Vancouver from above
We created a series of photos and videos of the iconic Vancouver skyline for Destination Vancouver
Happy Summer Solstice!
It's hard to believe it's already June! It's lush and green everywhere we look, but just a little more than 3 months ago, we managed to pull off this dream winter aeiral shoot for Destination Vancouver.
Destination Vancouver is doing big things! We have been very fortunate to be their creative partner to help them create visual assets to promote our beautiful city. One of our goals last winter was to photograph and film Vancouver's ever changing skyline in the winter. It's really amazing that we live in a place where we can be in a lush rainforest in one minute, and not even half an hour later we are up skiing in the local mountains.
So for the whole winter, we were on the lookout for that perfect combination of a blue bird day with the right amount of snow in the mountains, and the right amount of greenery in the city. It wasn't easy to say the least. We had to be ready to shoot at a moment's notice when we have the weather. But at the same time, we were also busy working on our other projects domestically and internationally.
Kindred is a small shop by design. Our flexibility is one of our biggest strengths. We are equally comfortable on set with 100 busy crew members or just one guy flying solo. In this case, it's the later! Except this one guy Hubert (me!) is the photographer and director, and I was flying with legendary pilot Kelsey Wheeler from Talon Helicopters, and Legendary aerial DP John Trapman from Vancal Cine. We also had our fearless client Tianna with us. A lot of credit must go to Destination Vancouver here. They have a vision of what they need, and they took our advice to go with the more complicated but effective solution here.
We went with the helicopter solution over drones for a few reasons. We love drones, but for this particular brief, we felt it had to be a chopper with a Shotover system. The perfect crispy Vancouver winter sunset is hard to come by. A lot of time, when it's sunny in the city, the mountains peaks are clouded over. Oh and last year also happened to be one of the worst years snow fall wise... So, we felt when we finally get that weather break, we need to get all our shots in one sunset. That means we need to go from spot to spot quickly. For this shoot, we needed to cover the mountain and city. I estimate that we probably covered a good 30-40 km each way. A drone can never cover that distance in the short winter sunsets we have.
Vancouver Harbour, which is one of the focal points of our shoot, is also one of the busiest commercial water aerodromes in the world. That means we would never get the proper permissions to shoot certain angles with a drone. However, in a helicopter, we are treated just like any other commercial aircrafts. We could pretty much go wherever we wanted, working with the harbour's air traffic control.
We also needed to shoot high and long for our shots. Drones wouldn't be able to get up to the altitude we needed legally. We needed to shoot long to compress the distance between the mountains and the city for the perspective that Vancouver is cradled by these amazing snow covered mountains. The long focal length isn't common in drones, but the beauty of a Shotover system is that we can use whatever lens and focal length we wanted.
In our little chopper, we were perfectly rigged up. Kelsey sat upfront to fly (of course!). John sat next to him with the all the controls to operate the cine camera in the Shotover mounted outside just under the nose of the aircraft. I sat directly behind Kelsey so that we are on the same side. It's easier to communicate and position ourselves in the sky that way. I had the pocket door taken off to have the freedom to move and frame up the stills. I was able to basically sit halfway outside of the helicopter. It was juuuust a little chilly. I also had a director's monitor rigged up in front of me. That way, I was able to direct John while at the same time shoot the stills. Tianna sat next to me with a client monitor so she could also see what's happening real time and give me feedback. Everyone had a job and we were busy!
Then we were set up to witness mother nature's magic. She did not disappoint!
Long story short, we pulled off the shoot in the end! Having watched the weather all winter, I think I can confidently say we nailed the timing. That, combined with our production and creative planning, and a little magic from mother nature, gave us these images. Big shoutout of Kelsey and John for being such incredible collaborators, and Destination Vancouver for always trusting us. Here are some stills. More video clips to come!
Destination Vancouver: Culinary Heroes
It's not everyday that we meet our culinary heroes here in the city.
For our friends at Destination Vancouver, the goal of this project was to create photo and video visuals for the thriving culinary scene in Vancouver. In addition to the beautiful and inviting food images, we dug deeper and showcased the people and communities that made these amazing restaurants possible.
After speaking with the teams at each restaurant, it was clear to see why they were all successful. We witnessed the passion and dedication they poured into their work. All unique, and all carved out a place for themselves in the Vancouver culinary scene.
We throughly enjoyed this project. We couldn't be more inspired to see these fellow artists at work!
A year of Kindred Donates
It’s been over a year since the launch of our new charity initiative, Kindred Donates. With the help and selection from our amazing clients, we’ve donated 5% of our production fee to the following charitable organizations:
We’re honoured to have this opportunity and we can’t wait for another year!
How does it work? Find out more here.
Destination BC: Rainforest to Rockies
This was such a fun project with our long time collaborator, Destination BC, and our new friends at Zulu Alpha Kilo!
