I was originally hoping to shoot more stills during the production, but after my 24 hour delay in Detroit (read below!) the schedule got pretty tight. Here are a few stills that I was able to shoot.
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"LIFE AS DAD" PRODUCTION
During the week of Thanksgiving I headed to Nagoya, Japan to work with director Tony Gilmore on a short documentary. The film, tentatively titled "Life As Dad," is about Craig Morrey, an American father stuck in an extremely difficult position. His son Spencer has an extreme case of CB, which requires 24 hour medical care. Due to a custody battle and international child abduction laws, Craig is stranded raising his disable son alone in a foreign country. We spent 4 days (it was suppose to be 5 but I got stuck in Detroit for 24 hours after missing my connecting flight by 2 minutes) following Craig and Spencer around the town of Okazaki and the city of Nagoya. We shot in various hospitals, on trains, in restaurants and at his home. The entire project was shot cinéma vérité style and will be told mostly through audio interviews.
We decided to shoot the project on the Canon 7d (and some with my Canon 5d mkII). We used a zoom H4 for sound and luckily had the privilege of a sound guy (thanks Dave!). We didn't record sound on every take, but when we did we employed the old school "double" system…. aka Camera speed, sound speed, action!… although since its a doc, we never really called action.
In order to keep all the material organized, we continuously dump files to a laptop, being careful to make sure the correct audio and video files went into the same folder. Our producer Tammy Chu handled all the media and did an amazing job in the field (She lives in Seoul so if you ever need a producer there, let me know!)
Gear wise we used the 7d with a number of lenses including the 17-35mm f2.8, 50mm f1.4, 200 f2.8 and two image stabilizing lenses, the 17-55 IS f2.8 and the 70-200 IS f2.8. The IS really helped when it came to shooting handheld, especially due to the rolling shutter issues with the camera. I also used a Zacuto Z-Finder. I had mixed reactions about the viewfinder, but I did find it impossible to film outside in daylight without it.
Another piece of gear I had was a small "Suitcase" dolly that I built. Its the typical skater dolly design, the only real difference is I built it to fit perfectly into my suitcase. That way all we had to do was find some PVC pipes and we were good to go.
Over the course of 4 days we shot about 300gigs of raw footage, that when converted to ProRes comes close to 1TB of data! I brought a little bit of the footage home with me, I'm hoping to cut together a short montage when I have a second.
The shoot went about as smooth as possible. Whenever dealing with sensitive subjects, I always feel weird saying we had a "great shoot" but I think we were able to capture some really powerful moments that in the long run will hopefully help Craig and Spencer. Keep an eye out some updates and footage!
Craig and Spencer.
First day of shooting.
I have had to wear some funny press passes in the past, but nothing compared to this! Its a terrible picture of me, but I just had to share. Next to me was our local producer Satimo.
Right as I was shooting here, I actually had someone come over to read my sign and make sure I had permission, like they couldn't see it across the room.
Sunset outside the hospital.
"Downtown" Okazaki.
The crew, from left to right (Satomi, David, Tammy and Tony).
Okazaki Train Station
When i decided to sit on the floor to shoot of a moving train, I think people really started to wonder about me.
I love trains! and I love shooting trains!
Working the 7d and the 70-200 IS f2.8
Okazaki train station at night.
And here are just a few snap shoots of downtown Nagoya....
...and another one.
...and one last final shot.
CHINESE GOLD FARM PHOTO ESSAY
I saved the best (well maybe most interesting) photo post for last. The whole reason I was in China was to shoot for the feature doc "Play Money." Play Money explores the complex world of virtual property, the business of real money trade, and the question that blurs the line between the virtual and the real. Pretty much the film is about the multimillion dollar real money trade industry that surrounds video games such as War of Warcraft. There are many different ways that companies make real money from video games. One way is through what is called "Power Leveling." Power Leveling is when a game player (most often a westerner) wants to advance his character to a higher level in the game. If they do not have the time to play the game themselves, then they can pay someone else (most often a worker in China) to play the game for them. The transaction often goes through a larger company that then outsources the work to a smaller "studio' or "gold farm."
The photos below are from a "power leveling gold farm" in rural Beijing (about an hour and a half outside the city). The ironic thing is that this "gold farm" is in fact an actual working farm. The youngest member of the family Liang runs the power leveling company, while his parents run the farm.
