My Rants

I have been toying with the idea of bringing my film making and digital cinematography to the masses for a while now, and I've decided over the Christmas and New Year's Break that 2007 is as good a year as any to do so. Considering I have a couple of projects coming up (Pusat Ehsan is the main one) and also having done some work for other people already (icklebooks and the wedding doco) I figured being able to share what I can provide would benefit both the people I am sharing this with (memorable events that are forever captured beautifully in motion picture) as well as myself (I get to learn more from doing more and more demanding projects). While there are plenty of different classes of projects to focus on, I've decided the 4 main ones I can make the most use of myself to people is in making Wedding Docos, Music Videos, Video Advertising, and providing editing services for people who want their work to look that extra classy (note: no cheesy transitions or music).

Wedding Docos
I have been approached before to shoot weddings but it fell through for various reasons (pricing, style, etc). I know that within the Bruneian market for weddings, the current approach is to have a videographer to shoot the events of the day and then just dump them onto DVD. What I am hoping to provide is to make that wedding day that extra special by giving you a pre-wedding video shoot that captures that special spark between husband and wife to-be. I have plenty of ideas on how to do variations of these, but as part of being an 'artist' (and a savvy enough businessperson) I'm keeping these ideas under the hat from the public at the moment. I will however work out various packages for couples which will cater to a wide range of clients with different pricing preferences. The whole idea behind the wedding doco is that Quality of footage from your special day will outweigh the Quantity, i.e. I'd rather have 60 minutes of beautifully shot and edited footage rather than 6 hours of mundane stuff of guests chatting , waiting in line to greet the bride and groom etc etc - you get the picture. I'd just like to approach this from a different angle and perspective.

Music Videos
Music videos and weddings go well together and I've done a few already to know this. But I would also like to open up opportunities for me to help local bands get their music out to the public. As Bruneians get more internet savvy, media channels such as YouTube will play a more important role in bringing the works of Bruneian artists into the mainstream and getting them recognised. There are quite a few musically talented local Bruneians who would be able to get even more exposure through music videos. I know that at least one local Bruneian production house has done a purportedly professional music video (I leave it to viewers to decide its quality) but I would hope that the work I can do would add additional juice to the songs from our local artistes.

Video Advertising
The world of advertising(as well as Music Videos) is a wonderful playground for film makers. This is where you can truly express your creativity by bringing the world of arts into the world of business together. I have looked at many an advert that is jawdroppingly amazingly shot and done that it just inspires me (the fact that some of them is actually done by my ex-house mate and good friend during our UK days just adds to this inspiration). Some have been classy, some have been funny, and some have been outright surreal, but ALL of them have been ads that inspire and evoke strong emotions from the viewers. While I do not know personally if I have that ability (my viewers will probably have a better perspective on this) my work on the Jerudong Park, and Icklebooks may be a good indicator. And when February rolls around and I have done the Pusat Ehsan Project, I guess judgment will be passed on this ability then. Businesses interested in making adverts on TV are more than welcome to give me a shout and I can do my best to convey the emotion you would like to come across in those ads. Note: Isn't Jerudong Park coming up with some new rides? Wouldn't it be amazing if I had the chance to promote those new rides through my work? Food for thought.

Professional Video Editing
Many might think that shooting footages is all there is to a movie, but for me, getting the footage is only HALF the story. The ability for a director to tell a good story is in the editing process: Is it to long? Is it too slow? Is it fast paced? Is this in the right sequence? Can I tell this story differently? Directors of blockbuster movies sometimes have BIG BIG clashes with their editors because of creative differences because editing is in a way an enabler for the director to achieve his/her vision (at least that's what I think). Now perhaps I might have gotten a *little* carried away by including Professional in my Video Editing abilities, but I'm learning and trying to be one (Apple Certified Editor - A.C.E.) in the long term if I get a chance. I am not sure what it even involves but as long as one has a dream, it can happen (abit off a tangent so back to what I was saying). I am hoping that people who have some footage (either their weddings, travel videos, birthday videos, corporate events, etc.) I will be able to help them build a coherent story into their video through my editing to make it a little more special.

I am hoping to hear from all of you. I hope I'll be able to make some of your memorable moments extra special. (note: this posting is taking me longer to write and post than expected and I'd like to get back to playing with my daughter now..)

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