It's always special when we get to shoot our hometown, and it was extra fun because we really got to pull out all the stops for this shoot.
The concept of the project is telling the story of a road trip from BC's famous coastal rainforest, to the rugged desert interior. We did this in three phases. Starting off by taking landscape and cityscape images around Vancouver. It's quite unusual for us to shoot without talent in front of the camera, but I had a great time making the landscape and cityscape as characters in our story. Waiting for the first light to hit the tallest building in the city, and the last light during blue hour, for reflection in the water, was such a nice change of pace.
Next phase of the project ramped us up to basically automotive photography and videography. To tell the road trip story, the car was now our main character. Working with our good friends at Alterna Films, we chased our hero car around from the air and on the ground, while capturing the iconic views of the highway leading to gold country. Amy, our rockstar producer, also doubled up as our stunt driver in the hero car. She does very well moving 30km/hour!
Lastly, it was time to put people in front of the camera. We came back to the coast to bring everything together. Now we were shooting the landscape, cityscape, rainforests, beach, mountain, car, and people all together! It was busy to say the least, but we had wonderful support from everyone in front of and behind the cameras. Our long term relationship with our crew, talent, and clients really came in clutch. It's so much easier to elevate things when there is already good creative chemistry amongst everyone. A couple highlights were shutting down parts of the Sea to Sky highway, for our car shots, and the climbing up Jurassic Ridge together. Our last wrap photo, on top of Jurassic ridge at Murrin Lake, says everything about this project. Without prompts, we all howled together with our set dog Devon to cap off a super fun day. We are really truly blessed to be living in such an incredible place and working with our friends to make cool imagery!
BTS and the crew for the day!
What is Kindred Donates?
We are so happy to share our new charity initiative - Kindred Donates.
We started this company based on the ideas of working with good people and doing good projects. Now we would like to expand our practices to also do good in our communities and for our environment. We are proud to launch a new initiative starting in 2023 whereby we will donate 5% of the end production fee on any project to a charitable organization.
It keeps our donations frequent and part of our everyday operations rather than falling to the wayside throughout the busy year. And the other good thing is we want to offer our clients the option of selecting who we donate to. We will be asking them to suggest a charitable organization that has meaning to them. We want to spend the good around!
How Does It Work?
1) Once the project is done, the client selects where to donate, or we can suggest one!
2) 5% of the end production fee will be donated at the end of each project.
Frequently Asked Questions
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At the end of each project, we’ll donate 5% of the production fee to a charitable organization.
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No, it can be any charity of your choice! We want you to have the flexibility of choosing something that you like.
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Yes! If you don’t have one in mind, these are a couple of our favourites: Saint Rescue, Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre, and Vancouver Rabbit Rescue & Advocacy.
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No, it can be any charity that you support.
A Q&A with Applied Arts
A Q&A with Applied Arts Magazine.
Applied Arts Magazine has been a big part of our creative journey, and chatting with them about our unique partnership allowed us to reminisce and reflect on what we’ve achieved so far! The common thread between a successful project comes down to good teamwork, trust, and good communication. In our Q&A with Applied Arts, we dive deeper into our creative processes, Hubert’s transition from stills to motion, Amy’s love for a good spreadsheet, fun set stories, and what makes us us! Read the full article here.
The completed project for Travel Alberta. Can you spot the rooftop shot we got at Rogers Arena?
Math! Science! A Holiday Stop-Motion for Nintendo.
Who knew we’d be doing math and science for a Nintendo shoot! This stop-motion really put our analytical brain to work and we had so much fun doing it - we were buzzing for hours after the shoot! To achieve the right level of precision and smoothness for the stop-motion effect, we needed to calculate the right frame rate, the right range of motion, and the right amount of zoom. It's very much a math exercise! With 72 frames for each spot, every single one needed to be mapped out. Take a look at some BTS and prepwork we had to do before the shoot day!
Behind the scenes with nintendo
It’s not often that we get to play with pumpkins all day so this shoot was a real (trick or) treat! Thanks to the team at We The Collective agency for bringing us on to produce this Nintendo branded ‘How To Carve a Pumpkin’ Youtube video. We had so much fun staging and carving pumpkins all day to create that spooky feel! Here’s a peek at some BTS:
Key lessons learned from an Australian - new fresh pumpkins do not smash easily, apparently you are supposed to wait until they get old and start to decay! One camera may have been harmed in the filming of this BTS scene. Oops!
Creating the Unexpected
How do we showcase the energy, culture and incorporate flavours of Austin while maintaining the luxurious 5-star feeling of Fairmont? Create the unexpected!
