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"If dreaming is a sin, I'm going straight to hell..."

- Thomas Lo

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BUCK WILD: My movie...

Tuesday, Jun 16, 2009 2:29PM / Standard Entry

So it's been about 2 years to the day that this film was shot. Many of my cast and crew have sent me messages asking about the status and many have probably written this off as another failed feature film...

I've been busting my tail off to try and redeem myself for allowing this post-production to be delayed for such a long period of time.

Below is the new teaser and the "Making Of" montage.

I am very close to completion...yet again...so I thought I'd show some progress leading up to its release to the festival circuit.

This is a new Teaser Trailer I edited.

This "Making Of" montage video was edited by my editor back in Toronto, Akinwale Ola.

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Found a few more things!!

Friday, Jun 5, 2009 8:08PM / Standard Entry

A few more videos...two of them I acted in, and one that I directed. Unfortunately I only have a trailer to the short film because it was lost in my tragic hard drive crash...but at least I have something...

Watching these brings back some really good memories and bad acting...so VIEWER BEWARE!

FORK - TRAILER (this was inspired by a book called "Catcher in the Rye")

Video: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2483083863395700414&ei=JQkpSpecDJSUwgP89J2yCQ&q=fork+trailer

FAR FROM HOME: THE WANG PLIM STORY (An entry at Toronto Film Festival)
- about an immigrant to Canada
*this was shot inside Wal-Mart and McDonald's with no permission; I used to work at Wal-Mart and kept the vest for a time like this...I basically walked up to unsuspecting shoppers and offered my help. We didn't get caught until we got to the front door to leave, which was perfect timing.

Video: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=892719960603323974&ei=ZgkpSqyuO4-awgPZ7rmvCQ&q=wang+plim

ASIAN BREAK UP (A student film made by my classmate)
*I have no clue what she is saying in this...

Video: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2715687892475311405&ei=nQkpSpLsBYe8wgObrNWwCQ&q=asian+breakup

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Another one...

Friday, Jun 5, 2009 7:31PM / Standard Entry

Here's one I acted in...short and sweet...

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Digging through the archives...

Thursday, Jun 4, 2009 5:45PM / Standard Entry

I was looking through my stuff and dug out one of my first short films so I thought I'd share it on AnD...it was my own 24-hour challenge...

I'm going to try and find more to post up...

Oh and also, my first HK commercial will be airing June 8th on TVB...will let you know if we get it online!

But for now, watch this:

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Jeanne's workshop and then some...Just READ IT!

Wednesday, May 20, 2009 6:24PM / Standard Entry

Wow, it's been a while.

Alright, let's get this bloggin' started...

Jeanne Hartman is an incredible teacher and coach. Should I stop there? I wish I could. I can't seem to say enough about the workshop and her tutelage over the past weekend. I felt like I had lost an edge when I came back to Hong Kong, I was always feeling low and not confident in my abilities. But all it took was someone to challenge me like Jeanne and my classmates did for me to realize it was just tucked away and waiting.

I also want to thank Jason for being such a great guy even though I probably annoyed him a great deal over emails prior to the workshop. He made sure I was all set and ready but more importantly, all paid up (LOL) for the workshop.

The class was small in size but huge in passion. Every one of us took a quantum leap from day one to day two. Never believed in overnight success but that second day showed me that it was possible. I don't think I'm exaggerating but correct me if I'm wrong, when a class of not-so-pro's turn in solid pro-like performances, it would be considered a success. Chung probably made the biggest jump out of all of us. And all thanks to the attention and support that Jeanne and Jason gave us through the weekend.

Speaking of which, Jeanne in particular, gave me some daunting tasks to complete. It pushed me to realize my range in acting, the good, the bad, and the ugly (besides my face, of course!). When I asked her if she could help me with body language and movement, she made me play someone paralyzed from the neck down. That was by far the most memorable experience in the two days. I couldn't stop laughing when I received the scene. I was fortunate enough to have Jane as a partner in that scene, who played her part wonderfully.

The other big challenge I got from Jeanne was during our last scene. Pat and I had to do a comedic scene, something neither one of us are good at and had trouble prepping for. And to top it all off, the group before us, Grace and Andrew, blew the audience away with their rendition of love. Tough act to follow. Pat and I did the best we could and got more laughs than we anticipated which was awesome, to say the least, but then, as if it wasn't tough enough on us already, good ol' Jeanne made us reverse the roles!! That was a curveball I did not want to miss, I was going to go out swinging...it may not have been a homerun but I think I hit a double or something. (For those of you who don't understand the analogy, it's baseball - the sport with a bat and a ball, not cricket, the American game!)

Well, all-in-all it was a fantastic decision to attend the workshop on my part and even better decision to have Jeanne teach some classes here in HK. Thanks Jeanne and thanks Jason!!

"And now, to the feature presentation."

I'll just keep it simple as to my whereabouts and going-ons in the past few months.

I have been keeping myself busy writing scripts, mostly short films, one feature, a commercial, and a children's book. Yeah, I know, make up my mind, right? My boss pushes me to the nth degree with my writing and keeps me on my toes. It's been a blessing to have a boss like TK 'cause he keeps it simple and gives me a lot of creative freedom.

