Our Trailer

Updates on it have been light over the last few months because, frankly, finishing it took longer than I could have ever expected. My respect for the post-production process has been totally re-affirmed, if not bolstered.

That said; the film is done! Finally!

I’m looking into options right now so I can screen it properly (i.e. on a big screen) for family and friends in the coming weeks so stay tuned for information on that. In the meantime, we’ve cut a trailer for the film that you can see (in HD) here:

OUR POSTER

Long time, no update. I wanted to post a first look at the poster for the film. I think it's a pretty great representation of our film and captures a lot of the mood, emotion and subtleties that we were trying to express with the film. 

Thanks again to Brandon Schaefer for the wonderful design and Joy Dai, whose photography served as the basis for the poster.

Would love to hear what you guys think!

Ken Cheng
LA, CA

WRAPPED

 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.

Ken Cheng

Los Angeles, CA

 

DAY ONE

Jennifer Ross as "Jessica"

Day One is officially in the can. It was a terrific first day and we were able to capture just about everything we were looking for. All credit goes to the fantastic crew for knocking out so many setups in one day. We've got two pretty heavy scenes on deck today so I'm excited to let our two leads really get into it. Here's hoping Day Two is even better than Day One...

Ken Cheng

LA, CA 

PRODUCTION

A cold night in LA.

We begin Day One of filming, later today, for ONLY YOU. It's been a tremendous learning experience up to this point - the nuts and bolts of trying to make a film. It's also been harder work than I gave it credit for. But hopefully all the thought, ideas and preparation we've put in to pre-production will pay off once we step on set later this afternoon. Because filmmaking - as they say - is just as much about how you handle the stuff you could not prepare for as the stuff that you had in mind all along. 

And here we go...

Ken Cheng

LA, CA

COMIC STRIP

I've spent the past couple of evenings working on the shot list we'll be using for the film. Part of that process has included story-boarding specific shot compositions and sequences I'd like to shoot during particular scenes. 

Now, I've always enjoyed this process because it gives me the opportunity to exercise drawing muscles I haven't used very much over the last several years. But I'd be lying if I told you it hasn't been a bit arduous and time-consuming. 

Sketching out slightly more detailed story boards - as opposed to say, drawing stick figures - gives me a chance to really think about how I'd like a shot to look... what textural elements I'd like to employ... and the kinds of camera movements, if any, I'd like to try. It's fun, but can be creatively tiring at times. I've joked that when we're finished, I'll have an ONLY YOU comic strip to go with the film.

Of course, the true purpose of both shot list and the story board is to provide Daniel, our DP, as detailed and precise a blueprint as possible. That way, when it comes time to shoot, we won't be wasting time trying to figure out how we'd like the scene or shot to look. It's all part of the preparation.

Ken Cheng

LA, CA

MEET COREY AND JENNIFER

 

"Andrew" and "Jessica"

After a week and a half of auditions and obsessive audition video watching, I'm really pleased to report that we've found the actors that will be playing the lead characters of ANDREW and JESSICA in ONLY YOU.

Corey Saunders and Jennifer Ross (above) have graciously agreed to join the team and I could not be more thrilled.

Corey hails from Chicago-by-way-of-Oklahoma where he did a ton of classical theater work before seguing into the world of modeling and screen acting. He brings a really genuine and sincere quality to the character - something I didn't necessarily expect at the onset. But he had me convinced from his first audition on that he was "Andrew." 

Jennifer - who moved to LA from Montana a few years ago - radiates a truly magnetic, emotional, warmth as "Jessica." It's no wonder she's already appeared in several films, TV shows and commercials. And that smile you see in the photo? Nothing compared to how it looks on screen. I can virtually guarantee you guys will fall in love with her after you see her in our film.

Now that we've found our leads, it's time to get cracking on the next step of pre-production... rehearsals and rewrites. I'm so excited for you guys to see what we have in store.

Ken Cheng

LA, CA

CASTING

 Headshots galore

We've spent two days this week meeting and auditioning actors and actresses for the film and I have to say, casting is tough. I've been so pleasantly surprised by the quality of actors willing to come in and read for our little film that narrowing down our top choices - all of whom have been fantastic in their own ways - for the lead roles of ANDREW and JESSICA have been much more difficult than I expected. 

In any case, thanks to the fine folks at CAZT in West Hollywood for graciously hosting our production team as we've done our auditions and being so accomodating with their physical and digital resources. Independent filmmakers everywhere: if you've never used CAZT and are looking for an affordable place to do your reads, I cannot recommend it highly enough.

I'm going to rewatch our audition videos over and over again this weekend and hopefully, we'll be closer to having our lead roles cast by next week. Stay tuned!

Ken Cheng

LA, CA

PREPRODUCTION

Welcome to the official production blog of our upcoming short film, titled "ONLY YOU." Those of you out in the blogosphere with even the slightest interest in following the neurosis and progress of our film can come here for updates, behind-the-scenes goodies and other fun stuff.

But before I go into my schpeel, some introductions to the key team...

PRODUCER: Ellen Ho - the spriteliest ball of energy you'll ever meet - is co-producing the film with me, to my utter delight. She's not even out of college yet but she's got a resume longer than yours and mine combined so I'm definitely thrilled to have her on-board shepherding the project to its ultimate destination.

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Daniel Zhao is a recent graduate of USC Film School (aka, the place I always wanted to go but would never accept me) and a talented camera wizard. He's shot several shorts and commercials and will be making his feature debut shortly after we finish ONLY YOU. Excited to work with him? You better believe it.

EDITOR: Carlos Haynes and I worked together on an independent feature last year and I'm psyched that he's coming on to cut the film with me. A talented filmmaker in his own right, Carlos certainly knows his way around Final Cut Pro - which will be so so key to the success of our project. 

WRITER/DIRECTOR/PRODUCER: Well that, of course, would be me. "ONLY YOU" will be the first short film I've written and directed since college so as you can imagine, the nerves are running a little on the frazzled side as we get closer to production. With that said, I couldn't be more excited.

As you can guess from the title of this entry, we're currently in the pre-production phase - looking for the right actors to play our characters, planning all the details (both tiny and large) that go into making a film and figuring out how best to translate the story that lives so vividly in my head to the screen for all of you guys to eventually see. 

Stay tuned for more updates to come and thanks for stopping on by!

Ken Cheng

LA, CA