Misselaineous

(My writings on Yahoo! ID—English Version)

The phone rang in the middle of the event. Philip reached his pocket then said, “Oh, Sorry, I should just turn off my phone like you guys do”. “No one would call you, you are in Indonesia!” said Wes. Obviously, it was one of the Audience’s phone, not Philip’s.

These two funny and nice guys charmed the audience during their one hour event in XXI Epicentrum, Jakarta. They are Philip Wang and Wesley Chan, who are well known as Wong Fu Productions, the filmmakers from California, United States who use viral media to reach millions of viewers across the globe, YouTube.

The guys showcased some of their works during their event in XXI Epicentrum Walk, Kuningan, Jakarta. They started by showing their past works which consist of two short movies and one music video. The first short movie was Kung-Fooled, a comedy short featuring some of the YouTube personalities: Freddy Wong, Ryan Higa, Nathan Moore, Brandon Laatsch and De Storm. The idea of the story was actually to mock the stereotype among the Americans that Asian Americans are good in martial arts. The audience seems to cheer and gave applause when they saw Ryan Higa on the big screen. Yup, Ryan Higa was the number 1 most subscribed YouTube personality worldwide with more than 5 Million subscribers.

Second short movie was “Shell”, a short which was featured in Seoul International Extreme-Short Image and Film Festival 2011. The short was written and directed by Wesley Chan and Produced with Philip Wang. Focusing on the conversation between two people, Chris Dinh and Mimi Chao, according to Wesley on the Director commentaries, the central idea of this short is “What if we could remember things we didn’t experience”. A breathtaking cinematography grabbed the audience attention to the screen. After two short-movies, it’s time to watch a Music Video: Wang Lee Hom’s Still in Love with You. Wong Fu Productions had an opportunity to work with Wang Lee Hom in Taiwan to produce this Music Video. In their interview with Yahoo! Indonesia before the event, they said that they are really grateful to have a chance to work with Lee Hom.

(My interview w/ @wongfupro —English Version)

On Sunday 26^th February 2012, Jakarta will host a group which is well known as a YouTube Sensation from the United States. Wong Fu Profuctions which consists of Philip Wang, Wesley Chan and Ted Fu will be visiting Jakarta as a part of their South East Asia and Australia Tour. From making videos for fun in YouTube to their achievement of making shot movies which were shown in Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, San Diego Asian Film Festival and the prestigious Cannes Film Festival, Wong Fu Productions’ success often inspired a lot of youth to pursue their passion and doing what they enjoy to do. This trio will hold an event in XXI Epicentrum Walk, Kuningan on Sunday.

This Morning, Thursday 23^rd February 2012, Yahoo! Indonesia had a chance to talk to Philip Wang and Wesley Chan from Wong Fu Productions.

Yahoo: From making videos for fun and put them on YouTube to the decision to pursue your passion in this field and taking it seriously, what make you decided to pursue this career?

Philip: It happened very gradually, so there was never really a point where we made this very big decision to go and do this. We started this in college and the fan base started growing very naturally and very gradually. It took many years for us to get where we are now and I think the main reason why we kept it going is because of the fans were such great supporters. The fan base was there and they wanted to see more from us and they just give more reasons for us to make new short films and new projects, so we just kept it going.

Yahoo: Is this gonna be your first time visiting Indonesia?

Phil: Yup

Wesley: I was there when I was maybe like 8 years old. So it’s been a long time. I remember riding on the bike with the seats at the back. I remember getting around a lot on those.

Yahoo: David Choi and AJ Rafael had performed in Indonesia, did they tell you anything about Indonesia?

Wesley: I talked to David Choi and he said the food in Indonesia was really good.

Yahoo: You had a chance to work with Asian superstar, Wang Lee Hom; What is it like to work with him?

Philip: We were very surprised that he reached out to us. We didn’t think that he watched our videos. So when we got his request to work together and shoot his video we were really surprise and also kind of nervous. We don’t wanna mess up. He’s basically the biggest celebrity we’ve ever worked with. He was easy to work with, he was very funny and very down to earth. So we are very grateful.

Wesley: He’s also very very professional. I guess it makes sense.

Yahoo: Strangers, Again resulting in the high number of viewers: 8 Million—and counting. How do you think the response from the audience?

Philip: I didn’t expect it to be as popular as it is. I’m glad that it reached so many people. I hope that it had more positive effect than negative effect. But I think, just by the numbers of viewers in the video, most people can relate to it. And I’m glad it’s been able to be a part of some people’s life.

Yahoo: I found a really interesting quote in your website, “If at the end of the day there’s someone out there who has a better day because of us, then we’ve succeeded”. Is it your definition of success? And has it been accomplished?

Philip: Haha.. I kind of curious.. where did you find that quote from?

Yahoo: It’s from your website and Wikipedia. (Actually it was from Wong Fu Productions’ website before it got rebuilt—in the “about us” section, it is written in Wikipedia too as Wong Fu’s motto)

Philip: Ooohh… yes, it’s interesting, we had that in our website for a while. Actually when we initially started, we said that to people because we did believe that we just wanna reach people with our work and have people enjoy what we do. And I think that’s something that we still don’t take for granted at all, we are very very glad that we’ve been able to inspire so many people and be a part of people’s life, even its just like a little video once in a while, I think that, in some sense, that is a level of success that we’re proud of that we have reached so many people and I hope that we can continue to do so.

Yahoo: How do you see South East Asian market for ISA concert? Do you have any plan to bring International Secret Agents concert to South East Asia?

Wesley: We’ve been thinking about it for a while. We definitely know that the enthusiasm and support are there, because we hear all fans ask that. Even when we went to Malaysia the most popular question was to bring ISA out there. It’s not whether us wanting it or not, we definitely want to, it’s just because the time and resources right now, because we’re focusing on ISATV website and trying to do some more concerts in the states first, it’s just a huge huge task to bring the whole acts to Asia. But we’ll do it for sure.

Wait. From 2 of the pictures below, they kinda look the same, huh?

Kev and Wes. Ah! That white sunglasses! LOL.

“She says she wants to be a raindrop. She doesn’t mind falling. As long as she’s not alone. Raindrops, are never alone.”

“Her words however sweet, or real, sounds so destined. Now they flow past me effortlessly, as if, they were meant for someone else. “

“If you hold my hand, I’ll be yours forever. A simple promise. That’s all I can offer.”