So, to briefly summarize, I no longer work at the Navy Exchange. As it was far too stressful and attending my college classes wasn't very do-able, I had to quit to focus on studying. I took biology classes as well as Japanese, and finally ended my school year just a couple weeks ago! With a now "free"schedule (somewhat haha) I felt this was a wonderful opportunity to continue my future in acting ;)
My First Drama
Rewinding just a couple months ago, I got a phone call from an agency that a director was interested in seeing me for a lead role. With no experience except playing as an extra only once for a few hours, I figured that this must mean I would do some sort of audition or something; it was hardly realistic that this was serious. So I showed up in Tokyo.... And I got the part! That was that! The director met me, a few other cast members were there, and they saw us dance around a bit (as this was a role about a um.....dancer). I am by no means good at dancing at all, especially ballet--I hadn't danced ballet since i was maybe 8 or 9 lol-- but hey I guess my flopping around was good enough for them :}
So the following week I was to arrive at 10 am at a particular station that I got lost getting too and started off my career 20 minutes late, and my that was embarrassing! But once we started shooting, it was such a fun experience! I had my own makeup and hair artist, which was way cool, and I met some really cool people!
The director spoke English very well for a Japanese, which made things so much easier for me and for things to go smoothly (as I could do whatever she told me to do, haha no problems with miscommunication ;) We did many shots where I was on the dance floor slipping everywhere because ummmmm did I mention...not only was my role about a dancer, but a dancer that had a horrible sweating disorder :} Hahaha so we spent SEVERAL scenes, for example, of me slipping and crashing on the floor during my big dance audition, which apparently my character failed at ;) I was also supposed to have my grand individual dance scene, but they cut almost all of it out :( BUT! We managed to get a video of the dance I learned ;)
After many sad hip bruises, they finally liked what they saw. I also had a boyfriend, in which he would make attempts to hold my hand, but because of the excessive sweat, there were um complications :}
But anyway, the night seemed to go on forever, and soon the time was close to midnight. There was hardly any breaks for me because I was in so many scenes, but that definitely beats waiting around for the next part! I was kept very busy.
At 3am I arrived at my hotel, which was so nice and the bed was amazing, but unfortunately I could only spend 3 hours there because they needed me up at 6am 0.0 But the next day--er, a few hours later lol--I was up again and ready for a whole new day of craziness ;) I didn't get home until 2 am, but although they were such long days, I had SO much fun and I can't believe I was so blessed to have this experience!
The director and camera people had so much fun with me, they called me back the following weekend for some more scenes ;) Haha only I wish, it was actually because the head producer of the company wanted more parts that we didn't shoot :( So once more, the next weekend, I was back at it again! And with the same director, but different crew. But to start off the day, I was inside of our little changing room in between one of the takes, changing into a new outfit. The main camera man didn't speak any English, so when he knocked on the door and I hollered out, "Just a minute!" as I was only in my um, bra and underwear..of course he doesn't understand me and opens the door anyway -__- He freaked out, like screaming and running off with his arms flailing in the air, and from that moment on, we made our friendship :} Haha anyway, the rest of the day was very interesting, as it all seemed like me and the crew were so personable toward each other, making jokes and whatnot, I was so sad to say good bye! I will never forget those memories we made :')
http://youtu.be/eF8zt_UqbL0
Filming the Commercial
Just last week, I was chosen to be an extra in a commercial for a company called Suntech. Unfortunately, because commercials are sort of a big deal here, I was unable to take any pictures because I signed an agreement :( But there's nothing wrong with describing it all, right? Haha so I came in having no idea what they wanted me to do, except they said I would be trying on lots of shirts. As some of you know, I have mild scoliosis, so shirts with writing on them straight across usually aren't something I chose to wear due to um, the slantness my shoulders create with the writing :} But sadly for them, they didn't know this before it was too late :(
They had me stand in front of the camera, zoomed in on the writing and design on the shirt. They all spoke Japanese, and could not understand why it wasn't straight. We literally spent 30 minutes trying to take a good set of pictures, because every time I took a breath, the shirt would go back to being crooked after they just tried to straighten it out. It was a little humiliating really haha because I couldn't explain to them what was wrong, they just continued to fiddle with the shirt and have me lift or lower my shoulders to make it right :( Eventually, we got something decent and we'll see how it all turns out :}
After those pictures were done, they had us each in sets of 3's posing in somewhat of "dance moves" for some reason, and then we had to make "silly faces". I am not looking forward to this being on TV. I think it might be horrific D:
But all in all, can't say this wasn't a bad experience, because of course it was really fun in the end! I made some new friends, and it was very international! I met some people from Germany, France, India, and Iran. I think I may have been the only American there, so that was pretty cool!
