A day as a ‘fake’ reporter

I found a message on my phone this morning, asking if I can cover a press conference at Lim Kit Siang’s house which is nearby my place.

Of course! It is a chance for me to go chase those politicians who haven’t reply my emails about the homeless people and other issues. And you know what other udang di sebalik batu lah…

So, I got there too early because there was no jam on a Saturday morning. I saw a couple of policemen and a police car. Being a noob, I hid in my car lah….Don’t later kena ‘Woman detained while on the way to Lim Kit Siang’s house’. You know how paranoid our police are, right?

But our videographer sifu reminded us that if we want prime location at any press conference, go early by half an hour, plonk your tripod and ‘jom’ the spot. Like a noob, I was there 25 mins early. Later on, other reporters started to arrive, in twos or fours.

There I was….all alone. And no one ‘hiu’ me ‘cos I si peh lansi face. So kesian, right? Somemore all the reporters speaking Mandarin and all below 25 yrs old. Poor, poor me, all alone….Then, the Bernama elephant size camera and other cameras with condenser mike with long long cable made me even more kesian….I shrunk to the size of a mouse….

After some action of LKS, Karpal Singh and LGE meeting the police in the house, while we reporters and fake reporter like me (actually I am pretending to be humble only) were outside shooting, they finally came out….

I put my video camera into my tripod and stood in position. And then…jeng, jeng, jeng….CM came out and said, “Hey Lilian, how are you? You are with Malaysiakini now issit?”

Wuah….can you imagine…damn bangga man…..The CM knows my name, you all know anot???? I laughed and told him, “No lah, I help them to cover only, no gaji one.”

After that, my camera somehow expand back like my ego. But thank God, my videos came out extremely good. One is already on malaysiakini.tv and one more is on the way. See? I lone ranger, no need one reporter, two cameramen to cover. No need condenser mike oso. Somemore hor, while people busy filming, I could stand back and fan myself because I got remote control to zoom in and out. I tell you, a few more press conference like this, the rest of the reporters sure boycott me. LOL. But really lah, it is nice to do it just for fun.

And that’s not all. I purposely put my video camera in my new Clinique free floral bag with pink and green colour. I use a pink paper notepad. LOL. Saja wanna act like I bimbo noob to throw people off because a lot of them wonder which lubang this auntie with flowery bag for a video camera pouch came from.

Come to think of it, I am so thankful for our Malaysiakini-ICFJ training because they really gave my coursemate and I a really good foothold. Or maybe because we are talented ‘fake reporter’.

DSCF0672

After the press conference, I went over to Penanti to cover the by-election there. Jimmy and I just tagged along to see how the real pros work. So, the photos are just ‘poser’ lah. Still, it is good exposure and learning experience.

We went to this kampung with millions of house flies and interviewed Ari, an independent candidate. I like him because he is humble and stressed a lot on welfare for the poor people in Penanti. I have edited the video of the interview and wish him all the best.

DSCF0650

So, it is all in a day’s work.

DSCF0656

All you UMNO supporters in Penanti, go vote for Ari.

Related posts:

11 thoughts on “A day as a ‘fake’ reporter”

  2. yo LC, it’s tempting to pan/zoom, if one does it too many times, viewers feel like being on a ship. perhaps just a wide angle at the beginning to give the sense of presence and either stay there or zoom into the speaker. by the way, lu ada wide angle lens kah? wu tang si, when manyak ppl in a small room ah, lu cannot take good shot. go beli one.
    CNN ada get in touch with lu oh?

    JT´s last blog post..Golf swing update

  3. JT – My WA memang chialat lor. That’s my grouse about this camera but the rest are all good lah. Cos I need to step back to get a bigger picture but I cannot when I need to be as close as possible to record the audio. So, I mah sukak-sukak zoom in zoom out, let people puke of motion sickness lor. Somemore hor, si peh sien standing there with the camera with nothing to do mah…I mah play with the zoom, the only button that I can play with.

    JT – Now, I got another problem. I can’t seem to visually see if my camera is horizontally straight. Something is definitely wrong with my brain lah. You see, my camera LCD viewer got gridelines. But even that, my subject still look like he is going to slide to the right side and fall off, and out of my monitor.

    I find it so funny lah but ish, this is embarassing lah. Like Terence said, sea water going to splash out on his computer.

    Momo – No kerng lah, but I did go stalk some of the politicians to get answers to things I appealed. Maybe, that part of me kerng lah, boh kia si, boh kah si, boh chap siau.

  8. yr WA chialat ma go buy 1 loh. good investment wat. u saka suka zoom in zoom out, my ‘bah cui’ (eyes) ord like gold fish lau. cheapo WA lens tend to hav more lens aberration especially spherical distortion at the corners, this is because the light kena bend too much mah….and this’s why, in WA, one tries to focus the subject dead centre in the viewfinder. A tuah-kong WA optics will have less of ini punya problem/imperfection. BUt your clip looks ok ah.

    ask yr cikgu, a tuah-kong video editing software will be able to correct clips tht r not horizontally perfect. also, a cheaper/easier way is to get a good tripod, a tuah kong one will have a spirit levels built in. seriously, a pro tripod model will outlive you/me any time any day. lu punya cina made budget tripod can kuasa to Terence whom I am sure can think of 101 new ways of abusing it.

    JT´s last blog post..Golf swing update

  9. JT – You jaga, Terence sure shoot you the next time he sees you. He got D3 one, how can use my tripod lah. Yalor, this tripod no spirit level and no up down panning or else you lagi pening. Hahaha. But camera, no money invest lah. Wait they sponsor me…*waves ‘Help feed me sign’ at Panasonic, Canon, Sony, Sanyo…..* I know Photoshop can straighten but my video editing software no lah.

  11. Pingback: Interview Lim Kit Siang – The Obnoxious 5xmom

Comments are closed.