VAFF and the Asian-American film community

During Summer I was approached by my good friend, Producer/Actor Grace Chin to direct and produce the behind the scenes clip for the Mighty Asian Moviemaking Marathon, a one-week filmmaking competition done before the Asian Film Festival every year.

That went well (I even used one of the songs from my old punk rock band LyMe as a soundtrack!), so she called me again a month ago to direct and produce the behind the scenes DVD for the 14th Vancouver Asian Film Festival! :D

Now that the Festival is officially over, I can look back and say what a great opportunity that was. I called my buddies Kyle Hollett (Producer/SDLR shooter, who produced the Hot Hot Heat music video "YVR" I had the chance to production design a while back) and Andres Santana (Sound Designer/Producer, who I met during the filming of the indie feature "Neutral Territory", where I was 1st AD for a few days) to be my tight film ninja team and help me capture the highlights of the festival. For a day I needed extra help which I fortunately found in my old film pals Emily Chan (writer/director/producer) and Stephanie Shim (writer/producer) who both helped me in the past with my short films "Scars" and "Henchin".

During the shoot we managed to get interviews from filmmakers, staff and volunteers, got really cool shots of audiences watching films and mingling at galas, and even got into the Tinseltown Theaters projection room to capture the closing night film, my friend Jeff Chiba's feature doc "One Big Hapa Family" which played in front of a packed room. (people sitting in the aisles!).

The festival also gave me and my team the chance to network with other filmmakers and industry professionals, including catching up with a friend I hadn't seen since we worked together on the disaster film 2012 a few years ago, exec producer Rick Tae from http://www.diverseentertainment.com Check him out, his company has grown heaps since I last saw him. All in all I brought home a stack of new connections, interested in working with my company False Creek Films in making stereoscopic 3D content for TV and Cinemas everywhere!

Now its editing time! I'm collecting my materials to dedicate the next month to put together two versions of the event - a short + swanky one to promote the festival and find funding for next year and a longer version, with interviews and a slower pace for general consumption.


Awesome, cutting room here I come.

TIFF, VIFF and the hustle of film festivals

Last week I came back from the Toronto International Film Festival, where I attended its final four days.

I went firstly because my friend, Director Katrin Bowen's debut film Amazon Falls got selected to play at the festival (I did storyboards, Key grip and best boy electric on it), and she asked me if I wanted to come to Toronto to see the festival in person. Of course I agreed, and bought myself a flight with the little money I had left. I was going to spend the rest of my savings on my hostel bunk bed and food costs.

I was going to attend TIFF's film market without a pass but I went with the hope I'd get hooked up somehow once there.
Another reason I decided to risk my Vancouver rent for a few days at TIFF was because I started working as producer and head of Feature Films Development at a new stereoscopic 3D film production house called False Creek Films, a cool (albeit volunteer) position I landed through my involvement in a couple of independent short films. I could smell the future and decided to bet on it.

So anyway, it really is all about throwing yourself into the fray and being there at the right time. At TIFF I ended up not only having a great time in parties and exchanging contacts with excellent industry people but even made some good friends, like Sean McConville, director/writer/producer of Deadline, with Brittany Murphy and Thora Birch, and Reza Safinia, score composer and music producer who has worked with the likes of Britney Spears and Madonna. And we were all there just to have a good time. Count me in for next year's TIFF!

Next week is Vancouver's turn and the local international film festival is already making some press. I will make sure to check out some galas (Amazon Falls at home!) and network a bit more than I did at previous years' VIFF. Granted its not as big as its Toronto counterpart, but its definitely one of the best film events in Canada. :)

www.javierbadillo.com - Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network

I am starting a fund-raising campaign for my feature film "SHEATTLE"! The first step is to shoot a teaser to get to the next phase. Help make it happen by donating through indiegogo.com - $6,000 by October 31st, we can do it! :D

A music video to keep the virus away

Ive been fighting this evil virus for about a week now, and I've been stuck in my bedroom too weak to do or even eat anything..so the only way to get me back on my feet was by getting involved in a fun project!

