Day4-Bellagio

We went to the grand Milan train station at 11:00 am,

took a train to go to Varenna,

took a ferry to Bellagio,

passed many other pretty Italian villas by lake Como,

after 15 minutes of the boat riding,

 

I was at the one of most beautiful lake city in Italy, Bellagio,

which is surrounded with majestic mountains.

Day3-Milan

Beautiful streets,

sweet goodies,

Friendly cafes and happy hour restaurants, ("Happy hour" is not for drinks here! means they serve dinner buffet at 6-8 euro which makes everyone happy!)

 Oh! and wines,

 made my day!:)

Day2-Milan

My favorites of the day!:)

1. Appreciating  Raphael's original drawing of "School of Athens" at Ambrosiana Library & Picture Gallery
2. Discovering Shrin Neshat at Palazzo Reale
3. Eating a Panzerotto from Luini!
4. Sitting on the rooftop of Duomo
5. Walking around Brera area

Unfinished project_part3

I know tonight is an Oscar night. But I don't have basic cable to watch it ....so.....here we go:)!
Unfinished project part3! It will be interesting to see how many more parts I have.:)

This is called "Vet Pepper", which is about a girl vet who has a headless chicken and a coyote as her sidekicks/nurses. They have a magic bath tub which allows them to give  door to door service.

This is a concept drawing for the sample story where they must cure the kid-mole who has unusually bright vision. no offense to any moles....:)

Unfinished project_Part2

Because, I don't have anything to blog about today...Let's talk about "Suicidals":)

This is my personal project, so you can see the style is more personal and more "nikiishi":)

It's a story about a dog and a girl who very much would like to kill themselves. Believe it or not it's a comedy!:) Don't worry, they never succeed with their attempts.

Here are some backgrounds.

I even made a test sc! I guess I was very pumped up about this! but look at the date,I made this on 12/20/09.....this makes me so saaaaad.....

Suicidals from Nikiyang on Vimeo.

Hiking

When your head  has  full of thoughts,

Hiking is the best cure.

Unfinished project_part1

I have done an unbelievable amount of unfinished projects in my life. One example, As you may have noticed, my interview project has quietly vanished.:)

I decided to give a little spotlight to those projects which have stayed in my drawers for years. Some were created with the purpose of pitching to a network, some were born just for the fun of it-to make a short. As you all understand, making an animated short is very challenging.Because of the requirement of an incredible amount of labor and time which is my lame excuse.:)....... One day, I shall make them!!

O.K-the first one is a story about a sister and her ten brothers who got cursed and were turned into ten Alligators. She must solve the riddle of this curse in order to turn her brothers back to normal. Sounds familier? yes-It is loosely based on an Andersen's fable.
Ummm.. It could be an animator's nightmare. Ten Alligators!:) The rainbowy flying fish-owl above, is her guardian.

I think I created the story to pitch to Frederator for their feature projects. I don't remember if I pitched this to them or not. 

P.s:If you find any interest in some of these unfinished projects-please let me know. I will finish them, if you invest in me!:)

Voiceover

People says that once you cast the right actor, 90 percent of your job as a director is done.
I've truly experienced that quote and had a blast of a time. Actors are such  fascinating creatures. They  surprise me every time on sets with their hidden rabbits underneath of their tophats. I heart them.

I experimented with editing this time and I hope the emotion of this character came across in 1 minute and 30 seconds......


Ucla_voiceover film from Nikiyang on Vimeo.

Guy: Sol Mason

Director: Niki yang
D.p: Terry Lawyer

Character study

Yes, I am still taking the directing workshop at UCLA, learning more about filmmaking and enjoying my time fully. This first assignment of the second semester made us focus on characters. We are only allowed to cast one character and study this character's inner world. I came from an art background so I tend to focus on composition and cut way too much:) True, it is important to think about the "languge" of film. But I fully understand the intention of this assignment. What makes great films are not great stories, certainly not great looks-it's great characters.....wait, I guess if you can pull all those things together, it would be ideal.:)

I had the pleasure to work again with the amazing talent Marry Walls.
Terry Lawyer was my D.p and Rus is always a great help.


Ucla_Character film from Nikiyang on Vimeo.

I recently watched Sophia Coppola's "Somewhere"which is a great example of a character film-and  I loved it.- You learned about this character  inside-out in 2 hours. I guess the issue is if you would care for this character or not. In my opinion, "Stephen Dorff"'s character was very believable. What kinds of lives would Coppola know the best? -Celebrities. If she made her movie with some dirty down 50 year old alcoholic characters, I wouldn't buy it. The long tracking sc of Dorff wearing a white plastic mold which covered his whole face was very powerful. That showed who this person clearly is without babling dialogue. He was a faceless, nobody.

I even loved all the shot choices- how simple and steady they were!they made us focus only on the characters. I should shed my "artistic side" off more:) It will take time but in meantime, I will console myself  with what Alexander Mackendrick wrote:
" It's a sound rule: as a beginner you are advised to experiment-if only to 'get it out of your system' and appreciate the value of simplicity."

Whewwww---I talked a lot:)

Piper

I FINISHED!!!!

This is my first family book project. The talented Angela Brutsche wrote and I did the doodle part.
I wanted to finish it before I go back to work, so the drawings are very simple...Is this too simple??
I can't tell you about the story but it's a horror!:) It will be fully colored and 27 pages and  we will self-publish.

