Production Diary: Filming Li Yang's story

As a director, filming “Deidox | Li Yang” in China was one of the most stressful film experiences I’ve had in a long time, but also one of the most rewarding.

I’d been to China several times before, although this trip was different because of the nature of the project. Since we were filming with Christians in communist China, security was a huge concern. I’d been warned on this trip to watch for police following us around as China was undergoing heightened security in preparation for their 60th anniversary. My DP/Cinematographer and I had to be very careful and constantly looking over our shoulders, like secret agents almost. This worry was further heightened because on my last trip to China I almost got nabbed by the police. “Almost” means that I had jumped in a taxi mere seconds before the police stormed the location I was filming at. The taxi drove away while I watched the event unfold through the back window of the taxi. I was not looking for a repeat experience.

On this trip, finding our story was almost like a Deidox film unto itself. Three days into the journey we found out that our original subject/story had fallen through for security reasons. They backed out because it was too much of a risk to their ministry. So, three days in we were stranded in China without a story to tell. All we could do was pray and trust God’s unfolding plan (which is really what all these Deidox stories are about). And in the midst of this uncertainty we felt God’s hand guiding us along, so we pressed on.

We went on to pursue three other potential stories, all of which for various reasons didn’t work out either. It wasn’t until six days into our trip, after much prayer and searching, that we came to find a story and willing participant in Li Yang. The fifth story try was the charm. We spent three days with Li documenting how God is using him to minister to a community in the midst of government persecution. This danger is very real. But, Li strongly believes he is doing what God wants, and that this is what He is compelled to do as a follower of Christ, so he continues in sharing the Gospel despite the danger.

As we were filming Li’s story we felt the Lord’s presence guiding us along. And thank God because without His guidance this would never have been completed. Time and again everything seemed to be going wrong. Way more than normally goes wrong. Either sound wasn’t working or schedules got mixed up and our 4 hour shoot got cut to 1 hour. Nothing was ideal. There was even a language barrier we were dealing with because our subject didn’t speak English (we used a translator). We would often leave our shoot in frustration because the footage we were getting was not as ideal as we would have liked. But through it all we felt a peace that the footage we were getting on film was what we were supposed to get. Only by the grace of God were we able to get this story (and any Deidox story for that matter). It may sound kind of cheesy, but I’m not really sure how else to describe it.

Spending time with a believer who is willing to share their journey despite the risk was an incredibly humbling experience, and in the end I think we were able to do a Deidox film that honestly depicts Li’s journey. For that I am so grateful.

I want to real quick thank everyone who was praying for us during this trip. Your prayers meant so much. We really felt God’s hand throughout the entire trip. It was a new journey every day over there for us as we tried to figure out why we were there and what we were supposed to be filming, and through this process we really felt God guiding us. It even felt like He had a plan, and a part of that plan was making sure we knew this story was not going to be anything like we wanted, but rather how He wanted. And that’s what we had prayed for. Praise God. And praise Him that we got all the footage home without any incident. Getting stopped at the airport and having footage confiscated would have been a disaster for Li Yang. God got us through!

You can view Li Yang’s film here at deidox.com.