I will be production designing a music video for the talented, inspiring Narai Dawn (www.myspace.com/naraimusic), an old friend of Brendan Uegama's, my filmmaker pal. The song is called "In the light" but its not online yet. I met with both of them a couple times before and we have decided to shoot it on the 15, 16 and 17th of June, in a few weeks!

This wouldnt be so bad if it wasnt because the sets we have to build are totally insane. Walls made of white fabric material that peel on touch and ooze bright colors! Large amounts of primary color paint being splashed (and exploded in slo-mo) on the band and on a white walled set, while an open window blows wind into the room..all shot in different cameras - 35mm, 16mm, s8mm, and Red! Its going to be awesome!

I've already enlisted the brains of my trusted Art Director (and muse) Oshy Parasol, so I know this will be a good one - the abstract painterly style is right up her alley. I also hired the multi-talented construction coordinator Adrian Walker, who did the frames for my sets on our previous show (Gloo Studios and Erick Boychuk's Mayan Calendar). The core art team is almost together. Just need a good Set Dec/Propmaster and a team of artists and construction ninjas and we'll be good to go! w00t!

Band has a new name

So the name we thought of the band was Space Amoeba, but now we want to add Kruisin' in the middle and turn it to Space Kruisin' Amoeba. Its a bit of a mouthful, but not when you call us by the acronym SKA. haha its kinda hokey, but whatever. Not like anyone calls any band by their acronym anyway. RATM! RATM! lol or NIN! NIN! But thats ok, its just a name, and its got a cool vibe to it. I love the (nerdy) fact of being a single cell living organism cruising around in space, looking for a place to live.

Anyway, we keep on keeping on as usual. Wish we progressed faster making songs but with hardly a jam session a week, at a rental studio room, its difficult to go any faster. Nevermind that sometimes we have to postpone or move jams around to accommodate to everyone's busy lives. That's no way to make it in any endeavor, let alone a band. Ah well, my hope is that as the band becomes a habit to everyone, other life priorities get rearranged accordingly. Time will tell.

Film work that pays!

Lately I've been getting hired on film shoots that are actually paying for my rent and food. Thats huge, because Im doing what I love and getting paid for it - and you know there's nothing quite like it.

Two weeks ago I worked for www.squarewaveproductions.com  (as a Gaffer) on a fun corporate video with lots of kids, for the Prairie Milk Marketing Partnership. That connected me to another job (as a Key Grip) on a public service announcement for the city of Abbotsford, through http://qubefilm.com/. Both companies are run by amazingly talented and friendly producers and filmmakers, and Im very excited for the possibility of working with them again in bigger productions in the future!


The only way this could be any better is if I got paid for directing film - which is what I'm working my way up to. ;D Either way, this is definitely making it easier for me to survive without having a 9 to 5 job. Thank you (again) Universe.

Band progress!

Not only tonight's rehearsal was awesome, we also locked in a name for the band (about time!) - "Space Amoeba". Not a bad name for a fast and loud ska-punk band! FUN!

So we now have a couple songs finished and a few others roughed out. Its a shame we don't have a garage where we can get together and jam whenever we want, for as long as we want -- but for the time being, the usual hourly rental space is alright. Maybe in the near future we'll rent a jamspace where we can move into.

Anyone interested in designing the logo for the band? w00t! :D

Henchin' intro on Cartoon Brew

Im very happy because Jerry Beck posted the animated intro to my film Henchin' in his fantastic blog "Cartoon Brew"! Thank you Jerry, you rock!

http://www.cartoonbrew.com/titles/titles-for-henchin.html

Gaffer for "The Unvarnished Boy"

I just finished working as Gaffer for "The Unvarnished Boy" (formerly titled "The Biltmore", a 15 min short with semi-decent budget, directed by Matt McInnis and Matt Drake. I was called by my buddy, DOP Toby Gorman, to help him out on this gig. We shot the film in four days/nights in various interiors/exteriors in Vancouver, including back alleys in downtown eastside, inside the seedy Ivanhoe Hotel and inside the cool Biltmore Cabaret. Some very nice lighting gear and setups will make this show a nice looking one, and the story of a potty mouthed street-kid growing up and becoming a responsible youth thanks to the help of a random waitress may just be what some film festivals are looking for.

