A Page Of Me: Amplitude 2019
Amplitude 2019: The Journey
After 9 months of constant hard work, constant dedication and having a constant headache, Amplitude 2019: L'amour was born:
But before all these could even happen, countless hours of hard work are required to be exhausted to make all this even possible. And it all started with one person who was rather unwilling to step up to be an Amplitude head from the start. Yes, that person was me... 😔
After becoming a stage manager in Amplitude 2018, I was inspired and looking forward to turning my own vision into a concert in 2019. Yet, at the same time, I was reluctant to do so because I wanted a slack time in hall the following AY. After all, I already have more than enough points to stay the next year without the need to Masterlist or to take any leadership role. But I guess with enough persuasion and the thought of doing something that would leave behind a good legacy in KE7 before I leave hall actually made me decide to take up the challenge as the head of Amplitude. Furthermore, I kinda took up the role because I wanted to let someone attend an event that I'm involved in for the very first time and be proud of what I was doing, but in the end, it didn't happen that way. 😞😩
Even though I had some initial guidance from my seniors, they kinda left me out in the battlefield early on. Feeling clueless, I just went on with the flow of things I should do. At that time, I did not have an assistant head or any subheads to help me in this CCA. So, with the help of the cultural director, I tried my very best to obtain things like the venue to hold the concert, etc. Despite every effort to put my vision of the concert into place, I was not allowed to because of "budget constraints" like having the concert at a bigger venue. Why? Because apparently, they weren't confident that Amplitude would sell its tickets. Without hearing my reasoning for wanting a bigger venue even after showing them the extra profits that the ticket sales would bring to the concert, the person-in-charge of student activities from the hall office dismissed my reasoning and insisted to have a smaller venue... Well, I will leave this for another day, because I want this blog post to be tea free. So keep-in-view on this because when the tea comes, it is gonna come reaalllll good.
Anyways, back to the story. So I reluctantly agreed to have it at a smaller venue. Despite this setback, I wanted nothing but the best for Amplitude and for this concert. Even if I have to use a smaller venue, I am going to make sure that the performances are going to make that up in terms of its quality. Hence, by June, I got my Vice-Head for Amplitude, as well as a Logistics Director and a Media/Lights and Sounds Director to assist me in Amplitude. Eventually, the new batch of people arrived in hall and my Vice-Head played an important role in the recruitment of the new people into Amplitude, since he was an OGL of KEWOC (KE7 Welcoming-Orientation Camp).
By this time, I already had a vision that compared to last year's Amplitude, this year, we will have a projector installed to use media and bring the life out of performances, as well as creating a proper lighting crew to manage with the variety of lights, something not done last year. To earn some profits, I've decided to charge $5 per ticket for the concert, which was made free in previous years. Our Amplitude committee eventually held a one-to-one interview to see each of our members strengths and weaknesses before splitting into sub-groups comprising of Lights and Sounds, Logistics, Media, Stage, and Publicity. Everything went according to plan until...both my logistics director and media/lights and sound director decided to quit Amplitude.
It was the most devastating thing for me as a director to know this. Given that our committee, including its newly recruited members, has already split according to their new roles, they would not have anyone to take charge of their sections. It was also difficult to find any possible replacement because by that time most were already preoccupied with other leadership roles in other CCAs. So, long story short, I had to take over the heads for the sub-roles and handle everything that was going on within it.
While of course, you might be like "you're the head of Amplitude so it's only natural to take charge of the sub-roles." I agree that there isn't much wrong with this statement. However, if you were to see my full job scope, you would realize that I have already a lot on my plate. On top of my main job, I needed to take over the jobs of these sub-roles, I had to attend inter-hall meetings, intra-hall meetings, rehearsals, auditions as well as do up proposals for the hall and concert venue, think of creative ideas for the concert, managing the emcees, ticketing and managing the budget. It all seems simple, but when you have studies going on at the same time, it's really no joke of a task to handle. Not to mention the deadlines I need to meet and the timeline of events I needed to stick to.
Anyways, by December, there was another issue that popped up regarding the creation of the Amplitude Video. As mentioned, Amplitude wanted to use a projector to showcase our music and concert at a higher level. Yet, despite having initial agreements to assist us, KE media (also known as KE motion), ignored helping us to create the video when it was time. This left me fuming mad because my media team and I planned and drafted our video plans since September, but yet they totally ignored us when we needed them. Furthermore, it was our holiday period (December) and that was the only time we had for the creation of the video. Hence, in spite of all our efforts, the video idea was scrapped. I had no choice but to remove the projector, leaving my plans shattered beyond belief.
Sounds like a lot of tragedy that went on during my time here in Amplitude, but I tend to look at it as adversity to overcome and that the hard work will pay off in the end. And perhaps things turned for the better when vetting came along. Yes, the famous vetting that gave the signal that the concert was coming soon.
