James Nguyen: The Master Of 3D

[Nergol]

James Nguyen would like you to know that he is the master of 3D cinematography now:

[Starman!]

Did he just say "We shot with 3D cameras, I think"?

If he doesn't know that he's shooting his own movie with 3D cameras...

[Darth Geek]

Here is a picture of the cameras he used:

[Bob]

Here is a picture of the cameras he used:

[MerryWanna]

This guy can't be for real.  Good 3D is not merely a matter of having James Cameron's budget! It's about education and talent.  If he were serious he should outsource his cgi to someone who knows WTF s/he is doing!

Master of 3D? This guy is the Tommy Wiseau of cgi.  As the riff noted, those birds looked less  realistic as the space critters from a Galaga game, and as an old Galaga fan, I'd say that the Galagans had even better movement in their dive-bombings.  He has most of his bird flocks active on one single layer whenever seen in close-up.

The "shock and terror" is that someone that untalented can be taken seriously by anyone - and someone had to have taken him seriously, I suppose, to fund this turd...

The interviewers did a great job - flapping paper like it was birds' wings at him, ha ha ha!


EDIT: I forgot that one of the gags on the 'trax for this mentioned Galaga.  That did sort of make it seem like I hadn't seen it yet.  I fixed my wording above to reflect this.

I try to be clearheaded when I write and communicate more well than that...but, hell, I'm an old hippie chick...so sometimes I'm bound to be as foggy as a hotbox closet, and/or those who breathe the fumes within it. 

[MrTorso]

Have you seen Birdemic?  There was no funding. It is all James Nguyen. The "paper wings" are promo coat hangers that Severin gave out because of the scenes in the film of the characters protecting themselves from the bird with hotel hangers. We had some come in at work when it came out.

[MerryWanna]

Have you seen Birdemic?  There was no funding.

Of course I saw the "film".  (If I am posting about it, you can pretty much assume that I have, unless I state otherwise.) Natch, there was no funding.  This was probably the guy's life savings, running down his legs... 

What I was referring to in the interview was not the coat hangers...although I did notice them and catch the reference; what I was referring to was the girl on the left side of the screen picking up some papers - her notes, I guess - and rattling them in the air at Nguyen.  Right around that time, someone else stuck that fake crow next to him and began jiggling it.  The "interviewee" seemed to not catch on to the obvious fact he was being laughed at - or else, managed to hide it very well.

[MartyS (Gromit)]

Have you seen Birdemic?  There was no funding.

Of course I saw the "film".  (If I am posting about it, you can pretty much assume that I have, unless I state otherwise.) Natch, there was no funding.  This was probably the guy's life savings, running down his legs... 

Listen to the commentary track on the DVD with the actors (the one with Nguyen is insane and has worse audio than the movie, so very hard to sit through).  Whitney Moore tells all about the lack of funding, lack of permits, lack of crew, lack of, well, you get the idea.  It's a pretty entertaining track, And the next best way to watch Birdemic after Rifftrax.

[MerryWanna]

Listen to the commentary track on the DVD with the actors (the one with Nguyen is insane and has worse audio than the movie, so very hard to sit through).  Whitney Moore tells all about the lack of funding, lack of permits, lack of crew, lack of, well, you get the idea.

I do not know much about what it takes to make a film.  I had been under the impression that merely getting stuff onto camera and editing it into a movie, and paying off the actors and camera crew for even a very short "vignette" of a film cost multiple thousands in the five to six digit range.  This before any sort of cgi work is even used in the credits...I hadn't even considered matters like permits.

I have seen low budget movies that "worked" on levels other than the "so bad it's good" effect - but they are the exception, not the rule.  That said, there are PLENTY of very well-funded movies that are absolutely awful in every way possible.

[MartyS (Gromit)]

Listen to the commentary track on the DVD with the actors (the one with Nguyen is insane and has worse audio than the movie, so very hard to sit through).  Whitney Moore tells all about the lack of funding, lack of permits, lack of crew, lack of, well, you get the idea.

I do not know much about what it takes to make a film.  I had been under the impression that merely getting stuff onto camera and editing it into a movie, and paying off the actors and camera crew for even a very short "vignette" of a film cost multiple thousands in the five to six digit range.  This before any sort of cgi work is even used in the credits...I hadn't even considered matters like permits.

They used the "we are shooting a wedding video" line to get away with not having permits, I can't remember if they mention being kicked out of any places.  Guess they could get away with it since most of the time it was just Nguyen with his old camera and the actors.

I think they said the woman that plays the mom was one of the people that gave Nguyen some of the money, something like $30K.

Other stuff from the actors commentary:  Nguyen didn't have a credit card so the Mustang rental was up to the actor that played Rod, they could only afford 2 or 3 days rental, the van they ended up in was Nguyen's.  The makeup person quit on like day 2 so Whitney did all the makeup.  And the cops showed up guns drawn at the roadside scene where they meet the kids.

[MerryWanna]

I think they said the woman that plays the mom was one of the people that gave Nguyen some of the money, something like $30K.

Oh jeez, that's a knee-slapper.  That would explain a lot about why she got a completely meaningless part even though she is hideous to look at (and as an overweight female myself I am not one who thinks everyone in films should be beautiful.  But man, she looks like a caricature. And sounds awww-ful.)

[Darth Geek]

I find it hilarious that even a CREDIT CARD COMPANY considered Nguyen untrustworthy, and yet he still got money from some people, and actors still agreed to be in his movie.

[MerryWanna]

I find it hilarious that even a CREDIT CARD COMPANY considered Nguyen untrustworthy, and yet he still got money from some people, and actors still agreed to be in his movie.

It's not always easy to get credit.  Plenty easy if you are young and going to a four year college - which is about the worst time to run up credcard bills.  But as adult life goes on especially in this endless recession (there's basically been a "recession" ever since I was about 20, with a slight bump in the days before the dot-com bust) all you have to do is miss one wrong payment or get thrown out of the wrong place to live and then it takes years to build your credit up again.

I just don't use it myself.  I had a card once but got rid of it by choice and now just use GreenDot temp cards to pay for stuff on the net.  It's a good way not to get your life mixed up with banks.

But I'm not a movie producer, either. One would expect someone working in that field to be able to get necessary items when needed and not have to wait for them.