My blog
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Princeton University Screening Recap and Photos
Monday, Oct 19, 2009 11:02AM / Standard Entry
When I was in high school, one of my top college choices was Princeton University. Unfortunately at the time, I wasn’t accepted, and I eventually went to Stanford. Things worked out in the end, and I no longer spend any time wondering what might have been.
Our screening was organized by the Davis International Center and sponsored by Forbes College, the Women’s Center, and the Carl A. Fields Center for Equality and Cultural Understanding. Thanks to Paula Chow, Jingwen and Margaret for organizing the evening’s events. Though we were competing with Parent’s Weekend, the ALCS, and the wet weather, we had 25 people in attendance.
Over the past week, we’ve gotten requests to add more stops on this current tour. While we can’t accommodate all of them, we might be adding a couple more stops during the final week. Once we’ve secured all the details, we’ll update the blog and screenings page. Rae is already starting to plan our next U.S. tour in Spring of 2010.
A pleasant surprise was seeing Hilary and Stephen at the screening. Rae and I photographed their wedding back in 2005. It was great to see them again and to see our wedding photographs adorning their apartment. Because of Autumn Gem, we haven’t shot many weddings over the past two years. If I were to shoot a wedding today, however, I would use video to complement the still photos I take during the day. With cameras like the 5D Mark II, Nikon D3S and other HD-video capable cameras, the lines between wedding photography and videography are blurring.
Here are photos from the Princeton screening!
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Screening at Columbia College Chicago
Friday, Oct 9, 2009 1:33PM / Standard Entry
This morning, we departed Madison, Wisconsin, in the seat of a Coach USA bus. Our destination was Chicago, Illinois, and Columbia College Chicago. Switching buses at Janesville, Rae and I slept most of the way to Chicago. When we arrived at Union Station, it was raining outside; good thing that we came prepared with our waterproof jackets and rain-resistant luggage. We took a taxi to Columbia College Chicago building at 1104 S. Wabash Avenue, which houses portions of the Film and Video Department as well as Film Row Cinema where Autumn Gem was later screened. There were many creative types milling around the dining commons, where they were holding a Meet and Greet. Student filmmakers pitched their ideas to their fellow classmates, hoping to snag a few to work on their semester film projects as art directors, cinematographers, casting directors, gaffers, and editors. We certainly could have used some help in those departments; during the production of Autumn Gem, we often felt stretched thin performing all of these tasks between the two of us.
We’ve had some great screening locales, and Film Row Cinema was no exception. Though we had another intimate screening, we had another spirited discussion afterwards. One of the audience members asked why we focused so much on scholars views of Qiu Jin instead of Chinese feminists views on her. While in Hangzhou by the Qiu Jin Monument, we did record some man-on-the-street interviews about people’s perception of Qiu Jin. In the end, however, we felt that those interviews did not fit well within the overall narrative of the film. In addition, adding them in would have extended the running time to over an hour, which we did not want to do. In the final cut, Autumn Gem is aimed at introducing the story of Qiu Jin to someone who has little or no knowledge of her. Perhaps in the future, we’ll include some clips from our Hangzhou interviews on this web site.
Following the screening, we met up with our friends, Ivan, Margaret, Steve, Jeff and Rina. We had authentic Chicago-style pizza for dinner at Lou’s. We’ll be staying in Chicago for a few days before heading out to Champaign-Urbana on Monday.
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Packing for a 17 stop, 25 day trip
Wednesday, Oct 7, 2009 12:00AM / Standard Entry
With the start of our 25-day tour of Autumn Gem underway, we’d like to talk a little bit about our packing strategy. First, some background information on how we used to approach packing.
Back in 1995, I was a junior at Stanford spending a quarter abroad in Paris, France. I brought way too much stuff with me on the trip: a garment bag, two suitcases, and a backpack (which held my PowerBook 180 and original Newton MessagePad). When I went back to Paris for a week during Winter Quarter, I just brought one bag with me. That was my first trip where I deliberately tried to minimize the amount of stuff I traveled with; I soon became a convert to minimal packing. It’s so much easier to travel when you don’t have to worry about schlepping too much stuff with you halfway across the world.
When Rae and I went to France and Spain in 2006, we brought two daypacks with us, an REI Traverse 2006 for Rae and the same REI backpack I had back in 1995. It helped that I didn’t lug around my DSLR with me; we brought two small Canon PowerShots with us on this trip. Traveling with a DSLR, even one that’s relatively small in the 5D Mark II, can get tiresome after awhile. If I were to go on a long vacation again, I’d buy a G11 and just use that.
For our Midwest and East Coast Tour, we both wanted to pack as light as possible. It was determined that Rae would carry all of the clothes and personal items for the trip. I would carry all of the tech equipment, such as two laptops and the camera. Finally, we brought with us my Pelican 1510 hard case to store all of the DVDs that we plan to sell on the trip. Three pieces of luggage, all of them that we can carry onto the airplanes.
The photo to the right shows us with all of our baggage. Not bad for a 25-day, 17 stop tour?
There’s cold weather in the forecast on this trip; we’re dealing with it by wearing multiple layers of clothing. We’ll also be washing our laundry regularly; this is how we’re getting away with bringing a reduced number of clothes. Synthetic fabrics are the key here; they dry quickly and are more durable and wrinkle-resistant than the cotton clothes we normally wear in the Bay Area.
We’re taking two computers (15-inch MacBook Pros) with us on the trip. In case one of the computers breaks down, we’ll still be able to screen the film with the other one. If both of them were to fail, we have the DVD to fall back on. I’m using my Verizon EVDO Wireless Router setup to provide us with mobile Internet across our iPhones and laptops. Because we’re gone for a month, I have to watch out that we don’t go over Verizon’s 5GB bandwidth limit.
After the conclusion of our trip, I’ll write up another report detailing what I would have done differently packing-wise.
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Off to Madison
Monday, Oct 5, 2009 11:09PM / Standard Entry
We’re off on our whirlwind tour of the Midwest and East Coast! We’ll be reporting from all of the cities, schools, and locations we’re screening Autumn Gem in. Be back later today from Madison, Wisconsin!
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UCSF Screening Recap and Photos
Saturday, Sep 26, 2009 2:17PM / Standard Entry
Over 80 people came to the UCSF Cole Hall Auditorium screening of Autumn Gem this evening. There was a great mix of relatives, family friends, college buddies, and a whole contingent from UCSF. Thanks to Zhiyong Yang and his crew at UCSF for organizing the successful screening. The pizza was especially a big hit with the crowd; I can’t believe all the pies were eaten tonight!
I wish all of our screenings could be held in a facility like Cole Hall Auditorium. The sound system was great, and every seat in the house could see the movie as it was meant to be seen — big and colorful! Rae and I gave a short presentation on the genesis of Autumn Gem. After two years of hard work, we’re happy to start sharing it with the rest of the country. Our next stop is this coming Wednesday at Santa Clara University. Days later, we’ll be trekking out to Wisconsin for the start of a month-long, sixteen stop tour of Autumn Gem. We’ll be going from the aforementioned Wisconsin to Illinois, Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Boston, New York, and finally to Pennsylvania. Of course, we’ll be updating on this web site along the way. Tell your friends and family in those areas about Autumn Gem!
Here’s some photos from tonight’s screening. Enjoy!
Photos from the Autumn Gem Screening at UCSF
