Bangkok - Part 4

And finally, some field work...

At the hotel lobby waiting for my ride

En route to the MSE Thai cooking school in Sukhumvit

As usual, I got up from sleep and headed straight for my walk at the Banjasiri park across the road from the hotel.
Had a hearty breakfast and strolled across the street where the trainer and some of the students were already waiting.
While nearly 80% of the people who attended this workshop are using only their smartphones to complete the job, I came prepared.
I was upbeat and looked forward to the chance to apply my videography skills at a Thai cooking school.
We have been briefed about the assignment and here are the requirements:

1. Do a script to capture the story.
2. Interview the key subject at the location.
3. Capture establishing shots.
4. Record B-rolls.
5. Edit the video.
6. Do a voice-over.
7. Do a "piece to camera".
8. Present the completed assignment with all the criterias given.

At 09:00 sharp, we rolled out towards mid-town. 
The destination was a cooking school at the Thong Lor district. Our van driver got lost and retraced his way to the actual address where the school was located.
My perception was an old wooden home teaching traditional Thai cooking. Just like the ones in Cambodia.
But this one caught me by surprise. It was a modern set-up with a real professional touch.
They have chef's equipment displayed at the main lobby of the school.
We were given a welcome drink and a briefing before the head of the school Chef Chumpol Jangprai gave a cooking demonstration. That was one of the main tasks and with my minimalist rig, I went to work on capturing my "B" roll before zeroing on the main event.

My video rig at work

Most of the guys have large tripods to stabilize their video capture. I only had a table top rig which proved to be very useful.
But I had to get very close to make the most out of my Canon EF-M 11-22mm lens and the EF-M 55-200mm zoom lens.
Both lenses worked wonders as I utilized them to capture the required footages for my assignment.

Experience counts...

We had very limited time to complete the field work.
To me, the highlight of the day was rigging up Chef Chumpol for an interview. I chose a good spot and worked on rigging him up with a lavalier microphone to pick up a decent audio for the required soundbites.
By lunch time, it was all over.
We went back to the hotel and worked on the final edit.
I had my Microsoft Surface 2 tablet and tried to edit the video. But to now avail.
And my years of experience in the field kicked-in. Frustrated but not given up at all, I went to the hotel's business centre and tried my luck with their computer.
By the time I got to a proper one, it was late in the afternoon.
Fortunately, there as an i-mac desktop on their business centre and I went to work right away editing the video.
I managed to trim everything in and submitted my first-cut.
The trainer rejected it and told me there was no voice-over. I had to redo the clip and was given a lavalier microphone and taught on how it's done on the Apple i-movie software.
So, I went back to re-work the video and at last, I got it right...

My submission was finally accepted and shown to the rest of the class. You can click on the YouTube link above to view the final cut.

All in a day's work

Made the cut!

With a tight deadline, some of the students were not able to submit their work on time.
My goal was to keep it simple and follow all the rules. 
I did not divert from my plan of telling a simple story using all the techniques that were taught earlier.
Later that day, out hosts treated us to a dinner in downtown Sukhumvit. I had some beers with the rest of the guys and thanked them for being such sporting people.
The remaining days of the workshop had focused on other aspects of videography and networking among the Asian News Network members.
For me, the Bangkok experience taught me some useful skills such as getting good audio, sticking to the rules and deadline.
Most important of all, be confident in getting a good story.
If there are more opportunities as such, I would never hesitate to sign-up...

Bangkok - Part 3

Getting ready for the big one...

It was day two at the workshop.
And as usual, I went on my walk before freshening-up for the morning session.
By noon, I was working on my interview capture and editing.
Still thinking that the lav mic is doing it's job, I went ahead getting footage for my assignment.
I was talking to a journalist from Vietnam and after we were done with the small talk, he suggested that I partner with him for the video interview.
I set my Xiaomi M4i on a special bracket and a tripod and got a few good clips based on some questions given for the assignment.
On the background, one dude from Bangladesh was doing his stuff. 
His voice was so loud, it reverberated across the ballroom area.
That was when I realized that the TRR mini jack did not work.
And rather than recording my voice over the video editing app on my smartphone, I chose to record it on a separate track and fit it as a music track over the footage. This one worked!

