ISFFH Q & A with Director Shaun Seong-young Kim
Shaun Seong-young Kim won the Grand Jury Award for his film “Hu’s Game” in the 2012 International Student Film Festival Hollywood (ISFFH) and we had the opportunity to have a Q & A interview with him recently and learn some more about him and where he got the inspiration for his film.
ISFFH: Where do you find inspiration?
Shaun Seong-young Kim: When my son doodles something on paper, I wonder who the first person was to draw something on a certain surface as art. This kind of curiosity naturally leads me to cave murals, and I start to come up with interesting stories related to cave murals.
ISFFH: Who are your mentors?
Shaun Seong-young Kim: Michael Patterson, a Professor in the USC animation department was my mentor during thesis production. His film editing knowledge; through a lot of industrial experience as a music video and commercial director was extremely helpful for me in learning to optimize the amount of work and make the film tempo feel good. Not only that; Michael and Candace, also a Professor in USC, invited me to their house a few times and encouraged me to keep going to the end of my thesis.
ISFFH: Tell us about your film and where you got the idea for it.
Shaun Seong-young Kim: I wanted to talk about a story related to the origin of art. While doing research, I found cave murals are close to the origin of art, and the symbols of cave murals themselves tell very charming stories. That was the beginning of Hu’s Game.
ISFFH: Who is the audience you wrote the film for?
Shaun Seong-young Kim: It’s for all ages, but it seems like young kids love it, like my other films. It is always fruitful to give kids a joyful imagination through my stories.
ISFFH: What message do you want people to take away after seeing your film?
Shaun Seong-young Kim: Art is just a part of game. Enjoy exploring art like playing games!
ISFFH: What do you consider the elements of a good film?
Shaun Seong-young Kim: Film is a medium to try to control your audience’s emotion through image, sound, dialogue and music. If people can keep focusing on the story and mode of each sequence, it is a successful film because people can feel all kinds of emotion as long as they focus on the film.
ISFFH: What advice do you
have for fellow student filmmakers?
Shaun Seong-young Kim: Film making is a great way to tell your own story to world. Please endure all the tough processes from film making, and enjoy it!
ISFFH: What are your goals? Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
Shaun Seong-young Kim: I’m currently working for Pixar as a camera and staging artist after graduation. It’s an honor to be a part of memorable feature film projects, but I still want to keep telling my story through a short form of film, too. My goal in 10 in years is creating a theatrical short with a bigger and deeper scale.
ISFFH: How can people follow your work?
Shaun Seong-young Kim: My website is www.skimation.com and my blog is http://skimation.blogspot.com/
ISFFH: Any final words you want to share?
Shaun Seong-young Kim: I would like to say to filmmakers from other countries that film is a wonderful way to show your talent. Since English is not my first language, it’s hard to deliver 100% of my thoughts in English, but there is no limitation in telling your story and ideas through film language. Please try to maximize the visualization of your imagination, and then people might get your idea correctly. I think that is the right way to survive in the film industry in the US as a none-native English filmmaker.
Hollywood is the capital city of the entertainment world. The International Student Film Festival Hollywood is the only film festival that embraces all ages from around the world, offering students the unique opportunity to gain the recognition of film industry leaders creating career development opportunities in their home countries as well as the United States. The opportunities provided by the ISFFH not only benefit the students, but the world community by bringing together people of diverse cultures and differing viewpoints.
The International Student Film Festival Hollywood is now accepting submissions for its 11th annual Film and Video Competition. The Festival will be held in the NoHo Arts District of North Hollywood, CA USA October 26 – 27, 2013. The competition is open to students of all ages and academic backgrounds. Submission deadline is August 15, 2013. More information and entry forms are available on the festival website www.isffhollywood.org. You can also find us on facebook www.facebook.com/ISFFHollywood.