I'm back! I just got in from my 2 week trip to China and wanted to follow up on how everything went. I left Nashville on a Monday and after about a 14 hour flight I arrived in China on Wed! It was a long trip, but I usually don't have any problems just completely shutting down on planes or any moving vehicles....Ok, except when I'm driving or if Tom happen's to be driving and that's only because I fear for my life everytime he gets behind the wheel of a car going 75 miles an hour and belting out classic hit songs of the 80's!
Culture shock would be putting it lightly for how I felt after getting settled and finally being able to get out and experience the people, the smells the food and the atmosphere that is Beijing. It is a completely different world and took a little getting used to because eveyone and everything was in constant motion.... it was like being in the middle of a stirred up anthill. They drove cars, bikes, things that looked like cars, things that looked like they used to be trucks, mopeds, electric bikes and one thing I called a rolling coffin because it was part motorcycle with one wheel up front, two wheels in back and a long enclosed box with 1 small sliding window on each side. It looked like a toy in all the traffic....crazy! I didn't ride in one, but I probably would have felt safer in a cardboard box. At least the box would crumble....that other thing would just have to be buried with you in it.
Anyway....I really had a great time and the people were very friendly...especially in the market areas where they sold anything from Ipods to Rolex's, Gucci bags, DVD's and socks. Socks....they would literally chase you down the sidewalk trying to sell you socks and 5 Dodgers ball caps, but man, socks were the bomb! I saw guys selling the same men's and womens matching Rolexs, that went anywhere from $50.00 down to $5.00, on just about every street corner. It was crazy, but for some weird reason I loved it. If anyone had told me 3 years ago, just before leaving Disney that I'd be in the middle of downtown Beijing, China directing a pilot for a well known American company I would have said you were nut's, but there I was right in the middle of it.
We arrived at Daysview, a very well respected animation studio in Beijing, on Thursday and met the team that would be handling the production of the pilot episode. They had been very busy preparing for our arrival and were well on their way on modeling the characters, props and sets for the show and I have to say that I was very impressed and happy with the work they had already completed. We were provided with an interpreter "Andrea" while we were there and she was such a big help!
She had never worked with a group like this before and had to pick up the animation terminology very quickly, but she did it and really was a blessing for us to work with.
James Huang and Jason Sun the owners of Daysview were very welcoming and the crew was just as excited to meet us as we were to meet them. The core group we worked with were eager and worked very hard to address any notes or directions I gave during my time there. They even had figure drawing classes going on during their lunch breaks!
I can't say enough how much I enjoyed spending time with them and was able to joke and kid around with them almost from day 1....which was a huge relief, and made it a fun experience.
I will continue to direct the show from our studio here and I will fly back in about a month to oversee animation and go over performance etc. The entire show is scheduled to be completed sometime in late Dec. or early Jan.
On a side note I got to be good friends with the art director for the show "Super"! He was a super...hehehe, talented artist and very humble. Luckily I had my sketchbook with me so we traded drawings.
The other pictures are just a few of the sites and a cute little girl that wanted me to take her picture.
Enjoy!