DISPELLING THE MYTH OF BAI LING

Whenever I get asked questions on The Gene Generation, somehow the question about working with Bai Ling always comes around. It's something I've grown used to, especially with her controversial publicity that has surrounded her, but I thought I could answer a couple of questions.

First of all, I don't claim to know Bai Ling personally, except through various conversations on set, so I won't claim to judge Bai Ling as a person. But from what I know, she is probably one of the nicest people I've come to work with and a professional who have helped shaped the image of The Gene Generation.

I notice that a lot of people have commented about Bai Ling, but the important thing to note about these comments is not one person has said anything about her work or art. As someone who has worked with her, there is really no one who would be more dedicated in her role and push the envelope of artistry than Bai Ling. With that, I don't think I could go back and cast another actress for the role of Michelle, even if I wanted to.

You seldom meet actors who are extremely detailed oriented. You will catch Bai Ling scrutinizing every detail of her character down to the make up and costume. She's also one of the rare actresses who will fight to work more and do one more take. Most actors just hope that the director will yell 'Cut and move on', but not Bai Ling. I don't think she was ever satisfied and that kind of perserverance has pushed this girl from a small province in China into a class A Hollywood actress.

When asked about her Playboy spread, I can only say one thing. Why would you judge a person by the way the media portrays him or her? You obviously don't watch a movie like 'The Crow' and start being disgusted with Bai Ling because she 'likes pretty eyes'. No, you disassociate the fact that Myca and Bai Ling are 2 seperate entities. I urge everybody before they even open their mouths to seperate Bai Ling as a media persona and Bai Ling as a person. Let her entertain you, let her make you cry, smile, because that's what she is...an entertainer.

BACK IN BUSINESS!

Today, producer has finished his cut so I'll be worming my way back into The Gene Generation. With both assembly cuts down, it's finally time to hash out the final product. We've already started building the assets of the VFX work. Here's a little teaser:

As you can see, I'm definitely going biomechanical on the vehicle design, very similar to the glove design, which was built and use on set.

The whole city will have a similar feel but I'll save that for later.

So with that in mind, back in business and getting ready to reshoot anything that might be necessary. Sorry Parry, hair extensions are going back on.

Lessons in Self Restraint was a link a good friend sent to me which shows pretty much my relationship with the producers of the movie. There are many times I have frustrated them with my extreme views on the movie while in return, they do the same to me in terms of keeping me on time and budget.

Now argument between Directors and Producers are a very common thing. It happens on every set. In some sets, arguments go beyond words! But when it all boils down to it, filmmaking is all about team work and knowing who is the boss. In the end, the producer IS the boss. The producer will answer to his boss, the executive producer who in turns answers to the financiers and the list goes on.

A lot of Directors I've met have this 'I'm Director, I'm God' mentality which is pretty bad. Ultimately, you always answer to somebody and you always have to know where you stand. After all, this is a business, and like every business, you learn to throw your ego out the door when you walk into the boss' office. The entire film set, is my boss' office, so I'm in it all the time.

Having control of the majority of the film set doesn't make you the boss (it does create that illusion) but I see myself more like the 'supervisor'. The supervisor is on the floor making sure it happens and happens his way, but without the boss, he has no job and can be fired by him as well.

For most productions, where the director is the producer and writer, this doesn't apply. But I think it's always good practice to work on a film set with that mentality, and to throw your ego out of the door before stepping into a film set. After all, it did take me a while to get use to 'not being the boss' since I produced all my short films. So, if you're still a producer of your films, it might not be a bad idea to start early, since at one point in your life, you're going to be making a film for someone else (big indie financer or studio).

Just my thoughts on this, you might continue to make films even if you are a tough and asshole director to work with, but this is just how I work!

IMPACT PICTURES

Today, I had a meeting with Damon Chua, VP of Impact Pictures. He's also a Singaporean, where he and I both share a mutual friend. Actually, our mutual friend was the producer who me first saw my script in Microsoft Excel. Things have come a long way since then.

