Synopsis
Cast and Crew
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SYNOPSIS

"A bad story about telling good stories."

Isaac,a bimmer enthusiast, meets Ethan, an aspiring comedian, in the waiting room of Dr. Waters' clinic. As they wait, Ethan tells Isaac a story. A really really bad story that involves an art gallery, a special painting and egg omelettes. And as with any film, there is always room for a teddy bear.

CAST AND CREW

Cast

Lim Xue Yuen - Isaac
This short is Yuen's acting debut and he is nothing like his character in the film. Currently pursuing a commerce degree at the University of Auckland, Yuen knows a lot about fried chicken and the word 'oligopoly'. Not many people know the meaning of that word, but he does. And it sure sounds complicated. And deep.

Bob - Teddy
Bob really has nothing to say. I think he likes being out of focus.

Dennis Liu - Ethan
Dennis thought he'd try acting. Employing what he thinks is the technique of 'substitution', Liu felt right at home substituting his enthusiasm for storytelling with his enthusiasm for storytelling.

Crew

Dennis Liu - Writer/Director/Editor
The third short film was a way for Dennis to experiment with documentary techniques and try the subversive cross genre mixing of 'the dating video' with 'the wildlife documentary'. The approach yielded some interesting results, making TAoSt a self-reflexive piece of crap. In his spare time Dennis cooks with satay sauce.

Ajita Goh Yun-Ru - Composer
TAoSt was the first production in which the music was recorded while the film was playing. What this means is, Ajita sat in one room with the piano, recording the music, while in a room four kilometres away, the film was playing on a broken projector. During this time, Ajita was able to telepathically improvise the spotting on the spot. And oh do we not love the puns. In her spare time Ajita goes outside for fresh air.

Special Thanks
Angie Su
Tin Hung Liu
Ethan Waters
Tan Yam Keow
Goh Chin Tap

External images referenced from: www.morguefile.com

Shot on location in Bucklands Beach, Auckland.

The Art of Storytelling contains multiple levels of reality and the constant breaking of the fourth wall. It is my attempt to making something that remotely resembles a Christopher Guest-ian mockumentary. I was also inspired by Brecht's 'epic theatre'. The film deals with issues of sexuality, famine, identity and disease. Well, not really. It actually deals with themes of anxiety and insecurity. Anyway, the message is clear: Go out there and tell stories, even if they're horribly boring.

We shot this movie over three days. The first day was a morning shoot for the waiting room scene, and the second day was an afternoon shoot for the interview segments. The third was me and a teddy bear shooting introspective moments.

Both Yuen and I made our acting debuts on this short. Yuen was incredibly flexible and naturally adaptive as an actor, while I found it difficult directing and acting at the same time. As a director one has to be so conscious of how everything looks and not just how it feels, while when you act any sense of self-consciousness as the actor (and not the character) can affect your performance negatively. It was a great learning experience for both of us.

Editing took a long while, and it was the first time we had used open-source images from elsewhere. There turned out to be a lot of high quality photos around, and they added to the credibility (there is any?) of the film. In terms of pacing, there were a lot of scenes cut because they weren't essential, however we still ended up with the longest Effo Films short to date.

Music-wise, this was a lot of fun. We made use of some ominous modern compositions Ajita had written previously but also used specific themes written for the film. In additon, there was also an instrumental arrangement of a pop song Ajita had written previous, in the end credits. So all in all, a much more diverse palette of sounds in this film than any of the previous ones.

The Art of Storytelling isn't so much a successful self-reflexive documentary as it is a successful exercise in camera tripod set-up. What the film truly excels at though, is its ability to show at least one character on the screen at almost any given point in the film.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to email me at: neoslimdog@gmail.com

To go to the blog you can use the link at the top of the page or click this one: friedorange.blogspot.com

Think about life and look at the blue skies. Clouds are pretty and so are the contours on the wallpaper. Enjoy your day and thanks for visiting.

:o)

Dennis

Last Updated: 18 Nov 2005