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
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Hashing Out Unfinished Business
08/16/04
Wow, here it comes. Only two days till we shoot. Zelda arrived yesterday. It was so great to get her over here. We had a nice but quick dinner to welcome her and then it was back to the office for further preparation for shooting. So much unfinished business. Mark has been busy the last few days between my last minute insecurities, unseen locations, and his unfinished camera business.
Today we had our pre-production meeting, also known as the PPM. Wow, what a turn out. Not sure how many I counted on the team, but it seems to be growing exponentially. And surprisingly enough, in higher spirits than any other meeting we’ve had. The energy was great. Most of the details in the meeting were regarding how to keep the shoot moving smoothly. Hass and Wing have really built a solid foundation. Samantha and the art department have been working non-stop to get sets finished, and even Bobby Tonelli has been spending sleepless nights painting his own props for Ethan’s set. I’m so grateful for all the energy and passion going into the production. I am truly blessed with an amazing team.
Thank you, Everyone!
I spent the latter half of today working with Yu-Beng. He is an excellent fight choreographer. Making a physically active sequence that is believable requires expertise. I knew I was completely unqualified in this area, however I had a distinct image in my head, and a specific purpose for the sequence. Yu-Beng was quick to understand my needs and took great care in orchestrating a step-by-step sequence that could be followed and played out by actors Bobby Tonelli and Tan Kheng Hua. My philosophy in all the scenes for all actors is not to act, but to believe. This, however, is always my greatest fear when doing a scene that becomes escalated emotionally and deals with physical movement. If an actor is truly in the moment, he or she is not concerned, nor conscious of the next move, and as a result, things can become very dangerous very quickly.
The secret is to create a safe playing field for both actors, so that even when adrenaline runs a bit high and the actor is in the moment of belief, they will be in a range of safety. Yu-Beng set the choreography perfectly. I look forward to applying it to the actual set on shooting day, which will be around the middle of this month. Yu-Beng will hopefully be there. He’s following the film production carefully, even though his role as fight choreographer is only a small one, just knowing the actors can both feel safe doing it helps put them in a relaxed and more confident mindset. And for Yu-Beng, the interest in making the scene both compelling and safe is two fold. One, he’s a perfectionist, like everyone else on set..and two, actress Tan Kheng Hua happens to be his lovely wife.
Thank you, Yu-Beng.
Graham Streeter
Director
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