шоу-бізнес у Києві part 3: a case of 轮不到你开口

Hi again guys, in this third part of my stories from Kiev, I am going to talk about being in a 轮不到你开口 situation. For those of you who don't speak Chinese, 轮不到你开口 literally means "it is not your turn to speak" but it refers to a situation where you're expected to just shut up as nobody gives a shit about what you have to say. I recently used the phrase 轮不到你开口 to describe working class jobs where you're expected to simply follow instructions but you are not expected to think for yourself. But I had to also point out that not all jobs like that are lowly paid - there are jobs where you're expected to adhere strictly to the instructions you're given and you're absolutely forbidden from improvising. I used the example of a train driver who is completely reliant on instructions when operating a train, so even in a situation whereby there is a broken down train in front of his train blocking the line, he cannot make any kind of decision about what to do in this situation as what he does will have an impact on other trains on the network - that's why he is forbidden from making any kind of decision and instead has to inform his superiors of the situation and await further instructions. I had a taste of what it was like to be in a 轮不到你开口 situation on this shoot in Kiev and it was quite a shock to my system as I'm quite used to voicing my opinion and making my own decisions at work but this was clearly not the case on this project in Kiev! And don't forget - you can always see all the photos and videos from my trip to Kiev on my Instagram.

One of the first things I had to do when I got to Kiev was a costume fitting - so we were in this lavish apartment in central Kiev where the two guys from the costume department would make me try on various outfits, I would put them on and then they would parade me in front of the producer who would then take some pictures of me in that outfit before sending those photos onto the client. We were doing this for several hours I swear - I was quite happy doing that as everyone around me was speaking in Russian and I was using it as an opportunity to improve my Russian. The ad was for the Cambodian market so they were trying to figure out what a trendy guy in Cambodia might wear, there were so many different outfits and admittedly, some were actually really nice whilst I literally thought, "hell no, please no, anything but that one, that looks fucking hideous" when I saw some of the others. There was one that I really hated and being a very fashionable man (hey, just look at my Instagram, yes I love fashion), I clearly had an opinion about which outfits I preferred because I wanted to look good in the ad. They didn't pick the ugliest outfit but they didn't pick the nicest one either but on balance, I was happy enough with the one the client eventually agreed to. But of course, it wasn't my decision what I would wear in the ad, nor was it up to the two guys from the costume department - the director and the producer didn't really get a say either, in fact this was a decision that was taken by the client who paid for the whole project so they got to decide what I wore in the ad. I just had to smile, keep quiet and do as I was told like a supermodel. 

It was so tempting to try to voice my opinion, I really wanted to steer them towards one of the nicer outfits that I liked but of course, I knew that it was a case of 轮不到你开口 - my opinion didn't matter. Perhaps the producer or the director had some influence and would be able to make a recommendation to the client but ultimately, it wasn't even their decision either. I knew my job was there to be a model, to silently put on the various outfits I had been given, be photographed and then change into the next outfit without saying a word to anyone. Did I find that frustrating? Of course, goodness me, you had no idea how much I wanted to say, "just pick this outfit, it is the best, trust me." No I knew I had to just keep my mouth shut as saying anything would only slow the whole process down. They do take this to quite an extreme on a shoot like this - given that I was the hero/protagonist in this ad, there were two close ups on my right hand that they had to do. The first one was of me holding a mobile phone and the second one was of me holding a cane of beer. There was literally a guy there moving my hand into the right position, so the cameraman would give an instruction like, "he now needs to move the phone down a little and tilt the screen towards the camera" but no, I wasn't even allowed to do something as simple as that, someone would actually manoeuvre my hand and the phone/beer can into the right position, if I tried to move my hand on my own accord the person whose job to move my hand would glare at me. That's just the way it is on a shoot like that: this is an extreme 轮不到你开口 job, when I was not even trusted to move my hand.

I accept that when I do a shoot like that, I know I am placing myself in a 轮不到你开口 situation and I just have to deal with it. Of course, I understand why this is a necessary evil - we are always trying so hard to stay on schedule when on a shoot like that. The morning I had to shoot my big scene, it was raining but there were some breaks in the clouds, so when we had a dry period (which could last anything from a few minutes to 30 minutes), we tried to get as much done as possible. Thus it was paramount that we worked as quickly as possible with just the director telling everyone exactly what we had to do and the only acceptable response was "yes sir", there was no time for anyone to offer new ideas or suggestions in a system like that: it was all about delivering the desired results within the shortest space to time possible. But I want to point out that whilst I had previously painted a picture of people in working class jobs being frustrated in terrible, poorly paid jobs where nobody gives a shit what they have to say, I didn't actually feel like I was disrespected when I was working on this project even if I was not in a position to voice my opinions. Everyone on the project treated me with a lot of respect and I had to simply accept that I was being paid to do as I was told rather than offer my opinion. After all, I was engaged to be a part of an ad that was created specifically for a client (who was paying for it all), this was not some kind of creative project on my part where I am making my own film - quite the opposite in fact! Thus I don't really have any problem with assuming a 轮不到你开口 role in this project - as long as I was treated (and paid) very well!

