After waiting for most of the summer, I finally know the location of my workplace for this coming year. Beginning in September, I will be working as an English Teacher at a high school for young men in Seoul, South Korea. To be honest, I didn’t expect to be teaching only male students. But every other aspect matches my goals, and I did attend an all boys’ high school myself. The school’s location is very nice because it’s not in the heart of the city (where I would probably have trouble with the noise and crowds). Yongmoon High School (용문고등학교) is located close to Korea University: an area which is already familiar to me since I stayed there in 2009 for 1 week.
You’re probably wondering why I chose to come to Seoul, South Korea to teach in a High School. Take a look at this 11 second video, made by a Korean high school student. It portrays his daily life.
Intense, right? This fun exaggeration conveys some elements of truth. Are Korean high school students stressed? Yes. Do they study hard? Yes. Do they receive a great deal of pressure to do well on their University entrance exam? Yes. Typically, Korean high schools have a lot to worry about, including English.
Since my first year of high school to now, I’ve spent much time learning languages. I’ve had good teachers and bad teachers… helpful textbooks and useless textbooks. I’ve tried techniques which produced noticeable results and ones that produced zero results. I’ve enjoyed studying languages and also hated it. My goal is to share with my students the knowledge I have gained from those experiences: from teachers, classmates, friends, family, books, websites, etc. By the end of high school, I hope they achieve more than high marks and good exam scores. I hope they gain greater confidence: the confidence to be themselves… greater courage: the courage to accept mistakes and learn from them… greater creativity: the kind of creativity which nourishes the human spirit… and greater curiosity: the kind of curiosity which pushes us to journey outwards, meeting the world with an open mind and a loving heart.
These past few days at the EPIK (SMOE) orientation, I have enjoyed learning from many experienced teachers. Here is a video related to the one above, featuring my awesome Korean Teacher and classmates. (See if you can find me). I’m thankful for this opportunity and the many people who have taught and inspired me.
While I was a student at UBC, I took a course called “Contemporary Korean Culture.” At the end of the course, the students had to write an essay about some aspect of modern Korean culture. I chose to write about the Animation Industry because I find it fascinating. It’s actually quite a huge industry, yet sadly it is not well known in the West. A few days ago, I even saw a High School here in Seoul which specializes in Animation. Ironically, many American cartoons are produced and drawn in Korea (both in 2D and 3D). Yet Korea also produces its own animated films, with stories and visual styles that differ from those made in the US or Japan. Yesterday, I went to the movie theatre to watch a new Korean animation.
As always, I love going to the movies in South Korea. You can reserve your seats in advance, pick up free brochures/posters in the lobby, and the rooms are clean and comfy. The audio and picture quality is crisp and clear. In this particular film, the vibrant colours were especially breath-taking, even from the last row. It was an entertaining and well-made film. Here is the trailer, with English subtitles.
For this video, we were lucky enough to capture a beautiful sunny day in Vancouver. I planned for the yellow rabito video to be filmed on a beach with an actress also wearing yellow. But the actual storyline changed 3 times. Though I would like to take credit for all of it, that would be dishonest. The beach ball and ping-pong ball addition was my Mother’s idea; she is responsible for making you laugh. (Eric Buelow was a true sport for doing multiple takes of that shot). For those of you with an eye for detail, the rabito tan line on the model’s midsection came from the mind of my friend, Lesley Liu. This idea was realized by Carmen Tse, a professional makeup artist. Her experience, knowledge, and warm personality made her the best choice for this unique task.
Finding the right swimsuit proved to a huge challenge! Yellow is not a popular swimsuit colour, and it tends to be a neon shade or mixed with other patterns and colours. But we wanted a bikini to match the rabito. FIVE different people shopped online or visited stores to try to find the right swimsuit. On the day before shooting, my friend Ju-Young Park helped me choose the bikini that you see in the video. I am grateful to her and to the 2 ladies working at “The Just Cruisin’ Shoppe” for their assistance.
Everyone worked together very efficiently and our filming finished ahead of schedule. It did take a few hours under the sun, so unfortunately a few of us were sunburned. I still remember Jenny Song (photographer) and Liz Cha (producer) hiding under the bounce board to avoid direct sunlight between takes. My crew is usually smarter than me.
The editing of this video took me many days. I learned more about image stabilization and rotoscoping through online research and experimentation. There were days when I just had to give up: my eyes became useless from exhaustion and my old methods weren’t working. But I would revisit the problem with fresh eyes the next day. My advice to other filmmakers is to take breaks from using the computer to think over the problems you’ve encountered. It’s also helpful to search online to see if other editors have encountered similar problems and found solutions.
Hope you all enjoyed the video and are looking forward to the next one! It’s for the green rabito.
