MOVIEMEDIA

For Moviemedia crew shooting onshore, offshore, up in the air or down on the ground is sometimes all in a day’s work, make that a couple of days work.
This time I experienced it too. I was asked to go with our crew for a 2-day off shore shoot.
First I thought it would be lots of fun and adventure joining the team for this shoot but not for long.

Day 1:

We started off from our office straight to the port. We boarded the boat (seems big enough for me) and arranged our stuff. I was checking the sea and assumed that today it was calm. As we set sail I asked the captain if the sea is ok and he told me that its ok but the sea is starting to swell and we have 1-2 feet of waves. So in my mind I measured 1-2 feet and told my self that it’s not high. Then after a few minutes I felt that the boat is quite shaky and asked the captain what’s happening and he said that its ok we are just experiencing small waves.

So after 1 hour of travelling I started to feel a cold sweat and started throwing up… whew it’s so bad that I just lay down and slept. While thinking what will happen to me in the middle of the sea Arul our cameraman rushed in and informed us that we are now approaching the vessel and need to go out and start video shooting. Honestly, I don’t know if I could stand but fortunately I did.

By evening we had to transfer to the larger ship where we were to spend the night and return to the smaller boat early morning to complete the shoot. But transferring is not as easy as I thought it would be. Our transportation from one deck to the other was something I had never experienced before … it was on a Billy Pugh.

My initial nervous reaction was ‘why am I here?’ But I don’t have time to question, to ask and to complain just wear the life jacket and hold on tight… and I survived (I hope in flying colours=) We slept overnight on this big ship and WOW should I say the accommodation was like a five star hotel. It was very impressive. This big ship is so clean and well-maintained even though it was not a passenger cruise liner. The food was good too and of course everybody on the ship was nice and very accommodating.

Day 2:
Woke up by 4 am to get ready since we need to be on our service boat by 6 am to start shooting. Can’t eat much of the breakfast since I’m expecting that the sea would be like yesterday. The sea was little quieter than yesterday but still it’s like its rocking me up and down. We need to start shooting since the operation has started. George, our producer-director, asked me to eat something and then that’s it… the food I ate was in the bin again…

I drank some water and again back to the restroom… its now taking its toll to me… I thought I’m going to die…(actually I already called all the saints that I know) then I asked George if he is ok and told me that he is but I don’t see that on his face. I know he was struggling but we need to get good shots so the work must continue.

Wow how’s that for passion and commitment to get the job done right! Then I heard the news that we cannot return to the port today but need to sleep one more night on the big ship… Back to the Billy Pugh. Sigh! So we finished the day wondering that what if our crew are not committed and just lay down and felt sick?

To be continued…
-Ody-