Hi everyone, this is Taylor Chan and Mike Bow and they created the short film "In Between". Hope you enjoy!
Ah, high school...
a time of change, a time of firsts.
It's when I first discovered my interests, when I first developed a sense of humor
And when I first found my close group of friends.
Okay "Yo mama's so ugly, that when she was born her parents named her shit happened."
"All right how do Chinese parents name their kids? They throw a pan down the stairs."
...
And that's the first time I felt Asian.
I mean, I knew I was Asian, but it's weird realizing,
I was seen as Asian, which confused me because I always felt like I was the same as them.
They were born here, I was born here,
Even my parents were born here, but
Being the only Asian in school brought along
special treatment
So how much do we owe?
Leo's got this
Here you go.
(Not all Asians are good at math)
uhh Falco? No...Samus?
Wait. What the f*ck is this?
Oh lucario.
Who?
He's a Pokemon.
Oh you would watch anime
I'm Samus.
I tried. Yeah, we really were not prepared.
Yeah. I think I could have read that PowerPoint a little more.
Hey, you're supposed to be the one that's good at these things.
Hey, uhhh
Listen, do you have a...
Date to the homecoming dance?
Ughh no
Wait why?
(GO FOR IT)
Oh!
Leo, really? Come on! We wouldn't be a good match
*REJECTED*
for the dance, right?
Wait... Why?
You know... We're just different
*horn honks*
Um see you later...
See ya
So did you hear? Apparently Asian means different.
I was different
Until now!
I was off to college and not just any ordinary college. A college in Southern California!
Do you know what that means? Let me break it down for you.
UC San Gabriel
57.9% Asian!
Let's just say 60... 60% Asian. That's more than half the school of people like me!
I was always "too" Asian back home because I was the only one
not here!
We all Asian, baby!
College. This is where I discover where I fit in. This is where I discover where I belong
Hey you
Yeah, we're having a rush party tonight at Alpha Zeta Nu
It's the Asian fraternity.
I'll be there
신발! (shoes!)
Yeah?
Shoes
*Come on now. How do you not know that?!?*
Hey
You look really familiar
Do I?
yeah
Hey, Julie, doesn't this guy look like Jeff Chang?
I think you mean Jeff Cheung
Or is it Ching?
Ching?
Sounds almost like a pan getting thrown down the stairs
WOw... *offended*
Oh my god...
Woah... Is this anime?
Yeah, Tokyo Ghoul
Never heard of it
Strange. Quite the anime expert back home.
Oh, yeah? What'd you watch?
Dragon Ball. Pokémon.
Ha!
Did you watch subbed or dubbed?
What's subbed?
Man get out of here, Goku.
Get out of here! Let's go
What the fuck is going on?
Subtitles
Sorry?
Subtitles - those words at the lower third of the screen that give context to the scene.
you know, something you desperately needed tonight whitey
Whitey. I am NOT white trust me...
It's not second nature for you to take your shoes off indoors
You use that played out and frankly offensive pan joke
And the only anime you watch are Dragon Ball and Pokémon
Dubbed
Sounds pretty white to me Pillsbury
No you just don't understand
Oh really?
May I?
And I was different back home because I was too Asian
But those things that made me Asian back home are supposed to make me fit in here
You're kind of doing what your white friends did to you
What are you talking about?
Well, your white friends pushed you away on the basis that you're Asian
But you're trying to connect with these people on the basis that they're Asian
You're just reducing people to their race
It's no different from your friends back home
No no no
no I...
Wait right here
Check it!
I just got that girl's number over there. We connected. I didn't bring up race
We'll see
Gotta go. Later, Charmin (the toilet paper brand)!
So what do you think
Huh?
oh!
These are amazing
The photography department's lucky to have you
oh
No, not a photography major. My passion's photography, but I'm actually a bio major
oh
Well if it's your passion maybe you should switch majors
No my parents would never let me do that
why not?
It's your dream, right?
You should be honest with your parents.
Are you kidding me? They would never support me in that kind of field
huh, they're your parents. I'm sure they'll understand.
No they won't
why wouldn't they?
Why won't you?
Maybe we're just different
You were right. What do I do?
Listen...
Maybe you just have to learn to accept that you're different from everyone
You feel like you don't belong here
or there
You just fall somewhere in between
It's not necessarily a bad thing
Not a bad thing?
I have no one
Wait where are you going?
Back to at least some familiarity
Rush party tonight check it out.
Yeah
heard Karen's coming
I'll sign up
First frat
Nah... I actually checked out Alpha Zeta Nu last night
ah
Should have known
God, there are too many Asian kids at this school
Too many.
Why don't they just go back home already
That's fucked up
What'd you say bro?
I said that's fucked up!
