I was carrying out my MediaTech duty on a Thursday evening for the Humanities Research Youths Symposium. It was the final night of the exchange for the Hong Kong and Australian students and they prepared a finale performance by all the different groups of the event. Being in MediaTech provided me with the privilege to attend many events even though I was not invited. Anyway, I would like to share my experience while carrying out my duty for this event.
Initially, there was a major delay in the schedule because the students were caught in a jam in Little India. We spent quite some time waiting for their arrival. We did not have time for any rehearsals due to the delay; hence the flow of the event was purely instinctive. I was rather disappointed by the organisers for not planning this well. However, the event did run smoothly and I was happy for that.
I was in charge of the lightings for the events so it was more complex than the audio-visuals for that day. I was required to be really alert and adjust the lighting according to the performances and speeches. Personally, I thought that lighting was really important in a performance and more creativity was needed than the skills. The lighting should be flexible and manipulated by feel, instead of sticking to the plan. Of course, we had to look out for changes on the stage and display the most suitable lighting for the performers and speakers. From the technical part, I had learnt about the colours of the lighting and the mood it creates. (XD Rainbow lighting can be created in Drama Centre!)
I really enjoyed many of their performances because they were really cheeky and at the same time link to their theme - scarcity. Actually, I wanted to blog about this because of the final part when the Hong Kong students went on stage to dedicate a song to everyone seated in the DC. They sang a song “For Good” for their friends whom they made in this exchange. It was really touching to see many of them forging such deep bonds in the couple of days together. Many of them cried while singing the song and I thought that was really what inspired me in this event. Many of these exchanges were not only about generating ideas and learning, but also the friendship and the process of interacting together. Many times, it was not the concept which was discussed which the students remember in an exchange, but it was the memories of the times they had together with the new friends they met on this trip. Therefore, I was really touched by their appreciation of their friends in the symposium. I thought it was the most meaningful performance of the night.