I want to update also dunno how to update....
Work still hasnt ended for me yet. August 2007 seems to be a lucky month for me this year being that it's the 9th month of the English calender and I shot Wu Xie Ke Ji on August 9th, Singapore's National day and is also the month Uncle Jimmy had his breakthrough into the KL film industry and Kai Xiang's pictures of Uncle Jimmy's guns are already being distributed to key peoplein KL and coming soon is Leon's turn to shine as he's editing Uncle Jimmy's showreel along with the three hours of footage i took for this three-day trip.
Biscuit films, the Czech team consisting the director, DOP, Producer and paymaster, the wonderful team of KL stunt grip boys and Uncle Jimmy have requested an edited version of these three hours footage.
In the course of the three days we did big big stunts. The production value knocked Singwei and I off - it was the biggest we have ever seen. We had two crane vehicles (those big fuckers) under the stunt department's control, we jumped off the roof of a carpark that's about seven storeys high, two metres per storey, then we sent someone to climb over the railing of the 36th storey roof of a building and another person to jump off the 36th storey. The scary thing is that he doesnt fly down - he hangs in mid air and awaits for the wire pullers to slowly pull him back up.
We were filming at Menara TA, beside the KLCC Twin Towers. The 35mm camera was hanging over the bulding on a ten-metre jib arm.
On the last day we were over at a studio somewhere. It didnt look fancy. More like a warehouse the size of two street soccer courts. But they had huge 5Kw lights hanging off the walkways - about ten of them - lihghting this funky mock-up of helicopter propellors and had someone cling ontop of a blade while they spin him around. They had a wall of green screen put up as well and a 10 metre by 10 metre silk diffuser hanging from the walkway to diffuse the 5kW lights.
Finally we had the big stunt - crashing through glass. This was real tempered glass. The kind you find up in high-rise buldings. The atmosphere became so tense that the Czech people started to sweat in fear, the huff-puff director suddenly got so anxious and the KL stunt boys were lost because the only people available who knew how to set up the explosives was Uncle Jimmy and I.
It was here that we had the brush from the third world. I had this funny feeling in my chest like something is pulling me to tell Uncle Jimmy something. I wanted to but I didnt. I looked at the stuntman, Desmond, and the feeling got stronger. I didnt know what was happening. After the shot, Uncle Jimmy broke to me he felt something too. I voiced out i did too. I guess something was trying to tell us something - no matter how hard we tried... even with a screwdriver and a hammer, we simply could not break the tempered glass. The explosive went off perfectly the second time and unlike the first, the glass didnt break. Even Desmond's steel-sole shoe enforced with more metal could only scratch the surface of the glass despite being flung into it from 5 metres away, 4 metres in the air, from a rope. When the glass finally came down, blood was spilled, the stuntman was paralysed for a few moments, Uncle Jimmy had a big shard of glass sticking out from the back of his hand (he pulled it out and smiled) and paramedics started rushing..... Desmond was fine. A roar of applause filled the hangar. Fifty over people witnessed the final glass breaking.
In fact, this whole trip I felt like something was different. Uncle Jimmy knew that the "others" were around but no, they werent disturbing him. They were helping him. I saw quite a few actions they did to help Uncle Jimmy. Another example we had to swing Desmond off the edge of the bulding, about 50 metres out, at the full speed of a pendulum. Coordination was important because we had two teams of wire pullers at different levels of the carpark which means there's no way to communicate but shouting. We finally pulled it off during rehearsals.... then when the crew came to set up the camera, it rained. And thundered. To go or not to go?
If any of us wire pullers slipped, Desmond's life is at risk. Uncle Jimmy is a careful guy despite what he seems on the outside. The Czech producer was insisting on making Desmond fly faster. Uncle Jimmy had to think about safety and delivering what the client wants. Finally... Uncle Jimmy told us to get ready. We were going to make Desmond swing faster, higher, and pull in the rain, 150 metres up in the open air carpark roof.
We did... and did it again and again up to four times. Uncle Jimmy was shouting at the Czech guys... but for the life of Desmond. The Czech guys wanted more. So Desmond went swinging, screaming. All four times. The Czech guys were happy. Desmond got down, we stripped the wire set up from the crane arms hanging above us. We were all half-naked and shivering. At that point of time, the rain stopped.
In the hotel, Uncle Jimmy said, "This rain was from them. If it wasnt for this rain, I wouldnt be able to show them my power."
I can still remember, at 1am on the 24th of August, right after the glass stunt, the cheers and hugs that Uncle Jimmy got from the crew people on set before we left the set. It was big. People were about to tear. The standard and dedication Uncle Jimmy and the stunt boys showed to everyone was phenomenal. To bleed and risk lives for the sake of film... not even sure if it's ever gonna make it big... it's really not a concern. I've seen with my own eyes what professionalism is and how dangerous it can get. I used to think I have accomplished a fair bit in Singapore. Coming to KL, i realised that I am nothing. My friends laughed when i said I'm thinking of moving to KL's film industry. They said that's Malaysia. Village people. But I have never seen any Singaporean production team work at the standard of these "village people". I have never. My respects goes out to them.
