Second-to-the-Last Week and Counting...

Well, we are entering our second-to-last week here in China and we have yet to expose a single frame of film… not even a film test. This past week, things have been “picking up a little” with location scouts in the afternoons. But there is still no talk of scheduling any dates for a test or the start of production. Communication is still very poor and we are left in the dark most of the time.

On top of the lack of communication, we believe that there are still actor/casting issues to be solved. The lead male role of Ming Yuan had been tentatively cast with an actor named Kenny, but we were told that Fang Fang doesn’t want Kenny as her first choice but her first choice actor wanted more money in his contract and then got on another film. But now he is available and Fang Fang wants him, but Kenny is still around which leads us to think that the original actor is still going over contract negotiations with the investor. So as long as Kenny is around we know that we probably are not going to start filming any time soon, unless he is playing another role now… And they don’t want to do the test until the actors are cast.

So Rob and I are both going to stick to our original day of leaving, which is May 12th probably without shooting anything at all. We both have commitments back in the US we need to take care of like Karolina moving down to LA, finding an apartment, Rob’s friend’s bachelor party, and now a possible music video and some other work. The only thing that we are worried about is that Fang Fang might offer us a lot of money to commit to another month out here, but unless the offer really is an amount that we can’t refuse, we’ll be on that flight home on the 12th.

As we go on these scouts though, a little faith is renewed for Rob and me that maybe there is a reason to stick around, but the hard part is keeping in mind the amount of time we’ve wasted here already. So we need to keep that in mind if Fang Fang asks us to renew our contracts for only a small raise. The problem is that after about eight weeks of literal standstill, the momentum is now starting up again like it was in the first two weeks here and she might say, “Now that we are almost ready you want to go home!?” So, unfortunately, the amount that it would take to keep me and Rob here another month would be way out of their price range considering the amount of money we came over here for in the first place for. But who knows… right now I think we are 85% for leaving and 15% to stay.

But then the only reason we would be staying here is out of greed, which is not why I decided to go to film school and make movies in the first place. But I do need to keep in mind that I have bills to pay and financial stability is important and an honorable motivation to work. Rob and I have been using the only phrase that fits what we feel right now, which is morbid curiosity. I still am 90% sure we’ll be coming back in the 12th.

The other thing we want to avoid is bad blood, but I think that if we leave it open and are honest with her and say that we would like to come back and support her and work with her when they are ready to shoot, then things should be fine. I am looking forward to coming back to California, though

PhillM tip-of-the-day:
If you are limited in the number of gels you can get, I recommend getting the thinner gel because you can always double or triple them up to get a thicker color. For example: if you can only get two kinds of CTB, I recommend getting 1/2 and 1/8 CTB because you can always double them up to create any thickness of CTB using those two gels.

Phill in China

Well folks, here are some pictures of Phill Matarrese in China:
Phill and Rob with some of the cast and crew at the hotel.


Phill at a temple in Hangzhou.


Catfish Phill in a restaurant in Shanghai.


Phill was cast for the staring role, but decided it would better to leave the acting to the professionals... though he hopes for a small cameo.


Phill looks at some LED lights for the movie.


Phill on the side of the road in Hangzhou, China.



Phill next to West Lake, the only place to see in Hangzhou... but we hear it's very pretty.


Phill in the van.


PhillM tip-of-the-day:
"Primitive life is very common and intelligent life is fairly rare. Some would say it has yet to occur on Earth."

-Professor Stephen Hawking
Astrophysicist

Funny Headline Today...

The Simpsons has been dropped from morning TV in Venezuela after being deemed unsuitable for children - and has been replaced by Baywatch.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7338131.stm

...think about that one for a bit.

PhillM tip-of-the-day:
When putting gel on fresnels, make sure that you put the color gel closer to the fresnel "inside" the barn doors and the diffusion on the outside of the barn doors. This helps make sure the beam is completley covered by the colored gel and this also gives you the greatest surface area for the diffusion.

Man Uses Hedgehog as Weapon

Yes, the title does read: man uses hedgehog as weapon. Just had to share this article I found on BBC news.

