Bedlam

The Ocean Vista Films office is bedlam. There is Red camera equipment strewn everywhere, new Apple editing decks, laptops, wire, widgets and whatnots filling every crevice and crack. On top of all that are the eager independent filmmakers swooping in, flicking switches, rifling through manuals, pulling things apart, putting them back together, drawing shot lists, drawing lighting lists, making coffee lists, asking questions, advice, laughing, cavorting...IT'S MIND BLOWING.

Such is the game from now until the screenings of the Ocean Vista Films Artist Series at the I Shot Hong Kong independent film festival, screening from July 1 to July 5 at the Grand Cinema.

Josie Ho and Jason Tobin are the first to use the Red cameras today and they've got 24 hours to film their 5 minute short. They'll then head back to our editing suites to download their work and then they get 24 hours to edit. It's 48 hours of complete madness. Josie has just completed a new movie, shot on the Red cameras so she's used to the work flow, but definitely not the time constraint!

Tomorrow, the talented fine artist Mr Simon Birch gets his turn with the camera. He isn't a shooter, nor a director, nor has he made a film of this ilk before, so he'll be relying solely on his creative talent and the talent of our dedicated cinematographer, Andrew Jackson, to get his story across.

And on Saturday, the baton is changed into the hands of Eugenia Yan, who is being produced by Terence Yin.

Eugenia is a talented international artist and is trying her hand at directing. Her cool, even-tempered approach to the project so far will stand her in good stead for the pressure cooking atmospher of the 48 hours deadline.

Her producer,  Terence Yin, is the perfect man for the job and has been busy over the past few days setting up the necessary locations, props and people to get the job done.

Such a cool group of artistic people, all with their own ideas about how to interpret the creative "Determination".

It's a big learning curve for most of the filmmakers and for me also. Making a film in such a short space of time requires absolute organisation. I'm not sure I'd be able to do it myself. It's going to be a long, long week.

And a very rewarding one.

Good luck to them.

Make sure you catch the results of their work at the screenings.

And don't forget to book for the awards night and wrap party on July 3. www.ishothongkong.com has all the details.

Ciao.

C.