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Uncle Brownie and Ah Girls Go Army

Behind the scenes at the shoot of Ah Girls Go Army, armed with my film camera

By Kin Mun "mrbrown" Lee

June 16^th, 2022

In an interview with the press, the cast of Jack Neo's latest movies, Ah Girls Go Army and Ah Girls Go Army Again, mentioned that "mrbrown carried a film camera with him while they were filming in the forest and would take pictures during filming breaks."

Xixi and Ke Le, who played Yuan Yuan Yuan and Princess See respectively, also said of me, "He would snap a photo and stand there winding the camera, just like an uncle! It's very cute!"

I had a little Olympus XA film camera on me all the time, usually hiding in my prop bag, which my character carried. And happily snapped away with a mix of Kodak Ultramax 400, Kodak Portra 400 and Kodak Tri-X 400, between takes.

This was the second time I was part of a movie. The first time was in Ah Boys To Men 2, in 2013, almost ten years ago, where I played the SIT Test (Situational Test) Officer, LTA S T Choong.

And here I was again, spending days in the jungle and forests of Singapore, reprising my role with a new cast of recruits, this time all female. And yes, I was still a hentak kaki chow Lieutenant, never promoted.

Kind of like Tom Cruise, but without the ageless good looks and the cool fighter jets.

It was a hoot to be part of this shoot. We filmed through hot weather, rainy weather, muddy ground, a pandemic, and fed mosquitoes. But it was worth it to finally see the results of everybody's hard work. The second movie, Ah Girls Go Army Again, which I was part of, hit the cinemas on 16th June 2022.

Please go watch the fruit of our labour. It is a funny movie.

Most of the time we had to report very early in the morning, usually before dawn. It was brutal for a non-morning person like me, but the beauty of the light shining through the foliage made up for it.

The cast was huge and varied, and everyone so talented. The days were also long and arduous, but the girls kept their spirits high and never complained (ok, maybe a little, but never in front of our director, Jack, haha!). Considering that these ladies have never served in the military before, they were garang and hardworking, and they took to their roles like real troopers.

We spent a lot of time waiting. Waiting for the our turn. Waiting for the camera equipment to be shifted and set up. Waiting for the rain to stop. Then, a burst of activity would happen, and you had to be ready to execute your lines and your role. It was like a BMT shuttle run. Wait… wait… then boom, act the heck out of your role, then wait again.

Everyone put in their best effort, because there were so many moving parts. Nobody wanted to flub lines or miss cues, because it would cause delays and we were chasing daylight.

And we did this while very often learning new lines on the spot, because our director Jack was the King of Improvisation.

That was the way he worked best, his mind conjuring up new lines he felt were funnier, right there and then. The cast contributed lines too, because many were comedians in their own right, and lines and ideas would get added in between takes. It kept us all on our toes, and somehow, we all managed to keep up with the ebb and flow.

One of the reasons I agreed to be part of the grueling chaos of a movie set again was the opportunity to meet new talented people. Granted, it meant donning my uniform again, and sweating it out in the forest. But it was refreshing to be out in open spaces again, having been stuck at home for so long, partly due to the lockdown and partly due to WFH.

When you step out of your comfort zone, you get to experience new things, and your mind gets to come up with new ideas for your own projects. You also get to speak to a new generation of talent, and find out what makes them tick, and I feel blessed to know them all.

The crew and cast were mostly oblivious to my candid shooting. but the alert ones were always ready with a funny face or a smile. Hamming it up came so naturally to them. And I don't know how they had the energy to do TikToks, funny videos and dances, between their takes. All this old man wanted to do between takes was take a nap.

The ladies were like Energizer Bunnies, churning out content all the time, usually led by their effervescent Indian Chief, Ke Le (阳光可乐). She really lives up to her name, Sunshine Happiness.

If you think shooting this movie is easy, think again.

The cast had to do so much running, marching and crawling, The scene with the Casualty Evacuation, or casevac, was particularly brutal. But actresses like Xixi, who had many physically-demanding shots to do for that scene, just gritted her teeth and did it, like the true professional that she is.

Another one of them had an issue with the camo cream, not because she was vain, but because she was sensitive to the camo cream and it stung like heck. She soldiered through those scenes, bearing with the pain.

I am pleased to say I did not have to run like I was being chased by a wild boar this time, unlike the earlier Ah Boys to Men 2 movie.

But we did encounter some real ones at the shoot of this instalment. Yes, I kid you not, we were visited by real wild boars during one of the shoots. We gave them a very wide berth.

This series of photos were captured on Kodak Tri-X 400 black and white film. I felt some of the photos looked very gritty, like a scene from an old war movie.

This was one of the last photos I took with my film camera. It was also after my final scene. The girls went on to have many more shoot days before they wrapped for good.

After we finished with my last lines, and Director Jack said, "Ok! Good! Cut!", I sighed a sigh of relief and said my goodbyes. And the cast surprised me with a group hug.

Uncle brownie, as Ke Le called me, was very touched.

I could not ask for a better way to end my second outing acting in a movie, and I will treasure the good memories and new friendships for the rest of my life.

Footnotes

Taken with an Olympus XA

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FootNotes

Taken with an Olympus XA

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