So you wanna make movies, but even a shoestring budget is out of reach? Don’t despair, help is at hand. Edmund Lee and Patrick Brzeski learn the rules of the game from the Hongkongers who are keeping the indie spirit alive.

Scene 1: The dream
“Why does anyone really want to make movies? To get chicks”
“You need some discipline or in Hong Kong you’ll end up just partying your ass off. Find like-minded people so you’re not alone. Network. Join Alive Not Dead and its affiliated Speak Up events. Set deadlines for yourself,” offers Simon Yin of CB Fresh, the five-member creative team that has produced some wildly popular YouTube videos including the hilarious Wall Street Fighter 4, the third most viewed Hong Kong video. “If it wasn’t for that crazy screaming lady in the airport, we’d be at the top,” says Yin. Having set their ultimate goal as making features, member Vince Chung sees a much more favourable environment for new filmmakers in Hong Kong than, say, New York or Los Angeles. Yin observes, “The [indie filmmaking] community is so tight that it’s only going to take one great project to go the distance, and the whole scene is going to blow up.” Fellow Freshman Rob Lok chips in, “We want to trail-blaze here. We want to start a Hong Kong renaissance.” www.cbfresh.com.

Scene 2: The angle
“Nobody is going to care about your painful breakup”
While indie movies may be paradise for filmmakers due to the freedom they provide in tackling different topics, Vincent Chui, founder and ex-chairman of major indie film distributor Ying E Chi, sounds a note of caution: “It’s obvious that our indie cinema is getting increasingly monotonous. Some people are still making films to pity themselves after a painful breakup, while there’s actually much in these emotional issues waiting to be explored. You have to think about how your views on love are different enough from anyone else, and why it’s worthy of being made into a film.” When asked about the criteria he adopts to pick his distributed films, Jonathan Hung, director of indie distributor IndBlue, echoes Chui’s view. “There must be something new about a film,” says Hung. “Some filmmakers get really annoyed when their films are turned down. They think that their films are original, but for us – who’ve been watching so many films for so many years – we know it when we see something recycled.” www.yec.com; www.indblue.com.

Scene 3: The calling card
“Fake it until you make it. And that’s the only way to do it”
Or at least that’s what Elissa Rosati, director/producer of indie project The Death Loop, recommends. Together with Ben Robinson, the film’s sound engineer and co-producer, Rosati is pursuing a trailer-first mode of filmmaking. For The Death Loop(right), a psychological thriller/horror feature the pair are determined to produce, they have first made a trailer with sophisticated effects and high production values, so that they could attempt to sell their project at Cannes. “We made this amazing trailer in three weeks, for free. Just imagine what we can do if you throw some money at us,” Robinson enthuses. “Everything was begged, borrowed and stolen, everyone worked for free and Ben and I funded it ourselves,” adds Rosati. “It’s all about promoting yourself. You do some solid work to get attention, and then have the scripts ready when the money comes.” www.y4deathloop.com.

Scene 4: the script
“You’re not shooting the car crash? Why even make a film?”
To many, filmmaking is a vanity project; to indie director Philip Yung, whose excellent first feature Glamorous Youth has recently been invited to the Munich Film Festival, the truth is quite the opposite. “Many people simply like to be the director, to order around on a set full of equipment. But if your sole objective is to become a director, your concern should be on how to lower your production costs.” Instead of going for the extravagant, Yung suggests that all you really need is a good script. So when detractors posed the titular question of his film, his response was: “Some people think that they must have a car crash and spill some blood to call it filming. The mainstream movies get away with bad scripts by wrapping it up with layers of packaging. However, when you have a minimal budget, the quality of the script is laid bare before your viewers’ eyes. Questions have to be asked, like, does the story development make any sense? Does the dialogue sound like words coming from a human being?”

Scene 5: the financial plan
“Film is not a race to burn money”
“Many filmmakers are struggling to decide the amount of advertising required for a film,” says Jennifer Thym, the writer-director of Lumina, a Hong Kong-set, supernatural-themed love story that is being distributed as a web series. “Most film people regard it as a success simply to [have the film] widely distributed. But if no one goes to see the film and all that money spent on a theatrical release is just wasted, what then?”
Shot on a RED camera and compressed into YouTube HD format, Lumina has a target audience among the worldwide sci-fi crowd and Asian-American communities. An investment banker turned filmmaker, Thym identifies that the right strategies in film advertising are a critical issue for most filmmakers. She suggests: “Learn about film financing and distribution, and keep an eye on your budget. If you understand the business end of things, you can retain greater control over the creative side.” www.rockginger.com/lumina.

Scene 6: the buzz
“The distinction between indie and commercial filmmaking is twisted here – forget about it”
Heiward Mak finds herself in a delicate position when we chat about indie filmmaking: while her graduation project is an indie production, her big break last year, the mini cultural phenomenon that is High Noon (below), is strictly speaking a studio film, despite having a cast of non-professional actors and zero mainstream promotion. “The majority here think that you’re making a commercial film as long as you have stars, and vice versa. It’s weird,” Mak says. “To me, the most important thing is just to make a good film.” Mak’s film was shown in one cinema, Broadway Cinematheque. “In other words,” the director says, “it’s categorised as an art film before it’s even seen by the public.” To overcome the obstacle of having made a Category III ‘art film’, Mak and her friends have made “serious use” of Facebook to promote it, and they’ve also done several school tours and sharing sessions. The most important point, says Mak, is to market your film to its strength – in this case, High Noon’s social consciousness and the Hong Kong adolescent experience. “For a film directed and performed by a group of nobodies, we made noise by talking about something that the audience can easily relate to.” www.highnoon.com.hk.

Scene 7: The distributor
“I choose the good ones. I’m not going to distribute the bad ones, am I?”
Winnie Tsang is the founder and managing director of Golden Scene, a passionate local distributor whose catalogue ranges from Hollywood blockbusters like Twilight to the most obscure of local indies. When asked about her most memorable indie film distribution experience, she nominates Daniel Wu’s acclaimed mockumentary The Heavenly Kings. “In terms of ideas, the film is totally refreshing. As they say, these guys were selling off themselves for the film!” Promotion-wise, the filmmakers also came up with a batch of interesting gimmicks, first uploading a staged YouTube clip showing infighting among the crew, before taking part in the HKIFF as an untitled mystery film. So, we ask Tsang, do these type of indie projects usually make a profit? “Some of them, like The Heavenly Kings and Angie Chen’s documentary [This Darling Life], managed to do that. These are films made for less than $1 milion, so it’s easier to balance the account. If the advertising campaign gets too big, then it becomes difficult.” www.goldenscene.com.