GraemeNicol
filmset:The One - atmospherics
Walking around the old district of Dalian with a photojournalist student friend who is carrying out a social documentary project on the area, we noticed something unusual. Old signs appeared to be hanging in the doorways and banners lines some of the streets. Some kind of festival perhaps ? Then we came across a huge lighting rig, of the kind that a Hollywood studio might use when shooting on location. What on earth...? We noticed an area roped off and asked some people what it was all about. "Film something something Olympics something" they replied in a heavy Dalian accent. Not only that but apparently no foreigners were allowed beyond the rope. At least not on that street. Five minutes around the corner we approached from another angle and were met enthusiastically by a young Chinese actress, as eager to practice her English on two foreign guys as we were to let her.
Seems a film called "The One" was getting shot. It tells the life story of China's first Olympian, a Dalian born sprinter called Liu Changchun. In a time of massive internal strife, he rejected the occupying Japanese's orders to run for the puppet state Manchukuo and instead boarded a boat from Shanghai to become the then Republic of China's sole representitive in the 1932 LA Olympics. They were filming it in this district presumably because it is one of the only relics of old Dalian yet to be re-developed. The old shop signs and crowds of extras in period robes completed the effect.
A group of people had now formed around us, questions were getting thrown around, hands were shaken, business cards given, but the rope was still there, and we were still on the wrong side for taking photos. Nothing seemed to be happening anyway, just lots of waiting around. We retreated back to the nearest restaurant and got stuck into beer and kebabs. My accomplice thought it might be an idea to phone the visiting professor on his photography course, a well respected Dutch photographer and film-maker. So he too arrived on the scene, fabled Leica in hand, just in time for the second round of lamb kebabs. After all the restaurant staff had been lined up under the bare 100 watt bulbs for head and shoulder portraits and the last of the kebabs had been eaten, off went the Prof to check out the film set for himself.
Seemingly ropes mean little when you are able to strike up a conversation with the director themselves about the merits of various kinds of lighting equipment and so after being introduced to the director as the Prof's "young proteges", we found ourselves in the unusual position of being on a full-blown film location during filming with permission to take photos as we wished.
This particular scene being shot mainly consisted of a large imposing man in Japanese military uniform getting out of an enormous black car and beating someone to the ground, as ruthless oppressors are prone to doing. Lots of shouting, lots of elegant Japanese looking (but actually Chinese) ladies in kimonos and parasols, and lots of smoke. The biggest laugh of the evening probably came when the car door wouldn't open and our Japanese military aggressor started cursing in Chinese.
The next day lots of research was done on-line to fill in the various information gaps. It seems the film is going to be fairly high profile, no mere local TV production. The director is Hou Yong, once time cinematographer for Zhang Yimou, who moved into directing himself more recently with family drama Jasmine Women, starring none other than Zhang Ziyi. A feelgood patriotic tale such as this will obviously pass government censors without any issues at all, and will likely be released in time for the Beijing Olympics next year. Not only that, it will be shown to all the foreign athletes.
filmset:The One - atmospherics
Walking around the old district of Dalian with a photojournalist student friend who is carrying out a social documentary project on the area, we noticed something unusual. Old signs appeared to be hanging in the doorways and banners lines some of the streets. Some kind of festival perhaps ? Then we came across a huge lighting rig, of the kind that a Hollywood studio might use when shooting on location. What on earth...? We noticed an area roped off and asked some people what it was all about. "Film something something Olympics something" they replied in a heavy Dalian accent. Not only that but apparently no foreigners were allowed beyond the rope. At least not on that street. Five minutes around the corner we approached from another angle and were met enthusiastically by a young Chinese actress, as eager to practice her English on two foreign guys as we were to let her.
Seems a film called "The One" was getting shot. It tells the life story of China's first Olympian, a Dalian born sprinter called Liu Changchun. In a time of massive internal strife, he rejected the occupying Japanese's orders to run for the puppet state Manchukuo and instead boarded a boat from Shanghai to become the then Republic of China's sole representitive in the 1932 LA Olympics. They were filming it in this district presumably because it is one of the only relics of old Dalian yet to be re-developed. The old shop signs and crowds of extras in period robes completed the effect.
A group of people had now formed around us, questions were getting thrown around, hands were shaken, business cards given, but the rope was still there, and we were still on the wrong side for taking photos. Nothing seemed to be happening anyway, just lots of waiting around. We retreated back to the nearest restaurant and got stuck into beer and kebabs. My accomplice thought it might be an idea to phone the visiting professor on his photography course, a well respected Dutch photographer and film-maker. So he too arrived on the scene, fabled Leica in hand, just in time for the second round of lamb kebabs. After all the restaurant staff had been lined up under the bare 100 watt bulbs for head and shoulder portraits and the last of the kebabs had been eaten, off went the Prof to check out the film set for himself.
Seemingly ropes mean little when you are able to strike up a conversation with the director themselves about the merits of various kinds of lighting equipment and so after being introduced to the director as the Prof's "young proteges", we found ourselves in the unusual position of being on a full-blown film location during filming with permission to take photos as we wished.
This particular scene being shot mainly consisted of a large imposing man in Japanese military uniform getting out of an enormous black car and beating someone to the ground, as ruthless oppressors are prone to doing. Lots of shouting, lots of elegant Japanese looking (but actually Chinese) ladies in kimonos and parasols, and lots of smoke. The biggest laugh of the evening probably came when the car door wouldn't open and our Japanese military aggressor started cursing in Chinese.
The next day lots of research was done on-line to fill in the various information gaps. It seems the film is going to be fairly high profile, no mere local TV production. The director is Hou Yong, once time cinematographer for Zhang Yimou, who moved into directing himself more recently with family drama Jasmine Women, starring none other than Zhang Ziyi. A feelgood patriotic tale such as this will obviously pass government censors without any issues at all, and will likely be released in time for the Beijing Olympics next year. Not only that, it will be shown to all the foreign athletes.