-Crew meeting. I am glad that the participating AVT members are all very smart.
-Purchased a 10.4″ monitor that has a native resolution of 800×600. The saleslady claimed that it has a resolution of 1024×768; while this isn’t a lie that resolution is only supported through emulation.
D Minus 3
-Notified police on Monday’s filming.
-Purchased all the bulbs I need.
-Purchased blue and white colored strips.
-Checked out LCD monitors.
-Confirmed that Cinerent does not have the MK41 microphone I want, despite the microphone is listed on its website.
-Scheduled for crew rehearsal tomorrow.
D Minus 4
-Purchased a Canon XH-A1. Thank you Dad and Mom for financing!
-Sent the casting company script v1.3
D Minus 5
-Finally came up with a script that I am satisfied with. The official name of the film is now CS2; the name is indirectly related to the setting of the script.
HD in Hong Kong: A Long Way to Go
First the best pro-sumer grade–pro-sumer in international standard, but considered “professional” in Hong Kong–25p HD camcorder, Panasonic HVX200, is carried only by one retailer. Second even though that retailer has the camcorder in stock it does not have the necessary recording media. Third Panasonic Hong Kong charges a ridiculously highly price for the recording media, over 3 times the price in US. Add to this the fact that HD Broadcast is not happening anytime soon, I can confidently say: Hong Kong, you are not a world city when it comes to HD.
(香港旅行社協會執行委員胡兆英)胡兆英表示，當計算遣散費時，公司一向也只會補償底薪及出團費，小費並不包括在內。胡認為這種做法恰當，小費屬於出團才會有的收入，僱主「無理由要畀錢佢放假」。
Does Mr. Woo understand what “paid holiday” means?
Missed My Flight
So back to work until Thursday…
For those of you who know me well you understand how notoriously slow my decision making is; that’s what you get when you take economics theory literally. In any case as I ponder today I believe my decisions are correct in most cases. For one I rarely suffer from buyer’s remorse–I suppose someone who actually calculates price per ounce during the purchase of potato chips is incapable of that. At this moment I am clearly smoothing my consumption–taking a huge debt that is. Given how easy it is to sell things on Ebay and Craig’s List one could argue that borrowing, try and sell if unsatisfied is a dominate strategy. Not that this is easy to do–a lot of self control is needed for the “sell” part to work. That said, the $5000 credit card debt an average American takes on is not consumption smoothing; for them there is no foreseeable huge raise in income. I would even say the right thing for them to do should be saving.
Consumption smoothing is not as easy as it sounds; one really have to be thinking in terms of “the very long run” for this to work. And the real difficulty lies not in how much to spend but how to spend. Last but not the least credit constraint is very, very real.
Just got off a chat with a former chairman of the Audio and Visual Team of my high school; the Team is not in its best shape but I do feel more confident now that I can get the crew I need. The next step is to figure out the cast. Moreover since I am leaving the States in two weeks, I have to make all purchases in the next few days.
Equipment that renting in Hong Kong is a lot cheaper:
Camcorder
Lights
Microphones (really great prices, probably due to the much longer life expectancy of microphones over camcorders)
Equipment that buying in US is not a lot more expensive:
35mm adapter (Cinerent only carries P+S, too expensive for me to use. As a side note shallow DOF is completely a personal taste; nothing about shallow DOF = film-look)
Digital Sound Recorder (again Cinerent only has high end models)
Gels for lights (in fact they are cheaper considering the colors I can get by buying)
Equipment that is more expensive to buy but nevertheless I am buying:
Follow-focus set (have to buy because I think this is something that takes a lot of practice to get use to)
Equipment I have not decide what to do:
boompole
I have to constantly remind myself that I cannot spend all my budget on equipment purchase since I need to have enough money for compensation, rental and the coming Eastern Europe trip.
