“Young Vietnamese filmmakers are very enthusiastic,” a producer of an international filmmaking project in Vietnam talked about his impression of local filmmakers.
The comment was given by Ross Stewart, producer of the famous 48 Hour Film Project (48HFP) in Vietnam, during an interview with
Tuoi Tre News late last month on the occasion that the contest started to receive registration early this month.
The annual contest, which is in its 4th year in the Southeast Asian country, beginning in 2010 (except 2013), requires participants to complete their filmmaking – including writing, shooting, editing, and scoring – in just 48 hours.
Originally founded in the U.S. in 2001, the 48 Hour Film Project is one of the largest time-based filmmaking competitions in the world with over 130 cities currently participating.
This year, the Vietnam contest’s jury will include international award winning director Phillip Noyce and local film directors Hong Quan, who won the contest twice in Hanoi, Nguyen Vinh Son, and Victor Vu.
Talking with Tuoi Tre News, the Australian man who has lived in Vietnam for around 11 years said he has seen many young people hunger for doing creative things even though they have real jobs like businessmen or journalists.
“I’ve seen an increasing number of people needing to express themselves,” he shared. “Some people looked back on the whole year and said 48HFP was a highlight of the year because it gives chances for people to do what they are not able to do or have only talked about.”
Following is an excerpt from the interview with Ross Stewart:
What is the main target of 48HFP?
It’s about getting people involved because you have to be careful to make a film in 48 hours. Sometimes we had actual professional teams, actual filmmakers or TV producers but didn’t finish their films in time, but there were also amateur teams that could get it in on time.
It’s also for creativity. There are many things people talk about doing, but they never do. 48HFP forces people to give up a weekend and focus on just doing the film.
What should participants do to get their films to win?
A good story and good editing. It doesn’t necessarily have to be good acting. If they spend too much time on how the films look, they may not have enough time for what they are about. We had lots of films which were very good at the beginning but got boring at the end because filmmakers didn’t have enough time.
Just focus on a very simple story, very simple structure and get the film finished first. If they have more time, they can focus on extra stuff later.
And if they want to use the sounds of the local environment, it should be quiet. Don’t choose a noisy street for their films. Also, they have to have good planning to consider how and whom they will work with within 48 hours.
In your opinion, what is the weakness of Vietnamese filmmakers?
In the past when we first started, there were so many issues. They didn’t have any idea about their stories, technical quality, vision, sounds, music and acting but the quality is getting a lot better now.
Yet the weakness usually comes down to writing. They need to concentrate on creating a film which is complete and makes sense. Lots of people have their films that don’t make sense.
What is the most difficult part during the contest, according to you?
It’s the filming. You have to be outside for only a very short time. When we start the project in September, it often rains. So unless you want rain to be part of your film, it can be a big problem.
Another difficult part is the ending part or rendering of the film, processing and copying it onto a file. A lot of people really don’t understand how long it takes, and the more effects they use, the longer the rendering takes to be finished.
They may think it lasts only 30 minutes, and then it goes on for an hour and people get crazy. Some even brought their computers which were still rendering the films, sitting on a motorbike in the pouring rain to come to us for submission.
What is a common topic local filmmakers often choose for their films?
It’s got to be love. Now they experiment more about different topics and subjects, but they say a pretty good story is a love story. It doesn’t matter if it’s a horror, action or comedy film.
Also, the theme of their films depends on what topic they will receive randomly and go for.
How do the judges work with the films?
Basically, we will eliminate films whose technical quality is not good enough and make a shortlist out of the remaining films. Then we put the shortlist on Youtube so that the judges will be able to watch them online. They will have a nomination form and fill it out with the films they like, and then from there we make a shortlist again. After that we go through discussion and choose the winner. I really have nothing to do with the process and the judges decide everything by themselves.
What happens to the late submissions?
We still screen them at the cinemas, but they can’t win the main awards. They can still win things like Audience Favorite. At our screenings, audiences get voting shifts and can tick for their favorite films. So the belated films can still win Best Film, but it’s the best film voted by the audience.
What is next year’s plan?
We will carry out a project called 48 Hour Music Video Project which aims to connect musicians and filmmakers because there’s no place for people here to get music for their films unless they know someone personally. Through that program, musicians can sell their music for films.
Moreover, there are lots of bands and musicians who really want to be successful but don’t have a music video. Radio is not big here so they really need to have cool music videos.
As we planned, on a Friday night, filmmaking teams will pick up musicians and bands, then decide songs they want to go for and make music videos for them in two days.
Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
Young Vietnamese filmmakers are enthusiastic: Australian producer Releated Image(s)
0 comments:
Post a Comment