AMAZING PANDA
I learned from my agent about a film to be shot in China called “THE AMAZING PANDA ADVENTURE”. It was one of the first films to be shot actually by an American company in China, on the location where it supposedly happened... and as a coproduction with a newly emerging Chinese film industry. The THE AMAZING PANDA ADVENTURE had a lot of exciting action sequences that I thought I would be a good choice to shoot.... so I called my friend Conrad Hall ASC and asked his advice and whether or not he would recommend me for the job. Conrad who had become not only my mentor but also my friend over the years,,,,,said he would do me one better and actually call Jack Green(the principal DP) and tell him I was the man for the job. When I spoke later to Jack he told me that the job involved shooting as DP on the second unit but also as B camera operator on the first unit. Apparently Conrad’s recommendation carried a lot of weight because I was hired for what sounded like a six week adventure in Szechuan province China.
I was told that the production company would be sending a shipping container filled with lights, camera and grip equipment to China in advance of the production. They told me if I wanted to send any heavy items in the container that there was plenty of room and that many of the crew had decided to send bicycles to China for use in the small village where we would be headquartered. I chose my latest favorite ride ,a Specialized Rockhopper and shipped it to LA.
My camera assistant and work partner,Billy Sims and I flew to Chengdu in Szechuan province and joined some of the crew that were arriving late to the location in Juzaigou, one of China's most beautiful national parks a 4 hour bus ride from Chengdu .
The story dealt with a young boy from Canada whose divorced father invites him to come to a research station in China where Giant Pandas are being bred in captivity..... to try to save the species which over time had been declining drastically in numbers. The young boy makes friends with a Chinese girl his age(???) and together they befriend a one -year-old panda cub at the station. This cub is kidnapped by poachers with the idea of selling it to the highest bidder, possibly an international zoo. The two kids embark on a rescue mission to save this little panda and their adventures become the story.
Along the way the kids face various dangers....... they find the poacher’s camp(they are away doing something evil).... and the young cub in a basket. They take the cub and make a run for it chased by the bad guys .One of the first things that happens is they fall through a rickety suspension bridge into a raging river. The young girl ,it turns out, does not know how to swim and the kids and the little panda are swept away in the current ,down the river ,fighting for their lives.
That action sequence became one of my principal jobs over the next month working with legendary second unit director Mickey Gilbert. We embarked on various water sequences. One of the most memorable involved lashing the heavy camera to a boogie board and with me guiding the camera from behind in wetsuit and fins, rushing through a raging rapid at water level.... to shoot a POV, ( point of view) shot, of the kids as they struggle to stay afloat in the river. This proved to be a pretty dicey situation as the location for the shot was a heavy rapid that ended in a narrow gorge. If I were swept past the last exit point at the end of the shot... I didnt want to think about it!
I worked it out with the stunt crew that several of them would be standing waist deep in the river tied off with ropes around their waists so that as I arrived at the end of the shot I could hand the camera to the first man, turn loose of it, and be grabbed by the second stuntman and we all would be swept to shore. There was really no safety net if anybody missed their target....so tension was high. I launched into the river finning strongly as I could ....and working hard to keep the camera level in the rapids. We made our way down the river for about 200 yards and I began to move the camera and myself closer to the bank where my rescue crew lay in wait. It could not have gone more smoothly, the first guy grabbed the camera securely and his rope swung him back to the bank and shore. I continued down the river to the guy who was tasked with latching on to me. it went so smoothly. it looked like we had rehearsed it hundred times
Mickey, the second unit director, decided he wanted one more attempt at this shot, this time with the camera in a small raft manned by a Chinese boatman who was hopefully going to carry us down the river safely. I had my doubts but agreed to give this a shot. We launched and made it about halfway down the rapid.... when the raft collapsed sending me and the camera into the water in the middle of the rapid. Fortunately I was able to hang onto the camera and swim to the far bank away from all of the rest of the crew. But that was only half the battle .....I still needed to get the camera and myself back over to where the rest of the crew was waiting. I thought that I could probably surf the camera...still lashed to the boogie board.... across the current if I had a rope attached to the camera’s boogie board. Then, I thought, I would swing along behind it surfing the camera across the rapid. Again, if anything went wrong the narrow gorge below our location would have spelled disaster for us both. It came time to launch and I began to surf the boogie board on its rope attached to a tree across the current. I learned by tilting the board just a little the current would ferry us across the river. And that is what happened. I felt like I had put it in a pretty full day.
