Chung Dha Lam

Best cinematograph and editing award!!!

2009-11-09T14:09:00.005+01:00

The short movie Art of Flying won the award for best Cinematography and Film editing at the very first 48 hours film project in Hong Kong. Both cinematography and editing were done by Chung Dha, who actually went to the 48 hours network meeting just to do some networking and see what the 48 hours project is all about and now ended up winning both cinematography and editing. Also this is the very first short movie Chung Dha have ever filmed.

Congratulations and thanks to the team ( which include Chung Dha, Quentin Kwong, Jessica Wiklund, Katarina Ivarssen , Maggie Hou, David K C Wong, Jeff Chan and Connie Yeung), could not have done it without them and thanks for Arne Venema who actually hooked Chung Dha up with this team.

There were teams with probably people with way more filming experience than our team and using way better equipment or actually have a full film crew.
While our team only have Chung Dha as most experience of filming and acted as a single person filmcrew, cause Chung Dha actually have been filming events with his Canon EOS 500D, also assisted filming for Alan Leung and have actually assisted few films and learned allot from them. We were using the Canon EOS 500D with a custom picture styling which made the film already have great color grading which in post production we did not had to edit and change the coloring of each scene. Editing was on done a 4 year old HP tc4200 tablet pc with Sony Vegas Studio. With winning these award we could imply that better gear does not mean better looking movies.

For those who have not seen the movie yet watch here below.

48 hours movie project

2009-11-08T12:54:00.004+01:00

During the Halloween weekend on 30th October 2009 till 1st November 2009 Chung Dha helped out filming and more with a crew and made this short movie called the Art of flying, which successfully made within 48 hours and entered the contest. Only 11 out of the 15 teams made it in time.

The script was written by Katarina Ivarrsen and Jessica Wiklund. Leading role by Maggie Hou and David K C Wong. Side roles Jeff Chan, Quentin Kwong and Connie Yeung. Director of photography, editing, lighting, voice recording and more done by Chung Dha.

This version is the entry version which was made within 48 hours, in the coming week will work on a final cut with the material shot during the 48 hours.

Update: This short movie was awarded with best Cinematography and editing.

Perspective vector car

2009-11-03T22:10:00.002+01:00

First time I had to make a car from such an perspective but was pretty intersting to do. This was actually a small project where I had to make this illustration of a car draw with vectors. I pretty much learned that there are not really that much photo's or images of a bottom of cars. Luckly I have acces to press photo's of racing event and found few usefull pictures of the underside of those cards, but totally could not use them as back to draw the vector over. I basically only use the picture as reference and had to calculate or use my eye to get the shapes and sizes correct.

Heres is a view of all the vector lines that was drawn that makes out the illustrations you could see the wheels and underside use allot of line to make them realistic as possible. Also all the shines are loose oval. Basically all the skills from making hundreds of logo's were used to make this car realistic as possible and also make it gloss realistic as possible. What is great to have a vector is that I can easily change the car color and also resize it to tremendous sizes without loosing details. This illustration is made for Spotz Media Group.

Dreaming my death

2009-10-30T16:25:00.003+01:00

This morning I dreamed of my death, the dream was short as many of my predictive dreams which might happen. It was daytime on a roof terrace that I never have seen before, I sat there looking at buildings (which has a feeling that is was in America). All sudden someone say don't look over there and I did look. It was a old man in an apartment, standing behind the window. All sudden I saw some people rushing toward the terrace from that building and I started talking with a girl doing as if I was looking at and talking with this girl and not at the guy. But then a black guy walked to me and pointed his gun at me I turned my head away and he shot me in my ear and I fell down and closed my eyes and everything went black. And when I opened my eyes, I just woke up in my own apartment.

It is a myth that if you die in your dream you would really die. As I have died countless of times cause most dreams which are long dreams I have control over, when ever I realize that is it just a dream I want to wake up ASAP, I have a trick to do that just think of and cliff and just off of it. However this was the second time I was shot in my dreams, but this one was different from the first one which I knew the person holding the gun and also the surroundings.

However a dream of death alternative meaning is not death at all. Cause most dream explanation, is that death is meaning a new begin or a new life. Most things in dreams are opposites of life.