"Keep Austin Weird" - this tagline was the base inspiration behind this shoot. When Fairmont Austin asked us to shoot their campaign again, it was immediately a yes for us. We love a good challenge and this was one of them - how do we showcase the energy, culture and incorporate flavours of Austin while maintaining the luxurious 5-star feeling of Fairmont? Create the unexpected! We didn’t go safe and it wasn’t conventional - we took things you wouldn’t typically pair, but transformed them into something so unique while staying true to both Fairmont and the city of Austin. We’re absolutely floored by the final results and had an incredible time while doing it!
One of the most popular water sports in Austin is stand up paddle boarding along the Colorado River. Our models were real champs! Stand-up-paddling isn't easy, and it doesn't make it easier when you're wearing a dress. Luckily, no one fell into the water until the very end!
Texas is known for its abundance of wildflowers, so we knew we wanted to incorporate it into our shots. We brought in a bunch and set it around our model who was styled as a true Austin cowboy.
We have been working with Fairmont for nearly 10 years now and it’s always such an honor. They were game to try something new and we took risks! The beauty of working with a long-term client like Fairmont is the trust and unspoken understanding we’ve built overtime. Our biggest sense of accomplishment isn’t the fact that we get to work with such high-profile clients, it’s the fact that we get to create these long lasting connections with clients who become our friends, and what’s wonderful about that is that we get to create something amazing like this for them.
2021 Applied arts photography - award-winning entries
We are stoked to announce that two of our Kindred and Scout projects have been selected as winners of the Applied Arts 2021 Photography Awards!
It’s been a strange year, but we’re very proud to have overcome pandemic barriers to create award-winning work for excellent clients such as 19 Crimes and Snoop Dogg, and Fairmont Hotels and Resorts.
Here are our winning entries:
Snoop Dogg Uncorked - Winner of the Cinematography Short category. This was a super fun collaboration with our good friend Chairman Ting Industries for 19 Crimes and Snoop Dogg’s wine launch in Canada.
To view the full credit list, visit our project page here.
Fairmont Spa - Winner of the Advertising Photography Series category. Working with Fairmont Hotels, we created a series of images and videos to help them with their global spa rebrand.
To view the full credit list, visit our project page here.
Pandemic One-Year Series
A year ago today we boarded a flight to Mexico for what would be our last travel trip for a while (unbeknownst to us at the time obviously). A week later we would be stressfully trying to make it back home to Canada before borders shut down and everyone went into lockdown. I am envious of this person from one year ago – this person who thought nothing of jumping on a plane and heading off into the unknown with no thought of masks and sanitizer and obsessive hand washing!
2020 was certainly a year and we thought it might be fun to give some perspectives of what the year taught us overall, but also across productions.
To me, it felt like a year of juxtapositions:
Time seemed to go so slow at times while in lockdown but then somehow here we are a year later and a year has never seemed to pass by so fast!
A “quiet” year when we couldn’t work for a lot of it due to restrictions somehow felt busier than ever – both with throwing myself into creative and charity projects and then with the rocket-ship approach to coming out of lockdown with a bunch of clients trying to catch up on their marketing and advertising objectives.
A year that was risky from a health perspective somehow never felt so safe. Our protocols on set and in general life in trying to avoid COVID also meant that I have not been sick for well over a year. Normally a common cold blazes across a production but not this year! Cold and flu be gone!
And to me, while 2020 was hard and stressful trying to work out if we were going to keep working again at first, and then trying to work out how to keep working safely when the demand hit – it reiterated what I’ve always believed 100%. It is the people and the relationships that matter the most and that is what I want to continue to fight for and maintain across productions going forward. During the scariest times of starting up small productions again, we were all relying on each other to maintain safety protocols, to respect each other, to try and limit the crazy long film days, to keep people energized and well-fed for good health and to know that if someone needed something we would band together and make it happen. Even on the small side of things – like grabbing someone soup if they didn’t sleep well, letting a Mom go home early to spend Halloween with her toddler, or bringing birthday cupcakes to the Director on set knowing they wouldn’t get to have a party after work! We banded together to keep working but to do so safely. In a time when we couldn’t have social gatherings with our friends and family – these gatherings in a work sense meant everything.
So for anyone I had the pleasure of working with in 2020 – I want to say a huge THANK YOU!
In the spirit of reflecting back we sent out some questions to some of our regular team members to see how 2020 was for them:
Q: WHAT WAS YOUR FAVOURITE THING ABOUT 2020?
HUBERT: Workwise, my favourite thing is that we rose to the challenge and started to reinvent ourselves. A big part of our business is in the tourism and hospitality industry so we were hit hard, but it's was really cool to see our colleagues rallied together, checked on each other along the way, and started figuring out a new way forward. The comradery is something I'll always remember and treasure. Personally, in 2020, I got to spend so much time with my dog, Sammy. It was a blessing that we recently moved to Squamish so it was lots of trail and river time. I loved it.
SARAH: Mid-day naps and 12 pm wine became socially acceptable. And loungewear as fashion.
