Production started on 28 November 2003. After 6 days of non-stop hardwork, i finally get to have a day's rest today... Ma 1st day was all jitters and stuff, didn't noe wat i was supposed to do n stuff..... i was to assist the FAD in anyway, which required me to ferry the cast/extras to n fro MCS n location shoot, slate every shot tat was taken and end slate at the last take of the shot. I was supposed to look after the welfare of the cast, help them touch up if necessary and also make sure that the props required for the scene are all there on time and in great shape. The Cast's wardrobe is impt as sm of the clothes they wear are for continuity, as in the clothes are to be continuous for the particular episode for the day/night scenes.
The Cast
Wat's surprising is that all 6 of the Main / Supporting Cast are rather friendly people. Mr V, Mr A, Mr Lim, Mr J, Ms P n Ms D. All 6 of 'em haf smthg in common, no airs and they are very simple and down-to-earth people. Mr V for one, is super lame and crappy. as wat my director said, "out of the 10 sentences Mr V says, 11 are lame..." haahaahaa.... & he keeps teasing me, disturbing me..... welll nice to me oso... haaaaa..... D 1st time i saw him, we din' really talk much 1st day of filming, i was just doing ma slating, running up and down to get things done.
Den we started talking, i was cheeky and so was him, but i realize tat ma skills r still way below his. He asked if any1 said i look like 1 of d WeWe members, d one of d sausage lips!? Oh ma gawd!!! Horrible..... den i said NOT, OF COZ NOT, but haf compliments tat i looked liked sm1 else, n was of cuz not tellin him.... :P Well, he got it, n asked if it was Vicki Zhao, den i nodded, since its d truth tat i haf pple commentin tt i look like her.
And since tat, idiotic Mr V kept calling me tat.... hiaz.... teasing me day in day out, so tat even the crew started calling me tat............... but he's pretty nice too.... err... offers to buy me drink, ask me along fer dinner wif d rest, well, which until now i haf yet to do so. So you c, artistes are kinda human too, no airs, juz wanna b 'em-selves, hate d stares n hate to fake n all........ Wat i wld call, natural n nice......
Mr A's friendly, cool n fun too.... N helpful...... philosophical... we talked quite abit, he offers good advice n encouragement and of course doesn' mind sharing..... Mr Lim's kinda havoc, his personality and all....... We talk and chat, but nothg too deep, juz d norm kinda conversation..... Mr J's real easy to click wif, young, fun-loving, simply irresistible, but of cuz, i dun thk too deep too much..... =) Too grt a bod n looks fer a commoner like myself..... haaa....... He can act pretty well, n i'm sure he'll b a crowd-drawer, d gals r goin to swoon over him..... Ms P's nice too, haa... cun believe a sweet lil' thang like her complimented me.... real PR n diplomatic i muz say..... not tat i dun believe her or wat, its juz tat, compliments dun come easy, i noe myself well, so i dun take 'em too seriously, or more or less m skeptical abt such nice stuff being said abt me.........
I've gotta go now..... cuz i hafta wake up at 6am tmr,n i'll onli end at like 11pm or so.... so its a nitey nite and i'll update more abt dis here sm other time... which wld moz prob b NXT SAT...... Jiya....
All i knew about rugby was that errr..... a violent game n that d best in d field was Australia n New Zealand.... Well, i did try rugby before, but that was totally different frm wat we watch in d REAL matches..... mine was touch.... juz get touched n u've gotta drop d rugby ball.....
The watching of today's tournament was purely incidental, err... courtesy of ma cousin... guess he's into dis rather den soccer maybe... So i juz sat n watched..... of cuz... being tt tomboy who lurves action-packed stuff... except wrestling of cuz since its n all hoax lame thg to watch.... (no offense to wrestling fans though! =P)
As i've heard Australia has been the leading or defending champions..... So naturally.... i wasn' their supporter... haaaa..... well u gotta let d underdogs win smtimes yer noe...... Haa.... n cuz dis guy, Johnny Wilkinson (the kicker) frm England side was pretty hunky... good looking... so of cuz my heart went out to the ENGLAND team.......
Besides all d good actions, all the pushin n scramblin, pilin n topplin....... i learnt how d game was played, judged n all.... A try gives 5pts, a conversion gives 3 pts, penalties are worth 3pts also. To gain more ground and thus the possession of the ball, both sides have to scrum (push forward) and the more a side push forward, the more ground one team gains the more likely one gains possession of the ball.... (well dis is wat i haf interpreted @ least...) Of cuz, there shouldn' b forward passes, only backward passing is allowed... erm.... welll a half lasts fer 40mins and extra times are 10mins each. And of cuz if there is no winner after the full 80mins game and the 20mins of extra time, it wld b sudden death den.....
Haaa...... so imagine how exciting the whole match was wen all d big bulky guys kept piling on top of 1 another, esp wen the guy in possession of the ball is moving forward, inching up, getting nearer and nearer towards the 'touch-down' line......... U can c the whole trail of other guys chasing after him, before tackling him, pinning him down..... That was totally awesome, and 1 simply cun stop ooo-ing n aa-ing.... not fergetin d expletives that come along too...........