That said, it was also a tough as hell shoot, with extremely long hours and brutal physical labor. We're all masochists in this indie film biz. Fortunately, we are also friendly, collaborative and enthusiastic, which makes it all worth it in the end. :) All for the love of art! lol

DGC Kick Start Short Films Gala Screening

The Director's Guild of Canada filmmaker funding program, Kick Start, which funded 5 films (15 min) every year, had their last screening at the Ridge Theatre in Vancouver last week. I say "last" intentionally, as the DGC has sadly discontinued the program indefinitely. But I'll leave that for another post.

I was Production Designer / Art Director on one of the films, the wonderful WW2 fantasy drama "Henry's Glasses", a story about an 8 year old Japanese Canadian boy growing up in a 1945 Japanese Internment Camp in British Columbia. The short was written, directed, co-produced and lensed by my buddy Brendan Uegama, whom I have huge respect. The film turned out absolutely stunning - his cinematography (shot on the indie darling, the Red) was flawless and the performances were pitch perfect. Im biased, but whatever. lol The movie rocked.

The other short films also turned out awesome, and you could see every filmmaker pored their hearts and souls into their creation. My friend, DOP Lindsay George also filmed one, the film-noirish black comedy "Voodoo" - wonderful job with a black and white palette.

All in all, the Kick Start shorts really proved that with a modest but decent budget (every filmmaker gets 20,000 dollars + services), the bar is raised and world-class films can be written and produced with local talent, which we have plenty of! w00t!

Short for CollegeHumor.com!

I was hired as Production Designer for an upcoming mini-short film for the popular website www.collegehumor.com ! The film, directed by my buddy Erick Boychuk, is a take on "The Office", but set in a Mayan Temple in 316 b.c. ! LMAO!

Im currently designing and researching the look of the sets, which we will build and shoot by mids of May. I spent some hours in the central library today afternoon (after wrapping early on Byron Lamarque's set - I love movies with children in them, they make short shoot days!) and borrowed a bunch of books with pictures of Mayan architecture and lifestyle. (Picture books being my favorite kind of books lol)

Im stoked about this gig. Its going to be a blast building and decorating the set inside a sound stage!

Let me know if you're interested in helping out and I'll hook you up! We're shooting in May 24th, only one day. (But we'll be busy building the sets well before then!)

YAY!

My interview on Beyond Robson Magazine

Last month I was approached by Beyond Robson Magazine (www.beyondrobson.com) for an interview that would be featured in their section on Vancouver's Filmmakers. The article is finally published - its great to read about other local filmmakers and dreamers like myself! (we're not alone! haha)

Go filmmakers Go!

Javier Badillo - Filmmaker

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Webseries in the making!

I am producing a fast and funny webseries called "Badillo Bros. DIY Car Patchup Show" (working title).
This young adult oriented, tongue-in-cheek lifestyle series, 5 minute per episode, will follow my brother Victor and me, (complete opposites but inseparable pals), on our mission to fix simple car problems and teach anyone how to do it themselves, at home.

Now, the goal is to actually learn something useful and legit while having fun in the process. Victor is a professionally trained Automotive Service Technician and has years of experience in car repair, aside from being a total car and motorbike junkie. Me? Im just the guy who uses cars to get from point A to point B, when every other form of transportation fails.  And like me, my friends with cars could use a tip or two about DIY car repair and save themselves some money to buy food and pay rent.  hehe

In each 5 minute episode we'll introduce a new "client" (a buddy with a car problem), a hilarious animated sequence of "what could go wrong" if the potential problem is left untreated, and a fun, easy solution in the hands of Victor. (not Javier, god help us!). There's more - the show will also feature the local cultural and ethnic mosaic, and the episodes will be peppered with subtitles when our clients don't speak English!

SO! I'm very excited about this project and I'll keep you guys posted on its development. We already have some key production elements falling into place and things should move forward within the next couple of months.

Stay tuned! ;D

love,
Javier

Cineworks Committee!

Last night I became appointed member of the Equipment and Technical Advisory Committee and the new Fundraising and Marketing Committee of Vancouver's Cineworks Filmmaker's Society, at their annual general meeting.