AMY: Getting to shoot in Mexico right before everything changed - beaches, cenotes, tacos and a killer team of people!
AIKEN: Overall 2020 was terrible for everyone, but being forced to reflect on life was nice. It helped put a small pause on my life and get my goals in order. The social distancing measures also made me realize how thankful I am for my family and friends, and how much I value seeing them in person. Human connections are such an important aspect of life that I often take for granted... After this pandemic, never again!
ANNIE: I got to sleep a lot.
ANGELYNE: Best thing about 2020... More time with my dog :)
CARSON: Spending more time with family.
LEAH: Spending more quality time with family.
MIKE: Getting to learn new skills and adapt.
Q: What did you learn from a work perspective in 2020?
CARSON: Be hopeful!!!
LEAH: Stay flexible!!!
MIKE: COVID has created all sorts of interesting problems to solve, from remote video and audio, to livestreaming, to making footage feel natural with 6ft spacing and masks. Some of these things I look forward to not having to deal with in the future, but I think a lot of the new ways we've learned to work will carry on and just make us more productive and efficient in the future.
AMY: That we are all a super resourceful and passionate bunch who were very quickly able to adapt to keep doing what we love!
ANGELYNE: I learned how to manage client expectations. We are not saving lives. Found our best with limited stock and colossal lineups. All good. Remember to breathe :)
SARAH: Being in a pandemic allowed for better management of client expectations. Something I think had gotten out of hand in my field. It was expected to find anything anytime for no budget... the pandemic gave us real limitations on sourcing things which finally gave us a real excuse to say no sometimes. Or say sure but it will cost you. Risking your health to be in stores, on set, in public places made me value my time and skills much more than before.
ANNIE: I'm privileged to be able to work from home.
HUBERT: Patience and perspective. 2020 was a real lesson for me to just take incremental steps one at a time. I thought the year was going to be a big disappointment work wise. But looking back, I am surprised to see how much we have done incrementally and collectively. I also learned a lot about perspective. As much as I am passionate about my work, it's nothing compared to health and safety for everyone. It's only one year of my life. I'd take that over jeopardizing anyone's health.
AIKEN: I'm thankful to be working in an industry where working from home is an option but seeing how people have adapted to working on set and with smaller teams has been quite amazing. As much as I value having saved commuting time, my biggest takeaway is how much I enjoy a balance of working from home and being able to collaborate, chat and see the people I work with. Freelancers often tell me it's a lonely job, but I never understood that until the pandemic.
Q: What WAS YOUR MOST WORn WORK OUTFIT IN 2020?
SARAH: The Vancouver set special - Blundstones, Jeans (not Duer hah!) and blacktop. Maybe an Arcteryx jacket? And now a mask 🤦🏼♀️
CARSON: Black t-shirt + jeans.
ANNIE: Sweater + sweatpants.
HUBERT: Nothing specific. The only thing that jumped out for me is that nothing fits because of all the online shopping.
AIKEN: My amazingly soft, pink oversized sweater with a print of The Return of Spring by Neoclassic painter William-Adolphe Bouguereau. It features the painting, with a small addition of the woman in the center holding a corded phone.
MIKE: UNIQLO stretchy pants that look like work pants but feel like sweatpants.
LEAH: Slippers and sweats out of view and a button-up shirt on top!
AMY: Probably hiking clothes - got out into the woods almost everyday for a break from the madness
Q: WHAT DID YOU STOCK UP ON WHEN THE LOCKDOWN FIRST HIT?
CARSON: Rice
ANNIE: Sanitizer
AIKEN: I tried to grab a pack of toilet paper whenever it was available. Right now, I'm trying to stock up on a foster dog but they're pretty limited in quantities. :(
LEAH: Noodles!!!!
MIKE: So much of everything. Except yeast, unfortunately. Never managed to make a good loaf of bread!
SARAH: Wine wine wine wine. Then I got pregnant and couldn’t drink any of it. Truly tragic.
ANGELYNE: We stocked up on thieves oil and vino.
AMY: Funnily enough - a months supply of dehydrated hiking/camping foods packs from MEC - I’m not sure if I thought food shortages were coming or if I was ambitious about doing a tonne of overnighter trips over the summer but whatever it was - I’m not going hungry anytime soon!
HUBERT: I am ashamed to say that I bought camping freeze-dried food in case the apocalypse hits. But I only did it on the advice of Amy.
Q: IS THERE SOMETHING FROM OUR COVID PROTOCOLS ON SET THAT WOULD LIKE TO SEE CONTINUE??
HUBERT: The face shield of course. Love all the fog! Actually, I like the morning check-ins the most. Even though it's brief, it's nice to start the day with some care for each other.
ANGEYLNE: Love the vivid protocol of check-in 😘.
SARAH: Individual snack boxes!