The girl who said don't look have short black hair but did not saw the face. The whole dream were no other Chinese people in it, except me and also there were no 3rd person view of myself which often happen in odd dreams. The second girl who I talked with got dark red hair which is bit curly and remembered the face for quite a while but forgot it now.

So either I have to avoid places like that or just go with the flow if destined it shall happen, if not then not.

Dai Fu Lou X Cotton Candy

2009-10-27T14:00:00.002+01:00

Dai Fu Lou x CottonCandy Plush!!! This plush is not for sale but is made to be printed on a tshirt, which will be showed on October 28th from 8pm @ Prologue on Cameron Rd 8, Tsim Tsa Tsui MTR exit B2.

I have been experimenting around with learning how to sew stuff and actually done quite allot making different things. I actually wanted to learn sewing stuff for a quite while cause I thought there might be something in it, cause I have been using allot of materials making packagings but sewing fabriques I might find new kinds of packaging. However sewing stuff also help making fashion, but also toys like plushes.

I am experimenting with plushes first cause these think often have difficult shapes which I can learn allot from. The matter of sewing things and how the fabrics reacts and bends and twist is quite interesting. However I still need to learn allot.

Halloween poster concept

2009-10-21T18:59:00.002+02:00

I am pretty pleased with this poster design showing all expects of halloween party while not portraying as a Horror movie poster or showing too much of a party animal. The poster had a kind of chiqueness to it so that the club or party does not looks like it was made by a cheap company but more on a profesional level.

From a distant you when you look at the poster you would see a green glowing Halloween pumpkin but while you come close you would see all the details and illustrations that make up this pumpkin. The illustrations with in the pumpkin shows what the party is all about showing several famous characters of horror movies like Dracula or most used costumes like PB bunny or MJ, but also few party elements as the turntable and more.

The background has a skull pattern which also give you an impression of that it is a wall or wallpaper and by addding blood stains the blood looks like it flew onto that wall. Giving a slight feel of horror, while overall view does not look like a horror movie.

I actually drew all this, the whole poster in Illustrator, so it could be resize or edited in any way compared to Photoshop. However I did use some brushed to help me out putting the blood stains on the background. I only used special Halloween typeface for the title which is important to look special, but kept a clean and most clear readable type face for the rest, so everything is readable. And to keep the special prize and also the free make up kind hidden if you look at the poster far away it is bit hidden by the blood stains, while will be clear when you walk up closer to it.

It frustates me a bit that the party organizer did not use my poster but gone for a very ugly design and I mean very ugly poster possible did by a student designer. Which lacks with graphics and compositions and design and might even be made by a non designer, but someone who just learned the program.

Dai Fu Lou Toon exhibit

2009-10-15T22:12:00.003+02:00

From 14th till 20th at Prologue on Cameron Rd 8 in Tsim Tsa Tsui, is an exhibition by Dai Fu Lou showing an impressive book designed by Jona Lam. This book includes a special design so you can see animated images inside the book, with out it using lenticulars or even electricity. The book contain a collection of Dai Fu Lou animations with a set about a stinky underpants that get washed dried and ironed. Also inside the book are information about the technique used to make this animation and explained how you can also design it yourself, to inspire designers to make use of this technique. The books are for sale and get them before they are gone, it is a truly special book to get inspired by or just to see the funny animations.

After this exhibition will be all about Toys with Dai Fu Lou again, all new toys from Dai Fu Lou which are hand made by Jona Lam and truly limited. Will show all plush toys of the characters of Dai Fu Lou which will be used later for stopmotion animations in the future.

Night before the opening I made this around 3 am and next day in the morning it was already gone the people pasted exactly the same posters back but then over my piece of artwork.

Dai Fu Lou Exhibit at Prologue!!!

2009-10-13T15:12:00.001+02:00

Tommorrow 14th October will be very first exhibition of Dai Fu Lou in Hong Kong @ Prologue in Tsim Tsa Tsui. It will be a 3 weeks exhibition with all 3 weeks having different themes. First week on opening will be all about animations with super special new designs and also a special animated book which is extraodinary special. Second week is all about toys will be showing plushes and vinyls which are limited sold and which are all hand made. Third and final week will be about clothing and accessories. Special tshirt will be made for this exhibit which are all limited sold and could be either bought at Prologue or be ordered online.

