My blog
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From Daniel's Blog
( 繁 | 简 )Monday, Dec 3, 2007 6:15PM / Standard Entry / daniel's film
[ Taken from Daniel's Blog ]
Why a chicken?
I’m not sure really. I’ve had a strange fascination with chickens since college. Their existence often baffles me. Why are they on this planet? Do they exist only to be eaten? Being the lowest mammal in the food chain, I often feel sorry for them, because chickens are the weakest animals on the planet with no dangerous form of attack and absolutely no way to defend themselves. They can’t even fly away because their wings are so out of proportion with their bodies. So in a way this short film is turning the tables around for once. A chickens’ fantasy if you will. A chicken rights film. A chicken kicking my ass.
I decided the only person that would get my oddball sense of humor and pull this film off was my good old buddy Jason Tobin. He played David’s assistant in The Heavenly Kings and pulled off the performance of a lifetime as Virgil in Justin Lin’s Better Luck Tomorrow. Jason has aspirations of directing and this was the perfect way to get his feet wet. Having done an awesome job on the music videos for Hardpack and Audiotraffic, I felt it was time to take Jason to the next level.
We decided that we wanted to experiment with film this time instead of the regular boring old video. We chose the 8mm format because we just love that grainy 70’s home movie look. The texture you get out of 8mm film simply cannot be reproduced in video. We hired Jam Yau as our dp because of his special 8mm film knowledge. We set up a bunch of different types of rigs, including a mini stedi-cam to make the shots as dynamic as possible. Thanks to Jam we were able to make the most of shooting in 8mm. I definitely want to use this medium again in the future.
We pulled off the entire thing in one long 14 hour shoot. Most of the scenes were shot on location in DEF boxing gym, where I work out from time to time. It was quite complex because we had to many setups and lighting conditions. Not to mention the actual fight had supporting actors and a whole bunch of extras that had no idea what the hell we were doing. Much props to Kim Chan for wearing the chicken outfit a dealing with the no air con conditions. We shot till morning then hit the streets to do all the outdoor running scenes. It was tough doing winds sprints after having been up all night and dealing with the summer heat but in the end we pulled it off.
Jason handled the post-production entirely himself and even hired Don Cruz, guitar superstar from Audiotraffic, to score the film. In the end, the film exceeded my expectations and really kicked ass. I think chickens around the world will be thanking us for the work we’ve done for them for generations to come!
Click here to watch the video.
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Daniel Wu - "The Boxer"
( 繁 | 简 )Wednesday, Nov 28, 2007 10:30AM / Standard Entry / daniel's film
Having gotten my feet my wet directing 2 music videos for AnD.com I was eager to get behind the camera again. And when Dan told me about his idea for his short film I cracked up. When he asked me if I was interested in directing it I leapt at the opportunity.
The idea was simple, Dan would play a boxer training for a big fight, a fight that would test his mettle to see if he really had what it took to be a champ if given just one shot at it. Eminem's lyrics from the song "Lose Yourself" were the inspiration:
"Look, if you had one shot or one opportunity To seize everything you ever wanted in one moment Would you capture it or just let it slip?"
After all the training and hard work Dan finally steps into the ring for his one shot, his one opportunity. His one moment has arrived and as he psychs himself up for the battle ahead of him he looks into the eyes of his opponent: a six foot chicken.I loved the idea for this short because on the surface it's simple and funny, Dan Wu gets his ass beat by a chicken but I felt it had more layers. For me the chicken represents fear, the fear of failure, the fear of success and all that goes with that, the fear of disappointing friends, fans and family. Also I loved the idea of seeing Dan who is clearly a winner in real life play a loser. In this short we get to see a comedic side of Dan that is rarely seen on film but that's apparent to all who know him off-camera.
One of the things I wanted to do with this short was to create a simple 3 act structure. In the first act we're introduced to our hero. I've always been impressed by they way Steven Spielberg introduces his main characters, especially in the films "Schindler's List" and "Saving Private Ryan". With that in mind I decided to show glimpses of Dan in the boxing gym without revealing his identity till the end when he states, "This world isn't for losers, it's just for winners."
In the second act we see Dan training for the fight, very much inspired by the 'Rocky' films and then the third act is the fight itself. In some ways I think this works but in retrospect I think I I would have made the film shorter. But I think it represents the filmmaker that I was in that moment.
We chose to shoot on Super 8mm film and I'm very pleased with the result and the look. It also appealed to my ego because I could now call myself a filmmaker and not a video maker. On that note I'd like to thank our cinematographer Jam Yau.
I would also like to thank everyone else involved in the project.They are:
Daniel Wu
Glen Chin
Conroy Chan
Marina Hinterhauser
Kim Chan
Terence Yin
Jam Oochi San
Maritin Chappell
Don Cruz
Zero
Lui Cheuk Hang
Ah Sui
Dave Kebo
Berton Chang
Jay & Def Boxing Gym
Alive Not Dead
Thanks guys I appreciate all your hard work and patience.
Enjoy the film!
