They screened it in high definition so the image quality was crisp and clear.
This film’s been a work of passion, love, and labor.
Honestly, this film almost never happened. After last year’s back to back filmmaking, I was just drained and jaded and needed this year to focus on recuperating a healthy lifestyle and investing in fruitful relationships. I still went to the TOM film fest meeting to see if I could get inspired. I remember I left that meeting with a bunch of pamphlets but with no ideas. Essentially, I had filmmaker’s block.
Then Ki Tae emailed me a few days later and told me he had an idea that still needed to be sculpted and that it involved sketches. I heard him out and realized he had passion about his illustrations and about filmmaking that I was trying to find again. We met over many coffee breaks and created this story of Jane and Sarah, two captive girls in an empty room. There was no hope of escape in their stark reality except through a sketchbook and through each other. They gave hope and inspiration to each other even when their condition grew worse. There is a definite parallel of Jane and Sarah’s story with a lot of struggling artists. The reality is that art is always going to be interpretive and so, it will always be received differently by different people. Some people will get it and some people won’t. We play to an audience and yet we seldom receive sympathy from them. I think that’s why it was so important for me to have the encouragement from other fellow artists to keep pushing forward, even when I felt less than inspired.
I feel really lucky to have worked with visionary people who still have the love and will never lose hope in their art, in their lives, and in others.
My friend Jay edited the film and put in a bunch of animation. Through the years, I got to see him develop his craft and it’s really amazing. My friend Ed shot the film. He lit the entire room, I didn’t like it, and he changed it in two minutes. He’s so easy to work with and he’s always looking for ways to stretch his boundaries. He brought home-made tracks to the set and we used it for a tracking shot in the end. He ramped a few shots for slow motion and used dimmers with gels for a siren effect. It’s inspiring to see him work.
My friend Ed was the Director of Photography on this film. He basically did all the light setups, the shooting, and all the innovative tracking and slo mo shots. he’s one of the most energetic, positive, proactive and results-oriented people I know. I’m blessed to have been able to have him shoot this film.
My boyfriend is always looking for ways to help me in my film projects. In this one, he was took care of craft services, and he even donated a box of donuts to the shoot, which came in very handy when our blood sugar levels dropped in the last few hours. I think he was also one of the ones who thought of bringing in all the cars into the warehouse since we had to move them out of the parking lots. He picked up the PA work when our PA left the set mid-day and took care of all the behind the scenes pictures of the shoot. In post production, he did all the sound design and editing. Really though, it’s not about what he did, I’m more thankful that he believed in me even when I thought I had no future in filmmaking. When I’d pitch him my plan B’s and alternative paths I could take with my career, he always pushed me to continue to look for ways to follow my passion. He never let me give up on film. I’m pretty lucky.
My actresses Clara and Wai and my actor Victor all came together and just gave it their all, 110% in every take. We were scheduled to shoot for two days but they were relentless and pushed to finish it all in one day. They were emotionally and physically strong to do what they did. The cast was perfect for this project.
Here are some stills and photos from the set, afterwards, and at the film festival.
Parts of the title sequence:
Stills from the film
Actresses getting ready on set:
Ed rehearsing the shot on his diy tracks, me going over the shot list, michael getting ready to boom.
Someone thought of reparking all our cars in the warehouse so we didn’t have to leave our cars outside with no supervision in downtown sketchy la. genius!
me puting makeup on my actress
Ed hurting himself
Wrap dinner at Chosun Galbi
My UCLA extension classmates came out to support:
My actor, My actresses and I:
In the audience:
Saying my Thank-you’s:
Doing the interview with Ki Tae and Jay
I treasure each moment that went into making this film a reality. Can you believe it? Our budget was smaller than the shoes I wore to the premiere. That just means that so many people were willing to work for free, so many logistical and technical things came to me miraculously for free, and the people involved were so pumped to push this out in a day, saving all sorts of costs associated with it.
=D
This is just the beginning!
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