January 2012
3 posts
7 tags
The Power of Vulnerability
A few friends had sent me this over the past couple of days, and I finally had a chance to sit and listen to it. Brene Brown discusses “The Power of Vulnerability” at TEDxHouston. If you haven’t checked it out yet, it’s definitely worth a listen. It definitely struck a chord with me.
Vulnerability is one of those feelings that we usually try and limit because it’s so...
5 tags
Creating a Permanent Memory
“It was a retelling of, not so much what I was doing on that great night, but the idea that it was important to embrace the memory of it and recognize when something important is happening.”
- Chris Carrabba on the writing of “Hands Down”
December 2011
3 posts
10 tags
Reflections | Recollections of 2011
During the last week of every year, I usually reflect back on the past 12 months - the good, the bad, and everything in between. This year was no different.
I look back on pictures and think back to memories that prove 2011 was/ is (for the next 9 1/2 hours) definitely a year of growth and transition, in some ways much more so than others.
A quick recap of 2011 (the good parts):
According...
5 tags
The Power of (Idea)lism
Idealism is inherent in the youthful and inexperienced - a belief that there’s always the possibility for good. Hopefully, it’s something that’s doesn’t fully diminish over the course of a life, but I think in most cases it does get chipped away - with every tragedy, every heartbreak, every disappointment. It’s an unfortunate part of growing older and simply put,...
4 tags
An Ode to the Written Word
It’s crazy to think how a few years, actually even a few weeks, or a couple of days can change so much. Sometimes this aspect of life is annoying, other times amazing, almost always… unexpected.
Whether I truly embrace it or not, I’m a writer - not necessarily just in the form of scripts or treatments but I fully embrace my love for the written word.
Words. We use them every...
November 2011
2 posts
3 tags
4 tags
As a male in my mid-20s, here is what I’m looking for in a relationship. (Applications available upon request.)
I want a girl who is…
Kind
Smart
Caring
Considerate
Funny
Loyal
Beautiful
Adventurous
Shows me that she cares
Wants to surprise me
Likes surprises
Wants to go through that beginning phase of being excited and wanting to see each other all the time (I...
September 2011
1 post
5 tags
July 2011
1 post
5 tags
The Ultimate Rule of Screenwriting
The only rule is the one that applies to the reality within your story.
June 2011
1 post
6 tags
A Shared Philosophy on Directing a Film
“The screenplay is not written in stone remotely. As soon as they’re (actors) hired for the movie, I tell them that they’re free. If there are any speeches they don’t want to do, if there’s anything they want to add or subtract or change, go right ahead and do it. I watch them closely, and if there’s some egregious mistake that they make, I tell them, but...
April 2011
1 post
6 tags
It's been a while...
It has been waaaaaaaaaaay too long since I’ve written. So much has happened (good and bad) But I’d like to focus more on the good. Many new friends. Many new projects. Let’s see if I can just list off the top of my head…
Got the chance to work with Olivia Munn on her Audrey Magazine spread (thanks to my girl Janice Jann for the hook up!)
My short film “Blink”...
August 2010
1 post
Check out my latest interview :D →
A month or two ago, Write Brothers (producers of some amazing screenwriting software), asked to do an interview with me after my win at LAAPFF for “The Brilliant Dance.” Check it out if you get a chance. Thanks!
July 2010
1 post
WatchA simple “Bounty” spec commercial I did not too long ago for fun.
New projects in the works! Updates coming soon!
May 2010
1 post
|| Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival | 2010...
Preface: I haven’t been the best with updating lately. There’s just been so much going on all at once, but life is usually like that I guess. I’ve decided to put forth even more effort in updating this blog. I’ll start with LAAPF ‘10.
Besides Campus MovieFest, I haven’t really gone much into the film festival circuit as of yet. I’m definitely heading...
February 2010
1 post
December 2009
1 post
IIThousandIX (2009) ... we... need to talk...
Look… ‘09… this past year has been so many things; some wonderful, others tragic, but full of moments that will be cherished by, hopefully by both of us, forever.
I remember back in January when we experienced the production of Jarell Perry’s first music video. The tumultuous weather we faced, however that was all no match for facing the Chinese Mandarin language....
November 2009
3 posts
1 tag
Water + Bridges :: LAtoSFandBack
San Francisco. With the Golden Gate Bridge, historic Chinatown, and endless hills, that city is most definitely one grand city by the bay.
The trip as a whole was quite memorable. We left on a Friday afternoon and spent the next seven or so hours driving with a dinner break at Wendy’s before the final few hours until being on the Bay Bridge and finally our hotel. I must say that at night, San...
