0 The Shanghai Student Film Festival 2013

This year's Shanghai Student Film Festival was an amazing success. The absolute best thing about this event is that every year we are shocked to see how much the students improve by absorbing what was done the year before and working to outdo previous films. At this point, some films that we couldn't even fit in the festival would have been contenders for 'best picture' at our first festivals.

 And then there are the workshops and challenges. For the last three years we've kicked off the festival with the day long '8 hour Film Challenge'. This year, the films were absolutely amazing, and it was a moment of clarity for us film teachers about what we could expect from our students if they were capable of creating such great work in such a short amount of time, what they could do with a few weeks on a project.

 One of the highlights of the film starts with a blogpost that I wrote here eight years ago. Someone had introduced me to one of the best short films I'd ever seen, the academy award nominated 7:35 in the Morning and I've been using it to illustrate the economy of storytelling using limited time and budget. Cut to last year, I'd been following 7:35's director Nacho Vigalondo on twitter, and decided to invite him to the festival to be one of our hosts. His enthusiastic reply "OF COURSE" came so quickly that I worried he thought we were the other Shanghai Film Festival. My fears were put to rest after he confirmed his interest and we began negotiating his arrival.

 In preparation, our classes watched his feature film Los Cronocrímenes (english title: Time Crimes). Long story short, the students became quick fans (like me) and we had an amazing day learning from him at the festival. I'll never forget this moment- one of my students had the idea to recreate one of the classic moments of Timecrimes, when the 'antagonist' lets the protagonist know that he know he's being watched by miming a pair of binoculars in front of his face:

 

 Even though we didn't take a lot of awards home this year, it was still one of our best fests yet. The speakers were amazing, the workshops were amazing, and we even began to adapt our schedule to include some teacher training in film. Finally, our festival was featured on a local english language program. I love the little set up they give us:

Detail: The Shanghai Student Film Festival 2013

0 Shanghai Art Fair 2012

I haven't made it to every one of the the annual Shanghai Art Fairs since we've moved here, but I do regret every one that we've missed. They always feature some of the most interesting and engaging art from around the world. I'll try to upload some video later, but in the meantime, enjoy these snapshots of the artwork:

Detail: Shanghai Art Fair 2012

0 Shanghai Alive: Art Day

On the second day of our Shanghai Alive trip, we took the students to the glass museum downtown in the morning.  Since we got there early, we stopped by a coffee shop to relax for a few minutes.   One of the quirky things about Shanghai- or China for that matter, is that various businesses will often open up shop right next to one of their competitors.   In this instance, there are no less than five coffee shops all next door to each other;   Starbucks, a Japanese coffee shop, a local Chinese place that offers mostly cold coffee & iced drinks, and a place that has just opened. "Kowpiluwak Coffee" offers the finest coffee from Indonesia, which has been digested by Civets in order to cut the acidity.   The "Poop Coffee" as we referred to it on the trip was actually not bad at all- although 128 RMB for a cup (about 17 USD) was a little more than I'd pay for a cup of coffee on a regular day.  However, I'm grateful that my colleague Kate talked me out of buying their premium coffee that came out to about 50 USD a cup.  It was a hard decision between 'you only live once' and 'are you really going to pay that much for a cup of coffee, i don't care what kind of animal digested it first'.

Although that might have been the highlight of this coffee junkie's day, hopefully the students (who didn't try it) found other highlights.  Perhaps their favorite part of the day was the Liuli Chin Museum- a great exhibition of Chinese glass from across the centuries, with accompanying video to document the process.  Maybe it was finding lunch and wandering around Tai Kang Lu, a great street of cute shops and art galleries.  My guess though that it would be the three hours we spent learning how to make teapots at the Pottery Workshop.  

In the images below, you'll see the highlights from the day.


 

Detail: Shanghai Alive: Art Day

0 Shanghai Alive: Film Day

For years I've been trying to organize a field trip for my film classes to the Shanghai Film Studios, and for one reason or another, it just hadn't happened.  However, every year our school does a week without walls, where we take the students all over China to experience the country that we live in a hands on and authentic way.  This year I stayed close to home and helped organize the Shanghai trip, which afforded me the opportunity to bring some students to the studios.

We started out the day by watching Reign of Assassins, which was filmed partially at the studios, and then headed over to the lots.  In the following pictures, you'll see some great locations, a warehouse full of antique cars and vehichles, and a staged kung-fu fight between my good friend and school counselor, Shaun McElroy and  one of our brave students, Jason.  You'll also see a boat that's not really a boat, and me driving a bus.




