There is no telling which one of these two schools come up with better scripts that win awards.

Which one do you think wins?

If you like to visit my actor's blog, click here.

Acting - Ready, Set, Go...

This was unusual. I was feeling nervous before my voice-over assignment. I have never felt nervous before any shoot, not even my very first one. But this time, it got me till my stomach turned, like there is something I couldn't digest emotionally. Some regrets, some mistakes made, that I couldn't forgive myself easily.

Then as I entered the recording studio, as it turned out, the video clip to voice over was about a man regretting about his gambling addiction and his wanting to turn over a new leaf and then giving gratitude to his wife and family for their support. 

For some reason unknown to me (at least consciously) this was exactly how I felt. It was as if I knew the story before hand. Isn't it strange?!

If you like to visit my actor's blog, click here.

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).

.

.

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.

If you like to visit my actor's blog, click here.

Acting the Villain

Many faces, same soul.

Which one of this is the real me?

Of late, I have been playing villains. Casting directors love actors with a beard. They seem to associate beards with villains, or perhaps they are playing to the likes of audiences that love to see their villains larger than life - with beards, gold chains, tattoos and other ferocious looking ancillaries. Villain roles are tiring. As an angry and yelling screen character, the first and most affected person would be me. The rule is that whenever we get aggressive or violent, we feel lousy. Whenever we think aggressively, we feel lousy, as we would be the first recipients of such thoughts.

Thankfully, the same goes for any type of thoughts, including loving or peaceful ones, as we feel their immediate glory and peace. Loving thoughts precedes a calm and peaceful mind and it begets loving thoughts from others around us. Recently, I had the good fortune of doing a shoot by the shore of a placid lake. The environment was so congenial that I actually felt more relaxed after the shoot than when I started.

This really means that I should choose to act in more calm and peaceful films than violent and nasty ones. Sadly, there are more nasty ones around, as there is more demand for them. As Ekhart Tolle said, "... more pain films demanded by pain bodies...".

In real life, we too have to make our choices, and I would choose a peaceful story any day.

If you like to visit my actor's blog, click here.

Acting - Sharing Public Space

Singapore is a small place for location shooting. Often, we do not have the luxury to block the entire place for ourselves, as many of the locations are live amid the daily hussle and bustle of the community. So inevitably, the location has to be shared with the public.

.

Most people are very accepting of the presence of camera crew, equipment, lights and actors occupying their common spaces, however there are always one or two who would be the exception. These rare few would make a big issue of the slightest inconvenience.

.

Here are some amusing incidents I encountered during my shoot:

.

1. In one of the scenes the camera was doing a close-up of me on the running tracks crouched in excruciating pain of a collapsed knee. As I laid down on the inner side of the tracks, there came a jogger who had 6 other outer lanes to run, but instead chose to run just inches behind me, in front of the camera! "Cut!!!"

.

2. In a simulation of an earthquake scene, we blocked off one lane of a minor road. Most of the cars would pass us oblivious of our activities and some would wave and smile, but there was one school bus driver who stopped and complained of the inconvenience and that he had to ferry the school kids in time. I tried to marshal him through the narrow lane, but he chose to stop his bus and continue to scold me, wasting more time than he would have if he had just passed us by. He then called the police. The police came, but they didn't stop us filming!

.

3. In a scene at a lively hawker centre, one old 'uncle' came and scolded us for using the place for our location. He insisted to sit at the table where we were shooting.

.

4. I was playing the role of the father and was with his little four year old daughter getting out of the car, walking across the car park and towards her kindergarten, when we were visited by three police patrol cars, after the take. The police said that they had received reports from members of the public that there were young men fighting with parangs (machetes) where we were. *LOL*

.

5. In one of my taxi driver scene, I had to hurriedly drive out of the covered car park when the town council staff chased us away because we were using their electricity. I had to find alternative routes for the shoot. The camera was still rolling live and I had to pretend to act cool and continue with the dialogue.

.

As said earlier, most people are considerate and would share public spaces generously. However, being in a tiny and densely populated city like Singapore, we need all the cooperation we can get, without which, the show cannot go on.

.

There are also problems of noise, change of ambient light and the weather, but those issues are enough to warrant another article altogether.

If you like to visit my actor's blog, click here.

My Showreel 2011

.

.The actor is a strange creature - ego-less during the act as he empties his personality to assume another; yet when the reel is out, he is again full of himself, shamelessly self promoting.

.

So here it is, the films I acted in Jan-Jun 2011:

If you like to visit my actor's blog, click here.

.

Over-act

Do you over-act?

Do you over-act to entertain?

Or do you just 'be' to inspire?

If you like to visit my actor's blog, click here.

Hentak Kaki

The trailer of "Hentak Kaki" is out. It was well received during the premiere.

Read the review at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2011/05/avant-premiere-6-thesis-films-from.html .

.

I think the audience were mostly captivated by the realistic acting and dialogue. In fact, the film is so real that it doesn't even have music in it! :)

.

The director, the co-actor and myself, painstakingly worked out the dialogue as accurately as we could remember so that the dialogue itself would be enough for anyone who has been in the Singapore army to sink into deep reminiscence. We literally 'Singlicised' the script, added Malay and Hokkien, army vocabulary and expressions, and of course, some expletives! That I think, worked the magic!

