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Label... YOUTH INDE FILM my stuff CANNES FILM FESTIVAL Category... Standard Entry Video Information Press Release Event News

• It's a Wrap... well, it WAS a wrap!

  Friday, Jan 30, 2009 8:03PM / Information / YOUTH INDE FILM

  Well, there it is, seven locations and as many shooting days later,  we have finally wrapped AnA. 

  I have to say that it seems to be the same every time.  We think it is impossible, but it always, always turns out to BE possible.  What i liked the most about today- apart from the fact that we shot in two locations that were as good as any professional location scout could have come up with- was that by the end of the shoot, the kids had gelled into one.  Sandy, from a local school, is best buddies with Alina from an international school.  The two of them were chatting away like hens in Mandarin all day.  Venus, a local school girl, chided the girls who didn't want to pick up the heavy equipment and spoke up for Ben when the girl's complained that he wasn't helping them to straighten up after the shoot:  "well, you always ask him to carry the bags so don't expect him to also do the washing up".  In the end, they all carried all the equipment and they all did the straightening up.

  I am hoping that all we have shot will cut together properly and that we can convey the story.  I am mostly hoping that the story that is there will be acceptable to the sponsors.  It is always a fine line between empowering the kids to do their own work and guiding them to do a) something that looks good and b) something that the people providing the money will accept.

  I have offered to log the footage and get an assembly edit ready for them over the holidays.  Normally i would get them to do this, but the timing of the shoots and workshops is such that it wil be best if i get it done now while they have their break.  Besides, i want a really good idea of what is there.  And even though i was at every shoot, there is no knowledge of a piece like an editors knowledge of a piece.  I am and will always be a director/editor.

  
  

  In every workshop there is one or two kids that rise to the top.  The ones to watch.  The ones that we pick as the next potential film makers.  In my group there are three.  Vanessa- camera woman for sure, Ben- also camera, perhaps lighting and Alina- producing.  They each have a real touch for the department and all are having a great time.  They absorb what you tell them with understanding and are looking for more input as soon as you finish.  They need more experience and i hope we will be able to give it to them.

  What i am always amazed at though is the fact that in spite of enthusiasm, in spite of classes and workshops, in spite of all their good intentions... if you leave them too long to work at their own pace, they falter and get off track.  Each instructor finds this to be the case, no matter what language or what the level of talent.  It seems that a galvanizing element, a guide factor, is essential to the completion of the projects, even of shots and scenes on the set or on location.  We all have to be ready, at the end of the shot, to evaluate if there is indeed enough footage to work with to make a story and figure out how to shoot something quickly that will cover as many options as possible. 

  It is like a game of strategy.  In the end, the shoots are more exhausting then a shoot of our own, because we have to contantly re think the strategy.  When shooting for ourselves, we have all the layers to consider at all times, but in these shoots we have to add the layer of teaching, guiding, letting them make the mistakes and calculating which mistakes can be aborbed and which ones corrected.

  
  

  So now i'm off for Chinese New Year and a break... finally a break.  I am going to sleep for a few days.  And then i will attack the footage and hopefully, hopefully find a little gem of a film hiding under all that data.

  
  

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• and here... we........ GO

  Sunday, Jan 18, 2009 9:27AM / News / YOUTH INDE FILM

  It all happens so fast, and so slow at the same time these days.
  
  In the meantime, did anyyone take the time to notice what a BEAUTIFUL day it is outside today.  Please do.  It is so rare to have that crisp clear blue sky with an autumnal chill in the air that i miss so much from the New England coast line.
  
  Quick blog about the Girl's Life shoot.  My group (there are three) is shooting 'AnA;'  A story of a young girl who is struggling with her self esteem and body image.  We have shot for a few days now on different locations (one was at MY flay on NEW YEARS DAY!  Now that's dedication i tell you!  LOL!
  
  Yesterday we shot some exteriors on the kids workshops.  They were unbelievably unprepared.  I tell you  - you can lead a horse to water, but you cant make him drink.  Damage control kicked in and we salvaged some shots.  Actually the out of the box thinking and improvisation combined and we found a really really cool location and i think, (i hope, i pray) the scene will be better for it.
  
  Then it was on the the 'sound stage' (it is really a black box theatre) and the kids first experience with lighting and managing a real interior from scratch.  Art Director didnt know what hit her, lighting designer turned around and around himself until it started clicking... and we all had a blast.  Today we shoot the scene they set with adult actors  and a makeup artist and the whole she bang.
  What i loved the most about yesterday is after about two hours of having them kind of stare at me blankly with that 'now what do we do' look they fell into the groove and really began working in that wholy unique creative collaborative mode that is so holy.  So unique.  So what the planet needs.
  
  Dare i say- it is gonna look fantastic.  Really amazing.
  
  Okay, i'm off to do it
  
  So happy to be me!
  
  I'll put some photos soon
  
  
  

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• LOOKING FOR LARGE BODIED ACTORS

  Saturday, Jan 10, 2009 2:45PM / Information / YOUTH INDE FILM

  Well i should have realized this was going to be harder than that!!!
  
  The Focus on Film Experimental film team is  seeking actors for a dream sequence in the film they are creating for the Girl's Life Program : Focus On Film.
  
  The program empowers youth to create their own work and this particular work is on a young girl struggling with her body image.
  
