We had the pleasure of shooting an ad film with a Thai crew in and around Bangkok recently. The quiet efficiency of the the crew amazed me. The one thing that the Thai are concerned about is ’sanuk’ ; losing face and Vikram (my colleague) had to work overtime to ensure they felt comfortable and assured about payments etc (you’d be surprised, or maybe not, at the number of producers from india who’ve defaulted on payments!)
day 1 of the shoot started at 5 am in pattaya at the marina. we’d rented a yacht and the crew was set-up and ready to roll at 5.45 (an hour ahead of schedule). It helped that the director (Ayhan: Smiling Buddhha) and the DOP (SUnil Pillai) were patient, helpful and great fun. The thai crew wears t-shirts to demarcate deptts – lighting, grips, camera etc. this is a practice we’ve been trying to start for the last 5 years! on a boat this saves not only time but potentially lives!! Excitement – So, i missed the boat at the marina and turned up an hour late (6am) by which time the boat had already sailed
(literally). Maew (matronly, superstar Line producer from Thailand) rushed me to the Pattaya beach, bullied someone into handing their speedboat over and we rode into the sea full speed. 10 miutes in and we realised that none of us really knew which way the big boat had gone! Some tracking and locating with frantic calls andwe found the boat. of course i couldn’t get on it immediately since they were ’shooting’. so we trailed behind for a bit before i could hop on!
the same day we travelled back to bangkok and shot a chroma and exterior sequence including a super ambitious shot which involved hauling a jib on top of a bungalow. the shot was completely set-up and ready to roll when we got there. each sequence was ready and the art-work (with options) was done. the only hitch – someone had cancelled the catering. so maew to the rescue again – super noodles and rice in lunch-boxes. the thai crew had a rolling lunch (on job lunch) without any requests from us in the evening the client (Naqash, 25) was embarrassed with a HUGE cake. It was the sweet man’s birthday and we thought it was the least that could be done considering he’d spent the netter part of the day between lights, camera and ACTION. after the shoot a long drive to a hotel somewhere mid-way to the next day’s location.
the next day we turned up at this magnificient 18th century structure in khao sayi. pity we were shooting only interiors here the exterior was framed against rolling green-blue hills with mist gently rolling down the entire day. a lake and a super-fab restaurant completed the experience. by now we’d shot in a heritage location on two days and the sensitivity shown by the crew to the location and it’s material was impressive. i’m talking tennis ball buffers on light stands, card-boards spread across the wooden floor and rubber wheels on ALL equipment. Specially loved the ‘apple-boxes’ for the director and assts to perch on.
A beer party for the crew at the end of the shoot and a quiet dinner at a river side restaurant made for a splendid ending to the entire trip. Maew, full of super-delicious thai food, talked about her ‘dream’. She’s adopted 10 kids and is buying land to build a hostel and school for them. She asked me if people in India don’t notice the poverty and if it’s mostly about money money money (she did say it 3 times).
i’m still wondering. Will we ever learn to be efficient? on time? respectful? human?