strange frame: Love & Sax

Almost my whole crew
has gotten the swine flu.

We’re a little behind schedule, but hope to make it up soon. Kali is coming in for extra hours this week and I’m getting about 5 seconds of screen time done each day that I can focus on animating.

Daniel is making a great documentary about our process here within the context of the Big Island. Hope to have it up here next week.

Building a Film Community

With: GB Hajim
Info: Jul 9 • Thu • 7:00-9:00pm • Yukiyoshi Room, Krauss Hall 012 • Free • Call 956-8244 for information.
Event ID: EV0010319L

How do you develop a film industry and retain talent during tough times? Hire locally and train your employees to meet global standards. Following the example of WETA in New Zealand, GB Hajim and friends are building a film industry from the ground up. Come see what is being done on the Big Island to create a unique production niche while developing the local production community through internships.

GB Hajim is an award-winning independent filmmaker living on the Big Island. Since 1995, he has been directing, shooting and editing Hawaiian language dramas, animations and educational shorts. He has produced over 100 projects ranging from the many 15-second long Hawaiian Word of the Day spots on KITV to feature length dramas and documentaries. Currently, Hajim is working on a series of science fiction animated features. He has dedicated himself to making the process as important as the product and has been working with local schools to find talented artists to train in animation. In 2005, he won an INDE Award for Inspiring and Educating Hawaii`s Youth.

Rachel is finishing her internship this summer. She goes to High School in Laupahoehoe. Currently, she is animating an ad for x-ray clothing of her own design. She did a couple of comics about her experience here:

Before that she did a short documentary: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHwuv5UP4rc

Enjoy!

Tonight I spoke at the graduation ceremonies for the Hu’iana Mentorship Program.  I usually don’t do ceremonies, but I realized how important it was for these kids to feel their accomplishment. When I was standing listening to these students describe their internships, I could hear the pride. They needed this ceremony for closure on this first step towards their careers.

After the ceremony, when people were digging into their grinds (Pidgin for meal), I sat with one of the key people of the program – Paula Thomas. (I couldn’t grind ’cause my stomach was grinding itself!)

Paula and I talked about the many challenges that faced kids growing up on a rural and economically challenged island. One things that few people (definitely not our State government on tiny O’ahu) understand is how big our island is. Any program for students has to include some sort of transportation support. Many of the youth do not have any access to a vehicle and the bus schedule is getting better, but is currently really poor. I lost a great intern late last year because the bus schedule was such that she had to leave home 3 hours before work and it took over 4 hours to get home…plus she had a full course load at college to contend with!

Paula and I agreed to continue this conversation in the near future. We’re always trying to brainstorm these problems into opportunities.

On the bright side, I saw two of my former interns (Kayla and Ashley) at the filmmakers workshop in Waimea this past weekend. It was great to see them again and hear that they are continuing to animate! I look forward to seeing their work ad hearing more of their adventures in production.

Rachel, one of my current interns, made a short comic strip about working at the studio for her presentation at the ceremony. I’ll put it up here as soon as I get a copy.

Gotta stop thinking and get some sleep.