film fest: ploy

my score = B

the good: cinematography, set design, slow-moving pace, sex scene to please the females

the bad: dream sequences, poor hd quality

ploy is directed by the same dude who made "Last Life in the Universe" which is in my top 10 movies of all time. i didn't like that he re-used the is-it-a-dream device yet again and didn't do as good a job like in LLITU.

film fest: control

our first film of the 2007 VIFF.

my score: C+

the good: the first half was great. the pacing, the story, the dialogue all felt natural and realistic. great framing throughout.

the bad: but the second half felt like an overly dramatic soap show. and i didn't feel that making this film all in black and white did it any favours. also, indie favourite samantha morton was underutilized in her role.

it is finished

as of 6pm today, rob and i finished our very first feature length documentary.

for the next week, i'll be doing some preliminary colour correcting and sound leveling to get it to an acceptable level so that we can show it to some key people in the indie rock world with a film slant. ok, they're all friends of ours, too.

then, it's 3 weeks of audio post-production and colour correcting to meet the SXSW deadline.

we're so glad. it's a wonderful feeling.

above is a picture of our wall of notecards identifying each sequence with some reminders. near the bottom is where we put all our "must have" scenes to include. there were quite a number.

100% full

this past saturday night, rob and i went to "100% healthy dessert," a restaurant in richmond. well, more like a dessert cafe.

basically, it's like having a disco in your dessert.

i had the mango pudding with coconut noodles and rob ordered the creme brulee with a side of vanilla ice cream. each item cost around $6.

there are other more colourful and crazy desserts to chose from.

but seriously, who the heck came up with the name of the restaurant? how is sugar on top of coloured sugar healthy for you? fun and delicious, yes. but healthy?

maybe healthy for the cafe owners' wallet.

scheduling results

okay, i've made my selections and dates.

there are 2 days in which i'm watching 3 films but it's at the beginning of the madness so it should be fine.

casualties either because of time conflicts or i reread the descriptions and i didn't think i would enjoy them..............
in memory of myself
fish dreams
glory to the filmmaker
dans la ville
little moth *
mid-afternoon barks *
i just didn't do it
duchess of langeais
hearbeat detector

the 2 starred films are both from china and i'm hoping i can find a copy in chinatown or richmond at some later date.

here's my schedule_______________________

sept 27, thur
9:45pm - the sun also rises

sept 29, sat
12:15pm - madonnas
2:30pm - control
9pm - love conquers all

sept 30, sun
3:30pm - ploy
6pm - ma wu jia
9:30pm - secret sunshine

oct 2, tue
7:30pm - jellyfish

oct 3, wed
9pm - import export

oct 4, thu
9:30pm - lost in beijing

oct 5, fri
6:30pm - alice's house

oct 6, sat
3:45pm - the elephant and the sea
9:30pm - the edge of heaven

oct 7, sun
10:30am - flower in pocket
1pm - mr. cinema

oct 9, tues
7pm - vacation

oct 11, thur
9pm - flight of the red balloon

oct 12, fri
9:30pm - paranoid park

i'd love to watch these with friends. let me know if you can join me.

vancouver international film festival / sep 27 - oct 12

the vancouver film fest is almost here and i've been engaging in cinematic foreplay by reading reviews from cannes and toronto film fest.

the complete list of films went live on VIFF last saturday and i spent the entire afternoon reading all the film summaries and then plotting film showings into entourage (the mac's outlook).

so here are all the films that are on my wish list:
import export
the sun also rises
madonnas
in memory of myself
love conquers all
ma wu jia
man from the embassy
secret sunshine
little moth
mid-afternoon barks
glory to the filmmaker
dans la ville
mr. cinema
lost in beijing
i just didn't do it
alice's house
the elephant and the sea
edge of heaven
flower in the pocket
the duchess of langeais
vacation
heartbeat detector

my MUST watches are:
flight of the red balloon
paranoid park
ploy
control

of course, i know deep in my heart that i won't be able to watch all the movies but i'll catch at least 10 of them. i hope. i'll be doing some schedule juggling tonight to see what i can and can't see.

i also hope some of you can catch a film with me during this time of film-binging.

PS - the viff website layout sucks smelly locker socks

update on doc

i've developed a terrible sleep pattern in the past few weeks.

i stay up until around 1pm usually editing the documentary and then i wake up at 6:30am feeling super tired. make it thru the day at work then stagger home to take a quick nap.

so, right now, i'm really awake and feeling very creative which means i don't want to stop but i should cuz i need more than 5.5 hours of sleep a night.

the good news is that rob and i have made some MAJOR progress on the doc.

we've made a rough assembly of all the sequences and are editing/trimming/adding to make it even better.

there are 11 sequences so far and they are:
First clip
Band Intro
House/kelowna intro
Recording setup
Song #1 recording
Song #2 recording
Song #3 recording
Field trip to concert
Packup & photo shoot
Mixing
Vancouver Island concert & ending

currently, all the sequences add up to 1 hour and 24 minutes. about half are 90% done and half are 40% done so we have some more work to do.

the goal is the november 16th deadline for South by Southwest which is the sweet spot of festivals for our documentary.

and our biggest obstacle right now is that we love our footage and our subjects so much we've lost objectivity. so we've been talking about having a focus group of music and film types take a look when we're done to get feedback.

but it doesn't feel like work at all. i find myself thinking about editing when i'm not home and wishing i was home. it's become an obsession for me. i'm not sure i'll know what to do with myself when the editing is done.

technolust

i'm hard wired to lust after shoes, bags and clothes. typically, this is true.

but.
when mr. jobs announces new products, i'm suddenly all about the tech toys.

rob and i are still up right now watching steve jobs' keynote speech off apple.com.

in case anyone is wondering what to save up to buy for me... the new ipod nano is looking pretty sweet. ain't it pretty? it would fit perfectly in my purse.

YVR at 1am

my mom's flight back to taiwan was scheduled for 2am sunday night/monday morning. this has become a habit for my mom as she flies on stand by.

and because my brother is conveniently in seattle visiting friends, the "send off" party consists of my dad, myself and rob.

it's an international flight so my mom arrives at the airport at 11pm. then, we sit around for 2 hours before she needs to enter the gate.

thank goodness the starbucks is still open when we get there. i order up a green tea latte and the 4 of us sit together.

we talk.
small talk.
my mom talks (again) about the cute things i did when i was a baby.
my dad asks about the new job.
we talk about my brother and his family.

and.
and.

rob and i discover some handy features on my new cellphone.
please enjoy.