(http://events.jphip.com/stgcc2010/interview/P1030639.jpg)
Day 1: Friday 101210
Friday was the start of STGCC, and we showed up pretty early at around 10. Trade hours were at 10, so we wanted to be there for the media preview of the convention. Arrived at the Suntec City Convention Centre. A bunch of people were already there! Amongst them, some AKB48 fans who were going to queue for the handshake event. The handshake event was a limited-event, with only the first 50 able to shake the hands of the 3 girls that were going to be there. From the experience of AFA X, the persistence of Singaporeans should not be underestimated. Collected media passes and walked around like bigshots while chatting with the other guys. Some came early, at around 8am. They were lumped together with other guys who wanted to enter the convention early to do some shopping and whatnot.
Keep in mind, we were all at the airport mere hours prior, so some were quite the walking zombies. The media preview was uneventful. Paul Lee (from Reed Exhibitions) demonstrated his savvy for social networking, answering questions pretty well, even if the questions were kinda crappy. We went to check in our stuff at the media village, talked to some people, and walked around the convention to take a look at some booths. We wanted to get a chance to talk to Paul Lee, but alas, he is a busy man. He mans STGCC's facebook page personally, which was pretty surprising. We reached the stage, and noticed some poles on the left of it:
(http://sgp48.mamemoyashi.info/jphipXakb48%20in%20sg/handshake%20event/IMG_5176.jpg)
The time was now 12pm. People started streaming in. We had the choice to queue for the handshake event, but decided not to. We were there to cover the event after all. Not long after the people from the SG AKB fanbase came up and the queue started filling up. How long was it going to take to fill?!
(http://sgp48.mamemoyashi.info/jphipXakb48%20in%20sg/handshake%20event/IMG_5196.jpg)
These guys would be there for 4 hours, which was when the handshake event and performance would start. We had a short chat (nearly all of those guys were pink shirts, which means we knew them one way or another). We decided it best to have some lunch before we collapsed too. 2 hours of sleep is not enough when you have to be on your feet. We came back at 3-ish, having had lunch. The queue had now moved nearer to the center of the stage, to facilitate movement as well as give the fans a glimpse of their idols while they were performing (the previous queuing position had a shitty view). We talked to some media people to clarify some issues about the interview. Good news: It was going to be in a pretty small room. Bad news: Group interview, and it was pretty close to the stage (where of course there would be really loud music). Talked to some of the guys again. They were rushing straight to the airport to welcome the rest of the girls who were arriving at 5pm after the handshake event. Ah, the rush. Kohilist and I debated about doing it, but we knew it wasn't possible. +1 to taking one for the team. We had some time before the start of the handshake event, so we pondered the camera set ups and equipment. Media village dude could not help us much, the girls would be resting in that same room from the time they finished their handshake to the time of the interview. That meant no prior set-up time.
4pm. The time had come! But first, a few minutes of watching game promos from Asiasoft, STGCC's gaming partner. There were a lot of them. Someone spotted the girls behind the screen! The fans went crazy and started calling out names. Soon after, a lady stepped up and introduced herself as the MC. Crowd goes wild when she announces AKB48. First song, Zannen Shoujo! Overture played, and the fans MIXed. The girls came out in Tsundere outfits. It was kind of weird. But then the realization sank in, they were singing live! That was awesome. Everyone was snapping photos and taking video despite instructions that they were not supposed to. Damn it, Singapore. I was right smack in the middle behind a fangirl. Good spot for photos, but there was no way to squeeze to the front. I had to make do.
(http://events.jphip.com/stgcc2010/handshake%20event/P1030468.jpg)(http://events.jphip.com/stgcc2010/handshake%20event/P1030482.jpg)(http://sgp48.mamemoyashi.info/jphipXakb48%20in%20sg/handshake%20event/IMG_5316.jpg)(http://sgp48.mamemoyashi.info/jphipXakb48%20in%20sg/handshake%20event/IMG_5290.jpg)
After Zannen Shoujo, it was time for Tsundere! The girls turned the heat up. Of course, Harukyan was no Tomochin, but it was a great performance nonetheless. The MC came up on stage, and a translator materialized from thin air! They were asked some standard questions, and the security team carried in some tables for the handshake event.