Crazy Jogging Adventure/ Got lost in HK

2009-10-12T23:50:00.004+02:00

Just came back from craziest jogging adventure ever!!! Original plan was to go run from Mong Kok to Tai Kok Tsui and run around the park. But then just ran with the flow came out at Kowloon and pretty fast went to Tsim Sha Tsui and found out that Hung Hom is like just few streets away and then ran to Ngau Tau Kok, but from there I had planned to run to Mong Kok , but then got lost and came out at Daimond hill and even got to Raibow. Then use the mountains to guide me to Kowloon city and finally found Boundary street and ran to Prince Edwards and then went finally back to Mong Kok. Damn I donno how much KM I had made but pretty much ran like a marathon. I am now feeling that HK is much smaller than I had thought. Just placed the route on Google maps and in total it is about 17,57KM.

There are actual not allot of signs in Hong Kong that would like say where you are or actually show a map of the city. This is majorly annoying and also make it easy to get lost, you can only try to find your way to search for a highway which does got sign saying which way to which city. But I rather see maps of the city hanging around the city so people can easily go where they want with out asking people or having to carry a map by them self. In the Netherlands I can easily find my way cause I there are enough signs and maps around that I can easily find my way back this way pretty much first time I really got lost cause I went to a place that I have never been before and had no one to guide me, luckily still managed to get home.

Next run I will document it with some pictures. I am now pretty sure I could walk from Kowloon or Mong Kok to Shatin. Will show that if you have no money to get on any public transport and if you phone is dead, that you still can cross the Lion Rock Mountain to get home.

Chung Dha @ International Original Design Fair

2009-09-21T10:15:00.003+02:00

Last weekend 18-20 September Chung Dha had a booth at the International Original Design Fair at Shenzhen China. However we've gotten this booth on a very short notice while we were already prepairing stuff for next month exhibitions so had not much to show.

It was the very first booth at a fair for Chung Dha and we actually choose to use this booth with few other designers instead of using it all for Chung Dha. The booth was shared with Cotton Candy from Prologue and DimSum who is an illustrator and Dai Fu Lou the other side of Jona Lam.

The fair is a great promotion and given away allot of business cards plus stickers and for sure know that we had allot of people viewing our works and also gotten some interest.

For sure also learned a few things cause one very sad thing happened is that the small Dai Fu Lou hand made character got stolen even though he was ugly. And also need to write down what they can take and what not people think to fast that things are for free.

At least we have shown our works at China and done some good publicity and made few interesting contacts. And hope to see you all at our next exhibit @ Prologue in TST Hong Kong on Cameron Roar exit C2 on 14 October.

Maggie Hou Live @ Racks

2009-09-04T13:12:00.003+02:00

Here is an uncut vid that I made at Maggie Hou live performance at Racks, I was literally lying on the ground to film this. I just found this great angle to vid plus I did not wanted to get in the way of the official guys who were filming it so I got down on the ground behind the pool table. Only to bad on of those guys had to get in the way of my at the end of the song. Would had been a great single shoot vid if not for that. Got allot of shots though but not really into editing stuff at the moment that I filmed for nothing, unless I know I can make it into something very special or get paid for it.

IDS Summer Street Dance Showcase

2009-08-27T05:21:00.002+02:00

Sunday August 23 I went to Stanley first time and also very first time be able to film same performance twice. The clip above shows a crew called 2Evolva who has the opening act of the dance show also they are wearing shirts that are designed and sponsored by Prologue Workshop. I was invited by a friend and also co owner of Prologue Workshop, to help out filming this event. Was a great experience and learned allot cause it is very first dance show I filmed and in theater. Editing this video was quite fun cause it is also a very first time I edit something that would had look like that it was filmed by multiple camera's. Also funny was I filmed more different angles compared to the official videotographer and also I had a HD cam while he just used a Ricoh pocket camera to film the event. While first thought he was using Nikon cam to film but he just takes pictures once in a while with that.

