14 days of set design, 48 hours of water soaking at the 500 m long dam
Sharing about the preparation process, director Ly Hai said: "The crew went to many places to find filming locations, because the filming required a dam to have two states: when the water receded and when the water overflowed the dike."
After many surveys, the film crew finally chose Nha Trinh Dam and Ninh Thuan as the main setting for the flood pandemic. The dam was built on the Dinh River (Cai Phan Rang River) with a length of nearly 500 m, a height of 5 m and a width of 3 m.
In order to complete the filming scene, the film crew faces many difficulties, the most remarkable is the times when the water comes up quickly, the strong water is easy to swept drifting people and vehicles. Vehicles carrying equipment, actors and E-kip must be directly moving on the deflated dam, in harsh conditions.
The small and narrow terrain makes logistics such as transporting equipment and rescue vehicles extremely difficult. To recreate that harsh natural scene, the film crew had to trade it for a lot of sweat, even danger. Because when the floodwaters came, the water flow was strong enough to sweep away both people and vehicles.
Director Ly Hai further revealed that during the set-piece, the group had to stop construction many times because floodwaters suddenly poured in, and there was even a time when the water rose and swept away the entire prepared lighting system.
Director Ly Hai said that the context design process also encountered many problems arising. One day was under construction, the above flood water flows down, the water rises very quickly, the crew cannot continue the work. Or when the lamp has been built, preparing until the shooting date, the water hurry up, swept away the lights, the crew must relocate the context in an emergency. Such repetitions did not discourage Ly Hai, on the contrary, made him more determined to bring the most realistic footage.
Unceasing efforts behind the scenes
With a responsible and dedicated spirit in filmmaking, rescue work was given top priority by Ly Hai and the crew. According to the deputy director of Long Ga, the protection measures were carefully calculated, the cascadeur team was also mobilized with about 10 people fully equipped with life jackets. Personnels were also arranged to be ready to sit under the dam to promptly rescue when necessary.
Actress Long Dep Trai, one of the people who directly participated in the underwater filming, shared: When filming, I knew there were ropes to keep me, but my mentality was still quite scared. Standing outside can see the power of nature, the water is too strong. Long wanted to do it himself to make the filming more realistic and lively. This is a very adventurous feeling, and if I had to do it again, I would have to think about it.
