In early February 2002, the long-awaited shooting of Silver Ash's MTV was finally carefully arranged by well-known Channel [V] director, Li Wei. The earlier work had been done, all the details laid down, the venue arranged,and they fortunately enlisted famous photographer Lao Kang (note: Lao is a prefix)...all the preparations were ready for the 7th of February.

On the morning of 7th February, my assignment was to wait at Guang An Men at 8.30am for a friend sending the drums. This was because Mr Zhen had requested the use of two low-pitched drums during shooting. I happened to know a drummer with a black set of drums that met his request, but the members of SA had already arranged to meet at Mr Ling's house at 6 am. I hadn't hoped to be able to sleep till 8.30am, indeed, while I was still dreaming, Mr Ling telephoned me. I answered the phone groggily and half-asleep:

"Hi, XinXin, sorry to trouble you, but I suddenly remembered that I left my makeup in the office, could you get it and send it over?"

"......who are you?" I was still dreaming and didn't know what was going on.

"I'm Xiao Bei, we're anxious for the makeup, otherwise it'll be useless having got up so early."

"Oh...sure, what's the time now?"

"5.30."

......

I got to the office at 6am, I haven't woken so early for many years.Actually, I love sleeping in late, but that morning, I sat in a cab and Mr Ling's voice kept repeating itself in my head "Big sis, hurry up, or it'll be too late..." Mr Ling is a person with a strong sense of time and is very serious about work, all internal and external band affairs are managed by him, it's extremely difficult. Thinking about him, I rushed for my life, but when I reached the office doors I was trapped outside by the iron grills.

It took great effort to drag the master guarding the door from out of his bed. When I got the makeup and dashed to Mr Ling's home, it was alreayd 6.30. There, I saw Mr Hong half-lying on the sofa catching up on his sleep.
He had his hair done at 11pm last night, got home at 12am, slept at 1am, woke up at 3am, left home at 4am to get the makeup artist Xiao Fang. At 5am,they were already climbing the stairs to Mr Ling's house.So, though it was a winter morning, Mr Hong's face betrayed his weariness.Mr Hong is a passionate(?) man, he is always worrying about the band's progress and shortcomings. He thinks about the band all the time, truly one who "worries about the country and people". That's why, though he is very tired, he is the firt band member to arrive at Mr Ling's home today.

I enetered Mr Ling's room and saw Lucy and Xiao Fang chatting at the writing desk. Xiao Fang took the makeup and immediately started work. Lucy hadn't slept all the night and had dark eye rings, but he is a
lively person who likes to smile, unlike Mr Hong who is always frowning. He was very tired too, but was laughing and chatting away. Lucy doesn't worry too much about band affairs, but performs exceedingly well in his own role. Actually, it can been seen from the way he plays the piano that he demands a lot of himself, but as for the performance of others, he takes on a friendly, observing attitude and will not interfere. Still, in reality, Lucy cares very much about the band, which is apparent when he said that he didn't sleep for fear of getting up late.

The last one to dash in frantically is Mr Zhen, after he arrived, he kept apologizing, "Sorry, sorry, I'm late, I'm late." He was a little late because he had been preparing things for today's shoot the previous night and slept very late, so he got up late this morning as well. The drums are more toublesome than the other instruments, it takes a lot of effort to prepare, everyone understands that. Morever, Mr Zhen is a very efficient person, he does his work well during the time for work, such that he can relax during the time for rest, this is more efficient.
That's why he doesn't rush so much or do extra (?), because he knows that the remaining time is enough for he to get things done well, and that's enough.

When all the members of SA had arrived, it was alreayd 7am.

On this winter morning, the streets were cold and empty, the stores had all closed their doors, like the eyes of a sleeping person.Gusts of cold wind blew, making the withered trees shiver continually. The few passer-bys were
bowing their heads and huddling ???? (this came out as gibberish)

... the breakfast that demone brought, looking at hideko's magazines and enjoying themselves. Silver Ash is not alone, and will never be alone. Demone, hideko, myself, and Mr Ling's parents, as well as the crew already
preparing the equipment, decoration and lights at theshooting venue, the people of Scream Records who had their hearts there even though they couldn't rush there, the fans who have given them their unconditional
support, my friend who sent the drums over so early in the morning...

Speaking about the friend bringing the drums over, I almost forgot about, it was almost time to get him. Demone and I took two cards and brought all the drums over to the shooting venue. The SA members arrived at the same time, already all made up. The venue was the underground carpark of a large, incomplete building. It was very dark inside, very little natural light penetrated the incomplete roof. The place was dark and large, with various
building material plcaed haphazardly. The entire carpark was like a nameless demon hole, while the four of time, walking shoulder-to-shoulder, with rays of light shining of them, were like four unearthly spirits, small and elegant, elegant yet strong, strong and wild, illuminating this wasteland. Watching from the side, I was deeply moved by this scene. The four of them are a whole, every one is irreplaceable; when they are together, only that is the true Silver Ash.

Shooting officially started at 10am. The shooting process was much tougher than I had imagined. Lucy was the first on camera, he wore a single shirt at first, and sat there holding a glass bottle with a bird inside. The weather was very cold, we were already shivering in our feathered clothing, just imagine how cold he must have been. Lucy just sat there quietly, not moving,letting the director do the positioning and talkign to the photographer. It was a very simple movement, but it took a long time to shoot. Lucy raised his head ocassionally to smaile at us. I understood what he meant, he was saying "Don't worry about me, I'm fine." After that it got worse - the director wanted Lucy to lie on the ground and fix his eyes on the bottle. Lucy laid there for a full half-hour. The weather was cold, it was even colder in the underground carpark, and Lucy was wearing
just one layer of clothing, we all felt badly for him. Still, he was worried about the bird and kept opening the bottle just a crack to let the bird breathe. When the shot was finished, Lucy climbed up from the ground.
Without caring about clothes, he went about looking for a bird cage, saying "Hurry, let it out, the poor thing can't make it any longer" In actual fact, Lucy's hands and feet were ice-cold, and had been breathing in the smoke from the ?? for a long time; he himself couldn't take any more.