馮檢基黎文卓合辦
社會企業培訓專業臨記 2007年4月20日【明報專訊】「你個死茄喱啡！」「其實我是一個專業的演員。」電影《喜劇之王》裏，周星馳飾演尹天仇，是力求專業的「茄喱啡」(臨時演員，亦俗稱「臨記」)。現實中，市民也有機會做一個「專業的茄喱啡」！民協主席馮檢基和演藝界人士黎文卓計劃在7月組織社會企業，培訓「臨記」人才，讓失業者、低收入人士可以賺外快，並洗脫臨記一些不夠專業、散漫的情。
「一直以來，香港的臨記相對地不太專業，也很散漫，是被遺忘的一個行業。」盛彩有限公司總經理黎文卓形容，眼前政府說要發展電影業，成立電影發展局，亞視又得到新公司入股，他相信電影、電視、廣告行業仍有發展空間，仍可以為臨記帶來很多就業機會。
為此，他和馮檢基一拍即合，合組社會企業，為失業人士、低收入人士或有志兼職臨記的人士提供培訓課程，並提供工作。馮檢基表示，民協社會服務中心有足夠的地方和人員，黎文卓則負責課程設計及尋找導師。
邀導演演員任導師
黎文卓說，現時構思是為學員提供5天的課程，邀請知名導演、有經驗演員等，講解片場結構、影視製作原理、工種職位、態度儀容，以至演戲基本技巧。「死其實都有技巧，單是死都可以上兩堂，有不同死法。」
經考試後，學員便可獲發證書，公司會登記他們的資料，包括有沒有疤痕、紋身、光頭等，希望9月可以聚集足夠登記人士，正式開業。
希望港台帶頭聘用
黎文卓說﹕「我們是社會企業，開宗明義不是要賺大錢，很希望業界可以支持，肯用我們公司提供的人。我保證，他們不會粗口爛舌，不會遲到早退，我們擔保我們的人一定有片場的紀律。」
黎文卓表示，會拜訪業界朋友，亦希望港台帶頭支持他們，聘請他們提供的臨記。馮檢基形容，這只是一個開頭，長遠的目標，是發展成專為演藝文化事業提供後勤人員，配合未來西九龍文娛藝術區發展。
可代墊支學費
學費方面，當學員交數百元學費也有困難時，他們會先為學員墊支，等到學員將來接到工作後才扣回。
明報記者 周展鴻
3億電影基金 資助上限360萬
【明報專訊】工商及科技局建議注資3億元，透過新的發展資助基金計劃，資助製作預算不超過1200萬元（中低成本）的電影，資助上限為三成，即每部電影最多360萬元，局方期望款額有助內地及海外推廣香港電影，以及培訓發行和製作的人才等。
局方昨日向立法會提交文件，交代基金的審批準則，申請資助的電影必須具備完整劇本，擬於本港的電影院作商業放映，製作預算不超過1200萬元；電影須獲確定為商業上可行，且最少一半製作費已獲第三者融資保證；主要演員及工人員中至少一半為香港永久居民。
文件指出，若劇本的內容過度刻劃描繪殘暴、暴力、罪行、性事，或污衊或侮辱某一類人士的種族、宗教、民族、性別，有關申請通常不會獲得考慮。
局方表示，影視處長會成為新發展基金的管制人員，電影發展局亦會在轄下重組新審核委員會，為發展基金發放資金提供意見。
局方又建議開設電影發展局秘書長職位，協助影視處長為電影發展局提供支援。
片量銳減 新秀缺磨練場
【明報專訊】港產片呱呱墮地的一天，靠的就是年輕人——他是黎姿的祖父黎民偉，年僅二十，拍攝了首齣港產片《莊子試妻》，時為1913年。80年代港片巔峰之作《監獄風雲》，林嶺東執導，時年32歲。如今？《無間道》監製兼寰亞副主席莊澄說，有機會拍戲的新導演，「5隻手指數得晒」。
莊澄：要興旺 要獨立製片
港產片高峰期，大量獨立製片商活躍市場，為新秀提供邊做邊學的機會；近年港產片大減，以致出現「人才荒」，莊澄斷言﹕「要興旺，要有獨立製片。」
莊澄說，現時大部分港產片不出數間大企業出品，例如寰亞、嘉禾、英皇等，這類公司人力財力十足，部門分工仔細，有別於財力較差的獨立製片商，什麼都要「一腳踢」。
獨立製片在80年代非常興旺，出現小本經營與大型企業平分秋色之局，部分公司建立知名度後，便可愈做愈大。由於收益穩定，可讓電影人安心發揮創意，有更大機會獲得賞識，故獨立製片對港產片成敗及人才培訓，均扮演着重要角色。
近年香港電影業有「片量減少，質素上升」之勢，但衍生了青黃不接的問題，年輕一輩少有受訓機會，莊澄笑說，現時活躍的成功電影人年紀，都是「較中年更進一步」（指年齡大於中年人），他們大部分於80年代入行，從參與質素較差的電影中累積經驗，待日子有功才拍「好片」；反觀現時有機會拍戲的新導演寥寥可數，令人才傳承出現危機。
「新一批藝人 周身刀無張利」
3月初，政府宣布撥款3億元作電影發展基金，其後工商及科技局長王永平稱，基金會直接投資中小型電影，雖然暫時未有所謂「中小型」的定義，但一般而言，是指製作費大約在1000萬元以下的電影，莊澄對此種界定表示同意。
香港電影導演會永遠榮譽會長張同祖說，創作人及演員出現斷層，是目前電影業的最大隱憂，行頭縮窄，電影從業員愈來愈少學習機會，「有很多人入過行，但沒有環境成長，一定要經歷大小不同『戰役』，才可站起來。」
張同祖又認為香港欠缺演員制度，「新一批都是演藝人，不是演員。登台、剪綵什麼都做，周身刀無張利」。反觀荷李活對演員工作嚴格規管，簽了一部戲期間，便不會參與其他工作，這種做法，對投資者、幕後創作人及電影質素均較有保障。
What I do know is Hong Kong does not have a large low-budget independent film making community.