InfoLink - Interview with Hong Kong Director Adrian Kwan Shun-fai

Often, Christian filmmaking is viewed as an activity of the Western world, yet it has a foothold in countries worldwide. This interview with Adrian Kwan Shun-fai touches on faith and filmmaking from a Hong Kong director's perspective.

"I think a good movie, no matter comedy, action or thriller, usually contains implicit messages to enlighten the audience. Take some successful foreign films as example, apart from the entertainment value, there are always some messages for the audiences to grasp. In addition to entertain, I would love to add some bonuses to the movie. I believe that a movie should not be too didactic, it should rather be able to be interesting yet meaningful, or to combine the messages into the story skillfully. "Educational" (or propaganda) movie is probably too hard to attract the audience. In general, the first priority of doing any kind of (commercial) movie is to entertain, and the next thing is to enhance it with some meaningful messages. For instance, no matter what kind of message you want to carry out, a comedy is nevertheless a comedy. If it fails to generate laughter, it is not a successful comedy!"

"Christian film has been evolving from time to time, it has become more and more mainstream now. In the past when people heard about Christian film, they would think it must be very boring and didactic, but now things have been changing. In order to introduce Christian film to the public, we have to understand how to turn it into a mainstream product. While the film should be made with "heart", the quality of the movie is also very important. It is meaningless to make a movie with heart but without quality. "

Cinespot : An Exclusive Interview with Hong Kong Director Adrian Kwan Shun-fai

InfoLink - Working with Actors for Film

One thing that directors like Ron Howard have going for them is the experience that they've had in front of the camera prior to going behind the camera. The advantage of having been an actor before trying to direct other actors has to provide a great deal of insight.

If you're a first-time director and you don't have that kind of experience, however, all is not lost. In fact, even if you have a film or two under your belt, you're bound to find some insight in this article on working with actors.

"The way that you talk to your actors during this process is massively important. You have to give them clear, useful feedback. If you get it wrong you can make things worse rather than better. The first tip is that regardless of how bad a run through is, you've got to find something positive to say; even if it's only " I really like the way you made eye contact during that run through … however," and then you talk to them the stuff that didn't work, but again don't be critical, use phrases like "I wasn't completely convinced by the way you entered the room, how did it feel to you?" Usually the actor will respond by admitting they don't really understand what the character is doing at that point and you can give them some back story, which will help the actor try something different."

filmmaking.net: Working with Actors for Film

InfoLink - Asian Filmmakers Fight Back Vs. Hollywood

While reading this article on Asian film producers pooling their resources to challenge the influx of Hollywood movies, I was struck by the challenge they face and the similarities to the challenges of the Christian film producer. True, the Asian market may already be established and producing films for different reasons, but the challenges of creating a market for our films is the same and faces the same competition.

"Ultimately at the end of the day the battle will be fought and lost or won over showing the audiences of Asia that Asian production companies, Asian producers and directors can give them product that is as entertaining, and of a comparable quality to the foreign language product coming into the marketplace. And if we can't do that, ultimately we should all pack up and go home."

Asian Filmmakers Fight Back Vs. Hollywood

InfoLink - Lucas: Big pics are doomed

George Lucas, one of the kings of the big film, is predicting the death of the big film?

"The market forces that exist today make it unrealistic to spend $200 million on a movie. Those movies can't make their money back anymore. Look at what happened with 'King Kong.'"

"In the future, almost everything that gets shown in theaters will be indie movies. I predict that by 2025 the average movie will cost only $15 million."

New York Daily News - Lucas: Big pics are doomed