- Banned
- #1
Tim Naylor
Banned
I recently shot a movie in China. Perhaps the most compelling film experience of my life. The crew was great. Some offset drama was not. And the food was incredible. The good people at Red Gate out of Beijing hooked me up with a fine package, glass and an excellent DIT.
The script, "My Teacher, Martin", is about a village in the 90's so desperate for a school teacher that they'll take anything with a pulse. In this case, they break all the party rules to retain an American who's Mandarin sucks and can only write with his left hand. Drama ensues. The script was easily the best I've yet to shoot, written and directed by Chinese screenwriter, Louyi Tang. Shooting outside the country hamlet of He Yan (app. 500,000) in a small farming village located on the edge of a 1500' cliff overlooking the Huang River Valley, I was afforded some of the most epic countryside. Of the 100 or so villagers, they all pitched in, either building sets or playing background, to put their home on the map.
I highly recommend not to pass up the chance to shoot in China. You'll be smothered in hospitality and amazed at the tirelessness and ingenuity of their crews. The US dollar goes a real long ways there, but don't expect overtime. We had an enormous cast mixed with real farm villagers and actors and the main location, our schoolhouse, was built from the ground up. The crew came mostly from Xi'an studios and are seasoned pros from some of the many high end epics shot in China. If you ever go, make sure to bring many gifts lest you bring yourself shame.
The work protocol is a bit different for better or worse. I like that camera crew gets assigned about three "camera grips". They never touch anything but camera support gear. My American AC, Chris Aran was spoiled. He never so much lifted a tripod, just turned the wheel. Grip and Electric are one crew working under the Master Lighting tech, in this case, the amazing Hong Liu. Because of the absence of labour laws we're accustomed to here, scheduling wasn't as efficient as the US model. Days long, but footage great.
On that note: here's some footage I'd like to share. It's just a few minutes of highlights. It's not properly graded and in H264. There's a few artifacts from the compression but I think it'll give you an idea of what we were up to. Enjoy.
http://www.timnaylor.com/vid_martin.html
The script, "My Teacher, Martin", is about a village in the 90's so desperate for a school teacher that they'll take anything with a pulse. In this case, they break all the party rules to retain an American who's Mandarin sucks and can only write with his left hand. Drama ensues. The script was easily the best I've yet to shoot, written and directed by Chinese screenwriter, Louyi Tang. Shooting outside the country hamlet of He Yan (app. 500,000) in a small farming village located on the edge of a 1500' cliff overlooking the Huang River Valley, I was afforded some of the most epic countryside. Of the 100 or so villagers, they all pitched in, either building sets or playing background, to put their home on the map.
I highly recommend not to pass up the chance to shoot in China. You'll be smothered in hospitality and amazed at the tirelessness and ingenuity of their crews. The US dollar goes a real long ways there, but don't expect overtime. We had an enormous cast mixed with real farm villagers and actors and the main location, our schoolhouse, was built from the ground up. The crew came mostly from Xi'an studios and are seasoned pros from some of the many high end epics shot in China. If you ever go, make sure to bring many gifts lest you bring yourself shame.
The work protocol is a bit different for better or worse. I like that camera crew gets assigned about three "camera grips". They never touch anything but camera support gear. My American AC, Chris Aran was spoiled. He never so much lifted a tripod, just turned the wheel. Grip and Electric are one crew working under the Master Lighting tech, in this case, the amazing Hong Liu. Because of the absence of labour laws we're accustomed to here, scheduling wasn't as efficient as the US model. Days long, but footage great.
On that note: here's some footage I'd like to share. It's just a few minutes of highlights. It's not properly graded and in H264. There's a few artifacts from the compression but I think it'll give you an idea of what we were up to. Enjoy.
http://www.timnaylor.com/vid_martin.html
