ARCADE

a film by Kurt Vincent and Irene Chin
Pictures from our movie making adventure.

Pictures from our movie making adventure.

Be There.  This Saturday. Say Hi if you see us.

Be There.  This Saturday. Say Hi if you see us.

This is a still frame from footage we shot on March 14, 2012.  Owen Strock and I were shooting b-roll for the movie around Chinatown Fair when we noticed the security gate at 8 Mott Street raised.  Earlier in the week, Sam, the previous owner of Chinatown Fair, told me someone was re-opening the arcade.  But you hear a lot of things.  I wasn’t sure how likely it was happening.  Now we know.  A group of men were moving some of the old games back inside.  One of the men introduced himself as Lonnie.  He told me they were hired to move in the games and empty the trash that remained inside.  I spoke with Henry Cen, co-owner of Next Level and integral part of the old Chinatown Fair, and he told me a guy named Lonnie was reopening the arcade at 8 Mott Street.  I am guessing the Lonnie I met is the Lonnie reopening the arcade.  It’s interesting to note that if this is the same Lonnie, it isn’t the first time he has been involved with a beloved NYC institution.  Lonnie told me he used to bartend at his uncle’s place, Max’s Kansas City. I love how the story of Chinatown Fair keeps going.  I suspect it will never truly end.   -Kurt www.facebook.com/arcademovie

This is a still frame from footage we shot on March 14, 2012.  Owen Strock and I were shooting b-roll for the movie around Chinatown Fair when we noticed the security gate at 8 Mott Street raised.  Earlier in the week, Sam, the previous owner of Chinatown Fair, told me someone was re-opening the arcade.  But you hear a lot of things.  I wasn’t sure how likely it was happening.  Now we know.  A group of men were moving some of the old games back inside.  One of the men introduced himself as Lonnie.  He told me they were hired to move in the games and empty the trash that remained inside.  I spoke with Henry Cen, co-owner of Next Level and integral part of the old Chinatown Fair, and he told me a guy named Lonnie was reopening the arcade at 8 Mott Street.  I am guessing the Lonnie I met is the Lonnie reopening the arcade.  It’s interesting to note that if this is the same Lonnie, it isn’t the first time he has been involved with a beloved NYC institution.  Lonnie told me he used to bartend at his uncle’s place, Max’s Kansas City.

I love how the story of Chinatown Fair keeps going.  I suspect it will never truly end.  

-Kurt

www.facebook.com/arcademovie

We shot all around Chinatown this week.  Definitely captured the neighborhood.  Here is our director of photography, Owen Strock, getting the very necessary shot of duck and chicken hanging in the window.  You can barely see it, but in the background is a cook in his chef whites chopping meat.  Owen is amazing at rack focusing, which he nailed on this shot.   We are in the middle of a lot of shooting.  I will be documenting the process.  Check our Flickr page and Facebook (www.facebook.com/arcademovie) for more! -Kurt

We shot all around Chinatown this week.  Definitely captured the neighborhood.  Here is our director of photography, Owen Strock, getting the very necessary shot of duck and chicken hanging in the window.  You can barely see it, but in the background is a cook in his chef whites chopping meat.  Owen is amazing at rack focusing, which he nailed on this shot.  

We are in the middle of a lot of shooting.  I will be documenting the process.  Check our Flickr page and Facebook (www.facebook.com/arcademovie) for more!

-Kurt

Interview on Play The Past

                                                                                    photo by Vivienne Gucwa

In the past two weeks I have discovered an entire world of online commentary focused on the various aspects of gaming culture.  I have had the pleasure of having dialogs with a few of them.  Over the weekend I had a lot of fun answering questions posed by Trevor Owens, a contributor to Play the Past (a website “dedicated to thoughtfully exploring and discussing the intersection of cultural heritage (very broadly defined) and games/meaningful play (equally broadly defined)).  Trevor is a digital archivist at the National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program (NDIIPP) in the Office of Strategic Initiatives at the Library of Congress and a doctoral student at GMU.  I think I need to interview him, I’m pretty curious about his line of work and studies.

The interview forced me to put into words a lot of things I have been thinking about.

The Last Night At Chinatown Fair Arcade: Interview with Director Kurt Vincent.

I am excited to meet up with Ben Gilbert, a Brooklyn based writer for Joystiq, to do an interview this week.  He actually lives in the same area as Irene and I.  You can read a post that he made on the movie here.

If you guys haven’t linked up with us on Facebook please do!!

FACEBOOK.COM/ARCADEMOVIE

I just came across a blog post that made me smile.

“Every ounce of my being wants this movie to be made. I fell in love with it the moment I read the title and from what I can see from the short video this has the potential to be a real gem. Some of the best memories I have of being a teenager are of all my friends piling into my girlfriends car and spending the 90 dollars I made a week at KFC on arcade games. The Last Night At Chinatown Fair feels like a labor of love and a unique chance to see and share that moment we all have felt when something we love is lost. I know my $10 wont put much of a dent in their $20,000 pledge but its all I got man.”

       -MrsBonBon from http://backstrokeofthewest.blogspot.com/

Thank you, MrsBonBon.  You just reminded me why we are making this movie.  Your $10 is more important than you realize.  Thanks.

Some of my favorite comments for ARCADE trailer on Youtube.

  • cant wait for this

                                 HodgeStansson 6 hours

    • FUCKING AWESOME

                                    HodgeStansson 6 hours ago

      • This is almost so fucking surreal that I do not want to believe it. I can try and deny it but dammit… I feel so heartbroken tto hearing this and now the memories of making new friends, facing skilled opponents this is just so… OMG This is just too much to take…

                                       kaze0fox 4 days ago

        • I’m gonna say it like this. CTFA was & still is my childhood. Im in my 30s now and i still would stop in from time to time. Haha i remember that live chicken they used to have in there er somethin when i was a kid lol….That place was a landmark..its so sad to see it go. That was timeless memories. You always met cool people in there was some crazy skills. Im so glad i got to check out SSFAE & got to see the new KOF 13 in action (thank god). RIP CTF. Legend lives on…

                                          xDTHECHEMISTx 6 days ago

        4.29.2011 - Notes from a Kickstarter project creator

        There isn’t a guidebook for funding a project on Kickstarter.  Not that I would follow it if there was.  We are coming up with the next step as we take the last one.  It is some what stressful, but I actually enjoy the challenge.  The goal is concrete and each day there are things that I can do to move towards it.  Plus, there is a lot of great information from people that have gone through the experience themselves.  I have found a lot of great info on the Kickstarter blog.

        From launching, the first thing I learned is that if you have a great idea and you put all your effort into the Kickstarter project — the pitch, the writing, incentives, spreading the word — people will take notice.  Kickstarter will notice, bloggers will notice, people on Twitter and Tumblr will pick it up.  Truly showing your passion for the project is is how to gain the confidence and support of people that you have never met.  And these are the people that will make your project a success.  I originally filmed my pitch video in my studio.  At the end of the day I thought it looked dismal and didn’t capture the passion I had for the movie.  So Irene and I scrapped it and re-shot the video on the street in Chinatown.  I think it made a huge difference in the quality of the pitch video and the responses it has received.

        The big surprise from the first few days of launching the project is the emotional Irene and I have felt.  To have people writing us and telling us how much they love the trailer and are excited for us to make the movie is overwhelming.  It has been incredible to hear our backers’ stories and why they are supporting the project.  It has been a big kick in our confidence that we can create an incredible movie. I have always had faith in our ability to do it, but hearing that all these other people do too has been remarkable and the most positive experience from this whole thing.