Slanted Vision at Binger Filmlab

On 25 May 2010 there was panel discussion about the slanted vision of Asians with in the media and film, cause many Asians are shown with stereotypes and not as normal citizens. Also that many Dutch people do not know that their background is actually Asians. You can view more videos of the panel discussion here.

Inspired: Iron Baby?!?!

Yes Iron Baby however this is an independent fan parody directed by Patrick Boivin and the Iron baby suit by Strob. And if you don't know Patrick Boivin he is one extraordinary stop-motion animator, also well know for his different Youtube movies he had made, one of them is the Ironman vs Bruce Lee. If you want to see more work from Patrick Boivin visit his Youtube Channel here.

Design to look cheap, sells more!?!

It might sound weird but there are companies out there who are going to companies to redesign their image, but in a whole other purpose then before. Instead of re-branding to look like a professional company who have years of experience and provide top quality they want to do the opposite.

However the question is why are they doing it? Especially with the financial crisis you might think it would be better to make your company to look more trust worthy of visiting or hire. However the problem with a high classy trustworthy look is that you could ask higher prices and also with the image of being expensive to scare off the majority of possible clients. People can go to a website and see "wow this looks too expensive" and just search for something more in their pricerange without even asking for a quote or looking at the prices.

So by looking cheap you can sell more? It depends on many factors and the targeted markets or the products you want to sell. It especially work on products that people rather buy cause of price difference compared to the famous names. Basically it comes to two shops who sells the same but one just feels like the products are cheaper while they are actually priced the same.

So can I let my small nephew do the design so it looks cheap? Only if he ever studied design, but also cheap look have many levels but also you could look professional but cheap which you have to find a designer who know what he is doing. Also the necessary research need to be done to for making such a logo. A logo is a medium to tell a story about your company in just one glimpse and if the design is right you can attract more customers, while giving your customers a less lighter feel in there pockets.

So how do I know if I look too expensive? Just do research and interview people looking at logo's while also showing different kind of logo's, asking question which one you would like go and buy things and why? And also give a number which go first, second and so on. However you should not add too famous logo's within the list but keep the list within the close competitors of your company, cause famous logo's mislead your results cause people would choose a famous brand easily to others.

Allot of people think design is just draw up a design and it ok, think just brainstorm to get better ideas, but in fact to have the best design you have to do your research and know your market.

Inspired: Meet the elements

Here is an interesting video about the element, but also done with nice graphic animations to build up this video.

Credit for Boingboing.

Discussion with Arierang on 22 may 2010

After the screening of A brand new life which is a story about a little girl left behind at an orphanage by her father. However the discussion did first start trying to talk about the movie but soon changed into talking about the Korean culture and the adoptions and orphans. I had filmed the whole discussion and you will be able to see it here below however the language is in Dutch with here and there some English.



Arierang is a organisation for Korean adopted children or people in Holland. They organize events and discussions like these, but also parties where just people who were Korean orphans could gather and talk or meet each other. For more information about Arierang visit their website www.arierang.nl

Cinemasia 22 May 2010

Here is a compilation of the day, it was a bright and sunny day and allot of people were at the park. However the Cinemasia was still going on and this time there was a culture bazaar busy, where there were stands with Asian products and food. Also many movies played but most interesting one was A brand new life which had a discussion afterwards with members of Arierang, however the discussion changed from talking about the movie to talking about orphans and adoptions in Korea. Late at night there was an Asian Party which also is the opening party.

I also went and watch few movies the best one of the day what I saw was Dreamhome. However I was already at the first screening but I did not saw it cause I was busy trying to upload the opening. From the first I just laugh at the gore and blood, cause it just over the top well done special effects. However you do feel sympathy for the main character played by Josie Ho and find her more a hero of the movie then the bad guy.

The worst movie had to be Three narrow gates, mostly it was shot horrible and the story was too slow of a pace and just the camera work was so horrible that I left somewhere in the middle. It was not only the camera work it was also that they were trying to show locations to be other locations. Like saying we are in China but instead it was just Lamma Island which is still in Hong Kong. Plus it was a major Hong Kong cliche movie, cause the theme and story is majorly overused in Hong Kong and not only movies but also the drama series there.

I also saw A brand new life, however the story is not bad the camera works are ok. But mainly waiting for a climax to happen or a powerful shot to really evoke an emotion in the audience, but it never came. I would had want to see some of the scenes shot differently to able to evoke more emotions. Especially when the girl tried to bury herself, I would had evoke more that it really looked that she died there, but then shock people to jump up, instead of just rubbing of the dirt from her face cause it did not made the scene had much impact.

Tuesday I will be at the Slanted vision where several Dutch Asian artist will talk about the stereotyping of Asian actors in Holland or Europe. Cause even I can see on TV that allot of Asians are shown as Kung Fu fighers and always work at a restaurant as a Chinese cook. I would like that to be changed and also see more Asians on the Dutch television.

Pacman Google

Todays is 22nd of may the birthday of one of the most know retro games Pacman and Google specially changed their front page for them. The logo is now an actual flash game of pacman! Go to www.google.com and play the game! Cause by tommorrow it will be gone. If you want to know more about Pacman and you missed out on that generation or want to know more about Pacman, here is a wiki page that can fill you in on the information. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pac-Man .

