A Lovely Day Off

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This is going to be my obligatory travelogue post. I remember how boring it was as a kid to be forced to sit through other people's slide shows so feel free to skip this one if it's boring (though I will try to keep it as entertaining as possible of course!)

Yesterday was a day off, woo hoo! My new and lovely friend Yasha (our on-set editor from India) decided to spend the day with me touring Ayuthaya, which is about 40 minutes from our hotel. We were pretty overwhelmed with where to go and what to see. All the guide books just list like a million temples but they don't really give any good itineraries for a day trip. But between the two of us and our trusty friend Google, we came up with 5 or 6 top destinations we thought we'd like to see.

Luckily we had a van and a driver for the day, though he speaks no English so communicating with him was a bit of a challenge. Everything we asked or said, he said "yes" or "same same". Did we go to XYZ temple today? Yes. Did we go to the moon today? Yes. Which did we go to first? Same same. I actually felt really badly because he was forced to take 2 tourists around all day on a Sunday (which should be his day off since he's also the driver for our crew during the week). I bought him a nice little thank-you gift though I'm sure he still would've rather had the day off.

We started the day with great enthusiasm. Our first stop was Wat Yai Chaimongkol, which had tons of buddhas (even a reclining one), a lovely temple and quite a few monks walking around tending to the grounds. The first thing we noticed was how HOT it was (this will be a recurring theme). We've been hot and sticky every day on set but this was different because there was no shade and no fans. It was also really crowded. But absolutely stunning nonetheless. Yasha and I took about a gazillion pictures until I realized that all the pictures were looking alike. Here are a few highlights:

The Temple



Buddhas, buddhas everywhere. Hundreds of them, all a little different.



Baby Buddha, Yasha Buddha and Mama Buddha




Offerings for reclining buddha

 

We thought we were done with this temple but we weren't sure (the grounds were huge and there were no signs in English) so we walked to the other side of the parking lot and lo and behold we found the strangest sight of all time. There were literally THOUSANDS of rooster statues, in all shapes, sizes and colors. I have no idea why. I did a quick internet search when I got home last night and it is still unclear what the significance is of these creatures. Either it is a religious symbol or it is a symbol of one of the former Kings who likes to cockfight.

Second stop was The Ayuthaya historical park and Wat Mahathat. This is a giant archeological site of ruins of the old city of Ayuthaya. We walked around these amazing ruins for quite a while and just as I thought I had enough, we found the head of a buddha with a bodhi tree growing around it, which was quite beautiful.



Even buddhas need to do their laundry



 

There were a couple of gifts that I wanted to buy at one of the little tourist shops, and when the store owner quoted me $350 Baht, I thought to myself, well that seems fair, OK. Luckily, Yasha stepped in and did some heavy duty negotiating (she is from India and does this on a daily basis). I ended up getting TWO of what I wanted for $400. Yay for Yasha!

After this we were starving (we hadn't had breakfast) so we stopped at a restaurant for some Thai foood. After lunch, we hit up Wat Chai Wattanaram, which is another huge temple. As soon as we walked into this one, I realized that my Eastern European body is simply not meant for this weather, and I was starting to really fade and get cranky (anyone who has traveled with me before knows that I can get cranky!). The temple was astoundingly beautiful, though, and there were cool dragonflies everywhere! So I still enjoyed it.

Once we got back in the van, I was DONE. I think Yasha could have kept going but I told her that I couldn't even get out of the van anymore. We did drive through the city and past some other temples and ruins, and through some settlements including the old Portugese settlement.

We hit major traffic going home but I didn't care because I took a much needed nap.

After we got back I got a 2nd wind and rented a bicycle with our special effects guy Jerami, and he showed me around the huge grounds of the Pine resort. This place, though run down and quite rustic, has a very summer-camp feel. It's got rope courses, lakes, canoes, rock climbing walls, ATV courses, bike rentals, tennis courts and ziplines. For group activities it really does have everything. Before I arrived I really wanted to do some of the adventures but seeing as the lake has a thick green coating and the obstacle courses are in complete disrepair, I think I'll skip most of that stuff after all. Even the bikes we rented yesterday had no working breaks. It was still fun, though!

After that adventure I went for a Thai massage. The cost was 200 Baht (around $6) but I gave a $100 baht tip, but that's still only $10. This was NOT a spa, I'll say that much. It was a tiny room with 3 cots used as massage tables and one lady who spoke no English. She kept trying to talk to me but I didn't understand anything. I have learned a few phrases but certainly not enough to have any meaningful conversation. The massage was great though (WAY better than the one I had last week in Bangkok) and I left happy.

