Questing...|Questing...|Questing...|探求...

I believe that life is indeed a series of quests (that often times occur simultaneously). I also believe that the company of good friends and family will almost always make any quest taken to be much less arduous. My quest upon entering the movie-making business is simply to make films that I (and my like-minded comrades) wanted to make, without compromising artistic integrity and without selling out my ideals. I realized early on that the most ideal method of achieving this goal is to self-produce projects with like-minded and passionate individuals.  Two of whom ( Andy On and Van Ness Wu) I met on the first film that we had worked on together.  As we each developed our crafts (together and individually) ­­­­­­­over the better part of the last decade, we became brothers who would always be there to pick each other up off the floor and (if need be) drag each other closer to each of our goals.  The idea of producing a quality action film together has always been a quest for us all.  And after literally years of trial-and-error, it would appear that Andy, Van, and I are finally taking concrete steps to ensure that we will get the opportunity to create a film we have always wanted to create.  Joining our quest are my two extremely talented and gifted friends, Seamus Walsh (director/screenwriter) and Big Mike Leeder (producer).

Our current quest together has a working title of, " AVP".  For more details regarding our announcement, please see Seamus Walsh’s (director) and Mike Leeder’s (producer) respective blogs here on alivenotdead.com.

(ABOVE) our little piece of the 2010 Hong Kong Filmart...

I'll just continue by stating that we will keep everyone updated on "as it goes into production later this year.

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Angels and Vampires

I had the recent fortune of working as the action director on Jennifer Thym’s femme-fatale actioner, , starring Grace Huang and Kirt Kishita.  Not only were both Kirt and Grace super actors, they were very able to perform much of the physically demanding fight and stunt sequences that I set up for them.  I also have to give props to my assistant-choreographer during the shot, Rodney Wong, who made my job a lot easier.  Desmond was super in pulling this project together and Andreas Thalhammer (an awesome DP who also happens to have an awesome surname) and his super-duper team framed and tracked each shot to perfection with but one or two lines of direction from me (pretty amazing since they were tasked with capturing crazy Hong Kong style action while working with me).  I saw some of the footage while working on a rough cut of the action scenes with Jennifer, and I truly can’t wait for the final product.

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Kung Fu Quest

Currently I’m working on a RTHK project tentatively dubbed, , a mini-series of documentaries with each episode focusing on a different Chinese martial art.  As both the subject and the host of this particular episode, I am followed by a camera crew as I travel to different parts of the world to train with highly skilled martial arts masters, to interview well-experienced teachers of the system, and even sparring with practitioners of the style to fully discover and truly appreciate the art of Hung Ga Kung Fu.

This show is something that I feel very passionate about and it's definitely something that I have placed quite a bit of effort in helping to create.  I am very excited to witness the final product myself.  Over the next few weeks I’ll be abroad continuing my work on this documentary.  So until next time, stay safe, stay healthy, and may God bless you all. | I believe that life is indeed a series of quests (that often times occur simultaneously). I also believe that the company of good friends and family will almost always make any quest taken to be much less arduous. My quest upon entering the movie-making business is simply to make films that I (and my like-minded comrades) wanted to make, without compromising artistic integrity and without selling out my ideals. I realized early on that the most ideal method of achieving this goal is to self-produce projects with like-minded and passionate individuals.  Two of whom ( Andy On and Van Ness Wu) I met on the first film that we had worked on together.  As we each developed our crafts (together and individually) ­­­­­­­over the better part of the last decade, we became brothers who would always be there to pick each other up off the floor and (if need be) drag each other closer to each of our goals.  The idea of producing a quality action film together has always been a quest for us all.  And after literally years of trial-and-error, it would appear that Andy, Van, and I are finally taking concrete steps to ensure that we will get the opportunity to create a film we have always wanted to create.  Joining our quest are my two extremely talented and gifted friends, Seamus Walsh (director/screenwriter) and Big Mike Leeder (producer). prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /

Our current quest together has a working title of, " AVP".  For more details regarding our announcement, please see Seamus Walsh’s (director) and Mike Leeder’s (producer) respective blogs here on alivenotdead.com.

(ABOVE) our little piece of the 2010 Hong Kong Filmart...

I'll just continue by stating that we will keep everyone updated on "prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /as it goes into production later this year.