Compilation of day one of Cinemasia

Here is a compilation of what happened on the opening day of Cinemasa in the Ketelhuis in Amsterdam. For more information about Cinemasia visit there website on www.cinemasia.nl .

Opening Cinemasia!!!

20 may 2010 I was helping out at the Cinemasia Film Festival 2010 in the Ketelhuis in Amsterdam as a Photographer slash Cinematographer. It was funny cause I knew Conroy and Josie were coming cause they are showing Dreamhome at the opening, too bad Josie couldn't come. However pretty interesting to meet Conroy in Amsterdam, also funny was calling Derrick on his phone. However back to Cinemasia, it was pretty hectic but there were quite allot of interesting people. Miss China Europe Simwayn, Terence Scheurs, Paul Rigter and one guy I dont remember his name but he does allot of Chinese acting on the Dutch television and commercial alway doing acting as a typical Chinese. Dutch TV still got allot of racial issues against Asians. But here is the opening of the night with Terence Scheurs, Paul Rigter and Doris Yeung.

When the film started I went downstairs to try and upload this opening shot however it took so long and somehow didn't really managed to upload there. However directly after a few minutes into the movie 2 people left the cinema, cause of the first scene ( won't spoil it and say what they saw). However I think in total there were about 6 people who left and few looked pretty disgusted of what they saw. However the people who have managed to stay till the end they found it a great movie, especially the story or meaning behind it. They also could kinda find them self in the main character and actually want her to get what she wants. However here is a Q&A with Conroy.

After the movie there was a small party and Susan Li was the lucky one who won the two tickets to Hong Kong. And here is a small thank you to Cinemasia by Susan Li who won by unlocking the Dreamhome with the keys.

I will be at the Ketelhuis on 22 and 30 of may, plus next time I would probably grab my tripod with my and also keep the light by hand at night cause it was pretty dark. Luckly with bit editing I could improve the lighting for the final compilation which I will make later.
If you want to know more about this event go to Cinemasia.nl

White and bright

I changed my blog to overall white while before it was much darker with a black background, however after a while I was finding it to look more negative looking design cause of the black. I donno why I had it black cause now all in white it a much fresher look and also made it more simplistic. Probably because my taste in 2008 was much different then now, especially what I had gone through in 2009 and now going back into design and posting more thing and videos of events that I am going to and also events that are happening in Holland.

One things is that I found there is not really a collective website in Holland that shows what kind of design events there are, they are all spread around. So from now one I will be trying to do a weekly post on what is happening this week in Holland and what are the most interesting places to be and where I possibly be too.

At the moment the most interesting happening is the Graphic Design Festival in Breda. Its from 8may till 30may there are allot of exhibitions around the city and many things to visit. I did missed allot of the important tours and event though but on the 25th there is seminar with several big designers talking about decoding design. Find more information on http://www.graphicdesignfestival.nl .

Cinemasia Filmfestival which is shown through the whole country of the Netherlands, but the main festival is held in Amsterdam at the Ketelhuis from the 20th till 30th. The opening film will be Dream Home with Josie Ho and Conroy as special guest on the 20th of May however it is an enclosed plus there are not tickets to the opening. However I will be there taking picture and filming as best as I can. Not sure if there have internet on location to upload fast footages and also hoping to use Canon Zoombroweser to see if I can edit it faster out than with other post editing programs.

Here is a trailer of the opening film the Dream Home.


I will be on the opening and then 22th and the closing day at the Ketelhuis in Amsterdam. For more information check out there website on Cinemasia.nl .

Next time I will do a video about the upcoming events, so you don't have to read this much text.

Coltman / Available

Here is an entry for Coltman International logo contest at DesignContest.net , the logo exist of a music note that is build up from the letters C and i, of the initials of Coltman International. I made it to have a metallic design with gradients instead of a flat color, because most music nowadays interact with electronics, and use red because it is a powerful strong color.

However I did not won the contest, so this design in available and if there is any interest in this logo please contact us.

Inspired: Street Fighter Legacy

The is one of the most awesome short film I ever seen! Extreme nice effects but the shots are done so good, this 3 minutes beats the hell out of all the street fighter movies even Van Damme. Only thing is a little bit overkill on the eyebrows.

'Street Fighter-Legacy' a Streetlight Films production, co-directed by Joey Ansah and Owen Trevor, produced by Jacqueline Quella and stars Jon Foo as Ryu and Christian Howard as Ken.

They also released a making off seen here below and there are more clips to find on their Youtube page.

Also they have released pictures on their Facebook page and they are awesome how much those look like the characters Ryu and Ken.
Credits to StreetLight Films for an awesome Short Fan Film.

Inspired DIY RIG

This is a homemade DIY rig made and designed by Erik and Jonathan Bergqvist. The shoulder rig is made and carpentered out of a big piece of wood. It also have a smart design for how to control the follow focus without moving your hands away from the bar, you just have to twist your bar to change the focus. You can view more detail of it on their website here. Also view how the rig was made in the video below.

DIY DSLR Wooden Shoulder Rig from Jonathan Clifford Bergqvist on Vimeo.

I am also thinking to build my own camera rig, however not out of wood. However the wood looks pretty special it does look a bit too heavy to carry around. I already got most material lying around and just bought a aluminum tube. I am going for a rig that looks like its professionally made but is so cheap that everybody can afford it.
Credits to Erik and Jonathan Bergqvist, Athanse media