My Films
Welcome to the journey of film, a small revolution of my vision, perhaps.
I never know what or where my filmmaking would end, but I try to see it as a continuous path, a life-long work for me, and a sacrifice of my truest heart. It's good, and here’s how it begins.
Note: The most recent/mature films are at the bottom of the page
Early Days
My creation began a long time ago, when I was a young boy with nothing to do after school besides playing games and watching YouTube.
So, the young boy tried a new feature on the phone, one that used the big glass hole, which might wield the magic of light. Wow, is this where technology has taken us —so that the flashing image of our lives has become eternal?
Of course, the first few trials weren’t as ideal as he imagined. These are the baby steps, crawling before knowing how to walk. Who knows, maybe there is something unique in these bedrocks, something that holds like a baby’s spine.
Adolescent Days
If you are lost, just remember the “boy” is always referring to me, but in a judgmental, seemingly objective lens.
So, now the boy thinks there is something more, that there might be some potential for him to see. It might just be the flattering of teachers and family, but the boy was determined, thinking that he could be someone someday.
So he tried some more, did some more, and hoped some more. Maybe there is truly a spark of light, a glimmer of hope, among all the creatives he poured. Just maybe, maybe, that his vision of some things will eventually be proven right, deemed popular.
First half of High School times—the more experimental times, trying to figure out what film is and what films mean…
Personal Film:
Paradox?
We The People?
The now-not-so-young boy was not satisfied with merely doing what he was told or following some instructions in classes.
The not-so-young boy wanted to do something of his own, something original. This is why he began to write scripts, trying to build scenes and worlds from nothing.
This is my first attempt at coherent filmmaking based on my premature script. I see it like a painting, taking pieces of creative ideas and putting together an overall picture, whether impressive or not, at least trying to tell a story.
It is not a great piece of work, but it is my starting point.
After completing his first piece, the not-so-young boy contemplated and reflected on his work, seeing where he could improve. Definitely storytelling, he thought, and possibly cutting down the runtime significantly so the film will flow and not be bloated with meaningless things.
Some good reflections, he said to himself, and hopefully this next one could show some improvements. Hence, he began working on the next film based on the second script he ever wrote. He had a vision, a strong favor of montage, that he believes the mixing and cutting of images can mean something extraordinarily beyond what is shown. And I want to preserve this emphasis on editing in all my films, he assured himself.
Besides reinforcing my understanding of montage and cutting, the most important lesson is learning to do all production aspects myself. It was a surreal journey to do everything from pre-production to post-production, writing, recruiting, filming, editing, etc., all by myself. I see them as successful and solid foundations, despite the so-called academic or professional qualities of these films. Completing these films is the most important film school I have ever attended, something Tarantino might agree with.
Junior Days
After some experiences, the boy convinced himself that he should continue to be addicted to endless fun and carelessness. The world, something called college application and a realistic future, was catching up, chasing him by the tail (yeah, he could be a rat if he wanted, as he wrote so much about them).
There might be a way, he told himself. There might be a way to establish a life with pure creativity, a constant fever dream of beauty and art. But who knows, who knows what the future holds and how the world will be?
So, he decided to stop thinking. Just do the films, he said, and let the world determine your worth.
More of High School times, but more consolidated and structured films
Documentary Attempts (not very professional, and with the attempts of personal touch):
These might be the two most creative short films the adolescent boy had done this period. The two short films that fitted into his mode of thinking and storytelling.
He would carry on the legacies of these films, no question. Meanwhile, he decided to try out Documentary.
The original plan was to produce another short Personal Film by the end of my high school time, but I did not have the opportunities to accomplish this goal in Senior Fall, leaving the third script in the We The People?, Paradox?, trilogy without an actual cinematic representation.
More of this, check out the Scripts section!
Young Adult Days
Is this the way? He and his family asked. Is this really going to work out? Is there a certainty? Nothing is certain, he told himself, and this is normal. Oh, this is just a self-indulging complaint with unreal pain, imaginary problems. Or, this is a reinforcement of the theme he believes all along, the struggle of humans over what we show and what we feel.
Who knows? You might just be the next big thing, he said once more. Who cares. Just keep doing what you do. There is no stopping, isn’t? What else would you do to make up for all those lost times, for all the efforts? This might, after all, be a memorable but lucid dream, he complies, to live a life worth dying for.
Now, we are in the modern timeline, where I am writing up this website. I just want to keep perfecting my crafts and doing the best I can.
Personal Films:
I See You
Oh My God, It’s Her!
The two videos are of the same film—just different endings, one soft, and one hard. I chose the hard version because it fits more into my style.
The now-young-adult boy (which is still me; I just think third-person has a certain flair to it) continues his experimentation with what montage can do to separate what we, as humans, think from what we behave, distinguishing reality from its representation. He thinks so much about how he can create a premise, a cinematic world, using cuts like the various strokes that paint a canvas, adding meanings to the seemingly innocent, undisturbed world.
This is the Fall everyone keeps talking about, he thinks. The Fall of cinema that makes it more alive, more enduring.
I guess I will take my chances with this Fall, falling into the endless hole of film, he thinks quietly.
These three films are the most recent of my productions, the strongest works until my next film arrives.
I See You, at this moment, is the starting point of a new trilogy: one that centers on gazes and knowing. It is the eternal debate of who is the spy, who is watching who, or who knows what.
Or, perhaps, nothing is happening, and all we feel is just our mind.
Perhaps I am doing this trilogy a little like fragmented scenes in a feature film, which might be a possibility, an accumulation of these short films into one.
Emerging Media/Technology
I am going to drop the third-person narration in this section, as AI has already made us lose enough autonomy and self-consciousness.
AI is inevitable, whether one likes it or not. It is simply a universal tool, a tool that anyone who masters can benefit from, good or bad. It will be a world of adaptations, of coexistence. There is and will always be room for humans (as human creativity is humans’ last self-defense), compiling mere generations into something recognizable, reflective. I believe this is the future. Perhaps I am wrong, then I would be glad to see a world restored to nostalgia.
But at the same time, there is no harm in adapting, evolving into a new, shared world of men and technology. So, here are my experiments, learning to be complementary with new technologies.
The Verdict of Ascend
AI Music
AI Music generation, the always controversial topic between many fields… This is not a display of my stance on this debate, but a mere exhibit of my learning, experiments, and potential mastery of this new technology, for good or bad.
This is proof that I am not falling behind in the evolving world and that I am adapting to it, fast or slow.
Perhaps this is an exploration into “transhumanism”, that what if, inevitably, AI decides that we are useless and our physical forms are only burdens?
What if the world no longer needs our bodies, and that our bodies are mere wastes and burdens? Where should we go? How would we go? These are all philosophical questions waiting for answers.
This film is not an answer for any of these, just a possibility, a contemplation, based on AI, dreaming of a world of possibilities.
One thing, I must say, is the infinite possibility of outcomes with AI technology we have today, that we never know what it will produce. In a sense, this is like looking into tomorrow.