Jakob Montrasio’s Net.

My Cinematography Showreel 2009.

// July 13th, 2009 // No Comments » // China, Photography, Shanghai, Videography

I finally finished editing my showreel, now that I’m back from New York. I shot some stuff from the exhibition there for the reel. Actually, there’s no need to talk about what’s in it, just watch it!

Jakob Montrasio :: Cinematography Showreel 2009

My works from the last couple of months :: Enjoy.
Contact me :: montrasio@gmail.com
Skype :: jakob.montrasio
LinkedIn :: Facebook

Links to the individual videos seen in the showreel:
Jewelz & Charlie - Spacer Woman 2009 (Video Edit) :: http://vimeo.com/5198175
SHANGHAI. For the New York Skyscraper Museum :: http://vimeo.com/4591644
Shanghai Sideways: On a Changjiang Motor Bike! :: http://vimeo.com/3569937
Wedding in Shanghai, China - MK Media Sample :: http://vimeo.com/2686409
Father John: Zhapu Road Test :: http://vimeo.com/4308283
Eunice Martins in Shanghai :: http://vimeo.com/4845555

Pictures from the opening of the China Prophecy: Shanghai exhibition in the New York Skyscraper Museum.

// July 11th, 2009 // No Comments » // China, Photography, Shanghai, Videography

On June 24 2009, The Skyscraper Museum in New York City opened China Prophecy: Shanghai, a multi-media exhibition that examines Shanghai’s evolving identity as a skyscraper metropolis. Featuring models of the major iconic structures, including Jin Mao, Tomorrow Square, Shanghai World Financial Center, and the new super-tall Shanghai Tower, as well as computer animations, film, drawings, and historic and contemporary photography of the city, the exhibition combines an in-depth look at the new generation of towers with an overview of the sweeping transformation of the city’s traditional low-rise landscape into a city of towers.

China Prophecy, which runs through March 2010, concludes the Museum’s three-show series FUTURE CITY: 20 | 21 that has examined parallels in the rapid urbanization of New York, Hong Kong, and Shanghai in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

Shanghai today is a vast metropolis of 18 million residents–the largest city in the world’s most populous nation. In just three decades, its population has nearly doubled, and the city has been physically transformed by the twin emblems of modernity–high-rises and highways. Formerly a horizontal expanse of dense and sprawling lilong neighborhoods, Shanghai has grown vertically. Nearly 400 high-rises of twenty stories or more were built in the historic core, Puxi, since 1990, and colossal elevated roads fly over old neighborhoods. In the new business district of Pudong on the east side of the river, a master plan dictates taller towers rising from open green space, culminating in a pair–soon to be a trio–of the world’s ten tallest skyscrapers.

The exhibition documents this stupendous urban transformation through film and photographs of old and new Shanghai, including a 20-minute video odyssey traveling the city’s streets and highways filmed by resident director of photography Jakob Montrasio. Evoking the speed and ambition of the city’s futuristic focus are projected computer animations by the Chinese company Crystal CG that create spectacular flyovers of the city before circling the major skyscrapers that are their subjects.

The installation features large models of the major towers that now define–or will soon enhance– the Shanghai skyline. These include an architectural and wind-tunnel testing model of Jin Mao (88 stories; 1999); a presentation model of Tomorrow Square (55 stories; 2003); a massing model and structural engineering model of the Shanghai World Financial Center (101 stories; 2008); and an architectural model and structural computer models of Shanghai Tower (128 stories; 2014), now in development. Other renderings, sections, and construction photographs illustrate a range of technical issues that distinguish these towers, which are all designs of American–and mostly New-York based–architectural and engineering firms. Other major high-rise projects included in the exhibition are KPF’s Jing An complex and SOM’s White Magnolia Plaza, both in development. The issue of global design practice is explored in the exhibition and a related lecture series in fall 2009.

