Riveting period drama scores big overseas

For director Chu Yui-pan, The Long Ballad has special meaning to him as the drama marks his 50th directorial work. Chu is an industry veteran who has worked for Hong Kong's TVB station since the 1990s.

In an effort to evoke a sense of reality, Chu says most of the scenes were shot in the wild or in replicas of ancient buildings, rather than having the actors perform on soundstages with computer generated backdrops-something commonly done for many costume dramas to save on costs or shorten the shooting schedule.

Chu also taught all the actresses and actors to think and speak like people of ancient China to make the story more convincing to audiences.

On recalling his biggest challenge, Chu says the most difficult part is to command the animals on set.

"Sometimes, the horses would be out of control and suddenly run away. So the crew had to be very cautious in keeping our actors safe," Chu says. "We had to construct some fake horses to help the actors focus better on their performance."