By this time it was around 7pm and I was ready to pack it in for the night. I went back to my room and watched a thai movie and got really into it, even though I didn't understand a word. It was a romantic comedy so between the music, camera movements and facial expressions I was able to follow along just fine. I kind of have a crush on this male actor who has played the lead in 2 movies that I watched this week. What is happening to me?! I am here 3 weeks and already addicted to Thai soap operas. My high school girlfriends would be proud :-)

Lost in Ayutthaya.  There's a lot less English signs outside of Bangkok

So that's my day off. Today it's back to work. I did get to Facetime today with my Dad and Diggie, which was really cool. Diggie didn't seem to know that I was talking to him. He seems happy and they say he is being "semi" good which probably means not very good at all but hopefully he's being good enough!

I've been here exactly 3 weeks today and today is the first day that my tummy doesn't feel quite right. I've been super careful about only drinking bottled water but it's harder to manage the food because we're being served on set and I don't really know how it's being prepared. I'm definitely being very careful so hopefully this stomache ache is just for today.

Today we're in Bangkok shooting at a bar. Hoping for a smooth and fun week ahead.

10 Differences Between Shooting Films in the US and Thailand

Now that we are nearing the end of the first week of the shoot, it's time to reflect on some of the differences between shooting at home versus abroad:

1. No shoes in the house (sorry but I still can't get over this).

2. The technical crew (grip, electric, camera) wears t-shirts identifying which department they are in.

3. The craft service table is what it's supposed to be - a place for water, coffee and a few snacks. American crews can certainly learn from from this.

4. On-set visitors to set tend to be amphibians.

5. There are no union rules. No 6 hour meal rule. No turnaround requirements.  No meal penalties.  Of course, out of respect for the cast and crew (and humanity!) we try to abide by general 12 hour work days, 10 hour turnaround and meals every 6 hours, but in general the timing is much more flexible.

6.  Catering serves both Thai and American food, which has been great as the US crew can be adventurous eaters when they feel like it but also have meat and potatoes when they need it.

7. We have one permit.  Easy peasy.  None of this bureaurocratic bs about city permits, FSO, ITC, neighborhood surveys and crazy permitting fees. 

8. I have heard absolutely zero complaining. Granted, at least half the crew doesn't speak English so if there's grumbling I don't hear about it. But even so, everyone works hard and smiles.

9. The process for getting a Thai work permit is very involved. The Thai crew has been wonderful about helping us fill everything out and getting all the required paperwork done. So far only one person has lost their passport (causing quite a ruckus on set trying to find it, only to find that it was in said person's hotel room the whole time).

10. The only true necessity on set is mosquito repellant.

I counted and I have at least 50 bites. I don't know how people live in the tropics full time.  I have been here less than 3 weeks am already tired of the constant mosquito fighting (they win battles every day but I shall win the war!).

Other than that, shooting films is pretty much the same wherever you go.

Reality

Thailand is certainly exotic and tropical and all that, but the truth is that making a movie is stressful no matter where in the world you do it. Today was Day 3 (of 21) and I'm certainly feeling some stress and even a bit of homesickness (I miss my dog!).

Yesterday in particular was quite stressful, because about an hour into the morning my computer became corrupted. As in, I couldn't work on files, couldn't access email and basically was completely stopped in my tracks. With the help of a very lovely PA, I was able to leave set to take my computer to a fix-it place. The two of us rode into Bangkok to the absolute weirdest shopping mall I've ever been to in my life. This place was literally an "I.T." mall - it was a giant 4 story indoor mall with computer and technology shops of every kind - resellers for every brand of computer, tv, accessory, parts, etc. Music blared loudly as we walked through the maze of shops and stands until we finally found a tiny little stall where the computer repair guy was. Of course nobody spoke a word of English so my PA Ja-Oh translated everything for me. It was really scary because even though I backed up my files back in LA before I left, I don't have backups here in Thailand and I use my computer for almost every part of my job. I had to entrust my computer with complete strangers who spoke no English and trust that they would help me for a fair price.






We had to wait a while in order for them to test the computer, so we did a couple of the PA's other errands. One of the US crew was asking for Potassium tablets so we ran to about 5 pharmacies looking for them (we didn't find them). Why can't people bring their own potassium tablets to Thailand, geez? The mall was actually a fascinating place (and there wasn't a tourist in sight) but unfortunately I was too stressed out to really enjoy it.

