Hyunmin Danny Lee

Academy of Art University

MFA Candidate in the School of Motion Pictures and

Television

Midpoint Review Book

Emphasis: Directing

Midpoint Review date and time: Oct. 6th 2009, 3pm

Tables of Contents

Cover Letter

Business Card

Resume

Publicity Photo

Autobiography

Portfolio

Thesis Details

Scene List

Cast and Crew

Academic Timeline & Directed Studies

Budget

Production Design

Production Schedule

Marketing Plan

Social Marketing & Advertising

Reference

Proofreader

Portfolio

1.

Title: Forgotten War / Genre: War drama / TRT: 12 minutes

Media: 35mm / Job Description: Producer / Date: June 2009

Logline: Lieutenant Frank Quinn, an ambitious combat

engineer with years of experience diffusing mines and bombs

with his squad of very young and inexperienced American

Soldiers are surrounded by Chinese soldiers and attempt to

escape through their own minefield which questions the

risks he’s taken and his rabid ambition.

2.

Title: Got A Green Card? / Genre: Documentary /

TRT: 25minutes / Media: DV / Job Description: Producer,

Director, Writer / Date: May 2006 /

Logline: International student Danny, who has been thinking

about trying a fake marriage to acquire a green card, has a

dilemma because he also values bona fide marriage.

3.

Title: Sources of Alternative Perspectives /

Genre: Documentary / TRT: 10minutes / Media: DV /

Job Description: Producer, Director, Writer /Date: May/2004

Logline: Korean American filmmaker Lee finds facts and the

truth in the resistance to U.S President Bush’s 2002 S tateof Union Address in which he refers to North Korea as the

Axis of Evil.

Thesis Details

Title: Outsiders at their home (working title)

Genre: Documentary

TRT: 12 minutes

Media: HD

Logline: Korean American filmmaker Lee, who is dismayed by

the creators of and stereotypical portrayals of Koreans in

Hollywood film, starts his journey to prevent further

deterioration of the Korean image worldwide.

Synopsis: Filmmaker Lee wants to know the reason of the

relentless stereotypical portrayals of Koreans in films and

wants to fix their mistreated images which define their

identity to the world. Hollywood Producer Harris, along

with other Hollywood professionals, believes such

stereotypes are an easy approach to Korean character

constructions. Lee must now find his own way to enhance the

Korean image.

Theme: Stereotyping

Scene List

EXT. SF - THEATER – NIGHT (PRESENT)

DANNY LEE, a Korean American student filmmaker watches Mark

Neveldine’s Crank and he feels uncomfortable about

stereotypical portrayals of a Korean character. This time

he faces this matter instead of running away. He feels

responsible for the matter as a Korean filmmaker, so he

decides to do something about it.

EXT. UC BERKELEY CAMPUS – DAY (FLASHBACK)

Danny avoids being identified as Korean since he is afraid

to be seen negatively as portrayed in the media.

EXT. SF - ACADEMY OF ART – DAY (FLASHBACK)

Danny receives notification that he is enlisted for two

year Korean military service. His hatred toward Korea gets

more severe since he still has to serve his country

although Korea has never been beneficial for his life.

EXT. KOREAN MILITARY – DAY (FLASHBACK)

After his two year service, he is proudly seeing himself as

a Korean.

EXT. DOWNTOWN SF - STREET – DAY (PRESENT)

Danny interviews 3 non-Asian people on the street as well

as 3 non-Asian film students at the Academy about Korean

images and any influence from stereotypical portraits of

Koreans in Hollywood films.

INT. SF - DANNY’S ROOM - DAY

Danny seeks for interviews with Hollywood professionals

regarding stereotypical portraits of Koreans in the films.

INT. SF - ACADEMY ART - OFFICE – DAY

Danny meets MPT instructors including DIANE BAKER, MICHAEL

HELMY, CURRAN ENGEL, DONNA LAEMMLEN, and STEVE ROMANKO for

help to get in touch with the Hollywood professionals.

INT. LA - STUDIO OFFICE - DAY

Danny hears the Hollywood professionals’ opinions aboutstereotypical portraits of Koreans in the films. He starts

to interview them one by one.

(Interviewees are TBD among those under the cast list)

EXT. LA – KOREA TOWN - NIGHT

Danny walks around Korea Town wondering why the Hollywood

films can’t have Korean characters with positive imageslike in the real world such as UN Secretary -General, Ban

ki-moon; Yul Kwon, the winner of CBS reality show Survivor:

Cook Islands; Nam June Paik who is called as the father of

Video Art.

INT. LA – STUDIO OFFICE – DAY

Danny continues to interview some of the professionals

including Korean American professionals.

EXT. LA - DOWNTOWN – NIGHT

Danny drives around LA downtown looking for Koreans who

have stereotypical features like ones in the films.

INT. UCLA - OFFICE – DAY

Danny interviews an anthropology professor about stereotype.

EXT. SF - ACADEMY OF ART – STREET – DAY

Danny goes back to the school and to his field, and tries

to introduce more non-stereotypical Korean characters into

films.

Production Design

Office / Lounge:

Lee interviews Hollywood professionals

Motion Pictures and Television office:

Lee meets MPT instructors for help to get in touch with

Hollywood professionals

Academy of Art University building:

Lee interviews film students

Production Schedule

Marketing Plan

Film Target Audience

In order to create the marketing plan for my film,

tentatively titled as Outsiders at their home, I should

first identify who my target audience would be. I believe

the most effective way to expose the film is to not target

the general active audience who comes to film festivals,

but by targeting the independent and the studio executives

who are interested in distributing the film.

The independent and studio executives for my documentary

would be those who have the experiences in the distribution

of short-length documentaries, Asian American related

themes, educational purpose films, and video documentaries.

Each executive obtains those particular distribution

windows such as theatrical distribution, public TV,

educational institution distribution, home entertainment

distribution, or in-flight distribution.

* Independent and studio List is attached

Film Distribution Strategy

To reach such independent and studio executives as

described above, submission to film festivals where the

executives attend is the most effective strategy. Many

film festivals as listed below are particularly specialized

in documentary films and at presenting the documentary

slate as an equal to its narrative films.

To reach the executives at broadcasting stations, the

documentary also will be submitted to the NATPE TV Festival.

Other routes to distribute the documentary include student

film contests such as the Epidemic Film Festival , demo

reels (for all creative personnel involved in the

filmmaking), local events such as cultural and immigration

issue related, and private screenings at which specific

potential funders could be invited

* Film Festival List is attached

Career Management plan

In order to manage my career as a director, I will contact

agencies and production companies that have experience in

dealing with documentary filmmakers or documentary

filmmaking. To grab their interests or get them to know who

I am as a director, I will use my thesis film as well as my

other portfolios. Since I believe that I could make our

world a better place via documentaries, I ’d like to makethem; however, I don’t limit myself to documentaries. If I

have a chance to create non-documentary films, I will

certainly take that opportunity to keep my career moving

forward.

Furthermore, meeting appropriate independent and studio

executives who are interested in films like mine at film

festivals is critical in terms of promoting myself as a

director; Since I can show my talent, passion, and ability

through my screened films and pitching my other stories.

Also, attending various film festivals is critical to

manage my career as a director because this allows the

opportunity to meet diverse filmmakers from all over the

world, and to share ideas with them.

* Agency and Production Company List s are attached