Our sunday lunch was mainly spent catching up on Singapore and the ol' what nots. We talked a bit about The Gene Generation, about Impact Pictures, and also about several other things like his previous projects, my previous projects, the typical thing you would hear when you put 2 filmmakers in the same room together.

It is nice to see that our industry is slowly making way for new talent and that hollywood is becoming more and more self accepting to the minority filmmakers. In fact, some actually see us as 'fresh eyes' and assets to the industry. That was an interesting thought, but the bottom line is, luck gets your foot in the industry, while talent helps keep your foot in the industry.

Damon also talked about a couple of his connections which was interesting because I brought up to him the idea of wanting to option an anime and turn it to a live action film. He agreed to get me in contact with the right people and nothing more. That's all I need! I'm excited to see what comes out of that. It may be nothing, because in this industry, nothing is guranteed. Hope is a killer in this industry, the best is always make sure you have more work than you have hope. That's just my point of view anyway.

Regardless, the meeting (to me) sprouted a friendship, with someone that I can relate to. We both come from a tiny country so that makes it easier as well. Well, the most important thing is, work can't always be about work, it's nice to have friends who are there to give you advice as well during their free time!

As far as The Gene Generation goes. The producer Keith Collea is making his cut of the film which would end up in the release version of the movie. Some of you may already know that the cut of the film which you see in release is the producer's cut not the director's cut. Very rare does a director get to have the final cut of the film. It's the way the industry goes. I don't like it. I just work with it.

So, I'm spending my time, twiddling my thumbs, catching up on movies while I wait for the cut to be done. Keeping my fingers crossed!

ASIAN AMERICAN FILMMAKERS

Lately, I've been keeping an eye on Asian American Filmmakers. Being Asian, I would love to learn a little bit more about the people who are in America and doing the same thing I am doing. Question I always wondered is "Am I considered an Asian American?"

Ok, I have a PR here, but I wasn't born here. I certainly wasn't exposed to the culture where Asians are a minority (being born in Asia) until I was 14 when I went to Melbourne Australia to study. But I'm asian, and I'm in America. Does that make me an Asian American? Hard to say, the topics that many Asian Americans dive into are of course the limitations of one being born in a society where one is treated like a minority. I could never make films like that although I LOVE THOSE FILMS, because I don't have such a long history like these filmmakers have.

I think it's safe to say that filmmakers should make movies about subjects that they understand or experienced. Looking back at my experiences, I really have none. Other than the fact that I day dream a lot, that's about it. I guess I use that in my films, so I have at least something.

But maybe another look at it is I have the experience of one who imagines what it must be like being somebody else. That seems to be an occuring theme in most of my movies as well. Ha! That's funny. But who knows, maybe I will get to meet some Asian American friends along the way of my career. I talk to some, met briefly, but nobody I have hung out with. Yup, in short, I didn't make a single Asian friend in the 5 years I have been in the US. Weird? I don't know. I'm just not the sort that seek things out, I'll rather let it come naturally, and hopefully with inspiration. I prefer the company of muses than friends, maybe that's why.

I think this blog has something to do with the movie I'm watching now. Oh well, can't have EVERY entry be about The Gene Generation can't it!

PARRY SHEN

Parry played the role of Jackie, the lead in the movie opposite Bai Ling. A lot of people see this is a Bai Ling movie. For me as a director, the movie is about Michelle (Bai Ling) AND Jackie (Bai Ling). They both play the protagonist for me. And like many movies when the protagonist is being torn apart, I literally did it to my protagonist by tearing Bai Ling and Parry apart.

I think Parry was the actor that I enjoyed working with the most on The Gene Generation. So here's a little xanga just for him!