I did something very wrong ont he first day i stepped into KL and granted I deserved what i got. Uncle Jimmy gave me advice on what to do next. I followed the advice and suddenly things started heading for the better. Within two days I recovered from fever and food poisoning. I remembered only taking one pill for fever, and one pill for vomiting. That is all. The rest of the time Uncle Jimmy was guiding me on how to heal myself and kept pushing me to do work. He told me what to eat. What to drink. And scolded me if i drank anything he advised me not to.
The impression i gave was horrible. I missed the oppurtunity to make friends with the wonderful stunt boys from KL. I acted like "a typical Malay" on set. I moved so slowly and blurly. I rarely even talked and sticked to Uncle Jimmy's side or went around with my camera. I didnt even pull any wires. It's one of the biggest regrets I've ever had. If i can see and learn so much just by sitting around, could you imagine if I had actually pushed myself to sit down with these people, speak whatever Cantonese i can gather, and then work with them?
Singwei left a lasting impression on all of them. Including Uncle Jimmy. And this is his first day under The Stunt Production. And i agree with them.
Singwei and I may have learned a lot... probably more than most of us in school have... but I deeply regret being complacent and tactless on this trip. I feel like i dont even deserve the 150 dollars that will be coming to me.
I should stop here... I think i'm starting to write down my thoughts. Tomorrow's another day and there's a small job in Mediacorp Studios. A simple wire stunt. Singwei, Kang Sheng, Henry and I would be there to set up the wire stunt. I'll probably update and that first. So many things going on in The Stunt Production now.
Uncle Jimmy once said to me in the hotel, "I'm very disappointed with you on this trip."
But this morning he and I were cleaning up his storeroom.... he gave me a few shirts and a few things that cant be found anywhere else. He allowed me to coordinate the setting up of his website, the showreel, this KL trip video, gathering boys for his upcoming jobs, paid for my lunch, allowed me to pack up the wire stuff for tomorrow and gave me more to see and do than before the KL trip. And as usual, sent me back to Ang Mo Kio in the evening.
"It's okay. I forgive you. You were sick. But you realised your mistake and you know what's happening. Next time you know what to do."
I dont even know whether you would understand the fortune of having this kind of teacher looking after you.
Work still hasnt ended for me yet. August 2007 seems to be a lucky month for me this year being that it's the 9th month of the English calender and I shot Wu Xie Ke Ji on August 9th, Singapore's National day and is also the month Uncle Jimmy had his breakthrough into the KL film industry and Kai Xiang's pictures of Uncle Jimmy's guns are already being distributed to key peoplein KL and coming soon is Leon's turn to shine as he's editing Uncle Jimmy's showreel along with the three hours of footage i took for this three-day trip.
Biscuit films, the Czech team consisting the director, DOP, Producer and paymaster, the wonderful team of KL stunt grip boys and Uncle Jimmy have requested an edited version of these three hours footage.
In the course of the three days we did big big stunts. The production value knocked Singwei and I off - it was the biggest we have ever seen. We had two crane vehicles (those big fuckers) under the stunt department's control, we jumped off the roof of a carpark that's about seven storeys high, two metres per storey, then we sent someone to climb over the railing of the 36th storey roof of a building and another person to jump off the 36th storey. The scary thing is that he doesnt fly down - he hangs in mid air and awaits for the wire pullers to slowly pull him back up.
We were filming at Menara TA, beside the KLCC Twin Towers. The 35mm camera was hanging over the bulding on a ten-metre jib arm.
On the last day we were over at a studio somewhere. It didnt look fancy. More like a warehouse the size of two street soccer courts. But they had huge 5Kw lights hanging off the walkways - about ten of them - lihghting this funky mock-up of helicopter propellors and had someone cling ontop of a blade while they spin him around. They had a wall of green screen put up as well and a 10 metre by 10 metre silk diffuser hanging from the walkway to diffuse the 5kW lights.
Finally we had the big stunt - crashing through glass. This was real tempered glass. The kind you find up in high-rise buldings. The atmosphere became so tense that the Czech people started to sweat in fear, the huff-puff director suddenly got so anxious and the KL stunt boys were lost because the only people available who knew how to set up the explosives was Uncle Jimmy and I.
