{"id":4568,"date":"2011-01-10T02:01:23","date_gmt":"2011-01-10T07:01:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=4568"},"modified":"2011-01-10T02:01:23","modified_gmt":"2011-01-10T07:01:23","slug":"director-juliane-block-her-blockbusters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2011\/01\/10\/director-juliane-block-her-blockbusters\/","title":{"rendered":"Director Juliane Block & Her Blockbusters"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"july02\"<\/a>Juliane Block is playing the field that only boys have for a very long time. From John Woo, John McTiernan, and Clint Eastwood, action films and the action genre have been a boys game for a very long time. Once a make-up artist, Ms. Juliane Block is a seasoned professional in working behind the scenes and is now directing her very own martial arts films. We reviewed her short martial arts film “Ramly at War” and managed to convince us that she is the next big action director capable of breaking out of the indie field and delivering some of the greatest action films of all time.<\/p>\n

Currently, Ms. Block is working on developing her newest feature film and is working on funding her latest films and garnering as much experience as possible. She took time out while working on her action projects to tell us why she is no amateur and why her films are bonafide Blockbusters for a new age.<\/p>\n

Hello, Mrs. Block thanks for your time.<\/strong>
\nMy pleasure.<\/p>\n

So for people who are unaware who or what you’re about, can you fill us in?<\/strong>
\nI’m an independent filmmaker, originally from Germany. In 2005 I migrated to Asia to pursue Asian cinema. My current record: I directed a low budget feature in 2008 (\u00d2Emperor\u00d3), \u00b19 shorts which have been screened in film festivals around the world, and my 2nd feature (\u00d2Kinks\u00d3) is in post. I lived in Germany, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and now in Indonesia. And I love my life!<\/p>\n

When did you first get into the filmmaking business?<\/strong>
\nThe first time I got in touch with filmmaking was in 1999. I was a student at the university of art, Braunschweig, Germany with a major in Industrial design. One of my fellow students was doing a no budget zombie feature. They shot on whatever camera they could get into their hands (DV, Hi8, Super8) mainly on weekends and holidays. As hobby special FX make-up artist I jumped at the opportunity to get involved. It was so much more fun to create my make-up with an actual purpose.<\/p>\n

You mentioned you worked as an FX artist, where did you train for such a skill?<\/strong>
\nMy mom did evening parties for the neighborhood women to sell beauty make-up when I was about 8 or 9 years old and I was allowed to keep the colors which didn’t sell. I remember one day I met up with a friend and while she tried to beautify herself I just tried everything to make myself as ugly and scary as possible. That pretty much laid out the path. I trained with whatever I got into my hands afterwards, using books and photos as reference. A couple of times I tried to create a piece of body painting instead of zombie, vampire or aging make-up, but usually I got bored in the process.<\/p>\n

Have you been a movie fan all of your life, or do you just enjoy the craft of it?<\/strong>
\nThe idea of being a movie director never occurred to me when I was young. I grew up in the suburbs of a small town in Germany and being a film director wasn’t part of my world back then. I always enjoyed fantastic stories though. I drew comics when I was small and later on devoured almost every fantasy book I got into my hands. Therefore I suppose it’s more the need of creating my own fantasy worlds which dragged me into movie making than the pure love for movies. The revelation that I want to be a movie director actually just came when I directed my first short in 2007 in Malaysia.<\/p>\n

I moved to Kuala Lumpur in 2006 and had a tough time in the beginning. It was hard for me to find the right spots to hang out to make friends. In 2007 I finally had enough. I decided to make a short film to expand my own skills but also to find friends. After the first shooting day (which was long and the results where kind of mediocre) I was running around with a smile on my face for almost a week. This one shooting day had given me so much energy and satisfaction that I decided I want to be a filmmaker for the rest of my life. I love working with people. I love to make things happen. I love challenges. And I love creating stories. I cannot imagine any better job than being a filmmaker.<\/p>\n

How were you drawn to action filmmaking over other genres?<\/strong>
\nI have a fascination for the dark side. I love digging into the ugly, the nasty and aggressive emotions each of us has. Probably that’s my way of dealing with my own dark side. As mentioned I also love the fantasy genre, but it’s a kinda expensive movie genre. A much cheaper choice are contemporary thriller or horror films. My first short was based on a gangster short story of my brother. Most people involved in my next project, my first feature Emperor, loved the idea of trying out a ‘Hong Kong’ gangster film in Malaysia, so we stayed in the same genre. Then I met the stunt group Low Angle Productions and we planned to do a project together – more action. I wouldn’t say I chose action deliberately. It just happened.
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Do you think action is your niche in filmmaking?<\/strong>
\nI love action movies, but would like to explore (with growing budget) comic adaptations, horror and black comedies a la Coen brothers as well. The current feature, Kinks, I’m working on is a humorous mockumentary about a pair of mixed-race twin sisters caught up in the making of a reality TV show. To add another genre I’m planning to shoot a psychological horror shorty in the near future.<\/p>\n

Can you tell us the average budget for one of your films?<\/strong>
\nMy first short film Unsecured Loan I was financed by the Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre (www.KLPac.com) with about 800 USD. My first feature Emperor (self-financed) cost about 2000 USD. Ramly at War Begins 2500 USD (I shared the cost with a producer). My current feature KINKS (editing stage) has cost us about 12000 USD so far, but we are expecting more expenses for sound design, music and color grading. Most of the other shorts you might fight online, usually less that 5 minutes, were usually done on a zero budget.<\/p>\n

Is it difficult to create an action film moreso than a horror or drama film?<\/strong>
\nI don’t think so. I think each genre has its challenges. Kowloon Story is my first attempt to direct a drama. It was really tough for me. I find it difficult to focus solely on human emotions without any crime involved. For others though it might be the exact opposite. However, I do believe filmmakers should venture in different genres to build their own filmmaking abilities.<\/p>\n

