Getting Hitched

In one of the final weeks of the Broken Bridges rehearsal, Douglas Lim approached me to do a corporate video which he was putting together for Nielsen Media Research (sister company of ACNielsen). With his mates Rashid Salleh and Gavin Yap also roped in, he was planning to shoot within the week right after our musical's run.

Taking the mickey out of the film Hitch, the video would focus on simpleton Adam (Rashid) trying to win the heart of Julie (me) who seems to be a bit too out of his league. This is until corporate-savvy savior Nielsen (Gavin) comes to save him from the pits of humiliation with his wealth of information about what makes a girl like Julie tick. The half-hour presentation, aptly titled Get Hitched, would be shot in two days; my role was minor enough for me to only be needed on the first.

My call time was 6.30am, the earliest out of the three actors. Gavin however, being the darling he is, disregarded his 11am call time and picked me up before sunrise. Even Rashid was already there by the time we arrived at the venue.

We shot at the prolific production house, Popiah Pictures - a bungalow office cum studio in the heart of town. Their current hit TV series is Realiti, a drama set in a Malaysian Idol-esque atmosphere. I've worked on a few small projects with the folks at Popiah a couple of years ago, and I'm pleasantly surprised that they still remember me.


My makeup and hair is done, and my solo scenes are the first to be shot. Waking up earlier than the alarm, I'm not too acquainted with the wee hours of the morning yet. The scenes are thankfully short enough for me to stay on the ball. I'm finding it hard to rub the sleep out of my eyes, though. Hopefully my fatigue doesn't show up on camera.

Douglas runs through the schedule


All of Julie's interation is with Adam alone. I suspect that one of the first scenes I shoot with Rashid is strategically scheduled to wake me up good and proper.

Adam compassionately offering Julie some medication for her headache...


...which, unbeknownst to him, was caused by his romantic kompang composition.


Breaking


Douglas directs, Ping & Kim from Popiah & Gavin look on


Audrey & Shan Shan from Nielsen Media Research, the former of which helped a great deal in taking the shots posted in this entry.


Gavin, when suited up, appears criminally distinguished. He lends me his spare shirt to keep me from contracting frostbite in the studio.


Preparing for the next scene


The boys going through their lines. A couple of run-throughs and they're set, compared to me who has to study the script like I'll be graded on it, and still flub whatever minimal lines I have.


I *had* to take a picture of the make-up artist, Ashley. She was adorable enough for me to want to tie a bell in her hair and attach her to my cellphone.


Getting ready for the scene where Adam lays his eyes on Julie for the first time.


Shan Shan makes her acting debut as café lady...


... from whom Julie purchases a bottle of water and the day's papers.


Adam is mesmerized, and Julie turns to smile at him.


The oldest trick in the business never loses its effectiveness.


Adam's 'kiss whistle' attracts the wrong kind of attention in the form of an effeminate, dreadlocked Douglas. The bottom half of the picture has been cropped at my discretion...


although I do think his legs deserve some positive form of recognition.


Nielsen lays down the facts...


...but not without proving his credibility.


Watching the action from the monitor screen is quite cool.


Adam picks up the courage to make his first move on me.


Working with Rashid when he kicks into comedian mode requires a ridiculous amount of concentration. Halfway through this scene, I spaced out of my character and almost burst out laughing when I realized that the guy next to me was being an absolute freak.


Despite a few technical hiccups throughout the day, we managed to wrap up the day's shoot on time. The guys had to rush off right after to KLPac and do a small role reversal: Gavin directs Rashid and Douglas in their upcoming horror-themed theatre production, Frankenstein In Love.

I was extremely nervous at the thought of working with Douglas and his posse, who can all be considered veterans in their own right. But they kept me as comfortable as I could be on set with their patience and encouragement, and it helped that their chemistry as both friends and colleagues kept the air casually constructive.

Douglas told me that the screening of the video was shown to over 300 members of the media a few weeks ago. The event was such a resounding success that the clients would like to take us all out for drinks soon. I'm looking forward to it - watching the boys rile each other up is always wholesome entertainment.