"Valentine"

When I first heard Vanessa Tan play Kina Grannis's "Valentine", I was reminded of how much adored that song, followed by a realization that my speakers were already maxed out and I wasn't going to get much more volume out of it. Well, you can probably guess what I did next. Let's just say that Vanessa was as excited about producing a video as I was.

Credits

Director of Photography: Steve Tan
Lighting: Justin Lam
Camera Operator: Justin Lam, Steve Tan
Musician: Vanessa Tan
Sound Design: Steve Tan
Editor: Steve Tan

 STing does AC/DC

First off, my wife and I have a "couples nickname": Steve + Ting = STing. And in case you couldn't tell, Ting Lin and I are Rock Band geeks. We love playing that game and we'll try just about anything to hijack extras to fill out our band for Rock Band nights.

A couple weeks before our wedding (Summer 2010), we came up with this crazy idea to do a fake rock video with our plastic peripherals. Inspired by our pre-bridal photos by our close friend Eric Tuason, we set out for the same location to do some shooting of our own. Ting was able to shoot after a little coaching, and Eric helped us complete the remainder of the shots on the second day. Add a little colour grading, and just like that, we're (fake) rock stars.

Credits

Director of Photography: Steve Tan
Camera Operator: Eric Tuason, Steve Tan, Ting Lin
Music: AC/DC
Sound Design: Steve Tan
Editor: Steve Tan

 Casie Loves Terence Like This

I've known Casie for years, but I didn't quite know what to expect when I pitched my first music video re-make to her as a pre-bridal project. I'm sure glad that both she and Terence got as enthusiastic about it as I did, because at the time, this projects let me explore a bunch of creative techniques I've been dying to try. During their wedding reception, everyone loved it so much they were jokingly teased to do a live show.

Credits

Director of Photography: Steve Tan
Camera Operator: Steve Tan
Music: Natasha Beddingfield
Sound Design: Steve Tan
Editor: Steve Tan

Special Thanks: Casie and Terence

 Being With Him

Kathi Reid's music video was my very first attempt to satisfy my desires to do music videos. I first met Kathi when she played live for a charity event in late 2009. Although her music was catchy, she was so full of joy while she performed that it was absolutely enchanting. This video was an exploratory exercise for us all; and although it was meant to be simple, I knew I had to properly convey how happy she was when she played.

Credits

Art Direction: Steve Johnston, Steve Tan
Director of Photography: Steve Tan
Camera Operator: Steve Tan
Music: Kathi Reid
Sound Design: Steve Tan
Editor: Steve Tan

 Live at the Roxy

Eric Tuason and I got a chance to try our hands at live music when local band Blackburn proposed their video project idea. It gave us a chance to experience what it's like to film a live band, along with all the other nuances of club performances. I also got the chance to do multi-camera edits again. I usually jump at the chance whenever I can since it doesn't happen too often – I usually film everything myself on a single camera.

Credits

Director of Photography: Steve Tan
Camera Operator: Eric Tuason, Steve Tan
Music: Blackburn
Sound Design: Steve Tan
Editor: Steve Tan