Partly Mysterious, Hundred Percent Dae & Jina – The Proposal Video

A few weeks ago, Dan wrote a post about his ninja-style photographing of Dae’s creative proposal to Jina.  If you’ve seen it, there were probably portions of it that left you scratching your heads.

Hmm.. wonder what Jina is watching?

And what's with the football pads?

With Dae and Jina’s consent, that mystery is now revealed for us to know! But hold your horses! Before you jump straight for the video, know that it will not make any sense without a little background!

The Background.

You see, Dae created a proposal so personal and customized that it warrants a little explanation to fully appreciate it. The first time Dae and Jina went to a theater was to watch Pixar’s animated film Up. But this video has nothing to do with Up. Like most Pixar films, prior to the movie there is a quick digital short, which in this case is called Partly Cloudy. If you’ve never seen it, watching it is a must!  And even if you have, go ahead and give yourself refresher -it’s good for your soul. Go here to watch it.

This heart warming piece about friendship and commitment touched Jina. Remembering this, Dae decided to create a digital short of his own that parallels the storyline in Partly Cloudy. The story though is centered around the beginnings of their courtship process. The locations, time frame, and scenes are based on real events but artistic license was taken too. Keep in mind that the acting and interpretation of events are overly dramatic and done for laughs. Without spoiling the video, in case it’s not obvious let’s just say that Suggey’s acting (and everyone else’s too) is over the top and was never intended to reflect reality

The Big Day.

On a sunny Monday afternoon, pretending that they were going to have an outdoor lunch date at a park, Dae casually mentions to Jina that he made a little video for his sister and wanted Jina to look it over.  He fires up the video and the screen fades to white. This is intentional to let Dae know that the video is indeed running and that he now has exactly 6 seconds before the actual short begins.  While Jina is distracted, he makes a dash for it to give her some alone time.

Without further ado, see the video for yourself. Enjoy!

Inside the box was a hand written note for Jina. The contents will remain a mystery to us =) And if you couldn’t figure it out, the bag Dae received from the girl are the football pads, which Dae changed into while Jina was watching the video. It was all a success and Jina said yes!  And can you believe that this was just the beginning of the full day he had planned out for them?  What a guy.

Credits.

Producer: Dae Woung Kang

Screenwriter: Suggey Shin, Chris Sotelo, Matt Garard
Director: Chris Sotelo
Director of Photography: Oliver Peng, Chris Sotelo
Film Editor: Oliver Peng, Chris Sotelo

Actors:
Dae as Dae
Suggey as Jina
random girl as Random Girl
Oliver as Oliver
Cassie as Cassie
Chris as Chris
Marah as Marah
Oliver as Roommate
Chris as Arm Wrestler

Taft & Becky – Fall Fun!

I’ve known Taft way back since before he was even called Taft.  Back then we used to call him Jonathan during our freshman year in college =)  We even lived together our junior and senior years and we reigned in an empire known as Snyder Hall.  Long gone are the days when I’d find him asleep in his bed with the Bible on his chest and his mouth wide open.  And long forgotten (I hope) are the nights of recording strange music videos..

Fast forward 9 years and now he’s well on his way to getting married!  I got the chance to shoot him and Becky to catch some fall foliage about a month ago.  The weather was great and the colors were phenomenal!

Can you feel the death glare?

Yuki & Kana’s – Slideshow & 5 years of Kana

A quick photo tribute to Kanako!  I got to know Kana through a missions trip to Japan the summer of ‘05, when I picked up my first SLR!  (Wow, that’s a long time ago..)

The next year we were in the same small group together on campus. It was also the first year I helped out in Japanese Bible Study. I was Kana’s leader in CRH 2 and Kana was my leader in JBS. That’s a power struggle for ya!

The following year, Kana disappeared to Chicago.

She came back ‘07 and J-HOP made its debut. It was a very different J-HOP back then but in Kana-style, one founded in prayer. By ‘08 J-HOP was in full swing and I had the privilege of coming on board as did several others.

And ‘09 is Yuki year. ‘Nuff said!

J-Team '05 (June 20, 2005)

Girls on the subway in Osaka, Japan (June 27, 2005)

CRH 2 - Pretending they're happy to be there (Dec 5, 2005)

That was sharing small group.. Kana drew this pic about herself. That flower must be Yuki.

JBS - I'm eating alone. Kana's talking to Genie. Our guest is like, "What about me??" and Chris is.. well.. (Dec 7, 2005)

J-HOP's beginnings! (April 26, 2008)

J-HOP '08 (Sept 27, 2008)

J-HOP '08 continued (Nov 20, 2008)

We look the same except Chris & I lost hair while P Jung gained some. (Nov 21, 2009)

I’m at FACT!

(Go to the youtube page to watch it in HD!)

This song has been stuck in my head and now I hear it everywhere! When my radio is turned low, I catch myself thinking “man that sounds like T-Pain! No way, could this be the song??” Then I’ll turn up the radio and it turns out to be some country song. I even read emails with the same cadence as the song, which is kind of fun. You know, even the sweetest email can sound pretty hard when you say it with the same attitude as that song =)

Let me rewind a bit: last week Chris Sotelo asked me if I’d be willing to help him shoot a lil’ video. Hmmm.. let me think about th- oops, my mouth already said yes. Must have been muscle reflex. Somehow the memory of saying yes to Chris is associated with good and happy things. Chris has the kind of talent where he could create a documentary on paint drying and it’ll still be ridiculously creative and entertaining. But a music video with Marah (his wife) and Justin Capadocia too? And one that’s based on I’m on a boat?? As an opening to Philippine Student Association’s (PSA) annual FACT conference??? Sign me up!

So how was it? Let’s just say they know how to have a good time! I had a blast filming these incredibly gifted people. There was no rehearsal before each shot -Chris, Marah, and Justin just communicated by telepathy and some crazy chemistry. Behind the scenes, Peter Catanus, Marah’s brother, did an amazing job mixing the audio and he also did a dope job being the voice behind Justin. In fact, the whole video was a group effort. I’m just glad I got to be a part of it. Now if you’ll excuse me..

“I’m at FACT! I’m at FACT! We at FACT! …”

Welcome back from Europe, Glenn and Nicole!

Glenn and Nicole were both in my small group years ago. I still remember the day I guessed the person that Nicole was seeing. After being impressed with myself for guessing I remember smiling thinking, “Glenn’s a good guy.” That was four years ago and now they’ve been married for just shy of two weeks! Congrats!!

To the newly weds: this video is a welcome back present from your honeymoon =)

P.S. For a peek of how the video came together, see the post below!