Training Footage finished, Little jobs done

With the wife on holiday I have a few more minutes in the day to do stuff I have been meaning to do but haven't, I've finally cleaned out the house and my new car and put some seat covers in and it looks aLOT nicer now, check it out :)

Sporty huh? :) Been watching My Kitchen rules on TV which is simply the best cooking show out there! It's the second season I've watched and its amazing how human social interaction works, theres always backstabbers and jealously, all around nice guys and friends who seem like more than friends. Below is what I had for tea last night, hardly ala carte but I had half an hour, not 5 hours like the pros haha ;)

In order to get ahead in lfe you have be enegaged and involved otherwise you do what you always do and plateau. I Haven't been to the library in a while so I decided to make the drive down to central yesterday and these are the three books I will be reading over the next couple weeks. One for fun, one for inspiration, one for work ethic, I might make a blog about the sales stuff next time if any of you out there are into sales, it's a lot like martial arts for me, all knowledge is useless knowledge if you don't apply it. Yesterday this chinese guy was flashing buying signals all over the place and by the time I realized I had a different customer who was taking ages and he was walking out the door. Boom, no sale for you.

Another thing with goals and the law of attraction is if it isn't constantly in your mind the opportunities to fulfill it will be a lot harder to come by, this is budget but this is my vision board I have in my living room, as you can see it has my dream house, my dream car, pics relating to my goals as well as my goal list for this year.

Enjoying Football at the moment, will be playing 3 times a week, attempting or working on most of the goals on the list. Be interesting if I get them all by the end of the year, especially number One!!!

Also, having nothing to edit I finally put together the test angles I shot with Sana in December at the JKD gym, the finished video is below and cut to Yelawolf's Firestarter track off his new mixtape which is awesome, it makes a big difference to me having good music to listen to, bought Ellies album, frank ocean, didos album and the killers new album all recently and enjoying the trip to and from work haha Anyways, enjoy the video below,

Last of all, finished the outline of the Ivy Investigation series and seriously considering shooting that before Chase, that way I can do a bit of acting and have something to sell or on-sell after Chase comes out. Plus I think its good though different, I'll shoot the pilot over the coming weeks and see if people like it :)

Till then, enjoy April and may every day be full and prosperous! Always look for opportunities ;)

2013 - Film progress

December/January didn't hold much careerwise, just focusing on learning the job, now that I know how to do it I've started work on the Chase rewrite. I sat down with an Indian Actor who is making moves at the moment and he is keen on the film providing he gets more screen time, so I've had to change a few things so now it's back to the original buddy film idea. Here's his IMDB profile anyway. He's professional and easy to get on with so if all goes well (our schedules, financing etc) He will be the co-lead of Chase. I'm also looking at Lee Ah Yen who I worked with back in a couple of student films Last year at being the villian but again, thats subject to his availability as he's been mad busy recently which I congratulate him on :)

Unti then I'm chilling like this guy and working on the script :)

In December I was looking at testing out the canon 5D with a friend, Sana, who I had worked with before on a student project. We ran out of time to shoot everything but after seeing the footage, I'm pretty impressed and will add that to my 'to buy' list. In the meantime though I will just buy a cheap camera to shoot some quick test films before my mock trailer for Chase. Below are some of the pics, what do you think? (tomorrow I will add the edited video of what we finished)

Also in December I traded punches with a TKD guy as I searched for an actor to play the part of the enforcer in Chase. We shot some choreogrpahy I had written and got his neice to film it so we have a record of it, It turned out nice, the video is available to check out on my facebook page, but here's a couple snapshots to entice you until we get top film the real gritty short film sometime next month :)

I'm back to regular training now, my aim is to train at least 3 times a week, which will improve my fitness, keep my technique sharp and also let me fufill my 'do one thing for me' promise I wrote in my resolutions for this year. Here I am below with Chris after a light sparring session :)

 So yeah, onward and upward! See you next post =) with some good news ;)

The Sanda Fight, My first public fight

"I never thought of losing, but now that it's happened, the only thing is to do it right. That's my obligation to all the people who believe in me. We all have to take defeats in life."

