Time for a little revamp!

After the viewing last week, I was fortunate enough to have a few friends that have had their hands in the film world. With smiles, they approached me to offer a hand in any fix-ups I intended to do. And to this, I gladly accepted and obliged.


Before I get into the brew ha-ha of that mental matter, I'd like to share a few sly pics of yours truly via our buddy, Mr. Alex Chang. My nerves were a bit shot, and I wasn't focused on breaking out the digital camera for my bloggerific audience. From the following, you'll see my silly mug in front of the "Oh Sweet!" movie poster hanging at the entrance of the theater. And again, I'd like to thank Jason Vita of Tinbox Solutions for our super rad poster and postcard designs. Please check out his work and don't hesitate to contact for your "I need an ill-matic design" needs. Tell'em Jonald sent ya (to which he'll probably boost your cost by 20% - haha! that's my cut....ssshhhhh...)



This other portrait of a young artist is with my old school pal via Second City, Mr. Rob Biesenbach. Rob was interviewed for "That Asian Thing" to give an objective point of view on how it feels to be an actor in Chicago. He helped to support a point on how audition panels sometimes overview talent to accommodate to a specific look that they want. I'd also like to point out "That Asian Thing" shout out from Rob on his own blog-topia: http://robbiesenbach.blogspot.com/2007/11/tonight-i-went-to-world-premiere-of-my.html. Be sure to check out his main site and catch some of his work. He's a baaaaad mam'uh jam'uh!

REVAMP THOUGHTS:

Just a few nights ago, I had a great sit down with my friend, Barree, on the aesthetics and meaning of my film. Obviously, he shared his own thoughts on the subject matter, but relatively it went hand in hand with the break down. We took apart specific points of the film and he helped me re-evaluate the big questions I wanted to address for each act. Continuing on, we went over a few comments that I shared with him from viewers of the screening. He helped me realize and establish the strong points of the documentary and how I can expand upon it. I think I was blinded from watching my film over and over so many times that I lost focus on my direction. This in turn made parts too choppy and lacked a better flow of specific topics. So working with Barree really helped me think of a new layout for the film. I know I can make this better than what it already is.

I'm also going to work with my other friend, Mike, who's a sound engineer. I'm sure he can help clean up background noises I couldn't do from lack of experience. This should be enlightening as I'm not very familiar with sound waves and what nots.

TIMELINE:

Right now, I'm going to work hard to get the new layout planted. Then I'll work with Mike to clean up the sound. Afterwards, I may try to hold a very informal viewing with close friends to get a feel of the new look. In the meantime, I'm still going to submit press kits and submissions to film festivals. Luckily, since we're in an upcoming year, a new set of deadline dates are being established.

Please don't forget to check on here and leave us comments, either here, on myspace, friendster, msn spaces, asian avenue, tagged, youtube, and probably way more in the future. SUPPORT TO CHANGE!! thanks....

and that was that....(post screening werds)

***WARNING: THIS BLOG POST WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS ABOUT THE DOCUMENTARY! YOU WILL BE WARNED WHEN THE SPOILING BEGINS....***

Continuing from my last blog post, I had arranged a private screening of "That Asian Thing" documentary. Purposes for this grandious event were as follows: 1. to give the primo opportunity for all the cool Asian-American artists involved to get the first taste of what can hopefully start a ripple 2. to receive feedback from objective eyes that can help improve some sections I may have overlooked during creation and 3. to see how this bad boy looks on a ginormous screen.

THEATER RENTAL PROCEDURES

For all you young auteurs or new comers to the craft (as myself), if you're ever interested in renting out a movie theater, I suggest a few venues beforehand. To save on some fundage, let's reveal resources that may be readily available under our snoozer. Look into movie screens available at colleges, community centers, and (if your movie's wholesome) even church halls. As long as you can find digs that has a large screen and decent sound associated, I would hop on it. I went the final resort and shelled out some dough to rent out a nice Landmark Century Theater.

