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I arrived at the studio at 7pm and the entire place was abuzz with people in shiny costumes, colour, bright lights and activities. Everyone was getting ready for HCA’s Facebook live streaming of the “HCA Family of Four Oceans Charity Concert”, produced by John Teo Productions. Uncle John, as he is fondly called, is aware that HCA does not charge our patients for clinical and psychosocial care and that we care for nearly 1,000 patients from all walks of life, including adult and paediatric patients. Uncle John is the superstar who was pulling the entire concert together.
Uncle John was a former guitarist and lead singer for a 1960s local band called “The Stylers”. He has written many original compositions for himself and for other singers and now focuses on composing, producing, music arrangement and staging. Tonight, Uncle John has put together a diverse, international line up, ready to raise funds for the beneficiaries of HCA Hospice . The concert will feature a star-studded line-up of more than 30 local and international artistes like Liu Ling Ling, Marcus Chin, Li Pei Fen, Rahimah Rahim, Ervinna, Han Bao-yi, Camy Tang and many more. Uncle John even managed to win the support of our Guest-of-Honour, Mr Yeo Guat Kwang, who also arrived at the studio shortly after.
Due to safe distancing measures, many of the singers had prepared videos, which would be streamed on HCA’s Facebook page. But Uncle John had painstakingly engaged some artistes to be present to perform live for us.
The stage was brightly lit, with the LED backdrop featuring all the artistes. In front of the stage, in a darkened area, sat the production crew, with several laptops in front of them. Near them, were a multitude of equipment for sound and video. I could see that much effort had gone into ensuring that the concert would be a smooth broadcast.
At 8pm sharp, the concert commenced with HCA’s corporate video played and then our three wonderful emcees kicked off the event – Liu Ling Ling, Li Pei Fen and Marcus Chin were brilliant. Throughout the 2hour 45 minute concert, they called for support of HCA’s cause, encouraging the audience to donate to us. They took effort to describe our services, informed all that our services were free and that everyone should support HCA. Liu Ling Ling even changed her gowns at every segment and her outfits were all very lovely. Our GOH, Mr Yeo, spared no effort in explaining our cause in English and Mandarin. Everyone really showed their love and support for HCA.
The concert was interspersed with live performers and pre-recorded videos played. I received interesting feedback that some friends viewing from home could not tell who were performing live and who were not, as the backdrop was changing all the time and those with pre-recorded videos had the same backdrop concepts. Such professionalism from the production crew. All in all, the entire Facebook live streaming was seamless, as if every performer was live and on stage.
While the streaming may seem smooth and our viewers only see the few artistes on stage, there was a myriad of things going on in the background. A lot of technical support was required and everyone seemed to know when to go on stage and when to make themselves scarce. It seemed very complicated to me, but the production team and Uncle John handled the entire situation like clockwork. At the end of the concert, to my surprise, Uncle John kept apologising to me for having extended the concert by 30 minutes. I immediately told him that I was so impressed and that I could not express enough appreciation. There was no apology needed.
At the height of the concert, there were more than 1,600 viewers and we received thousands of positive comments on Facebook. We also raised nearly $100k, which will enable HCA to make about 333 home visits to patients. Kudos and grateful thanks to Uncle John and his production team for making the evening such a professional and enjoyable one for us!
Have a good rest of the week everyone!
angie