They have 15+ nice PCs with flat screen monitors and high speed internet, yet no plumping. The "gold farm" employes about 20 workers who live on the farm. They work in shifts playing World of Warcraft nearly 24/7. Most of the workers are uneducated whose other options would be to work in a factory or a manual labor job. They earn about $300 a month, which sounds incredibly low to westerners, but it is on par with what most non-college educated workers earn.
When I signed on to shoot this film, I had no idea what to expect. I was assuming we would be shooting in visually boring office buildings.... I was pleasantly surprised at this location. This "Gold Farm" is really going to be an amazing section of the film. Below is a small edit of some photos I shot the first day while scouting the location. I'll be putting up a bigger edit in my Stills section shortly.
The Gold Farm / Real Farm.
This is the main computer room.
Like any business or office, a clock hangs on the front wall.
Most workers are in their 20s and are hardcore gamers themselves.
Office Phone.
Boxing and cards are two ways the workers spend time when not playing video games. A large boxing bag hangs in the middle of the yard.
The workers outside a the main building.
Liang, 25. The Boss.
Liang works from another room with a view into the main computer room. Liang takes his employees out to a KTV or a nice dinner once a month as a way to get a break from the farm. They often make the hour+ drive into Beijing.
A wedding photo of his grandmother hangs by Liang's computer.
Yuan, Liang's wife in their bedroom. In addition to household chores, she also assist Liang with any business related task he needs help with. She is also a avid gamer herself.
Liang's mother returns from the fields. She picks fresh veggies daily and cooks breakfast, lunch and dinner for the family and all the workers.
In a room adjacent to the computer building, Liang's mother prepares lunch. They often cook lunch over a large open wok outside.
Zhendua, 90. Liang's grandfather. The past two generations of Liang's family worked the farm. He works the virtual markets.
Another shot of Zhendua.
Farm tools.
Workers at work.
Clothes.
With 15+ computer, the hot Beijing summer heat and no AC, the workers use multiple fans to try and stay cool.
To find out more about the film Play Money and the world of real money trade and virtual economies, check out www.playmoneyfilm.com
YANGSHUO NIGHTS!!!
I ended up spending 3 days and 3 nights in Yangshuo. I totally fell in love with the town. I have been to some pretty amazing places but I think I would put Yangshuo in at least the top 5 it not, top 3. Up to this point I was starting to lose faith in meeting friendly Chinese people my age. That also totally changed in Yangshuo, I definitely met a number of very hospitable people (Thanks Olive, Crane, Lemon and Carmel!!!) One of the coolest things I got to do was go swimming in the river at a secret beach the last day I was there! I don't have any photos from this because I didn't bring my camera but it was a great way to end my stay in Yangshuo. If you ever end up in Yangshuo and wanna go swimming, let me know! I might remember the way or could give you some contacts!
After Yangshou I headed back to Guilin to catch a flight back to Beijing (which proved to be a very scary budget airline but thats a whole other story). I only had a few days in Beijing before leaving for home (I included those photos with my earlier Beijing Post). So this post ends my travelogue of China!
While the first few weeks were a bit tough (between adjusting, long production days, getting sick, getting use to the food, etc) I ended up having an amazing time. I think I must just be getting good at traveling because even after 25 days away, I was ready to stay for another month!
Before I left a number of people kept saying "Oh what a trip of a lifetime." While I appreciate this, I really don't expect this to be the only time I travel to China... at least i hope not!!!!
A few bamboo rafts wait to take passengers on a ride at dusk.
A women wasting clothes in Yangshuo.
One of the many walking streets in Yangshuo.
The hostel I stayed at in Yangshuo. Note the pool table outside... awesome!
This is Crane (who worked at the above hostel and ended up being showing me around). We went out to dinner at a very non-tourist restaurant. When the bill came it was seriously less then $5 for all that food. I like China, I can totally be a baller there!
I thought the river was beautiful during the day, well at night it has a totally deferent but equally (if not more) awesome vibe! A man looks for valuable rocks with a head light.
It happen to be the "Ghost Festival" while i was in Yangshuo. I would have had no idea what was going on if it wasn't for Crane explaining it to me. During Ghost Festival people burn money (or most cases fake money) and wish for good luck from their dead relatives.
We stopped and talked to these guys for a bit. They gave us some fake money to burn with them.
Another shot of locals burning money to honor the dead.
The view from the top of the hostel.