Today we’d like to introduce you to Allysa Sing.
Allysa, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Growing up in Singapore, I was drawn to local horror stories despite being terrified by them. As I got older, I discovered my passion for filmmaking and I hoped one day to be able to merge my love of film with my love of horror. My first experience with filmmaking was an internship at a local production company where I helped with casting, production and everything in between. I enjoyed the process and decided to pursue an undergraduate degree in film production at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. It was there that I met a lot of talented local filmmakers who are still a part of the industry today.
After finishing my undergraduate degree, I freelanced working on commercials, features and short films. From there, I moved on to a full-time job at a Singapore broadcast company, MediaCorp, as a producer for on-air promotions, trailers and campaigns. Because it was a compact team, there were a lot of opportunities to grow and take on different projects and roles. My favourite project I produced was a campaign for a mystery series “The Hush”. I decided to experiment and push my boundaries by working with my team to shoot dioramas that portrayed scenes from the series in miniature. That campaign gained international recognition and was eventually awarded a Gold in the PromaxBDA Global Excellence Awards.
While working as a promotions producer, I also pursued other projects including producing and directing a number of short films. One of the short films I directed, “On an Infinite Loop”, an experimental drama, went on to be screened at the Asian American International Film Festival. I also had the unique opportunity of working on a fashion film for an up and coming Singaporean designer, Amabel Quek.
I wanted to expand my filmmaking experiences and decided to get my MFA in Film Production in the U.S.. I attended Chapman University in southern California, which gave me the opportunities to write, direct and produce several short films. It was there that I allowed my fascination with the horror genre to grow. Written by the talented screenwriter Daniel Segal, the first true horror film that I directed was “Clean”, a film about a girl having to live with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. “Clean” was soon followed by “Nest”, a sci-fi horror that I wrote and that was a quarterfinalist for the ScreenCraft Film Fund competition. The whole experience of directing and producing “Nest” was incredibly challenging but rewarding because my team and I had to fully embrace the difficulty of what we were trying to achieve and grew a lot from it.
Currently, I’ve been producing videos for a meditation teacher and podcaster in LA. I’ve also been working on producing a feature script in the pre-production stage and also developing a horror feature script about an institution for girls.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
I moved to Los Angeles four years ago and at first, it was an adjustment, getting to know a new city and new people. Now that I’ve been in Los Angeles for a while, I can say I definitely miss the food in Singapore! However, being here has opened up a lot of opportunities for me, allowing me to broaden my experience as a director and as a producer. I’ve met a lot of great people who have become friends, mentors and great creative collaborators.
Every project that I have worked on has had their own unique set of hurdles to overcome. For example, on “Nest” I collaborated with a costume designer to create a custom dystopian wardrobe for an ensemble cast. For production design, we had to create a twelve foot high nest that could be moved around for different camera angles and taken apart to be transported from a sound stage to the middle of the woods. The production was demanding and I definitely could not have done it without the support of the team and the cast members’ enthusiasm. And it did not stop there.
So much of horror comes from sound and I was very fortunate to collaborate on both “Clean” and “Nest” with a trusted sound team: Bin Lin, a sound designer and mixer, and Xueying Ou, a sound editor. We’ve continued to work together over the years, including on our most recent horror project “Ada’s Sacrifice” where Bin Lin and Xueying Ou had to engineer sounds from scratch to build a terrifying monster that lives in darkness. I’m grateful for all the opportunities I’ve had to push myself as a producer and director and I’m looking forward to the challenges ahead.
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
I’ve learnt a lot from mentors like Rachel Goldberg, who is a great director and I’ve been inspired by her not only as a director, but as a person. Thomas Ethan Harris, who has challenged me in the way I look at films and also helped shape my voice as a filmmaker. Harry Ufland, who I had the fortunate opportunity to learn about the industry from. Khim Loh, who is a Singaporean producer, has also encouraged me to constantly thrive and Benny Soh, an inspiring creative branding and marketing producer who has allowed me to hone my skills as a producer and encouraged me to never settle for less.
I definitely could not have done it without my friends and collaborators, Chandler Freelander, who is a really creative director with a unique voice and friend who has helped me so much on various productions. Soken Sai, an amazing producer, Victoria Chen, a talented DP, Bria May, a wonderful editor, Connor Vickers, a great DP. I’m also grateful for long-time collaborators from Singapore: Benedict Lee, a talented composer, Benjamin Lee, a skilful producer, and Adzlynn Wan Fizra, a creative and a great production designer (the best!).
And of course, my family definitely deserves a lot of credit as they have supported me so much in what I’ve wanted to do.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.allysing.com/
Image Credit:
Benjamin Lee, Victoria Chen, Connor Vickers
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