In the next few days I will start participating in the shaping of the future of this awesome collective of film artists. If you don't know about Cineworks yet, check them out! www.cineworks.ca

Screenplays submitted to Hot Shot Shorts!

After cold reading and workshopping "Karen and the Slug" and "RSVP" last week with the great actors John R Taylor, Liberty Kee and Olivia Reese, I went back and re-wrote them, and made them much better. I was having a hard time making those dialogues believable, but fortunately my brother Victor and my good friend Emily helped me out with them. After doing some major changes (axed one character in one of them, changed the arc of another character in the other), I finally felt confident of having something worth showing to the film community.

So tonight I went to the weekly Celluloid Social Club meeting and submitted both of my scripts for consideration - after paying a considerable sum (Im wondering how am I going to pay for rent next month, but I'll cross that bridge when I get there).

Fingers crossed at least one of my scripts will make it to the reading session (5 will be workshopped) and who knows, maybe even get picked to be the one to get produced (with over 20,000 dollars worth of equipment from William F White and services from other companies)!

And if not, well, I'll make them anyway! :)

Great moviemaking and musicmaking weekend!

This weekend was epic - two awesome movies and a stellar band rehearsal. Saturday and Sunday became one solid day!

On Saturday and Sunday I Art Directed my buddy Erick Boychuk's short comedy "The Curious Case of the Missing Condom", written by Elsa Morena and produced/starred by Mike Germant and Alexis McEwen. It was a great fun shoot, and laughter was present in front and behind the camera all the time!
We wrapped at 7pm, and I jumped on the bus to make it to my band's rehearsal at Crying Sky music studios on Main street. The jam session went awesome, and the songs are sounding better by the minute. Then the band chilled out at the new Timmy Ho's next to the studio, which has been the habit lately. Cant wait to jam again next week.

On Sunday, just before wrapping "Curious case of missing condom", I left to work on my friend and ex-film instructor Byron Lamarque's Feature Film "Lost and Found", a dance drama. I wore the hat of Key Grip on this one. The location was in a beautiful heritage house in New Westminster, about an hour away from the other film. But it was worth it, the shoot went well and we wrapped at midnight.

Byron's film has about ten more days left to shoot, starting again next weekend. I will again be in charge of sourcing most of the equipment from the Vancouver film rental houses, which I enjoy doing and saying hi to my old buddies who work there!

Its monday night, and Im going into withdrawal. lol

A night of rocking

Last night we rehearsed for a good three hours at the studio and finished another song. We don't have enough songs for a set yet, but Its always encouraging to know you are making progress when its easy to feel you're running on a wheel, like a hamster. So I think it doesn't matter if you're moving ahead slowly as long as you're moving ahead! Sooner or later you'll look back and say, wow did I come from all the way back there? :) It's definitely a thought that has kept me going when things seemed to have gone stagnant in my life.

The new songs are a mix of old school punk and latin ska, and sound like they're gonna be awesome to play live one day. Fast and loud. We still need more tweaks here and there, need to tighten up the structures and I gotta write new lyrics, but the hardest part is mostly done - four strangers got together and wrote a few first songs! As we keep on jamming, the process will become faster, better and somewhat easier, as we become better friends, our communication becomes second nature and our band chemistry strengthens! w00t!

Somewhere down the line we'll come up with a name for the band too. haha

Cold Read / Workshop for 2 of my scripts

I will be workshopping 2 shorts I wrote :
"RSVP" and "Karen And The Slug".

Im looking for a few actors to come out and play!

Time and date: Thursday, April 8th, 2010, 9am

Location: TBA


Scripts:

----------

Title: RSVP

Logline: A young urban woman is hired to teach a lonely senior man how to use the internet and send an email.

Synopsis: When Kit gets hired to teach a senior how to use the web she thinks its easy money. Drama unfolds when she finds out he's been invited and has to RSVP to his daughter's wedding, whom he disowned when she was a teenager for moving in with her boyfriend.

Genre: Drama

Length: ~5 pages

Kit - a young woman in her 20s, East Indian or Philippine.

Donald - a senior man in his 60s/70s, Caucasian or Chinese.

---------

Title: Karen And The Slug

Logline: A little girl scams her mom for money to buy an ice cream.

