It has been 7 years since I left Shanghai in 2017. Coming back here to shoot a 45-day feature film is such a blessing! The following is my journal, my days working on this film, Raging Tiger, written and directed by Rui Li, who was previously the producer on our collaboration, Summer of Changsha, premiered at the 72nd, Cannes Film Festival in Un Certain Regard (2019). Zu Feng in red was the director of Summer of Changsha, his directorial debut while he is also a well established actor in China. Huang Lu was the lead in Summer of Changsha, and this is the 3rd movie working with her! Huang Lu is brilliant in Little Fires Everywhere, starring with Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington.

橫店, Heng Dian, is a city in Zhejiang province, where we prepped and picked up our gears. My first visit of Heng Dian was in 2007 filming a campaign for Doha Asia Game. This little village transformed into a modern city due to the biggest film studio in Asia, Heng Dian Studio. The whole town dedicated itself to filmmaking. One can find anything and everything in relationship to filmmaking. During covid, lots of rental houses moved from Beijing, Shanghai and else where to Heng Dian because there are always productions here, big and small. I picked up 2x Arri Super35 and a set of Arri Master Anamorphic.

Like every feature films in China, we have an opening ceremony. Praying for a safe and productive shoot as well as big box office!

We did work very hard for 30 days straight without a day off in this 3rd tier town named, Hu Zhou, which is about one hour and half driving distance west of Shanghai. The town offers a lot of locations.

One thing worth mentioning is the crews I worked with. A lot of them whom I have known since 2007, and everyone has grown in their own disciplines. Many of them are DPs now. We together have transitioned from 35mm film to the first Red One I brought to Shanghai in 2009 and up to the most current Arri super35.

After the company move, we finished our last 10 days strong in Shanghai. I recall the weather was very nice and perfect for the story we are telling. Again, shooting in crowded city is always difficult. Dealing with a lot of permits and early days because after a certain hour, only vehicles with local license pates can be on the express way.