finals are over!

it's been a great semester.

a lot of learning, growing, and new experiences. i'm feeling more confident in the fact that this is what i'm suppose to be doing-- not just studying film, but pursuing it through faith. throughout this fall semester, it's become clear to me how much i need to put my trust in God. i cannot place confidence in my own devices and works; my confidence must be placed in God alone.

one experience that certainly changed me was during my documentary project.

while making the first cut of my "hallowed" documentary, i decided to hide the element of faith because i thought that i would lose my audience's attention. i became ashamed of my faith. however, God worked through this documentary school project (how scary is that) to teach me what it really means to have self-less faith.

oswald chambers once said that people "want the blessing of God, but they can’t stand something that pierces right through to the heart of the matter." when i believed that my faith was self-less, God showed me where my faith really stood. i was in much denial and found myself not wanting to take in the truth. but thanks to His persistence, i took in what i needed to hear.

i submitted "hallowed" to the 10th annual epidemic film festival along with my other short film "rise". "hallowed" won the Best Documentary award-- i was absolutely thrilled :).

when i accepted that award, i realized that this was something that i did not accomplish alone. through this experience, i was reminded of how God truly does not leave us the way we are. He is always faithful! in return, i must always place my confidence and faith in Him. always.

"Your will above all else, my purpose remains

The art of losing myself in bringing you praise

Everlasting, Your light will shine when all else fades

Never ending, Your glory goes beyond all fame

In my heart, in my soul, Lord I give you control

Consume from the inside out Lord

Let justice and praise become my embrace

To love you from the inside out"

Today, God has taught me that Thanksgiving is not about our circumstances, but instead it is about our perspective.

I am thankful for the simple things in my life.

I am thankful

for my family,

for my friends,

for my education,

for my living situation,

for my opportunities,

for my choices.

On a more personal note, i am thankful

for being God's beloved,

for what He gives and takes away,

for the deserts and pain, because this let's me know that i am alive in Him,

for His unconditional love,

for redemption and hope.

If I am not thankful for any of these things,

then I pray for a thankful heart.

it's been an intense couple of weeks!

i've re-edited my hallowed documentary for the final cut. it all came together, and i'm glad to say that i've received a lot of positive feedback from my professors and classmates. although a ton of weight has fallen off of my shoulders, there was still something that i didn't feel completely satisfied about.

i assumed that this was the only challenge that i needed to face and overcome. however, i've forgotten and come to realize that there was more than one thing that i wasn't doing right in my walk with God. i became aware of my other mistakes--

we truly are imperfect beings, but we don't know it all the time. we often lose ourselves in this shroud, and it's not easy to recognize the buried issues that hinder us-- pride, lust, the need to control, taking pleasure in idols, anger. it becomes a long list, and yea.. it can be a total guilt trip. but recognizing these flaws within ourselves, and lifting them all up to God is where we find the true beauty in the Holy Spirit. God loves us so much that He needs to keep us accountable, no matter how painful it is. that truly is unconditional love.

my pastor on sunday spoke briefly of judgment day during his message. he asked us if we thought if this was good news. a lot of people did not really know how to respond. i didn't know how to respond-- was this something to feel enthusiastic about? the wrath of God?

"this is good news," said pastor sean. actually, it is great news. he explained that God loves us so much that He needs to keep us accountable by bringing justice upon us. "for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." (john 3:16)

God loves us enough to accept us just as we are. but He loves us too much to leave us that way.

just being reminded of all of this has made my heart heavy throughout the past couple of weeks. throughout my studies, and my free time.. God has kept me accountable, and i am very grateful for that.

"Every blessing You pour out

I'll turn back to praise

When the darkness closes in, Lord

Still i will say

Blessed be the name of the Lord"

Screening "RISE" at Hallowed: an Underground Awakening

About the Event

"Hallowed is an annual collaborative event that provides an opportunity for artists and participants to explore the connections between artistic expression and spirituality. Our theme this year is Lens: focused on compassion. 

Join us for an awesome night of film, photography, spoken word and amazing music! We are partnering with agencies advocating for justice - International Justice Mission, Call + Response, Food for the Hungry, CityTeam, and the Santa Clara County Environmental Planning Commission. There will be powerful short films on compassion being screened. We will also be premiering my short filmSink. The bands and musicians are off the hook – Finding Mercury, After Sunday, Edge, Elohim Pichardo, DJ Incognito, and an open mic hosted by Jonah. 

