The birds have attended "Mayad Academy 2011" in Singapore's Changi Village Hotel, hold by Mayad Studios, the international wedding video specialized production company. It was for 4 days and 3 nights. Well, the first night is just a registration and dinner though...
Notice the white bag is a hot stamp printed with the M in the middle, look closer... and the first picture with the signature of the creative director of Mayad Studios ;)
A lot of people attended this event, and to be honest, a lot of their works are, well, let just say that if we are really to compare with each other, I don't think I would even stand a chance to get just the last in line on itself. Their works are all very, very good. 'nuff said.
Really learned a lot from this workshop, we were taught from the techniques of shooting and to editing. There are even some special invited people to give some talks or Muslim weddings, and branding, and a few more stuffs. Also learned about storytelling, etc etc etc
1st & 2nd pictures is a STEADYCAM full set (with the vest too, really like a SWAT force team!), with LCD screens. I've personally tried wearing it on, and it really is heavy, but with all the strong support at the sides, the movements capture even when we running is still very, very smooth looking. You see videographers wearing full sets like these at soccer matches, go watch ESPN channel...
3rd picture is a slider, you just need to put at one end, and gently push it to the other end, and the footage will look like a tracking shot
4th picture is just a few stabilizers equipments from the participants.
5th picture is a portable crane, its actually a normal tripod, and the crane is being mounted on it. And it's easy to assemble too from what I see them doing.
Really a lof of ideas and techniques are shared, and it's definitely very useful to be applied for our future works. Was also taught about the equipment used, and they even had a short mini live demo of how Mayad Studios shoot a wedding!
Then there is a critique session where we can show our videos to the very creative director of Mayad Studios, well, for comments, obviously. We also exchanged some business cards with other participants and made friends with each other :D
The creative director of Mayad Studios giving comments/critiques to Lovebirds Video's works...
At the third day, we were divided into groups to had a small shoot for a competition. The group I was with actually won the first prize, and actually most of the shots in the video are not from mine anyway, is mostly from Yiewin Kang from Filming Art Cinematography, very popular cinematography company in Malaysia :p and the "best" thing is I didn't know that until when we added each other on facebook, and when I happen to saw his profile details then I only realized he's from Filming Arts Cinematography, and he is the director too... LOL...
We were also given t-shirts that beared Mayad Academy 2011 on the front, also received certificate of participation from Mayad Studios, and is really signed by the Mayad people on the spot as we witnessed it, instead of the typical "ready-printed" signatures.
The birds are now considering to use DSLRs for our future shoots... and is also looking for future potential partners to shoot videos together, instead of just doing everything all by myself for all these years.
I also hope to shoot Muslim & Indian weddings too... 1 Malaysia!!!!
