When Superheroes Fly

Because of our very hectic schedules last year, with the release of Sumolah and eventual recording of Actorlympics for TV (NTV7, 9pm Wed), we only did one run of Actorlympics for the stage. As their producer I think it's better if the actors only do one or two runs a year, but the actors are such gluttons for pleasure and stimulus that they would do a run every month if they could.

So last year we only had the one run, with a Superheroes theme:



Look hard and you will find the 50% invisible boy, stapler man, chicken egg woman, elephant man, and so on. The actors came up with the ideas themselves, with some input from Isma, who drew the illustrations.

Boogey Boogey Boogey!!!

The next poster was for a run that was on the month before Halloween, so of course, we did a scary theme. Unfortunately we couldn't get many actors to come to the shoot date we specified because of time constraints. Still, it works, no?




The identities of the characters each actor chose were: Ida as Salma Hayek in "From Dusk Till Dawn"; Reza as Freddy Kreuger; Afdlin as Frankenstein; and poor Douglas as the kid from Ju-on.

Models United

In June we decided on a models theme because America's Next Top Model was on. Surprisingly, or maybe not so surprisingly, the actors loved posing for Isma, and during the shoot we had music blaring to provide atmosphere, and I think someone may have set up a fan for the ladies.

We wanted them to look very touched up, shiny and feeyussssss.

On to February 2006

This was a run we had just before Sumolah began production. We thought it would be great to have a stage run in tandem with the Sumolah shoot, and it went down very well with the audience, particularly the opening number, which involved yukattas and lots of posing.



The shoot took a long time because we couldn't decide between sushi or noodles to pose with. It ended up being noodles because they were cheap and easily bought. The room was our conference room at the office, and involved the four metal clips we managed to round up from all our stationery, to hold up the cane blinds behind the boys.

You'll notice that there are only boys in the picture. One of the biggest imbalances in Actorlympics is the boy-girl ratio. We started out with Paula Malai Ali, Jo Kukathas and Joanna Bessey. Then Nell Ng and Ida Nerina came on board as regulars a few years back. But for this shoot, we could not get any girls to attend the shoot because of their schedules.

So Reza Zainal Abidin very graciously stepped up to the plate and makes a lovely geisha,, the only actual female character in the picture.

For a closer look, check out the header picture up top. You'll notice it is a raw still and has not yet been treated for final printing as per the poster and flyer.

Design Heaven

So for our December 2005 run, we got Isma to design a poster for us, and he came up with the idea of giving everyone a cover shot on "famous" magazines.

As you can see, it was ambitious, delightful and impressed the bazookas off everyone. These were the flyers we had made for each individual actor:







There are more, but check them out in the poster:



Isma also style and photographed the actors. Talented boy!

Art History Lesson No 1: What NOT to do.

Here is a sampling of the posters I used to design myself for our Actorlympics! gigs.





As you can see, I was fairly mediocre in my abilities and creative flair.

When we decided we needed a professional to do the job, we found ourselves a designer fresh out of school, but wowing the theatre crowds with his abilities: Isma Yusoof. You can now catch him on TV's "Sindarella" orfind him on facebook or myspace. Be warned: He's in demand.

I'll post his first design for Actorlympics! in my next post.

Ciao!
C

Finally ten years later....

...Actorlympics gets its own webpage thingy!!

We had a fantastic run for Actorlympics! last week, and here are a few photos for you to remember us by, or imagine what fun you missed out on if you didn't make it to the show!

Don't worry, we will be having another run sometime during the year, meantime, keep an eye out for further updates right here!

Christina.




Sensei Harith demonstrates Praying Mantis style




The comedy heavyweights doing their thing




When flamingoes won't do what they're told




Thinking takes a lot of effort



All pictures by Nick Dorian