blog.greenleemedia.com http://blog.greenleemedia.com Roger Greenlee's blog from Kunming, China Sat, 30 Apr 2011 08:14:26 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 The documentary wrap-up… http://blog.greenleemedia.com/2011/04/30/the-documentary-wrap-up/ http://blog.greenleemedia.com/2011/04/30/the-documentary-wrap-up/#comments Sat, 30 Apr 2011 08:14:26 +0000 Roger Greenlee http://blog.greenleemedia.com/?p=278 My last post was on October 22, 2010… wow, talk about dropping the ball! The documentary is finally in what I would consider a wrap-up stage. I am currently working with a group of Bring Me Hope volunteers to translate from Mandarin into English for the subtitles…

THE DELAY

As some of you might remember the original ‘deadline’ for the documentary was the end of 2010. Now here we are in May, 2011 with nothing ‘finished’ and it turns out that making a movie in a language that you don’t understand is stinkin’ hard. Due to budget constrictions and the time it was taking us to edit I had to let my assistant, Julia, go in January. She was extremely gracious and continued to stay on for another month with no pay and then did some more ‘paper editing’ via email. I would take her paper edits and select the timecodes she had given me and do my best (in Chinese) to edit it all together.

THE VIEWING

One thing I am really excited about is a group of students that have volunteered to do some ‘watchings’ of the movie as it progresses. At one screening during the first part one of the students (who was from a village) said that she didn’t realize there were poor kids like some of the ones she was seeing in the movie. This was really encouraging to me because the main purpose of the movie is to open up these students’ eyes to the reality around them and encourage them to be apart of the change.

THE EXECUTION

Originally we were thinking about production and a premiere in or around March. Now that March has come and gone we have a rework of the plan. I will most likely get a hard copy to the people that donated via Kickstarter in the summer and then near the end of the summer there will be a Premiere in Kunming where hopefully we can show it to a large group of students.

THANKS!

Thanks again for all the encouragement and thoughts we have recieved during this experience. I really believe that at least a few Chinese University students that view this will be inspired to get involved with helping some kids. This is all because of you guys so a continuing heartfelt thanks!

]]> http://blog.greenleemedia.com/2011/04/30/the-documentary-wrap-up/feed/ 0 Theme Song Demo http://blog.greenleemedia.com/2010/10/22/theme-song-demo/ http://blog.greenleemedia.com/2010/10/22/theme-song-demo/#comments Fri, 22 Oct 2010 09:49:26 +0000 Roger Greenlee http://blog.greenleemedia.com/?p=271 Hello all! Another update on the documentary. The editing is in full swing and we have almost finished the first animation about the story of the boy whose mom abandoned him. It looks amazing!

I wanted to share with you guys a little bit about how the music is progressing. The music director/composer  is named Gou. He has worked on a few movies before and did some music for the Olympics in 2008 in Beijing. He has put together a team of musicians to compose some songs for the movie. We went to his house last night and got a preview of the theme song for the documentary. It is called “Prayer”. Here is a short video of him testing out the words to the song and playing us the latest version. And a discussion about getting old :)

ps. that’s my beautiful (and smart) wife in the video doing the translation and laughing.

View on ExposureRoom
]]> http://blog.greenleemedia.com/2010/10/22/theme-song-demo/feed/ 0 Moving right along… http://blog.greenleemedia.com/2010/09/29/moving-right-along/ http://blog.greenleemedia.com/2010/09/29/moving-right-along/#comments Wed, 29 Sep 2010 16:00:42 +0000 Roger Greenlee http://blog.greenleemedia.com/?p=267 Hey all, sorry for the long delay in posts (I think, unfortunately, you’ll be hearing that line often) First off I just want to say a thank you to all the friends (new and old) and family who have supported the documentary project over the last few months. The Kickstarter fundraising was a great success and I have had other individuals donate time and money to the film as well outside of the Kickstarter. THANK YOU ALL!!

Now, for a bit of a progress report. I have moved my editing system into an office down the road from my house and setup  a room for work. I have hired a new editing assistant who is going slowly through the 60+ hours of footage everyday and finding the highlights and I (as of this Monday) have started editing. The goal is to be done with a “mid-final” edit by Dec 15. This would include everything from the music and art, to the video. Then hopes of a final product by the end of the year.

One of the most exciting things so far has been the artist that Juliann (our Art Director) discovered. The artists’ name is Xiao Mi and she is amazing. I’ll close this post by showing you a page from her storyboarding for one of the animations that will be in the documentary (click to make it bigger). Peace to all!  roger

]]> http://blog.greenleemedia.com/2010/09/29/moving-right-along/feed/ 1 New Kickstarter update… we funded! http://blog.greenleemedia.com/2010/09/06/new-kickstarter-update-we-funded/ http://blog.greenleemedia.com/2010/09/06/new-kickstarter-update-we-funded/#comments Mon, 06 Sep 2010 14:35:36 +0000 Roger Greenlee http://blog.greenleemedia.com/?p=264 http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/rogergreenlee/roger-makes-a-documentary-in-china-bring-me-hope/posts

]]> http://blog.greenleemedia.com/2010/09/06/new-kickstarter-update-we-funded/feed/ 0 The difference of culture… http://blog.greenleemedia.com/2010/08/16/the-difference-of-culture/ http://blog.greenleemedia.com/2010/08/16/the-difference-of-culture/#comments Mon, 16 Aug 2010 15:13:13 +0000 Roger Greenlee http://blog.greenleemedia.com/?p=260 Making a documentary like this is interesting. Being married to someone from China for 8 years I thought I had the culture thing figured out but seems I have a lot to learn. For example, we were confronted today by someone claiming that our documentary was “fake”. While it is true that we have directed alot of what’s going on, the kids smiles are definitely not fake.

