Hi everyone, I am Second Chan. It was nice to be with you yesterday. Hope you enjoy and get something from the workshop.
I have received the questions from you, and will try to reply all of you within days. Please feel free to chat with me or comment them.
Second
Q：Why are most of the fighting shot filmed in a place full of complexity – e.g. fish market, Chinese restaurant, etc. How doesthis specificity help the film deliver messages? What is the purpose? To create excitement together with sound effect? (Chick Kar Yi Priscilla)
A：When we consider the locations for filming action scenes, we have to maximise the visual and sound impacts to the audiences in order to enhance the excitement. Simply speaking, the more elements to fight with, the more items to break, the more likely the action scene would be successful. Thus the fish market was chosen because we had fish tanks, water, signages, light bulbs, furniture etc that may fulfil the excitement. Can you imagine the fish market chase and fight scene only happen in an interior playground or shopping mall? I think it would be less impacts than seeing water tanks being burst out and the actors being flushed by water. Same theory apply in as Dim Sum restaurant and Unfinished skyscraper.
Q：A major proportion of this film occurs in the very local or mere local of the city, like the wet market, the pier or daipaidongs and public estates. There are only establishing shots or general b-rolls that portraits the post-modern cityscape, namely the skyscrapers and fancy brand-scape of the city as part of the mise–en-scene, why is that so? I’m also interested in the use of “water” elements in the film, like the fight scenes in wet market, the toilet, confrontation at the pier/ Harbour front, the girl’s arrival through sailing on a boat etc. It is interesting how the set is depicted and interpreted. (Wong Hon Ting Bryan)
A：This is happen to be an option that fit the genre and the story. We decided to showcase not only the bright/modern side of the city, but also want to find locations or create our own sets that reveal the more down-to-earth side. That’s why instead of choosing a fancy place, we chose a back alley for Cassie and Popgirl’s first encounter. We also chose more old neighbourhood like To Kwa Wan as Nick’s apartment location. It is nice that you aware of the use of water element, though I believe that was not a strong intention of the director.
Q：I am curious about the disappeared building, do the “disappeared buildings” have specific meanings or just for the plot? (Deng Xifen)
A：It was just a plot.
Q：I could see that the film included many settings like local seafood market,tai pai tong and the pier, in which are the old and undeveloped parts of Hong Kong, what is the purpose of showing these scenes? (Liang Yan)
A：Like above, the aim of this film is not showcasing the best side of Hong Kong but the life of this city. Enhancing the variety of looks of one city in certain genre of film may increase the production value, thus the marketing value. No one is interested in seeing a clean/perfect Hong Kong story, or the director might have chosen Singapore or Tokyo instead.
Q：Why did you choose an outdoor fish market to be the place of the fight and why choose the broken fish and tanks to be the expression of the fighters’ abilities? Thanks a lot! (Wu Guanlin)
A：It was a decision made by director/screenwriter mostly. This is understandable because when dealing with action scene (especially outdoor action scene), we usually put the visual / sound excitement as the priority. Visual excitement could be done by fast pace camera movement, lots of props/building breaking or explosion, chaos scenes with people running around etc. Sound excitement always follows the design of visual actions. Choosing breaking fish tanks and create chaos in fish markets is serving the same purpose of enhancing this scene (first time Cassie and Nick confronting Popgirl family). We don’t really see this kind of chaos in real life, do we? Then we as filmmakers bring to the big screen. One of the filmmakers missions is to bring unusual experience to the audiences, to let them go through what they usually won’t do in normal daily life.
Q：I wonder how the film can combine the usage of psychic powers and architectural buildings with personalities so well? Are there any emphasis on camera angles, colour tone or so on? (Lok Man Poon)
A：Film is a comprehensive art. Story telling, cinematography, art direction, editing, visual and sound effects etc, all comes together to form a film. It is hard to single out one item for specific contribution, because every elements may help you to watch the film in many ways, like the camera angles, or use of lens, or way of lighting the set etc. Moreover, different audience may feel differently for the same film, because we all have different sensitivity on arts. Some people are more sensitive to camera movement, but some may keen to colors or music in the film. If you are interested in cinematography you may further seek more knowledge via lots of channels. They are worth to be explored.
Q：What perspectives of Hong Kong you wanted to present in your movie? (Chan Hiu Yan)
A：Filmmakers are always being asked this kind of questions, but I always ask the watchers in reverse: What is your perspectives after watching the film? Filmmakers surely have their own perspectives, but watching film is not about the audiences need to perfectly understand that perspectives. You may have your own, and filmmakers are more interested in listen to audiences, like what do you see? How do you feel about Hong Kong after watching it? There is not definite answer. Sometimes the audiences’ responses may blow the filmmakers’ mind.
