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....

hold tight....

I'm currently working on a blog revamp and a new kick-off. Check in next week - I promise!! Also to feature a new trailer, cause guess what??

"That Asian Thing" is finally here!

BRB...

NEW TEASER!! WOO HOO!!

Sorry guys & gals - it's been awhile and I've been locked up in my room editing for hours on end. However, I must admit that maybe I'm taking the artist's mentality when I feel that what I have right now isn't right. In other words, I could be my own harshest critic, BUT I could also be looking at the same footage over and over and over (AND over) again that it's making me lose a sense of what works and what doesn't. I still need to change some major things around on the editing board, but I will say that the timeline is still looking to be for around June or July. I do NOT want to pass the summer without a complete film! I'll assure you that.

On a higher end note, I did complete a second teaser to the film as I've been knee deep in film footage. Please check it out here or click on the following link:


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

THAT ASIAN THING TEASER #2:



"That Asian Thing" ( http://www.thatasianthing.com ) is a documentary in search of reasons to the low impact of Asian American culture in mainstream America. Interviews were conducted throughout 2006 of activists, artists, educators, and players in the role of Asian America or mainstream culture.

This teaser features Chicago based artists, including: Charlene Haze Alcantara, Chien Yuan, Dr. & Mrs. Romeo and Soly Munoz, Brian Posen, Robbi, Mia Park, Tatsu Aoki, Larry Lee, Mark Chang of QuarterMile, Mia Riverton, Jeff Chan, Cynthia Lin, Jon Monteverde, Stir Friday Night, Rupal Soni, and Jenny Guzon-Bae.

Please check the website to follow up on their personal activities. Special thanks to Jason Vita from TINbox Solutions for the logo ( http://www.tinboxsolutions.com ). Music by Hiromi ( http://www.hiromimusic.com/ ).


More to come sooooooooooon!! Pass the trailer along to others and begin the hype for a festival near you! (knock on wood...)

HEY! How ya been???

For this post I'd like to just talk about what I've been up to in terms of "That Asian Thing." First off, this editing portion is VERY time consuming. I don't joke when I say that it takes me literally 5 hours to come up with a solid 10 minutes for the film. "But how is that possible Jonald?" Well, novice filmmaking inquirer, there are many reasons for this. 1.) I have about 5-10 hours of footage on my computer that needs to get broken into less than 2 hours. 2.) I'm learning as I go along since this is my first feature length documentary. You gotta think about it: there really is an art to how documentaries are made. What shot goes with what audio; what feeling or thought am I trying to convey without written dialogue for an actor to say; or how can I transition from one subtopic to another in cohesive flow? 3.) effects, lighting, transitions - all these additions and making sure everything is cut into place takes time. It's all detail.

SOUND - I can't emphasize enough how important sound is for movies. There needs to be a consistancy and a basic level for everyone to understand what's going on with the image. I need to make sure words spoken are understood and clearly said. It's like editing the movie all over again, but this time, just concentrating on sound.

That's my first main deal - FINISH THE MOVIE!

Next - I'd like to show a raw cut to 2 sets of people. The first set would be friends and family who aren't hardcore, cinema interprative, film critics. They watch movies for fun and have 2 opinions, either they like it or they don't like it. For me, they're the "regular viewer." The next group would be a focus group comprised of people who I feel are advanced in film studies and know aesthetics of cinema to another level than the "regular viewer." With the feedback of both parties, I think I can re-edit my raw cut to have it ready for festival submission.

FESTIVALS:

A few dynamics to this equation.

1. Does this festival fit the theme of my movie?
2. Is it located in an area where I can get a group going through email or contact to hype up an audience?
3. Do I have enough funding for submitting? (Submission fees add up!)
4. Can I meet the deadline and the requirements to not override another festivals requirements? To extrapolate: if you want your film to go up for competition in that festival, some of them require that you make it a premiere in that state or country. Now that makes me ask the question - where do I REALLY want to make a premiere?

And the last thing I've contemplated with this project: is this saying what it needs to say? All of these artists are doing their art to convey a message about their truths, but with my project/my art, I have the pressure of conveying their message as a whole. I need to construct their voices to mesh up as my own voice and make sure everyone gets their just say about the issue at hand.

All I can say is - this day job thing can sometimes get in the way....