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Saturday, October 11, 2008
Monday, July 16, 2007
2003 til Infinity!!!
 It seems like production has gone on since forever. Ever since one fateful day, late 2003, probably around December, I walked into the office of Visual Communications (VC) in Los Angeles. Hungry, looking for some food, and someone to help me through the job search process, VC exectutive director Leslie Ito asked me if I wanted to submit to the Armed With a Camera (AWC) Fellowship. I submitted a proposal for a project about Hmong B-Boys. On this Los Angeles "winter" afternoon, I had no idea where this film would take me, who I would meet, and least of all how difficult it is to make a documentary film. From Merced with Velocity, to Long Beach with Mpact and Villn, to Fresno with Vang, to Oklahoma with the new Soul Rivals, to Sacramento, and finally back to Fresno with Climax. It has been an epic journey for an epic film... one of fun, struggle, patience, eagerness, frustration, mistakes, joy, and real connections. The past two months have been grunt work, filled with lots of transcriptions. Once that's done come editing. But before all that happened, I needed to complete my final interviews: a reshoot because of sound issues with Mpact and Villn in Sacramento and interviews with Flip and Goku (Charles) of Climax/Soul Control in Fresno and Kingsburg.  The shoot in Sacramento went even better than the first time and I'm hoping to be able to use both sets of interviews with just a little bit of sound restoration and filtering. This time, with the first round under their belt, they've had an opportunity already to think about a lot of the concepts and stories they they talked about this time around. I found their answers to be more concise and perhaps more articulate this time around. The only disappointment was this time was the lack of Horses/Donkeys/Livestock in the background of their interviews. Check out Steven looking like Villn: Masai Warrior in the picture!  In Fresno with Charles and Flip... I already had somewhat of an idea from speaking with Charles over the phone, of how much of an asset he would be to this film, as one of Fresno's stalwart B-Boys. Charismatic, big HEART, HUGE CHIP ON HIS SHOULDER. But more about that in a later posting... I'm hoping to write a complete posting on his interview soon. With this last interview on Sunday, July 15, 2007, I hope this will fill in the earlier histories of the previous generations of Hmong B-Boys, especially in Fresno. Also, get ready for some surprises too. So there it is... that's it, IT'S A WRAP!!! And although this definitely doesn't exclude the possibility of having to get pickup shots, pickup interviews, reshots (hopefully not...), but it marks the beginning of the next part of this journey into really constructing, weaving and connecting all these stories that I've captured, together and creating a vision through them. Wish me luck on this new journey! Though I know I will miss the interview process and the experiences I've had in production (and I know RJ will too), I can't help but believe these are just the beginnings, to many new lasting friendships. Labels: interviews, production, updates
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Interviewing Shoua.
 Our objective on this last heavy day of shooting was Shoua’s narrative. Chris and I had our assertions coming into the interview, some ideas as to where he could be at mentally–his position as a B-Boy, an Uncle, a 1.5-generation Hmong-American, an individual. I had these notions that Shoua had been going through a kind of B-Boy withdrawal, placing him in some sort of B-Boy purgatory. Tulsa isn’t exactly a core space of Hip-Hop, and I didn’t know what the scene was like. Shame on me for making some shortsighted assertions about this young man. Not that Tulsa’s exploding—it’s still far removed from certain conditions that nurture Hip-Hop (i.e. access to safe spaces), but a way of life does exist. It’s been a matter of Shoua tapping into the resources and learning what he’s got to deal with. And when you don’t have resources, you up your drive, you up your motivation, passion. That’s what Chris, myself, and everyone around him has been privy too—and even if we can’t quite articulate what it is that keeps Shoua inspired, we can sure try to show everybody how’s he’s kept it together. We interviewed Shoua at his current residence, the southern side of the Northern part of Tulsa, and through their experiences known to be the “ghetto” part of Tulsa. In the interview we learned that Shoua and his family were at considerable risk—bottom line, they were an open door away from getting shot… I’m not trying to romanticize his experience, but sh*t, I don’t know how I could survive that kind of stress. But he does, they do. The interview was successful; Shoua was able to get certain revelations, anecdotes—the stuff of quality documentary. Moments, thoughts, expression, and honesty on tape. The rest of the evening was spent in the company of his family, good eats, nourishing drink, and good spirits. I know I left full.  (Shoua cutting vegetables for dinner) Labels: interviews, oklahoma, production
Sunday, June 10, 2007
When in Oklahoma...
