yanpu's Journal

Sep 2007
1:08 AM EDT

Julie and I are back in Xining. We spent the last week in the city of Le Du in the Hai Dong District of Qinghai. We assisted in the filming of a short documentary film about this year's Qinghai vaccination and education program. They wanted the film to be filled with personal stories from kids and their families to the teachers and doctors who are conducting the vaccinations.

Our first task was to find a school with kids that were being vaccinated. Julie and I contacted the local health department and found a school in the more developed area of the city. However, Aaron and Adam did not like the school. They wanted something more rural, which they thought would make the film more interesting. So off we went into the mountains and countryside to find this rural school.

Luckily we found one approximately 30mins from the city of Le Du. The school is set in a valley surrounded by mountains. To get there we had to drive on a narrow road with no road barriers. On one side is the mountain and on the other side steep cliffs. Let's just say it wasn't the most enjoyable ride back and forth every morning and every night to and from this rural school. The school however was indeed perfect for the film. It really captured the environment of rural china. It's pretty run down, with just 5 classrooms housing 40 students ages 6-12. There is a small playground with some monkey bars and a single basketball hoop. The kids were all very adorable. They lived in the farm villages near the school. Most of them were very shy and some were even a bit scared. For most of them this was the first time they'd ever seen a white person.

After the first day of getting acquainted with the school and some of the kids, Aaron and Adam were confident that the film would be set at this location. Little did we know that it wouldn't be so easy, like everything else in China there is always a huge process. The next morning, we were informed by the Le Du CDC that Aaron and Adam were not allowed to film at the rural school. They didn't really give us a good reason. They insisted the local people wouldn't be happy about the filming and that it was generally a bad idea to film in a village so far away from the city. Despite what the CDC said, we knew the real reason why they didn't want us to film there; they were ashamed of the condition at the rural school. They were also not comfortable having us interview students and their families in that area due to possible negative sentiments for the Chinese government. This put a huge block in the entire filming project. We had to start all the way back at square one again. The Le Du CDC carted us around all morning going to schools that were "pre-approved" for filming. These schools were set in the city, which was the exact opposite of what Aaron and Adam wanted for the film. Finally, Aaron and I pulled one of the heads of the CDC aside and explained to him the significance of filming in the rural school we had already picked out yesterday. After a few hours of negotiations with the local and district CDC, they finally let us film at the rural school with the exception that they would be the ones picking out the students and families we would be interviewing.

For the rest of the week, Julie, Aaron, Adam and I, along with 2 CDC officials filmed at the school and its surrounding villages. We spoke with 3 students and their families. We followed them to and from school to capture their life. We were also able to interview with the school principle and the village doctor who administered the vaccinations.It was incredible experiencing first hand the daily lives of these three students and their families. We picked the perfect time to visit because it was harvesting season. The fields were filled with people cutting down the wheat, roping it up into bundles which were then pressed to release the kernels. Donkeys strapped with huge bundles of wheat filled the streets. Front yards, backyards and even flat rooftops were used to dry mountains of wheat kernels. Majority of the houses in village were made of out clay and straw. These houses were set on hillsides with narrow alleyways directing you down the hill through the maze and back onto the one main paved road.

During the filming process, Julie helped out with the sound engineering and I served as the translator and PR. Since neither Aaron nor Adam could really communicate in Chinese, I did pretty much all the talking. When there was any confusion or hesitation from the Chinese side I would try my best to explain to them Aaron and Adam's perspective and why it was important to get this shot or that shot. I conducted all the interviews, which was quite difficult because the village people had their own accents which were hard for me to discern. Before each interview I would run the question by the CDC officials to get approval before filming.

This is the first time I've ever been involved in a filming process and I found it quite interesting. Adam and Aaron are planning on coming back to the area to finish filming next month. Hopefully the second time around we won't have as many problems.

Here are some pictures from this last week: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2052870&l=4951d&id=13301826

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Username: yanpu

Gender / Age: Female, 40

Location: USA - California