MUHAMMAD ALI, comment after losing to Ken Norton, Mar. 31, 1973

Yesterday I took part in my first Sanda competition at the NZ national wushu champs, Weighing in at 69.1 Kg, and having trained about 4 times between the announcement of the competition and competition day without any sparring in between, I wasn't over confident nor naive to think I would do well, relying on natural ability and drive. However I thought that the experience of the fight and the opportunity to test myself against an opponent outside of the club was too big to be missed. Not only would this help me grow as a martial artist, but it could also be a catalyst to help me get my life back together . It didn't disappoint.

I knew in my heart I wasn't prepared and they say a fight is won or lost before you even step inside the ring. I thought that even so, I would be OK. A couple days before the fight I learnt some takedowns from Sifu and one of his talented students, but as brucelee said, you shouldn't punch but let the fist hit all by itself. I can kick and punch without thinking, but takedowns and counter attacking is still very thought taxing for me and I believe that downtime cost me this fight. (And obviously, the lack of real life training thanks to my car and transport issues. )

Walking into the gym bleary eyed and heart beating at 9 in the morning (fights at 11.30) I was instantly struck by the level of fighters there. I could already see from the build and the way they conducted themselves these guys had been training very hard for this, and possibly do this thing all year. I definitely felt way out of depth here. We warmed up in a nearby gym outside of the main stadium, before the organisers went over the rules.

Then we went back to warming up and they called the draw out. Murphy's Luck they called my name for the first fight of the tournament. The guy I was fighting was called Jack something, he was a member of an mma club (they told me after he had fought before), and he took me by surprise with a square sock to the face, a little dazed I continued fighting, trying to work my way in, but my efforts tired me quickly. His takedowns were pretty efficient and he made good work of the thigh kick punch combo, in fact, it really impeded my efforts to fight my thigh was so bruised from the whelps.

Anyway, The fight ended near the end of the second round having been thrown off the mat 3 times. He went on to win the gold medal so I'm not complaining, Well done to him, it's uncontested that the better fighter on the day won that fight. I'm grateful to learn this lesson the hard way. Since then I have fought in the ring at my club, with a slight limp, but did well, dominating and in control, not on the back foot retreating like I did back then, now I'm back to my normal self, dancing to my own rhythm, striking with my own trigger. When takedowns become second nature to me and a punch is nothing more than an annoyance instead of a threat, I'm going to get one of those medals next year. Til then, I'm going to train, train, train :)

Here's some pics, 

and here's my bruise from my opponents leg kicks. thanks friend ;)

I'll post the video too once I edit what I have together in one coherent clip. Til next time!

JCP - 2nd JKD test film :)

JCP (Jie's cigarette pack) is our 2nd test film, the weather was great which meant we could film in more space, plus I'm in this one too, anyway give it a watch and let me know what you think ;) Inspired to start shooting 'Chase' soon, getting better at shooting the action the way i want - considering none of these last 2 test films were choreographed or storyboard, turning into something natural :) See you with the sparring video Monday night :)

'Max' - JKD test film #1 and Almighty Johnsons Shoot

Hi. Have you watched the film? 'Max' was created and shot in 3 hours during a Sunday practice to show off some JKD techniques and also so I could get some practice shooting martial arts scenes as I get closer to filming 'Chase'. Check it out, they don't do nunchuk fights much these days in films but I love nunchuks and my club mate and sifu are awesome at them so why not give it a try myself? :)

Also finally got my copy of Blitz DVD and poster today, celebrated with a Matt special -obligatory pizza and coke :)