It was decided that my computer needed a new hard-drive (!!), which meant buying a new drive, backing up the old one, and reinstalling Windows. I didn't have enough Thai Bhat with me so I had to use the ATM (which is unfortunate, who knows how much my bank will charge for that!). Ultimately the whole thing cost me about $2700 Bhat, which is about $85. In the end I got my computer back and so far it seems to work so that is good!





Made it back to set as the crew was wrapping out. The stresses of the film set are the same here as anywhere else - it's always about not enough time or money. I'm not going to go into the details of the daily problems on set because that's ultimately quite boring and I don't want to spill any secrets that I shouldn't be spilling. Suffice it to say, last night I was feeling exhausted, homesick and stressed. I also am having a hard time really fitting into my role here as Line Producer and UPM. The language barrier is such that I can't make phone calls or communicate with any of the vendors or Thai crew, so I leave that to our Thai UPM. Same goes for handling the accounting and budgeting, which are controlled by the Thai producers and accounting departments. I've decided that I'm basically Julie the Cruise Director from The Love Boat - just trying to keep the US cast and crew happy and comfortable. Now that I have my computer back I can keep up with all the paperwork, which is where I am comfortable, but I have a harder time fitting in as the production manager on this particular set. So 18 days left and hopefully I'll find my footing by then.

Day 1 In the Can

Gonna make this a quick post but I got some good pics to share. 

As I mentioned the water from the nearby river has been steadily rising. The reason is that there was a typhoon up north in China very recently and so in order to prevent major flooding (as there was a few years ago in Thailand) they are opening up certain dams to send water in different directions.  True to form, this affects us directly. 

 This is the exact place where the prayer ceremony took place just 24 hours earlier.  Our amazing Thai crew put up scaffolding all around the house but we are still walking through the mud when we step in and out of the house.

 Thai custom dictates that people never wear shoes inside.  This is hard to get used to! It also means no shoes on set! Can you imagine trying to step onto an American film set with no shoes on?! I don't even like it when crew wears open toed shoes or sandals! So this morning we all took off our shoes and placed them outside the house downstairs, and by lunch many of the shoes had washed away.

 This is a mangosteen.

 And when I say Mangosteen, what I really mean is the most delicious fruit of all time and a little piece of heaven in your hand.

 The phone that the production provided us with has a service called "Happy" that sends us all multiple text messages per day. We have no idea what they say but we are always happy to hear from Happy.

 Another unusual thing about Thai productions is that they send in a medical team to examine all foreigners (those of us getting work permits) - they take our blood pressure, temperature and even our blood.  Our director thinks we're secretly prepping to take his kidney.

 This is the archery range at the Pines.  I intend to make use of the cool facilities (badmitton, tennis, bike riding, archery, swimming pool, fitness center, ziplines, etc.) while I'm hear, though one can only dream about having the time for this stuff while shooting a film.

 The walkie talkies in Thailand are different! We go to Channel 55!

 

 

The flood notwithstanding, we had a good first day.  There is a political campaign that comes down the river and plays really loud music and gives really loud speeches every afternoon, so that definitely interfered with our sound, so we'll see how it affects the shoot in the long run. I'm all for freedom of speech but can ya keep it down?!?

Final Week of Prep

The final week of prep started off with an all day production meeting with all department heads. where we went through the schedule in order of the shoot and asked/answered a ton of questions.  Nothing terribly exciting or out of the ordinary about this except for the fact that we had a large contingent of both the Thai and US crews, and we had one US crew member on via SKYPE, so keeping everyone understanding what was going on was a bit tricky. It lasted all day, then the producers and I had a budget meeting that night until about 11:30pm. 

Thai UPM, Storyboard Aerist, Casting, Makeup Departments

Thai 1st AD Geng presenting birthday cake to US 1st AD John

Can't forget the snacks

Tuesday I worked in the office all day and by then had developed a pretty bad cold.  At night I took myself on the BTS (Skytrain) to the Siam complex, where they have a huge (ginormous) shopping mall and cinema complex.  I didn't know what was playing and when so I just sort of showed up and hoped for the best.  I ended up watching The Bling Ring, which was terrible.  However, the theater was the fanciest movie theater I have ever been to. The seats were like business class plane seats, soft and leathery and wide.  There were no trash cans anywhere in sight - and no trash strewn around. I have no idea what happens to all the trash. I had to go to the restroom after the movie to find a place to throw away my popcorn. I'm telling you, this place would put Disneyland or the Grove to SHAME.

