There was a little bit of drama at the airport this afternoon. I'm not going to get into the gory details, but let's just say that my mom thought fast and wiggled out of an uncomfortable situation. She looked straight in my eyes, and without saying anything, I knew she wanted me to play dumb. So I broke into việt kiều mode and spoke English. My mom then told the Saigon airport security that her việt kiều son didn't know what he was doing and asked if he could find it in his heart to let us through. She then slipped him a $20 bill. He took the money and let us through. As we walked away towards the gate, my mom whispered to me, "Damnit. I ran out of $5 bills. That guy didn't deserve $20!"
Mom and I have a long flight ahead of us. We're sitting here at the airport completely parched because we have no money left to buy a bottle of water. Both she and I are beat. In about an hour, we'll be flying to Taiwan and then back to San Francisco. It really has been an amazing ten days in Vietnam, but all good things do come to an end. That time is now.
It Donned On Me...
- Tony Nguyen
- I am the Chief Instigator of It Donned On Me, the competitive film making team located in the San Francisco Bay Area. My job is to make sure that our films donn on everybody.
IDOM - Body Of Work
The Crack Of Donn??
Labels
- Apple (2)
- Avalon Micro Film Festival (9)
- Class Assignment (2)
- Doggie Style (5)
- Edinburgh Festival Fringe (2)
- Exit (1)
- Featherweight Blues (2)
- Film Festival (6)
- IDOM (62)
- International Documentary Challenge (2)
- Lynn Ruth Miller (2)
- MacDiva And The Donnettes (24)
- National Film Challenge (3)
- Photoshop (8)
- Random Tony Thoughts (35)
- Renaissance Faire (5)
- Retreat (2)
- Return To Colorado (12)
- Robin Cee (1)
- San Francisco 48 Hour Film Project (27)
- San Francisco Living (5)
- San Jose 48 Hour Film Project (24)
- Screening (1)
- Stick And Pound (5)
- Susannah (24)
- Tail (21)
- Tony's Family (5)
- Travelogue (16)
- TwirlyBoy (25)
- Urgent Care (2)
- Vegas 2008 (4)
- Video (11)
- Vietnamese Life (2)
Notable Blogs:
Blog Archive
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2008
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March
(29)
- OH MY GOD
- Delegate Badge
- Doc Challenge Finalists Announced
- San Francisco 48 Hour Film Project
- Doc Challenge Teams Eligible for Judging
- Anjelah Johnson - Nail Salon
- Happy Easter
- The Project
- Home Sweet Home
- Airport Drama
- The Last Supper
- Being Việt Kiều
- My Name Is...
- Banh Khoai
- Exploring Hue
- Thien Thai Mountain
- Thit Cay
- Memory Lane
- Hue
- Today I Will Go Fishing
- The Dê Factor
- Two Nuns And A Frog
- Scenes From Saigon
- Mode Of Transportation In Saigon
- Ho Chi Minh City
- The Arrival
- The Mother Land
- Damn Foot
- It's Time!!!!!!
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March
(29)
It Donned On Me?
For the past few years Evan Donn has been teaching classes in After Effects and Final Cut Pro in the Multimedia department at College Of San Mateo. Every semester there were a couple of students who just wouldn't go home when the class was over, staying after with a seemingly endless stream of questions about every imaginable aspect of video production. Many of them returned semester after semester for whichever class Evan was teaching at the time.
In the spring of 2006 Evan taught a new class called DV Workflow which consisted almost entirely of these "irregulars". DV Workflow became essentially an 'everything but the kitchen sink' type of class covering the entire process of video production with an emphasis on producing video for the web.
As part of DV Workflow every member of the class had to produce an episodic video series for the web. This led to various members teaming up to work on each others' videos as well as providing valuable input on the finished videos during class screenings. When the class ended everyone felt that the working dynamic of the group was worth continuing.
Led by Chief Instigator Tony Nguyen they dubbed themselves 'The Evan Donn School of Film' and began holding quarterly screenings of everyone's current work. In 2006 several members of the group attended one of the 48 Hour Film screenings, and they all walked out with the same thought - we can do that.
From that point on the quarterly screenings took on a new direction as 'challenges' were thrown out with criteria similar to the 48 Hour Film Project. This helped prepare the team members for the challenge of building a short film around a character, prop and line of dialogue.
