Things I Did In Life Before Blogging: Directed TV Magazine Shows


I was a "Creative Director" (a term not many people associate with a production company, in the first place) for a local production house for a good 6+ years, after my job at the local TV broadcaster. During my tenure, I was also given the opportunity to direct television shows (primary "magazine" styled shows and short-form documentaries, and somehow even "produce" some of them (in inverted comas, because I am not disillusioned to snatch that title from folks who work hard for said title lol).

On top of that, I was still actively engaged in Art Directing and Production Design for film and television :)

"Directing" for tv magazine shows meant "camera-directing" for the bulk of my projects with the company, and subsequent freelance gigs saw me taking on an entire show, and most times not exceptionally swell at it, so I surmise (folks never did come back for seconds lol).

Hey, I've had my fair-share of numerous moments when I strapped a mini-monitor to my body, while standing alongside the cameraman handheld, with talents moving, okay? not every monitor's comfortably sitting on a table top under a giant umbrella, you know? MUAHAHAHAHAH

I reckon I am an extremely "visual guy", but when it comes to trying to convince people to go my way, to do what i ask them of, sometimes becomes an ego-battle. Most peeps need to be subdued or mollycoddled to do things asked of them, unfortunately - experienced or otherwise. I've done my fair share of battles and wars, and frankly the projects would have been better served if that need not have happened constantly lol ... No small wonder things do not advance more and faster than they should in the industry.

But you know what? I have been out for a pretty long time already, so I sure as heck won't know what sort of tomfoolery happens now, yeh? (But of course I do, I may have left the industry, but the industry has not left me ;p).


But my biggest 'fun" in the scheme of things, was not telling people to do things, but in co-creating television shows, such as music programs and arts programs. Essentially editorializing program content - pretty much what i do with my blog these days, or rather I do attempt to editorialize my posts, not willy-nilly posting stuff hahahaha

I remember the love/hate I had for music-related shows (at one point we helmed 4 shows per week), and the opportunity to "create" content, had with it a swell sense of "fulfilment" (regardless the result, as everything was under the approval of the client anyways lol). One memorable project was a weekly one-hour television show about the "Arts", for three seasons (so don't try to pull the wool over my eyes when it comes to the "arts" LOL *nudge-nudge*) - where we got under the skin of arts and the scene in Singapore, and even some choice overseas talents - I remember even shooting a Sam Flores segment waybackwhen lol

Shown throughout this post are extra-footage of small segments from one of the opening title of a weekly program about "The Arts", for which I cobbled together. The thing is, I left the industry without a single moving footage of my work in the past, and back in "my days", YouTube was a non-existing notion (or rather too 'young', not to mention "copyright" issues) and an entire generation of works were not made for such happenstance. A pity tho, as I am proud of my works, even if it's just me myself that feel that way hahaha :)


If there is one thing I gleamed from my experience in the past, that may well be relevant to whatever current or future projects or work I intend to be in: "the need for archival". In many ways, whatI do for "blogging" now, is in turn an attempt to archive the scene and times, even if my involvement in it is but a minimal brush against the community of the times.

Keep records of all your work with you, be it for a self-portfolio or works, or even an opportunity to reuse it subsequently for print or documentarian purposes - remember to keep all of your work, in high-res, with multiple back-up.

I might go on about my past, but if I do not have visuals to go with my words, they are just "stories" told around an outdoor campfire, when everyone else is sitting in on an indoor central apartment heating system ;p

Cheers
Andy :)

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