These new Shanghai super-skyscrapers are ambitious in their height and innovative engineering. At 1380 ft. (438 meters), Jin Mao, designed by the Chicago office of Skidmore Owings & Merrill, is taller than the Empire State Building; the Shanghai World Financial Center, designed by New York-based architects KPF, is taller than any U.S. skyscraper at 1614 ft (492 meters); and Shanghai Tower, designed by the American firm Gensler, has an announced height of 2073 ft (632 meters), which will make it the tallest building in China and the second tallest in the world. Typical of these Shanghai towers, as well as those being built today throughout Asia and the Mideast, is a mixed-use program that includes a commercial base, zones of offices, residences or luxury hotels, and restaurants and observation desks on the top floors. The concept of the structure as a “vertical city†is often invoked–offering parallels to early twentieth-century visions of New York as the city of the future.

Sustainable skyscraper design seems an oxymoron to some, but as the exhibition argues, high-rises and high density–in conjunction with mass transit–is a logical strategy for greener cities. The city’s most advanced high-performance design planned to date is the double-glass curtain wall of the Shanghai Tower, which will encircle eight stacked 15-story segments with atrium spaces and sky gardens soaring the full height of the 128-story structure. “Better City, Better Life,†calls out Shanghai’s emphasis on sustainable design as the slogan for the 2010 Expo, which will open May 1, 2010. The exhibition illustrates the Expo in plans, photographs, and a Crystal CG animation of the site and pavilions that emphasizes Shanghai’s self-image as the city of the future.

Three major approaches to urban planning and design are evident in Shanghai today and illustrated in the exhibition. In the historic core Puxi, high-rise commercial and residential development proceeds by razing individual sites or whole low-rise neighborhoods in a patchwork process–either for single skyscrapers or for major mixed-use projects on a mega-block, such as Plaza 66 and the future Jing An complex. The second, radically different approach governs the growth of Pudong, the expansive new area of development on the east side of the Huangpu River, a district that extends to the East China Sea and covers 200 square miles (about half the size of New York’s five boroughs). The name Pudong is commonly used as shorthand for the concentrated skyscraper district, Lujiazui, the Finance and Trade Zone that has developed as Shanghai’s new center for international business. Stimulated by the government’s master plan in 1990, towers have grown as fast as bamboo on land that was principally agricultural or industrial waterfront. Lujiazui, an area the same size (and, indeed, shape) as lower Manhattan, now boasts more than three dozen skyscrapers of 40+ stories, including the 88-story Jin Mao and the 101-story Shanghai World Financial Center. The premise of the Pudong master plan requires open green space surrounding the towers and broad axial avenues that privilege cars over pedestrians. The result is a tower-in-the-park approach that stands in stark contrast to the dense, street-oriented development of Puxi. Historic preservation and adaptive re-use is the third approach to urban planning and design now being practiced in Shanghai. Featured examples in the exhibition are Xintiandi and the North Bund development, Rockbund.

Futurism and Vertical Cities: New York, Hong Kong, and Shanghai

The scale and speed of Shanghai’s rise reproduces and even surpasses Manhattan’s historic ascent in the early twentieth century. As the world’s largest city in 1930, New York boasted a population of 7 million and nearly 200 skyscrapers–more than all other cities combined at that time. Today, as high-rises proliferate everywhere, Hong Kong holds the title with 7,200. Still ascending, though, Shanghai is surely China’s prophecy of the urban future.

It is possible to buy prints from the exhibition’s Shanghai photographs here at ImageKind.

Shanghai Sideways.

// May 26th, 2009 // No Comments » // China, Videography

Shanghai Sideways: On a Changjiang Motor Bike! from MK Media Productions on Vimeo.

www.shanghaisideways.com

Discover Shanghai from a sideways look, seated in the side-car of a classic motorbike.

Enjoy an incredible cruise through the city and avoid traffic jams. We make you feel the pulse of this fast changing city and take you from modern Shanghais futuristic look to the heart of the 1920s French Concession. Tours follow a ready-made route or tailor-made to suit your interest.

With Shanghai Sideways, you enjoy the company of a foreign guide and driver who is a long term Shanghai resident. Although our classic motorbikes are antics, they all are perfectly maintained and monitored to guarantee your comfort and safety.

Version 0.3.

Shot with a Sony Cinealta PMW EX1 and edited in After Effects and Final Cut Pro.

Unfinished Business.

