Good morning! My name is Sergey Golovin. I am a painter and I live in Shanghai. A lot of people think that I am talented and they come to my place to buy my works or something else from me. Sometimes people even pay money to enter my apartment. So! Now I will tell you how I got to act in a movie!
When a guy wants to take part in a movie or in an ad this is just an ordinary thing here. A lot of people do that to earn some more money. Although here we have lots of foreigners the western faces are still very popular. If you have no job then all the shooting process is the only way for you to earn money. I am not willing to become a star or something and I don’t take part in movies really often.
So it is 4:20 and the alarm wakes me up. I am not an owl but still I hate to wake up at this time. Too early for me.
Yesterday I got a call from my friend and he said that there are people who are searching for a Russian person so I told him to send me the address and here it is. On the screen. Lovely!
My telephone just refuses to see this stupid language. But I understood from the number where the place is. It will take me 20 minutes to get there on the taxi. It is the place where the bus comes. And I also need 20 minutes to get ready.
Trying to look like I am a star!
I was told that it would be amazing to wear black boots and a black jacket so here I am all so glamorous! I don’t want to put on clothes that the company will give. They are not always clean.
So now I am going to the kitchen. Recently I started my own course of drawing. A lot of people now come to my place to learn. Yesterday we finished at ten and of course I didn’t have enough time to sleep.
The time is 4:35 and it is time for coffee! I don’t eat breakfast in the morning.
It is really dark and cold outside. I thought that it would be a better idea to call a taxi not try to catch it right here. Besides i don’t know Chinese. The taxi will come soon. For sure.
I took another camera with me. As with my professional I wouldn’t have enough time there to deal with it. So sorry for the quality!
Now I am in the taxi and on the right you can see that thing that counts the cost of my little trip.
I found a piece of paper that has some address on. I have troubles with the names of the streets. I can’t pronounce them correctly. So I need three shots to make the driver understand me. So I got the paper to make the understanding process faster!
Soon I am at the bus. Now we are going to the place of shooting. Exciting! A lot of people here are Russians.
I ran into Leonid Sotov. He is a friend of mine and he is a scientist. We are friends for a long time and today is his first time in a deal like this.
Soon some Chinese lady came up to us and she looked about forty or so. She began asking something. Soon she understood that I didn’t get a single thing so she started talking with Leonid. He speaks practically fluently. It tuned out that they needed only 20 people for the scene and so one person had to leave. Leonid lives somewhere near the place so she suggested that he should go. He is a very shy guy and decided not to argue and I think that this was a mistake. The agent kept his money to herself. The company usually gives a lot of money for the actors and the agents are willing to steal some… This is only my opinion but still. I don’t know how to prove it as we don’t sign any papers.
Even if I were a regular actor I wouldn’t be able to live on that money. For many people it is just a way to earn some extra money and to speak with friends and people from the same country that you are. I came here today to make an interview.
The common place for all the scenes is a cinema studio. Here they made a real street from the 20 century. But today we are going some place else. We have been driving about an hour. And then the bus stopped near some wall. And now nothing is happening.
Soon comes time for the make-up and dressing up. Today we are taking part in some soap opera.
I don’t know its name and actually I don’t care that much. They say this soap opera is endless. I was told to keep my clothes. Hooray! The actions of the soap opera are in the 30ies and I know that it is not winter.
We will be acting outside. I got back to the bus. Getting ready. I got some booze with me and this baby will help me get warm. I got this flask through exchange.
All of a sudden the agent appeared again with some clothes and made me put them on. Oh my God! I hate this! I am wearing two pairs of pants and I have a sweater under the costume. I don’t want to be cold.
The breakfast is here. The Chinese guys are in a line. Food is the same for everybody!
So for breakfast we have a thing with rice and some scorns with some spices.
Oh! I forgot to tell! The Chinese guys get the salary which is lower that ours. But they are still happy as the food is for free. A little break after the breakfast.
