10-03-2024, 10:15 AM
Are you saying my quest to get interesting stories told well isn't the approach to use with the Chinese culture?
I'm all for letting stories take me where they lead, that has always been the case. But I also need them told well. If you write a story for print, you can edit the pull quotes so they are readable. But if I'm going to show the film of that, the person telling the story has to do a good performance on top of that. When I'm saying I'm not getting what I want, most of the time it is because the performance is bad. Or the story is so convoluted, I won't be able to edit it in a way for it to make sense. Bryant Fong starts every sentence with 'So'. Every one. That is an easy fix. But Master Fong has the benefit of already having his ideas and stories in English.. There is much more fluidity to his narrative.
Shi Yanxing still needs to translate in his head before the words come out. His performance is much more hesitant. And he stops before he gets going. Many times he would give very brief answers that would end abruptly. Like I said, I think he felt pressure to do well which made him nervous. The early part of the interview was rough as he gathered his thoughts. The later sections were smoother as he gained confidence. After we were done, Shi Yanxing told me had so much more to say. That he written out the answers before hand. But during the interview when it came time to speak, his carefully prepared thoughts deserted him.
For instance, when we were just talking during our pre-filming tea, he brought up the three branches of Shaolin: Buddhism, Martial Arts, and Medicine. He mentioned it very nicely and succinctly, a real insight into Shaolin. Later when I asked him to repeat it, the speech was very wordy and didn't have quite the poetry of the earlier statement. I wish I had filmed what he said at tea. It was a bright moment that I look for when cameras are rolling.
And some of it was just knowledge. Some writer guy I know told me about the origin of the character for Qi, steam rising from a pot. It's a very evocative, to me, image that helps explain Qi. I wanted Yanxing to talk about that but I don't think he knew about that so he merely parroted back what I had said to him. My bad. Yanxing didn't know about that so he wasn't the person I should be asking about that.
I want my subjects to perform well in the best light I can give them. When this doesn't happen, I don't get what I want.
Grrr. Bark. Bark. End rant.
I'm all for letting stories take me where they lead, that has always been the case. But I also need them told well. If you write a story for print, you can edit the pull quotes so they are readable. But if I'm going to show the film of that, the person telling the story has to do a good performance on top of that. When I'm saying I'm not getting what I want, most of the time it is because the performance is bad. Or the story is so convoluted, I won't be able to edit it in a way for it to make sense. Bryant Fong starts every sentence with 'So'. Every one. That is an easy fix. But Master Fong has the benefit of already having his ideas and stories in English.. There is much more fluidity to his narrative.
Shi Yanxing still needs to translate in his head before the words come out. His performance is much more hesitant. And he stops before he gets going. Many times he would give very brief answers that would end abruptly. Like I said, I think he felt pressure to do well which made him nervous. The early part of the interview was rough as he gathered his thoughts. The later sections were smoother as he gained confidence. After we were done, Shi Yanxing told me had so much more to say. That he written out the answers before hand. But during the interview when it came time to speak, his carefully prepared thoughts deserted him.
For instance, when we were just talking during our pre-filming tea, he brought up the three branches of Shaolin: Buddhism, Martial Arts, and Medicine. He mentioned it very nicely and succinctly, a real insight into Shaolin. Later when I asked him to repeat it, the speech was very wordy and didn't have quite the poetry of the earlier statement. I wish I had filmed what he said at tea. It was a bright moment that I look for when cameras are rolling.
And some of it was just knowledge. Some writer guy I know told me about the origin of the character for Qi, steam rising from a pot. It's a very evocative, to me, image that helps explain Qi. I wanted Yanxing to talk about that but I don't think he knew about that so he merely parroted back what I had said to him. My bad. Yanxing didn't know about that so he wasn't the person I should be asking about that.
I want my subjects to perform well in the best light I can give them. When this doesn't happen, I don't get what I want.
Grrr. Bark. Bark. End rant.
As a matter of fact, my anger does keep me warm