MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE GENE GENERATION

Chad Michael Ward woke me up with a christmas, with this picture that he did for The Gene Generation. I added in the tagline, credits and all just to get a feel of what the poster might look like. This is only the first concept that Chad has done to give me a taste and if I like the feel so he may continue on with the actual poster. Personally, he is in the right direction as he always is. Me and Chad have always seen eye to eye visually on a lot of things, so it's nice to like something the first time round, even though he is not done with it.

Anyway, here is how it looks, want to wish everybody a Merry Christmas (even though it's a little late) and I hope that the elves nibble in your dreams till New Year.

THE MASSACRE IS OVER

Yesterday concluded the last day I officially wrapped shooting The Gene Generation. It was a very eventful reshoots, we got everything we needed to tidy up the story, lock it off and send it to VFX department. The new actors were great especially Eireann Layne who played the Aereann Flyer Announcer. Chad Michael Ward of Digital Apocalyse came on as Production Designer to add an element to the film that was refreshingly dark.

We had a few visitors, friends whom I have made since I arrived in LA on May 2005 to begin shooting The Gene Generation. Though, I have to admit, it was pretty depressing when the shoot ended. Needless to say, I still got crap...especially from older people, about being a young director and having to re-proof my worth to a new crew again. It sucks that you have to do it, but if you want to be a leader in any industry, I cannot force it down the throats of people, the best I can do is show them that I put in more than they possibly can.

Typing this entry while we are digitizing the footage, ready to edit it and plug it into our movie. Bai Ling's shower scene was something else...although it was a producer's request, me and Bai Ling somehow managed to shoot it in a very artistic way. Oh yeah...blood running down her back as she washes herself after the geisha assassination scene.

So here's a picture from the assassination scene of the Geisha and a little smile for everybody who have stuck with us since the beginning...I love you all! and most importantly, I will not stop working till this project becomes something not only special to me, but to others as well.

That's Jeff Imada (Fight and Stunt Choreographer), Me (I was tired ok!), Bai Ling and Keith Collea (Producer) saying thanks for the support!

AEON FLUX

Aeon Flux opens at a box office failure of 13.1 Million over their 60 million dollar film.

Yahoo! Movie News: Theron 'Flux' a box office failure

In the article, it quotes "Female superheroes have not been much of a box office draw recently, as evidenced by Halle Berry's "Catwoman" and Jennifer Garner's "Elektra." *Groan*...so is Michelle played by Bai Ling considered a super hero? Maybe. In Gene Generation, I decided to focus more of Bai Ling's stuggle as a family breadwinner over her dysfunctional brother ( Parry Shen ) rather than blasting her way in the big screen.

Still, you cannot imagine how many people have approached me and compared my film to Aeon Flux just because Michelle and Aeon are both dressed in black goth outfits. Well, of course I had to check out Aeon Flux, and one thing for certain:

1. Aeon Flux is about the evolution of humans, the city of a perfect paradise. The Gene Generation is about the de-evolution of humans, the city of lost hope.
2. Aeon's goal is to Assassinate a government body, Michelle's goal is to get out of the city in search of a better life.
3. Aeon's kills for vengeance, Michelle kills to battle her sorrows of loneliness.

Still, I thought it'll be funny to do a picture comparison between those 2. You'll probably tell from the pictures that The Gene Generation is a more decayed looking than Aeon Flux which focuses their visuals of lush, posh sets. Me? I just like 'em dirty and wet!

The verdict? Well, points to Charlize Theron for making cool, sexy and deadly look so good. But I have to give Bai Ling more points because she bleeds better. Yeah! More Blood! More Blood! Needless to say, those images belong to the director's cut. So the gore will not be there, unless, well, you see my cut. NC-17 We managed to bring it down to an R.

So to wrap it up. Here's a picture of Bai Ling as she contemplates her role as Michelle against Charlize Theron, while Charlize is just blasting away. Because, hey, Charlize turned to a 200 pound Crack Whore for 'Monster', so she's allowed to do that! Although, Bai Ling on VH1 is still coming close.