Q：The scene locations (e.g. fish boat, mahjong place, places that have Chinese altars and do funeral rituals (法事) which really show the traditions and culture of Hong Kong) in the movie are mostly crowded, unvarnished, rusty and dusty. What impression/vibe of Hong Kong do you want to show to the audience? (Hui Yui Gi Catherine)
A：The dock and the temple scene are not crowded, we barely see extras. Fish market is crowded because it is necessary to create chaos for the action/gun fighting scenes. The Wan Chai Market (where Kira was kidnapped) was crowded because they are real pedestrians. We placed the casts in between real pedestrians and shot the scenes. If you know about filming you’d understand it is hard to control real crowds in may urban areas in Hong Kong. Last but not least, it is a general tactic to put more extras on street scenes rather than less, and this tactic applies to nearly all Hollywood productions, not only “Push”.
Q：What is the use of the plot set in Hong Kong in order to push the story? To what extent does the choice of mixing the race of the character benefit the movie? (Wong Lok Kan)
A：The story was set that Pushers/Watchers/Movers/Bleeders are spreading out all over the world hiding as normal people. If, say, the story was set that Kira escaped from division in Washington to Los Angeles (meet Nick again), it would not be global enough. So the filmmakers had to choose a city that far away from USA. And they picked Hong Kong, a dynamic city with much more varieties and possibilities. It is not unusual to mixing the race of the characters if filming in a foreign city (American’s POV). “Lucy”, “Lost in Translation” are all good examples.
Q：The film contains a wide range of vivid colours, and “red” seems to be the dominant, was it intended or as a result of coincidence? (An Somia)
A：It was intended. In fact, red and green are both dominant colours.
Q：I notice that there is a tight relationship between the location and the characters, thus, I would like to ask are there any order in designing these scene i.e location first or character first and where do you usually get inspiration? (Jane Zhang Qin Ya)
A：It is always character come (story) first. Before we had meeting with location department, we need to have a whole ideas about the film art direction, plus some artistic ideas in certain important scenes. These are the guidelines for location colleagues to work. They search for possible shooting locations based on our imagination and guidelines. Then we will all browse the locations together, both via pictures and physically visiting. After locked down specific locations for specific scene, art department would start making design drawings, technical measurements and sketches etc. Then the construction and set decorator teams will follow the art director’s instructions and make things happen for real.
Q：What do you think are the criteria of good set design, if any? (Duan Yipeng)
A：
1. Proper way to help telling the story and/or reflect the role’s background/characters (for those not being told directly).
2. Consider the theme and art direction as a whole to fit the best for the film.
3. Offer the best space design in accordance to the script description, allow enough and good space for the actors to act within the sets.
4. Provide suitable light resources for the DOP to use, and allow enough space/flexibility for the camera/grip to set up equipment in order to film varies angles (wild removable walls need), as well as for the gaffer to lit up the set in the best way.
5. Think thoroughly of the colours/materials use in related to costume design. In some cases set design would deliberately be done very subtile in order to stand out actors (costumes).
6. Accommodate and fulfil other departments’ needs in specific scenes, for example, work closely with action choreographer or visual effect supervisor in certain needs they may concern.
Q：Hi Sikan, I am Derek, I am interested in the transition, I see different neon light and the high-rise building. In creating a special genre, is that some special lighting, shot in shoting the environment in adapting the environment, old Hong Kong or modern Hong Kong? (Derek Lee Kwan Yeung)
A：We usually shot quite a lot of what we called “empty” shots for scene transition use. These empty shots could be existing city lights, building, traffics, or simply people walks etc. Usually it is done by B camera (smaller team) or we roll the camera whatever worth to pick up. These footage are later on being selected and edited by the editors.
Q：Hello Second, I am Casey. I would like to ask what is the message you want to deliver through this movie? Also, you mentioned just now that the motel scene which Cassy gets drunk cannot be faked due to camera angel. I couldn’t quite understand it. Could you further explain it why the scenery cannot be post-produced like the apartment scene? Thank you! (Hiu Yan Chan)
A：Please see this clip. Popgirl is standing very close to the window, looking outside. The camera is handheld moving at her front with background clearly seen. And it is daytime. This is a direct indoor-outdoor relation shot with non-static camera movements. Using green screen (build set in soundstage) may pay lots of efforts but the result may not be satisfactory, because we need a perfect background plate shot that perfectly matching the camera movement vs angle/perspective of the foreground (Popgirl). Thus set dressing a real apartment in real locations is actually easier and the result is the most natural.
