This week I spoke with filmmaker, Godfrey Cheng about the beautiful permanence of film, the experience of being fired while on tour, and his new documentary covering the horrors of the palm oil industry, In Your Palm.

Godfrey’s passion for filmmaking began in elementary school as he was an early adopter of a content calendar, producing videos every Monday to share with his class. Experimenting with vlogs, unboxing videos, and gaming videos, Godfrey says that this wide range of exploration came from a challenge he put on himself “to see what you can make out of nothing”. (The unofficial mantra of university students looking in their fridge). For one particular assignment, he was tasked with documenting something that was important to him. He chose to film a series of comedic shorts with his grandmother, and while trivial at the time, in hindsight, he says that just “having that in my hard drive is something very important to me”. The importance of documentation became a recurring source of motivation for Godfrey and naturally led him to explore documentaries as a means to do so.

Getting Fired Up On Tour

Godfrey continued to make videos through his post-secondary studies at The University of British Columbia and began growing his network of clients through working with various organizations on campus. He also started cold-calling artists and other performers to gain more experience, eventually earning an opportunity to tour with singer and producer, William Singe. With the potential for over a million Instagram followers to see his footage, this was a massive opportunity for Godfrey, and he describes feeling incredibly anxious leading up to his flight to join the North American tour. Unfortunately, from the onset of the tour, he struggled to gain his footing or establish a rhythm, collecting passable footage but not performing up to the level that he thought he was capable of. Complications continued, and after three months he was ultimately fired from the position and was asked to return home. Godfrey struggled to identify what led to this collapse, wondering whether he wasn’t ready for the job, if he took the wrong approach, and even if he had a future in this industry. To give his mind a break he took up a job at White Spot, a job that while not fulfilling, reignited his passion for filmmaking. This interim period motivated Godfrey to improve his current skill set, gain some more experience and be ready for when the next big opportunity crossed his path.

Wedding Filmmaking

Part of his reinvention was working in the wedding industry, which he describes as a great place to “lock onto the basics” of filmmaking. Working within a finite time frame with essential moments to capture, Godfrey explains that in order to succeed, a wedding filmmaker’s technical skillset must also be met with the physical requirements of event videography. Throughout a wedding “you’re constantly on your feet, you’re tired, your legs are burning,” but you have to deliver your best work on arguably the most important day of a couple’s life. However, not one to get lost in the grandeur, Godfrey adds that over the course of a wedding season “you do have moments where you cringe but you pretend everything is alright”. Save it for the honeymoon folks. Perhaps the most important wedding he worked on was his own sister’s wedding, which he said felt like the culmination of every wedding he had done before. Once his edit was finished, watching her “being super emotional about seeing my work,” was a big affirmation that he had made the right choice to continue in the industry. (This is in no way meant to slander White Spot, count me in for a Legendary combo any day). Godfrey eventually decided to leave the world of wedding filmmaking but says that the hands-on experience he gained was invaluable to his career, as well as providing much-needed funds to upgrade his gear.

In Your Palm and Documentary Filmmaking

Due to the increased quality in his work, “collectively I started getting a lot of gigs from friends of friends,” covering subjects and genres that consistently challenged him. One of these connections was documentarian Carter Kirilenko, who saw Godfrey’s work and consequently offered him a gig working on a new project. This film, now titled In Your Palm, covered the dangerous and damaging palm oil industry of Indonesia. Breaching topics including deforestation, poaching, human rights violations, and global ramifications, this was an incredibly complex subject to capture. Much of this film was shot on location in Indonesia, and prior to boarding his flight Godfrey’s perception of this shoot was filled with dreams of helicopter rides, beautiful remote locations and the National Geographic documentaries he grew up with. However, he says “the reality is, you get food poisoning. You sweat all day because it’s so fucking hot,” and that it was an incredibly gruelling three weeks of shooting on location. Simply breathing was an issue due to the poor air quality; the crew had to wear protective masks all day which compounded the already incredible levels of heat and humidity. Please try to complain about wearing masks in Vancouver. But despite these hardships, Godfrey says that the satisfaction of being able to execute on his vision was extremely fulfilling, and even vindicating of his former struggles as a filmmaker. Carter and Godfrey ended up gathering enough footage to make two documentaries; In Your Palm is currently in its festival run, with a second film covering the Mount Leuser National Park coming out at the end of the year.

