GeneChing
01-05-2010, 10:48 AM
Wow. Some one is still shooting 8mm! :)
Published Tuesday January 5th, 2010
Local 8mm martial arts film nominated for four awards at Vancouver festival (http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com/lifetimes/article/909973)
By Jamie Ross
When you think about martial arts flicks, Moncton is probably the one of the last places you'd expect one to be filmed.
But a group of filmmakers here are having surprising success with a kung fu movie they shot in the city last summer.
They Killed My Cat, directed by Elliot Scott and Linda Lum, is up for four awards -- including best original story -- at the Canadian 8mm Independent Martial Arts Film Festival in Vancouver next month.
"It's amazing that it's grabbing this much attention," said Scott, who wrote the movie and held the lead male role. With little advertising, they sold 37 copies in the first week of release.
Scott, who wrote the screenplay in one weekend, plays the role of John Peter, a man who awakens in hospital from a coma and can't remember anything about his life other than that he was attacked and his attackers killed his cat.
He is nursed back to heath by a woman, played by Lum, who teaches him the art of karate.
The character then sets out to take revenge on the bad guys and the main villain, played by the movie's lighting and photography director Rene J. Lirette.
Scott says the film offers everything a fan wants from a martial arts movie.
"The dialogue is there, the storyline, the action, the special effects," said Lum, who had never worked on a movie before this, and was originally in charge of public relations work for the project. "My friends see it and they can't believe it."
The entire film, except for two scenes, was shot in Moncton on a shoestring budget during weekends from June until September.
Scott said they spent about $3,000 of their own money on the movie for tools like a professional video editing program, a number of special effects and a few actors.
"It was amazing with the budget," Scott explains, "because when (people) watch it, they think we put $10,000 into the movie."
They were fortunate enough to get a lot of help from students of the local martial arts community, who were cast in the film for free.
All the locations and sets used on screen were also free.
The film features fighting scenes and stunts choreographed and performed by Scott, who holds a black belt in karate.
With tight budget restrictions, the crew had to be resourceful when they executed tougher fighting and stunt scenes.
At one point, Scotts drops 16 feet with only a few mattresses to break his fall.
He also flies off the hood of a moving car.
The film's score, done entirely by Chinese-Canadian recording artist Yandong Juan, is also up for an award at the February festival.
In addition to best score and best story, the movie is also nominated for the best make up and effects, and best costume design.
Scott said he recently sent the movie to editors of Canadian Karate Magazine and Inside Karate for review.
One of the editors was especially impressed with the resourcefulness of the movie, and suggested it could set the standard for low-budget movies, Scott said.
"They really enjoyed the concept that we made a martial arts movie that was, in a sense, an American-made marital arts movie," he said. "But more reminiscent of the martial arts movies of the '70s that came out of China and Japan, in the sense that it has a lot of underbelly and story and mythology surrounding martial arts."
Scott's not wasting any time getting back into another movie either.
He said most of the same crew is on board for his next movie, which is currently being filmed, called The Stalker and the Hero.
He's hoping to make this one a more cultured flick that represents the growing Asian community in the city and province.
That movie will use two cameras, as opposed to the single camera used when they shot They Killed My Cat, and much more elaborate stunts will be excuted, including jumping through a skylight window.
Scott, who speaks Japanese and Korean, said the dialogue will be spoken in a multitude of languages, and will have multilingual subtitles throughout.
He hopes the movie will encapsulate a number Asian cultures including Vietnamese, Chinese, Korean and Filipino.
"In the end, we'd like to put out a great film that isn't just an action movie," he said. "Of course, it'll have action, more action, but it's going to show a lot more culture."
They Killed My Cat is currently being rated before it can be officially released.
Published Tuesday January 5th, 2010
Local 8mm martial arts film nominated for four awards at Vancouver festival (http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com/lifetimes/article/909973)
By Jamie Ross
When you think about martial arts flicks, Moncton is probably the one of the last places you'd expect one to be filmed.
But a group of filmmakers here are having surprising success with a kung fu movie they shot in the city last summer.
They Killed My Cat, directed by Elliot Scott and Linda Lum, is up for four awards -- including best original story -- at the Canadian 8mm Independent Martial Arts Film Festival in Vancouver next month.
"It's amazing that it's grabbing this much attention," said Scott, who wrote the movie and held the lead male role. With little advertising, they sold 37 copies in the first week of release.
Scott, who wrote the screenplay in one weekend, plays the role of John Peter, a man who awakens in hospital from a coma and can't remember anything about his life other than that he was attacked and his attackers killed his cat.
He is nursed back to heath by a woman, played by Lum, who teaches him the art of karate.
The character then sets out to take revenge on the bad guys and the main villain, played by the movie's lighting and photography director Rene J. Lirette.
Scott says the film offers everything a fan wants from a martial arts movie.
"The dialogue is there, the storyline, the action, the special effects," said Lum, who had never worked on a movie before this, and was originally in charge of public relations work for the project. "My friends see it and they can't believe it."
The entire film, except for two scenes, was shot in Moncton on a shoestring budget during weekends from June until September.
Scott said they spent about $3,000 of their own money on the movie for tools like a professional video editing program, a number of special effects and a few actors.
"It was amazing with the budget," Scott explains, "because when (people) watch it, they think we put $10,000 into the movie."
They were fortunate enough to get a lot of help from students of the local martial arts community, who were cast in the film for free.
All the locations and sets used on screen were also free.
The film features fighting scenes and stunts choreographed and performed by Scott, who holds a black belt in karate.
With tight budget restrictions, the crew had to be resourceful when they executed tougher fighting and stunt scenes.
At one point, Scotts drops 16 feet with only a few mattresses to break his fall.
He also flies off the hood of a moving car.
The film's score, done entirely by Chinese-Canadian recording artist Yandong Juan, is also up for an award at the February festival.
In addition to best score and best story, the movie is also nominated for the best make up and effects, and best costume design.
Scott said he recently sent the movie to editors of Canadian Karate Magazine and Inside Karate for review.
One of the editors was especially impressed with the resourcefulness of the movie, and suggested it could set the standard for low-budget movies, Scott said.
"They really enjoyed the concept that we made a martial arts movie that was, in a sense, an American-made marital arts movie," he said. "But more reminiscent of the martial arts movies of the '70s that came out of China and Japan, in the sense that it has a lot of underbelly and story and mythology surrounding martial arts."
Scott's not wasting any time getting back into another movie either.
He said most of the same crew is on board for his next movie, which is currently being filmed, called The Stalker and the Hero.
He's hoping to make this one a more cultured flick that represents the growing Asian community in the city and province.
That movie will use two cameras, as opposed to the single camera used when they shot They Killed My Cat, and much more elaborate stunts will be excuted, including jumping through a skylight window.
Scott, who speaks Japanese and Korean, said the dialogue will be spoken in a multitude of languages, and will have multilingual subtitles throughout.
He hopes the movie will encapsulate a number Asian cultures including Vietnamese, Chinese, Korean and Filipino.
"In the end, we'd like to put out a great film that isn't just an action movie," he said. "Of course, it'll have action, more action, but it's going to show a lot more culture."
They Killed My Cat is currently being rated before it can be officially released.