Synopsis: Karen really wants an ice cream like the other neighborhood kids. But when mom tells her she cant have any money for it, Karen devises a plan: to bring garden slugs into the bathtub and convince her mom to use the old method to repel them by spreading coins around.

Genre: Comedy

Length: ~5 pages

Karen - a witty 8 year old girl, Latina, East Indian or Philippine.

Sarah (mom) - a young woman in her 20s. Latina, East Indian or Philippine.

Pedro (dad, smaller part) - a young man in his 30s. Latino, East Indian or Philippine.

Loves of Lady Purple

I've been working with Daniella Sorrentino, a writer/director who works in the Vancouver advertising world and whom I've known for a few years, on her upcoming dramatic fantasy thriller "Loves of Lady Purple".

The story was originally written by the late British novelist Angela Carter, and Daniella acquired the rights to this particular short story, which she felt strongly compelled to convert into a short film.

And what a story it is! A wonderfully dark tale of chilling gothic fare. I can't reveal more details, but I'm  totally blown away by the visual concepts Daniella envisions and the huge task of bringing them to celluloid life. I've been storyboarding and brainstorming with her, and going one step at a time.

Here's a wiki page on Angela Carter's short stories, where Loves of Lady Purple is found.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fireworks:_Nine_Profane_Pieces

Adapting a stage play for the screen

I've been working with screenwriter/director Emily Chan on the adaptation of "Killer of Death",  a Shakespearean neo-noir stage play written by Vancouver playwright/actor Todd Thomson, which I'm slated to Direct.

All I can say is that it is one of the most refreshing and creatively stimulating things I've ever done. Working with Todd and Emily has been incredibly rewarding.

The play is around 20 pages long, but adapting it to the screen may condense it further. We are very happy to leave Todd the duties of rewriting it into a screenplay, and we are helping him along the way, setting up story meetings to work out any "translation" issues and to give it a cinematic appeal.

Writing progress will be slow, but we dont want to rush it. We want the story to be as good as it gets.

I'll be posting updates as they occur. Im excited!

New songs in the works

Today's band practice went awesome again - we're writing new songs and we're giddy with excitement. Good energy + Great Musicianship = Kickass Music! :D Im happy we're making fast and loud ska and rock, they're gonna be a blast to play live! so pumped.

Key Grip on Lamarque's Feature

I went on a tech scout at this amazing mansion in New West where I'll be working as Key Grip for ten days in April on my ex-instructor Byron Lamarque's feature "Lost & Found". Its a drama about ballet dancers, very well written - and not surprisingly, since Byron is an award winning filmmaker and a grad from the awesome CFC Director's Lab in Toronto.

Check out his website! Lamarque Film

Other good news is that I'll be working with my pal Sean Jackson (who will be working as Gaffer) and my good friend Emily Chan (who will be 1st AD). Awesome!

The week of epic shows!

I attended two amazing shows these past couple days..The Slackers played at the Rickshaw and almost started a riot with their awesome ska punk performance! Then the next day I filmed a fantastic performance by Canadian Poet Shane Koyczan at the Cultch Theatre. His spoken word performances are incredibly moving - they make you laugh, cry, feel anger...the whole spectrum. The guy is really great.

Crazy8s are complete!

I ended up having the good fortune of working on two Crazy8s films this year: Kellie Benz's "Stupid Chainsaw Tricks" as her Storyboard Artist and on Angelina Cantada's "Sikat" as her Art Director.

The premiere of both films (and four others) will be this coming Saturday 27th at 7pm at the Vogue Theatre in Vancouver. Do come out if you can!

Two movies, a punk band and tango dancing make Javier a very happy boy.

Im Associate Producing and Production Designing a beautiful Bollywood romantic drama ("Commitment"), Acted/Directed by Rahul Singh and shot by my old pal Brendan Uegama, and immediately after I'm Associate Producing and Storyboarding a Crazy8s comedy ("Stupid Chainsaw Tricks") by award winning director Kellie Benz, edited by the great Brianne Nord-Stewart and Produced by TV show "V"'s co-lead star Christopher Shyer. My good friends Oshy Parasol (Art Director) and Erick Boychuk (Director) are also involved on both shows with me. Add to this my awesome tango dance lessons and the great progress with my skapunk band every week, and I think my life right now is pretty much complete. Im going to sleep like a baby tonight. Thank you universe.