As mentioned before, Godfrey’s passion for documentaries came from his belief that “the power of film can ultimately create an effect” on the world, and that this medium is one of the most effective and engaging ways to educate an audience. Reminiscing on a project that stood out to him, Godfrey recalls another short film he made with his grandmother in his third year of university. As she was entering her last few weeks of life, Godfrey captured conversations and thoughts she had on those she loved, taking on a much different tone than the comedic shorts he made with her in high school. This footage was invaluable to Godfrey’s relatives who were unable to travel to Vancouver at the time, as well as those who were not fluent in Chinese, his grandmother’s native language. Once again, Godfrey views the timeless permanence of film as a gift, saying that there is something truly special about having memories “you get to look back on whenever you want”.

In Your Palm is currently screening at the Toronto International Film Festival and will soon be available for streaming, with Leuser: The Last Place on Earth making its debut at the end of the year. For more on Godfrey, follow him on Instagram for updates on these projects, and much more to come.

Follow A Musing on Facebook and Instagram for more content on Godfrey and the other creatives in this series.

Don’t forget to check out last week’s interview with artist, Aidan Shamray.

-BF

This week I spoke with writer and director, Dide Su Bilgin about the influence of improv on her work, select projects from her filmography, and the upcoming release of her brand-new podcast.

Dide Su’s passion for filmmaking began at a young age when her parents bought her a stop-motion animation kit containing a simple camera. With these basic tools, she started filming stories showcasing the day-to-day lives of her toys, and this emphasis on character has followed her throughout her filmmaking career. Dide Su also moved around a lot during her childhood, living in Hungary, Turkey, Connecticut and San Diego before coming to Vancouver. A constant presence throughout these moves was what she described as her “travelling film Bible,” a set of binders filled with SNL DVDs indicative of her love for comedy. I’ve only ever moved across Vancouver, and even I can sympathize that weight matters in a move; individual DVD cases simply did not make the cut and therefore necessitated the binders.

Improvisation in Filmmaking

As university approached, Dide Su debated whether she wanted to study animation, design or one of several other creative pursuits. Eventually, she came to the realization that filmmaking afforded her the opportunity to combine all of these interests into one. While studying Film Production at The University of British Columbia, she successfully auditioned for the UBC Improv team and continued a passion that she had developed late in high school. While she said that joining the improv team was a great experience in its own right, it also gave her several skills that she was able to translate into her directorial work. At first glance, the structured schedule of filmmaking and the freeform landscape of improv may not offer many obvious parallels. However, Dide Su says that there are always opportunities for spontaneity and experimentation in filmmaking, but it is often up to the director to take advantage of these moments. She says the takes where she momentarily veers away from the shot list are often the takes that prove most valuable once filming is completed. Having more options to choose from in the editing room can be a luxury and grant her more flexibility to effectively shape the narrative.

Finally, Dide Su has found that “the false confidence that improv provides you is key,” when trying to navigate the inevitable hiccups presented to her as a director. The many moving parts on a film production can bring “a level of excitement you might need to tone down or focus,” and Dide Su says her time in improv has helped her massively in this regard.

Select Directorial Projects: Plain Jane and “Too Good”

Dide Su made her directorial debut in university with a self-written film titled, Plain Jane. In addition to Film Production, she studied Cognitive Science, and this had a large influence on the inspiration behind this film. While learning about the various forms of amnesia she was inspired to write a script starring a hoarder who finds herself in a hospital. With her script in hand, Dide Su remembers bringing it to class with confidence but subsequently feeling devastated upon receiving a heavy critique. Elaborating on taking criticism as a creative, she says that feedback is always good, and “a lot of understanding criticism in your own work is understanding biases that you’ve had for a long time”. However, she says that creatives also have to acknowledge that you can’t please everybody and that the external reception of your work will often be out of your control. The most important lesson she took away from this experience is learning to prioritize addressing what is in her control, saying that “if you’re not happy with it, then it’s important that you alter it”.

Moving from her first directing gig to one of her most recent projects, Dide Su recently shot a music video with Haley Blais, for her song, “Too Good”. From their first meeting, Dide Su was excited to collaborate with another artist who already had a loose idea of where she wanted to take the video. She describes this process as a “moulding of minds” to build a story around Haley’s original concept of a beauty queen running away from her contest. The video was shot handheld in the earliest stages of COVID-19 hitting Vancouver, which created a great juxtaposition between the prom dress Haley was wearing and the backdrop of a “weird dystopian downtown Vancouver”.

