HADA LABO KOUJI ‘Bell Yu Tian’
A first time working with clients Hada Labo, with Astro as Agency & Production House Asia Tropical Films. We got off to a great start, as clients were pretty open with ideas & not overly picky as to how we shoot it, as long as it looks cinematic. They came to the right person then 😀 . ATF Producer Danial, roped in writer Howie, who helped tremendously in crafting the concepts for the 3 boards & script as well, all in mandarin! Once the ideas were approved, we locked the timings of the talent, & shot singer/songwriter Bell Yu Tian’s ad last. We told her story of her humble beginnings & what it took to overcome the challenges to eventually be where she is now. This commercial had a 2 week downtime from the others as Bell was a victim of Covid. So, recharged, we came back to shoot at 2 locations; Maveriq studios – as that 1 location had a living room we could set up & also a recording studio – & the 2nd at Jaotim KL – where Bell would have her performance. That location just provided so much down-to-earth texture, & it fit perfectly with who Bell really is. She sang her most famous song that resonated with our video & again, I wanted some unique camera moves of the camera creeping up the mic stand – we used the Periprobe lens – & for another scene of her writing her music during the daytime, we set up a ‘timelapse’ effect from day-to-night, without the whole ‘cartoony’ body movement by just moving lights on tracks, etc. Shot with Eric Yeong as DP, using his Mavo8k camera – anamorphic lenses, together with the Panasonic S1H as 2nd camera operated by yours truly. Color graded by relative newcomer Danny Gan, edited by Sasa & Onlined in-house ATF by Monster.