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Magic and Mischief in the Middle East

2008-12-21 9:04AM / 標準BLOG

A few days ago Adam, Petrice, and I went to see "Arabian Nights," Mary Zimmerman's new play at the Berkeley Rep. I had seen her earlier works, "Metamorphoses" and "Argonautika," which were beautifully retold Greek myths, and had very high expectations for this latest production.

The first thing we see upon entering the theater is a pile of dull gray dropcloths, sitting in a misshapen heap on the stage, a barren concrete wall as backdrop. Two drummers meet at the center of the pile and begin a steady rhythm. Actors emerge from the edges of the audience and begin flinging away the cloths, uncovering a sumptious collection of rugs, pillows, and drapes, which they unfurl outward in exuberant choreography to the drummers' accelerating beat. Exotic lanterns descend from the ceiling, filling the space with a sensuous glow. The stale stage has suddenly been transformed into a warm and welcoming hearth, inviting the audience in. It's like opening the cover of a dusty old book and revealing the wondrous world hidden inside.

From there, the play leads us through 1001 nights of tales from Baghdad, the "city of peace and poets," woven intricately together by a cunning storyteller to a captive audience of one, her husband and would-be murderer. King Shahryar, having been betrayed by his first wife on their wedding night, vows to bed a new virgin each night and then kill her in the morning. His latest bride Scheherezade has come up with a scheme to save herself from this unfortunate fate: begin to tell a captivating bedtime story, then stop at the most crucial moment before dawn, thus forcing the king to keep her alive so she can finish the tale. No Disneyfied Aladdin stories here, instead you get sensuous sirens, bisexual nymphomaniacs, epic flatulence, and an illuminating debate on the Koran that should be required viewing for everyone in the U.S. (Watching the show, it reminded me of the animated film Persepolis in the way it depicted a different side of Middle Eastern culture, one that is easily lost in the current political climate.)

The stories unfold into another, then another, an endless Chinese puzzle box that barely stops to catch its breath before plunging into the next narrative, moving seamlessly in tone from sultry to silly to sad to sublime. As Adam would say, "It's great for someone with ADD like me!"

Unfortunately the constant switching of channels has the opposite effect on me, in that I begin to lose interest when there is no larger narrative arc to follow. This becomes more evident during the play's second half, which feels a bit uneven. There is one particular section where the actors seem to be losing steam and the scene devolves into a WTF?! moment (judging from the looks on Petrice's and Adam's faces, I figure they were just as confused). But at the end, after being taken on a whirlwind tour of a magical and mythical Middle East, an actor's innocuous whistling slowly evolves into the impending shrill of an air siren, and you are brought back to the ugly reality of present-day Iraq with the play's final image etched indelibly in your brain: of bodies being blown to dust by the wind, their stories forever gone.

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Wushu ala Final Cut

2008-09-14 7:14AM / 標準BLOG

This afternoon, we edited a scene from our filming of the Chinese Women’s Army at Tilden Park in Berkeley. Li Jing, who plays Qiu Jin in the documentary, is running through a hand form.

Nine takes were used to construct this scene. One take was a wide shot which we use to start the sequence. Mixed throughout are eight closeup shots detailing the action as Li Jing goes from one move to the next. Add in a little wind sound, and we’ve got ourselves a nice 34-second clip!

There’s a saying that a film is really created in the editing room. After having spent several months living in Final Cut, Rae and I certainly agree with that statement!

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Editing Continues Its Inexorable Progress

2008-09-09 2:04PM / 標準BLOG

We’ve been hard at work editing the film over the past two months, hence our long delay between posts. It seems once filming is done, the only “exciting” photos we have to share is us sitting in front of our computers staring at Final Cut and Aperture! So far, we have assembled nearly 50 minutes of footage for the final film. There’s still much to do, but we have a good sense for the narrative is shaping up to be.

There remains a few more pickup scenes to shoot along with recording the music and narration for the film. Our target is to complete those tasks by the end of this month.

In other news, we should announce that our fiscal sponsorship has moved from Film Arts Foundation to the San Francisco Film Society. After thirty-two years of serving the independent film community, Film Arts is closing its doors; fortunately, the SFFS was there to take on the task of supporting existing fiscally sponsored projects, including ours. Visit our support page to learn how you can donate to our project. It’s tax-deductible!

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Betrayal

2008-06-08 11:56AM / 標準BLOG
We’re on the home stretch for completing our principal filming and photography. This morning, we photographed our betrayal scene with Xu Xilin and a Qing Dynasty Governor. Preston and Stan did a great job posing for the camera. I’m famous for the line, “One more time,” and they both were very patient when I snapped shot after shot.

Click the link below to see the rest of the photos.
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Scholar Interview Photos

2008-06-06 2:22AM / 標準BLOG
We had a great few weeks of traveling to Southern California and the East Coast to interview three scholars for the documentary. We met with Professor Hu Ying at UC Irvine, Professor Lingzhen Wang at Brown University, and Professor Amy Dooling at Connecticut College. We’re headed back up to the Bay Area tomorrow, and we have just a few more scenes to film and photograph before we start our post-production schedule.

Click the link below to view photos from our scholar interviews trip!
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