Anh, doing his thing at the interview session...

At this point, experience kicked-in and I applied everything I learned at the previous video workshop.

By late-noon, I handed up my project and waited for the videos to be shown and given comments by the trainer.

The video above, was my class project for the interview. This was the model for our field assignment on the third day of the workshop.

We were given tips on what to do and a set of simple instructions.

After-hours...

Knowing what to do and not panic by running around like a headless chicken, we did pretty okay.

Class was dismissed at 05:00pm and I headed back to the hotel to change.

My gig for the evening was to catch up with some of my Thai friends whom I haven't seen for seven years.

I made prior arrangements with my buddy Santi Senarat and Preeda Jamslipa to meet up around Sukhumvit Road.

The meeting was set at Terminal 21, a new shopping mall just one BTS station away from Soi 31.

With Preeda, my point man in Bangkok

My old buddies turned out in full force! What an honor!

The highly talented Khun Panja, a full-time engraver

Santi, whom I've known for many years

Khun Pichet and Moonless

I met Preeda at the BTS station and proceeded to have a beer with him.

Later, several guys turned up and among them, Khun Santi.

This is a man I respected for his knowledge and wisdom.

Later, I met Khun Theera, a very successful businessman who also hosted my previous visits to Bangkok.

After an absence of seven years, it was great to meet up with some familiar faces.

One of the most colourful characters was Khun Panja, an engraver.

He showed me samples of his work, which is amazing!

After spending time with the guys, it was time to head back to the hotel to catch some sleep before the big field assignment on the third day of the workshop...

Bangkok - Part 2

Starting the day with a walk...

The Banjasiri Park in Bangkok

My alarm went off at 05:00am. 
That was set to Malaysian time and of course, I an one hour ahead of time.
I got up, put on my walking gear and left the hotel. 
There's a park opposite Sukhumvit Soi 31. But it only opens at 05:00am. 
So, I walked up the road and went as far as three BTS Skytrain stations away and turned back.
By the time I got to the park, it was already opened. 
So, with an hour to burn before the cafe at the hotel opens for breakfast at 06:30, I walked the park.
I was surprised to see so many locals working out.

Almost done... 

After clocking-in about one hour on the pavement, it was time to head back to the hotel, load up on coffee and some breakfast.
When I was done, I got back to the room, my co-worker was still sleeping. 
Went to the shower, washed up the sweaty tee-shirt and cleaned up.
I was ready for the day ahead.

Class begins...

Day one of the ANN Multimedia workshop was an intro-session. 
We got to meet Mr DJ Clark, the trainer and Claudia, who assisted him throughout.
A couple of examples were shown and later, we were told to capture a short video of ourselves and present it.
Prior to this, I had training from En Azam Zainal, the executive producer (training) for StarTV who taught me and some co-workers on how to capture with a smartphone, edit and present.
So, my co-worker and I were the only people with experience on the floor.
I took my Xiaomi M4i and went to work immediately.
We were given some lavalier microphones on loan. 
But for mobile phones, the mic jack was not compatible. 
For microphones, the 3.5mm mini jack uses a TRRS input. This is an additional band on the jack to enable sound recording.
The lavalier mics that were handed to us were the traditional TRS mini jacks, so, the phone was unable to capture sound, instead, the external microphone on my Xiaomi M4i did the work. Lesson learnt, the hard way!

Meng, my co-worker at the ANN Multimedia workshop

DJ Clark from the China Daily's Multimedia Unit

The session being taped by The Nation TV

The Youtube video above, was my simple intro. Everyone in the class had to participate in the project.

After lunch, we were given time to do our projects.
I went ahead to capture a footage with the M4i's front-facing camera.
Managed to wing it and went straight away to the editing part and handed over my assignment to the trainer.
We sat through a bunch of intros and later looked at more examples of the China Daily's work before we wrapped up for the day.