Hope to shoot more vids like this and sure was great turn out. Also will edit few other crew that I also filmed, but I did not film every crew cause that would had been allot plus allot of editing to do. I also tried out photographing in the theater but found a problem when using flash somehow everyone gets red eyes while anti red eye is on, but the red eyes are not red but green, not sure what up with that. But just had to used super high ISO plus having the speed around 200 cause the dancers really moves very fast, to be able to good pictures of them. Luckly Canon got great noise reduction build in so picture still very good. Also pretty great I had bought a battery grip so I totally did not had to change the batteries, making able not to miss much. However had to change my lenses way too often I think I need to get a Sigma 18-200 soon!

Dai Fu Lou @ Esprit friends

2009-08-26T20:03:00.003+02:00

Saturday 22 August 2009 Dai Fu Lou had an interview at Esprit Friends and talked about a serious subject what is friends. Do you really have to know everything about the other person to be friends with. Or just knowing and feeling of a friendship is enough. Everyday you can make a new friend without knowing them at all, which might be better then if you knew all the information about them instead. Friends could be friend however between all of them there lies also people who tries to mislead you or people trying to be your friend to get something from you. Always make clear the difference between a friend and business, both can't happen at the same time. Jona talked about his past experience how he got hurt by a friend he trusted and came to Hong Kong with fully having trust in their friendship, having later known that he had a hidden 3 year plan for Jona with out him knowing it. Also in talked about how Jona and Alan met in Hong Kong and from totally not knowing about each other and still able to become friends and setup Dai Fu Lou. Watch the interview and vote for use here.

Please support Dai Fu Lou and vote for us, so Dai Fu Lou and exist and do more exhibition and finance our business. Also if we win we would like to give a shirt away to one of the voters, tell us if you have voted and tell friends, family and others to help voting.

Wing Liu Photographer

2009-08-14T05:23:00.004+02:00

7th August at Camron Road, Tsim Sha Tsui there was an exhibition of a friend of mine, Wing Liu a Photographer who had lived in England, The Netherlands and now in Hong Kong. This exhibit shows pictures that he had made on the streets in Hong Kong and printed on shirts which are for sale. I filmed this event and made this clip above. I've met Wing while we were waiting for the shuttle busses at Tsim Sha Tsui to go to the Adidas House Party.
I also designed his logo which is a 80's styled design. The logo illustration is that of a DSLR camera which is build up from the name Wing. It is a simplistic logo without to much things added. Type face is not from a font but designed by me cause I wanted to have a W which would sit nicely with the i. Also some might think why not just write only Liu below while on top it already says Wing, the problem with that is that not everyone is that bright and knows that the illustration actually is saying Wing. And basically all logo should have a very readable section for the name and people can read the name fast without having to figure out what is says.

Yandy Birthday Party vid

2009-08-09T09:59:00.002+02:00

Last weekend was the birthday party of Yandy which I filmed and photographed, however the picture were taken with Yandy's Nikon. Also learned to love Canon camera more that way, but here is the video that I have made of the birthday party of Yandy. Also include a short fashion show showing few Dai Fu Lou shirts.

Credit Card Art: "Credit on color"

2009-08-03T18:34:00.007+02:00

This summer in the Graphic Design Museum in Breda (the Netherlands) there is large collection of creditcards, free cards, discount cards, gift cards, and credit look-a-like on display, all on one wall and placed on color. The graphic designs of creditscards are different all over the world but the shape, size and the rounded off corners have always stayed the same, and is easily to be recognized. Owning a creditcard is a certain kind or social status symbol, it means you can afford to spend more than you own and to be able to pay back later. It represent your taste, your world, your face and what you own. The cards are a big marketing tool that are used to connect with their clients.
This is a wonderfull rainbow display build up from only credit cards. This wonderfull piece of art is currently on display until the end of September 2009. However too bad I did not knew about this exhibition when I was in the Netherlands, mostly I was busy building my own exhibition for Dai Fu Lou.
Talking about creditcards graphic design, most that I know about them was that they came in colors which would show how much you can afford to spend, like silve, gold and platinum. However I myself do not own a creditcard, cause in the Netherlands you got pin cards to pay for things, but recently found allot of info about personalizing things you own and even creditcards. At the you add your own final touch to almost every product on the market like daimond sticker for your phone, a personal photo or graphic sticker over your laptop and even personal sticker for over your creditcards.

