HK Veteran Actor Lau Ka Fai 
China's Young Actor Qiao Ren Liang
Graffiti Battle Scene
B-boys battle scene
Malaysian comedian/actor Alvin Wong warming up the audience A few more days left before we wrap up shooting in Penang and production will continue in Beijing for some remaining scenes.
Movie making is a hard labour but I hope more Malaysians can help to support the local entertainment and film making industry. A number of our actors and actresses barely make enough to survive.
A lack of support has rendered many contemplating to give up what they enjoy best - acting.
I hope the government will do the right thing to support this industry and help more young entertainers and actors to survive and thrive in the country.
A lot of problems can only be solved through dedication and strong political will, not just empty talk and incessant politicking over trivial issues such as race and religion.
8 comments:
I am surprised you say that our local actors and actress barely make enough to survive.I thought with the acting contracts,hosting of programs,commercial advertisement fee,stage appearances and what not,they should make a good living.Anyhow where is the dividing line(between a good and decent earning for our local artiste? If you could give us an idea.
Observer,
If you are familiar with the local entertainment and film making industry you should know that artistes are paid very little by production companies.
A number of them, despite winning talent contests, are contemplating of quitting the industry.
Not all artistes are given all the opportunities you listed in your post.
To begin with, how many Chinese speaking film we produce a year? Almost zero on some years.
Some do make a decent living e.g. Malay entertainment industry (bigger market) and those who are based overseas in Taiwan or China. Then again, competition is really intense in the two countries.
When life throws you a lemon - don't complain, instead make lemonade with it. We have heard this advice many times before.
With that in mind, let's tell ourselves there are good opportunities in the movie industry; the people in it just need to think out of the box and fire up their imagination and creativity.
A great story well-acted and imaginatively executed will always sell well. Remember the Night Shyamalan masterpiece "The Sixth Sense"? That movie did not require expensive computer-generated special effects nor costly location shoots. Yet it was a huge commercial success. (Regretably, all his other works following that success have been ... how do we put it politely? ... underwhelming.)
Unfortunately, much of our locally produced shows, both on television and for the cinema circuit, are very much like unvarying, cookie-cutter type products. You know, the same old, same old ingredients ... lots of copious weeping and sniffling from the heroines, plenty of screeching and yelling at each other (which strikes the audience as being so terribly rude and offensive), women slapping men, men slapping women (I'm rolling my eyes here) ... will anyone in his right mind pay Rm 8.00 to watch this stuff in the cineplex? Most people may not even be willing to waste two hours of their time watching it for free on TV.
Sheherazade
Hopefully you will pay RM8 to watch this movie. This is the first on youth urban culture, graffiti, skatevboarder and bboying in Malaysia and China.
We can do with some encouragement here.
The Sixt Sense, despite not using any computer generated special effects, still received probably 1,000 times more budget than we got. This is the real difference.
I should think we should support local artistes rather than those from Hong Kong and China. Or our people not good enough to warrant support?
Having some behind the scene opportunities, I wish to share some unpleasant observations. First, it takes two hands to clap. Aspiring artists must be willing to get close to their potential audience. Don't put up a false front. Especially when done wrongly. I have known these artists to talk money, money and more money when charitable organizations seek their services. These are chances for exposure to the audience and can endear the artists to them. Don't work only for money. Then, the artists spend more than they earn, resulting in them doing things that they shouldn't do. Have high moral standards and not be tempted by the glitters that surround you. Focus on improving skills,talents and exposure to potential audience via community service, will make the artists popular. Good luck.
Yes, we should support local artistes but casting them with other international artistes actually helps the movie to reach greater audience.
This is a trend worldwide. Why would Hollywood movies cast Asian actors such as Chow Yuen Fat, Jet Li, Jackie Chan or Ken Watanabe? It is to make the movie more attractive to Asian audiences.
Malaysian actors acting along foreign actors also allow them to learn and exchange experience with the latter.
ServeFirst,
Totally agree with your observation. However, there is still some so much to be done in our still born entertainment and film industry.
We have not taken seriously performing arts as an important element of societal building.
Hence, it is laughable when someone proposes to bring big Hollywood productions to Malaysia. We have zero facility and little capability to support such productions in Malaysia.
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