When you inquire and work out a master plan with the theater manager, you get a contract to seal the deal. I went through the motions and found myself at 95% complete with the film. I had about 3 weeks to go before the date that I reserved for the (gulp) premiere. Not only was the pressure on, but this was a test to see what I've been working on this whole time. Is this really how I want the film to look? Are there any extra little things that I can add here or there? Can this keep peoples' interest?

Also - I wanted this event to have some sentimental value to my life experiences. Thus I went the extra route and worked out a deal with my boy, Jason Vita of Tinbox Solutions to hook up a poster/postcard design. Eventually I would've needed this somewhere down the line - SO, might as well get this box checked sooner than later. J Vita has helped "That Asian Thing" with a couple of designs from the past and if it ain't broke, let it stay unbroke.

Therefore - I had the theater, I had the poster, I had a postcard (for promo), and now I needed to bring the film to a complete finito status.

This is the part of the story when the hero does what he needs to do to finish off the obstacle in the way of this goal. I had a free weekend to bring my 95% complete to 100% complete. The layout was already set, I just needed to clean up the sound as much as I could; insert closing credits; insert intereviewee shot credits; and basically make sure the overall product was at smooth sailing status.

Equipped with caffiene, a late night pizza order, and gallons of water, I was able to stay up for over 24 hours to iron out everything I needed to. The procedure started Saturday morning and finished Sunday afternoon. AND THEN EVEN MORE SO - I had to fix a few things throughout the week after to make it all pretty. BUT YES - it was done. gasp and whew! gasp and whew!

Then to add to excitement of this wind down, Tinbox Solutions made words into reality by completing a movie poster. Check it:




This was super cool man! It added so much more hype in my head that I felt like a tide has turned. Waves were hittin a climax that surfers got goose bumps over and this was a high no j ever hit in college. I liked it...

Along the way, I did have a bit of a scare. The theater (god bless'em) had a minor technical difficulty and thought the film was in Black & White after a test run. Email dialogue went on between parties till I had a notion to test out the DVD I had sent them on a computer/laptop. I was pretty confident that the flick I sent them, via overnight mail, should be in working fashion. Just as quick as that idea was commenced, I received an email confirmation that everything was NOW good to go. The minor technicality was the ol' "wires were crossed wrong" synopsis. Completely understandable and as long as everything's fixed a day before the viewing, then it's cool with me.

THEN THE SCREENING

Wow - what a crappy day weather-wise in Chicago. Mother Nature hit the Windy City with its own nicknamesake and mixed it with a few flurries here and there. Ultimately it was rain, cold air, and dark clouds. Pretty much the kryptonite to the location of my theater. However - show must go on!

With probably 50% of the amount of people I expected showing up, my nerves were a bit shot. I didn't know if this movie was ready for comments...or rather that is...I didn't know if I were ready for comments. So I had to remind myself that this was to make it better! AND to release it from the baby blanket of my computer screen. This was the time...

***SPOILING TO DOCUMENTARY TO BEING***

Right before you entered Auditorium 5, you got to see this:



If you look above the poster - you'll see the sign for theater 5. Sweetness!

SO - the viewing came and past. It came to a close and the lights went back on. I did a Q&A portion, as well as receive feedback on surveys I handed out. A few of the positive notes had to deal with my storyline. Focusing on Flipside/SOTO throughout their career was cool for people.





The audience members also dug the "spoken word" girl (Charlene-Haze Alcantara) and Mr. Steve Munoz.



I did get a lot of positive reports overall, but these few seem to be on the higher tally.

The whole night was overwhelming and I must admit that I walked away feeling that an improvement had to be made. Although majority were in positive formation about "That Asian Thing" - the few critical comments I did receive on items to clean-up, really were valuable. Therefore - I have a couple more dances in me before letting a film festival panel gander at my goods.

I wanted to publicly thank the peeps who come out to write on my survey handouts. Like I told them after the viewing, "Thank's for coming out on such a crappy night!"

AT THIS MOMENT

At this moment, I'm in film festival mode, BUT I have to do some last minute things before sending the film out. I'll be working with a couple of private screening members to iron out the comments I got. I'll feel more confident knowing that this was a joint effort on editing. Although I think my Adobe skills are getting above par, I'm still no Jedi Master. More magic will be ensued...