One month before the concert, we held a vetting (i.e. auditions) for all halls' choir and aca groups. So what vetting is all about is that the aca and choir groups from each hall will come before the Amplitude committee, which will consist of a panel of committee members, and they will sing their performance piece(s). This year's vetting was different from the vetting in earlier years. This year, we wanted to have a greater quality control by providing better feedback to performers, as well as give them scores based on their performance in their vetting. Through using these scores, we will rank them based on their performance during vetting, and translate the ranking over to the actual concert performance layout. Unlike previous years, where it was totally biased for KE7 performers. So this year, we had a huge panel of Amplitude committee members to vet their songs, where the scores of the performers will be averaged across all members.
The best performance during the vetting, which eventually became the performance that opened the concert, was none other than by Kent Ridge Acapella. Singing Finesse by Bruno Mars and Cardi B, as well as a medley consisting of We Built This City, Love In The First Degree and Never Gonna Give You Up, KR Acapella came to their vetting with a theme of their own (i.e. the 80s) and literally dressed and made their rendition of their performance sound like the 80s. In addition to that, they came in more prepared than most groups that came for the vetting. Scoring at a stellar 47/50, here is KR Aca with one of their songs:
As vetting was being held, the halls, group photo-shoot took place at the same time. Initially, KE Motion and Vision refused to assist us for the photo-shoot during this period because IHG (Inter-Hall Games) was going on, but I'm glad that they managed to accommodate us for the photo-shoot for the 3 days. It was around this period that the guy who was supposedly in charge of the video creation for Amplitude eventually contacted me, asking me to contact him for the Amplitude video...
I DID BRO... 2 MONTHS AGO AND YOU BLUE TICKED ME.
It was too little, too late. There was no way that the video would have been done in less than a month's time.
Anyways, now that the photos were all edited and prepped, it was time to do the booklet. Now, I kid you not, the booklet was one of the hardest things I've done in this CCA. I severely lacked any design knowledge that could help me make a really nice booklet. Thankfully, I had the help of a super helpful designer and editor in my Amplitude Committee, Cherrie. Together, we braved through the Chinese New Year period to design the booklet, even up to 3 am - 4 am in the morning. There were a total of 24 drafts and I don't know why, but the mistakes in the booklet never ran out. Not to mention some choir/acapella groups dropping/adding/changing their songs, which in turn forces us to change the details of the booklet until finally... finally it was complete.
I present to you, the e-booklet of Amplitude:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lwNU44fg_CFEMBc5M8svuP0m-9P5g42u/view?usp=sharing
Finally, the last thing to worry about before the start of the show was the ticket sales... or do I even need to worry? As predicted from the start, the show was sold out almost immediately upon the release of the tickets, with many halls wanting MORE tickets. Furthermore, these tickets were released to mostly family members of the performers and were reportedly not released to those staying in hall. Heh, funny right? In the end, what I said was true; we should have a bigger venue. Yet no one believed in what I said or even considered what I said, but instead decided to turn my suggestion down without using their so-called gifted brain. Hmm...talk about encouraging the CCA leaders to take risks eh?
Anyways, moving on to some happier stuff; the d-day of the concert. The schedule that I planned for the two days (Bump-in and Actual Performance Date) were packed like mad because we want to accommodate more rehearsals for the members. With that comes lesser time for our Amplitude Members to rest. But I was happy most of my members pushed on for the two days despite their sleepiness.
The bump-in went on as planned and according to schedule, until one of the front lights just above the members shattered during one of the rehearsal performances. Luckily no one was hurt, but it was a huge scare because had someone got hurt, there would be a lot to answer for and there would be a severe delay in the schedule. Most importantly, there were glass shards involved and it could be potentially fatal had someone stood right under the lights that got shattered. Other than that, the show moved on as per normal. Some of the performances were lit. Thankfully, all the respective heads were cooperative and it was not a hassle to work with them.
Since there was no need for the projector due to the fact that I had no video to show, instead I decided to have some light effect at the start of the show, something that was NEVER done before in the history of Amplitude. And because Cherrie (the one in charge of lights) was overwhelmed with the light cues of the performances, I had to plan the light cues myself and control them myself. Like Cherrie, we only had a couple of tries to master the light cues, but unlike hers, I needed to base the light cues on the beats of the music rather than the singers' action, since the effect of the lights was gonna happen before the show starts.
I was worried as heck because I messed up the light cue during the final rehearsal and to practice the light cue again would have to result in the rest of the rehearsal being pushed back, which would have resulted in a heavily truncated rehearsal. So instead, I took a risk and just not practice again, and before I knew it, the show finally began...
The light effects at the start went well. All you could hear in the sound room are clicks from the sound I was making on the keyboard. Beyond that sound room, however, was where the magic was unfolding. Combining light effects with the beats of the music, that was one of the things I was hoping to achieve during the performance and I managed to make it come true. The issue with the light effects is that it was coming in rapid fire. This means that I needed to act fast if there was a screw up if not everything would just be pitch black. And due to the nature of the light cues, while your fingers are on the keyboard, your eyes must be glued to the stage area so that you are able to tell whether the lights that are coming out are correct or not. As I was pressing the keyboard for the lights, I realized that at one point, no lights were coming out. Luckily, I acted fast and managed to get the lights out immediately after. I realized that there was an unnecessary cue in the sequence of lights that caused the mishap. All in all, there were a total of over 80 times that I needed to press the keyboard to trigger the lights. I really hoped that those in attendance were mesmerized by the light effects at the start and throughout the show. In case you are curious to know the song that was played during the opening; it was It Ain't Me by Selena Gomez and Kygo.
