Havana Club 'El Ron de Cuba'

"A dynamic and edgy montage supported by an upbeat soundtrack, a reflection of raw energy from the melting pot of various cultures, the romantic land of Cuba."

This video remains on of our most watched video on YouTube. I remember bringing back a CD worth of photographs to our Motion Graphics team. Considering that the video duration was to be 3 minutes, we really didn't have much to work with.

Our team had a look around and found a magazine sporting images of cocktails made with Havana Club. That was all we needed to create the concept for the video. Havana Club was made in sunny Republic of Cuba. Workers harvested sugar canes under the humid tropical sun. Cuba's colourful night life and its resilient people provide the inspiration for the Havana Club Product Video.

Our Motion Graphics team scanned and animated various photos to create a dynamic and edgy montage supported by an upbeat soundtrack, a reflection of raw energy from the melting pot of various cultures, the romantic land of Cuba.

Movie Review: Perfume

My Rating: 8/10

A thrill ride of a cliffhanger from the begining coupled with a surprising climax. An unconventional ending makes this film an entertaining if grisly, experience.

The life of Jean Baptiste is a hard one, tempting us to overlook his crimes when his passion overtakes morality in his gruesome quest. A melancholic and edgy soundtrack plays throughout the film spiced up by ominous classical tones.

My compliments go to the writer for a refreshing concept to the age-old suspense thriller. Whoever thought distilling young women for their essence could produce perfume? More intriguing still is that the collection of all 9 types of essences could make a potion so powerful so as to contemplate the enslaving the human race?

It is interesting to note that whoever helps our antagonist suffers a fateful end, from his mother to his master.

BMW X5 Launch Video

BMW X5: Launch Video

"It was satisfying to watch my video projected on large screens, even more so when the end of my video became the cue for two X5 to make their grand entrance."

Although this project was completed a few years ago, it still maintains that contemporary feel, similar to the famous X5 itself. The X5 Launch Video remains a milestone video to us because it won us the coveted 'Cyberjaya Digital Video' award.

We wanted to introduce dynamism into the video, complemented with technology inspired elements. The BMW logo is a shape begging us to play with so we went all out. We chose to draw the viewer into the video by taking our time to reveal the logo using motion graphics.

Armed with only a brochure and some online photos, we set out to make a great video. All motion graphics were created with Adobe After Effects and Final Cut Pro. I remember back then AE didn't have the plug-in 'Strokes' even the Trapcode '3D Strokes' wasn't invented. The glowing lines that revealed the logo were drawn in Illustrator and imported into AE. We animated the mask properties to get the desired effect. All photos in the video was taken from BMW's press site and animated in After Effects.

It was FCP's first debut and I was one of its first users in Malaysia. I used FCP version 1.0 to edit the X5 video and I have one regret, that I didn't colour correct any of the footage. I was using a G3 and any effect in FCP required some rendering. Time wasn't on my side as the launch was only a few days away.

I attended the launch of the X5 in Malaysia at BMW's Glenmarie showroom. It was satisfying to watch my video projected on large screens, even more so when the end of my video became the cue for two X5 to make their grand entrance.

My inspiration for this video came chiefly from the James Bond film, 'Tomorrow Never Dies' starring Pierce Brosnan. The motion graphics elements were created based on inspiration from Digital Vision's stock images. The waveform/oscillation graphics was animated frame for frame based on footage shot off an oscilloscope from another project.

The fruit of our labour was truly a sight to behold. It was a hectic 2 weeks but it was worth it.

Movie Review: Atonement

My Rating: 8/10

This film is set during the early stages of World War 2. It's a must watch for those of us colonial types who want to see more of the english countryside and the gentlemen with their stuffy eccentric ways.

The summer frolic in the English countryside, around a huge english mansion rewards the heart and reminds one of the carefree days when we were children. The colours are fresh and soft, giving this part of the film a dreamy, romantic ambience.

James McAvoy redeems himself here after his performance in The Last King of Scotland. He fits perfectly into this role as the composed Robbie Turner. The film's antagonist, Briony develops a crush for Robbie. She watches a questionable scene from her bedroom window- an exchange between Robbie and her sister. She jumps to conclusions and her resulting actions haunt her till the very end of the movie as repercussions echo and effect their lives.

There is a brief jaunt into the beaches of Dunkirk. This legendary scene features an expanse of beach with soldiers milling about. Pay attention to the very long take at the beach as the camera sweeps across hundreds of extras.

Film editing is fluid and impeccable. The plot unfolds at its own pace- there's no rush in Atonement, but we are absorbed into each character's life, if simply to know their fate. Atonement is a well told love story and it's nice to watch Kiera Knightly without a scimitar for a change.

Movie Review: Rambo 4

My Rating: 5/10

Just when I thought they couldn't make it any worse, out pops another sequel to the infamous movie. Now we have to suffer through Rambo 4 just like when we were kids. Back then, it was innocence lost. Now that we're all grown up, we get a refresher course in the matter of violence is the solution to all problems.

It's loud, it's crude and it's loud. It's a good movie to test your home theater before awarding Rambo 4 its rightful place as a coaster. The producers made full use of existing technology to introduce a new level of violence and gore. What we missed in the news reels due to censorship, we get to experience in sharp detail in Rambo 4. This film has set a new standard in military movie violence. We get treated to a scene of machine guns mowing down people, if you're into that sort of thing.

There's no depth in the story, if the two dimensional script could pass as a story. The characters are forgettable. The firefights aren't spectacular. From my point of view, tactical planning and execution is bases on luck and brawn.

Hardly a movie for kids, but if it is, any toddler can understand the simple premise. If you're looking for witty dialog, visual effects or a spot of good acting, look elsewhere.

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.