LEAH: I'm sure you guys do it all perfectly all the time, but a key lesson from all of this is for folks to stay at home when they feel sick. No matter what.
ANNIE: I haven't been to one.
CARSON: Remote setup.
AMY: I would love to try and continue the “realistic expectations” aspect to continue - to not burn people out!
AIKEN: I would love for people to be more cautious when they are sick and working in general. Having a cold/flu sucks and people should be mindful of spreading everyday common illnesses. Face masks are commonly used in Asia when an individual is ill so I hope that trend catches on here. Other than that, more hand-washing is nice too!
Q: BEST LOCKDOWN SNACK??
AIKEN: I have learned to drink more water during this pandemic. I use to drink about one small cup of water per day. I don't know how I'm alive. But hands-down best snack is chips, obviously.
LEAH: Charcuterie board! Became almost a daily ritual of snacks when the workday was done.
SARAH: I went for Nanaimo bars... not sure why 🤷🏼♀️
ANNIE: Hubert's homemade salty granola.
AMY: Probably chocolate and brewery beer.
HUBERT: Way too many chips.
CARSON: Chocolate.
ANGELYNE: Best lockdown snack ... Homemade lemon squares.
Q: first place you will visit for work or fun when you can travel again?
LEAH': My grandma's yard! ❤️
ANGELYNE: When we are free to travel.. Back to Kauai to do the Napoli trail hike again. Miss that tropical magic 🌴
HUBERT: I actually want to go back to the last place I visited before Covid – Mexico. I love everything about it. The people, the culture, nature, the food... It's magical
AMY: Locally I desperately want to get to Tofino for some surfing, and then ideally I can get home to Australia for Christmas in 2021!
SARAH: Anywhere with a beach, pina coladas and babysitting services included.
MIKE: My parents in the interior. Greece.
AIKEN: I have a long list of locations I'd love to visit one day that includes Paris, Morocco, Reykjavík, Tokyo, Jeju Island, Chengdu, Portugal, and London. However, the first place I would go to when it's safe is Shanghai to family.
CARSON: Japan.
ANNIE: Taiwan to visit my family.
Thank you to the following rockstars for contributing answers:
HUBERT KANG - Director and Photographer
AMY JONES - Producer
ANNIE CHEN (LEMONNI) - Surface Pattern Designer
Sarah danniels - WARDROBE Stylist
aiken lao - Designer and Illustrator
ANGELYNE MARTIN - art director and prop stylist
LEAH GREGG - CREATIVE STRATEGIST
CARSON TING - ILLUSTRATOR AND ART DIRECTOR
MIKE SOUTHWORTH - EDITOR / POST SUPERVISOR
First shoot back after covid19
We just completed our first shoot back after COVID19 and it was interesting and exciting to work out a new way of doing things. We had two shoot days to complete for the second half of our Fairmont Spa shoot that we started in Mexico - our goal was to capture a variety of micro and macro nature shots, plus some shots with talent.
We wanted to share how we approached things differently with COVID19. We had spent the last couple of months putting together our COVID19 Safety Plan so had a good guideline to follow.
CASTING
We had to cast a total of 3 talent - one female for Day 1 and then a male + female combo for Day 2. We relied on Digital Casting and requested e-books from one of our favourite agents over at Reel Athletes. We already had an idea of who we wanted to work with so in this case we didn’t request casting videos from a short-list - just a recent photo from each to see their current hair length & style (especially with the lack of hair services during COVID!). Given that we wanted the male + female on D2 to interact we also chose to go with a real life couple and requested that in our casting brief.
LOCATIONS
Originally we were supposed to be shooting this portion in Tofino and had already lined up all of our permits there. When the Province announced that they were still not recommending community travel in May we decided to pivot our plan, cancel our Tofino permits and stay close to home. Luckily in B.C. there is no shortage of amazing spots!
We decided upon one heli day to get some large scale mountain/snow/ocean shots in the Sea to Sky Corridor. We had multiple discussions with our pilot over at Talon Helicopters on locations but also on COVID19 safety. We would limit the crew in the heli to the bare minimum (Photographer, Drone Pilot, Video DP, Talent), all crew had to wear face masks, the machine would be fully sanitized before, during and after the flight and all crew had their designated seat with headset pre-sanitized. Photo Credits: Carlo Wein, Hubert Kang, Kelsey Wheeler.
For our second day - we were excited to be the first permit back in the District of North Vancouver! The permitting process was more extensive than usual as on top of the regular application requirements we also had to show our COVID19 Safety plan and give details on how we were going to execute the plan in regards to this specific shoot. For both of our permits - City of Van&Parks Board and the DNV we had to have a dedicated Staff Liaison officer with us to ensure we were being safe but also to answer questions from the public. We also had to reduce our shoot pace slightly to work around public and give people extra space and time to pass safely. All of our locations were exteriors so it was generally easy to maintain distance, and then if we had to come within 2m of one another we would ensure we had our PPE on.
