Executive Producers: Kylin TV, LA-18.
Producers: Tenaye Owens, Ming Lo
Written by: LA-18
Directed by: Ming Lo
Cast: Host, Juliette Zhou
Crew: Director of Photography, Ming Lo; Gaffer, Joe Wah; Grip, Eddie Magana ;Make-Up and Hair, Juliette Zhou; PA, Sarah Kim Jaquitch.
Edited by: Eric Koyanagi, Ming Lo
Graphics by: Diego Taracena
The Project. Kylin TV is service that allows you to download original Asian television programs. LA-18, working with Kylin TV, is offering the service, and wanted to do a commercial announcing the service.
The Creative Challenge. The format of the commercial was straightforward. I was responsible for shooting the portion where Juliette, the host, explains the service. For those of you not familiar with her, Juliette has a daily talk show called LA Living that airs on Channel 18 at 5:30 PM. She’s quite well-known in the Chinese speaking community. Kylin TV provided the video footage from the films, and LA-18 did the final editing and the graphics.
Behind the Scenes. I have to thank my friend Julian Chan, who lent me his great penthouse apartment for shoot. He’s also the owner of the nice 42-inch television that you see in the spot.
– Cinematography. I actually DP’d the shoot myself. I used a combination of tungsten arri’s with gels to light Juliette, and kinos to light the background. Setting the temperature to 5500K (daylight), gives everything the slightly bluish, clean look.
– Casting. Juliette Zhuo as host was a given, but I just have to say how great she is. You can go over what she needs to say minutes before you shoot, and she’ll just get up an improv it without a problem. Guess it comes from years of being on television, but she’s really great to work with.
– The Result. I thought the material we shot worked well, and the shoot was fairly smooth, didn’t take a full day. I even had some time to tinker with an odd dolly contraption offered by the rental house. It didn’t work very well, which is why you don’t see a dolly shot. The close up of the Kylin TV box was done on sticks. That afternoon, I also managed to squeeze in some footage for a Wal-mart commercial I was shooting for LA-18.
The Team. Thanks go out on this one to Julian Chan, as mentioned, for the location; to Joe Wah, Eddie Magana and Alex Salmona (sound), my go-to crew. And to Juliette Zhuo, of course, who’s always a pleasure to work with.
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