Check out the two clips from Woo Ming Jin's THE TIGER FACTORY

In exactly 12 hours I'll be flying off to Rotterdam. Aside from my own short film EXHALATION, I'm also there for Ming Jin's THE TIGER FACTORY, which is the feature film spin-off of my short, INHALATION (hah). Since he can't make it to the festival, it's all up to me to handle his Q and A sessions as well after each screening. Fun.

Discussing my short film 'EXHALATION' with Toronto J-Film Pow-Wow

Less than two days left before I head off to Rotterdam International Film Festival, so pardon the onslaught of EXHALATION stuff here.



While preparing an EXHALATION press kit for the festival last week, I enlisted the help of Toronto J-Film Pow-Wow's Marc Saint-Cyr to conduct a short interview regarding the film.

Marc Saint-Cyr had previously reviewed EXHALATION.

The short interview is here.

I'll share an exchange from the Q and A regarding why I alternated between black-and-white and colour in the film.

MSC: How did you decide which sequences in the film would be in black-and-white or color?

EY: The black-and-white, was, in fact, a last-minute decision made during post-production. I remembered reading an interview with Andrei Tarkovsky where he pointed out that a black-and-white film immediately creates the impression that your attention is concentrated on what is most important. On the screen, color imposes itself on you.

In order to underline the melancholic undertone of the film, I decided to drain most scenes of their colors. I inserted colours in certain scenes when I needed to accentuate the emotional states of the protagonists. A feeling of brief warmth, or lingering sadness, or an abrupt break from monotony. In the end it was an experiment of sorts for storytelling.

(UPDATED: The Tarkovsky interview I was referring to is here.)

5-minute previews of my short films EXHALATION and INHALATION

If you are one of the 3 people who had been following my filmmaking escapades so far, you'll know that I've made two short films, EXHALATION and INHALATION. Both are similarly titled and shared many common themes, but are ultimately two (vastly) different films.

我是个比较孤独的人-好戏网专访马来西亚新锐导演杨毅恒（我） "I'm quite a loner" - My interview in China's Mask9

Switching to Mandarin...

嗨， 朋友们。

最近接受了中国的《好戏网》访问。 他们已经将采访专题发布在《好戏网》的首页推荐。

若有兴趣的话， 请通过以下链接查看。 呵呵。

我是个比较孤独的人-好戏网专访马来西亚新锐导演杨毅恒

问的问题很仔细，很深奥， 我喜欢。 但是也必须用一点时间思考了才能好好的回答他们。

跟你们分享该文章的摘录。

Rest in peace, Bryan Chiel

I was writing the screenplay for my new short film when my sister suddenly messaged me on Facebook Chat.

"Do you remember Bryan? Aunt Amy's son?" She asked.

I instantly had a bad feeling, and hoped silently that the conversation wouldn't be going to a direction that I didn't want it to go.

Ashita no Joe baby

As you can see from the post filled with photos of kimono-glad young women, I was at the Meiji Shrine for the Seijin no Hi (Coming-Of-Age Day).

While I was at the shrine, I saw a baby sleeping in his stroller.

Girl drinks milk, lots of feathers appear

Yesterday afternoon, Kong filmed the conclusion of his 3-scene short film (that started with Girl In Shower Meets Slasher and Men Throwing Stuff at Helpless Hobo Boxer)

Of course, I was there to chronicle it all.

Men throwing stuff at helpless hobo boxer

Yesterday afternoon, Kong continued shooting the second scene of his 3-scene one-minute short film. (the first scene is of a girl in a shower encountering a slasher).

"CHASING THE DREAM" - article of me at Goreng Dot Com

"CHASING THE DREAM", Erna's profile of me on the brand new Goreng Dot Com website came out two days ago.

Young Women in Kimono at Meiji Shrine during Seijin No Hi (Coming Of Age Day) 2011

Today is Seijin No Hi (Coming Of Age Day), it is the day when young women who are turning 20 this year celebrate their coming of age by going to shrines for prayers.

No, I will NOT vote for you on Facebook.

I'm a heavy Facebook user.

I've synced all my other social network accounts (Youtube, Twitter, Flickr etc.) with my Facebook account so that friends of mine on Facebook will know whenever I've uploaded a photo, or a video, or posted a tweet.

Although I'm highly secretive with my own short films (as in, I don't upload them on Youtube for public viewing) because most of them had been circulating at the film fest circle, I don't mind sharing my own experiences with others, it's my way of keeping in touch with others, allowing others to keep track on my misadventures, and on the other hand, I can keep track on what the others were doing as well.

Many of my relatives, former schoolmates and classmates, and other people I've met throughout the course of my life are Facebook users too, and sadly, this might just be the only way for me to remain 'visible' for them (since I'm constantly flying about, it's really hard for some to keep track on where I am these days). Yes, I don't disagree that this has turned into a form of exhibitionism, and I can absolutely understand why people who crave privacy don't really like the use of Facebook.

