The first reaction most people have upon hearing the name of my high school – “High Tech High” – is “Hmm, nope. That sounds fictional.” This is no doubt aided by the existence of the 2005 film Sky High, an altogether flawless motion picture about teenagers with superpowers, attending high school in the sky.
***Sky High. $2.99 on most video-renting platforms. Tell your friends.
Photo from Wikimedia Commons
So, I may not have taken a flying bus to superhero school every day, but my learning experience was fairly unique. For one, it is tiny compared to other schools; my graduating class totaled 100 students, making for a very warm and close-knit community. Secondly, High Tech High follows a project-based curriculum. What this means is that every couple of weeks, we would have a new presentation to give, a new art piece to make, and a new topic to creatively explore.
Living in Los Angeles, you are bound to see a celebrity or two walking around. I mean, Hollywood is the heart of the film industry and you can’t walk a block without seeing some sort of filming activity. Consequently, this summer I came upon an interesting opportunity to be a background actor.
To quickly explain, background actors , or “extras”, are all those silent people in TV shows or movies that walk around in the background, cheer in a crowd, fill a party, or sit in a café. Whether you notice them or not, these “extras” are an important part of filmmaking. They make the action on screen believable.
I only got into the background business a couple weeks ago, but I’ve already worked on multiple sets, from the long-running television staple NCIS, to tween programming on Nick and Disney, to a small unannounced feature film. The experience, besides teaching me EXTREME patience due to sitting and waiting for hours upon hours until needed on set, has also given me an appreciation for all the work and coordination that goes on behind the scenes of a TV show or film. I mean, you’ve all seen the credits that roll after a show or movie has ended and you’ve probably wondered, “Who are these people?” Being there on set and witnessing the intricate network of communication and the complicated set-ups for lights, sound, and camera, I fully comprehended the importance of each individual and their role in the crew.
Photo by Paulo Wang on Flickr
To film a single scene, you’ve got your actors, of course, whose job it is to come prepared, but then there’s also the hair and make-up artists who must execute the vision of each character’s aesthetic, and the lighting and sound crews who are in charge of creating the perfect atmosphere and ensuring the sound quality, and the camera crew who needs to get the exact angle and camera movement. And, last but not least, you have the background actors who must get into place and know exactly what to do when the camera starts rolling. All together, it feels like organized chaos, like when musicians in an orchestra all tune their instruments at the same time. Of course, however dissonant the sound is while they prepare, the cacophony is immediately forgotten once the conductor raises his wand and leads the ensemble in melodic harmony.
Singapore is a melting pot. Once dubbed by a friend as “culturally confused,” it’s an island with a population of over 5 million people, almost half of which are foreign nationals, thus allowing numerous cultures to thrive together in one city-state. Despite having very little land area in comparison to other countries (I was told by a local that Malaysia to the north is sometimes referred to as “elder brother” because of its size), Singapore has four official languages—Mandarin Chinese, English, Malay, and Tamil. While the majority of the population is Chinese Singaporean, there are significant Malay and Indian communities. Walking into different areas of the city, a person is immersed in one culture after another, with places like Little India being a significant tourist attraction.
Photo is author’s own
Little India has its origins in the 1800’s; it started out as an area to raise cattle and was thusly the place where Europeans (mostly) would gather. Soon, after an Indian population emerged, various religious landmarks (such as Hindu temples and mosques), as well as businesses, started to appear. Today, Little India is a vibrant area with various influences that excite the senses. Visitors have several options for lodging, including hostels and hotels. Most choices are very cheap, but there’s a “you get what you pay for” mentality, meaning that the hotels in the area aren’t of the highest quality. Even if travelers stay somewhere else, this neighborhood is still worth visiting.
