Production Diaries:
June 2004
July 2004
August 2004
September 2004
October 2004
Recent Entries:
HUNDREDS GATHER TO PAY TRIBUTE TO THE LATE MAKO IWAMATSU IN CAGES!
Wed, 14 Nov 2007
A SPECIAL TRIBUTE SCREENING OF MAKO!
Tue, 16 Oct 2007
Perles Acquires Cages Distribution!
Wed, 01 Aug 2007
"CAGES" RUNS 4TH WEEK IN THEATRES!
Fri, 13 Apr 2007
IT'S MY TURN TO FLY!
Mon, 09 Apr 2007
"CAGES" SURPRISES MANY AS IT ENTERS THIRD WEEKEND IN THEATRES!
Fri, 06 Apr 2007
"CAGES" ENTERS THIRD WEEK IN THEATRES!
Tue, 03 Apr 2007
LOYAL FOLLOWING TO THANK, AS "CAGES" ENTERS THIRD WEEK IN THEATRES!
Mon, 02 Apr 2007
|
For The Boys
07/25/04
It was a fantastic Sunday, great weather for a good tan at Sentosa and perfect for chilling out in bed, but we sacrificed our priorities for some CAGES’ location scouting. Wing and Graham (two VVIP) started the day with issues about the logic of the script in terms of emotions and audience understanding. I felt relived seeing them at their own “war”. I am always fascinated by men’s sensitivity to issues especially when it concerns the human emotions. Here we get a taste of the S.N.A.G (sensitive new age guy).
The route to our location scout started with Hoot Kiam, one of the prime locations of Tan and Liz’s living unit. I must say, Samantha and the gang did a great job on the paintings and clearing the thrash, I personally would love my own room to be just like that! The run-down shop house has been transformed into an exciting colorful environment. Brilliant work guys! It reminded me so much of the rich colors in Frida. Mind you, there are only 6 pair of hands working on this team.
Tiong Bahru arena caught me by surprise. It’s like a ghost town, only a few cages and their owners chilling, old men having conversation amongst each other about the hay days of songbirding. I'm guessing it was just past lunch hour when we stopped by. What caught me off guard was that it was right in the middle of a traffic junction! Argh, traffic! All this while, I had imagined the arena to be this fantastic spot with luscious greeneries and cornered around HDB flats. I begin to see that CAGES has an important objective, related to all it's locations. For Tiong Bahru and its bird lovers, we dedicate our movie to reviving the glory and passion for songbirding, despite our countless unsuccessful attempts to acquire the proper location permit for this arena, we will not stop till the fat, in this case, bird sings.
We went on a road trip to find our aerial spot, and gosh we found so many possibilities from Tanjong Rhu residential to commercial buildings. Finally, as we went to our tunnel location, Graham appeased his eyes on a great old marble building, Asia Building, located in the hustle and bustle of Central Business District It has a fantastic over-view of Singapore's commercial buzz, with glassy new skyscrapers surrounding her. The picture it formed against the gorgeous blue skies was simply breathtaking. Personally, I have not seen anything like it in my entire life. Maybe it was the breeze that had lifted me up from my stale fish tank. So we decided to keep our fingers crossed on the arduous task of combining all the different location of Ethan’s apartment into one logical opening sequence. I noticed, ironically, that all the elements involved in Ethan’s location seem to be like his paintings.
Our final destination was, of course, the stunning old fixture at Club Street. Graham’s fairy tale location, the used-to-be mysterious no street unit location. It now shared two addresses – 5 Ann Siang Hill and 98 Club Street. And it looks incredible at night! The brightly lit lampposts right in front of the run down shop house unit unveiled her beauty secrets at night. I felt that she is just like a siren, calling out to the sailors on their ships. I could sense the warning signs of this location. With her cracked bricks and aged colors, she looks as vulnerable as a virgin witch! Yes, Graham, yes we love your vision, but let us be realistic about her constraints.
Dinner at Lau Pa Sat (too much meat guys that’s why we went all high and crappy!) showed some compromises between Graham’s ideals and logistic realities. I am looking forward to a new re-write to the script, hoping for a sweet and simple deal. At that moment, I realized something about these boys. They are just like a mommy’s boy who wants their sweet dessert. And guess who the mommy is? Oh well, in reality, we give and take. These boys are sweet really.
Today I have learnt many things; bonding, character building, crazy traffic, visions and silly jokes. One thing that lifted my heavy eyelids was the realization that we are re-painting every little corner of Singapore in this whole new dimension. It's like a timeless classic bedtime story. We have a mission. That mission is what Singaporeans will be proud of. Just you wait people! To those sitting behind your desk and saying “NO” to CAGES, well baby... you’re losing out to a good game!
It was a great day guys, but it sure doesn't feel like Sunday somehow. Heck, it doesn’t matter anyways. I had a sweet return today and I know our mission. Wicked!
Flaps and snaps,
Hass Sunny aka Fish
Production Manager
|
