July 30, 2008 by George Shaw.

Last Friday ASIAN STORIES, had it’s theatrical opening. I was at opening night along with other cast/crew. It was really exciting, this is the first film I’ve worked on that has had a theatrical release in North America.

The poster and I just outside the theater.

The screening went well, aside from a technical problem that made the picture look really awful, it was dark, fuzzy, and flickering in some places. Had something to do with an HD camera and only having an S-video cable…but the music sounded great in the theater. The music was even louder in some places than I expected to be…I’ve gotten so used to not hearing music in big Hollywood movies b/c of all the huge sound fx. And the audience was laughing a lot, it’s definitely the kind of movie that’s best to experience with a group of people.

Afterwards, I got to go up for a Q/A with the people that worked on the movie. Ron the director, absolutely praised me in front of everyone, mentioning how I came in just weeks before the release to write half an hour of original music with the deadline ticking down. He claims I did it in 10 days, but it was more like 2 1/2 weeks to write, record, and mix the score. And I couldn’t have done it with out the help of my 2 amazing guitarists: Eugene Huang (http://www.myspace.com/eugenehuang) and Bo Han (http://www.myspace.com/bohanmusic). They recorded all the guitar parts, and sent me the final tracks that I only had to drop into my sequencer and mix with my own drums/synth parts. And fortunately I didn’t have to score the entire film, as they had some really great songs from the band Thomas’ Apartment (http://www.myspace.com/thomasapartment). I really dig their songs, and have been listening to them ever since!

My friend NaRhee Ahn, who directed a Korean American romantic drama that I scored (PURITY), mentioned later that she’s never heard a director ever give so much praise to a composer. On a side note, 2 years ago, PURITY and ASIAN STORIES both premiered at the same time in adjacent theaters at the LA Asian Pacific Film Festival. That’s when I met Katz Ueno, the associate producer on ASIAN STORIES, in the lobby prior to the screenings and handed him a CD of my music, and hence how I became involved with the film.

The funniest behind-the-scenes story of the night, was about how one of the crew members found a book in the director’s car, and it was some type of dummies guide to directing. Apparently Ron (the director) and his producer Kris, learned all about filmmaking by going to Barnes and Noble and hanging out there and reading all the books on filmmaking. There were even moments in the shoot where Ron would open up his directing book and point at a picture and tell the cinematographer he wanted the shot to “look like that.”

Ron is such a funny guy, and I can’t wait to see his next film!

Cast & Crew from L-R: I didn’t catch the name of the first guy…Ronald Oda (short guy in front), behind him is Kirt Kishita, Me, Wendy Ho, Kathy Uyen, James Kyson Lee, & Gabriel Lozano.

The afterparty took place at Blue Dahlia, a really cool wine bar with a chill and relaxing outdoor ambience. Kathy Uyen organized it, and I had a great time hanging out with friends and people who came to see the movie. A lot of people came up to me to tell me what a great job I did with the music, and it was so nice to get wonderful compliments from people in person. I do so much of my work alone in my studio, that it’s wonderful to meet and connect with a real live audience!

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July 21, 2008 by George Shaw.

It’s been an exciting few weeks, my new soundtrack album has been released (J-ok’el), and I’ve been hearing so much enthusiasm from fans who’ve bought the CD. I even did a CD signing the week it came out, and it seems weird to me that anyone would want my signature, especially after looking down at the album I just signed and seeing just how terrible and unreadable my handwriting is. Several people have asked me how to pronounce “J-ok’el”. Well, the “J” in spanish sounds like “Y”. So it’s pronounced “Yo-kel”.

I also played a Rockband charity tournament (the rockband videogame…I’m not a good enough performer to join a band), and my band WON! It was amazing, and to play drums in front of a crowd of screaming people was such an adrenaline rush that I haven’t ever experienced in all my years playing in orchestras and concert bands. And all the proceeds go towards Mercy Corps’ COMFORT FOR KIDS, a program helping earthquake survivors in Sichuan, China.

Read more about the rockband charity tournament on my alivenotdead.com blog:

I also put in some long nights to do a last minute score for a really funny comedy called ASIAN STORIES. It stars James Kyson Lee (from NBC’s Heroes), Kathy Uyen, and Kirt Kishita, and is having a one week theatrical release in Los Angeles, beginning July 25th at the ImaginAsian Center in downtown LA. It will be releasing on DVD on September 2nd. This is one of the best films I’ve worked on, and I’ve found myself laughing at scenes even after I’ve seen them multiple times. It’s that funny!

You don’t have to wait for my next release to hear more of my music. I put up some exclusive tracks you can download for free if you sign up for my mailing list on reverbnation.com/georgeshaw. You’ll also get email updates about future releases, upcoming movies, and new tracks you can download for free. You can also grab widgets of my music and share them on your own website or myspace page, they even automatically update when I load new music, so you’ll be the first to hear my latest stuff.

Some of the exclusive tracks you can download now are suites from short films that I’ve done, such as:
*Willie Mays and the Infinite Sadness, an emotional and moving fantasy, that required some really big lush orchestral music (it was temped w/ Horner’s Beautiful Mind, and Elfman’s Big Fish).
*Creswood Hotel, a suspense film done in a very Hitchcockian style, and the score is an homage to Bernard Herrmann.
*The Story of Maureen and Malcolm, a charming romantic fairy tale made by some very talented film students in the UK.
*The Complex, my very first full-length feature film score for a very low budget horror film that will likely never be seen. But I’m very proud of the music, as the director gave me the freedom to do what I want. The suite consists of the main titles and one of the big supernatural finale pieces that allowed me to do something dark but with hints of the magical orchestrations in Williams’ Harry Potter scores.

http://www.reverbnation.com/georgeshaw

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