Q：In the movie, how to deal with this flashing picture when the character is predicting the future or eliminating memory. How was the scene flashing by carefully chosen? Is there a difference in the expression techniques between predicting the future and eliminating the past? (Chen Yushan)
A：This is actually an editor’s question. There are zillion ways to express “flash back” in movies, and flashing pictures/memories is happen to be the choice the director/editor picked. Editor is responsible for browsing all the footages, and picks the right shot/take to do the effect, and of course, being approved by the director. There must surely be other techniques to express so, like splitting screen etc.
Q：I have seen that Hong Kong has been the backdrop of mostly western fiction or action films.Are there any possibility that here could be the backdrop of other kinds of film? (Liang Yan)
A：Of course that is possible. Romantic story, comedy or drama, anything could happen in Hong Kong. The reason that most Hollywood film would only consider fiction or action films set up in Hong Kong as backdrop is because Hong Kong movies in 80s and 90s are largely exported to the western countries. Most of the popular ones are action genre. So they still have an impression that everyone in Hong Kong knows kungfu fighting and bullets could be flying everywhere.
Q：Selecting Hong Kong as a narrative background while applying Western stories, what interesting chemical reactions or incompatibilities have occurred? (Chen Yushan)
A：This is a wide range question. Surely there will be cultural conflicts between east and west. I always consider this issue project by project. My priority question is always : who are the target audiences? If the target audiences are mostly the westerners/Americans, I usually do not seek a perfect reveal of Chinese or Hong Kong culture. Indeed it is hard to convince them sometimes. They love elements like lanterns, dragons, wet markets, Majiang, crowds and sexy ladies with qipao. Is it cliché？Yes. Can we change? Not really. As long as it is not culturally contradict to our knowledge or make Chinese audiences feel uncomfortable /insulted, that would be fine. By the end of the day, they are just passing-by（過客） , we are real local filmmakers. Believe me, I have refused so many times to dress a street using hundreds of lanterns…
Q：Why was this film specifically set in HK? Why don’t you portray the real HK instead of making a fake HK if your intention of the movie is to portray HK as a whole? Thanks. (Wong Ting Fai Wesley)
A：Somehow the story could happen anywhere in the world. But they decide to set it in Hong Kong. We might have portray real HK for sure. But we decided not to do so. The genre of this film is sce-fi action. The pushers/watchers do not exist in real life. This story foundation already provide us a chance to do some manipulation for the city. So we played with materials, colours and spaces, and had some funs throughout the process. By the end it is an entertainment movie, not a documentary. I won’t use the word “fake”. It is NOT fake HK, just a HK with an unusual surreal look.
Q：What challenges did you encounter during the filming? (Chan Hiu Yan)
A：Time frame. The American crews arrived in August 2007, and they had to finish filming and be back home before Christmas, meaning we only had less than five months to scout locations, design, make sketches, construct and set-dressing sets etc. We were working around the clock to fulfil this time frame. Usually a film scale like this, with many location shootings and set builds, would have pre-production and filming period for at least nine months. When I worked in Jackie Chan/Jaden Smith “The Karate Kid”, we spent almost one year in Beijing.
Q：What messages you wanted to deliver in the movie? (Chan Hiu Yan)
A：As an art director we want the audience believe these people exist in the city, so we design the city by jumping in between surreal and realistic part of it. If you are asking about what message the story want to deliver, this could only be answered by the director.
Q：Hello Second! This is Sophia. Thank you for conducting this meaningful workshop! I would like to ask a more generic question, where do you normally get your inspiration from as an art director/producer? Also, can you share your story of how you became a film art director? Is it something you’ve always wanted to be? Thank you! (Sophia Hae Gi Choi)
A：This is a very good question. Indeed, the inspiration are mostly very personal and subjective in the early stage. I believe all of you have images in your mind when reading a novel for the first time, through this word description plus your own imagination. This is similar to our experience. When I received a new script, I love to print it out, hide at the corner of a coffee shop, and very focus on reading it from page one to the end in two hours. Then we usually get a preliminary ideas about it. Later on we’d talk to the director for the first time, see how he/she sees the story, in a wide range scope. Most design ideas arise from these two stages. My story of being an art director? It was simple. I was an architect working in office in Central everyday. I had been hoping to try making film. I knew a director who happened to start his new film, and he recommended me to the art director because of my architectural background. That was how I started. Be honest, I absolutely had ZERO clues about what “art department” do before entering the business.
