Dear all,
Second will be looking at the questions and answering them here.
Questions from students:
From Eunice Seng : Please write your comments and questions for Second here.
From Difei XIAO : It’s really a big process to film even a single scene
From Li Ming Chak, David : How do you decide what to manufacture and what to recreate virtually? Do you try to make everything in real life? Also, some films make use of min sets (smaller versions of sets), did you use any of those?
From Li Ming Chak, David : mini*
From Sherman Shui Fung Lo : Hello, I think it is interesting that it is possible to portray one city when you’re filming entirely in another city. Does it reflect one of the effects of globalization, where the cityscape are general enough to all look the same, to the point where it can fool the audience? Following this line of thought, do you think that the tiny details such as street signs, fences, trash cans, posters etc of a city is the defining features of the modern city?
From Wang Huiquan : It’s amazing and beyond my imagination to create a city in the film. Usually I judge a film by its plot, actors, conversations, and the implications of it sometimes. Today’s sharing turn my attention to the production of a movie and make me realize that how important the unseen part is. Besides the actors that take up most time of a movie, the whole group behind is playing an important role on the final effect of a movie.
From Elinor Ngai Hiu Lam : I know from a YouTube video introducing this movie and it says that they are using real medical equipments. How do you make sure that the patients are not deprived of the medical resources needed when the movie production itself is using huge amounts of medical equipment?
From TIAN XUEMU _ : since u had to create too many props due to the change of shooting location, did the cost of filming increase a lot?
From Chi Kin Zachery LI : as you said, you have done a lot of research to realise what exactly happened in Wuhan. (some news and picture) but different publishers may have different versions of an incident. so, you may got a lot of versions of what happened in Wuhan. Then, how you decide which version you use in your film?
From Jiaxin李嘉欣 LI : Wow, this film pays great attention to the environment details
From Kit Wah Wu : Did you use any CGI and is it cheaper than recreating anything from real life?
From Starry, CHEN Quanchi : it is really astonishing to see how much detailed need to be recreated to recreate a city, with consideration of almost every physical objects, while background scene is actully what audiences tend to ignore.. I wonder to want extend are the detailed to be considered, as much as possible or there is a certian standard?
From Chan Sum Kie Dorcas : Hi I saw another comment mentioning that some sets may not come to their attention when viewing a movie. So when creating a city, which parts of detailed would you choose to recreate and which ones would you leave out in order to stay within the budget? Thanks for your sharing
From Chan Chun Hing : Since creating a realism film, the movie should be as close as the reality. To achieve this goal, how important is the mock-up city compared to other aspects of the movie? (likes the poops, the dressing …)
From Leung Kui Ming 4796, Sky : It is really inspiring to see how you mocking a city.. hardly can I recognize these place as part of Shen Zhen although I am living in it haha
But I would like to ask what if people find out the truth that the film is not shot in Wuhan? Will it affect the ‘realistic atmosphere’ you are trying to build and affect the narrative of the film?
From Wai Chung Hung : It is something that I have not imagine how many works and details need to prepare for a movie before your sharing. No matter big like trees, small like car plate everything have to been done on point. Also the diffictlties and challenges that will face during this movie is huge.
From Bosco Yeung Ho Lam : It is amazing that every tiny detail contributes to the overall storytelling. Especially when these details may only appear on the silver screen for a flickering moment, so transient that audience may not even notice. But they accumulate and portray a persuading and context and a ‘real’ city.
From Chan Chi Lam : You mentioned before that your crew had to figure out the real medical environment in the hospital and ICU. How did you make sure that the information you got from research was accurate? Did you guys also asked some medical experts?
From SHEN Ao : The process of mocking-up a city is creative yet quite loyal to reality. I saw the whole crew have paid tremendous time and effort in looking into details and researching about Wuhan.
From Wang Huiquan : The improvement and renewal of the original place is like magic…
From Christina, TSOI Ying Ying (3035792676) : It seems that the movie did a lot of work on the environment and scene. Those things must need a lot of time to do it, its amazing
From Poon Ho Ting : How do you ensure every detail in the scene is just like the real one? Will you ask for comments from the locals in Wuhan?
From Li Yueshan May : is that really meaningful to create such ‘fake’ image of Wuhan? I mean I can understand such tiny image related to the collective memories, but … even if you film it in Shenzhen, the core idea of recording COVID19 and people would not change, this is another way ‘pretend’ it is Wuhan, right?
From Elinor Ngai Hiu Lam : There are really so much work behind the seemingly simple detail. This is wonderful and inspiring
From HuangXin @3035771294 : It seems that so many details have been noticed and changed. Is there any difficulty that you find hard to make it like Wuhan? Did you changed the dialects of all the actors and actresses?
From Yifan ZHANG : I think the indoor scene looks really real haha ,no matter live in what kind of house ,most home are full of things.
From Song Yang, Stella : Thanks for sharing! Your talk gives me a chance to know about what is behind a film. By the way, I want to ask what is most important to you in a realism film, the actors or the story itself?
From Jiaxin李嘉欣 LI : How to deal with the things, such as the furniture, after filming the movie
From Wuyang Du : I’ve never thought that a movie about a place can be shot in another place, especially for a realistic movie. Apart from the design of the movie, the consideration towards scene building and background processing are impressive. A minute on the stage takes several weeks consideration.
From shan law : What are the pros and cons of using green screen and CG to mock-up a city compared with using props ?
From Lai Kwong Ning,Max : Perhaps through this recreation of a fake city we get to understand the elements and characteristics that make a city unique ?