STYLING / HMU
For the heli day we organized a video conference call the morning of our shoot between Eileen and our HMU artist - Sonia. Sonia helped Eileen get ready and then gave her some tips on how to maintain while out on the helicopter, as well as giving her a small list of products she should bring with her. Hubert dialled in midway through to approve the look.
Wardrobe was probably the trickiest part as at the time we didn’t feel comfortable with a full pull and fitting. We knew that Matt & Val had the appropriate fitness wardrobe for D2 so could rely on asking them to bring what they had (selecting from photos sent before the shoot) but for D1 we needed to pull a dress for Eileen. Our stylist Sarah pitched some online options and then went to the store - we wanted to limit her shopping time and exposure by pre-selecting. It was a good learning experience as the store stocks were not accurate and Sarah ended up having to grab options that were as close as possible to Hubert’s preferences. She cleaned everything and bagged it all 48hrs before the shoot. Eileen kept the dresses afterwards as returns weren’t allowed.
CREW & EQUIPMENT
This shoot was pretty small - we had to keep to a maximum of 6 so that included myself, Photographer, Video DP, Drone Op and 2 talent. The equipment was all owned by the people operating it and we had plenty of wipes and sanitizer around if we did need to help carry or share equipment. I sanitized the radios before and after use.
SCHEDULING & CATERING
We definitely adapted some scheduling to allow for COVID19 - I organized 30 min pre-calls for the team to sign their health questionnaires and conduct our safety meeting for the day. I ensured everyone had their own PPE and handed out anything the team needed. Instead of doing Crafty/Catering all crew were given a meal per diem for the day to handle their own food. For D1 we had a shorter day with the heli so the team just ate before crew call and brought their own snacks and then for D2 I scheduled a 2.5hr extended lunch break so that everyone could go home and eat at home if they wished. And overall, I would say that I put less shots and more time in the schedule to give everyone time to sanitize as they needed and to work around the public.
Overall I’d say that it was the perfect shoot to come back with - we were able to do all EXTERIORS in quiet locations around the public with a small crew. We didn’t have the client on set and were able to adjust our styling protocols to work for us. It was really, really nice to see everyone on the team - from the DP to the permit liaison to the talent - working together to come up with solutions. It was also REALLY, REALLY nice just to be back at work again and you could feel that creative energy and excitement throughout the team!
We can’t wait for the next one!
Whitecaps 7PM Video
Our partnership with the Whitecaps on their It Takes A Village fundraising campaign!
When our colleague Carson Ting announced that he would be working with the Whitecaps on a fundraising campaign all centred around celebrating the amazing 7PM Moments happening around the city we jumped at the opportunity to get involved!! It felt like exactly the kind of project we needed during these unusual and unsettling times of COVID-19 - something that we could do to give back to our city, an inspiring and community based feel good story and a good mix of production challenges of figuring out how to make a video during social distancing restrictions.
Carson was illustrating an artwork print of the 7PM Moments - capturing the essence of a community coming together in their own ways to support and thank the essential workers keeping our city running. We wanted to create a video that captured the inspiration behind the print and tied the artwork itself in so people got excited and inspired to buy the print.
While Carson got busy illustrating we quickly assembled our super star team to come up with the production plan. Huge thanks to Leah Gregg & Ryan Leeson for jumping in on strategy & script!
Tossaint Ricketts from the Whitecaps came onboard and we had to quickly compile instructions for him on how to film and record all of his own video and audio files from his home using just his phone, a plug in Lav mic and some conference call Direction from Hubert Kang. At the same time we put out a call through our channels for people to record footage of themselves participating in the 7PM cheer. And on top of that our audio wizard, Mike Southworth, started work on capturing audio of the cheering from his home for his sound design mix.
We quickly started to see videos pouring in from across the city - kids playing instruments, people cheering and singing and even dogs howling. We knew that this was an exceptional time in our cities history to capture in a piece of art. Mike started assembling our edit - peppering in Carson’s characters throughout various scenes. And then we topped it off with an incredibly moving song composed by Mike Southworth featuring the voices of Hilary Grist & Dawn Pemberton. After a final touch of colour grading from our superstar Dave Tomiak we were finished!
This project was a real honour to be apart of. It reminded us that there are always creative solutions to various production challenges and that capturing real and authentic moments of true joy and celebration trump the perfect camera, or set styling or lighting plan. Thank you so much to Terry Dee, Jon Rees and Victoria Singh at the Whitecaps for trusting in us and letting us take the reins with the creative on this one!
If you want to contribute and own a piece of artwork to remember when our city came together in a million little different ways during a really weird and challenging time then please go to It Takes a Village and buy a copy of the print. Proceeds will go to the Greater Vancouver Food Bank.