However instead of using stickers, credit card companies like MBNA allow you to choose cards based on personal things like choosing your personal football team or even your favorite charity and even help your charity with them. However there are also even more personal creditcards because there are also companies which allow you to upload any picture or photo's and they will be actually printed on your creditcard. So your creditcard could contain a photo of your family or love ones , your friends, favorite cartoon or celebrity or even your own company logo.

In Hong Kong it still missing with the Octopus cards, but might be cool to crossover Dai Fu Lou with Octopuscards. Maybe I should make some Dai Fu Lou graphics that could be printed on some stickersheets and past them on some Octopus cards. However no you don't see people holding the cards cause mostly if you place the card on a certain part of your bag you can whipe your bag over the sensor instead of having to pull out the whole card.

Credits to the Graphic Design Museum Breda for diplaying such a wonderfull art and the pictures of this exhibition.

Dai Fu Lou to Mars!!!

2009-07-28T18:22:00.002+02:00

Dai Fu Lou will be one of the several names that will be places on a microchip flying all the way to Mars.

Dai Fu Lou the Netherlands vid

2009-07-22T12:27:00.002+02:00

Here is a short vid of my trip back to the Netherlands filming the flight and few surroundings in the Netherlands, but also the exhibition that was held in Rotterdam. Mostly haven't done any real tourist stuff cause mostly cause I am from the Netherlands and have seen those places many times before. However still the Netherlands got allot of beautiful places and allot of open spaces. However I am now back in Hong Kong again and will be back in the Netherlands in January.

Solar Eclipse 22 July 2009 Hong Kong

2009-07-22T06:02:00.005+02:00

Yesterday night I heard there would be a Solar eclipse above Asia but too bad only partially seen in Hong Kong but still it would be the very first eclipse I would see plus take pictures of. I didn't even did any research on how to photograph it pretty much did what felt right and setup my camera Canon EOS 500D to the max fragma ( F45) and shutterspeed( 1/4000), used my Tamron 300-70mm tele lens and used my special mirror business card as a filter.

In the mids of all a big cloud came and made it bit more interesting however only thinnest layers of clouds made me to change the setting to be able to take this picture cause of different lightings. But also a big heavy cloud came through and made it impossible to take the eclipse. This is probably the highest point of the eclipse cause after it the sun became bigger again.

My very first eclipse super cool experience and learned myself how to take pictures of an eclipse. Also could not film it cause the 500D film function is not manual enough to be able to capture it. One thing is that the sun move pretty fast and gets out of frame very fast. Hope to see a total eclipse next time or a lunar eclipse. See the full photo set of the Eclipse here at my Flickr.

Dai Fu Lou exhibition in the Netherlands

2009-07-18T04:38:00.004+02:00

15th July there was a small exhibition held by Dai Fu Lou in Rotterdam at the Wah Fook Wui which is stated in the basement of the Ka Fook Mansion. Within the exhibition several things were presented like paintings, shirts, paper toys and photography.

Jona brought along different shirts he had designed and made in Hong Kong to show.

Also the newest design of paper toy figure were shown at this exhibition.

The figures were standing on top a special made light box painted with the Dai Fu Lou logo and pattern, inside the box you can see a lamp with buttons and business card placed.

As you can see the exhibit is mostly about Dai Fu Lou 00 and Dai Fu Lou 0 the two very first characters that were designed. For those who have missed the exhibition you can view the pictures on our Dai Fu Lou Flickr group or Facebook. Also we filmed the exhibition and soon release a clip of this happening plus traveling from Hong Kong to the Netherlands.

Dai Fu Lou Painting

2009-07-05T22:07:00.004+02:00

Here I am showing one of the works that will be displayed on the very first Dai Fu Lou exhibition actually also my very first painting on canvas and showing how I actually painted it. I actually sketch out the design with a pencil and then afterward painted it in using a light color paint first and dark colors after.

Please come and visit the exhibition on 15th July 2009 at Ka Fook Mansion in Rotterdam which is on the Graaf Florisstraat 45 in Rotterdam. Free entrance.

