A FilmHelp article by Greg Pak
I recently bought my first new desktop in eight years and upgraded to Final Cut Pro 7 to edit my new short film “Mister Green.” I’ll be posting much more about “Mister Green” soon. But for now, here’s a painfully detailed report on the trials and travails of transferring a much older film project to the new workstation. Here’s hoping it helps someone out there avoid my mistakes.
Transferring the Media
The older project had files scattered across multiple drives on an old blue and white G3 desktop. Unfortunately, out of the box, the G3 and my new 2.66 GHz Pro Mac don’t communicate particularly well. The new Mac only has Firewire 800 ports; the old Mac only has Firewire 400 ports. A cheap adapter would let me plug Firewire 400 devices into the new Mac. But my dream of transferring directly from the old computer to the new computer using Target Disk Mode didn’t work out — the blue and white G3s apparently don’t work as target computers. Although, strangely enough, two of the drives on the B&W did show up when I connected it via Firewire to the new computer. (Your guess is a good as mine!) But for the bulk of the media, I had to transfer the data onto Firewire drives, then transfer it again from the Firewire drives to the new Mac.
Even that relatively straightforward process became a bit complicated when I discovered that my newest Firewire drives wouldn’t open on the old Mac — they’d been formatted to be bootable with Intel Macs, which means they don’t show up on old Macs running less than OS 10.4. So I used some older Firewire drives, which were a bit touchy and crashed once or twice.
Film & TV
Atomic interviews Pak on Hulk
Atomic Comics has interviewed “Incredible Hulk” writer for their latest “Radiation Interrogation” column. Here’s an excerpt:
AC – When we last saw Bruce he was “Hulk no moreâ€. Now he has to come face to face with his son. But is it really Banner’s son or is it Hulk’s son?
GP – That’s an excellent question, sir, and it goes right to the heart of the story we’re telling. Skaar and Banner may have very different answers to that question, which could lead to some interesting conflicts.
AC – How is Skaar showing up on Earth and hanging around with Bruce going to be treated by the other Marvel heroes?
GP – Bruce Banner is going to pick a lot of fights during the course of this storyline. The heroes may have a tough time deciding whether the real threat here is Skaar or Banner himself.
Click here to read the whole thing — and don’t miss “Incredible Hulk” #601, hitting stores tomorrow!
Pak Talks Comics – Super Giant Reader Q&A!
By Greg Pak
Over the next few months, I’m reworking the format of my “Pak Talks Comics” column for BrokenFrontier.com. The new and improved column should appear towards the end of the summer. But in the meantime, I’ll continue the Reader Q&A portion of the column right here at PakBuzz.com, so keep those questions coming and read on for answers to the latest batch!
WARNING: Some spoilers ahead for a few recent issues of “Incredible Hercules,” “Skaar,” and “Magneto Testament.”
Hrungr: With the Olympians now on Earth along with the Asgardians, does anyone remember that the Celestials had ordered them to stop interfering with humanity? Or is it a case where humanity has grown to the point that the gods are simply another group of superpowered beings?
GP: Thanks for the question, Hrungr. As you’ll see, Bill has a similar question about the nature of the gods below – I’ll answer them together in a second. Also, since we’re on the subject, “Incredible Hercules” #129 hits comic book stores today — feel free to check out the preview!
Bill Frank: I just want to start out by saying that I am really enjoying your and Van Lente’s run on “Incredible Hercules.” You both seem to have caught the real feel for a mythological character that some writers miss. With that in mind, I was wondering a few things about your run that can be roughly divided into three sets of questions, if you don’t mind:
In universes like Marvel’s there are a myriad of super powerful beings with powers and abilities rivaling if not surpassing gods. Some beings like Eternals have been mistaken for gods in the past and have almost identical power-sets except they are science based instead of magic based. When writing a series like “Incredible Hercules,” what separates gods from other super powered beings? What distinguishes Hercules, an immortal super-strong man from other immortal super-strong men like Gilgamesh or Wonder Man or makes him different from being just some ancient superhero?
GP: I’m not saying this is the case, but it’s within the realm of possibility that all of the powers of Herc and his relatives could be explained via Marvel science; maybe they’re not gods, just immortal superhumans. But for millennia, Herc has been told he’s literally a god and has been worshipped as a god. So a huge part of his story is this struggle with questions of a god’s prerogatives and responsibilities. Characters like Wonder Man and the Hulk and Wolverine, who might be functionally immortal, haven’t had that millennia-long struggle with the question of godhood that Herc has, nor do they come from a family and culture of fellow gods struggling with the same issues. Those are major differences that create different animating themes for these characters.
“Robot Stories and More Screenplays” now available for the Kindle
Greg Pak’s “Robot Stories and More Screenplays” book is now available for the Kindle for just four bucks at Amazon.com. The book contains the screenplay to the award winning feature film as well as the screenplays to a number of Pak’s shorts, including “Mouse,” “Asian Pride Porn,” and “All Amateur Ecstasy.”
Click here to buy it!
George Lin, Rest In Peace
It’s with great sadness that I learned that George Lin, the programmer of the San Diego Asian Film Festival, died on October 14. George was a great colleague and friend whose gentle humor, commitment to the community, and enduring support will be sorely missed.
Please read Lee Ann Kim’s beautiful tribute to learn more about George, and see below for information about his memorial service and memorial fund.
UPDATE: Here’s George’s obituary in the San Diego Union-Tribune and here’s a Facebook page dedicated to George.