NZ man 'used hedgehog as weapon'

A man in New Zealand has been charged with using a hedgehog as a weapon, the New Zealand Herald has reported.
Police said William Singalargh, 27, had hurled the hedgehog about 5m (16ft) at a 15-year-old boy.
"It hit the victim in the leg, causing a large, red welt and several puncture marks," said Senior Sgt Bruce Jenkins, in the North Island town of Whakatane.
It was unclear whether the hedgehog was still alive when it was thrown, though it was dead when collected as evidence.
The police spokesman said the suspect was arrested "for assault with a weapon, namely the hedgehog."
Mr Singalargh is due to appear in court on 17 April. If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7334233.stm

PhillM tip-of-the-day:
Sometimes on small fresnel units I like to use medium or large sized paperclips to clip the gels to the barn doors. Just make sure you don't get the paperclips that are coated with rubber or paint or anything that will melt.

Live in Hangzhou

Yup... still in China... still not doing much, well, not doing much about the movie- that is. We are finding things to do to keep ourselves occupied. I've been reading the news a lot and trying to write a few script ideas when I have the patients to force myself to stay off the internet.

Let's see, what are some cool thing's we've been doing. Oh, we've been going to a jazz club we found called J Z Club. It's great, they have some cool live music and food and drinks. We see a lot of gringos there and have made friends with the band. We went on Friday because it was Carlos's(the drummer) last night performing before he moves on to Hong Kong. The place was packed and there was good food, great music, good company and we had a lot of fun.

If anyone ever travels to Hangzhou, I highly recomend it: JZ Club, No. 6 Liuying Road, Hangzhou China, Tel: 0571-8702 8298. There is also one in Shanghai, as well. http://www.jzclub.cn/

Yesterday we went to a silk market place... it's a long road with shops that sell silk goods. It was cool, we ended up buying some gifts for people back home, it was fun barganing with people. We also went to a "small goods" market where you buy different bags and clothes and pretty much anything you want. It reminded me of the market we go to in San Salvador.

Oh, we also went to a Hangzhou soccer game at Yellow Dragon sports area! The team is called Greentown(?) and our friends we met who work at the Regal Victoria hotel(where we are supposed to be shooting) took up to a game. The seats were great seat, right by the goal at field level! But the stadium wasn't even 1/2 full, plus it was raining- but I bought a jersey and scarf and we had fun! We(Hangzhou Greentown) lost, 0-2 but we still had fun watching them. Rob and I think we can maybe get summer jobs as ball boys or maybe even as back up players on the team! hahahaha But I think as it gets warmer we'll be going to more games. The stadium was really nice, it looks huge from outside... seemed a little smaller once we got to our seats, but it was really cool to see a game live. However, Rob and I were a little disappointed and frustrated with the high amount of theatrics some of the players did with some of the falls. It was funny, as soon as the stretcher team ran out on the field the player would get right up and start to play again... but it did make up a little frustrated.

And in other news: there has been a slight(and most likely temporary) break in The Great fireWall of China. Wikipedia and BBC news are 2 of some of the few websites that have been opened up to the chinese internet surfer... this has been done mainly to allow people in China to comment on wester reporting. I figured it was pretty significant if you follow that kind of stuff... so I decided to document the historic occasion:




You can see all my pics at: http://www.flickr.com/gp/15005161@N06/JxK637

PhillM tip-of-the-day:
Contracts are a great thing to write so that you minimize the things that are "assumed". It is always good to write down the conditions to a job, bot to protect the employer but especially the employee!

Just so We're All On the Same Page

I was reading the New York Times today and I came upon an article that disturbed me a little. The headline is what caught my eye first: Prominent Chinese Rights Activist Is Jailed. "A little scary," I thought, since I'm in the country that sentenced him. Give the article a read, you might find it interesting.
The thing that worried me was the sentence: But Xinhua, the country’s official news agency, reported that Mr. Hu had confessed to the charges. I have noticed similar uses of words and phrases like "confess", "turned themselves in", and "admitted to authorities" in other articles I've read about Tibet in other Chinese published news papers... something to think about.

New York Times Article: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/30/world/asia/web30china.html?fta=y

PhillM tip-of-the-day:
The thicker(denser) the gel, the faster it is to melt because the darker color absorbs more heat, raising the surface temperature faster... so always keep them a safe distance away from the light to still cover the entire beam.