Q：Hi! I am super interested in your academic background and your choice of career. For anyone who studied architecture, shouldn’t architect be a very obvious career path? What made you change your mind after years of education in the field of architecture and was it a difficult decision to make? How did you manage to find your true passion? Have you ever regretted leaving the field of architecture? why or why not? (Liu Sze Chun)
A：Yes, I was originally planning to be an architect in my career path. In fact I love architecture and still have great passion on it now. But you know, when you are young you want to try something else before it is too late. I was curious about film making, so I quitted and moved to film industry when a chance arrived. I was originally planning to work just one or two movie projects then back to architecture. But once you started, you knew some people and they would recommended you to the other projects if you were not too bad. So the ball keeps rolling, and I never got a chance to return. I believe if you may insist on working in a business for over two decades, there must something you really like. Do I feel regret? Not exactly, though once in a while I may imagine what if I never leave architecture? Once I had a gathering with my university classmates, I joked like : We are all designing buildings throughout the years. You guys design the real ones, I design the fake ones. Your designs could be physically visited, my designs could only be seen on screen.
Q：In fight sequences of various movies, special settings in the background is a must. For Hong Kong, we always have parkour chase on Tong Lau rooftops and fights in construction site with bamboo scaffolding. These are always common in Hong Kong local movies, but no so in Hollywood movies. Do you think Hollywood can make good use of these special features of Hong Kong? Do you think the local film industry can benefit too from Hollywood filmmakers utilizing more of Hong Kong? (Ha Chun Ming)
A：Talking about bamboo scaffolding, this was not the first time we filmed bamboo scaffolding in Hong Kong. I remember when I was working in “Rush Hour 2”, there were also a bamboo scaffolding scene. Bamboo scaffolding in Hong Kong is indeed a very unique way of construction, as you knew most countries are using steel scaffolding only. Such unique technique do draw a lots of filmmakers’ attentions when considering action scene. It is not being used in Hollywood films because they just don’t exist in Los Angeles or USA. Local film industry could surely benefit from Hollywood filmmakers each time they pick Hong Kong as their location, either whole movie or just part of it. Through the collaboration between east and west we did learn a lots, both their systematic works and their professionalism. And they also admired about Hong Kong crews’ great extent of flexibilities (執生）. Unfortunately, filming in Hong Kong is comparatively expensive that prevent more western productions to come for the past decade. That is a pity for the new filmmaker generation.
Q：Hi I am Kesley, may I ask just as a citizen in Hong Kong, also an art director, what are the most unique aspects of Hong Kong that you would want to show the audience? (Chu Kin Nok)
A：This depends largely on the genre of the story and plots. If I make a worldwide distribution film, I would like to tell a story that showcase the modern parts of this city, plus the nature of smart, sophisticated, warm-hearted, kindness and hard-working sides of the Hong Kong people.
Q：There are constant Chinese elements in the movie, like the Hong Kong cafe, the soy sauce (in the fake suitcase and in the injector at the last scene). How could it help to showcase Hong Kong in a movie mainly stared by white casts? (He Yifu)
A： Art design in movies consists of three main parts: construction, set-dressing and props. Thus props design is crucial in a film. Soy sauce in the suitcase is our choice of props design. Let’s say, we might have chosen Kikkoman or Tabasco, no one would think it was wrong. Instead of using those foreign well-known brand, however, a virtual local brand with a traditional tiger logo was designd. This would help the audiences living more in the story (and the city) while watching the movie. They feel like they are physically in Hong Kong. Keep subtly imposing local props or elements (like bamboo scaffolding) would help to help to tell the story. This has nothing to do with white casts. Why white people can’t act with local brand soy sauce?
Q：In the scene where a man brings a brush to Emily for sniffing, is the background of the man designed to create an impression that the man is somehow covered from the truth? (Wong Wing Yan Audrey)
A：If you feel that, that is great. Though I believe it was not the filmmakers’ intention.
Q：Hello, Mr. Chan, I am Rex. I would like to ask is that the background is helping to describe the story and yet, what can be done if it really cannot find/build a suitable “place” as a background? Do we have a choice/ possible to make adjustment on the content of the film to fit the background perfectly? Or just use CG background? (Rex Cheung)
A：The best example to answer your question is “Avatar”(2009). It is set a in story in mid-22nd century, a typical futuristic sci-fi. Another good example is “Ready Player One”(2018), a story takes place in 2045. Both of them have a background that can’t found directly. However, we rarely adjust the script or the director’s will because of this reason. We just sort it out and created our own world that fit the script and the director’s intention. We usually picked the right locations (for “Avatar” in New Zealand and Hawaii) in combine with visual effects (CG background). Sometimes we would go to shoot plate shots for CGI background as references. Pure virtual background is rarely done, unless it is unavoidable and with decent budget. Otherwise, it would always looked cheap.
