I had the weirdest dream about the Musical last night/this morning, and I felt I had to share it. Today, Hannah also said she had a flashback of the Musical. Strange, eerily strange.
I dreamt we were assembling as a cast and crew on a stage, once more. I couldn’t remember who was in front, talking to us. It was briefing/debriefing time during a rehearsal, I should think, as you all were not in costumes, but school uniform, like how we were dressed on Thursday afternoon, during Tech Run.
The area we were in was similar in layout to Victoria Theatre, with two doors right in front of the stages, and red plush chairs. There were circle seats, and I vaguely recall the three big windows, where the control room was, and five smaller windows, where the follow-spot spotlights were shone from. I could not see the back of the first floor seats clearly, but the same thing happened at VT as well, because the stage lights were too bright.
However, the stage was very different in layout. There were no wings, just one curtain on each side, in front of the backdrop. In between the front curtain and the rear curtain was blank space. The backdrop was let down in front of a large flat wall, instead of it being suspended in front of the backstage area. The stage had no lights mounted at the sides, only lights overhead. The four sets of whitewashed steps were nowhere to be seen, as was the white flooring. Very strange.
All of you were in school uniform. I didn’t recall seeing either Chi Seng or Sam Koh in the dream, but I definitely know it was the musical people. Somehow, I just knew. I think I saw Wendy at the end of the first row, where she was during the WWII and Riot scenes, and Amy and Timoy somewhere in the group. I also vaguely recall some people sitting in the seats. Whether they were teachers or directors, I do not recall. I didn’t see any teachers’ faces whom I recognised, neither did I remember seeing Hansel or Natalie.
Then I remember picking out boys who weren’t Musical cast or crew, but students from FMSS who had no business in the musical, and chasing them off-stage, with some others shouting at them to go away as well. I remember when these students exited from the door, on stage left, it was not a pathway outside, but a large corridor, similar to looking out of the school hall through the doors, where I could see and hear many other students walking past.
Then, I woke up.
It was, perhaps, a bittersweet dream. In a way, I felt happy, and perhaps at home, back in production, the only production that made such an impact on me. I’ve been on quite a number of other productions in my Fairfield school life, from School Daze in FMPS, to Talentime, three years back, and even Chapelthon, two years ago. Then there were countless events: Teachers’ Day, Chinese New Year, and Founder’s Day to name a few. Yet, this production left the largest impression on me.
I don’t know what it is. I was only with all of you for three days. Yet, I feel I belong, more than to the other productions, which I’ve definitely spent more time on. Just take Talentime for example. I spent numerous months with the Yo-yo team, perfecting our sequence, and getting it in cue with our music. Yet, the bonds formed cannot even come close to what we share in this Musical. It’s truly been magical, nothing short of mystical.
I cannot stop thinking of how easily I could have missed out on all this, and would have instead been watching you all from the circle seats. I think back to that time, when I was lying on my bed, projects overwhelming me, when I was considering calling Chi Seng up and telling him I want to pull out from the Musical Video team. How easy it could have been for me to pull out, and focus on school work. I think it is apt to write on the route I took to the Musical, so different from the one you all took, the route of auditions and rehearsals, many late nights, and many raw nerves.
Despite the pressure of schoolwork, I decided to stay on. On hindsight, it was strange how I got on the team. I met Chi Seng one day at The Cage (which is the name of Ngee Ann Poly’s Film School’s massive, extensive equipment booking facility.) It was my first time seeing him since he graduated (I think). He asked me if I was interested in doing a video presentation for a scene in the Fairfield Musical. I told him I would certainly be interested. I left him my contact and he told me he’d get back to me.
Fast forward to July 29th, 2006. Our first interview ever as a team, was to interview Mr. Wee, ex-HOD, Pupil Development, FMSS. Following that was an interview with Ms. Elaine Lim, on the very same day. Two interviews down, and plenty of material to use. Things were looking good.
Then the work from school started piling in. All our final projects for this sememster were flying in thick and fast. I felt I wanted to pull out. By God’s grace, I did not. I am so thankful that I did not, for I would have missed this wondeful magic of the musical. This magic probably can be felt by the audience, but can only be experienced as a member of the “A Bright New World” family. It is special, unique, exclusive to us. It is not our choice. Things are just this way. A member of the audience wouldn’t understand. Only we would.