There were many memorable moments at the concert that really stood out for me. One of which was TH Choir performance: Kalinda. having heard different versions of it from YouTube, TH Choir opted for a more intense performance of that song. However, instead of describing their performance to you, how about I let their performance speak for itself. Presenting to you, Kalinda by TH Choir!
Like every committee, there were some that gave their best from the start, some that took some time to get into the groove of the CCA, and some that gave 0 shits throughout. But ultimately I truly want to commend those that really showed outstanding effort for this CCA.
Of course, the first person I'd like to commend is Cherrie for putting her 110% in this CCA. From tolerating my request to constantly change stuff in the booklet to actually bothering to hear out all the issues I had in this CCA. Quite frankly speaking, compared to the others, she was the only one who actually cared for this CCA throughout the entire 9 months. It was thanks to her that the lighting part of the concert went on smoothly and I felt at ease with her in charge of those major roles because I knew she would do a tremendous job.
Next one was, of course, Rahman, the person who took on the most saikang job ever, despite being sick for the Bump-in and actual performance. Although Rahman was initially part of the media team, I knew he was a hardworking individual from the get-go and when the media team disbanded due to the dropping of the video plans, I immediately relocated him to stage to support the rest of the members there. As one of the stage managers, he was tasked to handle the main communications between sound/lights and movement of the performers on stage. This was a very important role as it serves as a bridge between me viewing the stage from a higher ground and him actually being the one closest to the performers on stage. The communications were aplenty and it happened non-stop throughout the rehearsals and actual performance, not to mention having to tahan me occasionally speaking/shouting through the Comms.
Next one was Ryan, another reliable person in my team. At the start, he was originally planned to combine with Cherrie for lights, but I figured that it would be better if one person solely handled one thing to avoid the complications. Hence, when Cherrie took lighting, Ryan took over sounds. Sounds were pivotal in this concert because each and every single performer from Acapella require special settings to be programmed into their mic; be it volume, or pitch etc. He is also required to know how many mics are on stage and their respective numbers. Considering that acapella has many different groups, it was hard for Ryan to keep track of who goes when and who uses what mic, but he did it superbly by himself and was a solid rock in tanking one of the obnoxious staff members in charge of the sounds in UCC.
Another guy to mention is Xin Rui. He is super duper reliable when it came to logistics. I kid you not, this guy is literally my right-hand guy for getting the quotations for the booklets, food, and jackets. When the food catering met a crisis and forgot about the delivery on the performance date itself, he managed to successfully chase them to have them delivered on time 4 hours before the actual time of delivery. He also sourced for me reliable and cheap places to print booklets and jackets. Since he knew more theater stuff than me, he advised me on what to do and what not to do, and for that, he deserves to be mentioned here.
Definitely, I'm not gonna forget my two Emcee members; Kang Ming and Richard. They worked with me since early January all the way to the performance date to ensure that the emceeing was done right and the efforts they have gone through the create their own script and come up with funny content was just the best. Since this was the first year Amplitude decided to use its own members as emcees, it was new to me, as well as to them with NO EXPERIENCE whatsoever, to step up and take the roles.
Lastly, I would like to thank Phoebe, for being super solid in stage management through those two days, as well as sponsoring us with the flowers at the very last minute. She was super reliable on stage management and definitely controlled the flow of the performers from their dressing room to the stage. And of course, Yoke Kaye for assisting in Publicity really well along with Sebastian. When I was in need to send out invitations to the respective Hall Masters and JCRC presidents, she stepped up to the plate and helped me generate the invitations. Without her and Phoebe, I think that my job would be just 100x harder than what was supposed to be and I owe it to them for giving their best when it matters the most.
All right, that's it with the dedication. In the end, our production incurred one of the lowest deficits among the 4 productions and when I attended the JCRC meeting to give my final word on Amplitude, guess what? Most agreed that we should have a bigger venue to accommodate more people... Hmm... now, where did I hear that from eh...
I'm glad that after 10 years of taking on a leadership role in Primary, Secondary, Junior College and now in University, it has finally come to a blissful end. I grew so much in every stage and every opportunity that I've gotten, and I'm so glad that the last time of me being a leader as a student ended with me on stage with my parents and friends looking on, as well as ending off with possibly trying out every leadership position in sports, cultural and now productions. It was an amazing journey throughout. However, if there is one more leadership role that I would be open and willing to take on, it would be directing NUS Resonance. Call me, yeah NUS Resonance :p.
So that's all for this blog post. Hope you did enjoy this blog, as well as the videos of some of the awesome performances performed in Amplitude 2019. Visit my Instagram(Main) to see snippets of performances by Sheares Aca singing I Need Your Love, Kent Ridge Aca singing Finesse and Sheares Choir singing How Far I'll Go (Moana). Also, you might want to look out for future posts where I will drop more videos from the performances. Peace out yeahh! ✌
Comments
Post a Comment
Feel free to share your views :)