{"id":7387,"date":"2019-04-19T19:08:40","date_gmt":"2019-04-19T19:08:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nyglamour.net\/?p=7387"},"modified":"2026-02-03T04:09:27","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T04:09:27","slug":"trust-in-the-happiness-that-your-pursuit-of-your-passion-brings-you-and-in-return-it-will-fuel-you-to-maintain-that-outstanding-work-ethic-and-attitude-aaron-mak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/?p=7387","title":{"rendered":"“Trust in the happiness that your pursuit of your passion brings you, and in return, it will fuel you to maintain that outstanding work ethic and attitude”-Aaron Mak"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Aaron Mak was born in Singapore, and migrated to Melbourne, Australia at the age of 10. He studied theatre and film at Monash University (Australia), and then studied abroad at The University of Exeter (UK), making diverse short films along the way such as the horror short, House Sitting (2016) and the comedic short, Coffee Run (2016). Shortly after graduating in 2017, he began his own film company – Melbourne Film Studio – at the age of 21.<\/strong>Since then, he has collaborated with the Australian rock band, Cynation, to create projects such as the music documentary, “RISE: From Independence to Immortality” (2019), and the award-winning Official Music Video, “Cynation: Go Louie Go” (2018). Both of these films received Official Selections across film festivals in Los Angeles, New York, London and Melbourne. He has recently made his return to horror with his latest short film, \u201cThe Seventh Month\u201d (2019).<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exclusive Interview with Filmmaker Aaron Mak <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

NY Glam:\nCongratulations on being accepted at the prestigious International Filmmaker\nFestival of New York. Can you tell us about the film and the process of making\nit?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thank you so\nmuch, it is a great honour to be accepted. The music video, \u201cGo Louie Go\u201d is an\naction-packed story involving parkour, where the band, Cynation, chase Louie<\/em>\nall across the city – but he constantly evades them at every point. Eventually,\nthey corner him in a music store and utilise the power of music and rock ‘n’\nroll to take a stand to Louie<\/em>. The significance of this was    in our intention to use the \u2018chasing of Louie<\/em>\u2019\nto explore a wider social concept. Specifically – the nature of drug addiction,\nand its prevalence in the music world, as well as the rest of society. When\nchoosing the primary filming locations, I wanted two contrasting places to\ncapture the two sides of the city – in this case, the city was Melbourne. The\nChinatown locations created the environment and aesthetic of the urban streets,\nwhile the Southbank locations were the polished and affluent parts of the city.\nCapturing the two sides was to show that Louie<\/em> runs through all classes\nof society, not just where we think.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NY Glam:<\/strong>\nHow did you go about casting for the film?<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was very\nimportant to us, that we wanted to utilise parkour in this music video, as well\nas find someone who was already a parkour artist. It\u2019s been a great desire of\nmine to bring the magic of practical stunts to my films. Co-writer and\nco-producer, Josh Mak, found Sam Carter through a parkour group from the UK, called\nStorror<\/em>. The moment we saw Sam\u2019s old videos, we were already blown away by\nhis proficiency – and that was 3 years prior to the music video. We got in\ntouch with him, found he had a great work ethic, and jaw-dropping ability – and\nwe got our Louie<\/em>!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NY Glam:<\/strong>\nWhat is the story about and how did you achieve it cinematically?<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a result of\nhaving the narrative feature this idea of the chase, we wanted to ensure that\nthe filming would do the nature of parkour-style chases justice. We drew\ninspiration from films such as District 13<\/em> (2004) and old Jackie\nChan Hong Kong films, to create that sense of risk and urgency in the action.\nThe other thing that fascinated me was this idea of the camera chasing the\nsubjects, as they moved at high speeds, to create a hyper-realistic following\nof the events. There is a particular type of tracking-shot that we used\n(courtesy of the Director of Photography, Nathan Silva), where the camera\nfollowed the action from closer to the ground, but just falls short of\nmaintaining pace with the subjects. I\u2019ve got two words to say, regarding how we\ngot the shot – electric skateboard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NY Glam:\nWill you be attending the IFFNY festival in New York in May?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, I will be\nand I\u2019m very excited to be in New York. I\u2019m certainly looking forward to the\nfestival, but I\u2019ve got to be honest too – I\u2019m looking forward to the hunt for\nfood in NYC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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NY Glam:<\/strong>\nHow long have you been making films and videos?<\/strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I started\ngiving filmmaking a proper go, in 2016, where I made a few short films at\nuniversity, continually making short films. Since then, I\u2019ve also expanded into\ndocumentaries, music videos, web-series and commercials. That would make it a\ntotal of about 3 years of filmmaking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NY Glam:<\/strong>\nWhat film was your directorial debut? <\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

