Guest blogger Jane shares her director’s commentary and production notes for the short film Nanjing Road exclusively with Mer-chan. Get updates on her film here at nanjingroad.mer-chan.com

Jingle and I shot a lot of tape. We were in Shanghai for two and a half months, and we often used a multiple camera set up. This is probably what kept us together. The cameras were always rolling. As soon as the film was in the can, I guess so was our relationship.

Most of the shots were useless since the completed film clocks in at not even 12 minutes. In the final film, I used the most tape from the camera that he controlled. It looked more intimate to pretend it was a single camera. Single camera setup — sounds like what happens to a camera who’s a great catch but can’t quite meet the right one. This is a rare outdoor night scene. I like the way Jane (that’s the character in the film; I’m not a third person self-namer. The girl in the film just happens to have the same name as me) gets reflected off the glass wall on the right. This ends up in the final film, but is seen through a computer screen as footage that Jane is editing.

zai jian, Jane