Adrift was my first full feature fiction in Viet-nam, and the first time I got to work with Bui Thac Chuyen. Problems were essentially of two kinds : humidity, for the recording gear, and the noise surrounding the filming locations.

To address the first problem, I experimented and used Neumann microphones, trying to use other microphones than  Sennheisers MKH, widely used in Asia : they can stand humidity very well, but their sound quality is not as good. I had asked Aka Rit, sound recordist for Apichatpong Weerasethakul, about his opinion on the possibilty to use Shoeps microphones. His reply had been « Forget the Shoeps. I’ve got a couple of those, and in Bangkok, I can onyl use them for two weeks in a year… » So I tried theNeumann, and it worked really well, I only had to use an airtight case and « decicagel »). but if the KMR81 worked perfectly in very humid conditions, KM150 was a bit more delicate to handle.

The other problem is the surrounding noise. In a country in full economic boom like Viet-nam, it’s impossible to close the streets when shooting a film, and construction sites can be everywhere. So you have to deal with hundreds of motorcycles, trafic,horns, construction works, etc. 24/7. Homes without windows. On top of this, Bui Thac Chuyen is a director who favours short focal lengths, long takes (« plans-séquences »), and whispering actors. So it’s a hard task… but we made it : in the end, 100 % of the direct sounds were kept, and the sound team won the best sound award  at Asia-Pacific International Festival in Kaoshiung, Taiwan, in 2009.

The camera for this film was a RED, I used a AAton Cantar X2 recorder, Neumann KM150 and 140 microphones,  KMR81, a stereo MS Sennheiser 418S,  Audio Limited DX2020 wireless with Sanken COS 11 microphones, and some PZM Sennheiser that sometimes saved us.

As a side note, this was the first film shot in Vietnamese for Linh-Dan Pham, and in my humble opinion her best rôle since she played Miao-Linh in « De battre mon coeur s’est arrêté » by Audiard.

Synopsis

Duyen and Cam, two young women, have a complex relationship. Unaware of the deep feelings Cam has for her, Duyen marries a taxi driver. Cam hides her love and her jealousy, and will ,subtly, push Duyen in the arms of another seductive and experienced man : Tho. With Tho, Duyen discovers her womanliness, buried until then under moral constraints.

Techincal Specs – IMDB

Awards & Selections – IMDB

Release Dates – IMDB