Hype, hype, hype - let it build!

So after our FSU stint, I figure we should start building some hype for the movie. Why not try to create a buzz out there, eh? Get more people across the nation involved via word of mouth. Therefore, of course, I'll have to start within my own group of friends and their friends and so fourth, and so fourth.

Therefore - I've contacted a bunch of my friends who are actively social and whom I can see holding mini-screening parties at their humble abode. Through this, maybe a friend of a friend knows people at a film festival. Or even more so, a college campus activities person, a movie theater manager, a film magazine editor, or other forms of publicity knowledged personell.

If you're one of my buds out there that has received a gift from your ol'pal Jonald and has graciously invited friends of friends to a mini-screening, please don't hesitate to take pictures and send'em this way! I'll be more than happy to give a shout out about your current project and/or post the pics of the fun that people have with "That Asian Thing." Not only does the documentary stir up great conversation, but you can party with it too! haha! HHmmm...do I see a new tagline in the works???

But right now, I'm still playing around with the Director's Cut and attempting to trim it down a bit. For the next couple of days, I'm going to attempt to text out all the dialogue from the film. This way, I can literally see points that can be cut or portions that can be eliminated.

ALSO - a new hotspot that I've found for indie filmmakers is the infamous - "Film Threat" (http://www.filmthreat.com). Sometime last year I picked up a great book all about film festivals - The Ultimate Film Festival Survival Guide by Chris Gore. Well - Mr. Gore is the guru who founded Film Threat mag which turned into a hotspot on the web, especially for indie filmmakers. The reason it's great for Tarantino wannabes - you can have them check out your work if need be (obviously for some extra incentives). AND they list a bunch of film festival deadlines and other film type contests for budding young auteurs. I highly suggest checking it out if your a young filmmaker, love movies, or just wanna read some reviews on flicks. It's for the inner film chi in you...

SO - we got some stuff stirring in the pot. Hang tight kids cause this ride is actually just starting!

FSU Screening Recap!

Lightly tanned, relaxed, and proud are a touch of the many words that scrabble around my mind on how the Florida State University screening went. Thus my adventure to Tallahassee, Florida was well-planned and heavily assisted by the Director of FSU's Asian-American Student Union - Miss Monique (Nikki) Velasquez. She inquired of the film way before the first cut was even produced, to which I'm thankful for. This by which "That Asian Thing" was already in mind for their Asian-American Awareness activities even before other events were set. So there was already an eye out for this film...

Before I hit the main points to how the screening went, I wanted to thank all the students, faculty, friends, & family that came out to watch the film. There was a definite essence of southern hospitality that made me feel relaxed and comfortable for the Q&A session. So I apologize to any if I may have come off as unprofessional, but when I vibe closely to the people in the room I tend to carry myself in a relaxing attitude. I'd also like to thank all the organizations that took part in putting this together and trying to get as many kids to come out as possible. And of course, I must thank the FSU community, especially Mr. Juan Guardia (Director of Multicultural Affairs), for taking an interest in my film and the message it conveys.




...And now the main points:

-I had the privilege of having a young Asian-American musician perform before the screening commenced. His name is A.J. Rafael (please check out his tunes - http://ajrafael.com/ and www.myspace.com/ajrafael). Kid's got some raw talent and creative energy! We hung out that day prior to the screening time and I was able to give him some thoughts on music ideas he had bounced around in his head. I think he has natural talent and has a lot of potential. He's still in college and with more education to his gift, he can probably go miles out. Good luck A.J.! Catch his performances when you can and send him some love via myspace!



-After watching the film for the 'enth time, I think I was able to catch my sense of repetitiveness. There are points that seem to overlap in terms of stereotypes, model minority, and marketing. The difficulty in this is that I believe all three issue go hand in hand and to seperate them may consist in shorter interview portions to already shortened interview portions. If you're up to par with your Asian-American 101, you may ask - 'But Jonald - isn't model minority a stereotype? couldn't you just combine the two?' AH - good question, young jedi. Well - I've made it into seperate issues within the film because the term "Model Minority" is directly associated with only Asian-Americans. Also, there are confusions to why it's a good thing and why it's a bad thing. Then I addressed the term 'stereotype' as a general concept, yet narrowed it down to relate to Asian-Americans. The marketing portion goes with the stereotypes because that's how we're marketed. See - everything relates!



-I do believe that this Director's Cut can be refined. It tends to run a bit on the long side and I can see why a few kids jumped ship while the screening was going on. Although a bit disheartening on that, it was good for me to see/hear which parts received the most reactions. I think my own involvement within the film gave a humorous underlining that made the dry parts easy to get through. I couldn't tell what people thought of in terms of the Flipside/SOTO storyline, but I do always bank on the Steve Munoz performance I have in there. It always gets a good response.

-The Q&A portion is always good times. It gives me a better sense of connection to the people that just watched what I poured unto film for the past 1 1/2 years. I always feel that this film stirs up good conversation, especially on how to "act Asian" or how to "act American." The only thing that I could say to which I felt was the most simple, yet truthful answer, was 'be yourself.' And like mentioned in the film - only you can represent you; you're face & identity as an Asian-Amerian is your representation of your people. So with that, just try to be the best you can be.

Again, I'd like to thank all that came out! Without your feedback, questions, and wonderful words of support after the film, my message would be mute. Hope we can dance again...

I posted more pics on the AsianThing Kodak Gallery - please check it out and don't hesitate to say what's up:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=6y8idn3.11fvhte7&x=0&y=vfi043

Take care y'all! And keep coming back to see what's the haps!

SCREENING THIS THURSDAY - MARCH 20, 2008!!

This post goes out to my sound dude - Mike P.! Good stuff, my friend...good stuff.

