PIANISSIMO
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| Pianissimo is aired on every Mon - Thur at 11.00pm (NTV7) |
The Synopsis : PIANISSIMO
"WHILE many live by the saying, "When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade".
Such a life for Ke Min (played by Jojo Goh) in the NVT7 drama Chinese series, Pianissimo. When her mother dies, the Deaf and Mute Ke Min is abused by her stepfather. She relies on her own strength to overcome life's hurdles.
When Goh was offered to do the role of Ke Min, she is immediately accepted the offer to expand her acting skills. To prepare for her role, Goh took a 2 months course in sign language. During the 2 months course, she herself has immersed in the world of Deaf and Mute.
Sign language is based on the Amercian Sign Language, we had to translate some of the script which was in Chinese Mandarin to English or Bahasa Malaysia and later on to Mandarin again," she said during in a Press Conference in Kuala Lumpur.
Although the script and sign language were given a local flavour, Goh admits that it was not easy. A lot of time, the signs did not captured the meaning in Mandarin. We had to be careful with every word so that the meaning was exactly how it was written in the script, she says.
For her co-stars who had to wait for her cue before continuing their dialogues, the experience was at times, confusing. "There were times when I accidentally made a gesture that was not part of what we had rehearsed and this made it difficult for the other actors," she says.
In the story, Ke Min is involved in a love triangle. She has a feeling for An Dong Zhe (played by Seah Song Fan) and is in love with Zheng Nan ( played by Huang Qi Ming), who is also the subject of affection of Fang Ru Yan (played by Wayne Chua).
An orphan, Zheng Nan was raised by a gang and trained to be an assassin. While trying to escape from the gang members, he is injured and seeks shelter in a nearby village where he meets Ke Min and her mother. Ke Min's stepfather finds out about Zheng Nan's past and a quarrel ensues between him and Ke Min's mother, which results in the latter's death.
Zheng Nan runs away, but returns moment later to rescue Ke Min from her stepfather. Unfortunately, the gangsters catch up with Zheng Nan and he has no choice but to leave Ke Min behind. Ke Min then runs into Ah Dong Zhe who decides to bring her home. He teaches her sign language and vows to take care of her.
After 12 years later on, when Ke Min is now a special education teacher and has grown closer to An.
To prepare himself for his role as Zheng Nan, Huang who has been missing from Malaysian television for some time took up boxing and martial arts training. Based in Singapore, he admits to feeling awkward when he has to initially communicate with Goh using sign language. "We were not allowed to speak to one another and it felt really awkward. But it was an unforgettable experience, nonetheless", he says.
Huang, who share kissing scenes with Goh in the show, praises the latter for her professionalism. "She told me it was okay to kiss her for real as this would capture the essence of the story," he says.
Also starring in the 25-episode series are Jordon Voon, Seck Fu Ru and Candy Lin.
You may catch it on
Big credits and thank you to Ms. Anne Loula, Ms. Ho Koon Wei and Ms. Daphne Eng for teaching Malaysia Sign Language and Deaf culture to the artists involved, Sign Language coach and monitoring by Mr. Jonah Ong throughout the whole series.
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| Ms.Anne Loula, Ms.Ho and Ms.Daphne with the artists |
A presentation show by Seah and Jojo during the conference press
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| Jojo Goh, Miss Chinese Astro International Pageant 2006 |
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| Song-fan Seah, a artiste, singer and actor |