// February 21st, 2009 // No Comments » // Videography

Sex And The City: The Movie or How To Destroy 6 Seasons in 148 Minutes.

// August 18th, 2008 // 2 Comments » // DVD, Reviews, Videography

Marriage makes you do things you never thought you’d do. Like watching TV series such as Sex And The City or Desperate Housewives. But, as it is normal in a relationship, you compromise. My wife watches testosterone filled action movies with me every once in a while and I watch female movies that make me want to rip my eyes and ears out in return.

But I’d be lying if I’d say that I didn’t enjoy Sex And The City.

10 minutes or so into the first episode of the very first season, I was tempted to stand up and throw myself out of the window. But as we continued with the second and third episode, I slowly started to like it and to got rid of my hate. If you look over the boring fashion stuff in the series - as a man, of course - it’s quite an interesting show with more and more deep characters. And you can learn oh so much about women, seriously, it’s helpful.

Over the seasons, all the characters are faced with realistic problems and their friendship gets them through it. While it’s sometimes too american with all the emotions and stuff, it keeps on getting better and bigger, introducing more and more characters and poking fun at a lot of things. One episode, where Carrie has to fix her Mac even got me laughing real hard… Well done.

So, when the DVD with the movie finally got out in Shanghai two days ago, I immediately bought it and watched it that very same night with my wife, who had been looking forward to see it since I teased her with the first released trailer.

During the opening credits, I already got a bad feeling. They actually tried to introduce the most important characters of the show in two minutes or so, showing some snapshots of the seasons - but not really telling anything at all. You got the names, alright. But try to explain Samantha in 25 seconds. Her character is way too complex to be explained in that short amount of time. Or the hardships that Charlotte or Miranda went through in those six great seasons.

Wouldn’t it have been better to just say nothing, so that people who don’t know the series at all can build their own idea of them?

And then, this dump of a story started. Carrie wants to marry Mister Big, Mister Big wants to marry Carrie… And on the wedding day, Mr. Big doesn’t get out of his car? And Carrie leaves him? Huh? What did just happen?

Right there, after that scene, we should have taken the DVD out and burned it on the spot. But we didn’t, we continued to watch the movie and watched how it destroyed all the things the series build up in such a long time. Now it is one thing to have a bad story. But to change characters completely to get some dramatic story line going is just way out of borders. It’s not fair towards the fans.

Why in the hell would Mr. Big not get out of the car? The whole series, he has been the one chasing Carrie, he was the one who always knew exactly what he wanted and how to get it. Carrie would maybe not get out of the car, but Mister Big? Are you kidding me?

Well, from then on, everything felt fake. And characters like Harry, who were really cool in the series, were completely left out and got like 5 scenes totally. What the hell. But I guess to show a horny dog eff the hell out of pillows is funnier.

But the very worst of it all is that they actually pulled off to show the ending of the movie, that’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve seen this year so far. I wont spoil it, but damn, Hollywood. It’s an insult to anyone with a IQ over 50.

Director and writer Michael Patrick King really managed to mess everything up in 148 minutes. It’s a mystery to me why they accepted this screenplay in the first place and why they didn’t let Darren Star, the TV series writer, edit it. But I guess all the brands featured in the movie payed really well and none of the actors are getting any younger…

Let’s just hope they don’t make a second movie, as the rumors tell…

Shanghai crippled by Olympia.

// August 4th, 2008 // 1 Comment » // China, DVD, Shanghai

My brother’s in town during his summer vacation, and that was reason enough to visit a fake market yesterday. He wants to stock up on some nice things. We went to the nearest one on Nanjing road, but were shocked to learn that Olympia has reached even to there. No watches available. No DVD’s. No fake iPhones. Nada.

Of course, they have insane amounts of faked T-Shirts and other cheap stuff, but it felt liked a half-hearted fake market. And the shop keepers seemed kind of silent - I was asked to ‘looky looky’ only three times, and we spend almost an hour there. Weird. Really weird. And police! We passed police guys like three or four times. The security seems rather strong there at the moment, too.

