Dragged myself up by 645am today as I wanted to upload some pics and update my blog. Only place with internet connectivity is at the crew’s inn.
Call time is 9am sharp so I was there by 730am.
Or yes, if you want more inside stories of the shoot, do check out these links from the lead actress herself *wink*
“My Spy” Shoot Langkawi- Week 3-Galeri Perdana
Action-Sequence-Week
Shoot at Telaga Harbour
The Last of Langkawi
Breakfast was well.. you know what I mean. Fried bee hoon and fried eggs. I’ll spare you the picture.
But again, taste-wise, its nothing to complain about.
Michael..
Yes, that’s how tired we were..
Everybody got into the ryhthm of things by now. Clock in sharp at call time.
Get herded into the van. .LOL.
Doze on the way to Galeria Perdana. Arrival, head straight for wardrobe department, get your dress, change, queue up for make-up and hair. Then wait. And wait. Some sleep, some eat, most read and me having resigned to the fact that internet is non-existent and mobile lines are crap, edited my photos and typed my blog entry on my laptop so all I have to do is upload the pics and paste my writing onto blogger the next morning.
Shooting only started at 12pm. Same place, different scenario.
Hannah.
For today, the scene was quite hilarious with AC and Hannah, so at least we get to have some light moments in between shots.
AC Mizal’s role : Playboy Indonesia..
Lunch.
Normally I like this, here, however, they added rebung and I can’t tolerate the aftertaste of it so nope, none for me..
My lunch.
Hannah’s lunch. LOL. Who says artistes diet?
Director Adflin at work..
Preparation.
Stand and wait..
More standing and waiting..
Touch up, touch up..
Resting in between shoots..
For those who had never experience behind scenes for a movie production, seriously, a lot of time is spent on preparation. Lights, props and gears on set, angles adjustment,getting ready the required gadgets, technical video and camera set-up, equipment to be fixed into place..takes hours. Once in place, there is rehearsals, then a few takes (if you are lucky or working with a very experience crew) till the Director is satisfied.
If there another shoot is required from another angle, the camera and lightings have to be re-aligned again and that could take anytime from 30mins to 1 hour although it is a similar scene.
So the actors and actresses – whether you are the lead or just an extra, does an obscene amount of waiting.
Chilling at tea-time.
Pumpkin bubur manis. It’s damn good.
And the other item is sardine sandwiches. (will upload pic once I find it, ahem…)
Right now as I’m writing this, it is 830pm, no dinner was served yet and I got news from the guard of the building that the crew has requested for the place to be open till 3am. My god.. I guess the shoot will run into morning for today..
I hope they are not doing this so they could cut our pay by one day. *keeping fingers crossed*
Dinner was only at 930pm..as usual all of us are famished.
I totally gorged myself and forgot the camera.. but will load pics later as Michael did managed some shots..
Shoot went up to 1am.. it was crazy..
Pic – the same scene taken from top now.. it took them 1.5 hours to get the gear ready..
Just as I feared, our 4 days on set was cut short. There wasn’t even a proper announcement made. It was done “discreetly” by telling a few extras, and the word spread on from there. Jeezz.. by now I was majorly pissed.. and it was such a cowardly way of telling us.
“Director’s orders” was the excuse. Afdlin himself didn’t speak to us, the extras. So the person the extras liased with had to break the news. For us is Zain. Nothing he can do as he is not in charge of the budget..neither does he have any say in the matter.
Though we were promised 4 days and shooting only from 9 to 6pm latest, its just too bad if the Director changes the course of the shoot.
No apologies, no explanations.
Yup, extras are just ping-pong balls.
Throw us about as you like.
Ride back to the Delta motel was a sombre affair. We spoke among each other in the van..the elderly extras from the Langkawi Yatch Club was very vocal in their dissatisfaction. They were paid immediately that night and was very unhappy with the RM300 they got. Seems that they were promised Rm100-150 per day and 4 days minimum. Furthermore, they told us that they had not expected to be made standing for hours and till wee hours of the morning.
They did complain on the spot but the Asst Production Manager who handed out the money just said they didn’t have anymore money to pay them and this is it.
Cool huh?
Lesson learnt: LOCAL production house. Stay away unless absolutely desperate or bored.
I didn’t manage to snap a picture of them shouting at the man as I was busy looking at the drama and forgot about the camera till the end..(he is part of the crew and I guess I’ll be decent enough not to name him)
To be fair, it wasn’t his fault..
The “discussion” went on for 30 minutes. We were in the van so we didn’t hear what was said. Gestures, facial expressions told us what was going on.
Reached our destination only at 230am. Absolutely exhausted and felt numb. Disappointment? Anger? Hate? Shocked? Either way, we know there’s no room for negotiation. So we decided to just rest and take the day as it comes.