All in the meanwhile, after my day job, I go home and work on my film that was tragically taken away from me by my old hard drive. I have now put it back together shot-by-shot. Let me clarify here as to how tedious this task was.

All I had left from that piece of shit hard drive was a sound mix of the entire film and a copy of the last cut in form of a .mov file with timecode (Phew! if I didn't have timecode, it would've been about a year later before I could get this done).

So I recaptured all the tapes and went to work, shot-by-shot, frame-by-frame. It took me about 3 weeks, every night after work to get it back to where it was. Well, at least really close to it. I was limited in what I could do because I lost all of the original audio files so I was stuck with the last sound mix. Syncing it to the final mix was pretty tedious too but I got through it okay. I've been busting my ass to get this done. This has taken way too long.

Now, I am starting on the titles and should have a completed film within the next few weeks. The reason for the delay is because I actually got a commercial to shoot next Monday for Vita and have plenty to prep for.

So as my workload lessens with each passing day, I am starting to get more time to sleep. Although there is still plenty for me to write, this has been quite the roller coaster ride. My film was made about two years ago and has flown thousands of miles to be completed. I feel as though this one-man show can only go so long before I tire out and give up but the closer I get to completion the better the motor seems to be running. I love it!!

I actually received a surprising email today that seemed to fall out of the sky. A distribution company sent me a message and asked me about my film because I spoke to one of their reps here in Hong Kong at the HKIFF Ex. He's interested in a screener and also to talk about possible international representation for my film!! What timing!

I'm definitely feeling better, gaining my confidence back (thanks to the workshop!!), almost completed my film (thanks to my passion!), and have an offer to rep it (thanks to my curiousity at the HKIFF Ex)!

Wow. That's a lot of thanks.

Alright, I will leave it at that for now.

What I want to know is whether it was just talk or if the peeps in class were for real...there was a discussion about an actors meetup where we would practice our craft and more importantly, to me at least, to use my scripts, among others of course.

If this is for real, that would be awesome! That is something I will pose to the ppl I see on Thursday at Jeanne's going-away party! I am making sure I don't have much to prep that night for the shoot so that I can attend without having to worry too much.

Ok. That's it.

Oh and one more thing. My website should be up soon!! Now that is something that I've been working on for a while as well, with my good friend and graphic designer from TO, Cory or C-Dub as I like to call him.

Ok. That's it. Seriously this time.

Be Good, be Safe, and stay Cool.

TdotLo

(This was my yellow car. My Mitsi Lancer OZ Rally. Because I was making my film, I was no longer able to afford it. I miss it dearly. I will get it back one day...one day...)

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2/5

Thomas Lo

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Thomas was born and raised in Toronto, Ontario. Studied Marketing for 3 years before running out of luck and becoming UNEMPLOYED...
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Thomas was born and raised in Toronto, Ontario. Studied Marketing for 3 years before running out of luck and becoming UNEMPLOYED. Worked several restaurant jobs until one day, he finally tapped on the door of his childhood dream, to be an Actor.

He subsequently went out to look for places to study Acting but understanding the reality of being Chinese in Canada, the opportunities to obtain and sustain an acting career was slim to none, so he decided to learn what goes on behind the camera.

Not knowing how to even work a home video camera, he enrolled into the Toronto Film School - an accelerated program - for Film Production. But nothing in-class taught him more than volunteering on-set.

Working up the ladder of film, he volunteered from being a PA all the way up to a Production Manager, putting his time in at festivals to learn more on that end. His love and passion allowed him to persevere through the months of learning and improving, with no income.

While studying and volunteering, he worked on the reality show Canadian Idol for 2 seasons as the Judges' Assistant, taking care of the judges pre, during, and post-show. This menial position allowed him to learn the hardships and realities of showbiz in Canada but it only strengthened his passion for the industry.

By the time he graduated from the 15-month program, he had worked on over 20 short films in several capacities, mostly as an Assistant Director. Over that span, he opened his own production company, i-Kandy Productions, and he also found time to act in several productions, gaining more experience and training than he could ever imagine.

One year after graduating and struggling through the year, he Produced and starred in his first feature-length film, Buck Wild, which he co-wrote with good friend, Ace McCallum, who doubled as Director. Thomas was able to convince the judges on Canadian Idol to help fund the project as well as gaining the support of Ryouko Enterprises founder James Mark.

The experience he gained from Producing a feature by himself allowed him to learn about every aspect of filmmaking from script to screen. Due in large to the minimal budget, he did not hire any help for production managing, location scouting, art direction, assistant directing, or production coordination, he had to pick up the slack for all departments. Buck Wild was shot on Super 16mm and was "in-the-can" for $10,000. Thomas is now looking around the globe for distribution.

Over the past year, he made his TV acting debut in a docu-drama, was Production Manager for a feature shot in Toronto, got into the Director's Guild of Canada, directed several commercials and a short film, and continually supervised post-production on Buck Wild.

He is currently working as a Writer in Hong Kong but will be going back home to Toronto in mid-October, 2008 to start pre-production on his next project with Ace. He will be simultaneously writing his own feature script that is currently in development stages.

He is always looking for opportunities to collaborate with artists and filmmakers around the world, in hopes that one day he can bring world cinema onto one screen, at one time.

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Occupation: Screenwriter , Director , Actor
Age: 28
Gender: Male
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