Connexscions Volume VIII Issue 02 Jan - WKWSCI Home - Nanyang ...

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CAMPUS CAMPUS Theatre with no sexual boundaries By Kwang Shu Wen Cambodia Calling By Darius Zheng New Regional Strategic Communication Management practicum encourages community awareness Daring play by WKWSCI alumnus and students rocks the Arts House with sold-out performances Abold original play, “F’Friends” (you can decide what “F” means), which ran at The Arts House Play Den from 18 to 21 January this year, turned out to be a roaring success for its playwrightcum-director, WKWSCI alumnus Jocelyn Chua, and her young cast. Four out of five of the shows were sold out. Wittily pieced together, the production was a brave attempt at “untamed and uncut” theatre by this collective, a young arts company set up by Jocelyn. The scenes in the play were set in HDB flats all over Singapore and delved into complicated love, as well as lusty and awkward relationships among six couples. Jocelyn, who graduated from WKWSCI in 2006, had specialised in Broadcast and Cinema Studies. She wrote and directed the 2004 staging of Paparazzi, an annual WKWSCI theatre production. Despite the inexperience of the young cast in “F’Friends”, three of whom are current WKWSCI students, Jocelyn was impressed by their performance level and professional attitude. Indeed the audience was visibly moved by the marvellously daring performances of the young cast. Kenneth Kwok, an arts reviewer for The Inkpot Reviews (a theatre and dance online review website) said of the production, “I’m excited. We are now seeing more and more young people coming out of theatre or literature courses in JCs, polytechnics and universities saying, Hey, let’s rent a space and put on a play.” The review highlighted the excellent performances of all three WKWSCI students in the cast. “It is important to remember that for quite a few of them, this is their professional stage debut. Best in show: Willy Beh, Quek Hui Ying ad Marcus Yew and especially Ellison Tan, “ wrote Kwok. Behind the Scenes with “Samantha” Year 3 student Quek Huiying, who played Samantha in “F’Friends”, had a tough time juggling rehearsals, school commitments and her internship at the same time. But she did it, because theatre is one passion that she cannot give up. Her role of Samantha was not an easy one. “I am not like Samantha!” remarked Huiying, who described Samantha as “ah-lian”. A dominating and manipulative character, Samantha nevertheless secretly possessed a soft heart. The role was a physically demanding one, as Huiying and her partner had to practise their blocking on stage multiple times in order to perfect the scene. In one instance, they had to fling objects at each other. “We had to be careful not to hurt each other but yet come across as convincing,” Huiying recalled. Praise from the audience made all the effort and rehearsals worthwhile. “It was heartening to see our hard work being rewarded by the applause during curtain call, along with good feedback and reviews from friends who had come down to support me,” she said happily. “I remember one of my friends texting me: ‘Please continue acting!’ I believe these are the best indicators of my performance.” The cast remained close even after the production ended. “I find it cool to be able to save people’s contacts in my phone and categorise them as ‘F’Friends’! It kind of seals the bond,” Huiying siad with a grin. Hoping to participate more widely in the local arts scene, she added, “We can’t buy happiness, but we have the right to chase our dreams, and that’s kind of the same thing.” C While most students spent their one-week mid-semester break in February revising, or travelling if they were lucky, a group of second-year students chose to spend theirs on an eyeopening trip to aid Cambodian villagers who have little access to safe water and proper sanitation. The 12 WKWSCI students travelled to rural Cambodia with instructors Mr Tim Clark and Assistant Professor Fernando De La Cruz Paragas as part of a newly minted overseas module —Regional Strategic Communication Management. The trip was made possible by a partnership with Singapore-based non-governmental organisation (NGO) Lien Alliance for International Development (Lien AID). The new module aims to provide students with an experiential learning opportunity to study the nuances and intricacies of communication issues faced by nonprofit organisations. Through the module, the school aims to bring community awareness into the classroom to develop socially-mindful and well-rounded students. Students on the 10-day trip travelled to Lien AID’s project sites in Cambodia’s Kampong Speu and Kampong Chhnang provinces, where they visited referral hospitals and a health centre. They also visited Asia’s largest freshwater lake, the Ton Le Sap, where they spoke to families in the floating communities who face issues of access to safe water and proper sanitation. “It is such a different experience as compared to touring in developed countries,” observed Year 2 student Tay Qiao Wei. “It was honestly quite an eyeopener for me. I’m thankful for this opportunity given for us to interact with the unfortunate and know more about their lives.” At the end of the module, students were required to assemble the stories they had documented—in the form of photography, videos and words—to develop possible collaterals to pitch the aims of NGOs to potential donors such as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) departments in various companies. The students hope to see the module culminate in an exhibition slated to take place in May at the Arts House. “Within and outside school, there are really not many socially-relevant classes available. For students wanting to deviate from the typical corporate track, this is an option for them,” said Asst Prof Fernando. It was a win-win situation for the school as well as Lien AID. The organisation’s Senior Manager, Lim Chee Leong said, “At Lien AID, we believe in the need to increase public awareness of the need for proper water and sanitation hygiene, which remains a pertinent problem today in areas such as Cambodia, China and Vietnam.” He added, “It has been a great experience working with the school for this trip to visit our project sites. We hope to further increase this form of community consciousness of the public via more partnerships in future.” C Patients in Oudong Referral Hospital do not have the benefit of proper sanitation, to the concern of family members such as Ms Ouk Rathana (above) Students interviewing staff in a provincial hospital, to gather information on local sanitary issues Course instructor Asst Prof Paragas (left) running through the itinerary with Lien AID Cambodia Deputy Manager Sopheak Sim 6 CONNEXSCIONS CONNEXSCIONS 7