It was here that we had the brush from the third world. I had this funny feeling in my chest like something is pulling me to tell Uncle Jimmy something. I wanted to but I didnt. I looked at the stuntman, Desmond, and the feeling got stronger. I didnt know what was happening. After the shot, Uncle Jimmy broke to me he felt something too. I voiced out i did too. I guess something was trying to tell us something - no matter how hard we tried... even with a screwdriver and a hammer, we simply could not break the tempered glass. The explosive went off perfectly the second time and unlike the first, the glass didnt break. Even Desmond's steel-sole shoe enforced with more metal could only scratch the surface of the glass despite being flung into it from 5 metres away, 4 metres in the air, from a rope. When the glass finally came down, blood was spilled, the stuntman was paralysed for a few moments, Uncle Jimmy had a big shard of glass sticking out from the back of his hand (he pulled it out and smiled) and paramedics started rushing..... Desmond was fine. A roar of applause filled the hangar. Fifty over people witnessed the final glass breaking.
In fact, this whole trip I felt like something was different. Uncle Jimmy knew that the "others" were around but no, they werent disturbing him. They were helping him. I saw quite a few actions they did to help Uncle Jimmy. Another example we had to swing Desmond off the edge of the bulding, about 50 metres out, at the full speed of a pendulum. Coordination was important because we had two teams of wire pullers at different levels of the carpark which means there's no way to communicate but shouting. We finally pulled it off during rehearsals.... then when the crew came to set up the camera, it rained. And thundered. To go or not to go?
If any of us wire pullers slipped, Desmond's life is at risk. Uncle Jimmy is a careful guy despite what he seems on the outside. The Czech producer was insisting on making Desmond fly faster. Uncle Jimmy had to think about safety and delivering what the client wants. Finally... Uncle Jimmy told us to get ready. We were going to make Desmond swing faster, higher, and pull in the rain, 150 metres up in the open air carpark roof.
We did... and did it again and again up to four times. Uncle Jimmy was shouting at the Czech guys... but for the life of Desmond. The Czech guys wanted more. So Desmond went swinging, screaming. All four times. The Czech guys were happy. Desmond got down, we stripped the wire set up from the crane arms hanging above us. We were all half-naked and shivering. At that point of time, the rain stopped.
In the hotel, Uncle Jimmy said, "This rain was from them. If it wasnt for this rain, I wouldnt be able to show them my power."
I can still remember, at 1am on the 24th of August, right after the glass stunt, the cheers and hugs that Uncle Jimmy got from the crew people on set before we left the set. It was big. People were about to tear. The standard and dedication Uncle Jimmy and the stunt boys showed to everyone was phenomenal. To bleed and risk lives for the sake of film... not even sure if it's ever gonna make it big... it's really not a concern. I've seen with my own eyes what professionalism is and how dangerous it can get. I used to think I have accomplished a fair bit in Singapore. Coming to KL, i realised that I am nothing. My friends laughed when i said I'm thinking of moving to KL's film industry. They said that's Malaysia. Village people. But I have never seen any Singaporean production team work at the standard of these "village people". I have never. My respects goes out to them.
I did something very wrong ont he first day i stepped into KL and granted I deserved what i got. Uncle Jimmy gave me advice on what to do next. I followed the advice and suddenly things started heading for the better. Within two days I recovered from fever and food poisoning. I remembered only taking one pill for fever, and one pill for vomiting. That is all. The rest of the time Uncle Jimmy was guiding me on how to heal myself and kept pushing me to do work. He told me what to eat. What to drink. And scolded me if i drank anything he advised me not to.
The impression i gave was horrible. I missed the oppurtunity to make friends with the wonderful stunt boys from KL. I acted like "a typical Malay" on set. I moved so slowly and blurly. I rarely even talked and sticked to Uncle Jimmy's side or went around with my camera. I didnt even pull any wires. It's one of the biggest regrets I've ever had. If i can see and learn so much just by sitting around, could you imagine if I had actually pushed myself to sit down with these people, speak whatever Cantonese i can gather, and then work with them?
Singwei left a lasting impression on all of them. Including Uncle Jimmy. And this is his first day under The Stunt Production. And i agree with them.
Singwei and I may have learned a lot... probably more than most of us in school have... but I deeply regret being complacent and tactless on this trip. I feel like i dont even deserve the 150 dollars that will be coming to me.
I should stop here... I think i'm starting to write down my thoughts. Tomorrow's another day and there's a small job in Mediacorp Studios. A simple wire stunt. Singwei, Kang Sheng, Henry and I would be there to set up the wire stunt. I'll probably update and that first. So many things going on in The Stunt Production now.
Uncle Jimmy once said to me in the hotel, "I'm very disappointed with you on this trip."
But this morning he and I were cleaning up his storeroom.... he gave me a few shirts and a few things that cant be found anywhere else. He allowed me to coordinate the setting up of his website, the showreel, this KL trip video, gathering boys for his upcoming jobs, paid for my lunch, allowed me to pack up the wire stuff for tomorrow and gave me more to see and do than before the KL trip. And as usual, sent me back to Ang Mo Kio in the evening.
"It's okay. I forgive you. You were sick. But you realised your mistake and you know what's happening. Next time you know what to do."
I dont even know whether you would understand the fortune of having this kind of teacher looking after you.
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Audi
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Jimmy Low
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