Finally, we want to give a HUGE thank you to our rockstar team who all donated 100% of their time and resources to make this project happen.
Whitecaps - Terry Dee, Jon Rees & Victoria Singh
Director/DP - Hubert Kang
Producer - Amy Jones
Illustrator - Carson Ting
Writer - Ryan Leeson
Strategist - Leah Gregg
Graphic Designer/Illustrator Asst - Aiken Lao
Editor/Animator/Music Composition/Sound Mix & Master - Mike Southworth
Song Performed by: Mike Southworth, Hilary Grist & Dawn Pemberton
Colourist: Dave Tomiak
Lead Actor/VO Talent: Tossaint Ricketts
Video Clip Contributors: Carson Ting, Byron Kopman, Mustaali Raj, Hubert Kang, Gavin Kennedy, Leah Gregg, Mike Southworth, Bree Sinnott, Alex Beim, Steven Errico, Claire Villet, Andrew Shirley, Raffy Espiritu, Doug Schier, Carlo Wein, RJ Sauer & Stu Washington.
Mexico - Vamanos!
A week shooting nature elements in Mexico for Fairmont Spa.
When Fairmont came to us to create an image and content library for their new Spa rebranding campaign we had to suggest some locations to capture a wide variety of natural elements. We knew our amazing backyard of British Columbia would allow us to capture big forests and mountains and some wintery landscapes and needed a location to contrast with that. After some research and conversations with colleagues we decided on the Yucatan region of Mexico. We hired the awesome production team at Yucatan Productions and jumped into production planning, location scouting and casting.
We travelled with a solid team of four - Hubert, myself and then Byron & Carlo from Alterna Films - and a gear package to capture stills, video and drone aerials.
The daily team Coca Cola to beat the heat!
After some delays with our gear in customs (turns out the Cancun airport carnet office changed their hours the week before we arrived to be closed on weekends and we had a hold on our gear for 2 nights!) we hit the road and got shooting. That was an amazing production reminder to ALWAYS schedule contingency time in the schedule to deal with unknowns and always have a plan B or a local production team who can help you make a Plan B quick!
Amy standing in for the model while Carlo and Byron prepped the drone shot as the water temps in the cenotes were less than ideal for the local talent!
Carlo catching the drone from our boat tour through the mangroves.
We had the absolute delight of travelling around the region shooting beautiful landscapes and cenotes and beaches. To maximize the ideal light our daily routine was to get up and shoot sunrise at the busy tourist locations before they opened to the public, then take a midday break for food and scouting/prep and then shoot sunset before some nightly tacos.
Sunrise beach shoot.
Beachside production meetings over the harsh midday sunlight hours.
Cenote action shots.
Shooting Stills, Video and sometimes Drone all simultaneously to capture magic light!
We are excited to share the full campaign with you later this year after we complete Part 2 in B.C! Stay tuned…
One Day, Ten Drinks
Our solution for capturing ten drinks and one event in two days.
When the Classics Perfected team from Fairmont approached us to create a series of video assets for their new cocktail list launch, we were tasked with the challenge of capturing ten sizzle reel edits, and still images and event content for their launch event in New York City in an extremely short timespan.
Our solution? A solid concept that was replicable while providing flexibility for creative touches and individuality. For each drink, we had less than thirty minutes to capture the required footage so the shots had to be systematic and extensively pre-planned. The first camera was a locked off overhead shot, while the second camera had the move-ability to capture close-ups, drink elements, and other special touches. Before the shoot our graphic designer, Aiken Lao, drew out working sketches of each of the drinks in a small journal to include that element in the overhead shot.
With a system in place, we could shoot quickly and rely more heavily on post elements to bring each drink's personality to life. This included pairing clean, catchy title graphics with music composed by award-winning Canadian drummer and musician, Morgan Childs, for each drink. Childs created ten individual soundtracks with slight variations to capture the essence, history, and flavour of each new Fairmont cocktail.
The result was ten short and catchy videos paired with coverage of Fairmont's stunning launch party–an overall success celebrated with a well-deserved wrap drink! Cocktails anyone?
To see all ten cocktail videos, visit Fairmont’s Classics Perfected playlist on YouTube.
We are Fairmont: My two day journey on set
What I learned over 2 days on set - a story from Aiken Lao.
One month after finishing up my four and a half years at The University of British Columbia, I found myself setting up props and running errands on the set of a Fairmont worldwide branding video. For a business graduate with big dreams of being a professional illustrator, this is not a bad start at all.
A little bit about myself — my name is Aiken Lao and I’m an illustrator and designer working at Production Road, a small studio made up of LEMONNI, Chairman Ting Industries, and, of course, Hubert Kang Photography. I landed an internship at Production Road in the spring of 2018 and, not exaggerating, it’s changed my life. Prior to this, I was going to give up as a creative and progress slowly into the business side of operations in the field of marketing, my degree specialization, due to my lack of education in the creative field. The artists at Production Road somehow saw potential in me, and here I am now learning from some of the most humble, talented, and kindest people in the industry.