And on monday I was an extra again which was awesome, the more I do the more chance I have of climbing the ladder. This time for Almighty Johnsons, as they shot their first episode for the new second Season. It was the first time that I had been on something professional that was shot on location. (all others have been in sets in warehouses) They had booked out a Pool bar on K road for the day and we shot some scenes in there. When I first arrived I wasn't sure where to go then I found all the buses and trailers were parked down the street. So I got there, introduced myself, met up with the other extra's and then got costumed up, which was good, as I've pretty much worn all the good 'bar clothes' i have in all the Shortland St shoots. In this role I was just one of the pool players playing in the background. Which meant remembering when and how I took my shot in time with the other guy I would be playing with, Once we figured out a pattern it was easy. Also not actually hitting the other balls so as not to disrupt the sound from the main action :) i thought today would be the day I would be able to drink some real beer since it was real bar, but na, still non alcoholic beer lol

After We shot through some takes we had lunch. Lunch! I hadn't been offered lunch on a film set before so this was new, the other extras were mostly from the same agency as me so we all got along fine, so many jokes (restaurant jokes, date jokes etc lol) as we ended up eating our lunch in the service driveway under the building, the catering crew had laid down 10-15 tables and the 50-60 of us had the healthy meal down there. It was a help yourself to roast chicken, yams, pumpkin, salads, breads, pudding, and it was really nice. Afterwards we chilled upstairs as they shot some close ups of the actors and then we finished our scenes and wrapped. Overall, a fun day and I'm hanging out for power rangers or something new next :)

More news in a couple days when I upload the club's Second test film and some Info on Chase :)

Batman: "Freeze! " MF: "that's 'Mister' Freeze!"

Hey guys/girls :)

Been watching batman cartoons lately, The Bruce Timm ones, not all these new age ones -the true dark original ones, really awesome, miss this sort of cartoon, ahead of it's time really. Growing up it influenced me alot so now that I'm older and can appreciate it more I tracked down a copy of the DVD and am reliving the claps, laughs and good times :) Batman's voice (bruce timm) and The Joker and his voice haven't been equaled since, in either cartoons or the movies. Just throwing that out there. I been a big batman film since I could talk lol. And still am, Bring on The Dark Knight rises next year :) Also Expendables 2 is gathering momentum, Jason Statham vs Scott adkins? (Fantastic, big fans of both)and Donnie yen vs Jetl i? (again, always cool -OATIC2 and Hero) Just hope they shoot the fights so you can see all the techniques and drama clearly, looks great, and since Chuck norris is in there, I wonder if there will be any chuck norris jokes? lol Love action movies soo much :)

In other news that probably relates more to this blog, This is the latest Sparring video from August when we tried out wrestling in the ring for the first time. Considering there is no 'give' in the floor, I think me and Richard were just running on adrenaline, needless to say, lots of bumps and bruises the next day :) Sort of damaged my confidence a bit, but I fought Matt last week and by second round back to my mobile ghosting self, will post that video when i get Wednesday night if Sifu remembers ;) Also shot a short film for the club, testing out some techniques, I just have to add sound effects for punches/kicks/nunchuks etc and i will upload that too :)

Above is the finished music Video that Nazim and I shot for a school assessment. For the 2 hour shoot time and edited during the week before the due date, I think we did pretty well. Anyway, i will blog more next time, about the long lasting Street fighter project (school work and our schedules making getting together and shooting this more difficult than we anticipated), Go girls, and your first look at Chase (the script I will finish tonight, then i get to play dress up to test out different looks for the main character ;) haha)

Anyway, Life is going good and all sorts of opportunities and challenges await :) Keep following, I'm sharing my Blue print :) Yeah, good or bad, smile and enjoy it, live for the moment. There's a reason for everything if you widen your perspectives....a couple favorite quotes....

"A smile confuses an approaching frown." and "So many languages in the world, and a smile speaks them all" and lastly ;

"A smile costs nothing but gives much. It enriches those who receive without making poorer those who give. It takes but a moment, but the memory of it sometimes lasts forever. None is so rich or mighty that he cannot get along without it and none is so poor that he cannot be made rich by it. Yet a smile cannot be bought, begged, borrowed, or stolen, for it is something that is of no value to anyone until it is given away. Some people are too tired to give you a smile. Give them one of yours, as none needs a smile so much as he who has no more to give." ~Author Unknown

Jeet Kune Do and my upcoming projects...