Finally, since we had the whole studio at our command, we decided to spontaneously write, plan, and execute a one minute film... in one minute.    Here are the stunning results:




Do note that the students at the end of the film were supposed to form a vicious zombie attack, but with only one minute to plan the film, that part somehow fell through.  Imagine what we could have accomplished in five minutes!

Detail: Shanghai Alive: Film Day

0 Gurney's Shanghai Journey

You have to be eternally dissatisfied with your first efforts, because there is something better waiting to be discovered. - James Gurney

James Gurney & the IB Art Year I class on our mini field trip.

When I first wrote this post about James Gurney's book, Imaginative Realism, I had no idea where it would eventually lead me and our classes here at the Shanghai American School.  As you might notice, that post is actually just about my intrigue with the concept of the book.  Since then, I've read devoured both that book and its follow up, Color and Light.   Imaginative Realism: How to Paint What Doesn't Exist is an absolutely critical text for any aspiring artist that is looking to create a realistic and believable things that don't exist.  In this book, Gurney goes into great depth in helping artists develop strategies for creating believable fantasy through combining careful planning, research and observation with a playful and creative approach in re-imagining the world around you.  Color and Light: A Guide for the Realist Painter is a remarkably accessible resource for understanding and translating visual perception into actual painting.

Well, shortly after reading these books, the art department was in discussions about the possibility of bringing in a guest artist.  I immediately emailed James to see if there was any possibility that he'd be interested in coming to China.   To make a long story short (and it is a long story), James was indeed happy to come, and spent the last 6 days of school on our two campuses with a bunch of our students.

In the three days that he spent on our campus, he engaged our students with fascinating demonstrations, presentations, and conversations about the art of creating rich imaginative worlds through careful observation and thoughtful research.  His discussions focused on his the creation of the world and inhabitants of his Dinotopia books.  As he demonstrated for the students, he responded to their questions.  The quote at the top of this post was one of the great bits of advice that he imparted.

One of the most exciting days for the students (and myself) was on our first day, when our IB and AP art classes spent the day painting with James.   The morning started out with his presentation on painting what doesn't exist, and we spent the morning working on various painting projects and working from still lives.  James walked around giving advice and kind praise to the students as they worked.  As the day went on, it felt like we needed to get out and get some fresh air, so we headed over to the wet market across the street to sketch from life.  Here are some highlights from the day.  Click to enlarge and chose the 'titles and description' option for more info:



One of the tools James uses is the Niji water brush pen.  The IB Art students absolutely loved this tool. He often sketches in water color pencil (he recommends Caran D'Ache) and then goes over it with the water brush pen.  Its a convenient way to water colors on the go- and as he mentions, you don't often get stopped in museums with this method. You can read more about the tools he uses here.

On the first day that I met James and his wife Jeanette, we went out to the Water Town Zhu Jia Jiao. Joining us were a number of digital art students from Beijing University, with their professor, Mr. Wei Wang and his wife who is the editor of Fantasy Art Magazine.  They were so amazingly friendly and the students were so thrilled to talk about their own artwork.  Mr. Wang even offered to come back down to talk to our art students (hopefully that will be another post in the not too distant future). Below is a slideshow of James' sketchbook from his Shanghai trip, including a bunch of sketches from that day.  Click to enlarge and chose the 'titles and description' option for more info:




On the first day out, I have to admit that sketching with James, Jeanette,  and Wei Wang was, at first, intimidating to the point of paralysis. However, after three days with James I can say that in addition to being an incredible artist and author, he and his wife Jeanette are simply some of the nicest people I've ever met.

As for the students, they are excited to receive the copies of James' books that we ordered,  excited about the water brushes that that he introduced us to (we're doing a bulk order now), and excited to have had the opportunity to work with and learn from James.  I can't really say it better than one of my IB Art students did after their day painting with James.  "I wish every day could be like this".

Be sure to keep up with the further artistic adventures of James Gurney on Gurney Journey.

Detail: Gurney's Shanghai Journey

0 S2F2 2012

Through an interesting confluence of events and coincidences, we had not one special guest for the film festival this year, not two, but four.   Our first guest, Dan Maslen, spoke to students about the pre-visualization process in film, focusing on his work on The Bourne Trilogy.  For the students who often think that handing me a storyboard is simply busywork before getting started on their film, Dan's keynote was an eye opening experience.  It was also amazing to see all the scaffolding behind the final  facade of the finished film.   For example, we looked at the final scene of The Bourne Ultimatum as a storyboard, an animatic, a test run performed by stunt men and stand-ins, and then the actual final scene in the film.  This breakdown gave the students a pretty comprehensive look into the various stages of preproduction, and how a film can evolve through the process.

