Ted Chung is a talented film director who grew up in the Chicago suburbs and went on to UCLA Film School, where he received the UCLA Directors Spotlight Award.
Chung demonstrates what excellent directing can achieve in a short film of less than five minutes. Simply using the camera, well integrated music, very well chosen actors and a fine understanding of visual communication, timing and nuances he is able to convey the character, feelings and emotions of the protagonists without the use of a single spoken word.
“A Thousand Words” and his film “Mike” are both shot very effectively in black and white. He elaborates:
” B&W is an immediate way of creating a style – especially when you’re shooting without many resources and can’t control the color scheme as much as you’d like. After shooting Mike’s and A Thousand Words in B&W, it was great being able to do On Time where everything was built or carefully sourced to align with an established color palette”
In an interview he explains the importance of music in his work:
“Music has a direct line to the subconscious, to emotion. Even a baby who doesn’t fully understand language yet can be emotionally influenced by a piece of music. It’s a very powerful tool in conveying feelings and ideas, but I think it’s important to have some restraint in how you deploy music. It’s often stronger to be more suggestive and give the audience space to fill with their own feelings. “
He was also selected for the Berlinale Talent Campus, where he directed On Time, a magical realism tale that premiered at the 58th Berlin Film Festival.
He is currently at work on his newest film, the sci-fi thriller I D.
“Ted Chung is one of my top five filmmakers on the web because he understands how to tell stories with or without words. The picture quality is irrelevant to his work. He uses screen direction and movement only when it is necessary to tell his story. He shows emotion and feeling in his characters, in his direction, and in the wonderful actors he casts. Most of the situations in his previous film involved lost chances and that’s some thing we all can intensely relate to. It is the moment that you are afraid, but you find the courage to take either the chance or not. Ted understands storytelling and that makes him a real filmmaker- Hollywood style,” says Director Steve Weiss.
Also directed by Ted Chung: “On Time“: http://vimeo.com/12947399
“Mike’s”: http://vimeo.com/16509726
tribecafilm.com/news-features/super_shorts/Super_Shorts_A_Thousand_Words.html
zacuto.blogspot.com/2009/12/steves-top-picks-for-2009.html
vimeo.com/album/159627/page:2 berlinale-talentcampus.de/campus/talent/ted-chung zacuto.com/featured-filmmaker-ted-chung
“An elegant and very affecting portrait of big-city loneliness and the instant connections that go “ping” and are gone seconds later. The emotions are halting, delicate, true.” -Jeffrey Wells, Hollywood Elsewhere