It was clear that England was gaining lotsa ground n energy durin the 1st half with Johnny Wilkinson scoring with mostly, penalties. And towards the end, Wendell Sailor went all the way with a try and gave England a 14-5 lead. It was a lil' diasppointing though, esp wen Wilkinson failed in d conversion to push England's lead further.
Living up to their champion's'name' and all, Australia came back in full force, with Flatley's 2 accurate penalties during the match to bring the gap between the two titans closer. And the last penalty Flatley took, pulled the score to a tie at 14-14 thus forcing the England team into another 20mins of extra time. Thru' observations, i felt that moz of these cld haf been avoided if it weren' for England's kok-ups n silly mistakes, giving away penalties, and even committing real silly mistakes such as a FORWARD PASS........ tt was totally aggravating.... even England's coach cld not believe his eyes......
@ extra time, Wilkson once agn did his thg and gave England a boost forward, but was soon levelled up by Flatley's penalty 'kick' too..... haaaa......... Well, all ended cool, n to ma wish wen Wilkson did England proud with his best at the last min, bringing the rugby world cup to a close and 'D' titans were of cuz ENGLAND... fer the year 2003....... Woohoo........ haaa... i guess i'll b keepin a look out for future rugby matches.... at least i thk dey are more interestin n 'action-pack' den soccer......... *winkz*
Dis really send shivers down d spine, goosebumps popping, and'll make d heart shudder... Exaggerating??? Def. not.... Have you ever wondered why though TV violence is predominant, it seems that it often involves us humans only.... s in e Bruce Willis, Die Hard kinda violence or the Arnie, Terminator kinda violence... Both that haf smthg common, violence a human inflicts on another human. Yeah, u may say tt its true n all, reflected in daily our lives and news.....
But there is a kinda violence that we haf sort of missed out portrayin n we never seem to see that being impt.... BUT! u read that in the news pretty often too... Well, violence towards animals.... Noooo..... i'm not inculcating, neither am i encouraging such behavior, its juz tt y aren' we shown such 'real life' actions too....
DUN come arguing that its inhumane n immoral to do such stuff cuz any portrayal of violence on TV falls into that category, whether its d Terminator kind, Die Hard kind or even ur Tom n Jerry, Slyvester n Tweety kinda 'violence'.
Hey, why am i stuck here defending maself??? No, i'm not trying to prove anythg, nor m i tryin to put forward d weirdness n stuff.... i juz wanna share why i thk pple haf refrained frm portraying violence towards animals n stuff on TV. Well, many will argue that, its cuz of all the moral kinda issues, n we wld haf animal rights activists banging on our doors n breathing hard down our necks...
Besides all d usual, i've found out smthg more.... creepy, sinister n a lil scary too... err.... not tt bad... juz creepy n totally unbelievable... but we have witnesses to these.... n real facts to back this up.... forgive me if i'm not too detailed in the following stories that i am goin to relate..... its juz tt i cun really recall.....
Was sitting in the meeting ytd wif d production team n d stunt guy discussing abt d various scenes that required his expertise n advice. And as we had a particular seen where this boy has to stab an animal with a sharp object and that the director had the intention of showing as much details s possible, n of cuz that was to be subjected to the Censorship Board's approval, which we wld worry abt later....
Almoz imme, d Stunt guy declined to do that, he insisted that he wld not haf anythg to do wif such behaviour, n if we were to film dis scene, he requested not to be there.... it really seemed weird esp since he was like all so gungho n garang, why wld he b chicken abt such small matters..... it seems that yrs back, he had dis Director fren, who had to film a particular scene that was supposed to feature a parrot fainting.... in order to do so, they had squeezed the parrot's beak tightly to stop it frm breathin n wif its lack of oxygen, induce d fainting. Dis Stunt guy of cuz declined to do tt, n since it was a must for the Director to do it, he did wat he had to n filmed the 'scene' down....
Prior to dis, d stunt guy had repeatedly dissuaded d Director frm doin so, saying that it was very cruel and that such cruelty wld incur/result in future retribution. and esp wen d Director's wife was pregnant, it was strongly suggested n adviced that he shldn' do it, for the sake of the unborn child. D advice fell on deaf ears of cuz, and wen dis scene was taken, d Stunt guy even 'disappeared' frm the set as he wanted nothg to do wif it n neither did he wanna witness such stuff n b 'blamed' for it.
True enuff, retribution came, and wen d Director's child was born, it was a gal (dis is not d pt ah!), and much to the horror of he n his wife, their newborn baby gal, looked exactly like the parrot's beak that he had squeezed mths back.... SHIT boy.... can u imagine, a baby with d 'face' of a parrot's beak!? and furthermore, a baby gal............. tts like SHIT big time boy.... d Director then consulted d Stunt guy, since he had certain knowledge abt such stuff, n d Stunt guy assured him tt d shape wld change after d child turned 7... n true enuff the child's face slowly turned normal after she turned 7.....
