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TAT WONG KUNG FU ACADEMY STARS IN NEW CAPITAL ONE COMMERCIAL Just about everyone is familiar with the very funny Capital One Credit Card commercials featuring those crazy Vikings. Well now, the Tat Wong Kung Fu Academy and its Golden Dragon will be starring with the Vikings in an upcoming commercial. In early February, Master Tat-Mau Wong received a call from a Los Angeles production company. They were looking for a dragon for their Capital One commercial and the Tat Wong Kung Fu Academy had come highly recommended by the producers of the Chinese New Year Parade. It took weeks of phone calls back and forth with the producers and directors in LA. Their plans and their cast needs changed quite a few times. They appreciated our professionalism and flexibility and told us that was one of the main reasons they chose to work with us. Finally the plans were made, the shoot date was set and it was time for us to arrange our team. Filming was to take place on a Monday morning, so putting together a team took some extra effort. Working together, Sifu David Law, Sifu Jeff Chow, Sifu Felipe and Sihing Mike Lee organized an incredible dragon team. Once the team was set, both Sifu David & Sifu Jeff spent many extra hours setting-up the dragon and collecting the photos and info from each team member that was required by SAG, the Screen Actors Guild. Finally, March 7th arrived and luckily the rain held off and it was a beautiful day. We arrived on set in San Francisco Chinatown to a huge production crew including producers, directors, camera operators, gaffers, grips, production assistants, agents, make-up people, costume people and more! Sijeh Michele Harris, our marketing director, who spent many years as a television producer for KTVU FOX 2, was in familiar territory as she worked closely with the director as he explained the shot, our marks and the action. The idea of the commercial was that the Vikings travel to San Francisco and while in Chinatown come across the dragon. And Vikings being Vikings, they chase the dragon through the streets of Chinatown. Our job was to run away with the dragon, screaming and looking back in fear at the Vikings. In the first take, Sifu David as the dragonhead ran so fast that the Vikings couldn’t keep up. We were asked to slow down and after about five takes the shot was done. Then came the final shot with us being chased in the opposite direction and the Vikings delivering the closing line of the commercial. It was an exciting, fun and exhausting experience. Running with a heavy dragon and screaming for over an hour is not an easy task…especially for team members Stephanie Lowe and Katrina Seto who spent more than six hours the day before testing for their 1st Degree and 2nd degree black belts. But we all did a great job! The directors and producers were very happy and we know it’ll be a great commercial. We’ll let you know when it’ll start airing. Special Thanks to our TV Stars: PS: Interesting note on Viking actor Donald Gibb. He’s the Viking with the long hair. He played Ogre in the ‘Revenge of the Nerds’ movies and also starred as an American fighter alongside Jean-Claude Van Damme in ‘Bloodsport’
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