Daily Archives: October 5, 2011

Dum Dum Dah Dah by The Nghiems

Dum Dum Dah Dah by The Nghiems

The band “The Nghiems” created a stop motion music video for their song “Dum Dum Dah Dah”. It’s based off a fictional arcade game where the band members serve as the main characters. The visuals draw off of video games from the 80’s and 90’s including Mortal Kombat, X-men, TNMT, Super Mario Bros. Mixing action figures, green screen, and still photos, they produce something truly amazing. Creating this nostalgic masterpiece took over 4 months to produce and over 8,000 individual photos were used in this stop motion music video. Kyle Roberts and his crew went into intensive post production by superimposing the band members heads on action figures. Follow the band through each stage of of the video game. You can get the song on Dum Dum Dah Dah - The Pine Tree, The Mushroom, & The End of the World.

For more stop motion fun, check out Gummy Bear x Video Games, Deadline, Deadline 2, and Origami In the Pursuit of Perfection.

Dum Dum Dah Dah by The Nghiems

Making Of The Nghiems “Dum Dum Dah Dah” Stop-Motion Music Video

Glee Season 3 Episode 3: Asian F

Glee Season 3 Episode 3: Asian F

If you missed the Glee Season 3 Episode 3: Asian F last night, you can watch it below. Tamilyn Tomita and Keong Sim guest stars as Mike Chang’s mom and dad. Below are the spoilers of what happens with the Mike Chang story line played by Harry Shum Jr.:

Mike’s very serious and driven father, Mike Chang, Sr., accompanies him on a visit to Principal Figgins’ office to request a daily drug test now that Mike’s brought home his first A-, what Mr. Chang labels as an “Asian F.” Mr. Chang is convinced that his son is on the road to academic ruin, and he hopes to determine if the problem is drugs, or possibly that his romance with Tina is distracting him from his studies (Figgins agrees Tina could be the problem, believing her to possibly be a vampire). Mr. Chang also suggests that glee club might be a detriment, but Mike swears he’ll improve his academics. At football practice, Mike is distracted as he worries about keeping everything in balance.

Tina wants Mike to rehearse and try out for the second male lead, a singing part to show that he’s more than just a fleet-footed “dance ninja,” but he resists: he’s overwhelmed with his workload already. She urges him to be honest with his father and let him know how important his artistic pursuits are to him, but he reminds her that she wasn’t very honest when she was pretending to stutter.

On his way to a tutoring session, Mike, still fretting over his father’s judgment, promises to bring his grades up and apologizes for disappointing him. But he finds himself compelled to work out some dance moves in the school’s studio. Suddenly, he imagines his dad in the mirror, criticizing him for wasting his time on a hobby, not a career. Mike uses dance to work out his frustrations, and suddenly Tina tells him how beautiful it looks when he dances, saying that it’s why she fell in love with him. Then Mike realizes that Tina’s just in his head, too.

Later, it appears that Mike’s not going to show up for his audition, but he arrives just in time to try out for a singing part as the Jets’ leader Riff, performing “Cool” from “West Side Story,” with some dance backup from the football team. Praised by the directors, Mike admits that performing is what he wants to do: “It isn’t a waste of my time.” (You can download Harry Shum Jr. singing “Cool” on Cool (Glee Cast Version) - Cool (Glee Cast Version) - Single.)

Mike’s mother confronts him at school. Having learned that he missed the tutoring session, she lied to his father to cover for him, and now she demands to know what’s going on. He tells her that he doesn’t want to be a doctor or a lawyer – he wants to be an artist. Mrs. Chang tearfully confesses that she never had to courage to stand up to her own parents and break from the path they set her on, and she promises to support Mike’s dreams. If he lands the role in the musical, they’ll tell Mr. Chang together. Learning that she, too, loved dancing, Mike shares a waltz with his mother.

See more real life acting and dancing skill from Harry Shum Jr. outside of Glee: Matched, LXD, Buffet, 3 Steps to Self Esteem, Best Date EVER!, and 3 Minutes.