I will update when they are available online!:)

Dogtooth

I usually refuse to blog about movies. but I haven't seen an ingenious movie like "Dogtooth" for a long time, so here we go!:) Despite this Greek movie winning best picture at Cannes 2009, we only just had a chance to see it at a small independent cinema house, the "Silent Movie theater". For a week only. I can't believe I live in the so called, movie capital, "L.A" ...(sigh).....(frustrated grunt)....(anger!)........(back to sigh)......(small fart)

p.s: Happy new year! today is already 13th of January! (screams)

Merry Christmas!

Slap!

This film was HARD! Because we were given concept words-and mine was "slap"-and we had to built a story around it. I threw a couple of ideas out and this is what I ended up with. But I had so much fun working with FANTASTIC actors and using lights and different lenses. Most of all, telling this little story  through lights,mood,acting and editing, just using all we learned in  class was a great exercise for the last assignment of the semester.

Honestly,I am not sure where I am going with this now,but I am enjoying it.:)

P.S:......... I wasn't abused:)


Slap from Nikiyang on Vimeo.

Husband: Christian Magdu
Wife: Mary Walls

Director:Niki yang
D.P: Brandon Walls
Light/Grip:Ramin Taheri
Sound: Rus Brutsche

Thanks for watching and happy holidays!!!!!yay!:)

My days

This is the first week of my Hiatus. or speaking cruelly -laid off-or speaking nakedly-unemployed-
I made a long list of things to do, 3 months before this break. I was all enthusiastic and positive!!! I felt like I could conquer the whole world!

But this is what I have done.

Monday:

I baked chocolate chip cookies for the first time in my life. Actually, I bought the pre made dough-but I BAKED them! That part wasn't too bad but the horrible thing was I couldn't stop eating them!

Tuesday:

I surfed the internet ALL DAY under the name of "researching". I didn't take a shower, I didn't change and I didn't go outside once! I got a heavy headache after non stop surfing and felt stupid....:(

Wednesday: 

I found a GIGANTIC tick on Symore's neck.I got all panicky,couldn't do anything but wait for Rus the night knight to get back from work. He smashed it!!

Thursday:

Victor's one nail got completely pulled off!!Awful! I took him to the Vet and that took almost half of my day!Now he is wearing an awkward bandage sock:(

Not having a 9 to 5 job is making me super nervous,even though I hate it. It has been melting in my system for years, I feel like I am experiencing withdrawl...what a looser..:( Am I becoming a slave of the corporation?? Ok..I am getting too serious here.Time to stop blablabing.:)

Six shots

It is time to post my school project again!:)

In this film, we have to tell a story with a beginning,middle and end using only six shots. The most tricky part is each shot must be exactly 10 seconds in length. I think our teacher just wants us to suffer:(
I used 7 shots and all the shots have a different time length.-----I just couldn't do it!:O--------

I had the talented Lloyd Knight as my actor and we shot at the amazing photographer J.A.Overtoom's studio.Oh! and he kindly lent me his fantastic homemade dolly. Also I couldn't had even made this 1 minute short without much help from  my crew, Ramin, Brandon and Rus.:)

I used a Nikon 80mm-200mm f/2.8 and a Tokina 11mm-16mm f/.2.8 as well as my basic Sigma 24mm-70mm f/2.8. I rent them out from Hollywood studio rentals where I found excellent deals!


Ucla_Six shot film from Nikiyang on Vimeo.

Thanks for watching again and have a nice turkey day!:)

A typical day of work....

A candle light yoga class

 

THE END.

Artistic enlightenment

Chris's interview took me a long time to edit. Not just because of my hectic schedule but also I was really eager to capture Chris's essence like what makes Chris Wood  Chris Wood:)

After I observed many artists, I've reached one conclusion (which can be subjective:) They are somewhat handicapped!!:) which means, they seem to be not capable of doing anything else but make art. They are as stubborn as a donkey and as blind as a bat! However, like a blind man developing excellent hearing, these artists focus 100 percent into their art, contrasting their zero sense of dealing with reality:).and that makes their art out-stand from overflowing-arts. Personally, I am very jealous of this purity since I have a tendency of spreading out too thin..as you all know:)

Chris is an absolute handicap(sorry,dude.but you know what I mean) and his art needs to be exposed. One reason I started these interviews was to share some hidden talents and eventually somehow help them get up. I don't know how well I illustrated Mr.Wood,but just watching his work you will see the artistic enlightenment shines above his head:)

I can't wait to see his artwork hanging in some prestigious galleries in the near future.:)

niki's people map_Chris Wood from Nikiyang on Vimeo.

Thanks for giving the interview,Chris,

Thanks for watching!

NoiseFold

< This is not me drunk.>

< This is not me trying to find coins from tree trunk.>

This is me after I saw the performance of Noise Fold at REDCAT  last friday.

WHY DIDN'T I BRING MY CAMERA AND MIC??????????????????

In much desperation, I shot it with an Iphone and posted it here. I know it is only a fraction of who they are and what they do, but I feel urge to share this.They deserve to get more spot light and enthusiastic claps. Because they are freaking great!!!!:P 

They performed only 5-6 times a year and they are not residents of California. It will be hard to catch them, but if they are playing around where you live, please GO! You will experience alive beautiful abstract paintings.

This is an "Artist statement" of NoiseFold.

NoiseFold from Nikiyang on Vimeo.

Thanks for watching!

P.S: The sunset was very dramatic at that evening.

I am poor.....poop!

a.EXAMINE

b.SHOCK!!!!!!

c.AFTER SHOCK

d.DENIAL

This was my next orderly reaction when I found out that we have only $500 in our bank account.........T_T

This week feels like it's lasting forever, come on friday-hurry!