======================
This is how the MTV shooting was carried out - first everyone's  individual shots, then group shots. After Lucy was Mr Hong, Mr Zhen, then Mr Ling. Mr Hong was luckier than Lucy, though he had only a single layer of
clothes, he just had to stand with a flower pot in his hands. This small movement  had to be perfected over and over, though; he paced on that long, narrow  platform many times before he finally shook his head and said: "I...can't get the feeling..." As can be seen, Mr Hong is extremely serious about his work. I suddenly felt that, in terms of his character, his usual stony expression suits him very well.

Mr Zhen's movement was to stand on a high platform and scatter feathers from above. He finished everything smoothly and effortlessly. His pose and movements all had 'feeling' and were pitch-on, he finished fastest of  all
the band members. When the others had been shooting, he slept a bit in a corner, so he was especially alert during his turn. Moreoever, ????? was handled well too, so I don't really have an impression about his shoot.
No need to regret though, the MTV and shooting scenes will be released,
and then everyone can feast their eyes on it.

Mr Ling's movement was to lean on the icy wall and look tormented. His white clothes, scraped against the wall, all turned brick-red. Mr Ling,though usually a person who pays great attention to appearance, went all the way
this time. During shooting, he kept scraping against the wall. After the shot was completed, he screwed up his face and sighed, "My clothes are finished."

About the shooting process, no matter how much I say, it won't be as detailed as the making-of video, so I won't talk rubbish anymore. When you get to see the scenes, you'll know everything. The making-of video will be
released with the MTV, so you'll have to wait a few dyas : (

I forgot what we had for lunch and dinner, but it doesn't matter whether we ate or not anyway. It was terribly hectic. One, it was terribly hectic,we had to eat quickly and get back to work quickly; Two, it was really cold,
the aroma of food is lost; Three, the food wasn't good in the first place,it may be just me, but I hate food boxes. I remember Mr Ling didn't eat a bite, because we were short of two packets of food and he gave his to someone else. We were all very touched. That night, after dinner, we had to continue the battle till 12 am, we had no energy left in the end.

The wind in the night is strong; in that big empty place, gusts of night wind attacked us, hitting the corners or the walls and becoming tiny hurricanes, bringing sand and dust up the walls bit by bit. It's still okay where there's light and you can see, but in places where you can't see it feels like a handful of mud has suddenly been smeared on your face, onto your skin and into your ears, nose, eyes, mouth and everywhere. At this time, the vast emptiness and darkness of the carpark is frightening. In the distance there are a few weirdly-shaped mud pillars exposed under the moonlight, like the warning gates of hell. Everything is the colour of cold,and with the wind, all you feel is a chille that extends from your tailbone to the back of your neck that makes you shiver from inside out.

The makeup artist Xiao Fang wore especially little and was so cold that running circles till her legs were tired didn't help. In the end, she covered herself with Mr Ling's clothes and hid at a big lamp in a corner for warmth. Everyone with huddling; in this kind of weather, everyone was working hard to complete everything within the given time. Shooting should have been wrapped up at 9.30 pm, but the director unexpectedly fell ill. The director didn't have a good stomach originally, he didn't drink hot water though the weather was so cold, and the food wasn't good. At around 8pm he threw up and then felt dizzy and fatigued. After that, the photographer Lao Kang took on the role of director as well, while the director barely had the strength to look on, wrapped in a fur cloak.

At this point, the SA members had actually changed into their performance attire and were standing in front of the camera in their brilliance. To say that they were otherworldly spirits was because their condition didn't fit
at all into the present environment. They were cold, no one else wasn't cold; they were shivering, no one else wasn't shivering; they were tired, no one else wasn't tired; but they were standing so bravely before the camera.
Standing under the lights, I call them courageous, because I couldn't think of any other words to describe them. Do you know, at that moment, comparing their mettle to everyone else's, that really was a form of courage.
Their surroundings -[more gibberish]- so bright that you couldn't see anything clearly, but you still couldn't stop yourself from wanting to look.

The work was finally finished in the middle of the night. Everyone was like a burnt out lamp, only thinking of home, thinking of steaming baths and beds as soft as pools. But at this time, we couldn't go out to the way we
came in because the huge carpark was so dark we couldn't see our hands. There were also countless nails, cables and other weapons on the floor, not to mention numerous big pits, we didn't know if we were walking directly into hell or not. If we carried our equipment out like that, I think half of us would end up lying on the ground. So, we decided to climb over the wall. There was one wall, about 3 metres high, climbing over it would save us a lot of walking and bring up to the ground surface. We carried the drums, piano, some odd objects and followed the stairs out. Mr Hong helped me a lot, everytime he offered to take something from my hands, I would tell him "There's more behind that I can't carry, why don't you get it", and he would go, ^_^ what a nice guy!

When our procession of 7 cabs, 2 vans, and 1 car left the area grandly,it was almost 1 am. From 5am when I was awakened till now, we had already been working continuously for 20 hours. In these 20 hours of "intimate interaction" with Silver Ash, I found myself liking them more and more. I think, people who fight for their ideals are admirable, and they are no exception. They are building their lives with their hearts, and working
hard at realising their dreams, using their passion to influence others. They've brought true beauty into every fragment of the air and true happiness and fulfilment to all who they have touched. So, no matter how ardous the
future may be for Silver Ash, in truth, they already have that which is most precious, don't they?
================