Getting wired in Nanhai...

Filming Hong Kong Action Movie Magic continued...

Given the temperature, its hard to get the crew (and myself!) up to speed. Happily, Rachel is sunny as ever, and ready to reveal to the world some of the closely guarded secrets of Hong Kong action movie-making.

The warmest places in the studio are my office (yes!) and the make-up room, where Rayne He reigns supreme.

We're going to be demonstrating some unique methods of generating martial arts movie sound effects, one of which involves a slab of meat. (I have a suspicion that, once we finish pounding it for the mike, the crew plan to cook it in their quarters...)

From there, we move back to what we call the 'theatre' set (because that's what it was built to represent in the film 'Puppetmaster : Axis of Evil'). This is cold and dark. Thank Buddha for the heat from the lights. Between takes, Rachel clings to one like a marshmallow on a stick...

Today we put Rachel on the wires to demonstrate her flying feet of fury. She's never been strung up before (at least, not on wires) and, luckily, she's brave and a good athlete. I remember going on the wires for 'Twins Effect', and feeling certain the rig would break when I was half way up to the roof.

I really appreciate the technical support from the Ace crew. How did they ever make films before the days of video assist?!?

Unfortunately, my usual 1st AD, Fred Sun, is overseas, so I have to pick up some of the slack myself. Good ADs are likes wives: the best ones are already taken.

Anyway, we're getting it done! Onwards to glory...