Posted on: Friday, May 20, 2005
FILM/TV NOTES
Hawai'i filmmaker screens 'Spirit' at New York festival
By Michael Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer
Local Filmmaker Edgy Lee is in New York this week to introduce her opening-night film, "The Hawaiians: Reflecting Spirit" at the third annual Pacifika-New York Hawaiian Film Festival.
Dog's Bounty
Duane Chapman, star of A&E's "Dog the Bounty Hunter," is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the capture of Raul Garcia-Gomez, a man accused of killing one Denver police detective and wounding another.
Chapman lives in Honolulu but grew up in Denver and has a home and office there.
Students score
Hand the keys of a new Scion to a college freshman? No biggie.
Hand the keys to a new Scion advertising campaign to that same freshman and two of his classmates? Now that's a leap of faith.
It's a leap that has landed Scion-Hawaii on solid ground with three new 15-second commercials developed by students from the University of Hawai'i's Academy for Creative Media.
In a rare educational partnership, the distributor worked with the academy to give students a shot at producing commercials promoting the Scion line of cars to the young adult market in Hawai'i.
ABC Students enrolled in Anne Misawa's Advanced Cinematic & Digital Production class pitched ideas to Scion-Hawaii execs earlier this year. From there, student-directors Gabe Hoeffken, Chrystal Jameson and Thomas Takemoto-Chock were given the go-ahead to develop their proposals with the help of classmates and experienced professionals.
"The students at ACM are basically in our target market, and we thought it would be good to tap into their perspective and how they think," said Glenn Inouye, senior vice president of Servco Automotive, Scion-Hawaii's parent company. "We're extremely happy with what they came up with."
With help from Misawa, director Roy Kimura and Scion's marketing staff, the students saw their projects through from storyboards to polished products.
"It was different working with a real crew," said 18-year-old Takemoto-Chock, who just completed his first year with the program. "I'm used to just going out and grabbing my friends and doing everything myself."
Takemoto said he studied Scion's national advertising to get a sense of the look and feel of the product, then transposed that to Hawai'i. His spot revolves — literally — around Scion's xA, xB and tC vehicles in urban Hawai'i settings.
Hoeffken's commercial shows a young man driving around town handing out flyers for what turns out to be a backyard showing of his independent film.
It took him 2 1/2 days to film all of the scenes, which include stops at a skate park and a rendezvous with a Waikiki trolley. "Having the opportunity to take my time and set up for shots, and wait for clouds to pass if we have to, was actually unnerving for me," Hoeffken said.
Hoeffken, who just graduated with a master's degree in educational technology, said he hopes the experience will help him as he explores his options in TV and film production.
"I don't expect to work at any high level," he said. "But I'd do anything to work in the industry and do something that would allow me to show my creativity."
Jameson's spot follows two surf buddies as they drive their Scion around the island looking for the right spot.
"The idea evolved as we went along," Jameson said. "That's part of the learning process. This whole project really showed the importance of teamwork and working collaboratively."
It's been a monster year for Jameson, who just completed a degree in interdisciplinary studies through the academy. Her short film "The Learning Process" screened at the Hawai'i International Film Festival last October and she leaves tomorrow for Australia, where she and three other academy students will intern on the set of "Superman Returns." Academy chairman Chris Lee is the executive producer of the film.
Super peek The Scion commercials were unveiled at a preview party on Tuesday at the O Lounge, and part of the festivities included a video message from Lee, filmed on the set of "Superman Returns" in Australia.
Sneak peeks included the set of the Daily Planet newspaper, a farm house and Clark Kent's favorite phone booth.
'Lost' hana hou Much like that algebra class you took in high school, ABC's "Lost" can be tough to follow once you fall behind.
Fortunately, just like high school, the networks have their own summer session for those who need a little remedial work.
Reruns of the much-ballyhooed first season of "Lost" begin June 1 with the first half of the show's pricey two-hour pilot.
The series resumes with new episodes in the fall, but in a new time slot. The network is hoping to increase the show's audience by moving it forward an hour — to 8 p.m. in Hawai'i.
The film, broadcast on KHON-2 in March, examines the mythical, historical and cultural connections between Native Hawaiians and the land.
The commercials were introduced this week and will run on a wide variety of programs, including "American Idol."
Summer session alert: If you've lost the thread of what's happening in "Lost," tune in June 1 for the series' reruns, beginning with the first half of the show's two-hour pilot program. In the fall, new episodes will air in a new time slot that's one hour later, at 8 p.m. in Hawai'i.