My directorial\ndebut was for my first short film, which was a horror called, House Sitting<\/em>\n(2016). The film was made for the Monash University Student Theatre\u2019s\nPhone-It-In Film Festival, where the conditions were that each submitter\u2019s film\nhad to filmed on a smartphone.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

NY Glam:<\/strong>\nWhat was the most important lesson you had to\nlearn that has had a positive effect on your film? How did that lesson happen?<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve found two\nlessons I\u2019ve really kept in my mind when making important decisions in the\nfilmmaking process. The first one, is to choose to work with the right kind of\ncollaborator for you. They may be the ones who believe in you or share the\nbelief in the work, but I believe they are the ones who also have the right\nattitude and work ethic. These are the people who you should trust, when they\nspeak from their experience in their field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The other lesson\nhowever (although it seems contradictory, I assure it is complimentary) is\nto never forget your vision for the project – trust in your idea and reasons\nfor choosing them. It is often in your conviction to a vision which\ncollaborators believe in you for. Having incorporated these two lessons to my\ndecision-making, it has benefited me greatly in growing and maturing as a\nfilmmaker in my style, my skills, and understanding of how to make something I\nam truly happy with.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

NY Glam:<\/strong>\nIs it harder to get started or to keep going?\nWhat was the particular thing that you had to conquer to do either?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Right now, it\ntruly feels like it was harder to get started than to keep going. Right now, there\u2019s\na goal in sight, but it doesn\u2019t feel like I still have so much more ground to\ncover because I also look at where I am now and how far I\u2019ve come from when I\nstarted. It was certainly, quite the grinding period in the early stage, when\nyou have to be willing to immerse yourself in your work without expecting a\nreturn – the return at first is not financial, but the pleasure it brings you\nto have created something. The obstacle to conquer as I keep going is a\nconstant one – what\u2019s the next project? How can I make a start on that? A\nquestion that often comes while I\u2019m finishing or still working on the previous\nproject. The obstacle never stops coming, but I do find a joy in it because\nright now, I\u2019ve actually got an ever-filling list of ideas in my notes than I\ncan create.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NY Glam:<\/strong>\nHow has your style evolved?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since my\nearlier short films, my style has certainly evolved with later work on the\nmusic videos and documentaries. I\u2019ve sought more daring ideas in terms of\nchoreography, cinematography and  in the\ncinematic viewing experience. My style has further been shaped by my desire to\nreturn to the days of cinema where the use of practical effects was the primary\nmethod, and CGI was secondary. In the music video, \u201cDancing Devil\u201d (2018), we\nopted for real fire, and burlesque fire dancers who could professionally and\nproficiently handle the heat. In \u201cGo Louie Go\u201d (2018), Louie<\/em> jumps off a\nbridge 46 feet off the ground, and lands on top of a statue – Sam Carter\nactually jumped off that bridge to film the scene. These are moments that\nsimply can\u2019t be replaced with the same actions but instead rendered with CGI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally,\nmy cinematic daringness has expanded to consider new ways of framing, and\nmoving the camera through the scene. My fascination with unique framing\ncontinually spurs me on to experiment with the camera on-set.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NY Glam:<\/strong> What has been your personal key to success?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I firmly believe\nthat attitude and willpower are the way to go. A good attitude is one that\nisn\u2019t just applied to things you want to do – it applies to everything –\nbecause if you can give your best at something that isn\u2019t your passion, then\nimagine how well you could do with something that is? Willpower on the other\nhand, comes from knowing with conviction, why you are so determined to do what\nyou do. Trust in the happiness that your pursuit of your passion brings you,\nand in return, it will fuel you to maintain that outstanding work ethic and\nattitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NY Glam:<\/strong>\nWhat are you thinking about doing next?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a project that\u2019s currently in\npre-production – it is the third music video collaboration with the band,\nCynation, and the song is called \u201cAnthem of the Damned\u201d. It will heavily\nfeature a horror theme, we will film out in the Australian countryside in\nVictoria, and we aim to commence production in early August.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

NY Glam:<\/strong>\nWhere does your studio want to go from\nhere?  <\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We would like to\nexpand our filmmaking opportunities to create more original content, such as\nshort films, feature films, music videos, documentaries, and continue our\nweb-series. We would certainly be interested to expand our collaborative\nefforts with other artists in various fields to find like-minded people who\nwant to create great art. Eventually, Melbourne Film Studio aims to produce its\nown larger-scale work as well as provide independent artists the opportunity to\nhave their work produced by our studio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo: EthanViver<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Aaron Mak was born in Singapore, and migrated to Melbourne, Australia at the age of 10. He studied theatre and film at Monash University (Australia), and then studied abroad at The University of Exeter (UK), making diverse short films along the way such as the horror short, House Sitting (2016) and the comedic short, Coffee […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7392,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7387"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7387\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19378,"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7387\/revisions\/19378"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}