After I upload My SAE project to you tube tomorrow I will have no videos to share for a couple of weeks. My class assignments right now involve a music video, a television commercial and our class 3D project that we all add our own alternate endings too. My own projects require me growing my hair (for SF) and finishing writing my demo/show reel film. I also have a test tomorrow for lighting which I'm not terribly confident about seeing as i missed the classes on the subject but like water i go with the flow.

Richard holds Rhubarb for Sifu (first picture) I'm holding the wood that Chris punches through (above)

Last week our JKD club held a little demonstration for viewers of Bruce Lee: My brother at the opening night of the NZ HK festival. Apart from the other strikes, traps, holds and ground fighting that they demonstrated, Sifu Bruce Chen and Assistant Instructor Chris Zhang also showed off Nunchaku skills and the one inch punch respectively. Very cool :) (for more info if you are interested in learning and live in Auckland check out www.jkd.org.nz for more info)

And lastly for those who have read my earlier blogs, the 'Inevitable' project i have planned for 2012. I am in the middle of writing a short feature 45-60 min (not sure yet, depends where the story takes me) at the moment it's tentatively titled 'Chase' after the main character. The purpose of this film will be to show potential investors of Inevitable the style of film and action that i plan on doing. So There will be alot of HK style shots and fight choreography, I aim to finish the script this weekend and start doing location scouting and casting during next week with a finish date of the last week of October. I figure If you are going to gamble on a crazy dream you are better to go all in. ;)

Anyway, til next post, Enjoy life and get some time with your families and have a picnic or something, every moment counts :) Here is the full video of the HK festival night.

Streetfighter: Ryu vs Fei long - Week 1 and 2 Recap

VS

Streetfighter: Ryu vs Fei-long is my new short film project in the works. We are aiming for a late August Shoot. Lee Ah yen will be playing Ryu and I will be playing Fei Long.

I had written maybe 4 different scripts, some involving a cross with Jin in tekken, Chun Li and Jann Lee (Which is from a dead or alive pitch i had been planning to do later this year once i find the right actresses to play Hitomi and Lei Fang), One script with Ryu vs Sagat and One script with Ryu taking on Guile in a warehouse. It was quite hard to find actors to match the physiques of some of these characters so i decided we would shoot a film first to show prospective actors/actresses what the finished idea looks like and hopefully we can do maybe a web series of Streetfighter like Mortal Combat (and i don't mean the SF series College humor did either, i mean serious action not comedy).

I know of 2 very well made and received Fan Films of Streetfighter (Legacy and beginnings end respectively) And though i will be nowhere near their equivalent regarding equipment, cast or budget (read; no budget :P) Our enthusiasm for Streetfighter as well as the choreography and script i have written should win us some fans and maybe some name recogniton for future works, original or made for fans.

So Its been a week since Lee has agreed to the script and since Lee and I have decided a rough shooting date I spent yesterday shooting myself as both characters (not in costume though) doing some test choreography for the SF project in order to test after effects effects regarding Hadokens and hits and Powered moves. However all the footage is uploaded on the school computer so i wont be able to share with you guys the results for a couple weeks as i cut it up and add the effects, in the blog that follows i will go over the project.

Anyways thats the news. This past week i have been editing Everyones a Loser When It Comes to Love and TigerXCobra as well as our school project with flying cars aka Michael Bay haha. Always editing, now if i had final cut at home these would be long finished by now but i don't, so don't expect Ivy Investigation for a wee while yet.

In other news got to spar again on Wednesday, however the safety equipment is quite restricitve in terms of ducking and eyesight, i got hit by so many punches simply because i couldn't use my peripheral version, but in good news we were allowed to do front or sidekicks which is my middlename! so as you can see in the video of the spar that Chris uploaded i exploit that, hope to do more combos and punching overall next time out, i was far too passive in this one and quite disappointed in myself. Anyway, Christchurch next weekend, I'll blog again then :) Have a good week.

Coming Soon :)