White people can’t tolerate the heat

 Sorry I couldn’t treat you with 2 posts today, but it was a very long day. As I had mentioned in the previous couple posts, I got the gig for the corporate video and it was expected to be 10-12 hours of “work”. 

Today wasn’t too bad of a start; I needed to be at the Marina Bay area for 10am start time. A quick jump on the train and I am there in less than 30. We were told to meet at #11. Well folks, if you get told to find #11 good luck! There is no address signage for there because well we were actually in a big field overlooking downtown and the Marina Bay sands. After wandering around aimlessly for 5 or 10 minutes I found it. Actually very hard to miss, this was a much bigger production than I expected. Easily 50-60 extras, and 6 of us featured extras.

Shortly after my arrival, with carry on case full of close, I was assigned one of my long sleeve t-shirts and jeans to wear for the day. This entire shoot was to be done outside, in 30-degree weather, that’s the temperature before the humidity so closer to 50 today.

An Aussie woman and myself were to be a couple for some of the shooting. I can’t for the life of me remember her name, but she was wonderful to work with. Very easy for the two of us to chat, I was excited for her and her twin 9-month-old boys. Makes it very easy to smile when you think about that. We were the first set of people filming. The orders were very simple, walk up to the cooking counter, talk with the chef, point at a few things, and receive bowls and walk away smiling.  While doing that they needed extra’s just strolling in the fairgrounds around us. It took a while for the extra’s to look normal in the background so we had to do maybe 5 or 6 takes. A couple different positions for hand-offs etc. This wasn’t to bad, but waiting for things between takes was ridiculous. It was very hot and humid out so I was sweating like a mad man. They put some make up on my face so I wouldn’t be so shiny from sweat. At this point I was feeling like a prince. I had one assistant dabbing my forehead and neck of sweat, with another one waving a hand fan for me. 

 

After that we just hung out for a bit in the shade, while 2 other models filmed stuff with t-shirts. The following part was cool and I hope the pictures turned out. Waiting for them to develop. The goal was to make the big field look like a carnival, so we all had to walk around with balloons, check out the stands and have fun. This was easy as Geri; the girl from South Africa was also there today. Her and I and the Aussie just hung out and checked out things. After who knows how long of doing this, on a count of three we all released balloons. I thought this was interesting as littering in Singapore is a $1000 fine. I reconciled that it’s not littering until it hits the ground, likely miles away. We did a second shoot of the same thing again.

Next up were myself and my girlfriend for the day. I wonder about continuity of the shoot, she had her wedding ring on the entire time and me well, no ring for me. I don’t think they noticed though. Back on task. We were sitting down at a table just hanging out and eating food. Sorry no pic as this was working. The cuisine was delicious and looked incredible as well. Black rice with mixed vegetables and chili beef, or chicken dishes or pork dishes and tofu as well, all incredible.  It was funny too as we were expected to use our chopsticks. I am starting to get a handle on them. Another week or two and I will be snapping a fly out of the air. 

Shortly after finishing these shots, darkness set over the sky, one that would not lift for almost 4 hours. The Aussie and I hurried back to the tents and set up camp. It rained, and then rained some more, then it drizzled, then cats and dogs fell from the sky, you catch my drift. Geri and I chatted quite a bit, where she is living right now there are a lot of beautiful cars in the garage. This conversation was all sparked by our heads turning every time a Maserati, or Ferrari or Lambo zoomed by. Cooped up under the tent it was uncomfortable, sweaty and boring.  But we all survived.

While under the tent I received a text from my agent regarding tomorrow’s gig. We are meeting at a hotel restaurant at 8:45 sharp. Geri got the gig too, so we are meeting at the MRT station then rolling in together. Thankfully, the only thing I need to pack is my black shoes. So flip flops and shorts for tomorrow.

While waiting for the rain to stop, I took my time to chat with one of the women responsible for getting me the job. We had an awesome conversation about food. Singaporean’s love their food.  She recommended a few really good hawker stations and some dishes that are a must to try. My newton station experience the night before she said was nothing on what I can get at a few other places. She was surprised I like the hawker food, as most white people can’t tolerate the hot flavor. Another great conversation, people are so friendly here. As usual, networking. If they are looking for a Caucasian male for a role in something, I just might pop into mind.

Finally after the rain let up, we resume shooting. Only one more thing left, a movie theatre type thing. A big screen was set up, chairs were in place and extras were lined up. Well all except the 6 of us. We were assigned specific seats as couple’s all relatively close to each other. On the screen they put up a trailer for a Korean film, based on WW2. It was funny though that the actors were portraying Russians and they were Asian.  This whole scene took about an hour and a half maybe 2 hours. Many extras struggled to look normal when the camera was that much closer to them. There was one extra that did awesome at getting some of the others to loosen up which was great.

Finally, what I had been waiting to hear all day. IT’S A WRAP. The day was over.

As I rolled out I made sure to thank everyone that had helped along the way. If I remotely had contact with anyone I wanted to express my gratitude. There was an American fellow who was directing people what to do. He was awesome with the food shots earlier and funny with the popcorn/theatre thing. I chatted with him for a little bit about football, we are going to go grab beers before my time is up here. He also expressed that they were very happy with my performance and attitude and that if another role comes up he would give me a shout. Thumbs up!

It was now 8pm I was tired and a little hungry. Lunch was provided and Geri shared her chicken with me so I could have a “man’s portion” and she didn’t like the chicken (rightfully so, it was very almost wet). I had a few granola bars packed with me and drank a ton of water. Ah that reminds me I forgot my 1.5 L bottle there, it was empty and I bet it got recycled (don’t worry it was just a normal bottled water bottle). I stopped by a place called Asian kitchen and splurged on dinner, full service sit down kind of dinner. I ordered this beef (the menu mentioned frank Sinatra in it) and rice and paid $9. It was awesome, another epic meal. Do I have low standards or is the food really that good here. North American food can be so plain and boring, here they are so adventurous with spices and everything is hot. Not unbearable hot but Zach loves kind of hot. 

I finally made it home shortly before 9, exactly 12 hours after I left in the morning. My first stop was to my room to grab my swimsuit and then half hour in the pool. Tonight I did a few laps, did some of the P90x stuff in the water and added something new. Wide claps under water, this just killed my chest. The harder you push the greater the resistance, it was awesome.

Good night everyone, another long day is ahead tomorrow. 

And look another Gecko. Same Place again today.