MARKETING AND PUBLICITY

In an effort to gain more recognition toward the film, I was honored to be a part of a podcast interview. The Paunch Stevenson Show is hosted by a couple of my high school friends who still loom in my current email address book. It was really fun and good practice for me to talk about my film. I'll follow up on this when the show gets posted on their website. THANKS ROB AND GREG!! YOU GUYS ROCK!!

AND FOR NOW

It's back to the editing machine for another handshake. And for now - HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! Be well and warm....

The last round-up!

This weekend was it! I was self deteremined to completely and utterly finish the documentary with all credits, clean sound, and final editing decisions. I started my editing routine with my cup of joe and sat in front of the computer, now running Adobe Creative Suite 3 (Premiere Pro CS3) with Soundbooth for audio clean-up. The documentary is broken down into 4 parts - 20 minutes for each part (and if you're down with your Asian math stereotype, yes, it does equal 80 minutes). I started from Part 1 - frame by frame, segment by segment.

Cleaning up sound where it needed to be cleaned. Correcting editing sizes and installing video effects where needed. I had to also insert interview credentials and any subtitles of what was going on within the film.

I worked from 9 a.m. till 3 p.m. and then broke for lunch. Starvin' like marvin - I had some good Japanese food to hush my talking tummy. Then back to work!

From 5 p.m. till midnight, I was steaming through each shot. This is when I put in the pizza order in and let an hour pass till I had my next break. With pizza in one hand, my cpu mouse in the other, and caffiene to my sleepy aid, I had my second wind. Just the right timing too because staring at a computer for so long really does get your eyes droopy. Not to mention looking at footage that you've seen over and over and over again....

No offense to my interviewees or their performances, but I can literally mimick what they said or sing words from their song word for word. I know it so well, that I wrote out the credits at the end of the film from the top of my head. I know when each person shows up in my documentary and what they were talking about. It's sort of like a sick gift that demonstrates how involved I was in the editing process.

Continuing on, I hit a bad sleepy moment around 3 or 4 a.m. and couldn't really tell you how I got through 10 minutes of footage. But when I watched it over again, I did it right. It's a bad sign when you're moving your mouse and clicking at things you don't know your clicking at until you finally snap out of your bobbing head. You know - the sleepy bobbing head that we all know so well from college lecture.

Anyhoo - I stood up and went to the restroom to freshen up. Cold splashes of water, brush to the teeth (there's my dental endorsement!), and some water down the dry canal helped me get a 3rd wind going. It helped me last to completely finishing up. HOWEVER - after review of the dvd around 8 a.m. - I noticed that footage that I took with the digital camera (.mpeg files) were acting all jerky and being terrible. Upset that this was running fine in my old Premiere Pro 2 but now acting dumb in the upgraded Premiere Pro CS3, I did a google search = "jerky .mpg premiere pro cs3." WELL - sure enough - I was not the only one that had this problem in novice filmmaking world. ERRRR!!!

I was really, truly, undeniably, unmistakenly upset, uphauled, and annoyed. 24 hours had gone by and I was not "complete" in all fashions of the word, done with this documentary. So, after more research and heavy consideration to the footage captured in .mpeg format, I've decided to do a little filming tomorrow. Thank god, it's nothing big. But still upsetting to say the least.

PRIVATE SCREENING

With this completion right around the corner, I've stirred up a little hype within my own personal contact goup in Chicago. I've taken the liberty of renting out a theater and inviting all the Asian American artists, crew, and my friends & family to watch the film. Although a bit of a bite in the wallet, I think it's worth it and am convincing myself that it's my late birthday/early Christmas present to myself. I've gotten a lot of congrats from my emails and would like to say this to all the people involved in my film:

For as much as I say thank you, there can't be any form of understanding to the gratitude I have in making this smidget of an idea come to life. Your talent, insight, assistance, and thoughtfulness has put me in debt and I hope your own dreams in life come true. This is my stepping stone to future projects and has been the best form of experience education that I've had in my life. You've given this to me, whether you think so or not. So please, take a bow because it's me applauding you. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Now back to your regularly scheduled program...