So concludes our video series for the first 5 rabito case colours. Without a doubt, this particular video took the most time to complete. While most of the videos took only 1 day to film, “How to be Loyal” took 3 days. (Actually the 10-second rabito dance sequence was also filmed on 3 separate days).
The first day of filming for “How to be Loyal” was on February 15th, the day before I shot “How to be Sexy”. It was my first time to work with Liz Cha, whom I had wanted to work with after discovering her passion for acting. The day was successful and Liz did a great job. However, I was deeply dissatisfied with much of the footage. I felt like the story’s middle section and half of the shots weren’t engaging, and I couldn’t edit them together in a way that flowed. Around this time, I was able to meet with Andy Cheung and share my difficulties. He had wanted to work on the previous videos ever since we met at that start of the year to discuss ideas. But had been away from Canada and unable to join us until now. We met multiple times to plan and review footage. However, he was unable to attend Day 2 of our filming: May 23rd. This was actually my birthday!
Day 2 was an especially fun day of filming and Liz contributed greater emotional range to her character. I didn’t want to try to film too much in 1 day (my mistake on Day 1), so a third day was planned. Andy Cheung was our guest cinematographer for Day 3 (June 7th). While I had filmed using a Canon T1i, Andy Cheung used a Canon 5D. Both of us borrowed these cameras from our friends. On this day, Liz had only 1 scene in front of the camera, but she also helped us behind the scenes. Andy and I had many tricky shots planned involving rabito. A scene where a car drives by and splashes rabito was replaced by someone running by (my cameo) to get the best splash.
Even during the writing of the story, I knew I wanted to use part of the song “Angel” by my friend Alvin Pingol. The video you see here has gone through more than 10 different “final” drafts and much has been cut out. But Alvin’s song made it through all of those drafts. Sometimes such “digital surgery” is necessary to keep the story moving and focused. So please enjoy this video, as a great deal of work went into every aspect of it, including the tiny details. From the magazine Liz is reading in the first scene to the appearance of the grey rabito tail; many things were carefully planned to add more depth to the story.
Remember this line from the trailer: “Let’s finish this how we started… TOGETHER!”? Harry says this before embracing Voldemort as they leap over the edge of a cliff. Out of context, it sounds a lot like a line from a buddy-comedy. Maybe a hug was all Voldemort needed. If Harry could be saved by the power of love, why can’t Voldemort?
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (2011) is visually more impressive than all of its predecessors. It’s also nice to see how much the three main actors have improved in their emotional range, believability, and expressiveness on screen. In terms of the story, don’t expect anything very different. All of the films are based on the books of one author: J.K. Rowling, and the screenwriter (Steve Kolves) has also been the same on all of the films, except for the 5th. Your opinion of Harry Potter probably won’t change from the start to the end of this film.
The Deathly Hallows Part 1 was incredibly dark, moody, slow, and boring (in my humble opinion). It was basically a lengthy first act to set up this film: a very long second act with a brief conclusion. I remember reading the 7th book and imagining the epic battle scenes. I’m sure the author was envisioning a film version as well when she was writing. This film does deliver plenty of action, apparently derived mostly from Amusement Parks, as the characters frequently get drenched in water (when they’re not being chased by fire).
The audience I saw the film with applauded at the end. However, I heard complaints afterwards too. During several scenes that seemed meant to be taken seriously, the audience broke into laughter at the cheesiness or the oddness of these moments. But perhaps we’ve come to expect too much from these films.
Harry Potter’s world is certainly an intriguing one to bring to the screen, but I think the narratives themselves work better in book format. Although they are usually referred to as works of Fantasy, I think these stories are essentially Mysteries. There is always that moment at the end of the mystery, where the detective explains how the mysterious events took place, answering all of our questions. In Film or Television, it is usually more interesting to show these events then simply describe them. Alas, this series is dialogue-driven and much of the plot is furthered simply by people talking to teach other. They can magically transport to most places, which gives them even MORE time to talk. It’s a lot like watching a play with changing sets and lots of pyrotechnics.
These stories grapple with an important and timeless issue: human mortality. (Harry is “the boy who lived.” Voldermort means “Flight of Death” or “Cheater/Stealer of Death” in French). Harry learns about sacrifice, life, and death. If this had been a series of classical Chinese novels, the heroic Harry would have already sacrificed himself for the good of others and the story would be following another character. But following in the Western Tradition (or the Hollywood tradition), Harry remains our protagonist and the character of greatest importance. This has always somewhat annoyed me, because I find him to be one of the least interesting characters. He seems to exist by necessity. Uh oh… maybe I’m starting to sound like Voldemort?
Alan Rickman as “Snape” steals the show in this movie once again. His performance in each film significantly affects the tone, as he freely wanders from comedic to darkly dramatic.
