- Ochre Pictures’ Third Rail was filmed in Singapore’s biggest custom-built set comprising a 160-metre long MRT tunnel and two full-size mass rapid transit train cars
- Giant green screen 228 m x 6.5 m was backdrop for complex CGI effects
SINGAPORE – Singapore’s most ambitious hostage thriller, Third Rail will premiere on Monday 17 October. Yet, there is an even bigger and more audacious story behind this 12-episode production that was conceived and produced by Ochre Pictures, led by award-winning show runner, Jean Yeo, who took on multiple roles to craft the story, and additionally as executive producer and head writer.
Two decommissioned mass rapid transit train cars, weighing a total of 73 tons were used as the set for this series. These were refurbished and re-branded as “KMRT”, with its own livery colours and train routes for the drama.
The train cars were then positioned on one end of a 160-metre curved MRT train track, housed within a wooden tunnel that comprised Singapore’s largest- ever film set. The train track took 1200 man-hours to build, and spared no details to ensure authenticity, including using more than 150 actual concrete sleepers (support beams that hold up the train tracks) each weighing 260 kg.
A giant green screen, measuring 228 m x 6.5 m was set up to enable complex CGI effects. Included in more than 1000 visual effects shots, were computer- generated digital sets of a train speeding along the tracks, as well as a train car completely wrecked after an explosion.
On the surface, the drama series tells of ordinary Singaporeans caught in the cross-hairs of a group of hostage takers who board their mass rapid transit train one morning. Delve deeper, and the layers peel back to reveal a tense and charged interplay between the hostages, crisis team, hostage takers and the tactical team. It is also a cautionary tale of angry people who fell ‘prey’ to a powerful foreign entity exploiting their pain and vulnerability, in the guise of an NGO.
Ms Jean Yeo, Head Writer and one of the Executive Producers for Third Rail shares: “What is really special about the storyline of Third Rail, is while it’s set in a quintessentially Asian context, the issues and characters have universal appeal and will resonate with audiences globally. Woven within the storyline are social commentaries, like a domestic maid running away from her employer, and how migrant workers are looked down upon in a society that depends so much on cheaper labour.
“Every train passenger caught in the hostage situation have riveting back stories, as do the hostage takers, who are unknowingly being manipulated by a hidden game-master. We have avoided the usual tropes like political motivations, and set the story in an Asian multi-racial and multi-cultural context, where no one race is good or bad.”
There is a double meaning to the show’s name, Third Rail. While it refers to the high voltage rail running alongside the train tracks to provide power to the train, it is also used as a metaphor in politics to refer to a very controversial issue that if broached, a public official could risk political suicide.
For Ochre Pictures, Third Rail represents yet another highlight over these past few months, as this series comes on the back of its recent collaboration with Studio Dragon, Korea’s largest content production house as the Singapore producer for K-drama Little Women, with one full episode filmed here, and more Singapore-located scenes in five other episodes.
The upcoming launch of Third Rail will attest further to the capabilities of Ochre Pictures, a 22-year old content production house that is poised to make a bigger mark on the global content stage.
