One of the most shocking moments of my life occurred back in 2004 when an unexpected package arrived at my place of employment. I remember being in a meeting with our corporate archivist when I heard that knock on the conference room door. I looked up from my notes and in walked a viking. Yes, a viking. A rubenesque Nordic viking warrior complete with the horned helmet, chained hauberk, and armaments. I was baffled at first, but when this viking let out a shriek that seemed to crescendo louder and louder, I realized what day it was: June 30th. Anything goes on this day, and sure enough, my sister sent me this special delivery.
It's June 30th today, and as I dive into my mid thirties, I'm realizing that I am really happy with my life. When I look back at the time when this singing telegram was delivered, I remember being very unsatisfied with my life. I won't get too deep into it, because it's not really something I want to relive. What I will say is that as I get older, I am liking myself a lot more. The quality of my life has greatly improve this past year, thanks to some decisions to take risks, try new things, and finally letting go of all negative energy. Life is sweet, and I will make sure this upcoming year and every year thereafter will rock.
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
(264)
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June
(29)
- The Viking
- Presenting Susannah
- Signed, Sealed, Delivered.
- A Day At The Pond
- 48HFP Meet & Greet
- Oh Susannah!
- Are We Done Yet?
- Compressing...
- Uploading To Vuze - HELP!
- Back To Sig's Side Of The Pond
- Final Sunday
- I Don't Think You're Ready For This Jelly
- Faux Hawk
- Strippin' Granny
- Top 10 Reasons Why You Should Enter The 48 Hour Fi...
- 48HFP Mixer and Happy Hour
- RE: Thank You Tostanoskis!
- Rough Cut #2
- IDOM On Crack!
- RED ALERT!
- This Side Of The Pond
- Coy Koi Studios
- Susannah Story Board
- How's This For A Logo?
- Rough Cut
- The 60 Year Old Maid
- OpenCut Update for June 3rd
- Sig's Post-Production Facility Schedule
- Are You Reading This Rufus?
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June
(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
Followers
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.
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