The Road to San Francisco :: 2009 UCLA CMF (Pt. 2)
Phew. The movie just flew by (even for someone whose seen it at least 100 times before that moment). Normally, whenever I get situations where I get to be sitting with an audience watching my film, I love to watch the expressions of everyone around me. It’s not all the time where you get to be in situations like that and to be able to see people reacting and being affected by something you...
The Road to San Francisco :: 2009 UCLA CMF (Pt. 1)
Here it was again. The final time I’d get to come as a contestant this event that two years ago became a defining part of my journey in becoming (hopefully one day soon) a successful feature film director.
The first time Campus MovieFest (CMF) was here in 2007, a bunch of my old and new-found friends made a little film called, “say something.” For us, it was the little film...
October 2009
5 posts
Press Segment for the new film - CLICK HERE : ) →
72 Hours of Pure Chaos :: CMF 2009
I’m on the sitting on the floor on the second level of Ackerman right now in a little, secluded area with the MacBook Pro that’s been a good friend this past week. Utterly exhausted, the film that I’ve been working on is finally done… well almost. I say that because it still needs to be turned into the Campus MovieFest folks. They’ll take back all the high-tech...
Ohio Weather in Southern California...
Don’t like the rain. I understand its purpose, and I know how most people from SoCal love it when it rains but coming from Ohio, I don’t miss it… especially when I can’t find my umbrella. Where did that thing go? Hmm… oh well, what’s lost will be found in due time.
Pre-Production for the next film is coming to a close, and we begin shooting in the days to come....
It begins for one last time::CMF
It’s that time of the year again, Campus Movie Fest (CMF) will be upon us in a little less than a week. Every since the very first CMF at UCLA a couple of years ago, this time of the year has always been not only a chance for me to get to create a new film but to do so with a group of people that I really care about.
School is a bit crazier than normal this quarter. Trying to do a lot in a...
September 2009
1 post
It's crazy...
…but inspiration just comes from the most random facets of life. Lately, I’ve felt, for lack of better words, uninspired. I hit one of those moments where I felt like I was kind of just drifting through the day-to-day motions. Even when I attempted to push myself into being creative and feel that mental invigoration, it just didn’t work. Then, somehow, I got inspired tonight. The...
August 2009
2 posts
Looking back on the things I've done...
That’s something I always seem to do every now and then but especially when I come home to visit. When you’re in your daily routine, you’re just so engrossed in what you’re doing at that very moment that it’s usually a while before you get to take that step back to look at what’s actually going on in your life.
I just finished a little over two months working...
July 2009
1 post
Gentlemen Don't Kiss and Tell
It’s been a little while since I’ve last wrote anything. I’m honestly not really sure why that is. Life lately has been both repetitive and not simultaneously. I’m in the 5th week of working at Warner Bros, and I can honestly say that I’m learning from pretty much everything that I do there. The lessons that I do learn don’t necessarily pertain to the career...
June 2009
4 posts
Scrambled Eggs and Chocolate
I got to catch a special screening/ Q&A with Robert Rodriguez and Cheech Marin. It was about how he loves involving his kids in the movie-making process. After attending this event, I not only saw how special he is as a filmmaker but a tiny bit of how great he was as a father. His kids were at the event as well. Not even from the praise they gave their dad, it was more about their...
"Can we can we slow down the speed?"
Last week was my very first at Warner Brothers. My first day I got the opportunity to watch and get familiar with all the new pilots that got picked up. Since then I’ve been continuing to get familiar with those shows and their progress as well as help out with the day-to-day office duties. (I am after all an intern). A few days ago, I had so many things that I wanted to write about, but now...
First Day Jitters
At the start of this blog, it is 9:38pm pacific time. I’m sitting in my summer apartment just having eaten dinner and trying to remember the top execs at Warner Bros. Just doing whatever I can to get ready for my first day tomorrow.
I had orientation a couple of days ago and it was 8 hours of paperwork, introductions, learning about the legality/ illegality that any of our actions may or...
(500) Days of ___________
It’s almost over. Year 3 my college life is coming to a close and so far, not so reflective on it. Normally, I get a bit contemplative and sad about another chapter of my life coming to an end. For some reason, this year… it’s been different. Everything’s just been so non-stop, whirlwind, go-go-go that I haven’t really had a chance to sit back and reflect. For once, I...