Q：As an art director, how could you balance the necessity of catering to the storyline and giving the genuine picture of Hong Kong? Any epiphany that arises when you are considering the film setting? (Lau Chun Ho Darren)
A：When considering the film setting, like I mentioned before, always script comes first. Art department, like Cinematography, editing, sound and music etc., are all here to help to tell the story the most proper and best way we can. We as filmmakers serves the script. Therefore, the ability of analysing a script is a must for filmmakers. Secondly, collaboration is also important. Even the key members of a film would have different views in certain points. For example, art director may think a tiny space for one scene is appropriate, but the DOP would think the design should be as spatial as possible. Something like this happens in pre-production very frequently. Thus giving the genuine picture of Hong Kong is probably not our first concern, our priority is find balances that best tell the story.
Q：In your exciting career, you have cooperated in the making of quite a number of kung fu action films (Kung Fu Hustle, The Karate Kids). Would there be any specific architectural or artistic design techniques that you often adopt in the set for fighting scene that can make the scene more intense or realistic visually? (Wong Wai Ching)
A：Throughout the years, I did encounter a lots of works that involved big actions, fight/gun-firing or car chasing scenes. From that I learnt a lots how to design sets/locations for action purposes. The priority of serving an action scene is to help the audiences get into great excitement (看得過癮), both visually and auditory. Therefore you would always see the camera movements, the art design and sound effects are exaggerated in an extent. Architectural-wise, we usually use wild walls (walls that are removable during filming and able to bring back in position) to help the filming set ups. We enhanced the structure of Dim Sum restaurant to ensure the stuntmen’s safety. We used wild walls to provide more space for camera to set up during filming Nick’s apartment action scene. We provided breakable water tanks, signages and lighting fixture etc. (all met safety requirements) for the gun-firing and chasing scene in Fish Market. We manufactured fake bamboo that won’t hurt the actors when collide on them… How to deal with action scenes is quite a large topic, needs another 2 hours to talk about it. If you are interested I am more than happy to share these techniques in the future.
Q：Many parts of the movie were shot at night. Or when the sky is dark. Is this intentional for art direction (representing HK) or is it because of the plot? (Lee Taeyeon)
A：Whether a scene is day or night is largely based on the script, meaning the writers determined that. In some cases we may change a day/night scene during pre-production after discussed with the director, mostly because of the DOP hope to play with lights, the production designer have specific views on designs, or simply the location restrictions. But it doesn’t happen so frequent.
Q：Hello Second, how would you describe your design Research? Does the film employ architects, culture consultants in order to do the settings in soundstage? (Kai Yan Michelle Wong)
A：We usually do the design research by our own team. I ‘d usually research by myself, offer some main guidelines for my team, and have them do the detail researches. In some cases we do need professional consultants, for those topics we don’t really understand. During filming “The Touch”(2002) directed by Peter Pao, we had a scene that required twenty giant plates to flip simultaneously without deviation. We hired mechanical engineers to help us synchronised those twenty motors. During the filming of “Trial of the Panda”(2009), we need panda expertises and animal trainers to help deal with real pandas and baby pandas. Hiring architects or culture consultants is surely possible is some cases.
Q：Hi, I’m Monique Chan. I’m a little bit lost in location scouting in making my own short movie. As you mentioned that you are actually responsible to construct what is written on the script, I would love to know what you would do to decorate the scene if you make the whole movie yourself with limited resources. Like you can’t just paint a wall and construct whatever you want. (Monique Chan)
A：When studying in AFI (film school) in Los Angeles, we had only 5-6 people filmed a school short film with very limited budget. We managed to rent/buy props/furniture, painted walls and construct soundstage sets by ourselves. I understand your situation throughly. If you only have limit resources (both helpers and budget) to make your short film, restraint those changes unless really necessary. Or try harder to find real locations that largely fit what is in your mind. Try not the use addition (make changes), try using subtraction more (find a good location and eliminate the elements already exist there).
Q：How did you make decisions on contrast and harmony between different cultural background of the protagonists and the city? (An Somia)
A：Firstly we’d consider the background history of the protagonists (main roles). Then the characteristics of these roles, their personality. Following we’d consider the plot of the scenes, what kind of atmosphere/intentions that scene wanna bring to audiences? Contrast or harmony, excitement or calm, hilarious or intense… Cultural background is just one of the many factors to consider.
