BRUCE LEE MOVIE SPECIALS

This is another happy moment! My Bruce Lee promo just garnered another Gold award two days ago at Promaxbda World competition held in L.A. Too bad I wasn’t there to witness the win.

gotasté

This is a happy moment!

I can still recall the number of compliments that was received from my boss, colleagues and friends when they saw this movie trailer on TV five months ago. Many told me it will win an award. Such wishes add on to my stress for the desire to hope that it will eventually happen for real. So I decided to put that thought away and keep my fingers crossed while waiting patiently for the day of the event.

The broadcast industry recognizes Promax as the Oscars of TV promotion. Yesterday night was the annual Promax Asia Awards ceremony. Like everyone else, I was among the audience hoping for a present from Santa to end the year with joy.

Just into the first quarter of the awards show, the category of my entry was up and I heard a familiar title being announced. Before I can receive…

View original post 39 more words

BORDERS

The content of this program is not what I imagine it to be. The direction is more like a travelogue. But given the program title, I thought the core emotion of fear should be injected into the promo spot to create high tension.

 

BRUCE LEE MOVIE SPECIALS

This is a happy moment!

I can still recall the number of compliments that was received from my boss, colleagues and friends when they saw this movie trailer on TV five months ago. Many told me it will win an award. Such wishes add on to my stress for the desire to hope that it will eventually happen for real. So I decided to put that thought away and keep my fingers crossed while waiting patiently for the day of the event.

The broadcast industry recognizes Promax as the Oscars of TV promotion. Yesterday night was the annual Promax Asia Awards ceremony. Like everyone else, I was among the audience hoping for a present from Santa to end the year with joy.

Just into the first quarter of the awards show, the category of my entry was up and I heard a familiar title being announced. Before I can receive all the handshakes from people sitting around me and settle myself down, my work was already playing on the big screen. It’s my turn to walk down the aisle and up the stage to receive a Promax Gold.

 

MY LIFESTYLE

This promo was filmed in a rush (as usual) and the backdrop was plain and dirty. We’ve used a dvc pro camera which is bad at capturing low light as compared to the cameras we have now.

When my producer showed me her first cut, I saw the potential to elevate it further. The first cut carries this same music which was well chosen but the original message and selling points were not strong enough to create a connection with the viewers. On top of that, the original footage needs a face lift.

So we redraft the script and send the final edit for color grading. Adrian, the senior colorist from the post house that we’ve engaged did a fantastic job to inject more life and clean up the dirty backdrop into this classy, elegant spot.

It won a silver award at Promax Asia.

 

BABY CAN I HOLD YOU TONIGHT

She is my favorite artiste of all time and it kills me every-time I hear this song.

 

FOLLOW ME

Trailer producers are way being under rated especially in Asia. Although we are the fighter pilots of the force but we are always given the last priority to book artistes’ time and filming crew. It is exactly the same for this project. We were told to create a star studded spot to sell our social media platforms without any resource support.

With a borrowed DSLR, we sneak into the backstage of an awards ceremony show and grab celebrities to post in front of the camera. As much as our effort may not be treasured by the chiefs, most of the celebrities from the station do appreciate our hard work and they manage to give us their best shot.

This trailer eventually garners a silver award at Promaxbda Asia last year.

PESTO SAUCE

Finally after ten weeks, my sweet basil that I have planted from seed is ready for the first actual harvest and pruning. That adds another happy moment in my life. Immediately, I turned them into my long awaited pesto sauce.

Lots of fresh sweet basil

Pine nuts

2 cloves of garlic

Extra virgin olive oil

Sea salt

Freshly crushed black pepper

Grated parmigiano-reggiano

Wake pine nuts by toasting in a pan over medium heat without oil. Other than parmigiano-reggiano,combine all ingredients in a blender and mix using high speed. Add enough olive oil at different intervals during blending to create a smooth paste. In a bowl, blend in parmigiano-reggiano into paste with a fork and it’s done!

Bring water in a pot to boil and add salt. Add in pasta and cook to al dente, drain well and mix in pesto sauce.

You can store the excess sauce in the fridge for other use. To my surprise, it tastes extremely good when I use it to make ham sandwich.

GOOD MORNING SINGAPORE

Our news and current affairs morning show GOOD MORNING SINGAPORE is shifting to a new time slot and I was asked to shout about it. Just like there are many ways to cook beef, there are lots of techniques to promote news and current affairs program. When i was cracking my head for ideas, I view through lots of references and asked: “Why so serious?” That’s when I decide to create something different from the typical way of promoting this genre. Something exciting and entertaining! It was a tough shoot but the presenters and the whole production team had great fun! This trailer received many compliments after it went on-air.

 

BASIL

A small handful of sweet basil can cost more than a plate of chicken rice in Singapore. When my hobby in Italian cooking takes me from using dried herbs to fresh basil and rosemary, I took the challenge to plant my own and start a little herbs corner along my corridor.

When I first started, I had a hard time finding sweet basil plants and I am not sure it can grow well in this hot and humid climate. There was no answer found on the internet. It is as if no one on this island is planting it or there are just too few of them wanting to post any tips.

My failure came after I tried to replant my first pot into more portions. The plant went dead with wrong soil and bad drainage. I didn’t even know I have to water it every day and that’s when I realized it shouldn’t be plant like a flower.

Unwilling to be defeated, I did more research and discover the right way of planting by putting pebbles in the pot and use compose instead of soil. The next few plants supplied me with good leaves over nine months. Yes, sweet basil can survive in Singapore.

When I want to create my first pesto sauce, I realized the supply from just a few stalks is not enough. I got greedy and went into another phase of research learning how to plant from seeds. That will allow me to have enough supply and create dishes that I long to try. 

After I gather enough knowledge to start, I am unable to find sweet basil seeds on the island until I chance upon it in Switzerland during my trip to Europe. I was overjoyed! Then luck came by when I met an experience gardener in a nursery who taught me how to harvest my own seeds. I’m all ready to take on this challenge.

GATE KEEPERS

This program trailer was created sometime back with my senior producer Ong Wan Jun. During the brainstorm session, a few ideas came up but were later being removed due to the lack of budget for big scale production. We settled for this concept and it proves once again that idea is king when it garners a gold award at promax asia.