May 2009
2 posts
Sleep is Mmm... Mmm... Good
This past week has been pretty exhausting. Actually, this past year has been pretty exhausting. Work. School. Outside projects. Somewhat of a personal life. It’s been interesting attempting to juggle the four. This past week gave me a nice balance of everything. I got to catch up with someone who I haven’t seen in much too long. It’s always good to have that opportunity....
Making Movies = Joy
It’s been a pretty crazy past few months for me. The stress just kept adding and adding up. Work saw added to the bulk of that pressure. My focus was lacking. I went into a period of self doubt. It was rough. However, after a bit of self-reflection, I realized that when I looked myself in the mirror, I was proud of the person staring back at me. No matter what any one else says or thinks,...
April 2009
3 posts
Two of my favorite projects....
Sometime After Midnight
Say Something
Perspective
We often wonder what it’d be like to step into someone else’s shoes. Sometimes it’s because we may want something the other person may have. Then again, it could be pure curiosity. In the midst of wondering, we develop our own idea of what those shoes may feel like. We start to believe that we may understand their perspective. But… we dont.
Not really. We have our own...
Just one of those nights...
Have you ever listened to a song, one that really meant something to you or evoked a nostalgic moment in your life, and it made things better, even if slightly?
This quarter so far has been simply exhausting. School. Work. School. Work. A bit of sleep in there, just a bit. I know, I know, things could be much worse. Yet, I’m just exhausted. Maybe I just have major senioritis. That’s...
March 2009
5 posts
The Premiere of the "Free" Music Video
“Free” by Brian Fang
Directed by Kelly Li
Produced by Kelly Li
Old School (Circa 2007)
Days of Doubt, Progress, and (Free)dom
This past week has been one of the longest weeks ever. It’s been non-stop studying, working, and test-taking. I had three finals back-to-back-to-back, and I’m still not finished with this quarter. Along with that, I had been trying to fit time to do pre-production for another music video.
Brian Frang (a great guy), whom I worked with late last year on his last music video for his...
The Premiere of the "Change Your Mind" Music...
“Change Your Mind” by Jarell Perry from Kelly Li on Vimeo. Enjoy!!
How NOT to make a movie: Street Figther - The...
Yeah, I saw it. I knew it was going to be a bad movie, and I went and saw it anyway. Why? I’m not quite sure. Maybe it was the fact that I loved “Street Fighter” growing up. Maybe it was because it just seemed to be one of the things that even though you know it’s bad, you have to see how bad it really is. I’m not sure. The fact is I ended up at the theater watching...
February 2009
7 posts
Music at 24 Frames Per a Second
As of 7:30pm on February 27, 2009, the official video for Jarell Perry’s hit single, “Change Your Mind” has been completed. It’s been a long but awesome process. Look for it sometime Monday!!
Randomly ran across this short film that reminded me of the beauty of filmmaking:
A Thousand Words from Ted Chung on Vimeo.
I watched the 'Watchmen' only to see myself...
This past week I was fortunate enough to see two really interesting films before they were released the first of which was the comedy, Fired Up. Already, this film is getting a bad wrap due to its comparsion in subject matter to a film called Bring it On. I must admit, I was one of those critics. I judged a movie by its one-sheet. However, I happily discovered how every wrong I was in my...
Alone but together in this thing called life....
Have you ever been in one of those times in your life where things are so routine yet time is just flying by? That’s what I’ve been feeling as of late. These past few days I finally got a chance to simply… relax.
I was planning on taking this time (free from academics, from work, etc.) to write. However, when time finally came, I did nothing but live. I didn’t write about...
Rain, Rain, Go Away...: The Jarell Perry Music...
What a weeeeeeeekkkkkkkkk. I mean that in every single way. Some good. Some bad. All life.
A couple of days ago I got an email from the Daily Bruin (nationally reknowned UCLA news paper) about wanting to do a story on me. That was quite exciting cause it’s like my first official press that I got to do. The interview and photoshoot was today, and all I can say is that it wasn’t too...
10 Hours and my mind begins to break...
Today was a pretty nice day weather-wise. Not too hot, but not too cold (until night time that is). I spent 10 hours at the resTV studio working on a ridiculous amount of homework, studying for a quiz, and doing pre-production for the music video shoot later this week.
Alex, Michael, and I scouted locations for the party scene and found what will hopefully be the place we can use to do film....
The First Official Blog... Kind Of
Ok, well technically this isn’t my “first” blog. HOWEVER, this is my first one on a site such as this. This will soon be a part of the fully re-designed www.KellyLi.com, which is coming soon (seriously, I know that’s what it’s said on the site for a while now, but I’m serious). My friend, Erik Carlson, is a great graphic artist who is on that task.
It’s...