The “Lost Set” for PERTH (2004)

There is a particular set/setting for 2004's "PERTH" (The 5th feature film I had done / Credited as "Production Designer"), left on the cutting room floor - which featured a setting that had been the most expensive (for Art Department, anyways) to have set and propped for.


Officially titled "Bugis Street: The Young Poet"-scene (Viewable in "Deleted scenes" section of the Region 3 DVD of the movie / Also on Region 1 DVD), the scene was essentially a 1970s flashback sequence for the character "Poet" (played by Apache Ong), who was the right-hand man of "Big Boss" in the film.

The setting featured makeshift food and drinks stores, and seating tables and chairs, complete with extras all decked out in 70's fashion.


The setting was approximately 2 x stalls deep, but with ample space for long-shots and blurry background activity. For the night shoot, the length of the entire space however, was somewhat a "necessary evil", as both ends of the backlane setting had HBD flats with windows all lit-up at night.

We had a relatively short evening set-up on the actual shoot day - inclusive lighting and sparks (shortly after Art started). And once nightfall engulfed the skies, we rolled.


For this particular setting, I had external vendors coming in with rented settings and on-site set-up. Most of the hand (and partial display props) were purchased (quite literally cheaper than "rental", but a chore to store after shoot, of course), with partial rentals for the larger display props.

And while it would be irresponsible of me to quote the actual price, I would however say the entire setting+props cost us approximately 1/8th of the final Art Dept budget.

Featured here are my working drawings (for both quotation and external vendor's actions), and snaps of the eventual set. You'll have to snag the DVD to watch the sequence though.


Cheers
Andy Heng