Karl Leung: Why join JUMP CUT?

We’re recruiting for our JUMP CUT 2015 team now! To give everyone a better look at what it means to be on the committee, we spoke to some of the members from last year’s team. First up, we have Karl Leung!

Karl, what is JUMP CUT?
JUMP CUT is a student-led independent film festival. It is the first of it's kind in Hong Kong, and is organised by the Hong Kong Youth Arts Foundation.

Why did you want to join the committee?
One of the main reasons why I wanted to join was because of my lack of knowledge of indie and foreign films. As I was raised with Hollywood blockbusters, I was lacking the sense of variety in terms of style, and so wanted to gain more knowledge of indie films and foreign films that were perhaps completely different to the styles of American films. Turned out I got more than I wanted. I made new friends, had a great experience in creating and organising the festival, and had one of the most memorable times of my life. This is definitely a once in a lifetime experience, and there may not be another in the future.

What was your role?
I was a part of the trailer team: I was a part of making a promotional video for the film festival (thus, like a film trailer). I did most of the typography and animation.

What was your favourite thing about JUMP CUT? 
My favourite thing about JUMP CUT was the sharing of thoughts after a screening. It was one of those moments where the movie is bigger than I thought it was, and it was great to listen to other's POV, which really opened a few new doors to the way I perceive films in general.

The best parts were the last few months, when we all got to know each other well. It was when we were all comfortable with lame jokes. I'd rather not disclose some of the details, but it was one heck of a hilarious experience I will never regret.

Which film from JUMP CUT 2014 made the greatest impact on you?
Disconnect was perhaps by far the most interesting one to me. As I was studying the ethical impacts of technology at the time, the film brought up most of the general ethical issues to the big screen. This was important, because while we are always told about the consequences of cyber bullying and such, we aren't really aware of these consequences or don't really encounter them. To have a film about the aftermath of these issues really changed the way I thought about how we use modern technology today.

To me, film is...
Film makes up most of my life. I’ve been obsessed with filmmaking, and started experimenting with movie making at a young age. I began to self-study the more specific areas of film: cinematography, storytelling, and the best of all, editing. I then started looking into visual effects, which took a great turn and brought me into looking into software such as After Effects. I then started looking into Motion Graphics, just cus I could. To conclude, elements of the moving picture made up most of my life, covering up almost all of my spare time.