LIONCITY THROWDOWN

Part of my documentary required me to film for Lion City Throwdown. An international dance event that is organized by Flair Brothers , one of Singapore’s most well known dance crew. This is the 6th and the last LCT and by far the biggest of it series.  I had the privilege of filming alongside RP productions for this and am very thankful that the organizers have allowed me to film this event, given that the camera I was using [SONY PMW-200] was bulky and that it could have been dangerous for the dancers there.  Fortunately , there were no injures to my film crew nor to any dancers and some of the shots I took were really nice!

I’ve compiled some of the shots together for your viewing pleasure. But I’ve still got much data to sort through! Can’t wait to show the final product!

Ps. The only sad thing during the event for me was that I could not dance. 🙁

A dance cypher is a cyclical freestyle and usually involves a ring of people taking turns to dance in the center. Basically during the event, there will be many cyphers ongoing and the judges will walk around and give scores, from there, they tally the scores and choose the top 16 dancers for each categories , out of more than 200 dancers.

But as seen in the video , it looked more like a party than a competition. Which is amazing, but now my challenge then is setting up the context of how this event works and what exactly are the rules to abide by. I will be interviewing Daniel and Jeremy from Flair Brothers [ the organizers] , so hopefully their interview can establish some from of context on LCT!

 

 

 

BRANDING _ MARKET RESEARCH

GOT TO MOVE

A movement initiated by the National Art Council , Got to Move, is an annual nationwide “move”-ment to celebrate Singapore’s diverse dance scene and get Singaporeans “MOVING”

Submissions of any dance-related activity are welcomed. Some examples of activities include:

  • talks, sharing sessions on dance related topics
  • dance-related exhibitions
  • open houses to dance studios, open dance rehearsals
  • free dance classes for the public,
  • free public showings,
  • flash mobs, mass participation events
  • dance film screenings,
  • dance publications – print and media-based
  • mini dance- themed competitions

All Got To Move ISLANDWIDE activities must be free and open to the public. 

50 successful applications will be provided with a fixed sum of $500, $3,000 or $5,000 each. Priority will be given to proposals that are creative and unconventional. Dance activities that are not funded may still be acknowledged as a Got To Move ISLANDWIDE project under Got to Move.

Here’s a video of the many #gottomovesg videos published

What I like about this is that it encourages people of different demographics.

 

photo

What is good about this initiative is that it consist of a larger group of individuals, rather than confining movement to just dance , movement is also considered in Yoga , sweeping the floor or serving coffee. It takes a very light approach to movement and the element of fun is very obvious and heartening.

However as seen in the video above and below , it showed that there is a more favorable response from the younger generation to move as compared to the older generation. Something really contradictory.

Upon this , there are other question to ponder and think about: 

  1. Why must there be a “movement” or an ‘Event’ to celebrate and commemorate movement , when by right , movement should be an everyday lifestyle?
  2. Does moving more necessarily translate to body Awareness ? Does moving more allow one to appreciate music and develop confidence? Does moving more make one understand bodily expression?
  3. What are some of Singapore’s cultural constraints that prevents this movement from being a full blow lifestyle?

 

 

Dance Lesson @ Recognize Studio

Recently interviewed Xiao Mei who has street dance experience of about 9 years. I ended up not only interviewing her but taking shots for two of her classes and joined her kakis for supper later on! Total of 4 hours spent! This are some of the raw clips I took of her [ Interview , dance segment and supper conversations excluded!]

Love how her music kept changing but still flowed into each other. This will make the editing easier! Some of the visual noise I shall need to edit over premier cc!~ Feedback on angles and shots will be great. Did a hasty job placing this together cause I just wanted something that flowed in some sense.

 

KAKAK

A short documentary I put together for practise. Stories are everywhere,so  I might as well kill 2 birds with one stone.  I’m still in the midst of setting it up the context and subtitle for this film!

In Singapore , it is common for the locals to have “maids” and unlike a term overseas , being labelled a maid is not an offensive term here. Usually , we call them by their names. But in my case , I called my maid “Kakak” as in ‘older sister’ in Malay. Calling her so meant that I respected her because it is in chinese culture to not call someone older by name.

Maids in Singapore usually stay long years caring and helping out with the household , mostly because both parents are working. Here’s the story of one maid in particular whom I love dearly.

I guess the main reason I want to do this is to tribute something to her. Here’s hoping she may lead a great life ahead.

Kakak Siti came when she was 23, and left our household when I was 23.

I will continue to edit this film after , so feedback will be great!