RESHOOTS CONFIRMED

Finally, the dates have been set. Script has been updated, actors and crew secured. We're having the majority of the cast involved with a skeleton crew of about 20.

We are expanding on one character, by the name of Josephine Hayden (played by Faye Dunaway), and building a new set for her. Added in a couple of shots for VFX Aereann Flyers as well as some backstory on the whole history of DNA Hacking. Included are the following players added to the movie:

Aereann Flyer Announcer
Genome Lab Technician
Genome Lab Assistant

Also added one more Assasination scene for Bai Ling, where she plays a Geisha girl with retracable fan blades for close combat fighting. Yes, that leaves her bloodied up, Yes, followed by a shower scene. Producers call this the money shot...I guess blood is always good huh.

We'll also be shooting another ending finale. Producers like the idea of toying around with a 'not so happy' ending. We're going to decide with a test audience which ending is better. I'm leaning towards the 'not so happy' ending. As Marilyn Manson used to say

"When I'm God, Everybody Dies".....ain't that the case now anyway....

We'll be filming at New Deal Studios Sound Stage where we will be building our sets. Shooting dates have been confirmed at 17-21st December. I will try and post pics from our reshoots in here. If anyone wants to volunteer, they can call Production Offices at (310) 577 3757.

EPIPHANY THE LAST NIGHT

Things are so much better when you have a muse, even if they don't know they are it. Better to be an inspired amateur than an uninspired professional. Last night, I dreamt Pandora took me out of her box.

LUNCH WITH VILLIANS

Today, I had lunch with Michael Shamus Wiles and Robert David Hall, both pictured below. Two of the best gentlemen that I have met. Lunch with them, although I'm used to seeing them as Villians, was nothing more than exquisite and delightful.

It's always nice to talk to people who have many years of experience in the industry than me. These are the people who have made mistakes and learned from them, and this also gives me a chance to also learn from them. My father always told me to respect my elders. I admit, like every kid, I had my days of rebellion but life is definitely easier when you learn it off the mistakes of others.

That said, Robert and Mike saw some of the clips from The Gene Generation and were pleased by the progress so far. Robert said that my style had a more exotic feel to it and that I should take it and run with it. Robert is right into thinking about using your strengths to the fullest, because trust me, if I had a choice, I would rather have sperm monkies flying all over the screen. But, with what Robert said and what this guy has to say about me, I think that would be the direction of my career will be headed.

Now, I don't know if I respect Robert more or the fact I want to piss this guy off more...but either ways, I think Robert gives good advice.

LONG NIGHT

Producer Keith Collea flew down from Rhode Island last night and immediately hopped on to the production office for a viewing of the 5th Cut version of The Gene Generation. All in all, we have 5 versions of the movie of varying lengths

Assembly Cut - Editor puts together the footage based on the script.
Directors Cut - Longest Version at 2 hour 24 minutes. Story on every character told in the most detailed
Producer's Cut - 1 hour 48 minutes. Story focused on Michelle (Bai Ling) and her back story
Producer's Cut 2 - Story focused on the Transcoder and The Chip (See pic below)

Director's Cut 2 - Shortest Version at 1 hour 38 minutes. Story focused on Demeter (see pic below), Christian (Alec Newman) as the storyteller and Michelle (Bai Ling) as the protagonist.

So the producer came down and we had a long discussion about which cut will be locked down for the final edit and which storyline we were happy about. The key to being a producer is to be able to take a look at each cut subjectively and being able to come up with the best product that he or she will eventually be able to sell.

That said, tonight finally ended with a picture lock. I'm not telling which version was finally given the ok. I still would want to use every version cause I love them all. But now...on to the next step for me, Keith Collea, and Kim Winther...finalising the reshoots.

I will now be taking charge with tidying the locked down version, finalizing my shooting plan, actors .etc. while the producer will start to book the cast and crew for a possible 4-5 day shoot, schedule everything else .etc. All this while I continue working with VFX crew on the asset building of the city as well as the making changes to the script to fit the final lock down of the movie for the animatics.

Yes, there is no such thing as a finished script in pre-production (unless you leave as is of course). The first draft of the script is really the assembly cut of the film and the final draft is the picture lock.