 

I was feeling progressively worse through the evening and night and didn't sleep at all that night.  The next morning we had scheduled a 2nd unit shoot in Ayutthaya with a helicam.  I wanted to go but couldn't stomach the ride and was feeling so shitty that I didn't go.  Apparently it went well until a huge rain came in the afternoon causing the crew to lose an important establishing shot. We'll try to get it later on.  I took some cold  medicine and slept all day.

 

I felt better by the next morning and worked in the office doing prep stuff.  2 of our 3 lead actresses also flew in that day so I met them at their hotel and helped them settle in and meet the crew.  We sent them to get a massage at a spa on Soi 8 called Baan Dalah.  By that night I decided that I wanted a massage, too, so I walked the few blocks in the rain to the place and got a thai massage at 11pm.  I loved the atmosphere of the place but I have to say the massage itself was not great.  At one point she was literally standing on my back for about 5 minutes and all I could think of was "will this ever end?"  Normally I love massages so much but for whatever reason as much as I tried to enjoy this one it just wasn't relaxing.  Luckily it only cost 350 Baht (about $11) :-)

 

Friday our 3rd lead actress came in so I settled her in as well. Then we had an actor's read through of the whole script, which went really well.  All of our actors did a great job.  That night we had yet another location scout looking for a bar. We finally found one (for some reason this has been our most difficult location to get, because most Thai bars are "open air" bars and since we'll be shooting Day for Night we need something enclosed).  The one we found is really cool and unique and will work well I hope. 

 

 

 Our leading ladies!!!

 

Saturday we did fittings all day and makeup tests in the evening.  That was a long and chaotic process.  Nobody's fault, just the nature of the beast.  Our 3 leads were so jet lagged, I felt really bad for them making them try on all these outfits and stay focused. They were troopers though. 

 



 Wardrobe fittings. A slow and steady process.

 

 

 

 

Saturday night was packing and we got up early Sunday morning to check out and head to the main location, where a Thai ceremony was prepared as is tradition for all Thai films to bring luck upon the film.  The ceremony started promptly at 8:29am (very precise!) and it was absolutely beautiful.  There was an offering table with foods of all kinds, incense, flowers and lots of color. 

 

 

 The ceremony was held next to the table, which is on the side of the house.  Slowly during the course of the ceremony the water from the nearby river started to rise and seep up into our feet. By the end of the morning the area was unwalkable.

 Beautiful fruits, candies and offerings of all kinds.

 

 

 



 Dragonfruit

 I've never seen so many butterflies in my life. They are everywhere and are so pretty, it's hard to describe the feeling.

 After the ceremony a few of us stayed to walk through the house and talk production.  As the minutes turned to hours, the water kept rising to the point where we realized we wouldn't be able to shoot exteriors as planned on our first day, and not only that, we would have to disassemble the sets we had started to build below the houses.  We discovered there is a reason the Thai houses are built on stilts!!!

 Workers literally carrying a piece of the set through the driveway we walked down to get to the prayer ceremony just hours earlier. 

 We had planned to stage makeup and wardrobe in this set of rooms next to the main house, but now you can't even get to the building.

 Later that afternoon, once we had made some significant changes to the schedule to accommodate the rising waters, we checked into the hotel, a Thai resort called The Pine Resort.  It is like Thai summer camp.  Very rustic, almost no internet (the production bought me a dongle so I have access on my computer), no cable tv, bugs everywhere, but so lush and beautiful that I really love it.  Honestly I'm really happy to be out of Bangkok.

My room at the Pine Resort.

Some of our crew had toads and ants and giant spiders waiting for them.  All I had was a leaky air conditioner.  Hey, at least I HAVE an air conditioner, I feel lucky!

That night we took a trip to the local Tesco to stock up on supplies.  This Tesco is like KMart on steroids.  It seriously blew my mind.  Downstairs was a bunch of random stores and restaurants (like Swensens, KFC, and a couple banks and other merchant stores), and upstairs was the biggest Wal-Mart like structure, with loud Thai music and all sorts of random stores on the periphery selling wares like gold, cameras, electronics, etc.  My new friend Yasha, our on location editor who flew in yesterday from India, took this panoramic photo on her iphone:

 It seems like there's not much (if anything) between small 7-11s and huge Tescos here.  Which is cool by me, I love both!

 Random gold jewelry store in front of the cash registers.

 

 

More fittings that night, then off to be around 10pm. Get ready, get set, GO!!!!