Sing and dance with me

Hey it's been a while!
So last Saturday I was at Sony studios doing audience work for the promo of a new show called "The Sing-off". It was great! I had a good time.

Even though I said that I would not do audience work ever again (Recap Here) Still, it's hard to reject when someone offers to pay you to watch a show. Well this time we were not really sitting on our bottoms and watching but had to stand the whole time so it was different.

The good news was, the show was not boring at all! The singers on the stage were very talented singers and their a capella was awesome, with the whole package, beat box and all. So our role was to stand in the moshpit and dance and cheer while they sing. With the dark interior and blue lights shining it almost felt like a night club. It's true that for the whole 10 hours, they repeatedly filmed the same 60-second song clip, but luckily I liked the song so it was no problem for me to dance to it for 8 hours.

What was the bad news? well, as I said, it was a long shoot. Of course we got our breaks, but 10 hours was very long. The song was repeated probably 50 times... As I observed some fellow audience members starting to sit on the ground and started showing signs of weariness (from partying too hard last night?), I turned my gaze to the stage. The singers had to dance with like raise-the-roof over-the-top energy and at least pretend that they enjoyed it. I bet THEY were tired. They were even here earlier than we were and had been rehearsing probably for hours before we came. If they were not complaining, how could we? especially that guy on stage, under the warming lights...dancing in a full suit... oh I would probably overheat myself and collapse if I were him...props to them for their stamina's.

I also met some very interesting people that day. There were 2 couples seated near us who, upon more chatting, revealed to my surprise that both met through none other than facebook! And now one couple is getting engaged! Wow I didn't know fb has a match-maker function?! It was pretty random. It turned out that both started with one person randomly added the other, and things went from there. Hmm... cool, but not something I would try.

And I also met a girl who was a vocalist in a band like me! It was pretty cool meeting her. Then she turned out to be married as well even though she was not much older than I was. I got to talk about relationships a lot today. Both the engaged girl and vocalist girl said that they knew the first time they met that their guy was "The One". That it would just come so naturally it's a no-brainer when you do meet him. It was so romantic and such fairy-tale!! So it IS real... the legend of the Mr. Right? It was so encouraging and reassuring to know... to know that you could be able to tell apart "The One"...at first sight! I involuntarily started looking through the crowd. wow it's like a jungle out there....(scanning in progress).... nope, my radar picked up nothing. (what's with the casting tonight? I thought they said specifically "attractive audience" needed..)

So then I turned off my radar and went home to rest. Phew what a long day!

My First Audience Work Experience

Yesterday I was at a major network studio for audience work.
In other words, sit at the audience section and watch while the show was filmed. It sounds like an easy job, just sitting and doing nothing more than clapping your hands... but then it wasn't, as I was later to find out.

As I arrived at the studio, I was worried about where I should go because it was such a big studio with lots of buildings and lots. But I spotted the check-in point right away when I saw a long line forming at one side of the parking lot. So I lined up at the very end. I was first approached by a guy who kept on asking the crowd, "do you have a cellphone?" and so naturally I said "yes." Then the casting assistant looking guy looks to the casting director guy and was like "wow she said yes". I was not expecting a "wow" because I own a cellphone. I contemplated the strange reaction until the girl at the check-in point said, "cellphones are not allowed. You have to put them in the car." Not even turned off in the bag? That was pretty strict. Luckily another casting assistant guy, Travis, said I could put the phone in his bag for the time being, which saved me a walk up flights of stairs to my car. Yay.

Finally checked-in, me and about 199 other extras waited in line outside a building. Yes there was at least 200 audience members. It was a major channel studio. As a major studio, surprisingly they treated us pretty bad.

First, we waited for 90 minutes in the lot because of delayed schedule. I got another bug bite on me! because we were sitting near a bush. And, there was no food, no drinks, only vending machines and water fountain. (Usually they have some food or drinks at a set, even for background actors).

After the loooong wait, we were finally placed in the studio. I was sitting in the audience seats, which might be a little better than the upstairs standing crowd, but not that much.
The show got started. My interest level was high for maybe one hour, and then it dropped way down. Why? The host was a very take-his-time type of laid back guy. He paused a lot and repeated the SAME THING 3 times in a row. The two yapping game contestants were trying to win X amount of money, and kept on yapping like two chihuahuas each time they lose or win. (Chihuahuas.. I am serious) They take forever to make any decision, and there were 10+ decisions they have to make. Plus the host kept on talking meaningless cr*p... all of this combined went on and on and on for..... more than 6 hours. No break for audience, almost no bathroom breaks (I didn't get to go), no food, no drinks allowed, no cellphones. Just sit and watch. It was such a torture. I was sitting in my seat and fidgeting like never before..never.. not even during my AP Chemistry class in high school.

Each time they win 1000 dollars or something we have to stand up and cheer and be "rowdy". "Be ROWDY!" says the stage manager guy. Oh fun.

Near the end of the show, not just me but most people in the audience were fidgeting and making sarcastic comments about the show or the host. Of course nobody can hear us because we don't have mics on us. We don't have no nothin'.(excuse the bad grammar, just trying to recreate the reality)

During the last round, the contestants could either take home the money or keep on going with the risk of losing all. And until now, us audience had been shouting out constructive/positive/reasonable comments like (choose X not Y!! choose Y because...!! etc) but we were so burned out in the last round we all just wanted to go home. So everyone started shouting "TAKE THE MONEY! TAKE THE MONEY!!" even though it might not be the wisest choice. I was shouting too. Take! the! money!! + whispering "we want to go home now.." and we even started counting down for them. The contestants kind of gave in under peer pressure and took the money. And THIS time we cheered like no other....

If they didn't take the money and chose to go on, and make us stay another hour, I am afraid a riot would break out right then. Just as the host said, "a show within a show." (He would have gotten his bottom kicked in the riot... And that would have been a better show :D)

Finally finally we got out. The night was dark already. Everyone was hungry because we didn't eat from 1:30pm to 9pm. At this point, I felt like I could dig the historical revolutions better. The French..the Russians... everybody.
Hunger is a formidable power.....

Waited in another line to get the paycheck, while staring up at the stars.
Finally I could go home.

Audience work. It sounds easy, but it is not. The less than $100 I earned today, that was some hard earned money. And a hard earned lesson...
no more audience work for a while.