“Learn to do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed.  Defend the cause of orphans. Fight for the rights of widows.” (Isaiah 1:17) We are using the arts to spread awareness and inspire everyone to take action! My vision is to see hearts and lives transformed. The power of art can change the world! Guests will leave with an awareness that we are the solution to injustice and we can make a difference!"

Hallowed: an underground awakening
Saturday, October 25th at 7pm
The Oasis
200 N First Street
San Jose, CA  95112
Free Event

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i've finished making my short film "RISE" :).

Overall, I'm very pleased with how it all came out-- and I'm especially thankful for my two good friends, Jeff Bacani and Nick Corvello, who played the two main roles in this piece.

I've been given the opportunity to screen "RISE" at the 6th annual Hallowed event which I've mentioned above. Very excited to watch this with a large audience :). And I'm very much hoping to see this story contribute to the cause of this event: using our artwork to make a difference.

We'll also be screening "Sink" for the first time at this event. I haven't mentioned this earlier (thanks to my failed commitment to updating this blog), but I've been attached as one of the main editors for "Sink". I can't express how many problems we've run into during the editing process. Post-production for a 35mm project is definitely no joke-- especially when it's handed down to a couple of editors with no professionally related experience! We're definitely learning a lot though.. that's always a plus.

Anyways, the final cut for "Sink" isn't due for another month or so. We're still planning on transferring the footage to HD, which will take some time. I'll try to update regularly on how that process is going.

there's only time to do a project.. and another one.. and another one after that. when there's leftover time, i get to catch up on tv shows, grab a burrito, play one exhibition game of mlb the show, or do this. what i really should be doing is catching up on my sleep... right? sleep...

i've been working on a short film recently which i've been pretty excited about. the title of it is "rise" and the theme of the story revolves around the act of letting go of our burdens.

i'm pretty excited because this is the first time i got to shoot a project on my new hd canon hv30 camcorder-- capturing in 24p. although this higher format requires a little more patience during post-production, the results definitely make up for it.

like in any new project, i'm trying to experiment with new methods of storytelling. for "rise," i've been focusing my attention on sound design, and placement of music. i'm hoping to create a compelling experience through moments of silence, and allowing the subtlety of that to help develop the characters in the story.

i'm still in the middle of editing it right now--

i should be finished with it by next week!

this blog has been deserted for some time now.

i noticed that i haven't followed up with any updates for my involvement in the "sink" production... oops.

well, pre-production went fairly well for "sink." there was definitely a lot of logistics to cover for this 35mm shoot.

i was given another role for this project-- i got to work as the second AC... very exciting! my job was to pretty much work closely with our first AC, and cinematographer. i responsibilities were to clean and provide the lenses, handle the slate clapper, and haul a whole bunch of equipment. not to mention safeguarding the arriflex camera at all times.

we began shooting last saturday, at 7am, and finished production around 11:30pm on that same day. it was roughly a 17 hour shoot. having had no experience with working professionally on a 35mm project before, this was quite a learning experience for me haha.

it got very difficult to work as the second AC, and location manager at the same time. helping out the the rest of the crew while sticking close to the arriflex got frustrating at times. but i guess that just made things a whole lot more interesting for me during the shoot! there was a tremendous amount of effort put in by everyone on the team. miraculously, we had little to no complications with following our shooting schedule. i believe it's pretty common to run into some delays on this type of production-- but we powered through in time.

oh, and it was very exhausting... fun, but exhausting.

anyways, i don't think i have much more time to talk about anything else in detail right now. during this past month, i've basically settled into my new apartment, and began my fall semester at academy of art. i'm pretty thrilled about my third semester here...

for some odd reason, i was going through a very uneasy time during the summer-- and a lot of it had to do with my doubts concerning my stay at AAU. but i'm feeling very content right now...

some very exciting news--

i've recently been attached to a short film project, titled "sink." getting a pretty good taste of collaborating with different roles during the pre-production phase. i've been assigned as the location manager for the project-- hopefully i'll also get to help out with the grips for our cinematographer when we get into production. for now, i feel pretty content with what i've contributed; we have our locations set, and the crew seems pretty happy about it.

what's also exciting is-- we'll be shooting on 35mm stock footage, which just makes everything so much more legit. i dunno how i'm gonna contain myself when that arrives...