Okay - let's start from about 2 weeks ago. 2 weeks ago I had a revamped film with sound that needed work on. My boy, Mike P., offered his special sound skills after the private screening back in November. From then till 2 weeks ago, the only person who's seen the full version revamp is me and the walls in back of my computer chair. So as scheduling is always a factor in adults being adults, Mike and myself had to set a calendar date to do the sound edits. With that - Mike fell into a mix of overwhelming day job work which is understandable. He took a crack at the sound edits on a Saturday afternoon into night.

Now let's jump into the mind of a sound editor. Close your eyes, listen to all sounds as intently as possible (this includes voices, background music, noises, clicks, pops, etc., etc.). Then try to figure out what should stay in and what should be taken out, but instead of just picking a file and clicking the delete button - you'll need to adjust volumes, clean things up, and emphsize specific sound waves. And even though the layout of the film is already set for you, each clip that's inserted on the editing board needs to be heard and fixed. In general - you're basically editing a film all over again.

Back to our hero - Mike worked on what he could on the first day to churn out about a half-hour on the film. But with that, he found a groove that was needed to be found before falling into a good routine. Sometimes that process takes longer. Thus we ended that Saturday night to meet again soon enough. Then we fell back into adults being adults and day jobs coming into play. Scheduling was looking bleak and future screening time was getting closer. (Enter dramatic music!)

After emails, calendar looks, and timing things out - Mike P. throws down the guantlet this past week to have a finished product. So last Tuesday night, Mike sits in front of the CPU and plays his rock n' roll! He took the sound editing head on and came out for me to finish up. And now...(drum roll please)...

"That Asian Thing" is complete (again). Not only that, but hey, hey, hey - here we come FSU!! Via the coolness of one, Monique Velasquez (FSU Asian American Student Union) - we've been granted screening time as part of their Asian American Awareness Month events. Here's the schedule:

Tues, March 4 - General Assembly (SSB 208 - 8:30 PM)
Come on out and see what's the buzz with AASU Month!

Sun, March 16 - Car Wash (TBA)

Wed, March 19 - Kick Off! Game Night! (SSB 203 - 7:30 PM)

Thurs, March 20 - "That Asian Thing" Documentary (HCB 103 - 7:30 PM)

Fri, March 21 - Asian American Music and Poetry (AAMP)
Concert (TBA)

Sat, March 22 - FSA Barrio (Club DownUnder at 6 PM)

Sun, March 23 - Car Wash (TBA)

Tues, March 25 - General Assembly (SSB 214 - 8:30 PM)

Wed, March 26 - AASU Teahouse (IC - 7 PM)

Thurs, March 27 - Ramen Workshop (IC - 7 PM)

Sat, March 29 - AASU BBQ co-hosted with AASU Affiliates (Tom Brown - Noon)

Mon, March 31 - Language Workshop (SSB 214 - 8 PM)

Tues, April 1 - Spoken Word (HCB 103 - 7:30 PM)

Wed, April 2 - Movie Night - Infernal Affairs (HCB 101 - 7:30 PM)

Thurs, April 3 - Sushi Workshop (Lucy Ho's - 7:30 PM)

Tues, April 8 - AASU Pageant (Moore - 7:30 PM)

Thurs, April 10 - AASU Semi-Formal (SSB 203 - 8:30 PM)

And here's an online commerical:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8HTkkro6kE

If you're in the area - come and join in the fun. And yes - THURSDAY NIGHT @ 7:30 P.M. BE THERE FOR THE SCREENING OF "THAT ASIAN THING."

Hope to see y'all there!

COME OUT COME OUT WHEREVER YOU ARE!

So - have you been in suspense long enough?!?! Have you been waiting and waiting, and yearning in highly anticipated excitement to finally see what all this hype was all about?? Have you asked yourself - "Self - why do I continue to go to this website and read up about this film when I haven't even see any form of promotions for public viewing??"

WELL WAIT NO LONGER! THE REVAMP IS HERE!!

Yes, my lovely boys and gals, we are in the last leg of sound edits to give you the fullest, maximum, most action-packed, Asian-American informative, documentary-ooh-la-la film that you've ever seen! Not to say that there aren't a slew of awesome APA docs out there already, but "That Asian Thing" is like the "Intro to Asian-American Issues 101" college course that needs to be said for the sake of being said.

And we are now winding down to the first fully loaded public appearance at the one and only Florida State University Asian American Awareness Event. Come out - one and all - to the great events that the FSU Asian Student Union has to offer, which includes a screening of the long awaited documentary film, "That Asian Thing."

Go to their various websites for details to follow in the upcoming weeks:

http://www.asunoles.com

http://www.myspace.com/fsuasu

http://www.xanga.com/fsuasu

IN THE MEANTIME...

why of course my prettys - as usual I do have a video goodie for you to munch on before you get your chance to bite in the film itself. SO, as you know (or as previous blog posts have stated), the film underwent major surgery and now has a new face, and legs, and arms, and....geez...just a new body all together. Tis true! When we say 'revamp,' we literally mean 'this is a different film from the screening that went down 4 months ago.' With that - we've been able to cut segments of the old version and churn it into delicious butta! To which I present to you a video clip of our boys, I.B.U. and their performance at "That Asian Thing" Showcase:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dx4whf9AWBs


ALSO...

don't forget to internet surf your way back to our main page: thatasianthing.com and check out the linx section every now and then. Although that gets updated probably even less than this blog-atoneous info chowder, it does have some cool info to share on the artists that are featured in the flick, as well as, other Asian-American randomocities.

(here's a quick reference link from yo'boy: http://www.asianthinglinx.blogspot.com/)

Take it easy people! AND come back in the future to catch your wave of "That Asian Thing" screening info. Thanks!