Back in NL

2009-07-03T16:31:00.003+02:00

Sorry that I haven't updated in a while, I have not been back in the Netherlands for a whole week and first few days really got a major jetlag was sleeping long hours. However I got allot of stuff to do in the Netherlands, my administration of my company plus doctors visits and allot things for Dai Fu Lou. I now managed to get a exhibition in Rotterdam that will be held on 15th of July and I am now busy prepairing allot of designs and paintings.

Here above you can see some pictures of the flight back to the Netherlands, I first went to the Hong Kong Airport and then flew to London Heathrow and had to stay there for a while to catch another plane to the Netherlands. When I was back home and later that night was a beautifull sunset.
Great to be back because it is really pretty here compared to HK where everything is gray. However will be going back to HK on 19th.

Dai Fu Lou Hair Cut

2009-06-29T01:25:00.000+02:00

Last week the day before Jona and Dai Fu Lou left to the Netherlands Jona had a hair cut session, with him actually cutting and trimming his own hair. He wanted to do this to actually leave behind some bad times and hair are kind of time cause it grow with time and can actually measure top of the hair is from last time Jona had a hair cut and below it growing from each day and rest are the days between. Also Jona wanted to do something bold and actually having few photographers capturing the moment and let them try experimenting with taking pictures. Watch the video below.

Special thanks for Alan who was holding the camera and directing it, Elden Cheung and Yandy Yot who were photographing this moment.
To see more pictures visit Elden Cheung fotop album here.
Also visit Yandy Yot album at Facebook here.

June 12th Pimpin Ain't Easy

2009-06-22T02:18:00.003+02:00

Here is a new Event Video I made documenting Pimpin Ain't Easy on June 12th with DJ Enso, DJ Drafus and DJ Kazey @ CLIQ. Music is live recording during the event. Cinematography, editing and directing is all done by myself, filmed this event with my Canon EOS 500D with 50mm f1.8 lens. It was pretty hard to capture the people dancing cause the lighting in CLIQ is not really that great to film the dance area, cause they don't have an overall lighting but they use 4 spots that rotates around pretty fast, which in result came out to be able to see some people in short flashes. However sometimes there are lucky moments when the light would cross certain places making one area lighten up enough for me to film. Mostly the DJ area got enough lighting to film the DJ, but I think I should carry an extra light next time when I video at ClIQ to film the crowd. Couldn't really film the moment when the guys stole Enso shoe and threw it around only when the shoe landed in a well lighted area. See you guys at the next events!

Also if you like the video, I am for hire to film at and/or take photo's at an Event.

Cycling in Hong Kong

2009-06-07T20:03:00.003+02:00

Sunday June 7th I treated myself to a cycling tour from Tai Po to Sha Tin and back. First thing that bothered me was that the bike I got had old shifters plus the front brake is on the right and rear brake on the left which is pretty much the opposite side of my normal bikes. But for the rest I pretty much easily adapted to it. Also seem the Hong Kong government anticipate that there would be allot of accident cause by the cyclist. Mostly cause by people who don't know how to cycle or actually swivel the road too much, pretty much of the people can't ride a straight line cause they ride extremely slow you can even run faster then some. The swivel pretty much like drunks and people trying to learn to cycle on roads with high cyclist traffic instead of a quiet still square.

The pictures are taken with my phone would not bear to do this with my new camera plus too much accidents happen and allot of the roads are very busy even though they are very wide there are allot of cyclist and allot of them are pretty slow.

This was my bike for the day a Trinx which I personally never have heard of before, but pretty much isn't a Trek 1500 Alu Carbon Frame which I have in the Netherlands. It cost me 50HKD to rent it for the day, however rather be riding on this because all the MTB they rented were extreme small I think the frame sizes are children sizes. And actually saw allot of people riding bike with wrong height and wrong sizes, too many large people on small kiddies bikes. But this bike actually is perfect fit for met a 52cm size, but the rear tire wasn't really pumped hard enough for my taste and the gear levers were too loose cause it sometime shifter to other gears on it own.

This is actually first time I photographed myself while cycling and now pretty much know why people look at me when I cycle without a helmet, my hair become like the haircut of Elvis and would have looked even more with me wearing sunglasses. Next time I want to rider to Tai Mei Tuk cause the Road to Sha Tin got way to much people riding around very slow. And if I get back the Netherlands I am going to try a video of me cycling around the track. I am sure I can make an interesting video with all the equipments I got.