iPhone Condom

An interesting marketing campaign by DUREX, the condom makers ;)

My initial thoughts was "cool!", but then it succumbed to scepticism as to how successful it will really be in terms of encouraging guys to use condoms. I mean, it'll have the fun element at first with everyone rubbing iphone's, so the viral part of it will definitely have a great 'viral' kick-off. It will definitely get annoying after a while, no doubt, especially if it is, from what I gather, a very hard app to get rid off unless you actually go and buy an actual durex pack. And I know that's the point, but will it really make guys more condom conscious?

But then I remember, this marketing tactic, more than anything, is to market the brand itself, DUREX, and anything that gets people talking about a brand and imprinted in the mind as the first association to a product (in this case, condoms, or even contraceptives in general).

It's been a while since I did the introductory Advertising/Marketing subject, so forgive any of my over simplistic evaluation/terminology - I just wanted to put my 2 cents worth on something that I reckon is interesting in terms of the use of new media in marketing.

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Rising Sun - a mini-series

One of the outcomes from my honours.

It is a draft of an opening credit sequence to a mini-series I am developing about Asian ANZACS. I reckon such a story is highly relevant at the moment, in light of the Billy Sing feature film fiasco.

It is a DRAFT, so not perfect. It's just a way of exploring our options. Will hopefully be able to get out there and shoot the real thing soon.

The title Rising Sun was an interesting decision process. Whilst brainstorming ideas for a title, I started off literal and dragged out titles like "The Diggers" and "The Forgotten". I was trying to capture a sense of the forgotten nature of the ANZACS that have slipped through the cracks of mainstream modern Australian history, including those from the indigenous population.

I arrived at Rising Sun because the symbol of the Australian army is the "badge of the rising sun". But what also occurred to me was that the term Rising Sun is often associated with the Empire of Japan - land of the Rising Sun. Because of this, I became a little unsure, and a began to ask everyone around me what they thought when the hear the phrase "Rising Sun". But then I thought, maybe this plays to an advantage. Since I am focusing on Asian ANZACS, and Rising Sun has the Asian connotations of Japan, maybe the confusion would suit the series purpose on the whole.

I reckon it's interesting that the symbol of the ANZACS is similar to the symbol of one of the former enemies of Australia, and I dunno, that might add an interesting element to it, especially in terms of marketing the show.

Anyway, here are some details of the vid:

Filmed by Changas, again on his d3s.

Music composed by yours truly in garage band, with the orchestra JamPack.

Ending title graphic was knocked up in 10 minutes in AfterEffects with just some jpegs of a hill, the Rising Sun badge, and a digger - sunset flare created with Video Copilot's Optical Flares.

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Reflecting on Creativity

A quote forwarded from my Honours program director. Wise and thought provoking words from the founder of Apple (i.e.; the person who gave creative geeky type people cool laptops and gadgets to play with. Oh and allowing people to go deaf younger.. =D)

“Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask a creative person how they did something, they may feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after awhile. That’s because they were able to connect experiences they’ve had and synthesize new things. And the reason they were able to do that was that they’ve had more experiences or have thought more about their experiences than other people have.

Unfortunately, that’s too rare a commodity. A lot of people in our industry haven’t had very diverse experiences. They don’t have enough dots to connect, and they end up with very linear solutions, without a broad perspective on the problem.

The broader one’s understanding of the human experience, the better designs we will have.”
- Steve Jobs

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Independent Film

Just doing some non-project-related, yet career related.. research...

Picked this up from David Liu's facebook, a talented Singaporean based director I met at the Singapore Film Festival last year.

Nothing amazingly new but in the videos below, producer Ted Hope talks about the benefits of going into Independent Filmmaking, utilising all the opportunities afforded by the New Media technologies. Ted Hope has produced a number of films, the most recognisable for me being 21 Grams, American Splendor, and even Ang Lee's Xi Yan (The Wedding Banquet)!

The most interesting was his mention of the 1000 True Fans 'theory' by Kevin Kelly. That article is definitely worth a look as food for thought to anybody seriously wanting to make a living as a creative artist.

Some Job Opportunities in Indie Film with Ted Hope (part 1) from Hope for Film on Vimeo.

Some Job Opportunities in Independent Film with Ted Hope (part 2) from Hope for Film on Vimeo.

Haven't had time to review and process my own opinions as yet on these topics - I have an exegesis to write for my Asian-Australian Film project. Oh, I have a title for the project now "The Slanted Lens". It is a re-appropriation of a similar titled documentary "The Slanted Screen" by Jeff Adachi, about the representation of Asian men in American Cinema. You can check it out a preview of it on youtube here. It is a really interesting and insightful documentary, especially when you find out that one of the biggest Hollywood silent film actors was Sessue Hayakawa, who actually played romantic leads opposite Caucasian females.

