Long Walk....

We have a great saying here in China.

Its called "Cha Bu Dwo..."

It means something like - "pretty much..."

It is a very handy phrase - especially for producers and directors.

As in:

Are we still within budget? Cha Bu Dwo....

Are we almost done with this set-up? Cha Bu Dwo....

Is this the same crew as last shoot? Cha Bu Dwo....

Is this shoot going to rob me of any intergrity that I have left? Cha Bu Dwo....

The reply I usually have to this remark is:

Cha hun dwo...

Which really gives you a closer very of the truth. It means something like - "not even close..."

Which really is a better aproximation of the reality of the day.

For our show - we shoot a lot of long lens. That means - the person is the foreground looks beautiful while the background gets soft and fuzzy behind them. We still see what the background is - but it is out of focus.

Director Hu said to me the other day:

Greg. We have been watching how you shoot. You build these really big sets with lots of details - and then you only shoot a little bit of them. We could really learn from you. You don't care how much cost it is to build things - you just shoot what you want - even if you're wasting a lot of money. We are really learning a lot.

And believe me - it was spoken with a lot of sincerity - since there is no sarcasm in China.

If I could have given him my truthful reply it would be something like this:

Director Hu. We have to shoot everything long lens, because it doesn't matter what we tell you or how we draw the designs for the sets - when we get here - it all looks like a junior high theater production. There is no way around the fact that the only detail that is consistant with what we asked for is the color. And sometimes even that is wrong. So the only solution is to make everything soft and out of focus so that no one knows how bad things really are.

Sigh.

And the sad thing is - we are really good friends. He is the greatest guy. We are both a bit trapped in a tight place - but I think things are always getting better and we will find ways to make it better as we go.

Till then -

How far is it to the bathroom?

It's really close...

Really????

Cha Bu Dwo....