Downtown, admidst a cultural landscape that has emerged in a tony environ in the inner city of Los Angeles, Toyota (a sponsor of the Asian Paciflic Film Festival) launched a night of festive entertainment for Festival attendees with a big focus on up-and-coming talent and the Music Video industry.
The Independent Theatre, a mainstay venue for the annual event, was not begging for ticket sales.
An hour or so before the doors were to slated to swing open, music enthusiasts were braving a crush of ticket-holders in the street, with the hope of nabbing a plush seat at the much-anticipated presentation.
I have to admit, this years roster of videos were a little more traditional (in a basic two-minute format rife with a smorgasbord of slick visuals designed to bolster up the potential pop hits being promoted).
Unforunately, most of the videos, were run-of-the-mill.
Kids, get with it!
Lead singers hip-hopping in the mean city streets, mugging into camera - and a lot of superficial attitude - does't cut it anymore in the competitive world of pop stardom!
A large percentage of clips that flew across the wide screen were hum-drum, mediocre, boring!
With the exception of "Valentine" and the "11th Dimension".
Actually, I happened to be standing in line next to the director of the "Valentine" piece, so I snatched up the opportunity to pick his brains a tad.
In his novel video, frames of a cartoon were affixed to DVD cases, and set on a warehouse floor in a domino-style mode (with a pop singer strumming her guitar in the background).
When the frames started to fall - a cartoon was ceremoniously set into motion - at which point the audience was transfixed by romantic images of a lovestruck dude crafting a heart and presenting it to the object of his desire.
Enchanting!
Ross Ching noted that he landed the project after he published a video sample of his work on YouTube.
During a Q & A - getting the artists to chat about their work and the creative process - was like pulling teeth.
When I asked the group what their influences were - the response was pretty much - huh?
Mr. Ching came back with - what was the question?
The young talent appeared to be better at fathoming up their visions, than discussing the creative process behind it.
I re-phrased the question.
"What motivates you?"
That did the trick.
Suddenly, the young filmmakers were babbling at the mouth.
"The fact that music is a Universal language. It is a medium I can work in that touches everyone," one sincere young man uttered up quite eloquently.
Another chimed up that it was the collaborative effort in video-making that inspired him.
In another instant case, a video artist's asserted that his ideas were altruistic and flowed from endeavours with community appeal.
At least one humanitarian in the crowd, eh?
Mr. Ching had no qualms about discussing his prime motivation first and foremost.
"The money!"
The rapt audience roared in approval.
The entertaining evening was topped off with a night-cap on the roof of the Independent Theatre with a sweeping breathtaking view of the Los Angeles.
By the way, at the end of the week, film buffs may want to catch two foreign films that are creating a lot of buzz at the Asian Pacific Film Festival this year.
*The Actresses
*Bodyguards & Assassins
See 'ya there!
http://www.thetattler.biz
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