Friday, October 29, 2010

ReelSpam [or 'What I Was Up To For The Past Few Months']

Been a while since I popped in but it's been a busy few months [and months to come]. Highly productive season working with new clients who've come our way. Doing pretty fun videos. Currently in the process of uploading the newly completed ones to our YouTube channel. Meanwhile, here are some of the latest works that I've edited.


This is a highlights reel containing footage from the 20 short vignettes I've cut for the 1-Altitude Gallery. Beautiful footage shot on the 5D. It was great fun cutting these 20 videos and giving each of them a unique theme/mood/rhythm. A little bummed I wasn't able to be on shoot since my crew had so much fun running about like tourists - but those videos weren't gonna edit themselves!


Client came back to us after we did a good job for them on our first collaboration - the first video really made the APAC office stand out among their global counterparts. So, they decided to take our concept further and commission a Part Deux using the same actor, animation style and premise. This one is on Cloud Computing and we worked with our animation partner to create something fun.




Finally uploaded the other Youth Olympic Games videos I've edited. I guess you could call these 'mini narrative-documentaries'. Worked with our regular freelance director on these and we pieced together the stories, while setting a specific mood for each piece. Because all these videos were screened at the same Olympic exhibition venue in Suntec Convention Centre, the last thing we want is all of them having the same generic treatment and style. Somewhat bucking convention, these videos were not LOUD and "MTV-ish" - as some might have readily associated with youths and sports. Instead, they're dignified and contemplative.

We're currently juggling 7 projects [and more KIV ones to come] through 2010 and into early 2011. Just wrapping up one for Sentosa... moving onto an overseas shoot next week... working with some old clients, clients who came back to us after moving to another company and new clients from new markets. A mix of branding, marketing, corporates, pro bono and TVCs; private, agency and government. Plate's getting pretty full... but we'll make it work. Somehow ;)

Also started working with PluralEyes on a recent project which we shot on the 5D, with audio coming from the Zoom H4N. Apart from some small workarounds that were needed, I was pretty impressed with the ease of syncing. We had more than 6 hours of interview footage, which was synced quite beautifully using PluralEyes. Kudos! Deep appreciation for that tool - good stuff at very reasonable price. Check it out at http://www.singularsoftware.com/pluraleyes.html

Meanwhile, I've also taken up small freelance gigs for a Microsoft vendor producing customer testimonials. Currently, it's been subtitling work - taking local versions and adding English subtitles for the international market. But as with ALL edit jobs, it's never "just" a "simple subtitling job". I've learnt a few new things along the way when it comes to versioning things since I had to work around updating text information on graphics and videos which are already mashed together, as they come to me in .WMV or equivalent files. Every video is different and requires its own set of troubleshooting. I'm a devout MacHead... but hey, like many others, I got my start in Microsoft. I just found something better and am sticking to it ;) Besides, this is strictly business!

Talking about professionalism, I came across an article which I thought was really good for professionals who are doing videos... professionally. Looking through the list, I think we've discovered all these points for ourselves through the years but this guy really covered it in a clear and succinct manner. Recommended Read for everyone who's in the business and is involved in any level of client servicing:
http://www.productionapprentice.com/tutorials/general/this-is-your-work-not-your-art-tips-for-working-with-clients-on-creative-projects/