I think this picture represents my working relationship with Parry Shen the best. I guess it is my job as a director to not only put him in situations of pain, discomfort and of course heartache but to poke at the wounds too. My only regret in this particular scene was using a tad bit too much blood. It covered up the detail of the bruising and infection. But you can still see it later in the film when Bai Ling who plays his sister washes him up. YES! To me, Parry was an actor that took me by surprise. There were people on set who were very hesistant about Parry because he didn't come across as your typical leading man who is hunky with the best kept hygiene in the world. I kinda did the opposite with Parry. He's a good looking man, so I almost deliberately (at times) "uglify" him. I think part of a great working relationship is Parry's trust for me to let me do it to him. Most actors are very hesistant about it.

Parry also makes my job a whole lot easier. Many times on set, we have to cut back on dialogue because of time constraint or change blocking because we moved to another set when the previous one was not ready. Parry never once complained about it, although deep down inside, he was probably swearing at me. But at the very given time, he went out and did his job brilliantly that helped kept the pace of the film on time and on budget. A good actor (even though you pay him lots) can ultimately save you more money than it cost to hire him.

I take Parry's suggestions on his character very seriously only because he does the same to me. At times, I would tell him "No, I think this way is better" and he would leave it at that, no complains, no arguments, Nothing! At times, I think he has a great idea and I would just say "Show it to me" or "Knock em' dead", "Make me cry". So I have to kind of juggle and decide what I think it's appropiate or not, but at the same time knowing that I need the collaboration of my actors to help me out too. After all, what makes a film fun to watch is the diversity of characters. Each individual actor would bring a diversity to it, one director cannot do that. He has to trust his actors to help him out and think for him too. I find a lot of my other director are too afraid to ask their actors for help for fear of looking bad. The way I see it, the only way you can look bad is is when the film looks bad. As long as the actors know you are always looking out for them and you have things under control, set the playground up for them and trust them to do their magic.

I have to admit though that I took a risk on Parry as the producers did on me. Before I decided on Parry, I watched every single one of his films with the exception of his work on TV. Although my producers had someone in mind, there was something about Parry that I could sense. Some sort of a drawstring effect. I wondered what would happen if I gave Parry a character that he had never really played before and where he would take it. I rolled the dice and jackpot! Even up till now, my editor and me would be laughing at Parry's hilarious acting performances as well as fall dead silent in his dramatic scene. No actor stir emotion from me everyday on the editing room, since I see the takes over and over. I have to say that Parry is the first. So if you are reading this Parry, *salute* to a fine actor!

Would I work with Parry again? I don't know. I won't write a script for him, that's just the wrong thing to do. Writing is a story not a character. The actor would help fill in the blanks with the collaboration of the director afterwards. But if he fits into the story, of course I would. I wouldn't cast him as another Jackie though, won't be any fun and challenge for Parry. I would still audition him again, and everything else. Parry never has to earn anything from anyone who has worked with him (cast and crew), he never has to earn trust and respect again. Everything else, well, it's just business

Parry Shen has a xanga webpage too at http://www.xanga.com/parryshen he provides some very interesting takes on the business. I read it everytime he updates it too! Actually, he got me hooked me this...asshole!

Most of you are familiar with myspace.com, or already have an account with it. Here's something interesting...well...for me anyway...

Hacker Zin was set up by my god-sister after I shown her clips of The Gene Generation (I didn't show her the whole thing though) and she wanted to do a myspace column for The Gene Generation. I thought, why not! And here it is http://www.myspace.com/hackingthegenegeneration I hope any myspace members can join up too, as I will be making sure she gets the latest updates on what's going on in her blog. Heck, I guess she will have more stuff in there than I will on mine. I have an account at myspace too. If anyone wants to contact me, I guess that's a rather good way to go considering I hate giving out my e-mail on the internet. It always ends up with some spam mail coming in the tens of thousands. God knows how many e-mails I had to change because of that. Anyway, thought I'd drop a quick note in. Finalizing on the Hovercraft designs right now and moving on to the... The City of The Gene Generation

