Movie Review: Bridge to Terabithia

My Rating: 9/10

At last, a movie that understands the magic of storytelling. This is a poignant film about friendship during the wonder years. It's misleading to expect fantasy storytelling to be the cornerstone of this film. Instead it highlights the evanescence of life. The two child actors deliver a heartwarming performance. The film is based on a premise we can all identify with when we were kids: School... its challenges and the diversions we create to blend in or fade out.

A movie about kids that's not for kids. Be warned, it's a tear-jerker. With compliments, a very well executed film that concerns itself with brilliant story and great directing. Don't expect too much of the visual effects, feature films like Narnia will run cirlces around it. Look out for the magical moments shared between two friends, immerse yourself in a child's world, a colourful world we've left behind a long time ago, a world we get to relive again in this movie.

Working out, staying on top

Today's technology allows videographers to get away with murder, not literally, of course. The advancement in video camera technology simply allows us to do more without feeling the pain.

Unsteady hands? Don't worry. The video camera's got built-in Optical Image Stabilizer. Can't focus fast enough? Let it go, the video camera comes with Auto Focus. Insufficient lights? Chill out, just turn up the Gain. It's no wonder some of the videos produced today are starting to look bad. We are too reliant on technology.

There are some of us who simply don't care: By the time the videos are uploaded to YouTube, they'll look bad anyway. Videos produced nowadays are uploaded to the internet, its mainstream audience. Videos meant for the internet have never looked good, so why bother.

You need to bother because YouTube's and Quicktime's video compression technology is only going to get better and this may just leave you obsolete.

You need to bother because no matter how good a video camera, you cannot be too reliant on technology. A tripod, deployed to assist unsteady or tired hands tend to take up too much space during event video shoots.

I cannot stress this more: We as professional videographers need to work out and stay on top of our game. We need to strengthen our chest muscles, our backs, the abdominals and our hands, the biceps and especially. We need to improve our stamina because even a heartbeat can be felt and translated into jittery movement on a video footage.

I advise amateurs who are planning to venture into the business to train hard. Do lots of push-ups. This is an exercise that improves upper body strength.