— Greg Pak
GEORGE LIN MEMORIAL SERVICE
Saturday, October 25 at 2PM
7940 Rufus Court, San Diego, CA 92129
The family asks in lieu of flowers and gifts, that charitable donations be made to the George C. Lin Memorial Fund, which will provide grants to institutions that provide scholarships to students studying film, and for pheochromocytoma research and education. Please send checks to:
The San Diego Foundation
2508 Historic Decatur Road, Suite 200
San Diego, CA 92106
Please write the name of the fund, George C. Lin Memorial Fund, on the memo line of your check.
Geeks of Doom posts massive interview with Greg Pak
GeeksofDoom.com has posted a big interview with comic book writer and filmmaker Greg Pak about everything from Texas politics to “Robot Stories” to Asian American themes to Skaar, Son of Hulk! Here’s an excerpt:
GoD: Your early film work seems to have focused on Asian American themes, such as Fighting Grandpa and Asian Pride Porn. Without necessarily connecting the two (which would seem, on the surface, awkward), you obviously have a deep influence from your heritage. Tell us a little about your early film work and where you drew your inspiration.
GP: I’m half Korean and half white. These days, people usually think I’m the same ethnicity as whomever I’m standing next to — Latino or Arab or Jewish or Native American or Dutch or whatever — I’ve heard it all. But I’ve always identified strongly as Asian American. When I was a kid I looked pretty much straight up Asian and got my share of racist taunts. But my parents taught me to be proud of my heritage and the Boy Scouts taught me that America was all about liberty and justice for all. The upshot is that I think a big motivating factor for me in becoming a storyteller was this desire to break down the barriers that separate people, to do my little bit to humanize different kinds of people.
“Fighting Grandpa” was my thesis film at NYU — it’s a documentary that asks whether my Korean grandparents ever really loved each other. It’s an incredibly specific story, rooted in one Korean American family’s unique quirks and history. But after screenings, people of all different backgrounds would come up to me and say that that was the story of their grandparents. That meant a great deal to me on a personal level, of course. But it also made me happy because it meant that folks of all different backgrounds had bonded with these Asian American people on the screen in a way that they might never have before. And in a world in which Asians are still horribly stereotyped and ridiculed in the most repellently racist ways in all kinds of media, that felt like a good thing.
In a kind of crazy way, those same impulses have probably helped me write the Hulk. On one level, “Planet Hulk” is about how what we think we know about a person can be completely wrong. Everyone knows the Hulk and his Warbound companions are monsters. But by the end of the story, we realize they may just be heroes. People are always deeper and usually better than the stereotypes would have us believe.
Hyphen blogs about the AAIFF WIP event
Last month, Greg Pak moderated the Asian American International Film Festival’s Works in Progress event, featuring “Give Up Tomorrow,” a documentary directed by Mary Syjuco and Michael Collins. Last week, Hyphen posted a report about the event at its blog. Check it out.
2008.07.16 – Greg Pak moderates AAIFF Works-In-Progress program featuring “Give Up Tomorrow”
From the official announcement:
Award-winning filmmaker Greg Pak (ROBOT STORIES, AAIFF05) leads our annual WORK IN PROGRESS program guiding filmmakers through the process of molding an unfinished work into the final cut. This year, Pak will be leading a workshop featuring GIVE UP TOMORROW by directing team Marty Syjuco and Michael Collins.
On a stormy night in July 1997, two young girls waiting for a ride at a shopping mall disappear without a trace… Simultaneously a murder-mystery and an exposé of endemic corruption in the post-Marcos Philippines, GIVE UP TOMORROW centers on the trial of Paco Larrañaga, a young Mestizo (of Spanish descent) accused of killing two Chinese-Filipino sisters on the island of Cebu. Capturing how a rapacious media circus stoked ethnic and class hatred to prejudice public perception, the film reveals the extraordinary judicial violations that resulted in Paco’s death sentence. Secret filming from Paco’s cell exposes the appalling conditions of Filipino prisons, where thousands like him languish without fair trial. This story is intensely personal with far-reaching global implications: Paco’s case was eventually championed by international human rights groups, including the UN; their efforts eventually led to the abolishment of capital punishment in the Philippines, saving hundreds of inmates whose possible innocence may have been disregarded by flawed judicial and social systems.
A reception sponsored by Tribeca All Access will follow the screening.
*FREE and open to the public. For tickets, please RSVP to hospitality[at]asiancinevision[dot]org.
At Tribeca Cinemas, 54 Varick Street @ Laight Street.
WED JUL 16 630PM
Pak Talks Comics: Reader Q&A about Cho, Hulk, Emma, Magneto… and Squirrel Girl?
BrokenFrontier.com has posted Greg Pak’s latest “Pak Talks Comics” column, featuring Reader Q&A about everything from Amadeus Cho to Magneto to where Squirrel Girl was during “World War Hulk.” Click here to read the column, and click here to submit your own questions for future columns.
2008.06.07 – “Super Power Blues” wins Saturday night New York public television screening slot
“Super Power Blues,” a short film written and directed by Greg Pak, has won this week’s Reel 13 online contest at thirteen.org and will screen Saturday, June 7, on New York’s Channel 13.
The 7 minute film stars Sakura Sugihara and Brian Nishii in the story of a Japanese superheroine living in New York City who deals with endless crises — when all she really wants to do is sleep with her boyfriend.
“Super Power Blues” will air on Channel 13 at 11:09 pm on Saturday, June 7, right after “Some Like It Hot” and just before “Camp.”
The film is also viewable online at thirteen.org.