For those of you who want to get an idea of what's going through my head, go check out this man called Park Jin-young, J.Y. Park or simply JYP. An entertainment business mogul, his success as a producer and artiste have been acclaimed internationally. He was recently invited to speak at Midem, the biggest music business conference in the world in Paris, as well as Harvard University. For starters, go check out his Wikipedia page, and continue on with the footnotes if you're interested.
If you're not, I'll just cut to the chase here. It is now my resolution / goal / dream / aim / living purpose to start an entertainment company not unlike those in Korea. Once again, you may check out SM Entertainment, JYP Entertainment and the likes for how these businesses operate. JYP openly admits its adoption of the Motown academy style of artiste training (go wiki Motown) and I believe it is feasible in Singapore.
I dare say I am not the first to attempt such a feat. In fact, large talent companies in Singapore have already offered these 'academic' services for quite some time. Some of you may have heard of UAN (United Artistes' Network), Li Wei Song School of Music, Ocean Butterflies (Hai3 Die2) and the likes. I believe these mentioned few are enjoying their income from the students who pay for a portfolio and / or contract fees, and yet I don't see any of them making it big in Singapore.
In fact, I heard that one of these 'talent schools' actually magically announces that 'so-&-so-recently-famous-singer is a graduate from our Music School' , when the students and teachers from within have never seen or heard of him/her. Talk about buying people's mouths.
So what makes me think that I have the edge over these big and scary (and maybe scheming) talent schools? Those of you who know me well will know that I am skilled in a plethora of multimedia programs, and I dare to say, I am an unschooled yet experienced Designer, Photographer, Director, Producer, Actor, Speaker, Entertainer and Dancer. I'm probably only lacking in the vocals department. Ahem.
More importantly, I believe I have met people that I can depend on from my past 2 years living in NTU Hall 6. There are a plentitude of people who underwork and overstate their inputs / achievements, and there are those who overwork yet intentionally understate their inputs out of humility. The people whom I've worked with so far have mostly given me promising impressions, and knowing who to include and exclude in this project can mean the different between collapse and take off. Fortunately I've been around and seen enough to pass judgement on this matter.
The smell of exams linger around every corner of this dreaded school and the various rooms in this hall of residence (as well as all the others I believe) are not spared either. While the main crowd is slogging away, I am seizing this opportunity of free time away from studies and work, to cook up the master plan, and serve up a well-deserved, fun-filled and exciting project when exams are over. Operation Quick Strike, here we go.
Fast and furious. These coming holidays are set to last for an ample period of 3 months. During which, I will have to find the team, brief them, and get down to business. What business? Here's a short breakdown:
Budget: Close to zero. Team: Yet to find. Performers: Yet to find as well.
Objective:
Compose song(s)
Choreograph a dance to the song(s)
Find performer(s) that can sing, dance and look good while doing it.
Teach it to the performer(s)
Music Video Storyboard Production & Brainstorming
Film a music video.
Photoshoot.
Interview the "artiste" with Benny.
Set up performance blog.
Follow-up marketing.
Heaven knows how long we'll get stuck at stage 3.
More or less this is the general plan. The MV part should be the most fun, I foresee. There should be a short film project that coincides with this one by the way, although I'm not sure if the performers scouted will be involved in it. There are also half-drafted plans to make a 'reality TV' show, but this is subject to the agreement of the participants.
Additional crew I can rope in would be a T-shirt designer to create our customized wear for the MV filming. If all goes well, it might be even be possible to hold another performance at recital studio, outside of Cultural Night. That is provided we can achieve a minor success with steps 1 to 10, for at least three or four different groups.
All in all, this will make awesome portfolio for all those who take part in it.
I'm opening positions for Cameraman, Scriptwriter, Assistant Director, Assistant Producer, Publicity Assistants, Dancers, Image Consultant, Composer, Lyricist, Blogger and Liasons.
If you've read through everything, drop me a comment or get me through msn. I'll be posting up a date for interviews as well as the first AGM soon. Strike swiftly, and kill in one blow.