 Carne Asada Fries (KAR-ney A-SA-DA Fryes) – Origin unknown, first served in the late 1990s. A native dish in San Diego, the base is Shoestring French Fries, stacked with Guacamole, Carne Asada, topped with Cheese. Variations of this dish include refried beans, Pico De Gallo, Sour Cream. Carne Asada Fries are Popular with high school youth, and 20-somethings coming from a night of fun. Carne Asada Fries. Along with my family, it’s the only thing I truly miss about San Diego. Ever since I’ve moved up to the bay, I’ve been disappointed with the Mexican food. My fiance and myself would seek out places around the bay for this dish, and were hopeful with Milpitas, but were disappointed as they used the thicker French Fries. But we're in Oklahoma. So... we're driving yesterday to a restaurant and my eyes land on a taco shop. Usual standard facade: bright colors, boasting authentic Mexican cuisine BUT painted on the window was CARNE ASADA FRYES $4.50. $4.50! Back in the day it was that low, actually $4.00. I was obviously shocked and made it a point to Chris that this was to be our destination for lunch. So. It's about 2 o'clock in the afternoon and we make it to Rioberto's, and Rioberto is a mustached, sombrero rocking amigo offering a taco -- we head in, and this heavy white dude is sitting with his pot-belly staring at Chris and myself. Anxieties aside, I make my way to the counter and ask, "What's in your Carne Asada Fries?"
I asked just to make sure there ain't no beans in it -- and she says in her fresh Mexican accent, "Dere's fryes, Guacamole, Sour Cream, Cheese, Carne Asada..." Perfect. I wait for Chris and he asks if that's all I'm having - damn skippie it's all I'm having -- so he asks politely if he could try some, I say yes and he proceeds to place his order -- two lame chicken tacos. He orders a Sangria Soda, I get a small Horchata and we sit and await our order. We set up the camera obviously to record such a momentous event, when she says, "It's ready." I hop to it, obtain the small half carton of a styrofoam treasure box - half, not the full that we're all familiar with - so that's one point off, but go figure right it was only $4.50... I do a little strut on the way back to the table where Chris is recording and I give a little background to the mystere of Carne Asada Fries and I claim my expertise on it... I open it up and to my minor dismay they've used the big fries, not the small skinny ones - but it's got everything else! The meat... on point. So I have some, and Chris has some -- and I eat and eat and eat.... and it's gone. All gone -- it was a lukewarm success, but that's another life experience I can add to eating Balut in the Philippines and streetside tacos outside of Ensenada - Carne Asada Fries in Tulsa, Oklahoma --- Go Globalism! Labels: production, travel, updates
FOUR LETTER METAPHORS part 2
 Saturday we were off to fish at the dam at Lake Keystone, I believe, near Sand Springs, about a half hour from Nou's place in North Tulsa. We spent somewhere from 3-4 hours out there fishing for sand bass. In the heat we all took off our shirts and I was subsequently sunburned pretty badly. But no need to pity me for this. I distinctly remember feeling exhausted after a full Thursday shoot and the next day feeling like, "damn, I wish I was at home relaxing!" I was a little tired, a little homesick maybe? Either way, after a day out on the river, I was ready to have a great Sunday and head home, mission accomplished! And if you want to talk about mission accompished, well it doesn't get any better than this!  But the day would not be without our regular metaphor hunt. As we filmed during our day of fishing I asked about the hard work that goes into B-Boying, beyond the fun. As we got home and scalled, gutted, washed, and then cooked the fish I asked them about the preparation that goes into one day being able to enjoy the success in B-boying they seek. I think at times the questions themselves might have been odd, possibly a little bit of a stretch as I tried to elicit answers that would bring forth this attempted metaphor, but all I seemed to be left with was some really tasty fish! --Chris    Labels: metaphors, oklahoma, production
