Richard Ng
"Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Stars" HKL Interview:
Of course Sammo Hung was very much involved in the script. Technically
you cannot fault him. He works without a shotlist, he works without a
storyboard, the scene is actually totally in his mind. The training
with all directors in HK editing is very much part of the game as well.
All directors sit with the editor and cut the film. So he can actually
also see it from the editor's point of view, as we all do. So when he
goes to shoot a scene, the night before or before he even starts, he's
actually seen the scene in his mind from the director's point of view,
from the editing point of view, so there's an economy of shots, you
don't waste time, oh let's do this and do that and then end up throwing
it away. Everything that is shot is being used, because you don't
"cover" let's do a mastershot 10 minutes long and end up throwing it
away 9 minutes of it, and the rest are close ups. If you have cut it in
your mind, you know the only one minute, which is so called master, and
then the rest would be pick up shots. Technically he is incredible in
that he would without a shotlist, without a storyboard he would be able
to say "OK, this is shot 20 and then because we try to save time with
changing the setup, we shoot with the light going one direction, the
next shot could be shot 45. What happened between twenty-something and
forty-something, nobody knows except him. It's in his mind. And as he
goes along, he would pick up all these shots that goes in between
during the day. Sometimes if he can't do it on that day, he'd do it
next day or the day after, but it's all in there and he will complete
these shots there's in between.
Of course Sammo Hung was very much involved in the script. Technically
you cannot fault him. He works without a shotlist, he works without a
storyboard, the scene is actually totally in his mind. The training
with all directors in HK editing is very much part of the game as well.
All directors sit with the editor and cut the film. So he can actually
also see it from the editor's point of view, as we all do. So when he
goes to shoot a scene, the night before or before he even starts, he's
actually seen the scene in his mind from the director's point of view,
from the editing point of view, so there's an economy of shots, you
don't waste time, oh let's do this and do that and then end up throwing
it away. Everything that is shot is being used, because you don't
"cover" let's do a mastershot 10 minutes long and end up throwing it
away 9 minutes of it, and the rest are close ups. If you have cut it in
your mind, you know the only one minute, which is so called master, and
then the rest would be pick up shots. Technically he is incredible in
that he would without a shotlist, without a storyboard he would be able
to say "OK, this is shot 20 and then because we try to save time with
changing the setup, we shoot with the light going one direction, the
next shot could be shot 45. What happened between twenty-something and
forty-something, nobody knows except him. It's in his mind. And as he
goes along, he would pick up all these shots that goes in between
during the day. Sometimes if he can't do it on that day, he'd do it
next day or the day after, but it's all in there and he will complete
these shots there's in between.