  We are  looking for someone talented to play the 'dream eating lady'. She or he must be heavy set and being short is a plus! 
  
  We are a not for profit arts organization that uses film making to empower youth to create their own work. This short film, entitled ANA is about a young girl struggling with body image problems.
  
  The shoot dates are  SUNDAY the 18th or Sunday the 25 from 1 pm to 3 pm on Hong Kong Island.  Actors would be required for only one of these dates.  A small fee for transportation and lunch are provided
  
  If you are interested please contact Focus On Film at:  info@filmschoolhongkong.com or by calling 2987-6656
  
  
  
  
  

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• A Girl's Life (continued)

  Monday, Dec 15, 2008 4:36PM / Standard Entry

  Let me touch in and touch base:

  It WAS my birfday.... but more o dat lata

  Let's do the more important stuff first!

  Like:  first off and first on my mind these days: 
  

  A Girl's Life is in Principal Photography!

  A quick update for the curious about the progress of this program funded by The Women's Foundation. 
  

  Three films

  The topic:  gender stereotyping

  Created entirely by three young production teams in training with FOCUS ON FILM since October
  

  
  

    elissa's group:  A Girl's Experiment, working title:  "Ana"

  Two young script writers have produced the ideas for a script that has the potential to be great.  We are talking strong, arresting images, interesting characters, AND an incredible subject:  anorexia
  

  The production team (aged 13 to 16) is discussing mixing media.  They raised the possibility of shooting in film to separate the scenes shot in 'reality' and the scenes shot in the 'dream' of the young girl suffering from anorexia.

  If only we had the funding for film!!!  With a little more advanced notice (like, oh, six or seven months....) i MAY have been able to find extra funding for a super 8 cam or 16 mm and a little bit of film processing.  As it stands, we shoot in two weeks!!!  Oh, and speaking of extra funding, the kids are all putting their hands in their pockets for the set and costumes.  Each kid is putting 100 hkd into a kitty.  Bless them!!!  Makes all the extra teaching and shooting worth it somehow.
  

   

        jacqueline's group:  A Girl's Narrative, working title:  "The life of a Girl"

  Jac has the 'local' group.  We thought the cantonese speaker Billy would be the one to take this group, but we opted to put Jac with them.  This group just 'gelled' with her, and i have the videos to proove it!!!  12 year old Hugo wanted to produce and in spite of some reservations we let him.  The script has just come down the pipe line and it is a cute little gem on gender sterotyping:  straight up!  In the candy cane story, a boy who didnt have a mother weds a girl who didnt have a father.  In their new home, the woman takes on the 'role' of the man and the man takes on the 'role' of the woman.  He cooks and keeps house and she is out making the money.  Gotta love these kids!!!!

  
  
  

       billy's group:  A Girl's Documentary working title:  "?"

  
  

  This is the older group.  They have started shooting and Billy, in spite of being on set himself these past two weeks, has met with them twice outside of workshop times. Once helped them out after a sixteen hour day on set and two hours of sleep!   I have to say, i feel out of touch with this group. I also feel they are not topically centered enough.  There is something too superficial about the work so far.  Billy agrees and we will start to crack down on them now.  As they are shooting the documentary we have a bit more leeway to bring them around.

  
  

  Well that is all the news that's fit to print.  More photos and videos next time around.

  Check out the three facebook groups: 

  • A Girl's Life Group B

  • Focus on Film:  Experimental

  • A Girl's Life (Group C)

  and OUR facebook group

  • FOCUS ON FILM

  
  

  If anyone out there has any resources they think they can add to our program, please do not hesitate to let us know!!  We need all the support we can get!
  

  
  

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• what's my ish? here's my ish....

  Monday, Oct 13, 2008 11:01PM / Standard Entry / my stuff

  We got so many more applications for the program  than we bargained for  ("A Girl's LIfe" films about gender stereotyping by Hong Kong youth)
  
  that's not my ish
  
  We may need to bring in specialists for a particularly bad ass group we are interested in seeing work from
  
  that's not my ish
  
  We have lots of adults trying to get access to the program (i am totally bartering...."okay, you get fifteen kids to know about the program, AND apply, and then MAYBE we will let you sit in on a workshop..." i feel like a carpet salesman!)
  
  that's not my ish
  
  We have no office to run our program out of
  
  yup.... that is totally my ish
  
  
  Okay, it is not like i didnt KNOW we needed an office.  We have been squatting offices for a while.  But we are a charity!  We need sponsored space to survive.... and now we are caught with our proverbial pants down.  I had PLANNED to be sitting in an office, oh, right about now.  But little did i know that the agents out there had other plans....  one got me involved in a price war with another client, jacked that price right up.  I folded under pressure after loosing two weeks of hunting.  Arrrrggggggg.
  
  So, my ish...
  
  I am all about the mobile office.  Yup, who needs overhead these days when we are all working competently from home and lap top.  I love the idea of the freedom and so do the people i work with.  Give me a phone, a lap top and an internet connection and away we all go.  But we really need a center now.  Well, not now, actually yesterday and the day before that.
  
  What to do?  What do you all think out there?  Dont be shy! 
  
  Oh, i thought it might be interesting to add a bit of personality to this blog.... here's one of me .. I'm probably about three.. with my cousin/sister Lisa- always and ever by my side. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

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