One scene that stood out to Dide Su was the closing scene in which Haley runs on the beach into the low tide, eventually disappearing in the distance. In the pre-production planning, Dide Su had intended to include a shot at low tide, but she didn’t expect to be able to do it given the shooting schedule and projected weather patterns. But on the day of shooting, a low tide presented itself and given the handheld nature of the shoot, they were able to quickly capitalize on the moment. Once Haley began running into the tide, Dide Su says that her experience in improv kicked in and they continued to roll as Haley ran further and further away from the camera. Dide Su describes this as “one of the greatest moments” of this shoot, having the ability to be spontaneous and capture what proved to be a key feature in the video.

Speaking on the differences between shooting music videos and films, Dide Su describes music videos as great exercises to improve her filmmaking as a whole. She says that to clearly communicate a narrative in such a short amount of time, “you really have to convey it in the most efficient way possible, or leave it abstract” to capture the feeling of the song. This particular shoot helped Dide Su break out of a writing slump she was in, and focus all her efforts into telling a simple story within these constraints. She also comments on the teamwork needed for filmmaking in general, saying that “there’s something really comforting” about tackling such a big project with every individual cast and crew member moving towards a common goal.

Writing for Films… and Podcasts?

As a writer, Dide Su has never written for anyone else, describing her writing style as clear to her but perhaps less so for another director. Another obstacle is that she thinks that it would be very difficult to hand over a script, remove herself from the shoot, and not be “that writer on set… like two inches away from being in the frame”. We’ve all seen Dance Moms. Dide Su has always enjoyed writing character-heavy scripts, and she attributes this in part to creating characters on the fly in improv. But much like improv, one of the greatest difficulties she encounters as a writer is identifying the point at which to end a scene. She says that she can find herself overindulging in a scene when she is enjoying what she is writing, and passing over the right beat to end the moment and progress in the story. Despite her passion for her work, Dide Su also stresses the importance of not letting filmmaking consume her life, explaining that “if you don’t live life, what are you going to write about?”. The answer to this question is how we have six Transformers movies.

During this downtime for the film industry, Dide Su has found herself pivoting her writing towards her own cultural identity to bring attention to Turkish cinema and female directors. Another endeavour is the launch of her very own podcast, Blood In The Water. In this podcast, she interviews guests about the hot-button topic they cannot pull themselves away from in a conversation. The first episodes of Blood In the Water cover service animals, fast food chains and Norwegian black metal, which coincidentally all share the same tier on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Stay tuned for its release, and I’ll be sure to share it when it comes out.

According to Dide Su, the common thread in all her experience as a director has been the joy of meeting “people who are so excited about making films, telling stories, and trying something new”. If this sounds like you, follow Dide Su on Instagram and check out her website to see more of her work. If you missed it before, also check out the music video for “Too Good” by Haley Blais.

Follow A Musing on Facebook and Instagram for more content on Dide Su and the other creatives in this series.

And lastly check out last week’s article with comedian, Maddy Kelly.

-BF

This week I spoke with Corim de Guzman, a filmmaker and Youtuber who has amassed an amazing portfolio of work. We spoke about the coolest project he’s done, some hot work he turned down, and how to avoid burnout as a creative.

Corim’s journey as a filmmaker began like many others, making home movies of family vacations and documenting his personal life. After becoming comfortable with a camera, he began to make original narratives and won his first accolade with a venture into stop-motion animation. Taking inspiration from a video he found on Youtube, he created a stop-motion video in which he fought… an office chair. Thanks to this video, he won his middle-school talent show and kickstarted his career as a filmmaker. The chair was unavailable to comment.

After Corim began his studies at The University of British Columbia, he reached out to student organizations to offer his services and gain some more experience. This initiative resulted in his first paid gig as a filmmaker when he was hired to film “UBC Homecoming” in support of varsity football. Running through the 10,000 person crowd, he describes this experience as “action-packed” and “overwhelming” to take on by himself. At the time, this was one of the largest undertakings of his career and he spoke about the pressure to deliver on such a big stage. But once his final cut was published, he was rewarded with an influx of commissions from other organizations seeking his talent. Corim says that the adrenaline from the crowd and the physical challenges presented by event filmmaking are what first attracted him to the genre and what keeps him returning for more. Furthermore, he tells me that the creative freedom he has in event filmmaking is unlike any other. He says that “nothing is too crazy when it comes to event filmmaking,” and that these limitless possibilities push him creatively to constantly explore new shots, effects and styles.

