Filmmaking in China and NZ

Looking to China

I am sitting down to write this article three hours before my extended deadline is to expire so forgive me for my ravings. I have spent an enjoyable day on Bethell’s Beach, shooting a movie, enjoying the sunshine, the pounding surf and the beautiful images we are able to create in this environment. It’s a well-oiled machine working at Bethell’s with a vast amount of knowledge on how to manage a film crew in these spectacular surroundings.

I have spent the last few months shooting a 3D film, half of which is shot in China and half in NZ. We are now shooting the NZ segment after two and a half months in China.

It is a job of contrasts, new ways to learn, new boundaries to explore. I have had to relearn my approach to filmmaking, yet in the end we are all working for the same goal and are all infused with the same enthusiasm for the jobs we do.

China is grand, it is on a scale we don’t understand. It is embedded in history, yet has been reborn a number of times in the recent past. Cinema is entertainment, valued and attended. There are stars and fans and they crowd the streets, and take thousands of photos.

When I first arrived I thought in a Western way. I watched the traffic and realised that there was a different philosophy to life. It is a karmic way of life. You step out in to the traffic in the knowledge that what will happen is beyond your control. The cars and motorbikes are all on pre-ordained paths and someone has already designed your destiny. Otherwise, you stand on the footpath and never venture any further.

Crewing the film was an interesting but frustrating process. China is all about people power. They have people, more than enough people. I met my two camera crews when they arrived from Beijing – ‘Hi this is the 1st AC, 2nd AC, 3rd AC, 4th AC for A Camera, and here is the 1st AC, 2nd AC, 3rd AC, 4th AC for B Camera.’

The stereo department had 12 people, DIT and video had 8 people. When we had a dinner at the end of the shoot there were 35 in the camera, 3D, video, DIT and data department including translators. We returned home to a crew of 12 people.

I kept talking about the grip department but that didn’t seem to exist. The dolly grip was part of lighting, and the technocrane crew we had was only a techno crew. So I brought over my key grip and we created our own grip department.

A lot of jobs are looked after by production, a band of 20 to 30 young men who approached every task with an energy that is unstoppable – smoke, greenscreens, ezi-ups, scaffolding, wind and every other role that doesn’t fit the mould is handled by this department. It took me weeks to understand this concept as they didn’t exist till a couple of days before the shoot so they were always ghosts promised by the producers.

I ended up bringing over more of my camera, grip and lighting HOD’s than I had originally anticipated, mainly due to the language barrier. And my HOD’s were fantastic, they embraced the Chinese experience and bonded with the local crews who were all great to work with.

China is a new frontier that the Film Commission and NZ producers are looking to connect with. It is a different culture and a different approach but they are still making films as we are, and they are keen to blend Western approaches with the Chinese approach to filmmaking.

They have an audience which appreciates film, goes to cinemas to watch it, and basks in the glory of cinema as a form of entertainment.