This is the new editing bay that we have set up in Marina Del Ray. From this picture and the picture below, the bay is split up into 2 different section, on the left is the editor and on the right is mine (with the poster of 'The Crow'!) Yeah, I'm a big fan of The Crow (Bai Ling was the evil villianess) but I swear to god I didn't choose her because of the movie, I had every absolute faith she was prepared, ready and perfect for the role of Michelle. Anyway, the editor basically edits the footage (duh!) and sends over the footage to me on the other computer. Most of the time, I just take a look at what's going from his computer but at many times we have to work on 2 seperate machines. For example, if the producer wanted a clip for such and such, the editor will send the footage over to me for selection and I will cut it up myself for the producer. But on many other cases, I am simply working with the concept designers and visual effects people on that computer. Approving designs and monitoring consistency as well as checking details is pretty much what I do. So, like my editor, I pretty much strain my eyes every day. I'll be wearing glasses pretty soon. The director's cut session is pretty much broken up into 2 main sessions. As you can see at the couch, I have my laptop there. We will first edit each scene the way I envisioned it in my head. Once that is done, the movie is played on the plasma screen at the couch, where I see how my cuts come together as a whole. Usually, changes need to be made on every scene to ensure that the timing and flow of the movie is correct. You can't have quick cuts in one scene and long dolly shots in another (unless there's motivation of course). Should I jump back quickly into the character B? Or should I omit this scene out because it is just dragging the movie too long? Does cutting this scene take the story away? Thousands of questions answered everytime i decide to cut a shot or a take away.

The next phase is of course, the reshoots phase. Once I have decided that I like the movie the way it is, I figure out how I can make the story flow better. This is where I have to submit my reshoots list to the producer who will decide whether or not we reshoot certain scenes. If I felt like the story wasn't clear enough because we didn't cut to a coverage shot and if it doesn't exist, the producer will then schedule reshoots. All in all, I have a list of 13 shots to reshoot. So that means calling actors or even stand-ins at times. That would be the producer's call. The producer is currently editing his cut at the moment. The producer's cut ends up in the theatres and distribution, NOT the director's cut. Maybe the film is successful will video distribution consider the director's cut. You don't see director's cut on the screens much at all! Unless it's on the contract. So that's a peek at the editing office. I'm probably going to be blogging more regularly. Apologies for being out of the loop. But the director's cut is done and I'm off to umm....SLEEP!

Going to be very little updates for the next weeks or so. Currently, I am smacked right in the middle of my director's cut. I'm taking this time to write on the journal while I wait for FCP HD to load up. It takes a whopping 15 minutes to bring up the entire thing. And we are running the new Dual G5s.

Looking back at what I have done, it's quite satisfying to see how I have currently evolved from my very first film. Heck, I wrote my first film 'Liberta Me' on Microsoft Excel! I think to me the important thing in staying grounded is always remembering where you come from. The friends that helped you there, lend support or was just there for you when you felt lost.

I would like to say that I began filmmaking at a tender age of 8 or that I always wanted to be a filmmaker. In reality, I don't even think filmmaking was even an option for me, even when I was 21. I think I became a filmmaker because I was a failed fashion designer. In fact, that was why I came to US, to get a degree in Fashion Design. I enrolled in community college class and one of the classes was Beginner's Video 101. I think the only reason I took up that class was because my dad would never let me touch his video camera even to shoot family events (because it was too expensive and I knew nothing he said) and I had never touched a video camera that it felt slightly rebellious to do it.

But my school wouldn't let me do Video 101 unless I had something to show, to prove that I had some background in it. Of course, I had none, so I had to create one on my own. I borrowed my friend's camera and made this little short. I called it 'Fade to Black' at that time but everyone said it sounded too much like that Metallica song so I used 'Liberata Me' instead. Somebody told me to hold an audition and I did and a whopping 3 PEOPLE TURNED UP! Well, guess I had my cast lined up already!