Q：I have noticed the choice of some unpopular and underrated Hong Kong areas chosen in this film. Would you please explain the reason for selecting these areas for the plot of this movie? Is the selection of night club a setting to increase sexiness and intimidation in conversations of characters? (Wong Kai Yan Michelle)
A：I don’t exactly understand what you mean by unpopular and underrated. If you are talking about neighbourhood of Nick’s place, it is because of the plot’s need. Nick, like other pushers, is hiding in the cities around the world, living subtly in local areas. Same as Emily, Hook and Pinky, they want to keep their lives in low profiles. Night club is being chosen only for enhancing Hook’s background story.
Q：I have further question about the deck and the fishermen’s boat. If the fish market shows the bustle and hustle of the city, what is the purpose for shooting the detail of the dark fishermen’s boats? (Ziyuan Li)
A：As mentioned in the previous question, the old man living on the boat is a wiper, who also want to hide his identity. He only uses his wiping ability via payment. Otherwise, he is just a normal fish boat old man in daily life.
Q：There are many scenes of Hong Kong street markets in the film. How do these scenes help to shape the characters or plots? (Liu Fanyu)
A：For some reasons the foreign filmmakers (directors and producers) always found street markets fascinating. It is because they rarely have that kind of street market scale in their home town, probably in Chinatown but much smaller. And their weekly flea markets are very different from street market （露天街市）in Hong Kong. When we filmed “Rush Hour 2″(2001), they also added a specific street market scene of Chris Tucker buying live chickens in street market. It is more like a cultural thing. Again, the target audiences are mainly westerners. What is the point of have Kira being kidnapped in a modern supermarket?
Q：Why you and your team decided to make this revenging story happened in Hong Kong? (Yan Zipeng)
A：No, when it comes to where the story happens, it is the director and key producers’ decision. Not even decided by DOP and other department heads.
Q：What is the most essential factor when deciding the city (background/setting) for the film? (Bak Seoyeong)
A：Mainly the story plot. Is it better to have different culture/background to tell the story? Should it be keep 100% local or explore the cultural conflicts? Sometimes it is a commercial decision, mainly for adding market value. Sometimes it is for adding excitement to the audiences. Like some Hong Kong filmmakers love to film overseas (early “Police Story” series by Jackie Chan), because filming in Hong Kong could be bored (the audiences are too familiar). When it comes to which city to be chosen, it is usually determined subjectively by just few people (director/producer/writer).
Q：Did you have any emphasis or consideration on whether the exaggerated surreal portrayal of Hong Kong for the Western audience would stand out as solely an aesthetic representation of an exotic city, or would it indirectly take a larger part in the film narrative? In other words, does the location of setting “doesn’t matter much”, or Hong Kong as a location choice was deliberately made to take part as a role for the narrative? (Osten)
A：To discuss this, let’s assume that this film “Push” is never filmed in Hong Kong. What would you feel differently if it is solely an American movie took place in, say, New York? Same plot, same actors, imagine it was just a film shooting in New York. Could you imagine that? It is probably just another well executed American sci-fi film like “The Hunger Games”(2012) or “The Matrix”(1999). Thus Hong Kong, I believe, was deliberately chosen to be a significant part of the narrative.
Q：Is there any meaning for using Hong Kong as the backdrop? As the characters are mostly American, how to ensure the interrelationship and inclusiveness between the backdrop with those characters? (Chick Kar Yi Priscilla)
A：Being ruled by Britain for over one and half century, Hong Kong is still a very western city among all the westerners, perfect example of mixed cultures between east and west. Other Asia cities like Tokyo, Taipei or Bangkok, Singapore won’t give such deep perception. Even the characters are mostly Americans, the audiences would believe they are able to survive well in this city for years. The large amount of Hong Kong action films being exported to the west during 80s and 90s also helped to believe that Hong Kong people are good at kung-fu, and gun-firing is not unusual in town. Making believe is very crucial in story telling. I don’t think any western audiences after watching film would argue that the ending scaffolding fight scene didn’t make sense in Hong Kong.
Q：It is unusual for a Hollywood production to have the film entirely filmed in an Asian metropolis like Hong Kong; in fact, most movies only give the audience a glimpse of HK or just film a particular sequence. What characteristic of Hong Kong do you think attracts foreign producer to put various foreign characters in HK and conduct the entire filming in HK, while filming Push anywhere in the US is also quite possible? Why Hong Kong? (Ha Chun Ming)
A：Like the previous question, Western filmmakers found Hong Kong fascinating because of the mixed cultures (east meets west), abundant varieties, and attractive lives. These elements won’t exist in Tokyo, Taipei or Bangkok, Singapore in such a big extent. We not only have a metropolitan skyline like New York and London, but also have places like wet markets, temples and fish boats. When they are being portrayed in a two-hour-long film, it could be very attractive for western audiences.
