The natural order of things - chinese short film

Very well done... one question though, if you're sending this one to other Festivals... wouldn't having it available to watch online be okay? I mean... do festivals require that it's not wide available online to the public? I'm always wondering about that.

I haven't decide what model to follow right now with this film. It is okay to have it online, I just think I prefer to have it show at festivals and I don't want its online presence to deter from that. But who knows, I really don't know what I'm going to do with it.
 
Hah, Great!

I was about to say Shanghai, but the tone sounded more from Beijing. How did you coordinate with your actors considering they spoke Mandarin?

Our production manager and producer spoke both English and Mandarin, so they acted as translators during the shoot. I actually liked having to speak direction through a translator because it seemed like with a language barrier there was a certain amount of respect that comes from not knowing what the other person is saying as they say it. It makes it seem like everything that is coming out of their mouth is really important!

I speak conversational Chinese, but definitely wouldn't have been able to communicate without translators. But it worked out great and I think I owe my producer a lot of that credit.
 
Your producers had very important roles in helping you turn your vision into this emotional piece. Bravo to the team.

I can get by speaking Cantonese, but would have the same trouble in trying to communicate to my actors and crew in fluent Mandarin. This is so true when traveling to a foreign country surrounded by an environment you're not used to being around. Listening to your producers telling the team what needs to be done in such directions would make one feel pride and joy about the importance of the message. The adrenaline and excitement!
 
You might have answered this in the previous incarnation of this thread, but why did you decide to make the film in China? It seems as though you could have shot the film in the states with a few modifications. Obviously it gains so much by being set/shot in China, I'm just curious about how it all came about.
 
Ha! I didn't even realize Van had this thread up!

Hello all, I'm David Pencil the composer from the film. It was a tremendous pleasure to work with Van on this. His work is in a class by itself.

I'm definitely looking forward to his next project.

*David*
www.davidpencil.com
 
You might have answered this in the previous incarnation of this thread, but why did you decide to make the film in China? It seems as though you could have shot the film in the states with a few modifications. Obviously it gains so much by being set/shot in China, I'm just curious about how it all came about.

I just felt that some elements of the story wouldn't really translate very well or be as believable if it was shot in the States. It all started with the story, and as I played the movie in my mind, shooting it in China made more sense than shooting it in the U.S. story-wise. The film actually came about when I worked in Beijing during the Olympics and became friends with a producer there and we decided we wanted to make a film together.
 
Leaving the film up for a few more weeks. Check it out and let me know what you think. Feedback is always appreciated!
 
Update. "The Natural Order of Things" is now available for online viewing!

I'm happy to announce that it was selected to partake in the 2010 Texas Filmmakers Showcase, where it premiered in June 2010 at the DGA Theater in Los Angeles (opposite of the private DGA screening of Inception)!

You can watch the video on either Vimeo or YouTube or by watching it here!



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I AGREE
 
Caught a screening of this last year and REALLY enjoyed it.

Now that you have released it, i must feature it on my blog as the Short Film of the Week.

You join some talented ranks from indie world legends to the man himself Martin Scorcese as those who have been featured here.

Feel free to jot any comments, notes etc.. about the making of your project.

You can view where it is being featured here.

http://jone5films.wordpress.com/

Congratulations!

jon
 
Hi, just stumbled across this post on "The Natural Order of Things" as I saw it was shot in Beijing--looks great, congrats! And it's quite a small world, as Torch Sun worked as PM on our production in Beijing as well :) Will you be showing it anywhere in China?
 
Torch is great!!! Tell him Van said hello if you see him again.

I don't know of any good festivals in China that we could submit to.
The producer who was supposed to help me out recently had a baby, so she's been out of commission.

Perhaps you can give me some recommendations?
 
"Good" festivals in China are a relative term--there aren't really any, outside of Hong Kong and Shanghai, that could get you distribution, but in terms of just getting the film out to more people, you could try the Beijing International Movie Week, http://www.beijingfilmfest.org/ and I think the BigScreen Festival in Kunming is still running: http://www.bigscreenfestival.com/

You also might try some Asian festivals in the US--I think a lot of them only call for Asian subjects

All the best with it!
 
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