Castles to Cars: Diversity in Filmmaking

In Corim’s opinion, the best part of freelance filmmaking is the “diversity of the people you meet” and the experiences you are exposed to. This diversity is celebrated in his portfolio that spans incredible locations, genres and clients. Corim first explored filmmaking through travel videos, so it is no surprise that one of the first goals he set for himself was to be paid to travel as a filmmaker. The first assignment in which he accomplished this was when he was asked to film the Ice Castles in Edmonton, a collection of life-sized castles sculpted entirely by hand out of ice. Between spending his childhood in the Philippines and studies in Vancouver, he had never experienced this degree (or lack thereof) of temperature before. When I asked him about these working conditions he remembers thinking “what am I getting myself into” as the sprinklers that created the ice froze his clothes against his body. However, he described the final products as “straight out of Disney” and looks back at this experience as a major checkpoint in his filmmaking journey.

Moving to his more recent work, Corim discussed a commercial he just shot for Porsche. When selecting clients, he tries to choose work that he is passionate about, but naturally, sometimes creative compromises have to be made. What made this shoot memorable and unusual for Corim was the creative liberty he had to experiment and “get away from the usual style” of corporate filmmaking. This freedom made this project feel less like a corporate gig and something in which he could really inject his personal style. In addition, this was the first professional project in which he worked alongside his brother, making the job that much more special. Over his career, Corim has “taken on any kind of project [he] can get his hands on in any type of industry,” and this has led him to accumulate an extremely varied roster of clients. However, there are exceptions to any rule, and he shared a few would-be clients that stood out over the last 5 years.

One such client found Corim’s work on Instagram, like many before and many since then. Impressed by his page, the client sent Corim a standard inquiry message that also included the key phrase, “I was wondering if you’d be interested in shooting porn”. Corim described this as the most “outlandish” project he has ever been approached for, and for the record, he said no. While this project was unique in the subject matter, Corim tells me that the payment can be equally surprising. He shared another message in which he was asked to shoot a standard product video, but instead of a cheque, the client offered payment in the form of magic mushrooms. I do not know what the current exchange rate is for video content to mushrooms, but this was another project that Corim politely declined.

Be Nice and other Career Advice

As a self-identified workaholic, Corim notes that many creatives face burnout and that this is “something that more people should be talking about”. Between late nights and fast turnarounds, filmmaking can easily have a negative effect on one’s mental health. To avoid burnout, Corim tries to find a balance between the amount of corporate work he does and his own passion projects. In between shoots, he also tries to make sure he does “activities that have nothing to do with filmmaking” to give himself a mental reprieve. Moreover, his advice to creatives is to “surround yourself with the best,” to stay happy, healthy, and produce the best work.

On one such non-filmmaking excursion, Corim found himself downtown at Twelve West to celebrate a friend’s birthday. In a state that he described as “a little bit hammered,” he struck up a conversation with a man at the bar. After exchanging Instagram handles, Corim continued on with his night, not knowing that his bar companion was one of the marketing leads at Vessi. This chat eventually led to a healthy partnership with Vessi that Corim maintains to this day. Early on in this partnership, Corim pitched a shoot to feature their products in Hawaii. Vessi initially declined the offer, so Corim gathered some friends with the intent to travel on their own. But on the day before the flight, Corim received an update that Vessi had reconsidered and was now interested in sponsoring the shoot. (If you’re thinking of upgrading your Crocs this summer, check out the final cut). Much like the Ice Castles were a milestone in Corim’s journey, this shoot represented the next step as this was his first sponsored international shoot. Looking back at the humble beginnings of this partnership, Corim says that “the moral of the story is you never know who you’re going to meet, so be nice to everyone”. If all drunk people would heed this advice, the world would be a much better, and probably less sweaty place.

Youtube

Corim’s most recent endeavour is his journey into Youtube. He tells me that this has long been a goal of his, but he had always faced “that hurdle of putting yourself out there,” and to come out from behind the camera. He’s not entirely sure what his channel will look like but “a mix of tutorials, vlogs,” long-form narratives or documentaries are all possibilities. He has already released some great content, so definitely check out his channel for more. To stay updated with Corim’s work, or to proposition him for questionable gigs, make sure to shoot him a follow on Instagram as well.

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And in case you missed last week’s article here you go!

-BF

For my first external feature, I had a chat with Colin Williams, a man who wears many hats including filmmaker, writer, music producer, and black baseball cap wearer. This is our chat about our common beginnings, his entry into filmmaking, and what exciting adventures lie ahead.

Beginning our conversation, we discussed our shared history of acting as our gateway into the performing acts. Colin made the choice to pursue acting at The University of Victoria after developing this passion throughout high school. One of the catalysts in his pursuit of acting was a successful role as Grigory in Chekhov’s The Bear, but he admits that the connection he felt to this character was not always present with others. In his words, Colin began writing to solve this problem and create “characters that I found interesting, that I would want to act in”. This progressed into spending more time writing than acting, as well as a growing interest in filmmaking as a whole. He said he “wanted to learn the whole process” in order to create his own opportunities, and gain the control to produce his own work. From there, moving behind the camera was a natural, but by no means given progression.

