Weekend, 5-6 August 2000

BEIJING MOTION PICTURE &
TELEVISION CONFERENCE - DAY 3

So, where was I?

I am amazed at how exhausting this all is. This morning (Friday in Beijing), my wake-up call never came and I slept a couple hours longer than I normally do before waking up, shocked, and throwing on some clothes and finding out where the group had gone off to for the day. Fortunately, one of the Legends of China guides was having breakfast, which she ran off from to get me back on track. Very kind.

Today was to be the first day of seminars, encouraging a back and forth between the two nations. Unfortunately, the formality of the event, combined with the translation time, left about 3 minutes per person...barely enough for a few introductory words from each. There were bits of information to be gleaned from the event, but there was also a real sense of frustration from all those involved.

In particular, the costumers and the musicians, who make up a high percentage of those of us on the trip, were eagerly anticipating a discussion of intellectual properties rights. Throughout the first two days, it was clear that there are strong feelings to be expressed in this area. Yet, there was little time for anything other than well thought out, but fairly peaceful, individual comments.

The panel on Special Effects and Animation seemed more promising, as the panel was reduced to just five people. Nonetheless, two extended speeches later, everyone else was asked to shorten things up and one Chinese speaker was eliminated outright.

One theme that was clear from both panels was that the American delegation was clearly in favor on humanity driving content, not technology. Based on the previous day's statements from the Chinese delegates, this was critical. The theme kind of continued on this day and I no longer question whether there is any secret subtext on the part of China's art elite to trick the government into being stuck with a more open system. These folks clearly believe in technology and harbor a severe inferiority complex about the rest of the world. No need. As the Americans keep saying, without being kind, it is the artfulness of the people of this nation that will build the film industry, combined with an open door that allows a free flow of ideas and materials.

The third panel promised a little too much Kodak promotion and a continuation of the lack of ideas in favor of speeches. Fortunately, I made it back for the last 20 minutes or so of the panel. (I was out checking the city out and finding the Beijing Duck -- photos to come on Monday.) Victor Kemper, president of the American Society of Cinematographers and Don Rogers, Vice Chairman of the AMPAS Scientific Achievement Committee and long time techno-king for Warner Bros. and others, were engaged in a two-man battle for the hearts and minds of the Chinese on the issue of digital film. The conference organizers decided to blow off our lunch trip and to let this one go another 30 minutes and these two guys brought years of knowledge and strong opinions to the table. Particularly abused was George Lucas, smacked by Kemper as "dangerous to all of us in this business." His comment was in the context of Lucas' obsession with digital technology and his dream of making a film without actors, cinematographers or anyone else. Just George and the computer guys. Rogers offered a laugh of agreement with Kemper, but spoke only to his opinion that Lucas' current all-digital plan for Star Wars: Episode Two might fall short and that the resolution of 24p "digital film" still isn't really good enough to pass for celluloid.

After the symposium, I asked Rogers about why he believed so little in digital film and so much in digital projection and he told me that he thought that the price of the projectors would be coming down drastically in the near future, with a number of companies pushing to being the price down. Rogers is part of a group that is setting up digital theaters around the globe, planning on having 34 digital screens set up by the end of the year. He mentioned that Warner Bros. digital version of The Perfect Storm, in L.A. at the AMC Burbank, is pretty spectacular.

Having engaged in an ongoing discussion about digital with Roger Ebert over the last year, I asked about Roger's favorite alternative to digital, MaxiVision. Well, as it turns out, Rogers was a member of the team that created Todd-AO's 30 frame-per-second system, which Roger highlighted at the Overlooked Film Festival this year. Rogers told me that they had an impossible time getting the studios to got to 30 fps back then, so they took Todd AO back to 24 fps, but it faded away. The studios just wouldn't spend the extra 25 percent on film stock. It's Rogers opinion that over 30 fps, you get diminishing returns, not really being able to tell a difference between, say, 36 fps and 48 fps in any natural way. Also, he feels that the image becomes so dense, that it makes viewers uncomfortable...it doesn't look real anymore. Which is not to say that he doesn't like MaxiVision. He just doesn't think it has any chance of coming to be.

As for "digital film," Rogers admits that there are cinematographers, like Conrad Hall, who really fell that digital is ready to go, that Hall "loves the stuff." But not Rogers...or Kemper for that matter. Rogers insists that filmmakers will need to go to a celluloid negative at the very least. But even for normal production, we are at least a few years away from coming anywhere close to the quality of film.

Lunch, as it turned out, was brought in to the conference hall from McDonald's and Kentucky Fried Chicken. I didn't realize until late, but I still managed to get a spicy chicken sandwich that came with a side of... chicken...a wing. Weird, but not bad. The spicy chick was different than one would get in the U.S., but it was still quite good.