As the 2007 competition drew closer Mr. Nguyen once again took the lead and signed up the team for the San Francisco 48 Hour Film Project. Put on the spot to come up with a team name he considered and rejected many possibilities before the ideal name 'donned' on him...
Despite their history the San Francisco competition was the first time all members of the team had worked together on a single project. Everyone jumped right in and the result was our first short film - 'Urgent Care'.
Despite incredible audience reaction to the film, 'Urgent Care' failed to win either the audience or juried competition for San Francisco. However, the team was selected by competition sponsor Visa as one of ten teams from San Francisco to compete in their national "Life Takes" Invitational against teams from New York and Los Angeles.
With only one film in the can, Evan decided the team needed a little more practice before the Visa competition. Unbeknownst to the team, he signed them up for the nearby San Jose 48 Hour Film Project and announced it at the cast & crew party for 'Urgent Care'. Fortunately everyone jumped at the chance to hone their skills and prove that the success of the first film wasn't just luck. The result of that effort is 'Doggie Style', the second official film from It Donned On Me.
In September the team came together once again to complete another 48 hour film for the Visa "Life Takes" Invitational. In collaboration with members of the a capella group "Flying Without Instruments" they completed the fantasy film "EXIT".
In October, 2007 the team completed their fourth 48 hour project, the National Film Challenge, producing "Retreat", an existential tale of a horse seeking enlightenment. After this they took a break from high-speed filmmaking for the holidays in order to prepare for the 2008 season.
In March 2008 IDOM kicked off the 2008 filmmaking season with the International Documentary Challenge, producing our first non-fiction film, "Stick & Pound". Selected as a finalist in the competition, 'Stick & Pound' screened in Toronto at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Film Festival where the team brought home Documentary Challenge awards for Best Cinematography and Best Directing!
After an amazing first year of competition IDOM came full circle, returning for the second time to the 2008 San Francisco 48 Hour Film Challenge and successfully completing our 6th film, "Tail". 'Tail' brought home the award for 'Best Sound Design' as well as being nominated for Best use of Dialoge and Best Cinematography
Just a few weeks later it was once again time for the San Jose 48 Hour Film project. Despite a rough start IDOM pulled together and created 'TwirlyBoy', possibly our strangest film so far.
With seven very different films completed in a years time some would say it's time to take a break, but not IDOM - this is just the beginning as IDOM tackles new projects and goes in new directions in the quest to become the greatest competitive filmmaking team of all time!
Stay Tuned!
Elderly woman.
In need of urgent care.
Boy, does she get it!
In need of urgent care.
Boy, does she get it!
Got Mutter Butter?
It's gourmet food for schnouzers.
Your dog will love it!
It's gourmet food for schnouzers.
Your dog will love it!
A bored janitor.
An unexpected exit.
Life takes harmony.
An unexpected exit.
Life takes harmony.
A frustrated horse,
With no time for silly games,
Goes on a retreat.
With no time for silly games,
Goes on a retreat.
The Gullah People
Have a strong rhythmic language
Where they stick and pound.
Have a strong rhythmic language
Where they stick and pound.
A woman followed
By a mysterious man.
Who is on her tail?
By a mysterious man.
Who is on her tail?
Twitter Updates
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Who Is Quang Khoi?
When Quang Khoi and his family immigrated to the United States from Vietnam back in the mid seventies, his mother decided to give all the kids American names. Nobody could pronounce Quang Khoi, so his mother renamed her youngest son Tony. Quang Khoi's mom is a huge movie buff, and her passion for cinema is evident in the fact that she named her children after movie stars. Though it has never been confirmed or denied, word on the street is that her all time favorite movie is Alfred Hitchcock's PSYCHO, and that she named her youngest son after that film's leading man, Anthony Perkins. "Tony" is not so bad, considering that Quang Khoi could have ended up being "Norman Bates Nguyen."
These days, Quang Khoi uses his real name when he is acting in film. When he's behind the camera, he goes by his American name, Tony. Quang Khoi/Tony Nguyen inherited his mother's passion for the movies. He enjoys every aspect of film, from playing character roles on the screen to editing time lines in Final Cut Pro behind the scenes. Mr. Nguyen is very proud to be a part of this year's 48 Hour Film Project. Working with the It Donned On Me team has been such a rewarding experience, and he hopes to continue to work this awesome group of people in future projects.
1 comment:
16 hours! That's soooo long to sit on the plane. But it was worth it!
Perhaps next time mom and Borm go back I will go too!
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