Set work in Asia

[Jeremy M Lundborg]

I have a production shooting soon in Taiwan. I have not had the opportunity to shoot on that side of the world yet and was hoping someone had some notes about working on sets in Asia, specifically Taiwan, which I would imagine is close to how China proceeds.

 

I mostly concerned about etiquette, differentiations in division of labor, and the possibility of not understanding how the production is being run, in case some things are wildly different. All of this specifically compared to set work in the United States.

 

Is it super fast, super slow? As the DOP are different things expected of me than in the US?

[Jeremy M Lundborg]

So.

 

My own experience on a mid-range commercial shoot in Taiwan:

 

-No union. 24 hour shoot day? Same rate. Late lunch, too bad. Short turn around? Change your occupation.

 

-2nd ACs lay the dolly track. Ouch!

 

-Very few wireless video options. RF signals are crowded and most don't offer solid systems. Teradeck was a constant conversation, but I can't stand the delay. The steadicam op dragged a system out of his dungeon, wasn't great but better than nothing. Not sure if we didn't have the right equipment houses or this is a pervasive issue.

 

-Grip and electric...same thing.

 

-Mark Lee. Big fan.

 

Can't say I was appalled or surprised. Was generally a bit disorganized. Everything else is nearly the same. Show up, get it done.

 

Hopefully some of this is useful to someone else in the future.