When the winner for Best Asian-Themed Release was announced last Saturday at Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Asia Noir V: A Lust Supreme director David Aaron Clark said it was somewhat of a vindication for him.
The Asia Noir series was the very first winner in the relatively new category three years ago with Video Team's Asia Noir 2: Rise of the Asianatrix, Clark told AVN.com that a lot of things had changed by the time he was commissioned to do a new installment last spring for Metro.
The perfectionist director, who wrote, directed, photographed, edited and scored what was his first dip into High-Definition production himself, said he was subject to a whole new world of scheduling pressure at Video Team's parent company Metro.
"Not only was what I was doing High-Def for the first time, but I was also doing green-screen sequences and the most complex narrative I've attempted so far in that series," Clark explained.
"Thanks to my amazing production manager Mark Kramer, one of the production geniuses behind Pirates, I was able to squeeze an unprecedented amount of production value out of the budget, shooting on location at, among other places, an actual movie theater and a professional boxing club."
However, with the least number of shooting days Clark had ever had for an Asia Noir, calamity seemed sure when scheduling changes resulted in a loss of nearly one-third of the cast. Series star Mr. Marcus, due to personal commitments, could only offer one day's work, and two female leads dropped out.
Clark said that the show's centerpiece, freshman starlet Tia Tanaka, remained steadfast and series vet Tyler Knight, along with newcomer Dick James, both rose to the occasion as well. The director explained that Knight, a professional fighter, shined in both his boxing scenes and his marathon two-on-one in which he shared Tanaka with fellow Asia Noir vet Sledge Hammer.
In the title, James plays an aspiring small-town sax player come to L.A. with his girlfriend Tanaka to seek fame and fortune. Tragedy ensues when they run into corrupt clubowner/pimp Guy DiSilva.
"It's the most literally 'noir' storyline of the entire series, though of course the framing sequence, shot in the New Beverly Cinema, takes it to a more reflexive, surreal level," Clark notes.
"Despite initial hurdles, the shooting went like clockwork thanks to Kramer's stewardship. There's no way I could have stuffed five sex scenes and a butt-load of acting and narrative into a three-day schedule without him," said Clark.
Clark said that concern arose at Metro when he, working in his traditional hands-on manner without any editing assistance in his modest home editing bay, took the rest of the summer to edit the show.
"It wasn't like I was slacking, or wanted it to take that long. Because I work for a fixed freelance rate, I ended up literally losing money by insisting on taking the project all the way to master by myself. But if I was doing this for nothing but the money I would have been out of here a long time ago," Clark asserted.
Asia Noir V went into the awards overshadowed by Metro's several other nominated shows, including much higher-budgeted affairs. Nobody was more surprised than Clark when the project brought home the award.
"After eight years directing, I've pretty much left the awards show process behind. But I can't say I wasn't feeling a little gooshy and warm inside when I saw Tia and Tyler's faces flash up on the big screen at Mandalay Bay," Clark admitted. "Does this mean they won't seat me in the rafters next year?"
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For more information, Metro is online at www.metrointeractive.com.