So we only bought half of what we wanted, we didn’t find any fake Nike shoes (what!), only these fugly Crocs everywhere and 90’s Converse sneakers. Back to the future, baby. I wonder what the shopkeepers eat during Olympia, their income will probably be pretty low.

Then we went to two different DVD stores, while I really want that new Angelina Jolie movie WANTED my brother wanted some TV-series. WANTED is out on the net as a downloadable DVD image, so I was pretty sure that the stores would have a DVD-9 already. Wrong.

They told me that until after Olympia, there will be no new movies arriving. None.

And last week, I went to a pharmacy to buy some stomach ache fighting medicine for my wife which I had bought there before, only to learn that you now need to go to the hospital to buy certain kinds of medication - ‘until Olympia is finished’.

Damn. I never thought that this 800 kilometer far away event would ever really ‘touch’ my life in some way. But it does. Not in a good way.

Grand Theft Auto IV sucks.

// July 15th, 2008 // 10 Comments » // Reviews, Technology

Yesterday night, I finally managed to finish the last mission. I’m now 70-something percent through the game, only having side missions and other stuff left. But I’m not gonna play that anymore. I am so damn bored from the game!

I’ve played GTA. GTA II. GTA III. Vice City. San Andreas. I enjoyed them all, except San Andreas, and after reading some reviews of GTA 4 it became clear that I would love it. And I did, for the first three days or so. I really enjoyed driving around Liberty City in 1080P Full HD listening to cool radio stations in Dolby Digital with awesome music and all.

Don’t get me wrong, visually the game is absolutely gorgeous, the best there is at the moment probably, the radio stations are great as always… There’s only one problem, and that’s a big one: The missions are so boring. So unbelievable boring.

They keep repeating themselves too much. GTA 3 and Vice City had missions that rocked so hard, they were always different and tough but yet manageable. GTA 4 has some cool missions, the bank robbery for example, or the last one. But 95% of the missions are in the end like this: You drive 5 minutes to the contact mission point. Then you drive 5 minutes to point A to pick something up. Then you drive 5 more minutes to bring it to point B. Then you drive 5 minutes back to the contact mission point for the next mission. And so on.

C’mon! One helicopter mission with shooting? And I don’t even shoot myself? Where are the tanks, the military? Why is there no mission to blow up a landing or starting airplane? Why do I only fly that idiot Brucie around all the time? Why are there 50 car pick-up missions that take hours to complete and that are not different at all?

Do young people nowadays enjoy simply driving through huge digital cities all the time?

And the police is a goddamn joke in this part. One star is like no star. Two stars are easy to get rid off, too. Three stars? Just drive fast on a long street. Four or five stars? Get to a paint shop. Boring! Too easy!

And then there’s some five missions that are so unbelievable difficult that you wonder who the hell made them and why he didn’t invent all of them. The best mission anyway, in any GTA game, was the golf club mission in GTA 3. That mission was difficult, funny, challenging, rememberable, it could be solved in different ways… Now that was a mission that you’ll never forget. I’ll remember GTA 4 as the game where I had to drive around 95% of the playing time. And that’s just sad, isn’t it?

You failed to impress me, Rockstar. Sorry. It’s great to see that you’re using all the technology to create these wonderful, colorful, vivd worlds for players - but next time, increase the budget for those who develop missions. Then it’ll be truly great.

Digg this review.

Awesome: Film Geek Graffiti!

// March 23rd, 2008 // No Comments » // Videography

The website /film has collected quite an amount of graffiti containing movies… Some of them are a bit crazy, why other just rock:

If you look around the streets, you’ll sometimes find film geek graffiti. Here is a collection of some of the better street art we have come across around the interwebs.

Here is my favorite.

Review: CJ7.

// March 10th, 2008 // 2 Comments » // Reviews, Videography

Stephen Chow gained international fans with his last two movies, namely Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle - especially teenage fans and people in their twenties. CJ7 is his attempt to gain access to a even younger audience, as it really is a children movie - what a pity!