We made Liberata Me, finished it and next thing I knew I got a call from some female named Joan. She told me she saw a copy of my film and wanted to screen it in a festival. I was like ok, sure, whatever. NOW! BEAR IN MIND! When she said she was a festival, I thought it was like food and drinks and booths with performers and stuff. I never knew film festivals were a business, nor was i a big deal to begin. Even when she told me that she would like to screen out-of-competition, I really didn't mind, who cares! Free food and drinks...It's only when she said that the festival was not in the US was I dissapointed. I ain't travelling just to eat food! So I sent my film and never went.

2 months later, I started getting calls from newspapers and the media. Apparently, it was a big deal in Tucson to be screened at The Cannes Film Festival! What the hell is that! I had no clue but people were making a big deal of it. People were shocked that I wasn't going to cannes, instead, I was going to school, waiting for Video 101 class. One of the reporters actually caught wind of my ignorance and sat me down and explained to me everything...and yeah...I was quite in shock....

I got kicked out of Video 101 school because I would not write 'Appropiate' material and I would shoot insane topics. During one of our pitching classes, I had to pitch on a project to the students and they would vote which movie they would make. My pitch was to make a claymation movie about A Giant Sperm God. My teacher said it wasn't appropiate so I changed my pitch that second to making a black and white movie about color or a silent film about sound design. That didn't fall through. My teacher told me to start changing my ideas otherwise he would fail me...well...he did. My GPA went from 3.8 to 2.9 in one semester. I'm still upset by it.

Somehow, I managed to make another 2 films over the 2 years of me doing nothing. Then a producer approached me to write a film. Something simple and I wrote a story about a brother and sister. But there was no punch and kick to it. We sat down and hashed out over many months how we could make this movie sellable. I said, 'lets make it a science fiction film, about DNA Hacking'. So we weaved the elements into the story and called it 'The Gene Generation'. We were in limbo for 2 years, rewriting it until we were ready. Then in stepped Bai Ling and the other players and now I'm blogging during my editing.

That's my story in case people wanted to know or bothered to read it. It's really rough but I need to get back to work. The point is, I never get sick of telling my story because everytime I tell it, it reminds me of where I come from and to never forget that. If you look at my IMDB listing, I have produced more movies than I have directed. Not because I want to be a producer, but because I think that people should be helped and given a chance. Heck, nobody gave me my chance and I felt crappy. I don't think anybody should be in my position where 3 people turned up for an audition or have a mentor consistently tell you that your art is wrong. So I hope to help many aspiring filmmakers get their start one day. In between directing, I hope to be there for the people that need it. Filmmaking is a group effort, we cannot do it ourselves, I understand that because I went through that. Nobody else should...

.p.s. whatever happened to Fashion Design? Well, I kinda got wrapped up making my 2nd movie I forgot I had classes and failed...

WHAT IN THE WORLD IS VIGYAN PRASAR?

I have no clue. But according to their website, I quote "Vigyan Prasar is an autonomous organization setup by the Government of India's Department of Science and Technology in 1989, to undertake large scale science popularization tasks in the country. "

India huh?

By now, you must be wondering where I'm going with this. Well, here is an outrageous story. The link for the actual webpage is THE ANATOMY OF CRIME - A SCIENTIFIC ANALYSIS - VOLUME 1

This is apparently India's government analysis on crime. The hilarious part is that below the reference link, The Gene Generation is listed down as research material! However, the tag line shows that they got some of their information from the old site at THE GENE GENERATION - THE FUTURE OF SCIENCE AND CRIME

This was way back when writing the back story for the world that I was eventually going to make, I decided to craft and write in absolute detail the things that most people will never see in the film but will nevertheless give me a strong sense of familiarity with The Gene Generation world. I never thought I sounded that convincing! Heck, I was even using codings to play tricks on people. In one of my pages inside, you can send a hack to someone. Of course, they won't know it came from you, so you can pretty much say lots of nasty things like 'Someone thinks you need a new face for that ugly one you have'.

Still, I guess the Indian government dudes might have just used it as a reference for possible criminal movement of the future. Still, deep down inside, I hope they take it seriously, cause then it would be much more funny!