The Ups and Downs of Filmmaking

To pursue filmmaking Colin left Victoria and headed to Vancouver to enroll at The University of British Columbia. The culmination of his degree in Film Production was a year-long endeavour to create Methodic, a film that garnered awards and selections at several film festivals. This was Colin’s first entry into filmmaking on a large scale complete with an experienced cast, crew, and resources at his disposal. He describes this process as the “biggest learning moment” of his career so far, sharing stories of writing the script, building each scene, and the close connection he felt to the cast, crew, and story. Colin says his favourite memories from Methodic are, “the little moments,” collaborating with key creatives to bring the script to life.

One such story he shared was a conversation with the lead actress, Meaghan Chenosky. He described sitting down with her to discuss the next scene, as the set was being prepared behind them. They traded differing views on her character’s motivation behind the scene, but Colin chose to put his trust in her experience and encouraged her to follow her instinct. He told me that this decision paid off as “she did it incredibly and cried every single take,” bringing a completely different emotion to the scene than he had anticipated. He said that “to see that happening in something that I was directing, an emotional moment” was a memory that has stuck with him far beyond the cut.

However, his experience on set was full of ups and downs both figuratively and literally. On the last day of filming Methodic, he found a quiet moment alone in the balcony of the theatre. He admitted that his cap may have been feeling tighter than usual as he soaked in all that he had accomplished over the last year. But as he descended from the balcony to film the last few scenes, he tripped and “absolutely tumbled,” down the stairs, landing at the feet of the high school student hired as a Production Assistant. Thankfully after a quick dust-off, he was able to continue with the shoot without any other mishaps. I wonder what happened to this Production Assistant. Did this experience jumpstart her passion for filmmaking? Did it bring to light the perils of a film set, scaring her into another field? Or did it confirm that black baseball caps are an affordable, yet effective piece of head protection? I’ll need to conduct a follow-up.

Building Character

Looking back on what he learned from Methodic, Colin said that despite initially pursuing writing to write characters that he would like to play, he eventually found it beneficial to maintain some separation between himself and the characters he created. He cautioned that in order to maintain an objective lens free from positive or negative judgment, a writer has to be able to step back away from the script. That is not to say that a writer should not invest themselves in the script, but a reminder that “those different characters are the space to develop your idea”. The relationships that form between the characters is where he tries to synthesize his arguments and communicate the message behind his films.

To expand on filmmaking as a means of communication, Colin states that he loves how films “generate conversation about the actual ideas,” discussed within the plot. Furthermore, he expressed that it isn’t only positive reviews that catch his attention; rather his excitement came from “when someone says anything, I don’t even care if it’s bad”. I feel that this openness to criticism for the sake of discussion is hard to find, even more so in regards to the often guarded nature creatives have regarding their work, myself included. Please like this article.

Next Narratives

Colin’s newest endeavour is his pursuit to make a narrative album, creating music to pair with film to create a visual and aural experience. Essentially this would manifest as several short films with individual songs as the driving force behind each one, that when stitched together form a complete narrative. Colin recently made Speaking of Silence, a film similar to this style in which music was the engine behind the story. This was Colin’s first step into marrying music and film production into one, and he expressed his excitement for exploring this new field. He goes on to say that he feels that art is “about connecting with people more than it is about anything else,” and that experimenting with new forms of expression and connection keeps him motivated and creatively energized. Personally, I’ve only encountered this form of filmmaking a few times and it is truly a unique form of storytelling.

Despite this high-level discussion on filmmaking Colin also wanted to remind us that “people forget that this is absurd,” and that the blurred lines between technical application and the creative process result in some truly bizarre moments. From his experience, the juxtaposition between creating a beautiful mise en scène and “getting naked in the middle of Tofino” could occur in the very same moment. He described this balance as “dangerous interplay,” and I thought that this was a beautiful way to summarize the relationship between a performer and an audience, not to mention a great tag when I share this article.

Colin stated that one of the toughest aspects of filmmaking is the “massively long delay in gratification,” but I hope you enjoyed reading his story as much as I enjoyed writing it. To keep up with Colin, he is on Instagram as himself, as well as his page for Speaking of Silence. Also, in case you missed it, here is the link so you can watch Methodic. Thanks to Colin for taking the plunge as the first feature, and thank you for reading, see you next week.

-BF

If you missed last week’s article check it out here!