"史諾登"，香港人率先替其拍攝了一支短片

chinovince

揭發美國國家安全局秘密監控計劃的英雄人物"史諾登"，香港人率先替其拍攝了一支短片
Youtube首播中
[ v e r a x ] : Edward Snowden / 斯諾登 - Short Film


This is a short film based on the events of Edward Joseph Snowden/斯諾登, a former CIA and NSA employee who leaked a top secret mass surveillance programme from the US and UK.

We have never met or been in contact with Edward Joseph Snowden.

We are a band of independent and amateur filmmakers in Hong Kong who were both excited and puzzled as to why Snowden chose to come to Hong Kong. While nearly every media outlet wanted to get their hands on him, we decided to produce a short fictional video to depict his experience in HK, and how it would have affected certain parties: Namely, the CIA contingent based in HK who would be tasked to find Snowden. The Hong Kong Police who would be stuck in between the US and China. And the journalists who want to get the scoop. It was also important for us not to 'twist' Snowden's character. We really knew little about him. Although he is a central character, he is not the most prominent. It is more about the maelstrom of events surrounding him.

The idea was hatched two days after he revealed his identity, and principal filming began on June 20th. We were also filming on the same day (23rd) when we learned Snowden had left the city. Therefore we ramped up production efforts and published our short film 'Verax' on the 25th. 'Verax' was the alias Snowden used when contacting journalists via encrypted chat services. We loved the idea of having Snowden here and the media frenzy it created. We really wanted to make a film based on such real-life news events, especially as it continued to develop. This project really tested our mettle especially when most of us had day jobs.

To reiterate, we made this for fun and for the love of filmmaking. We had no commercial or political motives.

Directed and produced by
Jeff Floro 謝夫發露 (Junk Shot: www.junkshot.org)
Edwin Lee 李健恩 (Fallout Media: www.falloutmediahk.com)
Shawn Tse 謝兆龍 (Junk Shot)
Marcus Tsui 崔正傑 (Immortal Peach: www.immortalpeach.com)

Associate producer
Cassandra Chan (Slate Takes: www.slatetakes.com)

Written by
Edwin Lee
Marcus Tsui

Directors of Photography
Edwin Lee
Jeff Floro

Edited by
Edwin Lee

Starring
Andrew Cromeek as Edward Snowden
Guo Aibing as Wu Xingwei
Edwin Chin as Security Wing officer Tsang Tak-long
Thomas Easterling as HK CIA Station Chief Carl Hamilton
Justin Lau as Security Wing officer Vincent Lee
Shi Yi Ng as Lecia Lau
Gabe Ostley as CIA Analyst Owen Fielding
Robert Hinson as HK CIA Operations Manager
Cindy Wong as Security Wing officer Vanessa Wu
Simon Zeng Hao as Ministry of State Security attaché

Music composed by
Gareth Coker (audiojungle)
Thomas Vo (audiojungle)

Special thanks
Christine Jagolino
Diane To
XKAREKROW

chinovince

斯諾登事件的第一部微電影，嘩，這位演員激似！

Hong Kong amateur filmmakers produce world's first Edward Snowden film
Four amateur filmmakers in Hong Kong have beaten Hollywood to the draw by producing the first film on Edward Snowden, a five-minute thriller depicting the nail-biting intrigue surrounding the intelligence leaker when he was hiding in the city.

Shot in less than a week on a shoestring budget, the film imagines the drama which must have unfolded in Hong Kong leading up to Snowden’s bombshell leaks on vast US surveillance programmes.

“To be the first one to really do anything about it...it was quite invigorating,” cinematographer and editor Edwin Lee told news agency AFP of the YouTube film that used local actors and shaky camera work reminiscent of the Bourne spy thriller series.

Snowden, 30, abandoned his high-paying job as an IT technician contracted to the National Security Agency and went to Hong Kong on May 20.

He then began issuing a series of leaks on the NSA’s global gathering of phone call logs and Internet data, including in China and Hong Kong, before his dramatic escape to Moscow where he remains holed up in an airport transit area.

“This is a spy movie that’s developing,” Lee said of his film which gets its title from the code name Snowden gave himself - Verax.

The expats from Ireland, Australia, the US and Canada, of which Lee was the only filmmaker by trade, made the film “to catch onto the interest on Snowden and the attention on Hong Kong”, Lee said.

It was a lot of adrenaline... it was all very guerilla filmmaking style EDWIN LEE, AMATEUR FILMMAKER
Production for the film took place at breakneck pace as drama, diplomatic intrigue and tensions surrounding Snowden unfolded in the southern Chinese city.

“It was a lot of adrenaline... it was all very guerilla filmmaking style,” Lee said.

Though production was rushed, the film, which has gained more than 8,500 views on YouTube since it was released on Tuesday, stayed true to the actual locations in Hong Kong where Snowden was reportedly seen.

The film covered the swanky Mira Hotel where Snowden initially hid out and carried out his sensational leaks to Britain’s Guardian newspaper. Props such as a Rubik’s Cube, which Snowden reportedly used to identify himself to a Guardian journalist, were also used in the film.

Meanwhile, Hollywood is sure to derive inspiration for new plotlines from the riveting Snowden saga.

Phillip Noyce, director of action thrillers Salt and The Quiet American, is reportedly keen to turn the real-life hunt for Snowden into a Hollywood thriller with Australian actor Liam Hemsworth in the lead role.

“This is a movie that’s playing out before our eyes, even though we can’t see anything,” Noyce told NBC News on Thursday.

For Lee and his team, finding an actor to play Snowden was one of the biggest challenges.

“We needed someone convincing to play Snowden,” he said, adding that the production team went through a list of friends who would “remotely” look like Snowden.

They struck gold with Andrew Cromeek, an American school teacher who needed just the right haircut, among other cosmetic changes, to develop an uncanny resemblance to Snowden.

But near the end of production, Snowden escaped to Moscow, a shock development that left the crew disappointed.

“We were proud that he would call Hong Kong his refuge. He trusted our rule of law and our government to protect him,” Lee said.

“In the end we understood he did what’s best for himself,” he said, adding that the production crew was hoping that Snowden will watch the video.

“I’m just waiting for someone to comment on YouTube saying ‘hey you guys did a good job of re-creating me’,” Lee said.