Q: Hong Kong is a very common city to take place on in many western films, also in the film Push (2009), may I ask why is it so? And why is Hong Kong chosen in the film Push? (Chu Kin Nok)
A：Please refer to the previous two answers.
Q: When shooting films, the filmmaker always tries to convey some information to viewers and architecture is always carrying that kind of information. When they choose architectures, what kind of standards do they abide by? (Gao Ningling)
A：The standard, if any, should be whatever help telling the story the best way. Let me give you an example. The temple scene where Teresa repairs Nick’s back is carefully chosen. Instead of choosing famous outdoor temples like Po Lin Monastery or Tin Hau Temple, we chose a small local temple that located on the second floor of a side street old building in Kowloon City (you can tell when Cassie arrived). Architectures in film usually plays an important role to tell story, as people always have standard impressions on varies architectures.
Q : Will filmmakers construct a city that should be in the film in advance and follow this construction to shoot the film, making the city take on a new or at least an unusual look? How could they decide what a city should look like in a specific film? (Gao Ningling)
A：Based on the script. In fact, nearly all the decisions being made in filmmaking are based on the story. Which city/locations should be filmed? Whom should be casted as key actors? How the roles should be dressed? How the sets should be designed? What should be used as props? How the camera should be moved? What lens should be used? How to lit up the set? How the action scenes should be played… Of course, the script is just a foundation. No script will directly give all answers out. During the process, we would add up lots of our own ideas and personal preference. As long as the ideas fits the story-telling, we are pretty free to do whatever we want in most cases. I guess that is why I love my job for so long, because producers pay all the bills to construct the sets originated from my mind, and I got paid by fulfilling my imagination.
Q : Hello Mr Chan, I have seen that Hong Kong has been the backdrop of mostly western fiction or action films. Are there any possibility that here could be the backdrop of other kinds of film? (Lillian)
A：I believe so. Whether a foreign production decides to shoot overseas depends on the elements of the story. If there is potential the story could be told in another city and market value is increased, why not? There may be a cross-culture romantic story between a British and a Hongkonger in the future. You never know…
Q : Hi, I am Maggie. May I ask when you are choosing the locations in HK, to what extend will you consider the western audience’s impression to HK? Do u care more about to show the real Hong Kong to the audience or create a city in audiences’ imagination? (Shun Ying Zhuang)
A：Actually I wound NOT consider the impression the western audiences already had. Instead of understanding their routine mindsets, I rather create new experiences for them. That is why we love to watch movies, because we all love to experience new stuffs, either story or visually impacts. For a sci-fi film like “Push”, we’d like to create new city impression for them, but in some cases like, for example, the script is adapted from a real story and be told in a realism, we’d probably avoid all the unrealistic elements. Again, it is all about serving the story.
Q : During the film, I noticed that there were major plot points occurring around a blend of real and fictional Hong Kong landmarks, such as the Kwun Tong Pier and the building in construction where the final duel took place. What considerations were taken to ensure that the fictional and real landmarks blended such that they created a realistic yet fictional backdrop of Hong Kong? (Lau Cin Man Anais)
A：To ensue the fictional and real landmarks blended well, we used the real landmarks in between scenes. Other than Kwun Tong Pier, there are several real landmarks in the film like Star Ferry, Hong Kong Bank, Aberdeen and Tsing Ma Bridge etc. When imaginary/strong creative sets are blended in between real landmarks, the audiences would feel the collage. Besides focusing on designing sets/locations scene by scene, it is also very important for us to consider the two-hour-film as a whole. We would do colour chat analysis, set a visual-plot line for the whole movie, and determine which plot bringing more stimulation to the audience and which keeping it subtle and avoiding overdo.
Q : It’s mutually interesting how parts of the film portrays the interior space of Hong Kong housing and fancy Chinese traditional influenced design, from the furniture to the use of patterning, suspendants, portraits and religious props. Why is the set design so reliant on these art directions to portray this “Culture” through this vernacular or Chinese aesthetics? Does it relate to a prejudice imagery or marketing strategy for a mass audience globally? (Wong Hon Ting Bryan)
A：Firstly, please don’t think it is prejudice related. Westerners do have cliché impression about Chinese culture, but can you guarantee that you understand western culture thoroughly like native westerners? Cultural misunderstanding or bias among different ethnicities are very common. This is nothing wrong. If they don’t understand, explain to them. Like I always explain that restaurants in Hong Kong don’t really hang hundreds of lanterns as lighting fixtures, nor do we open fortune cookies after a meal. These are just cliché Chinatown things. Secondly, please don’t take too serious about film art’s influences. In most cases they are only pure visual impacts and stimulations. During the working process we always dance in between catering mass audiences’ preference versus bringing innovative ideas. For me, making movies are mainly for fun as movies are mainly for entertainment.
