|
Asian Pacific American filmmakers are looking to the Web as a new way to showcase high quality film projects and APA talent.
By Lynda Lin, Assistant Editor
Published June 19, 2009
This summer, Gary San Angel's name isn't going to appear above the title of a big screen blockbuster, but the Philadelphia-based filmmaker can attract viewers from Texas to the United Kingdom.
He's like the Michael Bay of the online world, except without the explosions and blank checks.
You can be the best director in the world with the greatest film ever made, said San Angel, 37, but it's all a loss if no one watches it.
"No one cares about you unless you go out there and make them care, make them excited about something you believe in."
His short film, "The Koaloha Ukulele Story," is an animated documentary about a gregarious ukulele maker named Alvin Okami. And his screening room is in your computer. The price of admission is right too: free for those in the know. Just don't forget to leave your comments when you leave.
Making movies for internet consumption isn't new, but until now the genre has been saddled with an unflattering image of being mostly low quality, home videos of sneezing pandas and lip-synching boy band wannabes.
Not San Angel's "Koaloha," which is shot and presented in high definition for that full cinematic experience. In the art of guerilla filmmaking, it's now all about high quality. And for filmmakers like San Angel, who is second generation Filipino American, the Web is a new frontier to showcase Asian Pacific American talent.
"On the Web there are different markets and communities that I'm able to tap into that I'd otherwise never be able to access," said San Angel. "And you're free to explore creatively without the hindrance of producers or studios."
The Web is also a haven for competition-killing innovation.
"In our lifetimes we've seen the MP3 destroy the traditional sales model of the music business, it's not out of the question for something to come along and do the same to the film industry," said Ryan Esaki, a 27-year-old co-founder of Ukulele Underground, LLC, which hosted the online world premiere of "Koaloha."
Sites like Vimeo.com and Ustream.tv offer filmmakers the ease of setting up internet screenings and receiving instantaneous responses.
"The Web is a great way for filmmakers to connect to their audience and it can be a cost efficient way as well," said Jennifer Thym, a second generation Chinese American filmmaker currently based in Hong Kong.
With online film releases, you can make and distribute films that appeal to a worldwide audience, said Thym, 34.
"Compare that to traditional theatrical release, which is an expensive distribution method, plus you only have a limited window in which to sell tickets."
In August, Thym plans to launch "Lumina," an original Web series that borrows themes from "Snow White" and the "Twilight" novels. The series, shot in high def with a power Red One video camera, features a mostly APA cast, including JuJu Chan as Lumina Wong, a beautiful career woman in love with a man she can only see in mirrors.
If it were any other filmmaker, Chan said, she would've been hesitant to venture onto the Web. But ultimately, it was all about turning traditional industry mechanism on its head and creating a new venue for APA actors.
"We are here to make a change, and we are serious in producing a high quality and professional production to break the tradition," said Chan.
"Lumina" which was written and directed by Thym, "explores that fantasy of playing with something (or someone) that is magical and not of this world, and how that can have severe consequences for everyone involved."
And like most things on the Web, "Lumina" will be free to view.
Thym is in good company. Last year, veteran director Wayne Wang released "The Princess of Nebraska" exclusively on YouTube's screening room.
"It's not just indie filmmakers using the internet - it's just the direction of the industry," said Michael Kang, whose 2007 film "West 32nd" garnered critical success.
"I think right now we are still in the beginning stages with new technology, but in a decade, watching movies off the internet will probably be the norm. That being said, I don't think that the experience of going to a movie theater and sitting in a dark room with a couple hundred people and having that collective experience will ever go away," said Kang.
In March, when San Angel screened "Koaloha" online for the first time, the film shared screen space with an instant message chatterbox filled with "LOLs" (for the new media newbies that's "laugh out loud").
"At first I was kind of disturbed by it but then I realized that this was the internet at its best," said San Angel.
Two years ago, the theater artist was in the market for a ukulele when he came across the incredible story of Alvin Okami, an inventor, musician and craftsman whose family-owned manufacturing company was rescued from the brink of bankruptcy by the ukulele, a four-string instrument that has become synonymous with Hawaiian culture.
Among other things, Okami invented the spam musubi maker and the toothpaste tube squeezer.
San Angel knew this story had all the makings of a great documentary. He envisioned an oral history style documentary with Okami, a skilled storyteller, leading the way.
"There aren't many documentaries about ukuleles. If there are, they're done in a PBS historical style or concert style."
To make "Koaloha," San Angel spent about $25,000 of his own money on the top of the line camera and audio equipment. Then he headed to Hawaii where he shot over an hour's worth of Okami talking about the birth of his first ukulele.
On the plane back home to Philadelphia, San Angel turned on the camera to review the footage and saw nothing but static.
"I felt like a failure."
He filed the project away until months later when he ran into Rocky Kev, a talented animator, and told him the whole story.
"I laughed," said Kev, a 23-year-old second generation Cambodian American. "I'm a follower of Murphy's Law. 'Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.' But Gary didn't just chuck the footage. He saw the bigger picture and worked it differently."
The audio from the interview was intact, so why not animate?
I don't have any money, San Angel told Kev, but every time we work I'll buy you lunch. For over a year, they met at the restaurant inside the local Ikea furniture store to bring the Alvin Okami story to life.
It's a familiar story for all filmmakers passionate about their art.
"I believe in positive action," said Thym. "I strongly believe that if you want to make change, then don't wait for Hollywood to do it for you."
The next step, she adds, is to snag the attention of the mainstream machine to fund projects like "Lumina" and others. You know, like they do for Michael Bay.
"I want to contribute some alternatives to the traditional mainstream content that is available to viewers. Every view that 'Lumina' gets, I regard as a positive reinforcement that my stories can entertain people and as further validation of our casting decisions."
On the Web: www.luminaseries.com
Exclusive to Pacific Citizen readers!
Watch Gary San Angel's acclaimed documentary "The Koaloha Ukuele Story" here:
http://vimeo.com/4116110
Type in password: 'ukulele'
Photo Gallery
|