If u are thkin tt i muz haf crapped dis all out frm ma own wild imagination, i assure u tt i'm not tt creative, so dun thk too highly of me boy... its all true n witnessed by dis Stunt guy....
The followin is D all time classic involving dis once very famous n sought after Director in the smtime during d 80s. Dis Stunt guy was den a greenhorn and like many others, went to Hongkong to learn abt d ways of production n yardah yardah.... Dat film tt d Dorector was invloved in, had a scene where a dog, sm huge one which i cun exactly recall d name, even bigger den d German Shepard i thk... As i was saying, it involved a dog being burnt. Sounds like nothg grt yeah, juz burn sm dummy or smthg tt looked like a dog.... there r always tricks to this...
But apparently, since dis Director was d top-notch HongKong Director of d time, he wanted to do thgs d real way n so he got a dog, and ordered it to be chained n hoisted up mid-air n burnt for d scene.... N s usu, such chores r done by d runners, or helpers, well basically d small frys... Thank goodness at tt time, d Stunt guy was n even smaller fry and was not involved in it... But thru' his observations, he realised tt d guy who had to do d dirty work kept praying n muttering to d poor dog....
It was in canto but wif translation it went like dis... "Dis has nothg to do wif me, its not my fault, u wanna blame blame d director, he's d 1 who wans to do it.... Not me, plz dun find trouble wif me, anythg, find d director, he is to blame for ur plight, its all his fault, its his idea, i'm juz here to do my job, as i have to earn a living. so please do not blame me..." dis went on agn n agn..... until d poor dog was so all confused n not to mention, frighten.....
Wen d dog was up mid-air, d Director ordered petrol/kerosene to be poured over d dog n with tt it was set on fire n burnt.... alive....... and tt made a gross, distasteful, sadistic but realistic n 'wonderful' movie...... And of cuz, retribution did set in.... Apparently, d Director 'lost his touch' n it juz seemed tt no one was engaging him to direct filme, He faced loads of misery, hardship, misfortunes n blah...... It was like everythg juz went agst him.....
D dog's tragic death, marked d Director's tragic downfall...... (well, m not too sure of wat he went thru' and whether there was anythg more terrible n all) dis was verified by another production crew and it seemed that after tt incident, d media industry became even more superstitious n tt such scenes that used to be awed n wowed upon were totally deleted, rejected n avoided... which kinda explains y e whole HongKong production team together with d actors are often seen praying, offering incense, offerings n even suckling pigs before the strat of any filming... well i guess its to pray for a smooth journey n filmin n stuff i guess...... so can u imagine how much fear n pressure the production team for ghost flicks wld face.....?
Seemed like sm tall story..... believe it or not, my whole team who was listening, had their hairs rooted up.... my own tooo standed tall n proud fer d first time in many yrs n even d goosepimples came popin up n out..... i really shuddered at the twat of tt.... n to play safe, everyone agreed that tt scene was to be revised, of cuz d 'unadvisable parts' to be removed, deleted n avoided!!! I dun thk we wld want tragic downfalls/ends, or even parrot's beak faced descendants...
Been slacking a lil' too much lately.... haaa.... Yeah... m supposed to be in tv production, so why dun i exactly haf a workload or smthg.... Well, 1st of all, we r still in the pre-production stage, which explains why i have quite alot of free time, 2nd, i guess i'm juz an intern, dey wouldn' wanna risk me a Greeny to ruin everythg wld dey....
HAA!!!! all wrong... well there's certain truth in tt but not entirely i wld say... *winkz* Ma I/C, Jenny, the production manager fer dis particular project (well, cuz i've kinda signed sm commercial secrecy thgy so m not supposed to spill any beans...) talked to me, properly for the first time since i joined the company last Mon.
She was like.... "Tiffany be prepared, both physically and mentally for production. Everything may seem slow and dull right now, but you would have lots to do come production." Well, these aren' her exact words, but tts abt wat she meant, or at last wat i interpreted.... =)
She sort of assigned me ma role, haa or rather position, finally... everyone in d same line fer dis attachment has already gotten their titles, like Rabb's d Production Manager (WOW!) and Ronald's d 2nd Assistant Production Manger..... My title is........ *drumz rolz...*..... 2nd AD (Assistant Director tt is) sounds big, impt, cool huh? well, its act.... wat we wld call e 'pao ka liao' 'da zha de'... in plain simple eng, Office boy haaa.... the Runner to be exact..... well, m practically in charge of everythg... erm not exactly I/C juz as an assistant to the 1st AD..... haaa.... area of work (priority) is to assist the 1st AD, help control, look after the extras and episodic cast........ make sure that the necessary props for each episode/scene is available and stuff.... and also to kinda help dress the set up.... and if help is needed at any other areas... b in lights, cameras n stuff (mozly carryin n setting up n packin) i'm suppose to render assistance, no no...more like pledge ma life n soul......
sounds tiring n strenuous.... u wun believe it but i'm totally ready for anythg n everythg.... haaa........ i seriously am so lookin forward to production boy...... its gonna b 24 7 job soon... real soon..... come dis 28th Nov......... wooooo hoooo...... OMG............. i simply cun wait............