Day One: Equipment setup & rehearsals
I’m currently working full-time as a studio manager at Production Road, working on a huge array of different tasks. One of the things Hubert assigned for me was to storyboard his vision for Fairmont’s upcoming brand video. I worked with Hubert, his wonderful producer Amy Jones, and other key individuals like Hamish Hamilton and Mike Southworth to create a final storyboard to show to clients and the employees onset. What started as a simple concept grew into a massive set with several walls, dozens of picture frames, and a small army of Fairmont employees selected from Fairmont locations across Vancouver.
A few weeks later I was invited to help on set as second assistant director, helping out whoever needed assistance. It was a great role to learn from as I was exposed to so many areas of the shoot — administrative work, art prop preparation, and more.
The first day included a lot of set up and preparation. I was nervous since this was my first time being on a shoot this big and I was unsure of how to help, but everyone on the crew was incredibly kind and efficient in work delegation. I had the pleasure to work closely with Angie Martin, a wizard prop stylist who was prepared for all possible mishaps and hazards. She single-handedly bought out two Michaels art stores in pursuit of the perfect picture frame, or to be specific did so in one hand as she injured one of her arms in a snowmobile accident. It was amazing to see her at work.
My nerves from the first day calmed, and on the second day I was ready to get started on what Amy assigned me the previous day—to speak with Fairmont employees as they entered and be ready with paperwork for them to sign. It was a fascinating process to see how the employees transformed throughout the day, they radiated nervous energy in the morning but was calmed by the crew’s playful and casual atmosphere by the afternoon. One of the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver doormen even gave me life advice on how to get the best out of traveling, and where to go in the future. It was awesome.
“To any young creatives out there like me, a word of advice—being humble, kind, and willing to go the extra mile to help will do wonders.”
Although having 10-12 hour work days back-to-back was incredibly exhausting, the experience was well worth it. It’s only when one is sleep deprived and stressed does one understand the importance of having a trustworthy, experienced, and overall all-star crew. To any young creatives out there like me, a word of advice—being humble, kind, and willing to go the extra mile to help will do wonders. If you do good work and people like to work with you, then you’ve got a solid foundation to create some very cool things.
Thanks for having me Kindred & Scout! I look forward to seeing all the amazing things you guys do in the future.
My Way to Play with Nintendo
A cross country Canadian adventure with Nintendo.
Nintendo approached us to help pull together a production based on real people, real stories for their Nintendo My Way to Play campaign. After casting across the country with Jigsaw Casting we found 5 amazing families with great stories and jumped into a whirlwind pre-production period.
We travelled across the country to 5 different suburbs in Ontario and Quebec with a small crew to catch a glimpse into the lives of these Nintendo fans.
Shirley trying to create a “sound booth” on location with Daniel to capture the VO lines.
Shirley - always wiling to stand in for camera tests.
We then quickly moved into post to deliver some nice little online digital spots and a Cineplex pre-roll edit. Huge thanks to the crew for all their hard work and fun times on the road!
Director: Robjn Taylor and DOP: Byron Kopman practicing their A game on the flight.
Check out the combined 70s spot here!
We are Fairmont: Behind the Scenes
Creating a staff manifesto video.
Back in January, we had a blast directing and creating Fairmont’s brand video at Fairmont Hotel Vancouver’s beautiful ballroom. Special thanks to Gavin Kennedy for shooting the behind the scenes footage and video. Editing by Aiken Lao, music from Ocean’s 8 soundtrack.
All hands on deck, our crew busy assembling lights, props, and briefing the cast . Fun fact: everyone featured in the video is an employee at Fairmont who does the actual job they’re dressed for in the video!
Our amazing prop stylist Angie Martin. Even with one arm, she’s a force to be reckoned with.
Who knew that building a wall from scratch in a day would be so difficult?
Fun fact - we had to find over 60+ different frames for our photos and then screen project our plan onto the wall for installation. They specifically had to be placed in order to match our storyboards and edit animatic. Mike was the superstar in charge of the details on this one!
Our contingency queen Amy Jones keeping track of time and schedule.
It takes a lot of cameras and lights to make magic happen.
Amazing couple of days with an awesome crew!
Who are we?
An exciting new adventure!
A partnership founded on shared outlooks and goals—Hubert and I decided to finally join forces after working closely together for over 5 years. We realized as we travelled the world shooting together that we both valued two things above all else:
Kindred
To work with and collaborate with good people.
&
Scout
To continue to explore, to discover, to learn and to take the inspiration of new people, environments and experiences into the work that we do.
We look forward to collaborating with you.