There were several live Pandas that were being used in the production. One adult ,one yearling, and a baby(its mother was the adult). They all lived in the Chinese hotel with their trainers and assistants.....and a courtyard outside one of the rooms is where the Pandas stayed. We also had a stuntman in an adult panda suit.....a dwarf in panda costume.....an animatronic baby panda that could move its arms, legs and head.....and several panda dolls that could be used in the most dangerous stunts like the rush down the raging river. I really loved working with the live pandas. Their trainers would take them out every day to sort of rehearse what the director HOPED they would be able to do the next day. I was able to go out with that group several times and just shoot what the pandas did during their exercise /play time. It was a ball.....we never stopped laughing at the crazy stuff they got into.
We were working six day weeks on the film which left us one day a week to relax, recharge our batteries. One of the things I liked to do was ride my mountain bike away from the hotel and up a mountain where a Tibetan Buddhist monastery was located. The first day I went there I was greeted by saffron colored robed monks who invited me... for a small price.... to tour the temple. They guided me into the main chamber where a huge statue of the Buddha was sitting, and helped me light a joss stick whose smoke would take my prayers to heaven. I wound up visiting this monastery many times during my time in China and remember feeling a great sense of peace whenever I went there. It was almost totally quiet except for the flapping of the prayer flags on staff's all around the temple. There always seem to be a breeze so there was always a constant sound of the banners gently flapping. Buddhists believe that their prayers go out into the universe with every flap of one of those banners. I fell under the spell of the quiet I experienced there and the sense of inner peace which I associated with the worshipful Buddhist monks that live there. I bought a bracelet in a small gift shop with the inscription ON MANI PADME HUM... which is one of the Tibetan chant that monks sing in a monotone during prayer. I have come to think that wearing this bracelet reminds me of the peaceful time I spent in the monastery. I wear one still today and have given one to each of my children and to many friends because I believe it will protect them in dangerous times.... as it has me.
My Specialized Rockhopper Bicycle, with its many gears and modern suspension system must have looked like a Ferrari to the Chinese people who saw me ride by. Although bicycles are very common and the most most available way for the poor and middle class Chinese to use for transportation..... as cars are very expensive, my American mountain bike was something to them Im sure.. I remember offering the monks in the Buddhist temple the chance to ride this bicycle and loved seeing how they enjoyed riding around their little square changing gears and using the handbrakes bouncing up and down on the suspension.
This area of China was historically Tibet.....but was nationalized by the Chinese.....not sure of the chronology. Most of the locals were of Tibetan descent.....and that made the place really unique to me. They are lovely, gentle folks....and badly treated by the Han Chinese.
One of the sequences in the chase involved the two kids and the cub stowing away on a horse driven cart to escape the bad guys. The horse gets spooked and runs away with the cart.....kids, panda and all! During the shooting of this scene.....a tibetan pony that had never been harnessed to a cart was used.....and it hated being treated like that. I was around this horse a lot during shooting.....and saw how mad and unruly it would get.
On one of the day’s off.....our group arranged to ride horseback up through the mountains to a high pass. As we arrived at the place to get on our horses.....to my horror...my horse was the same one forced to pull the cart....that it hated. I got on and we started up the twisting trail....and nothing happened for awhile.....until I got distracted by a friend and the horse turned its neck and bit me hard on the toe!!! The only thing that saved me was my hard leather hiking boot. I guess the horse finally got a way for paybacks for what he thought was the cause of his misery.
In the film, the action sequences which we shot on the second unit make up, in my opinion, some of the best material in the film. It was hard and dangerous work much of the time but I'm very proud of what we were able to do.
One of the most incredible film stories I have ever read. You're my hero Scott.
Fantastic story. I enjoyed reading it several times! Your life adventures are definitely so very interesting and exciting. Congratulations, Scott !