'Heroes without halos'
A new documentary series on Youku covers the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak by telling the stories of everyday people, as well as following the medics working with critical patients, Wang Kaihao reports.
After the initial shock, the crew's emotions were soon soothed by the local residents' devotion to dealing with the crisis, which is reflected in their footage.
For instance, there's an optimistic restaurant owner who has sold Wuhan hot dry noodles for over 40 years and chooses to remain open despite the scarcity of customers.
Then, there are volunteer drivers, who shuttle medical supplies and staff around the city, or community workers who endure elongated working hours to make sure those under home quarantine get enough food and their daily necessities. For many people, work has partially resumed in one form or another, such as participating in meetings online, and they continue to hone their cooking skills.
Recording these subjects was challenging at times, but the real difficulty was filming in the hospitals.
The crew took 80 protective suits and plenty of masks to Wuhan and they rigidly followed quarantine and sterilization rules. Cameras were fully covered by layers of plastic wrap and microphone socks were discarded immediately after leaving the wards, the continuous sterilization using alcohol had cost them two sets of lenses.
