We’re headed to Berkeley for the evening. Tomorrow morning, we’ll be filming the Chinese Women’s Army scene with Li Jing and thirty extras. Here’s a photo from today’s shoot at Vista Point, between Edgewood and Highway 92.
Priming Walls
StandardThis morning, we primed the walls in our Chinese house garage set. We’ll be painting the walls in the next few days. This weekend, we’ll be filming several dramatic recreation scenes with Li Jing and members of Qiu Jin’s Women’s Army.
Enjoy this short 12-second time-lapse photography movie of us priming the walls.
Building our Chinese Set
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We spent the weekend building our Chinese house set in our garage. With help from our neighbor, Jerry, we got all of the walls raised and set up by the afternoon! Right now, we’re sealing the joints and screws with joint compound before we tackle priming and painting the walls. Soon, our furniture will arrive, putting the finishing touches on a late 19th-century Chinese house!
See the photos of our set building.
Melissa as a young Qiu Jin
StandardYesterday, we photographed and filmed Melissa, who is playing the role of a young Qiu Jin. Melissa was very patient as we fought through the cold, harsh and unforgiving wind at Vista Point and San Jose. More photos from our shoot to come soon. Thanks to JP, Sammy, and Melissa’s parents for their assistance in yesterday’s events.
Chinese Furniture
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We are looking for traditional Chinese furniture items to be used in several scenes set in Qiu Jin’s residence and school. These scenes will be filmed in the Bay Area. If you have traditional-looking furniture similar to the ones pictured below that you can lend to the production, let us know!
Casting Call
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We are currently looking for supporting actors and extras for various scenes to be filmed in the Bay Area during weekends in May and/or June. If you or someone you know fits into one of these categories and would like to be an extra, send us an email at info(at)qiu-jin.com
- Asian men (able to pass for Chinese) with shaved heads, 20’s – 30’s yrs. old. Both non-speaking and Mandarin-speaking roles. We will need about 7-10 people to play soldiers and scholars.
Filming dates: May 10-11, 17-18 (Note: Extras do not need to be present for all days, most likely 1-2 days, 3-4 hours each day.)
Location: Santa Clara and San Jose - Asian men (able to pass for Chinese) with short or slicked back hair, 20’s – 30’s yrs. old. We will need about 10 people to play students.
Filming dates: May 10-11, 9:00 am – 12:00 pm.
Location: Hakone Gardens, Saratoga - Asian women (able to pass for Chinese), 20’s – 30’s yrs. old. Able to speak Mandarin (basic level okay). We will need about 5 people to play students. We have filled all of these spots. Thanks for responding.
Filming dates: May 10-11, 9:00 am – 12:00 pm
Location: Hakone Gardens, Saratoga - Asian women (able to pass for Chinese), teens – 30’s yrs. old with knowledge of wushu basics. All levels welcome, from beginner to advanced. We will need about 40 people to play soldiers training in the Women’s Army.
Filming date: Sunday, May 4, 9:00 am – 1:00 pm
Location: Tilden Park, Berkeley - Asian men with shaved heads, 40’s-60’s yrs. old.
Filming dates: May 10-11, 17-18 (Note: Extras do not need to be present for all days, most likely 1-2 days, 3-4 hours each day.)
Location: Santa Clara and San Jose - Asian women, 40’s-60’s yrs. old.
Filming dates: May 10-11, 17-18 (Note: Extras do not need to be present for all days, most likely 1-2 days, 3-4 hours each day.)
Location: Santa Clara and San Jose
Extras will be provided meals and a free copy of the DVD when completed!
Costume and Hair Tests
StandardToday we had a friend come in to try out some costumes that we brought back from China. Edric is modeling two outfits, a Qing Dynasty Soldier uniform and a gentry class scholar outfit. Let us know what you think!
Travel Update From Shanghai
StandardApologies on the lack of updates. We’ve been busy traveling to and from various cities in China. The day after arriving in Shanghai, we took a van out to Shaoxing, where Qiu Jin’s childhood home and the school where she taught at are located. There, we interviewed several scholars and officials, including Qiu Jin’s grandnephew! We also went to monument at the site of her execution by Qing Dynasty.
After Shaoxing, we spent several days in Hangzhou, where there is another memorial dedicated to Qiu Jin. Before her death, she requested that she be buried next to the tomb of General Yue Fei near Westlake. We got some more great footage and photos of the monument.
Tomorrow, we’re headed to Beijing on the final leg of the tour. I’ll have some more time in the next few days to upload some images from the first two weeks of our trip!
On Route to Shaoxing
StandardWe’re on route to Shaoxing, where Qiu Jin’s former residence and school reside. We arrived in Shanghai in the late morning. The taxi drivers are crazy! Ours was weavng in and out of traffic at high speed, sometimes making three lanes where there were only two! After settling into our hotel, we walked around the area near our hotel on Pujian Road. In the evening, we met up with my cousin King-Jung and Rae’s former co-worker, Sid, going to Raffles City for dinner.
Our driver is arriving any minute now to take us to a film equipment rental house so we can load up on lights, stands, and modifiers for our shooting this week.
Arrived in Hong Kong
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We just landed at Hong Kong International Airport and are waiting in baggage claim. The flight was safe and uneventful — just a little long at 16 hours. We watched several movie during the flight, including Minority Report, My Lucky Star, and Rescue Dawn. For the last movie, we watched in on my MacBook Pro using the new iTunes Movie Rentals feature from Apple. Once we get our film done, we’d love to get it distributed via iTunes!
Upon our arrival and exit from baggage claim, we were greeted by my parents and Rae’s parents, who took United to fly to Hong Kong. We took a 30-minute ride to our hotel for the next few days, the Royal Plaza Hotel.
Right now, it’s 10:44 pm our time, around 6:45 am back home in Santa Clara. Tomorrow, my cousin Peter is getting married to Zelda. We’ll be partaking in the wedding festivities for much of the day. We’ll take the next few days to get acclimated to the surroundings, recover from jet lag, and prepare for the meat of the trip, starting the 27th when we fly to Shanghai.
Check out photos from our flight to Hong Kong today!
Autumn Gem 