At Central World after making a drop

The Erawan shrine was bombed a week earlier 

Bangkok is slowly recovering from a terror attack...

Tops food mart

My dinner

As soon as the class ended, I went back to my room, changed into my walking gear and headed towards Central World.
There, I dropped of a set of souvenirs for a friend and went on to Mah Boon Krong complex. I checked out some video gear there and looked around.
After I had enough, I walked back towards the uptown area and had dinner at the Tops mart in Robinson's Department store.
My day ended early when I hit the sack at 10pm. 

Bangkok - Part 1

Some action! At last...

After getting benched for a few years, I finally get my training stint.
The person who ran my outfit has never given me any career development opportunities. 
Sad, but true.
So, in September, I scored a new gig.
I was seconded to the Content and Development department to set up the Asean unit.
One of the requirement was knowledge in video capture and editing.
And boy, was I in luck!
The first thing I did was to sign-up for an in-house training stint, which was denied by the section head in the old outfit.
My luck changed after reporting for the new unit. I was sent for more training. 
This gig is abroad and it was a five-day multimedia workshop organized by the China Daily and Asia News Network in Bangkok, Thailand.
I look forward to the prospect of learning something new.
That said, the last time I was in Bangkok was seven years ago.
For this trip, I packed light. 
I carry a Microsoft Surface 2 tablet, my trusty EOS-M, EF-M 11-22mm wide-angle zoom lens and the proven EF-M 55-200 medium telephoto zoom.
The additional gear that I had lugged around for this multimedia workshop (centres around capturing video) was my Rode Videomic Go.

Getting a ride to KLIA 2

At the terminal

Arriving at Don Mueang international airport near Bangkok

Been too long...

I met my co-worker at the departure lounge in KLIA 2.

The place was really a circus with people everywhere. I heard horror stories about checking-in, so, decided that it was best to get there early and go through all the formalities.

Michelle and I had lunch at home before heading off to the airport. I pet the kids on their heads, said my good-byes.

To cut cost, we travel on a budget airline.

So, that said, there's no comfort and everything else is on my own expense.

I was traveling on a tight budget. 

On my wallet, there's about 3,500 baht for incidental expenses.

The currency fluctuation didn't help either. 100 baht is RM1.20, and the cost in Bangkok is higher than any other parts of Thailand.
I even had to share a room with my co-worker. So, having given it much thought, I'd roughed it out on the floor. 

Arriving in Bangkok

Taking an evening walk

 Blending in...

My first day in Bangkok was actually spent on catching up with what I have missed over the last seven years. 
After settling in at the hotel in Soi 31 along Sukhumvit Road, I took a walk to the uptown area.
Went as far as Rama Road and decided to turn back to the hotel. 
That's a decent 5.8km walk and good exercise. I don't plan to abandon my fitness regime even when I am away.
On the first night, one of the head-honcho of Nation TV hosted dinner at an italian restaurant. 
I also met the coordinator of the training programme Claudia, a Dutch national attached to the China Daily as a Multimedia Curator.
We also met some participants from Vietnam who came for dinner. 
The Nation guy was really generous and for the rest of the week, we had classes and another dinner reception in the middle of the week. 
At the same time, I was coordinating a meet-up with some of my old Thai friends. 

2011 Team Building session

Strapping up for the 'Leap of faith'

Another session concluded..

I am happy to report that this year's team-building session at Port Dickson, Negeri Sembilan was concluded with many satisfied customers.
Two months of planning was put to good use in the three-day two-night stay and sessions.
Some of the staff were happy to have taken part in the outdoor activities namely: the high rope sessions.
The food spread at our BBQ dinner was great as I had diverted some resources into it.
I toured two sites before settling down for Thistle Resort in Port Dickson.
The first place I inspected was the Golden Palm Resort in Gold Cost Sepang.
It was a crappy place and I had to deal with a domineering foreign prick at the counter.
With the distance as a factor, I dropped the fucking Gold Coast place and took the HR department guy's recommendation.
I was lucky as the stars and moon was aligned during that two days and nothing untowardly had happened.
With this done and over with, there are several other challenging projects this year. Hopefully, I would be up to it..