To be brutally honest, CJ7 is Chow’s more crazy interpretation of Disney’s Blubber or Flubber or whatever the name of that Robin Williams comedy was. Of course CJ7 features a more asian humor, but it’s way more family-friendly than his previous works. Chow plays a poor construction site worker named Ti, alone with his son. To provide a better future for his child, he spends every cent earned for an expensive private school for him. No money is left for toys, but lucky Ti finds a big gum ball on a trash site while searching for goods in the middle of the night. This ‘toy’ eventually finds his way into the hands of his boy, who is even able to ‘activate’ it into an cute alien being - chaos and fun start.

The biggest problem this movie has is it’s running time: Just when the movie is about to find it’s right pace and speed, it’s already over. It takes too long for CJ7 to finally appear alive and kicking on the screen, and Chow makes too little use of the lovely thing in various scenes. There are maybe three jokes that make you laugh out loud, but mostly you will just giggle here and there a bit. It’s a little bit funny to see Chow quote his own older movies every once in a while, but isn’t it also a bit too early for that? In 2010, Kung Fu Hustle 2 is supposed to be released - by then, most of us will have already forgotten about CJ7…

Conclusion: Too short, too childish fun. ** out of *****.

综述： cj7 。

// March 10th, 2008 // No Comments » // Reviews, Videography

周星驰获得国际歌迷与他的上两部影片，分别是少林足çƒå’ŒåŠŸå¤«-尤其是å几å²çš„歌迷和人民在二å多å²ã€‚ cj7是他ä¼å›¾èŽ·å¾—更年轻的观众，因为它的确是一个儿童电影-真是éžå¸¸å¯æƒœï¼

被残酷地诚实， cj7是议员的更加疯狂的解释，迪士尼的blubber或flubber或其他任何å义表示，罗宾å¨å»‰æ–¯å–œå‰§æ˜¯ã€‚ 当然cj7具有更多的亚洲幽默，但它的方å¼æ›´åŠ å…³çˆ±å®¶åº­ï¼Œæ¯”他以往的作å“。 周扮演一个贫穷的地盘工人，命å为钛，å•ç‹¬ä¸Žä»–çš„å„¿å­ã€‚ 为了æ供一个更美好的将æ¥ï¼Œä»–çš„å­©å­ï¼Œä»–所花的æ¯ä¸€åˆ†é’±éƒ½èŽ·å¾—了一个昂贵的ç§äººå­¦æ ¡ä¸ºä»–的。 没有钱，是留给玩具，但幸è¿çš„钛认定一个大胶çƒä¸Šçš„垃圾站点，åŒæ—¶å¯»æ‰¾ç‰©å“，在åŠå¤œæ—¶åˆ†ã€‚ è¿™’玩具’ ，最终认定其进入交给他的男孩，更是无法’激活’ ，它æˆä¸ºä¸€ä¸ªå¯çˆ±çš„外星人正-混沌与ä¹è¶£çš„开始。

最大的问题，这部电影已是它的è¿è¡Œæ—¶é—´ï¼šå½“电影是找到它的正确å‘展步ä¼å’Œé€Ÿåº¦ï¼Œå®ƒå·²ç»ç»“æŸäº†ã€‚ 需时太久，为cj7终于出现活ç€ï¼Œå¹¶è„šè¸¢åœ¨å±å¹•ä¸Šï¼Œå’Œå‘¨ä»¤å¤ªå°‘，使用的，å¯çˆ±çš„东西，在ä¸åŒçš„场景。 有å¯èƒ½æ˜¯ä¸‰ä¸ªå¼€çŽ©ç¬‘说，让你笑出æ¥ï¼Œä½†å¤§å¤šåªéœ€å°†ä»¥æ­¤å˜²ç¬‘这里有ä¸æ¯«åŠ¨æ‘‡ã€‚ 这有点æžç¬‘，看看周引述他自己的旧电影，æ¯ä¸€æ¬¡åœ¨ä¸€æ—¶ï¼Œä½†ï¼Œæ˜¯ä¸æ˜¯ä¹Ÿæœ‰ç‚¹å¤ªæ—©æ˜¯ä»€ä¹ˆï¼Ÿ 在2010年，功夫二是能得到释放-届时，我们大多数人已ç»å¿˜è®°äº†c j7…

结论：时间太短了，太幼稚好玩。 **走出*****.