This film is good, but not great. The kind of craftsmanship that went into the Lord of the Rings books and films far surpasses Harry Potter in terms on complexity and depth. But I do give J.K. Rowling credit for inspiring many young people to discover the joy of reading. Let’s hope the films don’t kill the books.
I give this movie 5 out of 5 stars. It was THAT good. Within 1 minute after the film began, I was already smiling. Both kids AND adults in the theatre laughed a lot throughout the movie. There was applause at the end. This is the kind of film that you take your loved ones and friends to see, because you want to share the experience together. I plan to go again. Here’s a short clip of one funny scene:
In a time of overly elaborate and expensive IN-YOUR-FACE 3D animation, “Winnie the Pooh” is a refreshing throwback to classic 2D animation. Yet the film still pushes boundaries of the film/animation medium. For example, the way the characters interact with pages and words of the book they exist within is something I’ve never seen before.
The voice actors aren’t people whose faces you will know, (except maybe for John Cleese, but he is the offscreen narrator). I think that’s a good thing. These voice actors are experienced and talented professionals. Winnie the Pooh AND Tigger are voiced by the same man: Jim Cummings, who has voiced hundreds of animated characters. Tom Kenny, the voice of SpongeBob SquarePants, performs the voice of “Rabbit”. Bud Luckey, a Disney/Pixar animator who provided the voice of “Chuckes the Clown” in Toy Story 3 among others, voices Eeyore. The casting of the voices was perfect, and it adds a lot to these already expressively drawn characters.
Do you need to be familiar with the characters or the books to enjoy this film? No. The characters are easily relatable; you feel as if you’ve known them all your life. We all know someone who’s often depressed or negative, or someone who thinks they’re a genius… and sometimes that person is us! Pooh is a slow-witted character with a good heart: a character people naturally love. He wants to do the right thing, but his struggles make us laugh.
The plot is simple, in a good way. It remains interesting because the characters make choices that surprise us. It’s a wonderful escape from the problems of “the world of Grown-Up’s”, yet still representative of that world too. There are valuable moral lessons to be learned in this story, as there were in the original books.
This short video advertisment for the film is an example of one such positive message. I recommend sharing it with someone you love.
Note: The film opens with an animated short about Scottish Folklore and the Loch Ness Monster. (It’s a cute monster in this version). Also, stay through the end credits. There is an amusing scene at the end!
I’d like to talk about a film released today: “Snow Flower Falling on Cedars”. I’m sorry, I confused the title with: “Snow Falling on Cedars” (1999), which shares one of the same screenwriters. Let me try again. Today I watched: “Curse of the Golden Snow Flower”. Nope. There I go again, this time confusing it with another Chinese film aimed at a Hollywood audience: “Curse of the Golden Flower” (2006). The correct title is above, but it’s long. I think “Snow Flower” or “The Secret Fan” would have been sufficient.
I went to see this film because it contains four things that interest me: Chinese History, Current Chinese Life, Women, and a Beautiful Korean Actress. Yes, the film stars Gianna Jun, 전지현: star of “My Sassy Girl” (2001), who despite being born in 1981, can still somehow convincingly play a High School student! It also stars Bingbing Li, 李冰冰, born in 1973, looking a little bit mature as a High School student. However, I won’t deny that both women are beautiful.
The film is based on a book of the same name. Both tell the story of 2 women in 19th century China that form a lifelong friendship. The film differs in one major aspect. It was an ambitious choice by the screenwriters, producers, and director to include an additional parallel storyline, taking place in present day Shanghai. As a result, the 2 lead actresses play dual roles in different time periods. While both of them handle this challenge with ease, the film’s editor clearly has trouble linking both stories. The screen fades to black dozens of times in this movie. It would have been nice to see more shots lead into each other.
The 19th century story is also far more interesting and dramatic than the modern-day tale, which is essentially a TV soap opera. (One of the protagonists ends up in a coma from a car crash in the opening scene. This acts as a catalyst to bring them back together, so the other protagonist can cry, reminisce, and fill in all of the plot holes with narration. If this accident had happened later in the film, I might have felt more empathy, since by then we start to know the characters).
Halfway through the film, I started to suspect that Gianna’s voice had been dubbed over by another voice actress. Her Mandarin sounded too much like a native speaker, and the audio quality/background noise even seemed to change sometimes when she spoke. I wonder if viewers who don’t speak Mandarin will notice this as well? It’s a surprising fault for a movie of this size, but Mandarin isn’t an easy language to learn rapidly before a film. Gianna does have one scene where she speaks in Korean with her character’s father in the modern story, and it is an acting gem. Both she and Li Bingbing excel at conveying emotion through their eyes, subtle movements, gestures, posture, and facial expressions. The child actors in the film are also quite engaging, though they have little screen time.