Our second speaker, CB Cebulski, is the Senior Vice President of Creative and Content Development at Marvel Comics, and also our first returning guest.  CB's discussion of the transition and methods of adapting comics for the big screen is always thrilling for us (although he won't give us any inside scoops on the new Avengers film), but the real value in his talks is how he always so perfectly hammers home the idea that students need to develop their own creative voice- that as we grow as artists, we learn to distinguish for ourselves the difference between imitation and inspiration. His ideas remind me of what Scott McCloud told our students at our second film festival:  "Watch everyone, follow no one, and work like hell".

Our third and fourth speakers, husband and wife, actress Emilie Ohana and producer Emmanuel Benbihy talked about their experiences in making the Cities of Love films;  Paris, je t'aime, New York, I  Love You, and the upcoming Shanghai, Wo Ai Ni.   Unlike other producers, who leave the creative control of their films (or if they don't, probably should) with the directors, Benbihy coordinates the vision of many directors into one cohesive project that flows together to create a portrait of a city in love.   Hearing their insights into putting these projects together from the very conception of the idea, through financing and production was an amazing opportunity for the students to begin to understand the intersection between the creative process and the negotiation of things like finance and project management.

The students then had the opportunity to work in smaller sessions with our guests.  Some went to Emilie for acting lessons and tips, while others practiced pre-visualisation processes with Dan.  Others went to chat with CB about comics and the films that are made from them while others learned more about the production end from Emmanuel.   Students also attended some fantastic teacher led workshops, and we capped the evening off with our Showcase and awards ceremony.  This year, best in show went to a brilliant film called In the Air by Alex Tan and Michael Monaghan at the International School of Beijing.  As it is a yet unmoderated IB Film, I can't yet post it online, but will post updates here as we get that and our other films up.

Here are some highlights from the day- if you click the 'full screen' option, you'll see the descriptions of the events as well.



Our 8 hour film challenge, our Friday activity was also a huge success.  More on that soon!

Detail: S2F2 2012

0 A Peake at my Neighborhood

One of my former students, who is just a great video editor, put together this little snippet of her impressions of Shanghai. For those of you curious about what life is like in the big city next door and little Zhudi town where our school is located, check out Meg's awesome slice of life film:
Shanghai In My Eyes from megin peake on Vimeo.

Detail: A Peake at my Neighborhood

0 The New SAS Art Wing

As mentioned before, this is a year of major change for our art department. One of our most significant changes is the addition of a fourth art teacher who just happens to be an amazing educator, author of the Edublog Award Nominated Art is Messy blog, and my wife, Kim.  After many years of planning, debate, and discussion, the new Shanghai American School art wing is fully operational.

Join me, won't you as I give you a demonstration of its awesome power!  Be sure to click on the 'expand' button at the bottom, and then the 'Show Info' button for detailed descriptions.

Detail: The New SAS Art Wing

0 Art Workfrence in Shangahi!

I was just having a discussion with my colleague Joan about whether or not the upcoming Transform: Shanghai event is a conference or a workshop. Joan is one of the founders of the event when it was started in Beijing four years ago. Since then it has moved to Shanghai, and I'm proud to be helping out on the organizing committee. I assumed we were calling it a conference because it contains multiple workshops, talks, and excursions, but Joan said it was conceived a a workshop because its a place for people to get together to learn new skills and approaches. Since she is a founder of the event, I deferred to her categorization; however, we then agreed that it was actually somewhere in between. Sort of a Confshop, or Workfrence.





Either way, if you're reading this from your art room anywhere in Asia, what are you waiting for? We got great presenters, great art detours in the city, and great company. Register!



On another note entirely, I thought that this was an insightful and humorous look at merit pay.

Detail: Art Workfrence in Shangahi!

0 Sharkdog in Shanghai and a Watercolor Exhibition

My parents are in town visiting my daughter our family this month, and last weekend we took a little trip out to Zhu Jia Jiao, a small water town just outside of Shanghai. Water towns are small villages based around a canal, or series of canals, and being quite scenic, they're popular with tourists. Amaya and I wore our cool new Shark Dog Swag, thanks to Tricia and her Dryden students. Did I mention that he's got laser paint eyes? Yes! We love our shirts.

We found that the small museum in the town was hosting their 'watercolor biennial', and we were shocked to see some huge names in Chinese art represented, as well as an amazing variety of water colors from around the world. Here you can see some of the work, including some details. Unfortunately, some of the work was behind glass and I couldn't get the best pictures, but there is just some amazing stuff here:

Detail: Sharkdog in Shanghai and a Watercolor Exhibition