From Sze Lui Iris : I am really amazed at such meticulous and detailed behind-the-scenes preparations and environmental replication. I lived in shenzhen but i can barely recognize those streets and places after the transforming hahah
From LIN Wei Alex : I really appreciate the effort that the whole filming group paid in order to recreate the city and the scenes. It is definitely a tough task to manufacture every components and elements by yourself. While the use of post effect seems to be easier and cost less time, I would like to know that for a specific component, what is the key that drives you to make the decision to recreate it in reality or using post effect?
From Daisy, Liu Hoi Ching : After researching on Wuhan, have you found any important elements that are exclusive to Wuhan? How different do you think these two Chinese cities are?
From LEUNG Kwan Ho, Gordon (3035778022) : It is astonishing that every details are presented nicely and clearly. Would like to ask how important do you consider these minuscule details? Most of them won’t usually be noticed by audiences (especially if they don’t live there or they are not that profession). How much and in what way do they contribute to the storytelling?
From Lau Kong Ngai(Jason) : Wow, that’s amazing. Just wanna ask can a Wuhan citizen tells the differences between this movie and their city?
From Enid Geo Li to Jen Lam (Privately) : Wow it’s amazing how the sets and everything change
From Difei XIAO : Maybe the furniture was rented and will give back to some company
From Enid Geo Li to Jen Lam (Privately) : Oh sry wrong sent
From Bertin Tong Ho Yin : Doesn’t this mean there were a lot of post-production just to make it look like a realistic Wuhan city?
From Chan Sum Kie Dorcas : Films choose to put less focus on side characters and only develop a few main characters which is easier and more interesting for the audience’s understanding. Why is it still important to recreate side characters’ homes in such detail?
From WenBo Fang : I just wondering will the filming of the film affect the day-to-day operations of such important places as hospitals and highways
From Enid Geo Li : It’s amazing how the sets and everything change ,also how much time is needed for building these set?
From Julie (DaEun) Lee : It’s very interesting to see how much effort is done to transform the area. Do people from Wuhan realize the changes? Also, are they positive about the transformation of the area?
From Marco, Poon Kwan Yiu 3035797432 : It impressed me so much that the way of the production team care about the detail of the film! I should have paid more attention to the detail of each movie from now on haha
From Li Cheuk Yu Anna : it is indeed interesting to learn that much work is done to mock up a city to make it more realistic. audiences should pay more attention to these details while enjoying the plots to appreciate the effort made by the team behind. im wondering whether wuhan citizens will notice much differences
From Pang Bowen : In the part of research ，I believe that there are many people that actually have been through the covid 19 in Wuhan in your team right？Cause I think it is not pro if you only do research through those news。
From HU Yujie Jade : wow really need a lot of help from others to film this
From Wong Lok Yu Angel : Apart from those interior design of the characters’ home, I wonder if there is any difference between the façade of the residential building in Shenzhen and Wuhan which perhaps need to be recreated.
From Cecilia Chung Wing Sze : There are a lot of details/ aspects that can be recreated in the film, both in terms of the cityscape and medical knowledge, how do you choose which aspects are worth keeping and which ones are not?
From Zhang Ziye : As we all know, a realistic movie like this will definitely pursue a 1:1 restoration of the original scene in terms of setting, so we can see that you have done a very good job of restoring the details of the scene, such as taxis, convenience stores, etc. However, this movie was not shot in Wuhan after all, but in Shenzhen, because we know that different settings will produce different effects, and 1:1 reduction may not fully help the film’s narration. So in the setting design, did you make any special changes? If not, can you explain why? If so, can you give an example?
From Difei XIAO : I am wondering whether the doctors in the film are real doctors or just actors
From Angus Lam Yee Yin : a lot of research must be needed for this project
From HIU CHUN MOK : There are a lot of problem need to solve when preparing to film a movie. It seems really difficult.
From Chen Yi : Thank you very much that the film can design the scene so seriously and restore the story of Wuhan at that time. My parents were trapped in Wuhan for nearly three months, I think they will be impressed when they see this film.
From Wu Shuang Skyler : I’m interested in how you choose elements to represent Wuhan. Which part of Shenzhen in the movie can be reserved and which part must be reduced and reconstructed entirely by you filmmakers?
It seems that big cities tend to be more identical today…Are there some interesting difference between the two cities? How are those differences related to people’s different life/lifestyles? Thank you!
From TIAN XUEMU _ : as you have mentioned, one of reasons that caused you to change the shooting location was that the actors were reluctant to go to Wuhan for this film. Then if this kind of thing happens again, would the production team/film crew choose to change the location every time? Or this is just a special case due to the COVID-19?
From Sze Lui Iris : I really appreciate these hard work put into recreating Wuhan, such realistic environment really recall me to those panic days when crowded cars and ICU news flooded the headline
From LIU Yichu : Though the infrastructure and landscape can be changed to mimic Wuhan, how to also apply other features of Wuhan into Shenzhen, like its residents habit and culture behind it which also make the fight on COVID-19 in Wuhan unique?
From Hyokyung Nam : Thank you so much for the detailed sharing! I’ve now been able to know what is the behind story of the film, and the comparison between the film and reality.
From Yu Yuet Chi : The movie making team is so fantastic! It is very uneasy to do such detailed research
From Pang Bowen : respect！
From TanShuntian : I really appreciate your efforts to change the scenes in Shenzhen into the scenes in Wuhan, because it should be a very careful consideration to clear up the flaws. But since the people since August (the passers-by) are relative calm and not scared about the virus, so will this effect the shooting of the film?
From TIAN XUEMU _ : yea especially during this special period
From Edward Ip Fung Yuen : How much time is needed to build each set? And how much does it cost?
From Yalun Li : curious about would Wuhan people notice something strange in the careful designed film lol