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• August 20, 2007: Professional Training Program for Chinese Film Crews
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  Monday, Aug 20, 2007 12:24PM / Standard Entry / Members only
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  It's been 27 years since films have became a significant part of my life.  I remember in 2000 while promoting "The One" in Beijing saying, "You don't have to see Jet Li's films, but you need to watch Chinese films".  I'm glad Chinese films have made a drastic improvement in the past few years; theater audiences have increased, and new box office records have been set.

  Filming in Europe and North America, I feel that movies are an industry.  If we want chinese films to flourish internationally, it can't be a question of having a particular film succeed, but rather the entire film industry in China needs to march together towards the international community.  Being a Chinese filmmaker, naturally I hope that China's film industry can develop global influence.  Right now the news is usually focused on specific producers, actors, or the idol TV shows, which I don't necessarily oppose, because we can find talented people through these venues.  But from the perspective of exporting Chinese movies, and having foreign movies filmed in China, we are facing many production problems.  To develop a national film industry, our foundation must be solid.  I would like to see an orderly plan of some sort to develop and cultivate behind-the-scene talents from Chinese film schools or a professional film crew training program.

  We need to cultivate professional crews to connect with and enter into the international film industry.  Adjustments are needed -- from assistant directors, producers, make up artists, prop masters, transportation and catering.  For countries which are already established in the international movie industry, we can see that all of these areas are managed by professionals.  For example, transportation.  How do we effectively set up and maintain vehicle use and parking space to not conflict with filming?  If there is professional training for each department, in the long run it will save time and money.  After all, the crew's purpose is to support the director's vision, giving him/her the best technical and creative resources possible.

  Language training is also very important.  Everyone should be able to understand the filming terminology used in Cantonese and English.  For example, with international co-productions, you hear cases of the director and assistant directors communicating in English, while others on set might not understand; or of Hong Kong assistant directors who can't speak Mandarin properly.  How is he/she to help direct the actors?  When things are frantic, it's easy to have misunderstandings and unhappiness on the set.

  I knew some farmers that worked in my earlier movies who, through many years of hard work, have become producers.  I am very happy for them because this is the result of individual initiative and struggle.  If there is a system by which we can train these talents, then we can truly march on to the path of the international film community.

  A country with a strong film industry can't concentrate exclusively on the cast; the crew is also a vital component.  Filming is team work, requiring talent both in front of and behind the scenes.  We have many movies and TV shows to help cultivate actors, but there is still a need for a professional training system for those who are passionate about working in the film industry.

  So, how to develop a system for cultivating professional crews?  It requires professionals from all the various departments to come together, discuss the issue, and set up an effective plan.  In the future, when major films come to China for production, we will easily be able to find professional crews to coordinate with the director on all aspects of filming.  But to achieve this we need to have worthwhile discussions and be realistic about how to deal with all of these details.

  Aside from cultivating talent, this plan should also encourage annual conferences to discuss and further understand rules and regulations used in the Western film industry, such as employment systems, financial organization, insurance regulations, etc.  We need to learn the positive attributes from the Western world and adapt them to create a workable Chinese film industry.  With the fast-rising development of the film industry, the next few years is a critical time in setting up professional training programs and technical schools.

  These are just some of my humble opinions on this subject that I wanted to share with all of you.

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