Triumph In The Skies (衝上雲霄) shoot in Brighton

Triumph In The Skies (衝上雲霄) is a Hong Kong drama television series that aired in 2003 on TVB, one of the largest commercial Chinese programme producers in the world. After two successful series, in 2014 they created a film adaptation due to be released on February the 19th. During a few days of production on September, I was lucky enough to become an Extra that was shot in Brighton.

I came across a post on Facebook posted by 'JnG Promotions,' a group on Facebook that post Oriental events for young working professionals, which led me to e-mail them as it would be good experience to be on set watching real life crew creating a feature film. My details were then passed onto the Casting Director for Triumph In The Skies (衝上雲霄), I soon got a swift reply from them containing a call sheet and from there onwards I was planning my journey to Brighton.

On the first day the call time was at 7:00AM at Lido park in Brighton, which meant I had to leave London around 4:30AM. Upon arrival, I signed in and filled out a release form, then went straight to the costume department to get changed. Throughout the whole day, there was a lot of sitting and waiting around for instructions. I noticed that the majority of the crew were from Hong Kong, but there was an English Director and English Assistant Directors, as well as a Chinese Director and Chinese Assistant Directors. The Chinese Assistant Directors would help the Director translate instructions to the cast and crew. Around midday we had a little break, which was when I met the English Director. I told him what I did at University and that I was interested in film making, so he asked me if I wanted to speak to the camera operators, as I could get a closer insight on how the film was made and what equipment they were using. Fortunately I could speak Cantonese, so I was able to communicate to them and they asked me if I wanted to shadow for one of the camera operators when I was not needed on set. I then shadowed for the majority of the day, the man who I was shadowing for was using a Red Epic camera with two main lenses, which were; a Zeiss Ultra prime lens and an Angenieux Optimo lens. They also used a DSLR mounted onto a drone to do some aerial shots of the beautiful park we were in. 

Overall, I think that everything went smoothly with a few problems here and there. The aerial shot with the drone only took two takes, which I thought was pretty impressive, as it takes a lot of experience to control a drone perfectly and to maintain a certain height with a impeccable moving shot. All the crew worked hard together to keep the process going, making sure they kept to the schedule. The main cast members were great, they did as they were directed to and only had to re shoot a few of the scenes, just to make sure that they were on point. The crew members were also very organised, they knew what they were doing and sent the actors to the right direction. They booked out a community centre for the dressing room and toilets across the road from the location; they also hired chefs to cook lunch for the cast and crew members. They hired two double decker buses for everyone to take breaks on when needed, also to travel to and from different parts of locations around England. Having a Chinese Assistant Director who was bilingual was important, considering the majority of the crew could only speak Chinese and the majority of the cast could only speak English. This factor is important in the film industry, due to the fact that communication is key and without communication there would be no show. Communication for this film was quick and easy, as the Assistant Director would liaise with the Director and feedback to the rest of the crew and cast immediately. The Director would watch the shot back to see if it was up to his standard and if not then they would re shoot that one shot. The crew knew were experienced enough and knew what they were doing, so the Director rarely did have to re shoot. I managed my time quite well, as I arrived 15 minutes before the call time; this gave me time to greet a few of the cast and crew. Hot food was provided for me during our lunch and also water, tea and biscuits were also provided throughout the day to keep us going and hydrated. When I arrived I met two extras that were also from London and strangely we had a few mutual friends, so luckily I had people to keep me company for the day. The cast and crew that I came across were really helpful and were really friendly; they directed me in the right direction.

The weather was a bit of a problem, even though the weather was beautiful and sunny it was still a bit chilly and cloudy at times. This would affect the continuity editing of the film, if they captured some shots with sun and other shots without sun. Another issue was the travelling, as I had to travel to a place I had never been before and making sure I had plenty of time to spare in case I got lost. I spoke to Amber Kuo, who was one of the lead actresses and she told me it was difficult to communicate with the crew, as she was from China and could only speak Mandarin. The majority of the crew could only speak Cantonese, as it was a film from Hong Kong. Once I arrived at the dressing room, the costume designer thought my clothes I bought did not fit into the theme that they wanted.

The problems that were encountered were immediately fixed with the weather going from sunny to cloudy, we couldn't really do much about that apart from wait for the grey cloud to pass. As the majority of the cast and crew were flown all the way from Hong Kong and China, the weather there is a lot warmer than England, therefore they aren’t as used to the British weather as we are, meaning it felt cold for them. The crew were wrapped up nice and warm, where as the cast had to wear clothing suitable for the theme of the scene. Julian Cheung, one of the main lead actors had to get someone to pass him his dressing gown each time they were not filming, which I personally thought was pretty funny. The communication between Amber Kuo and the Director had to be translated by Julian Cheung funnily enough, as he can speak both of the languages. As my outfits were not up to their standard, they had spare clothes that they had lent me to fit the theme.