This 轮不到你开口 arrangement is a double-edged sword of course. On one hand, yeah I'm treated like a young child as I can't even decide what I want to wear during the shoot - someone else makes that decision for me and I don't get a say. I was also told exactly what time the car would arrive at the hotel to pick me up for the shoot - thus when I was told that the car would arrive at 5:30 am, it was just non-negotiable. I couldn't even start bargaining like, "oh look, I'm totally bald, I'm not like the women who have to spend ages in hair and make up - I could be done in one minute flat so on that basis, could you send the car to pick me up at 7:15 am instead? I promise my performance will be much better if I've had a little bit more sleep and besides, the sun isn't going to rise till at least 7:30 am so it's not like you can do much before then. Besides, I won't need breakfast that early in the morning, I'll just need a cup of coffee." Nope, I just had to tell them that I had received the instructions and I'll be waiting at the lobby of my hotel at 5:30 am the next day. I'm not even trusted to go to the airport on my on - a car was sent to pick me up to make sure I got to the airport at least two hours before my flight. I then had a member of the crew double check that I had all my documents ready for boarding which included my boarding pass, my Covid test results and my passenger locator form. I then realized that they had even checked me into the flight when I was trying to check in myself - yikes, I don't even remember when someone last did that for me. So yeah I do feel like I was treated like a kid on this project but it's also kinda nice to have someone else take care of you like that.

Back in 2014, I wrote a piece that actually covered this topic in response to something that Alvin Tan (the Malaysian dissident now in America) wrote - he claimed that "acting is fun and creative" and I had to point out that the first half of that statement is true whilst the second half is totally false. Of course I totally enjoyed my experience in Kiev, it was definitely very fun but was it creative? Hell no. It was the complete opposite: it was 轮不到你开口 so let me illustrate this by describing our dance rehearsal where we got to work with Anatolii Sachivko who is one of Ukraine's most famous choreographers. His job was to teach us a short dance routine for the ad and my job was to learn what I was being taught like a good student. Was this some kind of dance workshop where I got to show the group what I could do and let them incorporate my ideas into the routine? Nope, there was no room to be creative at all - it was a 轮不到你开口 situation! During a break, I cheekily did some gymnastics in the dance studio when I knew Anatolii was watching to show off to him what I was capable of - he did see what I did but didn't react as it wasn't relevant to what he was doing. It was his job to be creative, to come up with a routine that satisfied the client and suited the narrative of the story as well as the piece of music that we were using. So within that context, there was really no room for me to participate in the creative process as the production company had hired a famous choreographer specifically to do that. But nonetheless, even if I was simply doing as I was told, it was still very fun working with Anatolii of course; I simply accepted the fact that he knew so much more than me when it came to dance choreography, he was the expert and I was lucky to be his student. 

The fact is if you have the privilege of working with someone as famous as Anatolii, you let the expert work his magic. Allow me to compare this to if you were to visit a famous restaurant with a Michelin star - would you then go into the kitchen and start telling the chef what to do, would you start telling him which ingredients to put into the sauce? No, you simply wouldn't do that because you have paid good money for the chef to work his magic, you would simply sit back and let the staff at the restaurant get on with their work because you accept that they are better at cooking than you are. Oh I have a funny story: my friend Sarah is a make up artist and she often works at wedding to make the bride look beautiful on her special day. She told me about this wedding she worked at in West London where she did the make up for the mother of the bride, the bridesmaid and some of the other ladies at the event but the bride insisted on doing her own make up and Sarah tried to reason with her, I'm the expert, you've paid good money for my services, let me help you so you can relax. But the bride said no, I know what I am doing - this is my special day I wanna do my own make up - you will be paid whether you do my make up or not so please help my mother and sister instead. So Sarah said fine, you're the customer, it's your choice but did the bride know what she was doing? No, it was a total disaster  but nobody dared to say a word to her, it was "the Emperor's new clothes" situation. The moral of the story is that when you're in the presence of an expert who knows a lot more than you - thus you ought to humbly keep your mouth shut and let them take charge. 

Nonetheless, context is so important when examining the concept of 轮不到你开口 - I refer you to an incident that I've witnessed at my local supermarket where I saw this young man (who looked like he was about 18 years old) being scolding by his manager who was probably no more than a few years older than him. Now his manager had given this young man some instructions but he didn't pay enough attention, so he didn't do exactly what she wanted and oh boy, she got so angry at him and shouted at him in the middle of the supermarket in front of all the shoppers. This manager lady probably started the same way as the young man did and got promoted after working a few years there but quite frankly, she wasn't some kind of super brilliant retail guru. I felt sorry for the young man to have to submit to the whims of a manager who was hardly an impressive character. That's a far cry from me working with Anatolii who is one of the most popular, celebrated choreographers in Ukraine - I was working with someone who was brilliant and I wanted to learn from him. What this young man at the supermarket endured reminded me of what I had to go through in the army - some of the soldiers whom I had to answer to were total idiots, but because they had a higher rank than me, I couldn't question their authority as it was the military. Thus by that token, I don't have a problem with being in a 轮不到你开口 situation as long as the person who is in charge is someone I can look up to, someone I trust and respect - if that's the case, I am very happy to let them lead the way. So here's the deal: I'll be a good follower, as long as I have a great leader to follow! 

But in any case, I'm back in London now. I'm back at my office job where I am in charge and expected to come up with creative, original ideas for my company. The irony is that I am far more creative as the corporate executive in a suit and tie in the office than when I am a dancer in an ad in Kiev, but a lot of people assume the complete opposite. On that note, I shall end here: what do you think? Is there too much of a stigma attached to being in a 轮不到你开口 situation or are we just defaulting to the opinions of an expert? Will you be glad to put yourself in a 轮不到你开口 as long as you trust and respect the person in charge? Do you like being in charge? Please do leave a comment below, many thanks for reading.