Of all the scenes that I managed to go on set for the filming of JALAN, this one must be one of my favourite. It speaks volumes of the dedication involved amongst the crew – which resonates well with many others in the team as well.
This scene was slotted for Episode 6 – where Y, the host – ventures out to Changi in search of a railway that was once there sometime during the WW2. It was a reenactment of how the Malay Regiment Soldiers were tortured by the Japanese, and this scene had 2 of the soldiers running from a bomb explosion.
I did not have the likes of $2 million in my coffers to allow the director and the crew to make extended, expansive and elaborate reenactments and so they made do.To Punggol they went, camera in hand, lallang in the midst, mosquitoes in their most friendly moods, and lots of inspiration from Band of Brothers to make this scene realistic. While running alongside the actors, the crew nearly fell on top of each other, but they persevered. They took a few retakes of these – and the actors obligingly walked 100 metres back only to run in ‘exasperation’ again. My bright orange pants was in-shot in some of these scenes unfortunately,and so you may not get to see it on TV when this episode air eventually.
JALAN has seen its virgin episode aired last Sunday, at 8.30 on Suria. That was the episode on the rich Boyan heritage that was wiped out by development in Serangoon.Seven more episodes to go – before I can finally start packing my waiting bags and abandoned boxes to finally jalan to Vancouver.
stupid keys stuck in my keyboard….anyway,
fwah… can’t wait to edit this one. i juz LURVE war movies. i’ll add low flying ‘zero’ fighters, explosions, lotsa screaming and shouting, chaotic skirmishes… and a malay soldier asking “ape benda oren tu?’….
‘ape benda oren tu?’ – jawaban: buah limau for chinese new year!! Muahahahah…aku kelakar! aku kelakar!
NOT.