It turns out that we are in a seaport.
We were told to choose our luggage.
I decided to pick this as it looks good. Inside I found an empty pack of cigarettes.
As the main decorations we can see various ads from the beginning of the 20 century. Some of them are not in Chinese.
I even found a Russian ad.
Here is the ship! According to the flags the ship is supposed to be from Great Britain.
So the Chinese name of the ship was covered with an ad.
The director.
The camera.
The light!
Getting on the ship.
The ship is pretty old and dirty but still works and takes some trips.
As usual all the preparation takes a very long period of time. They have been working on the light for 40 minutes.
Doing nothing.
This girls runs all over the place and brushes everyone with a dirty brush.
It is sunny but still cold.
I decided to walk on the ship. I found some unknown symbols.
The canteen.
The main actors. I have already seen them here.
So it is time to take our places.
I got a place just behind the main actors. And by the way nobody noticed that I am still wearing my hat!
At first we have a little rehearsal. All we have to do is just to move forward.
Oh I am already bored.
Then we all get rid of the coats and stuff. So then we start. The crowd moves toward the coast. I am going just behind the main actors. They keep talking and wave to people on the coast. The scene requires a happy face and a waving hand. I really try to look happy. Not all the people are trying to act here!
The bigger part of the crowd doesn’t know Chinese and this makes the process difficult. But some people speak English. At least they think it is English. And it is enough for the work.
We finished the first shot! Hooray! Now we are beginning from the very start again. It is getting really cold and people are not happy about it. Actors even try to take some extra clothes.
The break takes about an hour. So I can use this time somehow. There is no point in standing on one place. I am getting cold!
So we keep doing the same stuff again and again.
Finally we are inside the ship!
This way I will remember forever!
We also keep going here a couple of times.
Then we keep crowding around the main actors that seem to meet another main actors.
Dinner time!
The dinner is not tasty. We are all cold and hungry.
Down here people sell some food. I don’t think it is tasty.
Some corn and eggs that were boiled in tea.
It began snowing!
I am so tired. It has been like eight hours since I am here. The end of work is not even close. And besides it began snowing. It happens pretty seldom here.
Back to work!
Action!
Work! Work! Unfortunately I can’t say it in Chinese )
I am bored to death. Fortunately I can speak with interesting people here!
I ran into Max. He is a musician. And he often takes part in today’s projects. Once he even was in a movie with Chan! He also played and interpreter of Mao Dzedun! He came here five years ago to work in some music project but something went wrong and he was fired. He didn’t even get the money! So his boss just disappeared with all the money. Poor man. It often happens here. So Max tried to earn money in all the available ways. For today he took part in like hundreds of ads and movies!
He is wearing his usual clothes. He worked in it too. The director decided that this is the style of the 30ies.
The Chinese guys!
We are working again. Now we are getting on the ship!
All of a sudden the whole crowd shouts Hooray and it means that the working day is over! Now we are going back to the bus.
I returned my bag and stuff and so I am back at the bus. Sitting on my place.
Soon we got the money! We worked for ten hours and a half and the agent decided to tell that it is only ten. They said that they don’t have enough money for the whole group. I know that this is total crap! She just decided to keep money to herself! The company can’t predict how much time it will take. And of course they always count the worst variant. And I was the only person to step up for myself. All the Chinese people were happy to get any money. Oh I am so angry! I hate it when somebody tells me how to act how much to work and actually I am not going to work for food. I told all that stuff to the agent but she didn’t change her mind. I hope I will be able to live alright on the money that I earn as a painter. I love freedom.
Coming back. The city looks great. A lot of skyscrapers here.
If the Chinese guys were brave enough to step up for themselves I would never see this view.
Now it is 18:30 so I am back home and for today it is here. And nobody knows what will be tomorrow. But I think it will be something interesting! So soon you will here from me! And now I have to get some sleep.
Location: Shanghai
via odin-moy-den
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