.

In my first film, the director often reminded me that if the dialogue does not resonate, don't utter them. This proved to be precious advice that had led to the crafting of the dialogue that has made this film much enjoyed.

.

Actually, we shouldn't utter anything that does not resonate with ourselves in any case - whether on-reel or off-reel! If it does not resonate, it will not propagate.

.
If you like to visit my actor's blog, click here.
.

Directors

Some old-style directors still shout and scream at actors that fail to deliver. These poor actors already stressed up for failing to deliver, feel like nervous wrecks burdened by the director's emotional outburst. A stressed up actor wouldn't be able to improve upon his already dismal delivery.

.

So far, I have been lucky to have worked with directors that prepare me to get into character to fine tune my act. This is particularly important in scenes where subtle shifts in emotions are crucial to anchor the audience attention. For instance, at a funeral scene, the actor playing the role of the moaning relative may be asked to imagine having just held the cold hands of the deceased and recall the happy times he had spent with the deceased during childhood... etc, before acting out the scene. Once in character, the rest comes out easy.

.

Directing for desired results ought not to be limited to making films. I believe that directing for one's desired results follows the same pattern of coaching the 'actors' in one's project. Team members need to be prepared and coached. The old authoritarian way will not bring forth peak performance.

.

We can also start by directing our own life - coaching ourselves to get into the results we want. :)

If you like to visit my actor's blog, click here.

Acting - Remembering Lines

Remembering lines is the greatest chore for an actor. I find it easier if I memorise the words with the emotions and actions. It would even be better if I have someone feed the dialogue with me and do so with emotions.

.

In all, it amounts to living in the moment. If we live in the moment, we capture the moment of eternity and remember everything.

If you like to visit my actor's blog, click here.

Acting - duo language

Today, I was auditioned for the role of a killer in a film.

We acted out the scene twice. In the first round, the dialogue was in English. Then, the same dialogue was repeated in Cantonese.

.

During the Cantonese round, I felt like a different character than the one in the first round speaking English. It was surreal, as the mere change of language in this instance had shifted my emotions enough to make me feel like a different person. I am wondering, if such a change is so easy, then where really is the real me? Who am I?

If you like to visit my actor's blog, click here.

.

.

Thoughts

For a time, I had wished I could act in a stage play, but put off the idea when I thought of the long months of rehearsals required.

.

Then last week, out of the blue, I was given a role in a short play, and also a short 5 days to prepare.

.

Curiously, my wish came true without the dreaded long rehearsals and yesterday, I performed two nights at the Esplanade.

.

So be careful with what you think, for they will come true.

If you like to visit my actor's blog, click here.

Acting - Make Believe

Actors get quickly into character of the script during shooting. When in character, his performance is assured. Words, emotions and actions will flow naturally unimpeded.

.

As much as it is important for the actor to get into character, it is also important for him to get out of the character.

.

During one of my recent film shoot, I played the tough army warrant officer during the day, running around the tracks and collapsing upon an excruciatingly painful torn ligament on the right knee. And as in film making, this collapse had to be repeated many times (at different camera angles), during each time which I was to demonstrate more and more convincingly that I had collapsed due to a right knee ligament injury.

.

Then when the shoot ended at 7pm, I had to rush down to another production studio for a rehearsal where I played the sobbing taxi driver father during an emotional separation from his daughter. I managed to get out of the warrant officer role and immediately became a caring sobbing taxi driver father.

.

I thought I did well transitioning from one character to another, until the next morning when I woke up with a painful right knee. Apparently, my repeated auto-suggestions the previous day had resulted in a painful right knee manifesting. In other words, I had managed to bluff my sub-conscious that I had a right knee injury and finally really got one!!

.

Our mind is powerful. It can believe in something and make that something manifest. So be careful with your thoughts, as positive thoughts manifest, but so do negative ones.

.

.

ps. The pain faded after one day. I had to wish it away!

If you like to visit my actor's blog, click here.

Acting

Finally got my showreel (an extract from the film) out.

I played the role of the father who had to relive the torment of guilt upon an unexpected encounter with his long lost daughter. I think the director is not only brilliant. I think she is also psychic! :)

.

There are three things I have learned during shooting. They are to:

1. Ignore the camera

2. Ignore the crew

3. Ignore yourself.

.

Some directors say that I shouldn't 'ignore myself', so I guess by that, I actually mean that I should not to be overly conscious about myself during the act. My director also told me that I shouldn't be 'acting', but just 'to be'. Once in the 'being', the rest comes naturally.

.

Other than that, I think it is also important to have chemistry with your co-actor.

.

Through reading scripts and characters, I have also learned to be more empathetic towards others and am more conscious and observant of my off-reel actions and behaviour. Now, I probably need less reminders to be aware that different results come from different intentions and actions committed in the moment. This awareness comes from the exercise of acting out various scenarios during rehearsals.
.

Most of all, acting has taught me to live in the moment, as it is not something you can day-dream away, dread about the past, or worry about the future while in action.

.

The world is a stage and we are all actors. So live it! Live in the present moment.

If you like to visit my actor's blog, click here.

.