Founder’s Day Dinner was fun. I remember our lighting problem, and how we used the hotel’s lamps to make up for the bad lighting. That was when I first saw all you Nonya girls, and Ms. Tan as Mrs. Blackmore. I vaguely remember Sam asking Mr. Pang something about her hair, but that was it.
That week prior to the musical was nothing short of hecktic. It was my last week of school, and I had two projects to clear, one a written proposal, and the other, a presentation.
I recall Monday being the deadline for the proposal, and how I rushed down to FMSS to interview Mrs. Seet. That very same day, we started editing the final product, the actual video. Things were actually beginning to take shape. I remember camping at PA2 for close to an hour, just to get some footage (not sure if any of you remember seeing me. I know Lovelle did, because she was the only person in there that I actually knew!) It was my first encounter with all of you (actually second. The first was at Founder’s Day Dinner.).
Tuesday was a non-musical day (actually it was supposed to be, but I knew I had to do some editing, or the video would never be up in time). Because of the fact that the video needed to be out ASAP, I rushed down to FMSS after my project meeting to start my section of the editing. (The arrangemnt was for Chi Seng, Amanda and Mr. Firhad to lay everything out properly, then leave all the transitions, special effects and timing refining to me.)
I got about half of the video cleared by Tuesday evening, and went home exhausted. (Little did I know that I would experience that almost every evening that week.)
Wednesday. It was presentation day. I strangely felt an anticipation. I wanted, so badly, to get to Fairfield and finish the video. I remember rushing down to FMSS right after my presentation, and working all the way until 5 or 6. It was all a blur. When you’re working on something like this, time doesn’t seem to matter, only the deadline. I remember finishing the video, and letting some of the lucky media people view it ahead of the rest of the cast, crew, and audience. I remember Ms. Lim and Ms. Wong coming up to vet the video, and all the last minute changes that we had to make on Thursday morning. It was getting exciting. Zero hour was approaching.
Chi Seng and I arranged to catch the cast/crew buses to go down to VT with all the rest of you on Thursday morning, but with all the changes we needed to make, we missed the buses. We eventually got the Final Cut onto DVD with much trouble, since we all didn’t know how to use iDVD. Still, iDVD being a Mac software, was a breeze to figure out, and we got the product out in no time. We packed up, and rushed down to VT in a cab. Anticipation was in the air.
I remember we arranged to trick Mr. Firhad into thinking we did not have the DVD, and give him a scare. I remember he was genuinely shaken, till Chi Seng pulled out the disc and showed it to him. I remember all of you scooting off to begin the Tech Run. Chi Seng left for the day. I remember hanging out in front with Ms. Liang at first, having nothing to do. I decided to engage myself in some activity, so I went backstage, hoping to find something to do. I did not know anyone, and it was difficult to get to know people, I admit. It was especially difficult, since everyone was busy during the Tech Run (not as busy as during Full Runs and Shows, since I remember talking to Joavan, Russell, and Lovelle during lulls. Yes, there were actually lulls during the Tech Runs!)
Then, my services were engaged by Mr. Pang to commence Project: Thank You. Hence, the trusty (faulty) Casio Point-&-Shoot digital camera was pulled out, and I began backstage, and ocassionally front-stage, coverage of the Tech Run, dinner, and the next day’s Full Run.
It was tiring, after just finishing one video, to begin on another, on the same old interface and software. Picture quality was not anywhere near top notch. I also had to select the music, as Mr. Pang didn’t give me his song (anyway, on hindsight I think the song I chose was more meaningful than Daniel Powter’s “Bad Day”.). Now, when I hear all the screams and cheers on the last night of the show, I think it was worth all the lost sleep, and frustration when the video just didn’t look the way I envisioned.
Friday and Saturday came. It was finally show time. It was finally make-or-break. I think no one really broke. We all made it, and I’m proud of every single one of you.
It’s really amazing, and I can go on and on about this. The friendships I’ve made with some of you. It’s been a short three days. I wish it lasted longer. Yet, I know it’s going to last a lot longer that those short three days. I know, because we’ve been meeting up. I know, because we’ve been keeping in touch, and looking out for each other. It’s heartwarming, really heartwarming.
So here, I leave you. The legacy of a member of the video crew, A Bright New World, 18-19 August, 2006, finally written out.
