PRODUCTION
2008-09-04 8:13PM / 標準BLOG
/ 會員可以看
The
origins for the original idea for PING PONG PLAYA essentially came
from three different sources: 1) the character, Christopher “C-dub”
Wang, as conceived by Jimmy Tsai in a series of web commercials; 2)
the idea of a ping pong comedy by producer Joan Huang; and 3)
director Jessica Yu’s idea to merge the two together. From this
kernel of a concept, development on the script began in late 2005
with Jessica and Jimmy writing together.
Approximately
one year later and with the addition of producer Anne Clements, PING
PONG PLAYA began rounding into shape for production. Several months
before pre-production was slated to begin, the production team sought
out both training for its actors and consultation on the world of
table tennis via a renowned husband-and-wife coaching team with
experience in both the worlds of cinema as well as international
table tennis competition.
The
production team then focused on finding the other key actors to round
out the cast. The search for the child actors, especially, proved to
be a challenging one, as casting notices were put out in the usual
places as well as in open calls and emails targeted towards local
area schools and children. Though the first few weeks proved fruitful
in finding and narrowing down choices for many of the adult leads,
the same process unfortunately proved less fruitful in producing
stellar candidates in the key roles of the three main child leads. It
was only with just under three weeks left before cameras began
rolling that, in a fortuitous coincidence, the production came across
undeniable choices for all three child leads.
After
the final roles in the cast were filled out in the final week leading
up to production, principal photography on PING PONG PLAYA officially
commenced in March of 2007, shooting in various locations in and
around Los Angeles, California. A complete store front (both
interiors and exteriors) for Ping Pong Palace, the Wang family store,
was erected in Altadena; a local high school gymnasium in Norwalk
stood in for the East Hills tournament location; and the production
even participated in an actual parade in the city of Monterey Park to
stage the final scene in the movie.
With
filming completed in early May, post production immediately
commenced, predominantly at facilities in Burbank, California. But
the production also went truly international with over seventy CGI
ping pong shots being created at Bulky Studios in Taipei, Taiwan.
BLOG評論