We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kenneth Lui a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Kenneth , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

I learned to do what I do through a lot of imagination and hardwork. I collected as many “heroes/role models” as I could and used their work as “lectures” on their craft. I studied films and screenplays from the ones that inspired me, James Cameron, Martin Scorcese, Quentin Tarantino, Shane Black, Christopher Nolan, Ridley and Tony Scott. I would gather as much craft tutelage as possible whether it was an interview or hearing their commentaries on DVD. I used them as models to help me find my own voice through watching their body of work and it’s evolutions. Looking back, I guess I could’ve speeded up this process if I was lucky enough to find a mentor to guide me. I think being an apprentice or mentor is a lost art that should make a comeback. The way I learned was much like Matt Damon’s character “Will’ in “Good Will Hunting” where an autodidactic young man learns from masters through books, only I’m not as smart as that character. Skills that are most essential in my opinion is dedication, humility, and confidence. You need DEDICATION to master anything in life, HUMILITY so no piece of data is “beneath you”, and cultivate CONFIDENCE so your work will have a voice and a message to share so we can all resonate, relate, and bond as humans. Obstacles that stood in the way of learning more was depending on other people who didn’t have the same dedication, humility, and confidence to “visualize” the projects the way I did. I realized early on to “start starting” and not wait for anyone else, because when you wait, then you’ve made THEM the obstacle, and when you bank enough DEDICATION, HUMILITY, and CONFIDENCE then you realize you can UNMAKE them as an obstacle as well and you WILL start to see your voice emerge.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?

I’m Kenneth Lui. I grew up in the San Gabriel Valley of Los Angeles, a very diverse and culturally rich community of mostly Asian and Latinos. The food was excellent. I attended ArtCenter College of Design where I made my first short film “FALSEHOOD”, a fantasy film noir that put the Big Bad Wolf on trial for his crimes against Red Riding Hood. It was shot in 35mm and went on to win numerous awards and screened at the Cannes Film Festival. This was right before the entire industry went digital. After traveling the festival circuit with my film I kept writing while making a living as a teacher. A college friend, in the then booming visual effects industry, convinced me to learn new skills to make more money and expand my knowledge as a filmmaker. I found the idea of learning to do my own VFX exciting, like the way my hero James Cameron did his own effects work, and earning more money didn’t hurt either. I commited to learning the craft of CGI and started booking gigs for Marvel and DC movies. My first feature VFX gig was “Terminator Salvation” which was funny because it was “The Terminator” that got me inspired to make movies in the first place.

While working in Visual Effects I got to see how the pipelines worked and used the money to subsidize my filmmaking habit and created several short films that also went on to win festival awards. This gave me the confidence to start shooting a very risky conceptual improvisational independent project that became my first feature film. I’m most proud because it wasn’t an easy shoot. Because of it’s “no budget but high value in talent assets” approach to filming meant the film would take some time. From my award winning shorts I had culled a very special group of actors who agreed to being in the show and had to trust that these random shoots over weekends WERE for something special. I’m most proud because it was totally a team effort where actors had to trust each other with the highest ask from the actors was trust in ME. It was a concept I couldn’t resist. I had always wanted to do a project where the scenes were designed and I could give the actors a couple lines that they were required to “hit” but how they got to them was completely improvised and up to them. Sometimes I would give the actors “contradicting motivations” in a scene or changed the story if I thought inverting the outcome was better or funnier for the film. It was a dream come true to watch talented actors, “behave” their way out of situations I designed and in the moment create the cinematic “reality”. In the past I’d be so strict with actors delivering lines I wrote but here was a project where I could invite them as collaborators while still having the final word. With this approach I was capturing performances that were OFF THE RAILS because the actors were so comfortable and trusting. As long as I was filming they stayed in character and realized “they couldn’t get it wrong” which gave them tremendous freedom to “go to crazytown”. When actors feel safe to create, they can make lightning in a bottle.

Because it was a “mockumentary” I also got to be in the story as the cameraman which also meant I could control and manipulate what the AUDIENCE saw as a storyteller and be an “unreliable narrator” which also made the show irresistable. It was truly a unique film. It was a “family project” like a “stone soup” where everyone donated their cars, apartments, their kids, and their pets to the project and in the end, our homemade “improv killer dark comedy” about bumbling egotistical assassins, “ARTISTS IN AGONY: Hitmen at the Coda Teahouse”, went on to win awards and can be seen on TUBI. I’m very proud of all the actors and will always be grateful for their dedication and their fantastic performances. With every project, I like to try something new, a challenge that scares me a little, but also has something I’ve always wanted to do. I’m very big on creating universes, designing “beautiful monsters”, capturing compelling acting, and exploring my “story-telling voice” through mise-en-scène.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

What comes to mind are two resources: Youtube and ChatGPT. Now, to be fair I didn’t “know about them earlier” because they weren’t invented when I started so I guess my point is, it’s awesome that they’re here now. Youtube is a great “creator content” platform because it’s essentially a community forum where pros, amateurs and people in between, share their tips, gripes and philosophies regarding filmmaking and I’m kinda mad it wasn’t around when I was younger. I say ChatGPT, not for actual writing, but it’s a hell of an organizer and outline helper. I know AI has it’s detractors but as a writer/director like myself who has gojillion ideas that need organizing, it’s a great tool.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I’m a bit embarassed that my first feature film took so long to make but it was the “nature of this beast”. I was working full time in VFX, and still writing other projects. We would shoot on weekends and every scene took a lot of preparation and logistical planning. I also made sure every shoot wouldn’t exceed more that 4 hours. I honored my actors’ time and didn’t want to waste any of it. Then there was editing which also took forever. There was so much footage my computer would crash constantly. One time it crashed because we were in a heat wave and I remember trying to render while blasting the fan on it praying it would render. Because I was juggling 3 different storylines and dealing with actors that would commit and leave, or didn’t understand what I was doing, I would re-write storylines sometimes add new characters. This method of filmmaking was unique…because it was not EFFECIENT AT ALL! That’s why no one does it this way. However, the project helped my filmmaking acumen tremendously because I was constantly throwing myself off the deep end with one arm tied behind my back with only my wits and my camera IN THE MOMENT to start creating. It was a very liberating experience because having to think on my feet so many times made me fearless. The main actors also believed in me and stayed commited, which meant quitting wasn’t an option ever! The beauty of keeping control this way was that I could easily “kill off” anyone who didn’t get it and create new characters for actors that I just met and liked! Once I felt we had enough footage for the entire feature, I started crafting it’s “bloodbath massacre finale” and got the actors to do their death scenes. We finally got it finished and it won several awards for it’s acting and it’s unique visual storytelling. I also got award recognition for my directing, writing, and cinematography.

Shooting and editing took 10 years.
Yeah.
It was fun. It was special. It was a long production. How’s that for resiliance??? LOL

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.kennethlui.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/acrazymaker
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kenneth-lui-baa40925/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MentalPictureMaker

Image Credits

Photos by Temma Hankin