Nara Garber's Film "The Trouble with Tofu" becomes a Finalist in the iCAST Contest!

06.18 - Posted by Editor

		Nara Garber's Film"The Trouble with Tofu" becomes a Finalist in the iCAST Contest!   Interview by Greg Pak

06.18.00 Filmmaker Nara Garber has just become a finalist in the comedy category of the iCAST online short iflm contest for her film"The Trouble with Tofu" -- and AsianAmericanFilm.com readers helped her do it by watching the film online!     Now Nara's film goes to a panel of judges, who will award $15,000 prize to the first place winners in each category and $40,000 to the grand prize winner.     AsianAmericanFilm.com editor Greg Pak interviewed Garber by email.     Links Watch "The Trouble with Tofu" at iCAST   List of iCAST finalists   Note: The iCAST site is no longer available.   AAF   Congratulations! It looks like your film "The Trouble with Tofu" is the most watched film in its category. What's this mean?   NG  It means that I have prostrated myself before more people than anyone else in my category! I'd like to think that quality might also have influenced the results, but internet contests are still something of a novelty, and it's difficult to know who, exactly, is viewing these films. I do know that on the final night of the contest, I ventured out in the evening and was accosted on the street, in a restaurant, and at the supermarket by people whom I know but don't know particularly well who had been trying to download my film over the weekend. I don't think I fully appreciated until that point what an embarrassingly wide net I had cast (icast?) in publicizing my film.   AAF   Any guess on the odds of your pulling off the big prize?   NG  Even though the field in my category has now been narrowed down to three entries, the competition is pretty peculiar, so it's hard to say. "Vegetable Pornography" is basically just an orgy among foodstuffs left to their own devices in the refrigerator, and if the judges were all college freshman, I'd be pretty worried. "Operation Red Meat" is more ambitious than mine in that they shot in a supermarket with a much larger cast. All three are aggressively silly, so it's really just a matter of which way the judges are leaning on that particular day. For sheer grossness, V.P. wins, hands down.      If I'm lucky enough to beat out these two entries [in the comedy category] and face the other winners for the GRAND prize...? I've seen some other entries that I myself might vote for over my own, and I was genuinely surprised by the amount of effort some people had put into shorts that were obviously made just for this contest. It's also pretty amazing what digital video -- clearly the format of choice -- allows you to do with a skeletal crew or operating on your own.   AAF   Tell us a little about the making of the film. Did you make the film specifically for the iCAST competition?   NG   "... Tofu" was, in fact, made specifically for the contest. I shot it myself in my apartment over about six hours, and it's the most fun I've had on a shoot recently because I was determined not to take anything too seriously. I knew that most viewers would only see the finished piece on the internet, and since camera moves still look pretty sloppy on most people's computers, I tried to use mostly static framings and simple visuals. I already knew both of the actors from other projects, and I got my next door neighbor -- a classmate from film school, actually -- to boom for me, so everything was very relaxed. I had planned to use only natural light for the shoot to keep everything moving efficiently, but the day ended up being incredibly overcast, so I ended up haphazardly employing a basic lighting package. Again, I used the internet as an excuse to be a little sloppy; I wasn't overly concerned with where shadows fell, and I actually thought the Dr. Caligari-like shadows behind Tofu Man's head when he stands up on the table added a certain B Movie flair.     The hardest part of the shoot was definitely shooting myself doing the tofu commercial in the wee hours of the morning (I had promised myself I would finish the entire piece in one day). Since I didn't have a monitor handy, I had some problems making sure I was in frame. The first take was centered around my left ear; take two somehow dipped down and got my stomach.     "...Tofu" was shot on a Canon XL-1 and edited -- hastily -- on the Avid MCXpress I share with my husband. One kind of fun thing I did was to set the white balance to the daylight setting even though I was blasting lights all over the place. I tried to set up a sort of candy-colored theme for the piece and felt that the unnaturally warm glow that this gave off was actually an asset.     The script was followed verbatim, but I had to cut one line because the piece was exceeding the 4 minute maximum. After Tofu Man introduces himself, the woman cries, "Shouldn't you be Asian or something?" and Tofu Man replies smugly, "No, Ma'am. I'd like to think I'm as white and bland as tofu itself." I had previously toyed with the idea of having an Asian Tofu Man, but later decided that Greg Jones would make the best dysfunctional superhero of anyone in my acquaintance.   AAF   Where did the idea for the film come from?   NG   The idea came out of the dark recesses of my brain, but was largely a response to the iCAST contest's prescribed categories. I had an idea for the Romance ("unique ways to start a relationship") category, but it involved too many props and locations. I had another Romance idea involving a boy with an all-day sucker who is mocked by his friends for looking like a baby. He eventually combines forces with a little girl who is having no success selling unsweetened lemonade. You can figure out the rest of the story from there. I could visualize a fun shot plan for this, but everyone told me it wasn't sufficiently "edgy" for internet audiences. I don't know that "... Tofu" is edgy, but it sure made a mess of my apartment.   AAF   How long did it take to shoot and edit and how much did it cost you?   NG  I shot it in a day and edited it frantically in about six hours (frantically because I was supposed to be deadlining on a feature edit). The costs were minimal since my husband and I own a lighting package and editing system. I actually had to borrow a camera since my husband was out on a shoot with ours, but I got this for free by working as a camera assistant with the owner the night before. (The night before ended up extending to about four in the morning, but that's a different story. I've come to accept the fact that nothing in film and video is easy.) The total cost ended up being significantly under $100. Ten dollars for tape, another twenty for props, and forty or so for food.   AAF   Many of these online contests involve giving up all rights to your film to the site in question. What kinds of rights did iCAST take? What are your feelings about all this?   NG   iCAST owns non-exclusive rights to the film. This means that I can send it to festivals, but I won't be able to sell it to anyone who wants exclusive rights (for example, other internet sites). I realize that iCAST basically considers the $100,000 in prize money to be money well spent towards advertising their site, so I guess it makes sense that they would want some "free" content in exchange. Since the movie was made specifically for the contest, I don't really mind, but I probably wouldn't have submitted something that might have had a life beyond the internet. In general, I think that it's wonderful that the internet has opened up all sorts of channels for showing short films, but it's a little disappointing that the pay is often such a small fraction of the shooting costs. Digital video production can be extremely cost-effective, however, and there are a growing number of sites that offer exposure without pay and therefore don't require you to give up your rights. It will be interesting to see what the future holds.   Check back with AsianAmericanFilm.com for updates about "The Trouble with Tofu" and Nara's progress in the iCAST contest.     Return to top