Overall, the quality of the film is very inconsistent, with some scenes being quite artistic and others feeling very unnatural. This is reflected mostly in the shot composition, dialogue, and staging of the actors. The plots of both stories become too similar, and the original story doesn’t adapt well to modern Shanghai. It makes you wish you could see these 2 talented actresses in a less jumbled and melodramatic story. And from what I heard of audience reactions: the book is better than the film. Seeing this film on the big screen isn’t necessary; rent it if you’re still interested.
SPOILER ALERT: This is another 2011 summer movie with a memorable surprise cameo by Hugh Jackman. In this film, the lucky Wolverine gets to kiss Gianna Jun, and also attempts to sing in Mandarin!
Our 5th rabito video has been uploaded during the same week as the release of the final Harry Potter film. (H.P. opens tomorrow here in North America). This is not by accident. Clearly, the filmmakers want to take advantage of our video’s success to help promote their film. (I’m joking, of course).
The idea of rabito entertaining a group of children was something that came to me after seeing pictures the designer had taken. They were photos of children holding the rabito case at an Art and Design exhibition, where rabito seemed to be the most kid-friendly item. This story concept developed into a magic show, since that seemed like a natural setting for a rabbit-shaped phone case. I was particularly excited to make this video, because whenever I pitched rabito stories to other people, this one always generated the most interest. But filming it wasn’t easy.
On February 27th, 2011, our lead Actress: Marcia Yu, performed a magic show in front of 6 children. Not only did she have to maintain their attention, but she also had to elicit certain expressions and reactions that we needed for the video. Sadly, I have zero footage of the magic she learned to perform, since I had to capture the children’s reactions. But when you see how happy and captivated each child looks, remember that Marcia was responsible for giving them such a fantastic show.
There was about 40 minutes of footage that had to be edited down to under 2 minutes. For me, this process was like putting together a puzzle: trying as many different options as possible to see what fits together best. I’m grateful to Michael Wilson, for composing a beautiful score within an incredibly short time frame. I’d also like to thank the Yu Family, Joanna Lui, and everyone who participated in the making of this video. If by chance the final Harry Potter film causes you to feel depressed, then I hope our magic-themed video will help your smile return. : )
Yesterday I watched Transformers: Dark of the Moon in 3D. They actually used 3D well in several quick shots (but that’s about 2 minutes in total out of 2.5 hours). So overall, I don’t think seeing it in IMAX or in 3D is really worth it. Save your money. The movie was more fun than I expected, and I actually liked it better than the first 2 Transformer movies. Here’s why:
In the previous films, whenever the machines transform, it was usually done in tight close-up shots, often with the camera moving around the moving parts. This made me confused and dizzy. In this film, finally I could see what was going on. Apparently, those vehicles are the ones turning into the “autobots.” I also realized that you shouldn’t trust “Decepticons” because they frequently deceive everyone else. Optimus Prime is kind of like the primary optimum leader/robot/hero. Basically, the entire story is embedded in everyone’s names (except for Dutch, because he is actually German. But “German” wouldn’t make a good name, I guess).
Megan Fox was not in this film, and I didn’t really miss her. Sam has a new girlfriend. Her name is “Carly”. Coincidentally, she likes cars. That’s convenient for the filmmakers AND the characters! John Malkovich has fun with his new role. And then there’s Ken Jeong playing a weird Chinese guy. I think Michael Bay and the film’s Producers watched “The Hangover”, “Even Stevens”, guys wearing flight suits on Youtube, “Godzilla”, “The Matrix Revolutions” and his first 2 Transformers films to decide casting, action sequences, and film’s plot. You’ve actually already seen half of this movie.
Former President John F. Kennedy appears in this film too. He’s in 2 action movies this summer (this film and X-Men: First Class).
While the previous Transformers movies seemed like US army/navy/airforce promotional material mixed with car ads and giant robots, this film…um…was exactly the same. However, I feel it took the filmmakers 3 movies to finally achieve the right balance. The film isn’t perfect: it’s still too long, predictable, and sometimes boring. But a good chunk in the middle is actually quite entertaining.
If you love films as much as I do, then you’ll be able to enjoy this film almost entirely from its fantastic sound design. Kudos to Erik Aadahl and his sound team. They deserve more credit for their work.
Before filming a commercial for the rabitoTM iPhone case (designed by Mina Kwag) for rabito Co., Ltd., we asked 6 children to re-design the rabito logo. It was a chance for them to express their creativity and for us to learn. They did such a great job that we wanted to share their work with this video.
Featuring Artwork by: Tyler Chei, Chloe Chei, Samantha Pang, Nathan Pang, Serena Chi, and Nicholas Chi.
Special Thanks to: Marcia Yu, Joanna Lui, Lily Yu, Ling Yu Xiu Zhong, and Katharine Qu.
Video and Music Produced by Andrew Zeller
Visit heyrabito.com for more rabito designs, products, info, and artwork.