Sunday. First day of school? No. Of course not, but felt like it. My pick up was at 6.10am, I was in a semi awake state from 3am. At 5am I was standing in a shower feeling like I have just woken up after a two month long sleep. I put on the clothes which I prepared the night before, got my bear foot shoes, wooden sunglasses, rose gold neckless and the ring, applied a little bit of make up, sprayed my usual scent of perfume and swirled in it with my hair. Packed my technology, grabbed my Starbucks cup and was in the elevator at 6am. I was greeted by the same driver I had last time, with the same van. I took my usual seat by the window and waited for the rest to come. I was one of the first. Today we pretended to be in Karachi – Pakistan. I realised that I actually know nothing about the country or the city apart of political conflicts. It’s a shame really. We had the whole road blocked off replicating the busy street with various merchants selling all the colourful goods, passers by and tourists strolling through. I understand we created this world ourselves, but it was done based on real references. It made me so interested to know more about Karachi and Pakistan, perhaps go there myself and see how it really is, instead of just listening to what I am told by the media. We wrapped earlier today, because one of our actors was not able to shoot. The production is taking corona virus situation seriously, as I have learnt from my own experience last week and quarantined him until his tests come back. If it was any other job absents of one actor would cause some serious panic, but on this production, we had so many set backs like this, that no one is stressing out anymore. It’s good I think. Worrying would not change anything. 

Monday. Half of the day was dedicated to shooting pick ups for the scenes which were done back in September. It meant recreating the same locations and scenes to the precision of how background actors where standing and which way the same hue light was falling. You’d think that it meant a lot of work for me, but in reality, I really just supervised, because those are the moments when all the producers come with their laptops and rough cuts of scenes trying to match everything and panic along the way, when things inevitably do not look identical. Luckily no one panicked here and everything went rather smoothly. Second half of the day was dedicated to waiting for the perfect light, while setting up the crane and rain machines. We were once again pretending to be somewhere else rather than Bangkok. It looked cool and having rainy scenes while working in 30+ Celsius heat was quite enjoyable.

Tuesday. We went to church. Yes yes, I was told this is the very first Catholic Church in Bangkok built by the Portuguese. I like churches, for their historical and architectural significance, but also they carry so much energy in and around them. I literally just wanted to write that I don’t believe that a church is a house of God, but I also see God as energy, rather than a man in the clouds and then though, well mathematically speaking, if God is energy and Church is full of that, then it is in fact a house of God. We completed the church scene with a confession box set built at another location about an hour away. It is definitely one of my favourite scenes in the whole show. Simple, yet very very important for the character I think. After lunch we jumped about 30 years in the future (courtesy of prosthetics and make up) and shot more important character scenes. As I write this I realise that since the shoot of the show is coming to the end, perhaps everything seems more important to me.

Wednesday. Had a bit of the ride to the location. Our unit base was in this big sports center with tennis pitches, the floor was shiny blue. I started feeling a bit tired, so all those little things became more visible. I guess out of tiredness I was staring at the floor a lot. The day was pretty fun, I did some hand acting for the actress who had a little corona virus scare and some line reading for the phone conversation. Line reading is something as script supervisors we are considered having to do when the time calls, but I do find it a bit strange, since if we are also expected to watch the screen and action at all times. Anyway, with the help of the mystic forces everything went well and we wrapped the day with a rainy night exterior crane shot. As I was standing in the middle of the road watching street lights reflected in a wet asphalt, it felt like Christmas – colourful and peaceful, with a dash of something new being carried with the fresh breeze of the fake rain.

Thursday. In order to leave later we decided to skip breakfast at the base. I prepared my own at home, so in reality I woke up at the same time if I was having one at work. I have been surprisingly early this week as well. I guess I am very eager to be back at it. Also I have finished listening to the Alchemist. It was so nice to experience it again after over the decade. When I read it for the first time it really made me believe that I can do anything and I am glad that I did not strayed away from that idea for too much over the years. Although it did make me wonder whether my personal legend has been achieved? The day was very hot and my brain felt like it was melting. Was looking forward to our night part of the shoot all day. It ended up being a bit challenging and my continuity heart took a hit, because after the new rewrite of the script a scene was added with a prop which we saw being left behind, but now had to feature it. And this is kids how Starbucks cups find their way into movies. Rewrites and everybody saying that: “no one will question that”

Friday. Finally. Last day of the working week before a one day weekend. Two more script revisions came in the night before and one more is about to come tonight. We got briefed about our travel out of Bangkok at the end of the month. As it turns out the European crew will have to go and get tested for corona virus before leaving. For now Budapest seems ok with letting us all in without the quarantine, hopefully it doesn’t change. The rest of the day went well and by the end of it the team decided to go out, to enjoy the little time we got left in Bangkok. Oh and what the night it was. All started with a nice diner, followed by a queer rave event (the music was so loud we ended up hanging out just outside the bar), then proceeded to the nearest ping pong girls bar, which we attempted to escape with a very pointless taxi ride as it literally brought us back to the same spot. Not to worry we got into two tuk tuks  and had a fun “race” to the next sports bar/club place for some final dance moves to be busted. Just after 4 am we were home. Good night. Good memories.

Saturday. Started with a well deserved lay in. Little breakfast later we went to the mall to get some shopping done, ended up going to the cinema to watch the new Pixar movie Onward. Lately Pixar animation films have been a staple of every night before sleep. We played some arcades, had a local meal in my regular restaurant and talked.

Highlights:

  • First day of being back on set.
  • On Monday our first base camp was on the 32nd floor of this “back in the day” fancy hotel. The views were awesome! Also I don’t think I have ever been that high up in a building…
  • First Catholic Church in Bangkok!
  • Extra procautions due to the virus, like serving food from behind the plastic barrier.
  • Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. I listened to the audio book this time and it was a very very nice experience. Strongly recommend!
  • Night out with the colleagues. Some experiences you really should share. That night was definitely one of those.
  • Retracing my steps.
  • Stationary shop! Got a new notebook for the gratitude journal. Also, the section of colourful pens and highlighters! Script supervisors heaven on earth. (Less so for me now, since I work digital, but still)

Cheers with a glass of elephant back at work!