The question is this: How do you make a documentary with a mission and still make a documentary. Well, we have decided to include some of the process making in the documentary itself. Call it transparency or what have you but we feel it important to show our Chinese audience that some goofy foreigners have attempted to make this happen and attempted to challenge their thinking. Culture is a wall sometimes but definitely not insurmountable.

EDIT: In reading this back to myself I realize another problem, it’s easy as Americans to forget that we have alot to learn. I think I sounded like I was trying to be a teacher to Chinese people. That’s not it, honestly it’s this: There are so many poor kids in this country that would be better helped by their own people than by foreigners coming in with their agendas and so that’s the challenge of the film.

]]> http://blog.greenleemedia.com/2010/08/16/the-difference-of-culture/feed/ 0 This is what one month into documentary filming looks like… http://blog.greenleemedia.com/2010/08/15/this-is-what-one-month-into-documentary-filming-looks-like/ http://blog.greenleemedia.com/2010/08/15/this-is-what-one-month-into-documentary-filming-looks-like/#comments Mon, 16 Aug 2010 01:01:41 +0000 Roger Greenlee http://blog.greenleemedia.com/?p=253

http://kck.st/9aS1y8

]]> http://blog.greenleemedia.com/2010/08/15/this-is-what-one-month-into-documentary-filming-looks-like/feed/ 0 Sooooo Tired http://blog.greenleemedia.com/2010/08/13/sooooo-tired/ http://blog.greenleemedia.com/2010/08/13/sooooo-tired/#comments Fri, 13 Aug 2010 07:22:25 +0000 Roger Greenlee http://blog.greenleemedia.com/2010/08/13/sooooo-tired/ exhaustion! What an experience. Camp has started, 9 kids, all with amazing stories. We found them all through our searching. A street kid, orphans, mafia connections, girls rescued from prostitution trafficking, these kids have all been through way too much for their age. We have a true band of ragamuffins, all with huge smiles right now, what a cool thing to witness and be a part of.

Now, if you’ll excuse me it’s 6pm and I need sleep ;)

]]> http://blog.greenleemedia.com/2010/08/13/sooooo-tired/feed/ 0 New Shoes, New Smile http://blog.greenleemedia.com/2010/08/06/new-shoes-new-smile/ http://blog.greenleemedia.com/2010/08/06/new-shoes-new-smile/#comments Fri, 06 Aug 2010 16:13:45 +0000 Roger Greenlee http://blog.greenleemedia.com/?p=247 I would like to introduce you to the first child we have chosen to be in the documentary. His name is Sam. Sam is 9 years old and is a very sweet little guy. When we first met him at his house he told us that his dad drinks alot and sometimes hits him. His house is a complete and utter mess. His Mom left when he was 3 years old and he is left with what appears to be an alcoholic father that tries his best but really needs help raising his son. Today we took him to the closest city to buy his first ever pair of new shoes and we got from him his first ever smile.

]]> http://blog.greenleemedia.com/2010/08/06/new-shoes-new-smile/feed/ 0 15-year old orphaned girl http://blog.greenleemedia.com/2010/08/04/15-year-old-orphaned-girl/ http://blog.greenleemedia.com/2010/08/04/15-year-old-orphaned-girl/#comments Thu, 05 Aug 2010 02:06:55 +0000 Roger Greenlee http://blog.greenleemedia.com/?p=243 Yesterday the policemen took us to another village up the mountain called “Second Village”. We met a family with a beautiful old deaf grandma and her granddaughter who has lost both her parents. How cool would it be if there were college students inspired enough to go out and seek these kids out to help them with whatever needs they might have. Really, this is our hope.  — http://kck.st/9aS1y8

]]> http://blog.greenleemedia.com/2010/08/04/15-year-old-orphaned-girl/feed/ 0 Thank You Policemen of China. http://blog.greenleemedia.com/2010/08/04/thank-you-policemen-of-china/ http://blog.greenleemedia.com/2010/08/04/thank-you-policemen-of-china/#comments Wed, 04 Aug 2010 15:10:59 +0000 Roger Greenlee http://blog.greenleemedia.com/?p=239 I would just like to say a huge thank you to a few policemen who have given us some amazing help the last two days. We had two kids that we wanted for the documentary and through some grace from up above and a little perseverance we met an amazing policeman who guided us to the first village to get permission for one girl yesterday. He also made a phone call to one of his policeman friends and that guy took us to the other village in the mountains and received permission there today. So basically we have had police escorts the last two days vouching for us so that we have permission to film and help these kids.

I will reveal the two kids and their stories soon. The documentary has been amazing so far and full of all kinds of adventure. Please consider helping our kickstarter project by going here and pledging some money:

http://kck.st/9aS1y8

While David and I were waiting for the police and our team to come back today in the village, David made a friend:

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