So...gearing up....and moving on...I'm going to have record Parry Shen getting his bangs put back on on a high speed camera and I can have the slow motion footage to oogle at his pain. Muahahaha....I need something to look forward to don't I ?!

Then there's Michael Shamus Wiles who has to get his hair back on again.

And Bai Ling to reprise her fight scene while singing 'Like a Virgin'

I think I need sleep.....

Today officially marks the day I cut down my film from 2 hours 24 minutes to 1 hour 38 minutes. Man, that was painful indeed. But for the sake of increasing the pace of the story, we had no choice but to do it. Certain restructuring had to be made because when you cut down one scene, there will be parts of the story that doesn't make sense (maybe because you lose an explanation or a lead up action) so making one small change could result in complications.

Me and the producer had to give up scenes that we were in love with. Don't worry Parry, your favorite scene in still there. But that's all part of movie business. Perhaps one day if The Gene Generation takes off, I can have my full 2 hour 24 minutes cut with lots more ultra violence...heh heh....blood...mmm...drip drip.....

Parry Shen called me yesterday. That was nice of him, wanted to 'check' up on me, made sure I was behaving myself and editing him properly. And not outside drinking Diet Coke and smoking Cigarettes. The next time I do a film, my producer promised me a smoking lab! Woohoo...can't wait to walk in seeing a floating mist of nicotine and tar! It's like working outdoors in LA with all the carbon monoxide...and people say I should be healthier...I love being in the outdoors

With that said, this week has been great. 2 of my friends got their SAG card so I'm happy for them. The film industry is very unforgiving about crap like that. It's quite an achievement due to the over populated dreams of wannabe actors. The way I see it, SAG filters out the determined with the not. I think SAG is a great thing (maybe cause I don't do the paperwork...hahaha) but it really helps filter them out from an otherwise unmanageable list of people I would have to go through.

THIS JUST PISSES ME OFF

Parry Shen's Post

I was reading Parry Shen's post about Asian Americans feeling insulted because he played a Korean and the role he was given along with other Asian Americans were stereotypically insulting. I guess you could say I'm not happy about Asians being portrayed that way either, but what am I going to do? Can I lead some revolution that is going to way the media thinks? Can I take what was already air and un-air it?

But I'll tell you what I can do! I can choose to
1) Make films that are less stereotypical, make it good and show it to the world
2) Give my Asian Americans some support
3) Quit Whining about how I feel repressed and limited because of my skin color
4) Quit Whining about how I COULD HAVE GOTTEN THE JOB if the media wasn't portraying my culture this way and that way
5) Quit calling people like Parry Shen and Justin Lin or whoever 'sellouts' just because they are more successful than others

C'mon guys, you spend so much time hating and being pissed off with something that you forget to do the things you love! Whether it's making films, stock broking or fingernail biting, use your energies to be constructive....not destructive

You know what, I'm sure there are more Asian filmmakers out there than there are actually roles for Asians. Go out, make your film (and hopeful it's a film people can enjoy and not have to sit and hear somebody whining about cultural repression and stuff), and most importantly, be proud of who you are....maybe you might think you are a minority in the US, but you are a majority in the World.

So with all the complaining about stereotypes, there are people complaining we are NOT stereotyping enough, like this! (Click here)

WEBSITE UPDATED

Ok, it's time for another update. I had to work on the files during Halloween to get the website refined. I should be trick o' treating. I wish I was out there scaring kids, but work's more important.

So, here are the updates to the website
1) Changed almost all the pages and made their fonts bigger. The whole look of the website will be much easier to read now.
2) Updated the front page with the cover of the postcards distributed during AFM, courtesy of MDA who have been most helpful!
3) Added a new gallery of images

Also nice to note that there are sub categories for the gallery
-Production Pictures
-Movie Stills
-Looks of Bai Ling
-Stunts
-Visual FX and Concept

You can also view the entire gallery as a slideshow.

Would love to hear if anybody has anything that might want to see on the website. I will try my best to put it in. I'm not a programmer by career, I just took this up as an extra skill so don't ask me to create Splinter Cell meets Silent Hill online.