AMD ALLIANCE CONTEST

Grand Prize: $10,000 USD

Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) is a medical condition which usually affects older adults that results in a loss of vision in the center of the visual field (the macula) because of damage to the retina. With our video, we took an atypical approach to promoting awareness about it. Rather than TALKING about the condition, we thought it would be better for you to see for yourself what it may be like to have AMD. Based on our research into the subject, we tried to depict it as best as we could.

The results of the contest will be announced towards the end of March! So wish us luck! Spread the video, as all your views count!

Thanks

Regards, Vlad and Prasun

FYSHNATION Contest Entry

The theme of this competition, held by eyewear designer/company FyshUK, was “R U FYSHWORTHY?.” They wanted to see how “fyshworthy” people were, and how well they showed it! I figured, with all of my hobbies, I should have a pretty good chance at this contest!

My friend Prasun helped me A LOT in making this video. I couldn’t exactly film myself doing all those things, so I asked him to help out. We picked a good warm weekend, and started our journey around the city getting a whole bunch of different shots! It turned out great, and we definitely got better shots than we expected to at first! I couldn’t have done it without him!

I ended up having almost 2 hours of footage to edit down into a 1 minute clip. Not the easiest job…not the most fun either! Editing is the most frustrating part of filmaking, but it’s at the same time the most rewarding since you mold the final product into a medium that viewers can enjoy! Right towards the end of the editing I always get overly excited, and impatient… an hour or so to render…and hour to upload…20 minutes to go online…ahhhh I JUST WANNA SHOW EVERYONE ALREADY! haha… but I’m getting used to the waiting times after making so many videos! Still get really excited to show people though! I can’t even imagine the patience directors like Aronofsky and Cameron have in making their films. I wouldn’t be able to handle the wait in making the movie, I’d just want people to watch it already!

Well, enough ranting! The contest went over pretty well. There weren’t that many contestants that entered, only about 20+ videos. Our video won the grand prize of $5000 with this contest (+ a pair of fysh frames).

Thank you FYSHNATION!

The  Shimanami Kaido cycling route is considered one of the most beautiful cycling routes in the world! They are quite right when describing this!

Here are some panoramic photos I took on the trip:

Tokyo is any cyclists dream! Having a fixie there would have been awesome!

Here’s a gallery of some of my Tokyo adventuring:

FINALLY!!! It is done! As soon as I found out that Smule, the company that made the Ocarina app for the iPhone, was holding a contest I knew I wanted to do a full ‘orchestral’ version of this song as an entry. Smule team decided that my video was worthy, and I was selected as one of the 10 Final winners to get $1000!

So, the repertoire includes my Electric piano, which does ‘strings’ sound as well. My classical guitar was used for the rhythm, and my Chinese pipa was used for the solo. iPhone was used for the ‘flute solo.’ ^_^

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD SHEET MUSIC/TAB [gp4]
(You need TuxGuitar to open the above gp4 tab file.)
CLICK HERE TO VIEW OCARINA SCORE
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD MP3 [196kbps]

Download (PDF, 26.79KB)

Filmed: Oct 31st, 2008

Cast: Calvin C., Aaron C., BJ C., Enock K.

Equipment used: Canon HV20, yellow bicycle helmet

Music: “Feather” by Nujabes ft. Cise Starr & Akin

One night we were planning to have a breakdance session on campus and I thought it would be a good opportunity to bring the camera out and do some shooting. Before I had some visions/ideas on different shots I could try for different moves and style so I thought this would be a good time to experiment. This really wasn’t a serious project at all, I just brought my camera, did about 7 minutes of filming, then got bored and put the camera down cause I wanted to practice myself. Everytime someone used my camera they were like “why is this so zoomed in?”, so there went the idea of someone filming me! haha. That’s okay. Hope you guys enjoy this, I didn’t really put that much time into it, was just something fun I decided to put together over the weekend.

March 18,2010: Rest in Peace – Seba Jun (Nujabes) …

For those of you who have been blessed enough to have known Nujabes music, you will be saddened by the news of his recent fatal car accident! The world has lost a truly great musician, but his legacy will live on forever through his music! All of us here, just want to say “Thank You”, for inspiring us in so many ways! This video is just one example, and there will be more to come, as a tribute to his work!