CAMPUS CAMPUS WEE DID IT AGAIN ConnexSCIons congratulates our talented new batch of award winners By Dawn Eng CROWBAR BRONZE AWARD Chiang Wei Liang NFFTY INTERNATIONAL SHOWCASE SELECTION Tay Lide SINGAPORE SHORT FILM AWARDS NOMINATIONS Audrey Woon Despite their last-minute submission, Audrey Woon and her group members Jeanette Lim, Yap Junhua and Wallace Woon had their film nominated for best documentary, best editing and best cinematography in the Singapore Short Film Awards (SSFA). Their film centres around the conversations that Bangladeshi workers have with their families, and seeks to show how these foreign workers have loved ones back home that they are working hard for. “Hopefully the audience will be urged to look further than the stigma that society creates around these Bangladeshi construction workers who are, in fact, lonely in a foreign country,” said the group. Securing filming locations was tough. “We called up dorm after dorm and even made a trip down to Kaki Bukit and got turned down at the door,” said Audrey. But their “why-not” attitude finally won through. EYEKA AWARD Benny Lim Eyeka award winner Benny Lim attributes his win to all of the members of his team: Lisa Tan, Ou Xin Ying and Edwin Lim. “Perseverance and team spirit are the key to ensuring that a film shoot runs smoothly,” he said. The film is about a girl missing her home in the days before she goes to study in the US. “Lisa is an awesome director who always had the film’s vision in her mind,” said Benny. Not forgetting the rest of the team, he added, “Edwin is an excellent DOP who was a steadying presence in the production. Oxy (Xin Ying) is a terrific sound recordist who did her job efficiently and effectively. The production assistants were amazing in going the extra mile for us too.” His team stuck together through the inevitable difficulties they faced, including trouble with securing locations and holding auditions. Their collaborative efforts paid off in the end, and, in Benny’s own words, “It was a great morale booster.” The Crowbar Awards is a recognised means for the winner to get a foothold in the competitive advertising industry. But Bronze Award winner Chiang Wei Liang did not care about all that. To him, film making is not about the end result, but the process and people behind it. “If making films is a way of generating publicity, good grades or popularity for yourself, you really undermine the spirit of film making, which is just story telling,” he said in a phone interview from Taipei, Taiwan, where he is currently working on his FYP. His winning film “8MMTPE”, which refers to the film format 8mm, was shot when he was a Year 2 student on an exchange trip to Taiwan. “I first met (director) Arvin (Chen) on exchange,” said Wei Liang. “I sent him a long e-mail after I watched one of his films, asking him what it was like to shoot in Taiwan, and we subsequently met up. I was touched by how a renowned director like himself took the time to answer my amateur questions, and even paid for our meal. Veterans here give young people like us a real chance to develop and show our talents.” For his winning film, he took elements of films he admired and experimented on them. “I’d like to think of my film as an homage to my favorite directors,” he said. His film, about a man who photographs Taipei, seems to have been inspired by his own love for a city he described as “magical”. “When I have time I just cycle around and look at things—there are so many stories here,” he said. “8MMTPE” was also selected for the National Film Festival for Talented Youth (NFFTY) 2011 in Seattle, USA, in addition to another film collaboration he did with fellow WKWSCI students entitled “Bukit Chandu”. When Tay Lide first heard about his group’s film, “Bukit Chandu”, making it into the official selection under the International Showcase at the National Film Festival for Talented Youth (NFFTY) 2011 in Seattle, he was stunned. At the point of their win, his team, comprising Elizabeth Lee, Maryam Mokhtar, Pedro Shiu, Chiang Wei Liang and himself, had only picked up film studies for less than a year, each with only about three short films under their belts. They were “as clueless as most students were”, confessed Lide, whose team used fellow hall residents and friends as their talents and make-up artistes. Having botched an attempt at using wireless microphones for the audio for the film, the group had to resort to using ADR (Automated Dialogue Replacement) to re-record the dialogue and dub it over their visuals, costing them many extra hours of labour. With all their difficulties, the group did not hold out high hopes for their war film. “Bukit Chandu”, a fictional story, was based on the real-life Bukit Chandu story. The group was inspired to portray “a proud piece of our heritage, and also a constant reminder of our needs as a fledgling nation: that we alone will defend ourselves in times of war”. “We had to watch a lot of reference films to get a better idea of what had to be done in order to make the story compelling,” said Lide. “It was our first selection for a film festival, and understandably, that was the hugest achievement in my life,” he added with pride. “The fact that I was on exchange in Seattle and was able to attend the festival in person was the cherry on top!” C 8 CONNEXSCIONS CONNEXSCIONS 9
Page 1 and 2: ALUMNI MAGAZINE OF THE VOL. 8 ISSUE
Page 3: CAMPUS Sojourning into Pyongyang Jo
Page 7 and 8: COVER STORY years and beyond Even a
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Page 13 and 14: ALUMNI ALUMNI Desmond Lim SERENE LO
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