FOUR LETTER METAPHORS part 1
 Thai Chickens like these... After Thursday's session we've spent Friday at Soul Rival and Velocity crew member Ted Her aka B-Boy Flake's place in Tulsa. We had a great interview with the 18 year old B-Boy who has, like B-boys Sukie (Shoua) lived in California for a lot of his life before coming to Tulsa. For all of the interviews we've been conducting, I'm always reminded by the correspondence with our project adviser, Vivian, to not only get concrete stories but those ever elusive metaphors! Something in the surrounding area that could represent the struggles or ideas visually that we're trying to capture with the words in our interview. Friday as we arrived at Ted's I was treated to a COCK FIGHT with two of their neighbor's big Thai Chickens. Having never seen anything like it, I was immediately intrigued. Apparently he was just sparring/training the chickens, to be ready for their time to really battle. They tape up their dangerous sharp tallons, as their fights aren't about the blood, so much as they're valued more for their skill, stamina, and endurance, like a boxing Prizefighter! Following the interview, we touched on topics such as training and how he's really learned and developed as a B-Boy through battling. As the other guys showed up, we got some more in depth stories about their camaraderie, about life in Tulsa being Asian, and more about them as a B-Boy crew. --Chris Labels: cock fights, metaphors, oklahoma, production
Friday, June 08, 2007
SOUL RIVALS!
The first day of a big shoot is always a big one, and in anticipation of our shoot, there was nothing much we could do but wait. That's the thing with big shoots, even if you've traveled a long way or are staying for a nice period of time, there's still a lot of waiting around. Since Sukie doesn't get off work until 2:00 pm everyday, R.J. and I found ourselves killing time. In addition to enjoying the complementary breakfast (served daily 7-9 am) and gym access (across the street), we did other work (brought from home), blogged, read, and browsed the internet (via the hotel's free wireless).  Once we began the shoot, with Sukie/Shoua and his Soul Rivals crew, we found it was well worth the wait. We had a good time recording the cypher (for those that don't know, a cypher is a circle where you display your skills one after another, whether it's B-Boying or rapping or whatever) they had during practice. Well ya know, I had a good time watching and even jumped in a few times, and R.J. being the super camera stud he is endured that heat and humidity to record it all. In between cyphers we had an interview session with the guys, touching on topics ranging from what the Oklahoma and Midwest scene is like, how they all got in touch with each other, and stuff like that. Following the practicing, we went to grub at one of the few Asian places, a Hmong owned Vietnamese restaurant a few blocks away. Enough writing, here's the pictures:      Labels: oklahoma, production, travel
Thursday, June 07, 2007
Shootin Up Oklahoma!
 And when we say Yeeow! Ayipioeeay! We're only sayin' You're doin' fine, Oklahoma! Oklahoma O.K
-some Oklahoma song...We just flew into Tulsa, Oklahoma, cameras blazin' from San Francisco, via 2.5 hour stopover in in Denver. Having flown in late, arriving at the airport, at around 7:15pm, after getting the rental car and checking into the hotel, we didn't end up eating until around 10pm, central time. We met up with Shoua, our main interview and reason for coming out here at Denny's and also met his friend Bobby, with whom we had some good conversation about living in Tulsa. Reflecting back as we rolled back to the hotel, we discussed the feel of one difference so far, between here and California so far. The feel of the subtle uneasy glares we got from some of the people we'd come across. Labels: oklahoma, production, travel
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