Glee Season 3 Episode 3: Asian F

Glee Season 3 Episode 3: Asian F

Glee Season 3 Episode 3: Asian F

Good in my Hood : the iPad Face Dance

Good in my Hood : the iPad Face Dance

Director Lawrence Chen shares with us his latest music video creation. For the song “Good in my Hood” by Eric Holljes, he uses Apple’s Facetime app for iPad 2 to display the singer’s face on several dancers. It’s an interesting use of technology in entertainment.

See more of Lawrence Chen’s work: Now at Last (Made in China), Laughter, and Side Effects.

Good in my Hood : the iPad Face Dance

Six Feet in Seven Minutes

Six Feet in Seven minutes

If you missed “Six Feet in Seven Minutes” on the film festival circuit, you can now watch it online. It’s a short dark comedy about Rajeev Reddi, an East Indian guy, who has always has been surrounded by death. Today, on Rajeev’s 18th birthday, his parents will finally tell him why. How does a young guy deal with death?

Here’s a statement from director Rafael Del Toro
I wanted to make a film that most people could relate to. I think the common factor in this film is the culture clash between this new generation’s views versus that of their parents’- then I took it to an extreme. A lot of people ask why a Latino director would use an all East-Indian cast. Why not? I write whatever characters a story calls for.

Six Feet in Seven minutes (contains profanity)

2011 San Diego Asian Film Festival

2011 San Diego Asian Film Festival

The 2011 San Diego Asian Film Festival (SDAFF) is excited to announce its twelfth season which runs OCTOBER 20-28, 2011 at the Mission Valley UltraStar Cinemas (7510 Hazard Center Drive, San Diego, CA 92108). As one of the largest film exhibitions of its kind in North America, more than 160 films will premiere from 21 countries. More than a hundred filmmakers, actors, and industry guests are scheduled to attend including Kelly Hu (THE SCORPION KING, ALMOST PERFECT), Hong Kong Actor/Singer Edison Chen, Sung Kang (FAST FIVE), Harry Shum Jr (GLEE), IAMME Dance Crew (2011 Winners of MTV’s America’s Best Dance Crew), CS Lee (DEXTER), and many more.

Highlights include:

  • Opening night film on Thursday, October 20- ALMOST PERFECT, starring Kelly Hu (scheduled to attend with director Bertha Bay-Sa Pan, and Hong Kong Superstar Edison Chen)
  • Closing night film on Friday, October 28 with the foodie crowd-pleasing documentary, JIRO DREAMS OF SUSHI (director David Gelb scheduled to attend)
  • Annual Music Video Party, BLOWFISH on Friday, October 21, featuring one of the pioneers of the video and DJ mash up, Mike Relm.
  • Panel on Dance in Film and TV with America’s Best Dance Crew Season 6 2011 Finalists and Winners, Instant Noodles Crew + I.AM.ME Crew (respectively)
  • Industry Gala Awards Event on Sat, October 22, where pioneer Asian American actress, Nancy Kwan (Flower Drum Song, The World of Suzie Wong) will receive a Lifetime Achievement award.

Get more info and tickets here.

2011 San Diego Asian Film Festival

Lost Years documentary series on Chinese Canadians

Lost Years documentary series on Chinese Canadians

A few years back in the US, you may remember a Bill Moyers documentary series “Becoming American: The Chinese Experience,” which chronicled the dramatic story of struggle and triumph, progress and setbacks, discrimination and assimilation for Chinese Americans. Director Kenda Gee created an equivalent version for Chinese Canadians called “Lost Years”.

LOST YEARS is an epic documentary touching upon 150 years of the Chinese diaspora in Canada, USA, New Zealand and Australia, covering four generations of racism as revealed through the journey and family story of Kenda Gee. Based on over 12 years of research and two years in the making. A timely and timeless journey from the world’s diverse regions that unravels injustice on an international stage, “Lost Years” follows the exodus and turbulent history of China’s diaspora as witnessed through the digital inter-leafing of three successive Chinese-Canadian generations. The journey begins in old China in 1910 and concludes with the movement to embrace redress as a concept of social justice in the modern world of Canada and New Zealand, exactly one century later. An epoch that delivers an important message, namely, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

Listen to filmmakers Kenda Gee and Tom Radford talk about Lost Years

If you’re in Canada look for a national broadcast of LOST YEARS on CBC TV in early 2012.

Other documentaries to check out include Hollywood Chinese and Slanted Screen.

Lost Years documentary series clip