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Reflections of China

2 bytes removed, 00:06, 10 December 2018
/* Attraction History */
When Imagineers initially conceived the China pavilion, plans for what would eventually become Reflections of China originally called for the show to be film on a standard theater screen, before it was developed into a CircleVision 360 film.
In order to create the attraction, Imagineers led by director Jeff Blythe Blyth traveled to China in film a travelogue style movie for the attraction <ref name= "Jack"> http://land.allears.net/blogs/jackspence/walt_disney_world/theme_parks/epcot/china/ </ref>. Initially, the Chinese government was interested in partnering with Disney but was uncomfortable with Western film crews filming their country. Because of this, the government initially but strict restrictions of Disney's film crew, including making the Great Wall and Tibet off limits.
As Disney and China continued to negotiate over filming restrictions, little progress was being made. In a last ditch effort to attain more creative freedom, Disney showed representative's from China the film Fantasia. This showing seemingly helped convince the Chinese government to loosen their restrictions, and Disney was given more autonomy. As part of this new agreement, when shots of China's "sensitive" areas was called for, Blythe Blyth would turn the sequence over to his Chinese counterpart. The Chinese film crew would then film the scene. It was then reviewed by the American team, who would decided if any additional takes were needed.
After two months of scouting, filming began in the fall of 1981<ref name= "Jack"/>. As previously mentioned, the film was shot in CircleVision 360, which required crews to film on nine cameras, which were stationed on a platform. Imagineers returned to China in the winter to record the seasonal changes, before concluding filming the following spring spring<ref name= "Jack"/>. In order to make the film more interesting, Disney decided to use the famous Chinese poet, Li Bai as the films narrator. Li Bai (who is known as Li Po in the West) <ref name= "book"> The EPCOT explorer's encyclopedia: R. Pedersen - Epcyclopedia Press - 2011 </ref> wrote over 1,000 poems during the Tang Period<ref name= "Jack"/>. According to director Jeff Blyth: