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• I cried this morning...

  Monday, Jul 2, 2007 10:20AM / Standard Entry

  I wasn't gonna blog until I get to the office this morning, but I had the urge to let out some emotions... just woke up and saw my friend's email, the subject: "you know about edward?"  A vague subject line... so I clicked on it.  My friend, Cyn, she's an efficient emailer, i.e. most of her emails are short and sweet, so all she wrote was, "my uncle told me that Edward died.  Hope you're doing well in HK..."  I immediately knew which Edward she's referring to... the master director and one of my idols, Edward Yang.  I was stunned and suddenly I got tears in my eyes... 
  
  Lots of memories rushed back to my head, how young I was when I watched "A Bright Summer Day" and how it captured my soul... I just started being interested in filmmaking, it was during the time when the Taiwan New Wave was flourishing, Hou Hsiao Hsien, Tsiang Ming Liang and Edward Yang, they really put Taiwanese films on the world map.  I knew little about films/filmmaking, besides the conventional commercial/genre ones... I still remember when I walked out of the theater (the PFA at Berkeley) after watching "A Bright Summer Day", I couldn't speak for the rest of the afternoon, plus I had no one to talk to since none of my friends knew anything about the film or any Taiwanese films at that time... but I couldn't stop thinking about it, and how different it made me feel compared to the conventional commercial films.  That feeling was powerful.  In fact, I remember I couldn't stop thinking about it for the rest of the week.
  
  I had a rare opportunity to meet Edward Yang two years ago in Cannes.  He was the head of jury for the shorts competition which my film was in.  One night, we had a formal dinner with the rest of the filmmakers and jurors.  Since my producer knew that he was one of my idols, she told me to go up and say hi... I was really shy cos normally I don't do things like that and I don't get star struck... but for some reasons, with master directors, I get really nervous in front of them... plus the fact that he's the head of the jurors, I didn't want him to think that I was kissing his ass... but in the end, I did go greet him and told him I loved his films... and I remember he smiled at me shyly, told me to keep it up and told me that he was working on an animation at that moment... I didn't talk to him for long cos, again, I didn't feel comfortable talking to the jurors... 
  
  I'm lucky to have had the chance to meet this nice and soft-spoken director.  So when I read the email this morning, I couldn't help but have tears in my eyes.
  
  Life is so precious... we're so lucky to be able to do what we love... carpe diem everyone...
  
  
  

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• Days of being wild... in HK

  Thursday, Jun 28, 2007 3:52PM / Standard Entry

  Can't believe that it's been almost a week since I've been back... it's been crazy, lots of things are happening, running around trying to prep the b-roll shoot this coming weekend, having meetings with people etc... the days that I thought I don't have much to do, they always ended up being really busy...   but of course I also love the time I spend hanging with the AnD boys and friends.   and I met some great people too, like Sam (you rock btw!)
  
  Everything seems uncertain and all over the places, yet at the same time, things seem to fall into place too, bit by bit.  So I'm happy about the progress.  But I still keep thinking that I need to work harder...  that my workaholic nature I guess..  Hence, Mark, I'm scared to watch the first episode of HERO... once I start, I don't think I'll come out of my bedroom until the end of my trip here!  Though Mark can't stop tempting me to start the first episode...  he's like a little devil sitting next to me... =)
  
  
  

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• Audio Traffic Rocks!

  Monday, Jun 25, 2007 5:35PM / Standard Entry

  Got back to HK a few days ago, and now sitting in the AnD office blogging... it's such a great and warm feeling... like I'm home.
  
  I'm happy to see that Audio Traffic's "Way Too Long" MV is up on their page now, brought back a lot of good memories from the shoot...  When Terence first mentioned to me about making a few MVs for some HK underground bands, he gave me a few songs to listen to before I got to HK.  I felt in love with WTL instantly and was listening to it practically on repeat.  As soon as I heard the beginning (the guitar buzz before the drum,) I had this image of a polaroid picture being developed.  I really wanted to direct this MV, so I spent some time to absorb the song while I was still in London, and to think about how I could incorporate the polaroid visual into the MV.  I decided to create a narrative about a boy missing his ex-girlfriend, and I thought it might be cool to have the two characters exist in separate mediums, i.e. the girl only in polaroid pictures as the boy traveling through memory lane (so to speak.)
  
  I met Don and Adrian one evening soon after I arrived HK.  Needless to say, they're super cool guys and we just clicked.  They liked the polaroid idea and really understood what I was going for.  The prep for this shoot was relatively easy since I knew the production size would be minimum.  The hardest part was to find a perfect location for the band to play the song and where the boy would end up.  I was thinking like a rooftop or an empty apartment where they could play at night with some beautiful neon lights in the background or outside the window.  We found this rooftop of a business building in Causeway Bay where there's a huge neon sign sitting there (imagine the final fight scene in "Highlander".)  But we knew that we wouldn't be able to get permission to shoot there, also setting up lights for a night shoot would create even more problem/stress for the gorilla shoot. 
  
  Since the other director Kim was going to check out a warehouse space for Qiu Hong's MV shoot, I decided to tag along.  We got to the studio in Clear Water Bay one afternoon.  When we were climbing up the stairs to check out some space, I caught a glimpse of the gigantic satellite dish outside the window.  I remember I took a few more steps and it suddenly hit me, so I turned back around.  The funny thing was, Terence was already standing there next to the window smiling at me... what can I say... great mind think alike =)   I just smiled and said, "could I... really!?"   Paul and T made a few phone calls and the next thing I knew, we're going to put the boys up there and shoot them!  It was very exciting, since I've never directed anything with a big prop like that!
  
  The rest was pretty stress free.  The more challenging part was actually shooting the polaroid pictures.  Since I had to record and capture the pictures developing in real time, and since the locations were all outdoors, I knew I had to build some sort of a box to block the sunlight reflection and the wind.   Once that was done, basically I just had to snap the polaroid pictures and run back to the camera station and shoot them while they're developing.  It was actually a fun day, especially thanks to T who came along and hang with us, and also suggested to go to the fun fair ground.  That was genius!
  
  The idea of reversing the developing of the polaroid pictures actually came later during the tail end of the editing process.  My editor and I were just taking a break and chatting about the philosophy of "memory"... one thing let to another, and we thought it'd be cool to reverse the polaroid to intensify her absence and his missing of her.
  
  I really enjoyed making this MV.  Thanks to Don and Adrian who were great to work with, and never complained even when I asked them to climb up the very dirty satellite dish and hang out there for hours.  And Phat who was so patient with me and did such an amazing DP job.  And of course, Jason and Kate who were the superstars in the MV, and needless to say, T and the AnD boys.  So I hope you guys enjoy the MV...
  
  

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• Zola and fishbone in my throat

  Monday, Jun 18, 2007 6:31PM / Standard Entry

  Yet another eventful weekend (this time in an ironic sense)... 
  
  Made dinner for family and friends on Friday night, duck with plum sauce + salt baked sea bass, we were having a good time until I swallowed a fishbone... I didn't think it was a big deal, given that it's happened to me before and there were guests around.  So I did what my mom taught me long time ago, I shoved in a fistful of rice and swallowed it without chewing.  Normally, it'd have done the trick, except that this time my throat felt funny.  I wasn't sure if it's gone down or the bone was still there.  It felt uncomfortable but not to a point that I had to end the evening...  Anyway, the next day my throat still felt uncomfortable/sore, so I googled online and tried almost every suggestions that I could find - rice, bread, lemon juice...  The weirdest thing is, I just couldn't tell whether it was a scratch or it was a bone, it was really weird...  I finally went to the ER on Sunday to just get it check out.  Since I'll be flying soon, I just don't want to have a fishbone inside my throat while I'm inside a plane...  long story short, the doctor numbed my throat and tongue with some really nasty stuff, then he poked and looked around and finally told me that there is no bone, but just a scratch.  He told me that the human throat doesn't like foreign object *and* can't distinguish between a scratch and an actual object, so that is why I felt the way I felt.  Always learn something new...  
  
  Onto another less grotesque subject.  Any Emile Zola fans out here?  I love him, just finished re-reading "Theresa Raquin" (while I thought the fishbone was still stucked in my throat!)  What a great book!  I think I have another Zola book lying around somewhere, I might just dig it out and take it on the plane with me...
  
  Can't wait to see The Bear at the office!  (I think we ought to get more bears in the office... "go bearS"... get it!?)
  And of course, can't wait to see all my beloved friends (Eva, T, Pat, Mark, Stephen, Boon....)  =)
  
  
  

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• Thierry Frémaux speaks about Cannes

  Wednesday, Jun 13, 2007 9:22PM / Standard Entry

  Cannes turned 60th this year, and Thierry Frémaux, the Festival's Artistic Director, came to the BFI last night and speak about the festival.
  
  A lot of the questions were quite predictable - Is Cannes becoming more commercial, selecting more Hollywood films and less "auteur" films?  Has Cannes been taken over by the paparazzi, starlets and red carpets and lost sight of its core belief?  Frémaux answered succinctly and intelligently.  He said one thing that I can't agree with him more, is that there are no Hollywood or auteur films, commercial or not commercial, genre or no genre, for him, there are only good or bad films.  And that's why "Shrek" was selected for Cannes a couple of years ago.  Be it a super commercial animated film or not, in the end, it's also a good film. 
  
  What Cannes does that I admire and am an advocate for, is that it looks at "cinema" as a culture, as an art, and more importantly, as a whole.  Therefore, it supports the small "auteur" and "art" films and yet remains open to the big budget films (granted sometimes things do get political and it has its failures in picking some not so good films in the past, like "The DaVinci Code"...)
  
  One thing he said that I loved, cinema is an experience.  Everyone is so excited sitting in the theater, they can't wait for the lights to dim and the curtain to open, they clap and scream before and after the screenings, and then they leave the theater arguing and discussing the film to death, that is magic.
  
  For me, that sums up everything about cinema.   It's that magic that units us all as human beings.  For two hours, we're gathered in a room, despite our different background (racial/cultural/financial...,) to experience a world that the filmmaker has created.  We laugh, we cry, and most importantly, we feel.  And it is exactly because of this unique human experience, that I think it's so important that ALL films have their place in the market, big or small, pure entertaining or pure intellectual.  Because we humans have millions of emotions, there are days that I want to watch "Dude, Where is My Car?" but there are days that I just want to watch Tsiang Ming Liang's "Goodbye Dragon Inn" or Sokurov's "Russian Ark."
  
  If the industry only supports one kind of films (solely blinded and based on the outcome of the box office,) then it is no difference than robbing our experience as human and controlling how we ought to feel.  I hope most film industries (especially HK) will learn from Cannes, open their arms, welcome and support not just the big budget entertaining films, but also the smaller "auteur" films.  So that one day we can go into a multiplex, watch a "boring" art film and argue to death with our friends what it actually means, and then go into the next theater and make up with our friends laughing our asses off watching "Scary Movie sequel 10th"
  
  How's that for a desperate plead on a Wednesday afternoon?
  
  
  
  

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