**** 

Angels and Vampires

I had the recent fortune of working as the action director on Jennifer Thym’s femme-fatale actioner, , starring Grace Huang and Kirt Kishita.  Not only were both Kirt and Grace super actors, they were very able to perform much of the physically demanding fight and stunt sequences that I set up for them.  I also have to give props to my assistant-choreographer during the shot, Rodney Wong, who made my job a lot easier.  Desmond was super in pulling this project together and Andreas Thalhammer (an awesome DP who also happens to have an awesome surname) and his super-duper team framed and tracked each shot to perfection with but one or two lines of direction from me (pretty amazing since they were tasked with capturing crazy Hong Kong style action while working with me).  I saw some of the footage while working on a rough cut of the action scenes with Jennifer, and I truly can’t wait for the final product.

****

**** 

Kung Fu Quest

Currently I’m working on a RTHK project tentatively dubbed, , a mini-series of documentaries with each episode focusing on a different Chinese martial art.  As both the subject and the host of this particular episode, I am followed by a camera crew as I travel to different parts of the world to train with highly skilled martial arts masters, to interview well-experienced teachers of the system, and even sparring with practitioners of the style to fully discover and truly appreciate the art of Hung Ga Kung Fu.

This show is something that I feel very passionate about and it's definitely something that I have placed quite a bit of effort in helping to create.  I am very excited to witness the final product myself.  Over the next few weeks I’ll be abroad continuing my work on this documentary.  So until next time, stay safe, stay healthy, and may God bless you all.| I believe that life is indeed a series of quests (that often times occur simultaneously). I also believe that the company of good friends and family will almost always make any quest taken to be much less arduous. My quest upon entering the movie-making business is simply to make films that I (and my like-minded comrades) wanted to make, without compromising artistic integrity and without selling out my ideals. I realized early on that the most ideal method of achieving this goal is to self-produce projects with like-minded and passionate individuals.  Two of whom ( Andy On and Van Ness Wu) I met on the first film that we had worked on together.  As we each developed our crafts (together and individually) ­­­­­­­over the better part of the last decade, we became brothers who would always be there to pick each other up off the floor and (if need be) drag each other closer to each of our goals.  The idea of producing a quality action film together has always been a quest for us all.  And after literally years of trial-and-error, it would appear that Andy, Van, and I are finally taking concrete steps to ensure that we will get the opportunity to create a film we have always wanted to create.  Joining our quest are my two extremely talented and gifted friends, Seamus Walsh (director/screenwriter) and Big Mike Leeder (producer). prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /

Our current quest together has a working title of, " AVP".  For more details regarding our announcement, please see Seamus Walsh’s (director) and Mike Leeder’s (producer) respective blogs here on alivenotdead.com.

(ABOVE) our little piece of the 2010 Hong Kong Filmart...

I'll just continue by stating that we will keep everyone updated on "prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /as it goes into production later this year.

**** 

Angels and Vampires

I had the recent fortune of working as the action director on Jennifer Thym’s femme-fatale actioner, , starring Grace Huang and Kirt Kishita.  Not only were both Kirt and Grace super actors, they were very able to perform much of the physically demanding fight and stunt sequences that I set up for them.  I also have to give props to my assistant-choreographer during the shot, Rodney Wong, who made my job a lot easier.  Desmond was super in pulling this project together and Andreas Thalhammer (an awesome DP who also happens to have an awesome surname) and his super-duper team framed and tracked each shot to perfection with but one or two lines of direction from me (pretty amazing since they were tasked with capturing crazy Hong Kong style action while working with me).  I saw some of the footage while working on a rough cut of the action scenes with Jennifer, and I truly can’t wait for the final product.

****

**** 

Kung Fu Quest

Currently I’m working on a RTHK project tentatively dubbed, , a mini-series of documentaries with each episode focusing on a different Chinese martial art.  As both the subject and the host of this particular episode, I am followed by a camera crew as I travel to different parts of the world to train with highly skilled martial arts masters, to interview well-experienced teachers of the system, and even sparring with practitioners of the style to fully discover and truly appreciate the art of Hung Ga Kung Fu.