Next, we were off to the Beijing Film Studio. The studio is kind of a tiny version of Universal, complete with a guided tram tour. It's one of the strange parts of this trip that while there is a sense that the Chinese are a little too focused on catching up with the rest of the world's technology (it's all very space race), there is also the sense of "ooohhh...that's old." And so it was at the studio. They showed us a three reel film about the history of the studio that can't be any older than Farewell, My Concubine, which was shot at the studio and was plastered all over the promotional film, yet the quality of image was like that of a 1950s MGM studio promotional reel. And where that is positive, you can take it as positive, but it was a little surreal. And the transition from reel to reel was shockingly poor to boot. This is an important international studio, trying to impress Americans, and they can't handle a reel change. Oy!

Our next stop was the prop and costume warehouses, which include some actual Ming Dynasty heirlooms. (Again, photos to come on Monday.) The costume shop was also terrific, loaded with very detailed period costumes, from imperial robes to peasant clothing. I found something a little off-beat to try on. Yes, Virginia, they do Christmas stories on China.

Next, we headed onto some of the backlot itself, where on one street they were shooting a period scene with a runaway horse and carriage. And unlike Hollywood, we were welcome on the set and a long as we were out of shot, we could roam all over the place, even as the stunt was taking place. (They got it in three.) It was also quite lovely to be able to walk through these quiet streets of old China without the hubbub of the city around you. Of course, it was all fake.

By the time we got on the bus, when it was announced that we would next got to a film processing lab, there was a collective groan and the processing lab trip was cancelled. So, we would have some time to relax back at the hotel before dinner, right? Nope. 20 minutes to shower and dress and if we were tardy, we'd miss dinner. Beijing is not nearly as restrictive or limited as it was just a few years ago, but people wanted to stay with the group, so very quick showers were had by all. Well, some.

Dinner was an ethnic Mongolian restaurant. As we walked into the restaurant, we were greeted and a flower, dipped in water was dripped on the shoulder. During the meal, there were ritual dances...quite lovely. Not so lovely was the snake having its neck broken and it's guts ripped open at the next table. A family from America was being served four teacups of fresh snake blood. Yummy. The young girl of the foursome was disgusted enough to offer her cup to our table and had it accepted by Gene Cantamessa, an Oscar®-winning sound designer and an incredibly hip dude. (No sarcasm...he is.)

After dinner, it was off to see a domestically made Chinese film, A Time To Remember. Oddly enough, it was 80 percent in English. The story is about an American doctor who gets caught up with a Communist revolutionary, his comrade/aspiring girlfriend and her father, who happens to have been a former Communist revolutionary himself, now a gangster after having had his life destroyed and his daughter stolen away over his political beliefs.

The movie was beautifully made and the Chinese actors were excellent. Unfortunately, the American actors sucked. But I was more interested in director Yip Ying than in this film. There was no doubt as Ying spoke that the government does need to approve everything...and that Ying doesn't feel particularly oppressed at all. He discussed getting an agent...or not. Offers from American producers that he turned down because he didn't like the material. And a Japanese backed film that he expects to sign for soon.

We also discussed the broader issues of Chinese cinema. What percentage of the box office receipts comes back to the studio? One-third. That's significantly less than at home. Is piracy of domestic films as serious a problem here as it is for American films? Absolutely. A Time To Remember was selling on the streets of Beijing within a week of the film's release. Budgets? This film was $3 million and is considered an expensive production. Grosses? They claimed that this film grossed about $240 million...Chinese dollars. That's about 30 million American dollars. But unless something got twisted in the translation, that's a pretty amazing return. Even at a rental rate of 33 percent, you're looking at $10 million in on a $3 million film. Lots of American producers would like to do that well.

Okay, well I'm getting exhausted again. The next Hot Button from China will appear sometime on Monday. By then, we'll be in Shanghai. In the meantime, I'm going to try to have a good time. You know, it's very odd. After a few days here, Beijing doesn't feel all that foreign. Even with people staring at me everywhere I go. I am socializing with a group, like any group that is thrown together. And we are so busy, we have little time to discover a lot more than what is in front of us. But the schedule should loosen up a bit in the days to come and then, we'll see.

Until Monday...

READER OF THE DAY: BF writes: "Best meal in Beijing that I had was the Peking Duck, accompanied by a tray of unidentified matter: some as leafy as seaweed; some smooth and the color of rubies. All the organs of the duck, need I say, finely sliced and absolutely delicious. Do not be a wuss! Eat the stuff! I am vegetarian now, but that's more due to McDonald's. Consider it a bonus to be able to see what you are eating. Happy culinary adventuring. (Also, I remember the alcohol was great; but I didn't drink that much. I was eleven.)"

E ME: Ho Ho Ho!