I myself try to maintain some form of privacy too, despite having 1400+ friends, every time someone tries to add me and I cannot really recognize them, nor seem to have any mutual friends, I usually message them first and ask them to identify themselves. If there's none, I'll probably ignore the friend request.

Recently, people I've never spoken to for years have begun speaking to me via Facebook Chat, out of the blue. But the conversation is usually like this:

Girl in shower meets a slasher

Yesterday, Kong began to shoot a new short film (it's for some event in Thailand called the Postcard Cinema where a couple of chosen Thai filmmakers have to make 60-second short films, or 'video postcards').

Hatsumode at Meiji Shrine

5 days have passed since 2011 started, I have yet to have my hatsumode (first shrine visit of the year). In the past two years, I did it on New Year's Day. Two years ago, I was at the Todai-ji of Nara. Last year, I went to Tsukui Kannon Zen Temple.

This year, a lady friend of mine who had yet to do her hatsumode as well said to do it at Meiji Shrine.

I have written about Meiji Shrine, which is filled with young women in kimono during Seijin No Hi (Coming Of Age Day), (... and that was the top-viewed blog post of last year), which is the number one destination in Japan for hatsumode. Been there a few times, but thought it's a great idea to finally go there for my hatsumode.

So I went.

The first three days of the new year would have been overcrowded, but today, it was decent.

Top 10 Most-Viewed Posts of 2010

Curious to know which blog post had attracted the most views in 2010, I went to check my Google Analytics.

Here's the top 10.

How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love 2011

Happy 2011, everyone.

After posting my epic Part 1 and Part 2 of the 2010 recap, (which you SHOULD read, if you haven't already, because it took me a lot of time to write that), I put on the exact same shirt I wore on the first day of 2010...

Thoughts on 2010, and its recap (part 2)

CONTINUED FROM PART 1

July

Pia Film Festival and Skip City D-Cinema Movie Festival happened. One in Tokyo, the other in Saitama.

I was happy to see Kazue Fukiishi at the premiere of Gegege Nyobo in Pia.



She didn't see me, though.

Thoughts on 2010, and its recap (part 1)

It is 5:39am, 31st of December, 2010 as I am writing this. Less than 18 hours left for the year. I guess I'll just take a bit of time to reflect on the past year and make some sense out of it.

My life is probably defined now, by my filmmaking career. Ever since I started actually directing in 2008, I had derived a lot of joy from creativity, to be surrounded by like-minded people, to indulge myself in films, to further my own craft. My last tweet was laced with some sort of irony-induced nostalgia.

Yadako's Christmas performance

It's quite a contrast, a year ago and today. A year ago, I had just finished the EXHALATION shoot and capped an unbelievable 2009. 2010 had been an incredible year as well (I am referring only to my own filmmaking career, anything outside that is a tragedy to describe), but as I am few hours away from the last day of 2010, I realize how quiet it is ending for me.

Solitude is fine, all the peace and stuff, yet to be occasionally being surrounded by like-minded people during film shoots is a warm feeling, maybe that's why I enjoy them.

Before I go for a more proper year-end blog entry, I'll just share with you all a very nice performance I had the pleasure of witnessing on Christmas day, of a lady named Yadako (you can follow her on Twitter).

(VIDEO) Bowling games of great intensity in Christmas Eve

I posted about a bowling game in Christmas Eve yesterday.



At that time, I was trying to find an editing software for my laptop that could help me edit the videos that I shot that night.

In the past, I used the Adobe Premiere Pro for PC. Edited my first few short films (Chicken Rice Mystery, Fleeting Images, Love Suicides) with it, also edited telemovies like Cinta Tiga Segi with that too.

But once I switched to shooting stuff on HD, I had to use Final Cut Pro on Mac, which felt immensely more convenient. (Ming Jin's two films WOMAN ON FIRE LOOKS FOR WATER and THE TIGER FACTORY, and my short films beginning from KINGYO, all done with Final Cut Pro)

I still use a PC laptop, and I don't have Adobe Premiere Pro anymore, so I scoured the net, trying to find a good free editing software that could help me. Downloaded a few (I won't name them), but none of them seemed to be able to edit Canon 7D videos.

The only good one I ended up using in the end was EDIUS, but it took a while for me to familiarize myself with the layout.

In the end I lost my patience and decided to just come to my editing lab at Waseda today to swiftly put together this video with Final Cut Pro. After almost an hour, I managed to slap this video together using the music from Nico Spahni's MUSIC FOR SEPT ELLES album.

The bowling alley was so psychedelic that I felt like I was in TRON: LEGACY.

Post by Edmund Yeo.

Bowling games of great intensity in Christmas Eve

On a Christmas Eve, I had some delicious food at a place called Hana Hana in Shibuya. The food was delicious.

There's this egg dish.