“Loky” dir. Adam Jared Lee

Prior to screening my film “Loky”, I had hoped that my film and the ideas exhibited within them would resonate with my peers and that they would see the vibe that I was trying to go for. One of my classmates Michael had brought his friends for the screening, and one of them was an Australian guy who had grew up in Shanghai, so he spoke fluent Mandarin. He said that he could relate to the character in the film as a foreigner in a new country and that he also loved the cinematography, which was cool. I’m glad that he came up to me after the screening and go out of his way to give me his thoughts; an experience you could only get at events like this.

Another thing that I was excited about was seeing the shots that I took, and color graded on the big screen, as well as how the sound design and mix would turn out on cinema speakers. I’m happy that the color grade reflected well on the cinema screen, and it was just awesome to be able to get a taste of how having your film at a “film festival” setting would be like. The sound didn’t turn out very well and was clipping a bit, but the subtitles helped. I will have to mix the sound with proper monitors in the future.

I think creatively I’m finished with this film and will not be expanding on it further. But through making it, I developed ideas and a stronger personal visual aesthetic that I definitely will be continuing to pursue in future films. James also suggested that I submit the film to Tokyo Liftoff Film Festival which I checked out. It seems like a cool festival to be able to try and get in, might try to submit this film next year.

Really enjoyed everyone else’s films, I think that watching everyone progressing through the studio and eventually have it screened was very satisfying. From watching people’s rough cuts to the final versions, I could really tell feel the effort and thought process put behind all their works. I particularly liked Amelia’s work, I think she has a really strong sense of aesthetic and visual style that is synonymous with the kind of films that I like. I enjoyed how her film didn’t pretend to be anything besides what it was, which was a short snapshot of family dynamics. When she pitched her idea earlier in the studio, I was curious about how she was going to approach the family dinner conversation. She actually did really well with the script, and I was convinced by the actors’ performance.

Another film that I really liked was Michaels’. He’s always been unapologetic about his ideas which sounded far out when he first explained it in class. But I think he really did a good job stylistically and he really applied his personal visual style with 3D photography. It was cool seeing him experiment with animation, which was a risk, but it turned out okay and added to the homemade amateur video aesthetic quite well. We discussed the possibility of making a film together sometime in the future, which could be quite exciting as I think he gets the vibe I’m going for, and I get his.

Being a part of an audience at a screening like this really gave me insight on how possible it actually is of getting your work into a film festival. Seeing “Loky” and others’ works on the big screen was like a physical manifestation of our weeks’ worth of effort, and it helped me to envision the possibility of a future where my films are being screened somewhere else.