It was truly a battle getting this indie film out, especially in China. Had to battle through blackmail, cheating, endless problems....etc. Here's a quick recap on the journey we took to make this project happen. Thanks again for all those who believed!!!
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The original scrīpt was first written in English, and then translated
page by page over a whole month into Chinese.[endif][if !supportLists]-
The first investor that we had was an American film investment company,
based here in
China.
The weekend before we were to sign the contract, their Chinese business partner
embezzled everything from them and we ended up having to find a last minute white knight.[endif][if !supportLists][endif][if !supportLists]-
Slam was shot for only USD 260,000 (3 million RMB) in only 38 days. Most
scenes got only one take.[endif][if !supportLists]-
The actors trained over 6 months every weekend to execute over 300
basketball plays used in the film before principal photography.[endif][if !supportLists]-
Many of our actors never acted before, but they had a natural
truthfulness rarely found in even trained professional actors. They were so
dedicated that they spent every weekend in acting workshops.[endif][if !supportLists]-
From the moment of casting to final mix actor Zhang Yi Shan grew over a
foot and a half, as well as his voice changing to a lower adult range.
During ADR, he had to squeeze his throat to
produce a younger higher voice. Yipes![endif][if !supportLists]-
During filming, production completely stopped twice as local crew refused to work unless they were paid more money & began to blackmail the project.
Many extras brought knives and large sticks
to try and threaten their wages up. No joke![endif][if !supportLists]-
The two trainers working on the project, tried to blackmail their wages
during the start of post, by threatening to destroy all the editing equipment.[endif][if !supportLists]-
Two of our main actors who play friends in the film, hated each other
and when they had a scene where they fight, they really fought.[endif][if !supportLists]-
One of our Camera Ops was teased a bit too much by one of our teenage
actors, which caused him to beat the crap out of the kid. We had to find a new
Camera Op as well as pay the hospital bill.[endif][if !supportLists]- Our Music composer Chris Wiebe of Machi Entertainment composed all the
original scores from
Taiwan,
and we still have yet to meet the amazing and talented man in person.
His score will testify that if you find an
artist with the same vision, everything will just fall into place.[endif]###Here's Part 1 of 4 of the making of SLAM. Enjoy. "How we came up for the idea of the story"
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhDYxMoUp3Y
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hVBbEfqiU0