All in...
We began photography on ONLY YOU last Friday afternoon. Now this did not seem particularly strange to me until I heard Willis - our film’s co-Producer and 1st AD - announce at the tender hour of 4:30 Monday morning - that we had - at even longer last than any of the cast, crew and assorted vagrants idling by our Little Tokyo set could possibly imagine - arrived at our final shot of the production. It was right about this time, or perhaps a few seconds after, that I realized I was now - as my good friend put it - “all in.” Once this final shot was in the can, there’d be no going back. I would - for better or worse - officially be a filmmaker. What kind of filmmaker? Well...
Here’s the thing about following a dream: the longer you follow it; the longer it remains a destination on the horizon, the safer it feels. It’s similar to shooting three hundred free throws and dribbling the basketball for an hour everyday in the hopes of one day playing in the NBA. It’s terrific pratice... but the stakes are relatively low. Until you step foot on the court and play a real game against live competition, you have no way of knowing how good or bad you actually are; whether the practice time you’ve invested has meant anything more than wish fulfillment. This is, I think, why many people never fully chase after the dreams they’ve carried with them throughout their lifetimes. It’s too scary. Not the actual process, mind you, though that is certainly frightening by itself. I don’t think it’s a fear of the instability or sacrifice that chasing dreams often demand that dissuades people. I think it’s the fear of discovering that maybe, you just aren’t good enough to do what you wish you can do.
That was the thought running through my mind as I hollered “CUT” one final time. That and complete and utter relief that we managed to get our final shot in before the sun came out.
As I told my good friend who happened to be with me during most of the shoot the other day, I have no clue whether this film we’ve just made is going to be great, terrible or simply and depressingly mediocre. Obviously, I’m hoping it’s neither of the latter two options, but ultimately, it’ll be up to the people who watch it to determine whether or not the film - and my transformation into an actual filmmaker - was successful. I had a fantastic time shooting the film and was so amazed that so many wonderful and talented people put in the time, effort and hours to help make my crazy little ideas into actual cinema. To say I felt blessed would have been an understatement. But we're not done. IWe’ve still got quite a lot of post-production tasks ahead of us... from editing, to color-timing, to sound mixing. We’re at half-time right now and there’s no way I’m not going to finish the game... stat line be damned. I’m all in. Time to get back to work.
Here’s the thing about following a dream: the longer you follow it; the longer it remains a destination on the horizon, the safer it feels. It’s similar to shooting three hundred free throws and dribbling the basketball for an hour everyday in the hopes of one day playing in the NBA. It’s terrific pratice... but the stakes are relatively low. Until you step foot on the court and play a real game against live competition, you have no way of knowing how good or bad you actually are; whether the practice time you’ve invested has meant anything more than wish fulfillment. This is, I think, why many people never fully chase after the dreams they’ve carried with them throughout their lifetimes. It’s too scary. Not the actual process, mind you, though that is certainly frightening by itself. I don’t think it’s a fear of the instability or sacrifice that chasing dreams often demand that dissuades people. I think it’s the fear of discovering that maybe, you just aren’t good enough to do what you wish you can do.
That was the thought running through my mind as I hollered “CUT” one final time. That and complete and utter relief that we managed to get our final shot in before the sun came out.
As I told my good friend who happened to be with me during most of the shoot the other day, I have no clue whether this film we’ve just made is going to be great, terrible or simply and depressingly mediocre. Obviously, I’m hoping it’s neither of the latter two options, but ultimately, it’ll be up to the people who watch it to determine whether or not the film - and my transformation into an actual filmmaker - was successful. I had a fantastic time shooting the film and was so amazed that so many wonderful and talented people put in the time, effort and hours to help make my crazy little ideas into actual cinema. To say I felt blessed would have been an understatement. But we're not done. IWe’ve still got quite a lot of post-production tasks ahead of us... from editing, to color-timing, to sound mixing. We’re at half-time right now and there’s no way I’m not going to finish the game... stat line be damned. I’m all in. Time to get back to work.
Ken Cheng
Los Angeles, CA
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