6 - 11 - 09 : The Blood Bond Saga (part 31)

More radio days, and the Captain investigates...

Today was a crazy day with too much to do between sunset and sundown.

MB was set to direct the opening monologue delivered by Simon Yam, as rebel leader Lompoc.

The interior of the radio station where this was meant to take place is actually the interior of the recording facility at the back of the studio. It was nowhere near ready for primetime, leading to a mad scramble to put the set together. Simon watched all this patiently, with his usual good grace.

Note to all you budding screen stars: the crew never forgets if you're a trouper, and they also never forget you if you're a prima donna, and they're the ones you need to actually put you on the screen. For some reason, in my experience, its been those performers with the least to offer who've tended to make the process painful!

Of course, once all was in readiness, Simon was wonderful, as he always is!

Meanwhile, after a great shoot on the hotel fight, Phoe was back in the training for the finale.

The training area is outside the recording studio, so Simon strolled out to check Phoe's moves during a smoke break.

Our schedule being as tight as it is, I was planning to shoot a scene at a sewing factory where Captain Trayng (Lin Dong-fu) and his aide Wuchi (Pete Wong) go to find one of the prospective blood donors, only to find that... well, I won' t spoil it!

MB had either never been told or had forgotten about this (or both!), and expressed concern that Lin's first scene in the film would be shot by... me. Michael hadn't yet screened the 2nd unit fooage I'd filmed of the evil nurse (Lily Xue) in the marketplace, and did not express the utmost (or any!) confidence in my ability to shoot the factory scene.

The great thing about being (kind of) the boss is that you can (almost) always do what you want. I grabbed the camera and crew, promised Michael I'd do my best, and set out with Lin and Pete for the factory. (I figured the worst that would happen is that we'd have to reshoot it later if MB hated my footage...)

The factory owned greeted us with open arms. There was even a sign outside welcoming us to the place!

I was mid-way through shooting the scene when I got a call from MB. I half expected he would demand that I down tools and return. Instead, he told me that he thought the nurse footage was great, and to keep shooting. The best review of my professional career!

The scene in the can, I returned to the studio, where Michael was still shooting Simon's monologue (perfection takes time...). We were also scheduled to shoot the denouement of the factory scene, in a set built in the studio staff quarters. You got ahead and shoot that, Michael suggested. I was proud that I had his confidence (though he still came to look over my shoulder a couple of times, and adjust the performances to his liking!).

That evening, the might Kong Sifu returned, bearing gifts. He'd had photos of himself the other two leads framed as presents for the key players, and explained to everyone that you could either hang it on the wall or else use the plastic 'leg' attached to stand it on your desk. What a sweet man he is...

(Cease, our set photographer was an actor in the radio station scene, and then took sick, so we don't have the usual quality of photos for today's blog. We'll be back up to speed tomorrow!)

Next :

Night on the water...