This show is something that I feel very passionate about and it's definitely something that I have placed quite a bit of effort in helping to create.  I am very excited to witness the final product myself.  Over the next few weeks I’ll be abroad continuing my work on this documentary.  So until next time, stay safe, stay healthy, and may God bless you all.| 人生とはまさに探求に次ぐ探求である（そしてしばしばそれは同時発生する）、と僕は考える。そしてまた、良き友や家族との絆はいつでも探求の困難さを軽減 してくれる、と。映画制作業界に入って以来僕が追い求めて来たのは、とにかく、自分自身の（そして心を同じくする仲間の）作りたい映画を作る—芸術的品質 において妥協せず、理想を売り渡さず—ということだ。僕は早くから、その目標を達成する最も理想的な方法は、同じ考えと情熱を持った誰かと共に自分たち自 身で作品をプロデュースすることだと気づいていた。最初に共演した映画で、僕はふたり—アンディ・オンとヴァネス・ウー—と出会った。この１０年間、それ ぞれの作品を（時に個別に、時に共作し）作り上げる中で、僕らはお互いを苦境から救い（必要ならば）目標へと引っ張って行く為に常に在る"兄弟"となっ た。クオリティの高いアクション映画を共に作り上げるというアイディアは常に僕ら皆の追い求めるものだった。そして何年もの、文字通り"試行錯誤"の後 に、アンディ、ヴァン、そして僕は、ようやく、僕ら自身が撮りたいと思い続けて来た映画を制作する機会を得る為の具体的な一歩を踏み出すことができたよう だ。僕らの探求に参加するのは、非常に才能に満ち溢れた僕の2人の友人、シーマス・ウォルシュ（監督／脚本）とビッグ・マイク・リーダー（制作）。

僕らの最新の共同作品の作業用仮タイトルは、「AVP」。詳細に関する発表は、シーマス・ウォルシュ（監督）とマイク・リーダー（制作）のブログを、ここ alivenotdead.comで参照して欲しい。

（上図）２０１０年香港Filmartにおける僕らのささやかな一片…

「AVP」に関する更新を、まずは、この作品は今年末から始動する、と述べることから開始しよう。

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****天使と吸血鬼

最近、僕は、ジェニファー・トゥムのファムファタル（訳者註：魔性の女、危険なまでに魅力的な女性、の意）・アクション映画、グレース・ハン、カート・キ シタ主演の「BloodTraffic」で、アクション監督として仕事をする幸運に恵まれた。カートもグレイスも、素晴らしい役者であるというだけでな く、僕が彼らの為に作り上げた、非常に肉体的に過酷なファイトシーンとスタントを演じることが出来た。この撮影の間の僕のアシスタント振り付け師、ロド ニー・ウォンにも敬意を表する。彼のおかげで仕事がとても楽だった。デズモンドはこのプロジェクトを牽引するにおいて最高だった、そしてアンドレアス・タ ルハマー（素晴らしい撮影監督であり、また偶然にもすごい姓の持ち主）と彼のとんでもなく素晴らしいチームは僕のたった数行の指示にも関わらず、完璧に枠 取りし撮影した（僕と働いている間、クレイジーな香港スタイルのアクションの撮影を課されたわけで、これはかなり驚くべきことだ）。仕事の合間にジェニ ファーと一緒にアクションシーンのラフカットのフィルムを少し見たんだが、本当に、完成作品が待ちきれない。

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****カンフー・クエスト

現在、僕は、RTHKの、「カンフー・クエスト」と仮称される、各エピソードでそれぞれ異なった中国武術を取り上げるドキュメンタリーのミニシリーズに取 り組んでいる。特定のエピソードの被写体かつホストとして、僕はカメラクルーを伴って、洪家拳を完全に見いだし、本当に理解する為に、高度に熟練した達人 たちと共にトレーニングし、経験を積んだ流派の教師にインタヴューし、また、その道の熟練者とのスパーリングまでもする為に、世界各地を訪問する。

この番組に対して僕は非常に情熱を感じているし、これはまさに僕が製作において相当の尽力をするべきものだ。僕自身が完成作品の目撃者になれるということ にとても興奮している。この後の数週間、このドキュメンタリーの仕事の為に海外に出かける。だから、次回まで、みんな、安全で健康でいてくれ。君たちみん なに神の御加護がありますように！