Hulu Langat Training Ride Series 3

The hill section heading towards Kuala Kelawang in Negeri Sembilan

Michelle with some of our friends about 3km before pekan bt 18, Hulu Langat

Michelle and I did our second training ride in Hulu Langat yesterday.
It was raining like mad and riding in the rain is something which I am not really fond of.
At the first 7km, I pushed myself and got a two-minute lead ahead of the reast.
Then, a road cyclist overtook me at the 8km mark.
Later, a lady cyclist on her 'Mini-Cooper' bike shot past me.
I'm not taking a swipe at her, but throughout the rides, this is one of the most reckless cyclist I've come across.
She tends to ride on the middle of the road and makes unscheduled stops to take photographs.
What poses a danger to herself and other road users is the fact that she parks her bike on the middle of the road.
In a distance ride, safety is paramount. If you ignore that, you might wind up in trouble
After cycling non-stop for 9km, I slowed down and Michelle had finally caught up with her 16"
Dahon Curve D3.
Right behind her was a guy in his 26" mountain bike.
We rested at a break area, mid-way to the second check-point along the training route.
Three other riders had to turn back and the guy on the mountain bike complained about feeling nauseous.
We stayed behind to accompany him before deciding to head back to pekan Bt 18 in Hulu Langat.
Although we did not complete the ride (another 7km), we felt good that we didn't go flat on the hills.

Small bikes in a big world

My boss on her Dahon Curve D3

Hitting the road with my Dahon Speed P8

When you invest on a folding bicycle, there are two sides of the coin.
You must know what you are getting into and if you are ignorant to the specifications of the bike, you might just end up purchasing a lemon.
To give you a better perspective, there are many variants of the folding bike with prices ranging from RM400 (cheap Le Run bike which you can never find off the shelves) to RM20K (high-end super-duper foldie).
In that respect, Michelle and I are owners of a basic (Dahon Curve D3) and medium range (Dahon Speed P8) bikes.
Over a course of one year and twelve months, I learned that there were plenty of shortcomings when I wounded up with an 8-speed bike.
The Speed P8 is excellen for short commutes and a leisure ride.
Now, here's the best part: Michelle and her 3-speed Dahon Curve D3 had proven than even sceptics can be wrong.
Her bike is a 16" foldie with an internal hub gear.
At the top end, she could go as fast as 15km an hour. That's it.
Our bikes can give distance, but not speed.
And when it comes to tackling hills, you've got to have legs of steel to pedal non-stop.
I learned this when we rode in Putrajaya.
Since I rode my Speed P8 more frequently, I noticed that my stamina has improved.
With the distance thrown in, the only aspect that we are looking at would be endurance training.
Not an issue if we ride regularly in areas with hills.
As for Michelle, I have plenty of admiration for her sheer spirit for riding the 3-speed bike in a series of long-haul events.
She proved to the larger bike riders that foldies can go literally 'anywhere'.

Back to class

Personal development is a good thing.And you are never too old to learn.I welcome such an opportunity to pick up new tricks in the trade and was given a chance to attend a
six-day copy clearing and editing workshop.This is divided into weekly sessions spanning over half a month.What made it interesting is the fact that I knew the trainer, who is the best in the field.He came highly recommended by an old friend of mine who is employed as a training manager in
the country's oldest English daily.In the first two sessions, I learned a lot about things that are majorly overlooked.And the point driven was the fact that most journalists are so used to what they see everyday, their
eyes become shielded from common mistakes and cliches.This was part of the personal enrichment that I was hoping to gain and I must say that I am glad to be
a part of.To me, it takes a lot of guts to actually own up for making a mistake, learn and move on.I think the trainer made his point too when he told the class that he was not there to solve problems
faced by reporters on day-to-day matters.What felt right, was the fact that he was there to teach his students on how to deal with copies and
employ the proper word usage.With two down, there are four more classes to go. That said, I am looking foward to the future sessions.