The Lift (2020) by Peter Mourougaya
An indie horror film shot mainly on Panasonic GH5s, EVA 1 and iPhone X. I will discuss further about my editorial process for this movie when the movie is released next year. Stay tuned!
Narrative-based editing is my strong suit. From indie short films to low budget feature films, I have the luxury to work with various talented Vietnamese filmmakers; some of which are very young but ambitious, some are world-renowned.
I’m open to filmmakers who challenge themselves to stand out in current filmmaking scene and who are open to collaborative working environment.
Rom (2019) by Tran Thanh Huy
“The film tells the story about street and homeless children who sell lottery tickets to make ends meet in the buzzing metropolitan Ho Chi Minh City.”
This is the first feature film that I participate as data wrangler and editor. Because of the film’s special nature (as both an arthouse and indie film), most of the crew members were able to complete many tasks and roles. I took on the data wrangler role and later on edited the film myself with the director for a few months.
The lack of suitable and standard workflow from this project made me realize the importance of a tailored workflow for specific projects in Vietnam. We could not afford high-end technology for movies produced here. However, I realize that we can study the standard workflow and apply the fundamental concept of data wrangling and color management into our projects to maximize production value and resources. This movie is the stepping stone for me to decide my career path.
The film was edited first on Davinci Resolve 12.5.4 for more than two months. Then, another editor came in to create 20 more versions of the film, as well as the final version, using FCPX workflow. His name is Lee Chatametikool – one of Thailand’s best film editor, and also a go-to film editor for many Vietnamese independent projects. This is also my motivation to really consider FCPX as my main NLE for other projects of mine later on.
As for the color grading process done by Mr. Bui Cong Anh, there is an article on the Blackmagic Design website that you can read about.
UPDATE: The film has been placed number 1 in ASEAN’s best films list in 2019, an achievement that the whole crew is very proud of.
Cold Fish (2019) by Thanh Doan
“A girl and two young men live together in an urban apartment in Saigon. They have their own unspoken obsessions, which can only be stripped in each of their own private colorful space.“
Over the course of four months, I have sat with a young and up-coming director – Thanh Doan – to find a voice for this experimental short film. Her vision for the film is the urban struggle of the young generation in a booming city like Saigon.
When editing the film, I first followed the story that the script provides. However, as the editing went, rhythm and visual language of each shot, each character became more important. I stop looking for what story is being told on screen, but more about what emotions could be taken out of each cut. The apartment where they are living in is a fish tank, and we as audience are looking at them like we are looking at fishes in a tank. Therefore, the film is presented in such manner, with glimpses of the actual fish in the film, representing each character during certain time frame of the film.
“Cold Fish” is still traveling around different Asian film festivals, giving Thanh Doan confidence to work on her next project.