Experience Downtown Saskatoon Contest Entry

Filmed: August 2008

Cast: Vladimir Y, Sera Sheppard

Equipment used: Canon HV20

This was another entry into the “Experience Downtown Saskatoon” contest. I made a total of three! I thought it would be a really funny idea to show an accordion player making exaggerated amounts of money on the streets of Saskatoon…surely this shows the “prosperity” of a city when people throw credit cards at street musicians! hahah

Hope you enjoy my comedy as much as I do…

Experience Downtown Saskatoon Contest Entry

Filmed: August 2008

Cast: Calvin Chung, Aaron Cruz, Jimmy Chanthaseng, Vladimir Yatsina, Adam Brown, Sera Sheppard, Jack Morphy, Aaron Mravnik

Equipment used: Canon HV20

Music:[1] “Bedtime” by Hace Soul

Experience Downtown Saskatoon Contest Entry

Filmed: August 2008

Cast: Jack Morphy, Aaron Mravnik

Equipment used: Canon HV20

Inspired by the same skit by Smosh on YouTube, I wanted to make my own version of the clip with some Saskatoon flavour. It was pretty fun to do, mainly for the looks people were giving us haha! This beach is right down from a walkway in our downtown park = lots of foot traffic! I can only imagine what they must have thought we were filming …

Filmed: March 2008

Cast: Calvin Chung, Aaron Cruz, Nima Mirakhur, Sera Sheppard

Equipment used: Canon HV20, however, edited in 480p due to having a weak computer

Music: “Work It Out” by RJD2 ; “D.A.N.C.E.” by Justice ; “Holy Toledo” by RJD2

Currently, this is the video that I am most proud of in my repertoire. It was the one video which I felt I had the most creative/artistic freedom with. Early in the year the USSU (University of Saskatchewan Students Union) advertised that they were going to hold a film festival, however, they did not specify any category or theme which meant that we could pretty much do anything we wanted.

Now, starting with a blank slate is hard. There are too many possibilities to choose from. I decided to approach it first by keeping my ‘resources’ in mind. Having many connections with breakdancers I decided to get Aaron and Calvin involved in the video. A breakdance battle was to ensue, however, there needed to be a purpose to this mindless ‘violence’. What would these two young gentlemen be fighting for or over?

Lady luck was on our side, because two weeks before the film festival we had a ‘midterm break.’ A week off of school meant to give us time to prepare for upcoming midterm exams. How much of my midterm break I spent on studying is very questionable. That is irrelevant. haha T_T. This is when the idea for “Midterm Break” came up. It was the perfect pun. When I asked my friend Mike to give ideas on “What students fight over?” he gave an answer of ‘study rooms.’

And so…our story unfolds. One gregarious student begins his quest for a quiet, personal space in which to get his study on…

Filmed: January 2008

Cast: Adrienne Jacques

Equipment used: Canon HV20, longboard, sheep wool string

Music:Background audio recorded/played by myself

The bank ING Direct held a contest exclusive to Canada back in December 2007. They were trying to find the “Great Canadian Superstar Saver” and the grand prize was $10,000. Competition was pretty fierce, as there were many very funny and original ideas that people came up with on the topic of ‘saving money.’ My personal favourite was the guy that had his girlfriend shave his back hair, which he then stuffed into his pillow to make for more comfortable sleeping.

My entries did not make it to the Top 10 voting rounds. These are the two ideas I worked with, they were the easiest to do in a limited amount of time.

Entry into the ING DIRECT SUPER STAR SAVER SEARCH contest

Filmed: January 2008

Cast: Go Okada

Equipment used: Canon HV20, candles, rocks…

Music:Background audio recorded/played by myself

The bank ING Direct held a contest exclusive to Canada back in December 2007. They were trying to find the “Great Canadian Superstar Saver” and the grand prize was $10,000. Competition was pretty fierce, as there were many very funny and original ideas that people came up with on the topic of ‘saving money.’ My personal favourite was the guy that had his girlfriend shave his back hair, which he then stuffed into his pillow to make for more comfortable sleeping.

My entries did not make it to the Top 10 voting rounds. These are the two ideas I worked with, they were the easiest to do in a limited amount of time.