I figure my title is appropriate since it's about me as a filmmaker, finding Asian-Australian stories that I really want to translate onto the screen. Anyway, it's too late to spend any more time thinking up another title.. so it stays... for now.. maybe... opinions please!!! I need help on this matter!

Wish my luck with the rest of my assignment.. 5 days left to go!! argh!!!!!!!!!!!

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DSLR Audio

Just doing some research on audio recording gear for DSLRs.

I am shooting most of my project on DSLR - my own Pentax k7 and Changas Nikon d3s. The audio on these camera are good, but sometimes, better audio via better microphones are needed, so I will be recording audio separately - back to the old school way of doing things. I was settled on doing the traditional clapperboard sync, but my supervisor, Paul Ritchard, mentioned a piece of software that can do automatic sync. I googled it, and have become quite impressed.

It is called Pluraleyes - it automatically syncs your DSLR footage to your separately recorded audio by matching the footage audio with the audio captured on the separate device.

A problem with this software though is that there is currently no compatibility with Adobe Premiere CS4, which is what I primarily use to cut my work. Only FCP and Sony Vegas are supported thus far. They say a CS4 version will come out soon, so fingers crossed.

After discovering this, I went on to look up audio recording gear, which I intend to get soon to support my other work. Currently using a Marantz Solid State recorder hired out from uni. It's good, but quite big since it is old school. Not huge, just.. not as small as some you can get now-a-days.

The site dslrfilm.com has an article listing their top audio recorders for DSLR video. The Zoom h4n seems to immensely popular, and I will be looking into where to get it here in Melbourne, and how much - so anyone with that information, please contact me!

Also, Phillip Bloom has a useful article on the subject of DSLR filming and audio recording. Check it out.

A microphone will be next to look for on the list too.... damn so much money to be spent. I am looking at purchasing a new sleeping bag as well as my current one, thought immensely warm, is much too bulky to be taken on treks. Kathmandu has a huge sale on at the moment, and I am eyeing the $200 one... as well as a sleeping mat. *sigh*

Anyway, just got back from a long road trip up to Stawell to help Changas on a photo-doco shoot on a rodeo that was up there yesterday on good Friday. He's gotten some amazing stuff, which should be up on his blog some time soon. I managed to get a few good snaps too, as well as some footage of some bull-riding etc. I think I will cut my footage into a mini doco on Changas and documentary photography. I had a nice chat with Changas on the ride there and back, which I recorded on the solid state recorder. Will go through footage and audio material tomorrow to see what I can knock up. It seems there is a connection as well to my honours project on Asian-Australian identity - we were the only two Asians up at the rodeo, and we stood out like sore thumbs. We didn't get into any major incidents, but the issue did crop up during some moments.

Anyway, really tired and need some shut eye. Photos and more info should be up here soon. Watch this space.

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Asian ANZACS

Just doing some research on Asian ANZACS for my Project.

Quite difficult to find information out there on this interesting part of Australia's War History, so every little bit counts for a lot.

I've compiled a list of links to online sources that I've found so far.

• Forgotten Heroes - post from 'the tigers mouth' - lists several notable Chinese-Australian Soldiers who served Australian in World War 1
• Caleb Shang entry in the Australian Dictionary of Biography
• Chinese Australian Exservicemen Database - from the CHAF (Chinese Heritage of Australian Federation) website, a project from La Trobe University.

One particular Chinese ANZAC I have been focusing on is Caleb Shang. Below are the links to d¡

• Caleb Shang Embarkation Roll - from Australian War Memorial Records
• List of Honours and Awards recommended for and received by Caleb
• Caleb James Shang's service record
• Sidney Waugh Shang's service record

Big thanks to Yuey who's kindly passed on some information and resources he has found. His blog, Asians Down Under has been quite an inspiration and definitely worth a look.

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Some Research

Just placing some of my research links on here so I don't lose them. Feel free to check 'em out for yourself if you so wish...

• Courage and Service holdings info at Monash - http://library.monash.edu.au/vwebv/holdingsInfo?searchId=1168&recCount=20&recPointer=5&bibId=1645159
• Jack Sue: Matter of Honour holdings info at La Trobe - http://library.latrobe.edu.au/search~S5?/Xmatter+of+honour&searchscope=5&SORT=DZ/Xmatter+of+honour&searchscope=5&SORT=DZ&extended=0&SUBKEY=matter%20of%20honour/1%2C25%2C25%2CB/frameset&FF=Xmatter+of+honour&searchscope=5&SORT=DZ&4%2C4%2C
• Chinese Diggers by Teck Tan holdings info at Melbourne - http://cat.lib.unimelb.edu.au/search~S30?/Xchinese+diggers&searchscope=30&SORT=DZ/Xchinese+diggers&searchscope=30&SORT=DZ&extended=0&SUBKEY=chinese%20diggers/1%2C5%2C5%2CB/frameset&FF=Xchinese+diggers&searchscope=30&SORT=DZ&1%2C1%2C

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