Q : The film had several scenes with high-rise buildings but also had street-market scenes. Can you remind one memorable scene you think it best represented Hong Kong? (Bak Seoyeong)
A：I personal love the scene of Hong Kong Pool Club, the single long shot of corridor when Nick walked through the meet Kira in the room. It was set as a typical local cheap hotel （賓館）with long hallway and tiny space, but we managed to design in a more exotic feeling. It may not represent the real Hong Kong, but represent a surreal Hong Kong we aimed at portrayed.
Q : The paintings created by watchers in predicting the future are very meaningful and interesting to me. Are there any more details in the production of these paintings? Do they have anything to do with Hong Kong’s identity or the personality of the watcher? (Chen Yushan)
A：These hand sketches was directly drawn by the production designer François Séguin . It was the first time I worked with him, and we later worked together again in “The Karate Kid” (2010). I think it was more of the watcher’s personality.
Q : Although the narrative tone of the entire film is western, in the film I can always observe some elements of Oriental movies. For example, at the end of the film, the duel scene under the bamboo scaffold is similar to the traditional bamboo forest duel. Are there more examples in the movie? (Chen Yushan)
A：Hong Kong stunt team played a very important role during the filming. Thus the audiences would sense this Hong Kong action style. It was unavoidable that Oriental elements was there, because Hong Kong filmmakers, that was like 70% of the crews, were paying efforts and inputs in many ways. Not only art department but also locations, stuntmen and camera/lighting crews. This just happened naturally. You may easily find more examples in the film that with local crews’ shadows.
Q: Will filmmakers construct a city that should be in the film in advance and follow this construction to shoot the film, making the city take on a new or at least an unusual look? How could they decide what a city should look like in a specific film? (Gao Ningling)
A：Sometimes it will but sometimes not, it depends. The decision is based mainly on the genre of the film, plus the story plots and scenes, and also the artistic direction the director wants to head into. Such decision could be very subjective, though market value is definitely considered.
Q: How would you like to present Hong Kong through the movie? Also, how the elements of Hong Kong help the development of the plot? (Chow Wai Yin)
A：A surreal Hong Kong, a city that looked like Hong Kong but not exactly the same. The screenwriter definitely had made some changes in the plot once the filming city was confirmed. I believe somehow the fish market, dock and Dim Sum Restaurant were adopted/changed in the script after filming in Hong Kong was locked.
Q: I’ve noticed there’s a serious interesting use of green and red shades on the set design as well as lime lightings during color grading the film. More so, the outfits, naming of places are portrayed in relationship with the use of green as well. So I wonder as an art director, how is this use of complementary colors work and what’s the logistics and concerns behind the use of it. (Wong Hon Ting Bryan)
A：We usually picked few colours as the dominated colours for a film before making design direction. In the case of “Push”, it was RED and GREEN. It was more of the set design but also the light colours, like the column light colour in Dim Sum Restaurant. Other complementary colours were quite free to use, as long as they were not dominating the set. However, this kind of rules may not apply in other movies. Each time we start a new project we will rethink the “rules” of design from zero. I personally do not like to repeat ideas that I used before.
Q : The film is set in Hong Kong, the Hong Kong it represents is not like some of the other western movies that usually presents urbanized Hong Kong or emphasize particularly old buildings, yet it covers many of scenes that are very down-to-earth and close to daily life. Therefore, I would like to ask: What do you think a good design could bring to the movie? (Lam Yu Sze)
A：A good design would help to tell the story in the best way, thus enhancing the audiences’ experience while watching it. There must be some films in your mind that you probably forget what the plot is, but still remember clearly some specific scenes or images after years. We as art director helped to accomplish that. For me, filming is more than telling story. In fact, each frame of the movie is more like a painting. We paint each frame, and hopefully some of them may impress and inspire some audiences throughout the years.
Q: What are the considerations taken when the sets are designed to fit with the narrative/overall vibe? What would be the most difficult compromises when it comes to creation of sets to fit the narrative? (Tom Tam)
A：There are many elements to determine the vibe of a set: Colours, Size (Space), Materials, Lights, Decorations etc. Set decoration is more like interior design in real life, and construction is close to architecture. Props design is more like industrial design, fulfilling both the acting and the aesthetic purposes. The most difficult compromises are usually from limited budget, limited time and location restrictions. But we usually fight hard to acquire the resources we need. Being an art director/production designer in movies is more than design, it is about dealing with people and collaborate with the others in a polite and rational manner. Always be professional, be convincing and be confident at all time. That is what I have learned throughout the years.
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