(http://events.jphip.com/stgcc2010/handshake%20event/P1030566.jpg)(http://events.jphip.com/stgcc2010/handshake%20event/P1030567.jpg)(http://events.jphip.com/stgcc2010/handshake%20event/P1030579.jpg)(http://events.jphip.com/stgcc2010/handshake%20event/P1030584.jpg)
Back when we first found out it was going to be a handshake, we thought 'man, we'll probably only get like 5 seconds each'. But that wasn't what happened at all! There were no Japanese staff around, so some people got to shake the girls' hands for at least 15 seconds, and some even had the time for a short conversation. Mayuchi actually looked pretty confused when the first girl came up to shake her hand, but once she realized it had started, it was all smiles and business. Practically the whole line was pink shirts; they had filled the queue up hours before the event was slated to begin.
(http://events.jphip.com/stgcc2010/handshake%20event/P1030612.jpg)(http://events.jphip.com/stgcc2010/handshake%20event/P1030617.jpg)(http://events.jphip.com/stgcc2010/handshake%20event/P1030623.jpg)(http://events.jphip.com/stgcc2010/handshake%20event/P1030624.jpg)
The girls waved goodbye as the tables were carried away, and disappeared back into the curtains. I was already feeling pangs of regret for not queuing up for the handshake. I really wanted to shake Kris' hand. As the girls went off, I looked for the pink shirts. Already gone to the airport. While they were doing their thing, we had ours. The interview was only 2 hours away, and we needed to do all the prep. And that's all for the first part of Day 1!
Photos from the handshake event (http://events.jphip.com/stgcc2010/handshake%20event/)
(http://events.jphip.com/stgcc2010/interview/IMG_5500.jpg)
Download 720p 50fps (http://sgp48.mamemoyashi.info/STGCC%20Interview/%5bjphip%5d%20AKB48%20Interview%20@%20STGCC%20720p50.mp4)
Download 720p 25fps (http://sgp48.mamemoyashi.info/STGCC%20Interview/%5bjphip%5d%20AKB48%20Interview%20@%20STGCC%20720p25.mkv)
Download 480p 50fps (http://sgp48.mamemoyashi.info/STGCC%20Interview/%5bjphip%5d%20AKB48%20Interview%20@%20STGCC%20480p50.mkv)
Resuming the report!
We last left off when the handshake event finished. The pink army was now at the airport, welcoming the other 9 girls. The JPHiP team would've been there, but we had something bigger in wait; an interview with the girls. Now, the handshake event ended at 1630. Just after it finished, the girls were walking to the room through the convention. We decided not to bother them. Went back to the media village to think up our strategy. We were a team of 3, and we had two cameras. So there was intense (one-sided) debate on who was going to ask the questions. For some clarification, the only person who didn't have any media training at all was me (damn you, engineering education), so the onus fell on me to ask the questions.
So while the other two were testing out the cameras on the tripods and setting up, discussing how to frame shots, I was sitting there being nervous. It was pretty nerve wracking, and to be honest pretty damn scary. Kohilist laughed at me. At 1800, my phone rang.
"Hi, is this (name here)? Yes, you have an interview with AKB48 schedules, yes? We've decided to move it up a little bit, so could you be here soon?"
That was our cue. Packing our stuff up, we walked to the interview room. Talked to the PR lady, seems like the interview format was changed. All the media were going in at once for a 20~ minute interview. That was sort of a relief, but that also meant we were going to have to fight for our questions to be asked. We had prepared quite a few. We waited for one of the print media outlets to finish their interview. Once they walked out, it was go time. I placed my camera right in the center, while kohilist booked the right side (the closest spot). The manager was stuck between the camera and the girls now, hee.
We spent some time asking questions, and got to ask most of the ones we planned. There was one where we wanted Harukyan to demonstrate how she took her blog photos, but I didn't ask that for some reason..I regret that decision now. But we got really decent footage, and that is now compiled into a 20 minute long video for your perusal!