Good evening Boys & Girls-

So where do I begin this story of the long lost Jonald and the new sighting for that infamous "Asian Thing" documentary?

WELL - I guess I can start from "Whatever happen to this thing being done over the summer??"

Honestly, it just didn't pan out that way. The reason - I had to step away from this project for a couple of months. I hope some artists know where I'm coming from and maybe this is an inhabited reflex from my writer's mentality, but when you're in the thick of a project for so long, you need to step away for a fresh look. You need to come back to the project with new eyes, or else whatever it is you do or however about you continue the project may seem forced. I was so enthralled in this film that every piece of footage that I would watch would begin to be repeition of the last one. Everything seemed the same to me and when I would try to keep editing, I my interest would want to do other projects. And thus, within that break, I worked on a couple of side projects here and there. If you check out my youtube page (http://www.youtube.com/user/asianthing), you'll see a couple of outside clips. I worked on my cousin's wedding slideshow (which was a lot of fun and great practice for my editing skills). Through the help of Eric Byler, I was able to get involved with the Naisy Dolar campaign. I went to a couple of events and filmed for Mr. Byler's needs, as well as practice for my filmmaker's eye. Therefore, in essence, my time off from the project helped me get better with the craft. I never went to school for filmmaking. I just went to Rutgers for Cinema Studies. Doing is way different from interpreting.

After my excursion, I dwelved deep into my computer and edited, and edited, and edited. Literally missing out of some social events, family get togethers, and random relaxing moments, but this made me concentrate even more. Obviously this sort of long term project cames with the naysayers that don't believe that you're even working on it. "Man - just give up. You're not gonna finish it." But that slap in the face only adds more fuel to the fire. I can only hope that those people endure a similar project sometime in their life to understand that a sense of quality takes time. Quickness does not equal quality.

With this - I'd like to apologize for becoming M.I.A. to all the people that have sent me emails, myspace messages, or even random texts on when this project will be done. After awhile, I actually didn't want to give an estimated date because I didn't want to keep hopes up too high. I didn't want to be "that guy" that would talk some talk and not be able to provide the walk. So I'm sorry if you've inquired to me or if I've left you hanging or if you've checked the blog and noticed that nothing has changed for so long. MY BAD Y'ALL! My bad.....

BUT NOW WE'RE BACK! This movie is at 85% completion. Right now, I'm cleaning up the sound and doing up the credits. I've already set-up a PRIVATE viewing for the cast and crew of the documentary to watch at a disclosed theater. PRIVATE = no publicity, no reviews from outsiders, and no one that I don't know. But why, Jonald, why?? As this is my first documentary and working with so many talented and acknowledged performers/artists/professors, I didn't want them to wait for me to get accepted into a film festival for them to watch the film. Also - it just wouldn't feel right preaching about this film as a "combined voice of Chicago's Asian-American artists" without getting their consent and approval. Although I am the one with the power here and the trust of these people, I would feel better knowing that they watched it and gave me feedback before releasing it to the public. It's basic "peer reviewing peer" process. Nothing to it. I also owe a private viewing to my generous donators and pro bono advisors. So many people have helped me with no compensation and this is a bonus to them. Thanks everyone!

After this viewing and cleaning up some good feedback, I plan on entering film festivals. Through the magical portal of the internet, I'll be using withoutabox (http://www.withoutabox.com/) as my tool to enter these competitions. I'll also follow-up with people that I've sent surveys out to in the past, as well as new Asian-American organizations that I haven't tapped into. Hyping this film up is the most important thing on getting some recognition.

I've already set-up a free viewing with my cousin who goes to the University of Florida. I should be attending the viewing to do a Q&A segment afterwards. This will take place in March as part of their Asian-American Month festivities. Please check our withoutabox/myspace/facebook profiles for up and coming viewings. May not be too big of a list right now, but that's something that I'm working on right now.

AND as an incentive for waiting so long, if you're our friend on myspace, you'll be able to view screenshots of the film. Here are a couple to tickle yer fancy. WOO HOO!! I should have a new trailer on here soooooooon enough! Thank ya, thank ya, thank ya....