David Mamet's inspiration

I've been reading David Mamet's great little book "On Directing Film" and around page 80 there's this paragraph I found puts into words something I've been feeling for a long time, even since before I  went to animation school:

"Cartoons are very good to watch - are much better to watch, for people who want to direct, than movies. In the old cartoons, the artists realized the essence of the theory of montage, which is that they could do whatever the heck they wanted. It wasn't any more expensive to draw it from a high angle or from a low angle. They didn't have to keep the actors late to draw a hundred people rather than one person, or send out for that very expensive Chinese vase. Everything was based on imagination. The shot we see in the film is the shot the artist saw in his imagination. So if you watch cartoons, you can learn a great deal about how to choose shots, how to tell the story in pictures, and how to cut."

David Mamet is a Pulitzer and Tony winning playwright and an Oscar nominated screenwriter and film director, known for writing numerous films including Wag the Dog and The Untouchables.

shooting specs

I'll be shooting some spec commercials with Erick Boychuk tomorrow, using his new 7D camera and H2N digital sound recorder - what an awesome alternative for the low budg indie filmmaker!

we have a few quick shoots lined up, hopefully by the end of the week we'll have a couple ads to add to our portfolio.

Im also planning to shoot a short film concept I concocted that's got me thinking - a simple, beautiful one'er. Cant wait.

Joining Jungle Media

My buddies, directors Erick Boychuck and Gabriel Medina and I are discussing the possibility of working together under Gabriel and Alison's company "Jungle Media" to produce and direct TV Commercials and Music videos for the Vancouver region.

Starting new music band

Found a bass player chick, a drummer and a keyboard/trumpet player on the web looking to start a ska/punk band! I'll be singing and my brother will be playing the guitar, like we've always done in the past with previous bands. We've chosen which songs to cover to get acquainted to each other, they're Superman by Goldfinger, Santeria by Sublime, Beer by Reel Big Fish and Jamming by Bob Marley, although I have to say Bob's song is so layered in vocals and nuances that it'll be a challenge to do it justice, we'll see. Cant wait to rock out again though! Miss that crazy energy.

Screening of my short "Scars" in Vancouver

Scars, my bloody 5 minute crime thriller I completed while at the Langara Director's program, screened a week ago at the "Made in Vancouver - Pre-Olympics Film Festival" (facebook group link) curated by Paul Armstrong and Ryan Catherwood. (from the popular "Vancouver Celluloid Social Club")!

The DP (SB Edwards), and the lead cast (Travis Turner and Cole Kwit) were in attendance and we shared the stage with the other filmmakers in a brief Q&A session. FUN!

The other shorts were amazing as well - the selection was tight, with 12 films selected out of almost 120 submissions! Erick Boychuk's funny crime comedy "Crossing the Line" also played, along with the wild art film "Low" by Mackenzie Gray and chilling horror sci-fi "Serum 1831", recipient of the DGC Kickstart last year, I think.

Scars also played at the club last year in November at the Celluloid Social Club!

Watch Armless

A brilliant little dark comedy by director Habib Azar about a guy who wants to have his arms cut off  - ARMLESS was official selection at this year's Sundance. I had the luck to get my hands on one of their sample screeners at my day job (I work at Horizon Motion Pictures, an international film distribution agency)  and wow what a great film.

Micro budget and all, no matter - the story is tight, the acting fantastic - proof that if you have that down, everything else falls into place. Movie magic on a shoestring, dammit. Its what its all about.

Things are brewing

Lots of exciting things are brewing. It seems the winter olympics have put a damp on the film industry, but not to the urge to get things started.

Just met up with my buddies Erick Boychuck and Gabriel Medina - two of the most energetic go-getters in the local film biz - and we're in early stages of discussion to join forces and make things happen.

The current state of affairs

I spend so much time online it just makes sense to start writing my findings, musings and rants of all things Javier related - filmmaking, jamming and other interesting bits and bites.