My Latest TV Drama Experience
So now I have finally led you up to my latest filming experience, in which I just got back on Wednesday (the 22nd). I was sort of excited for this one, because this was about some famous tennis player, which meant I was gonna be able to play it too :D But once again, this was going to be something that I am horrible at and have never played, so I was about to make a fool of myself again on TV ;)
So the first night, I was supposed to arrive at the station at 7 pm. I like to get there early in case I get lost and arrive late (like my first show) so I planned on getting there at 6. Of course, my agent calls and tells me that they are running behind and don't need me till 8, but I was already on the train and nearly there :( But, no matter, that just meant exploring time, right? I got off the train without getting lost and immediately noticed that this place was very cool with little "hole in the wall" places everywhere! But sure enough, I had seen pretty much everything in the surrounding area in only 45 minutes (because it turned into more of a residential area, and I didn't wanna get lost :(. So I went to a nice bakery, got some goods and sat down to read my book. No sooner had I started, I got another phone call from my agent that things weren't getting any better, and now they were 2 hours behind! So I ended up waiting at a McDonald's with some of the other cast members that I met up with, and by 9:30 pm, we were on our way to the shooting ;)
There were a few people I knew that were also extras, so it was nice to meet up with them again!
We waited in a little room until we were called for the next scene, and I couldn't believe who I saw when I walked through the door.
My favorite camera man was standing there, just as surprised as I was!
"Hi," I breathed, in awe.
"Hi," he answered with wide eyes.
Just like in the movies, where the two stand across the room, unaware of anyone else, and have thousands of things to say but that's all that comes out (not because neither of us speak the other's language though, of course that wasn't the reason! ;)
So for my grand part, I got to be the leader of the "mean girls" who bosses around the main character because we don't like her. Which was sad, because she was just a little 8 year old girl and she looked so....sad... :( We got to be all mean and tell her that she needed to get out of bed and clean up the kitchen because she was the youngest and we didn't like her. So after the scene was done, um so were we.... Haha all of that happened for just 1 scene! It was now 11 at night and time to take me to a hotel. So we packed up our things and headed over to Roppongi.
My hotel room was nice, except for the rock hard pillow and mattress... But they gave me a robe to wear and a little "goody bag" full of a hair brush, tooth brush, razor with cream, bath bubbles, a bath sponge, and other little things ;) It was all very nice!
The next day, I didn't have to meet at the next station until 2 pm, so I had plenty of time to get ready and explore! After walking around for maybe an hour and a half and finding no shopping areas or shrines or things to see, I almost just gave up to go find something to eat. Because so many of the big buildings that look like malls or cool things always turn up as just a business buildings, I was afraid to walk inside one that looked sort of cool, but I decided to go past my fears and embarrassment and just go for it. It was a place that had Hollywood in the name, and once I went inside it was really pretty! Once I went up in the escalator to a door leading outside, I realized that I found a maze of connecting places to shop ;) There was a place called West Walk or something like that, and then the North End etc. I don't really remember the names, but the whole place was so pretty!
There was also a giant building so tall that I couldn't get a full picture of it!! D:
I went inside one of the shopping centers, and it was also very beautiful with fountains and waterfalls and pretty plants! :) Of course, it was all really expensive places and a lot of things that I havn't heard of, but I'm glad I found it ;)
I finished my exploration with a stop to a Cold Stone that I found, and was given a cute little cup of water with a little face drawn on the bottom of the cup :D
So, once I met up with the other cast members, we were driven to a Tennis Club place where we were to be staying the rest of the afternoon/evening. We all got to learn how to play tennis, and on the scenes that we weren't in, we just messed around and played tennis in the courts ;) I was in just a few scenes where I was stretching, or being mad at the main character.
The day was very long, as we sat around for quite a while and didn't leave the place until after midnight, but hey I got a picture with my favorite camera man! :D Unfortunately though, because the show hasn't yet aired, I can't post any of those pictures until after that happens, especially the ones where we were near the sets :( But now you will all have to wait in suspense until it does! ;)
So there you have it! Up until now, that has been my filming experience since I've been in Japan ;) I have another couple extra jobs that I am doing tomorrow (Tuesday) and the following day, so perhaps I will have all sorts of new stories to tell! I hope I'll be able to do a little better with posting these, I'm sorry for the months I havn't :( But, until next time!
Rhianna
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