Monday, September 25, 2006

Audition


Audition
Video sent by luxen
I was at an audition for my company recently. We took turns interviewing people and I tell you, some of those people who were short listed to come for the audition were real jokers. The first guy who turned up did stand-up comedy and impersonations. When he reached for his hat, I was cringing because I wasn't ready for a Michael Jackson impersonation. Okay, it was a smite funny because it was stupid.

I was going to leave at lunch as my shift was ending but the next girl who came for the audition wore this shirt that was one size too small for her and her buttons were going to pop out. So I decided to sit down for just a little while longer and see what she could do. I was going to ask her what's up with the shirt but I guess it wasn't my place to embarass her.

I find it dssapointing that most people didn't even do any research when they came for the auditions. They didn't even watch any TV or research the positions they wanted.

One lady said she wanted to be like Azizah Ariffin and when I asked her why, she said she liked Azizah's style on TV. I told her, that was only 5% of Azizah's job (okay, I'm going overboard here) and the rest are scripting, assignments, etc. I asked her if she liked writing and she replied no, then I asked her how she's going to write scripts and she gave me a meek answer and said she could do it. That just doesn't cut it for me. One needs passion to succeed in this job.

Personally, I'm biased. I studied broadcasting, TV Productions and Broadcast Journalism to be exact and I expect to hold everyone else who wants to join this industry to have adequate training. If you don't even have a basic mass communication degree, you're learning curve is going to be too high for you to succeed. I admit, there are those who did not come from a broadcast journalism background who are well known in the industry now but they would have been better if they had the proper training.

There are 3 reasons why people join this industry... power, money & fame. Those who do it for power want to change something, for example, those who would want to save the environment or want to stand for election one day. Those who do it for money also do it for fame most of the time. There are those who use this as a stepping stone to move on to a career in PR to build a reputation (through gaining fame).

For me, its always been for power. I always wanted to be a gatekeeper, a controller of information. I believe in living for something bigger than yourself and for me, that's helping people. I believe that through what I do at work, I get to reach out and change people's life. So far, it's never been for personal wealth, shit.. this job just isn't paying me enough. Sad to say, I have to admit I'm doing this for the challenge, not the money (sorry Dilbert!).

Anyway, during one of the breaks, Ali the cameraman told us a funny story about a host he wouldn't name. The host came late for a shoot and couldn't remember his/her line and in the end, Ali had to stick the cue card on his forehead and his chest while holding the camera.

Here's Ali telling us the story in the video.

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