Can you tell us what inspired you to travel the world and migrate across the globe?<\/strong>
\nDuring my studies I started a graphic design and film agency with a partner together. This company was a great opportunity and a learning experience but stopped me from studying or working abroad. When we closed the company for several reasons in 2005 I had the chance to do just that: I packed my bags and decided I just give it a shot and flew to Hong Kong. The plan was to start with a language course and then find work. It pretty much worked out that way, but I really hated to be employed. I quit after just 3 months and decided that I’m much better off as freelancer.<\/p>\n

One of the best decisions I’ve ever made. I’m still working as graphic design freelancer ones in a while. In Hong Kong I met my ex-boyfriend whom I followed to Malaysia. He left but I stayed ;) And during the shooting of Ramly at War Begins I felt for my very talented director of photography – Dexter Bahjanoon who’s Indonesian. And now I’m living in Jakarta.<\/p>\n

How has traveling to places like Germany, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Indonesia enriched your life?<\/strong>
\nTraveling enables me to stay creative. It’s amazing how much you can draw creatively from all those different impressions. Furthermore you realize how easy and satisfying it is to live life in a complete different way – which enabled me to realize what’s important for myself.<\/p>\n

Which country has provided the best and most enriching filming experiences?<\/strong>
\nEvery country has its own challenges and opportunities. But Malaysia has pushed me most so far, simply for the fact, that I was quite unhappy there in the beginning. Each painful situation can be a great motivator to change and become creative.<\/p>\n

Is it in any way difficult to be taken seriously as a female director?<\/strong>
\nYou read and hear many statements from female directors complaining about having to work harder than their male counterparts. I’m sure there might be obstacles especially for female directors. But I never had any problem so far. All my collaborators and partners didn’t seem to treat me any different because I’m a woman.<\/p>\n

Do you think women directors can bring a new flavor and vision to the world of action cinema?<\/strong>
\nWomen are usually interested in other subjects, they see things from a different perspective. And movies should reflect society with both views – male & female. I think this is valid for moviemaking in general as for action cinema.<\/p>\n

What directors or actors have inspired you and your filmmaking?<\/strong>
\nThe Coen Brothers for sure – I just love their films and especially their humor. Every aspiring filmmaker should read the story of how Robert Rodriguez made El Mariachi. Clint Eastwood is awesome just for the fact that he started directing at his late age and is still on it, fresher as ever. I love Ridley Scott’s movies. My favorite director is currently Korean based Kim Jee-Woon.<\/p>\n

What are some of your favorite films of all time that have influenced you and your art?<\/strong>
\nRidley Scott’s Blade Runner and Alien are classics and I would love to be able to create one day something of an equally high standard. Bittersweet Life (a gangster drama) and The Good, The Bad, The Weird (a spaghetti western based in Manchuria in the 1930s) are two Korean movies by Kim Jee-Woon. I love his choice of genre and almost everything about his directing. In fact I love Korean movies.<\/p>\n

For some reason the Koreans are able to combine the ‘caveman’ in all of us – the characters in Korean movies are often violent and very clear and basic about their needs – while still having dramatically depth and great themes in their movies. Christopher Nolan is a great storyteller. I think Memento and Batman – Dark Knight are milestones in storytelling. Matrix is one of the action milestones. The Goonies an the Star Wars trilogy influenced me as child.<\/p>\n

Which of your films would you consider your favorite?<\/strong>
\nWell, I think each film usually goes through a process. While I’m on it I love it until the point it’s finished. Then the movie gets out there and finds it’s audience (and it’s critics). That is usually the point when I start to dislike parts of my movie or even the whole movie. And then there comes a point when I forgive myself (and my movie) for all its flaws and I might start to like it especially for that. So… right now my favorite movie is still my last finished shortfilm “Unsecured Loan II” which just made the 1st Runner Up for Best Action Sequence Martial Arts Shorts at the Action On Film International Film Festival in Pasadena.<\/p>\n

You mentioned you’re funding your newest film, how has the progress been for that?<\/strong>
\nSo far so good. However I got away from it a bit, being busy with the post of my other films. But since it’s a short film which requires not a big amount of budget I’m confident we’ll raise the money until the shooting date tentatively in November 2010.<\/p>\n

Are you aiming for a feature length film in the future?<\/strong>
\nI’m in the midst of post production for Kinks, my 2nd feature. My first feature Emperor is already online on several channels (you can also watch it for free on my webtv www.jblockbustertv.com – however from my perspective now I think the story line is a little screwed. We were writing the script as we were shooting… and of course I have also plenty of stories for features in the future to come.<\/p>\n

How has the festival run and critical response been for “Ramly at War Begins”?<\/strong>
\nGood. The last one was the Action On Film International Film Festival where it screened together with Unsecured Loan II.<\/p>\n

For our aspiring filmmaker readers, what is the most important thing you’ve learned working on film and as a filmmaker?<\/strong>
\nA film is just a film. I’ve done lots of crap but I think I needed to do it to get it out of my system. Different people work in different ways but it’s pointless to wait for years just to make the perfect movie – it won’t happen. No film is perfect. Once you accept that you can go out and make your film. And another one. And another one. And each film will be a little bit closer to being perfect!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Juliane Block is playing the field that only boys have for a very long time. From John Woo, John McTiernan, and Clint Eastwood, action films and the action genre have been a boys game for a very long time. Once a make-up artist, Ms. Juliane Block is a seasoned professional in working behind the scenes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[58,359,367,501,631],"class_list":["post-4568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interviews","tag-action","tag-filmmaking","tag-foreign","tag-indie-film","tag-martial-arts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4568\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}