You guys, you guys don't get it, do you?
this is as much as their home as it is yours
And you know it's statements like these that make it hard for people like me to find a home in the first place
so if you don't get that, then maybe you, you should go back home to... to Norway
or Slovakia
Or wherever the hell you come from you ignoramus
*sighs*
Whoa, Hey man, you okay?
Yeah, I'm fine
Yeah, that really sucks with those guys said to you back there,
But it takes a lot of balls to respond the way you did
Props, man
Thanks
Yeah, so what are you?
Chinese
No no, I mean, are you a freshman, sophomore...?
Oh!
Freshman
Ah. Not the best first impression of us here at UCSG. Just don't hold it against us
Kyle!
Hey man, what's up?
How's it going? Good!
Oh shit. It's you.
What you guys know each other?
yeah, he was at the party last night
Why'd you dip so early? You missed the jello shots, bro
Didn't think anyone noticed
We're actually about to head to this alumni homecoming event if you want to tag along
They got free tacos
Yeah, I'll meet you guys there, I just have to take care of some stuff first
Okay, adios man
Yeah! See ya there
Nicely done
I learned from the best
Tough being an in-betweener, huh?
Wait, you're one too?
Yep, Michigan
I went through all the same things you did when I first moved here
Well, didn't tell someone to go back to Norway
But same frustrations...
Took me a lot longer to feel like I fit in
Speaking of which, you should get to that event
Whoa wait, what else can you tell me? You're the first person in this place who I...
I just don't want to make a fool out of myself
Again!
Okay fine
I'll help you
Although it seems like you don't really need my help.
I mean you got that invite to the homecoming event all by yourself
See you later. Hey, enjoy the in-between
Huh
The in-between. I guess I was still right about college. I did find where I belong
I was just a little misguided to think I needed to force myself into one community when in reality
I can belong to many
and really, the best things fall in between
sandwich meat, Oreo filling, Empire Strikes Back
It's not what I expected, but I think I can get used to this
Well I first want to say congratulations, I'm really proud of you guys for making this. This was obviously a very big
Production and project that you guys took on completely
like on the side of everything that you guys already doing, so good job, like honestly
Thanks, thank you
For the most part it was a pretty small scale production.
it felt big but like it was like a large-scale story.
Right, right.
Well. I mean what like what was the genesis of this project?
Why did you guys want to make it or what was the original intention?
So it actually started about a year ago when there was this film contest.
things circulated amongst our community.
It was a call-out for Asian filmmakers to make entries about Asian identity.
We shared it with each other and we thought maybe we can make something for this contest
We're thinking of a story to tell them. The best idea we came up with was an experience that we shared as
multi-generational Asians
Oh okay. So was this story actually pretty personal to you guys like you actually like went through
This identity crisis that you know that were you actually like kind of your character at some point in your life?
That opening joke of Leo laughing at the joke and the friends that happen to do yeah, yeah
That's because it's just so interesting because yeah from being multi-generational Asians, we're not necessarily
You know raised any differently, right?
It's funny growing up, and then you're like oh, no we see you as as different though
And then we're talking with friends and there were just a lot of
similar
funny instances of feeling like too Asian amongst non-Asians
And then not feeling not Asian enough amongst Asians.
But that's that's the struggle already like right there where it's like what what even is
"too Asian" or "Asian enough" right and like yeah
It's unfortunate that just because of how you look, people are just gonna think you need to be this way right
Yeah
I mean
I'm glad that you guys told this story and brought your perspective cuz I remember the first time I watched it
I was like oh my gosh. Do I make you feel this way cuz cuz I've teased you guys before. I'm first-generation
You know you guys multi-generational you guys your fans have been in America for a long time
And I've teased you guys about being "Asian enough" or whatever. I'm like oh no!
it's just an entire passive-aggressive film at Phil
that's all but no it's it's great that you guys brought your you know your own story and I'm glad
That you know people can watch and see something that I think is a story that is not that common in our community
It seemed like a very big undertaking and it seemed like there was like more than you wanted to tell
we definitely like
Realize that through making it to like we're trying to tackle this big
topic which is assimilation and there's a lot to cover, a lot of
Topics within that that we could venture into, but we just knew that we can only scratch the surface of it so
hopefully it was a nice light-hearted step into that topic it is a very deep and
And nuanced and heavy topic
And I think you guys approached it in a nice light-hearted way and hopefully like
Maybe you guys can continue the story and get like you know get further into it.
Meet the other in-betweeners
Yeah, well I think you guys did a great job, and I hope everyone watching really enjoyed it as well
Yeah, we want to see more from you guys
More, hopefully more Michael Bow and Taylor Chan.
Don't speak for them
Why would you speak for them?
They don't, they didn't say that
Let us know in the comments below if you related to this video, if the story resonated with you
I think there's gonna be a lot more people than you think
And yeah, just want to say congrats again
If you want to see more of Mike, follow the links down below, if you want to see more Taylor
Stay right here
Check out those other videos on the side ->.
Alright, we'll see you guys next time