Jakob Montrasio’s Net.

SHANGDOWN: THE WAY OF THE SPUR - Teaser Trailer

// July 4th, 2010 // No Comments » // Videography

Please enjoy the teaser trailer from my first feature film:

You may also view it in high definition on the Facebook fan page of SHANGDOWN.

SHANGDOWN: DON’T DIE UNTIL LATER - Teaser Poster

// June 10th, 2010 // 1 Comment » // People's Republic of China, Photography, Photography - Shanghai, Videography

The teaser poster for my new feature film, a martial arts spaghetti western in modern Shanghai.
Check here on Facebook for updates: Shangdown: Don’t Die Until Later

Enjoy It While It Lasts.

// June 5th, 2010 // 9 Comments » // People's Republic of China, Photography, Photography - Shanghai, Shanghai World Expo 2010

There were more people visiting the Expo today than there are people in my hometown! o_0

Jakarta: THE BIG DURIAN video now online (NSFW).

// April 25th, 2010 // 2 Comments » // Videography

I was hired to shoot a party video for the website Global Nanpa at the end of March, not in Shanghai, but in Jakarta, Indonesia. Not hesitating a second I took the job, as it’s still rare that I get offered jobs outside the country - and I love to travel and see other places. Here is the result of three crazy days in the super humid country - it’s also the first video that I ever shot that I’d label not safe for work, haha!

Hotel Borobudur, Jakarta.

// April 7th, 2010 // 1 Comment » // Photography

In March, I spend three days in Jakarta, shooting a video for a popular website… More about that when the video is online. I also went around a bit and took photos, hopefully I can find some time to edit them in the coming weeks. Indonesia is definitely worth a trip! Only the security checks everywhere are insanely annoying…

Babymatic: Emily Fan Montrasio

// April 2nd, 2010 // 1 Comment » // Videography

A babymatic of our daughter Emily Fan Montrasio. She was born in cold January 2010 in Shanghai, China, with a weight of 2750 grams and a length of 48 centimeter. A babymatic is a cinematic baby short film.

If Vimeo is slow for you, try YouTube:

If you are in China, you can see it on Tudou:

“Nuit Blanche”

// February 23rd, 2010 // 2 Comments » // Videography

Once or twice per year I stumble upon a video or a film that captures me with it’s magic, that inspires me, that makes me want to become a filmmaker. Nuite Blanche is such a video.

I am speechless. This short deserves awards, lots of them. It’s perfectly smooth, everything about it is done well (the lighting! the costumes! the actors!) and it gives me goosebumps even the fourth time I watch it.

Well done, Mister Arev Manoukian, well done.

Update:

The Making Of. Now I’m even more blown away. Holy shit is this well produced.

Bamboo.

// February 22nd, 2010 // 2 Comments » // People's Republic of China, Photography

Anji produces 12 million commercial bamboo poles annually, ranking first nationwide. It also has China’s largest bamboo nursery. The Anji Bamboo Garden is acknowledged by scholars within and outside China as containing the widest variety of bamboo to be found. It was formerly a bamboo grove research base that combined scientific research with teaching, and has received many foreign experts and scholars and officials from the International Network for Bamboo and Rattan. (Wikipedia)

Movies like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon or House Of The Flying Daggers were partly shot here.

The hellish birth of an beautiful angel.

// February 7th, 2010 // 12 Comments » // Moments, People's Republic of China

Emily Fan Montrasio
* 2010/01/23 at 4 a.m.

I am writing this negative experience down to leave it behind me, to forget about and to go on, to enjoy the new life with my sweet little daughter. I am also writing it down as a warning for other foreigners, expats and Chinese people who are having a baby in Shanghai or somewhere else in China.

Never ever have your baby in a Chinese hospital.

It simply has been the worst experience in my life. I am not exaggerating. It didn’t look bad in the beginning, when it seemed really comfortable to have a hospital nearby your home. Not when we heard the price, which was a quarter of what foreign hospital charge. Not when we saw the equipment, which was modern.

But once the actual delivery of the baby started, all that went to hell in just three days.
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The Lupu Bridge Arcs.

// November 8th, 2009 // 1 Comment » // People's Republic of China, Photography, Photography - Shanghai

The Lupu Bridge (simplified Chinese: 卢浦大桥; traditional Chinese: 盧浦大橋; pinyin: Lúpǔ Dàqiáo), in Shanghai, China, is the world’s longest arch bridge. The 2.5 billion yuan (US$302 million), 3,900-meter (12,795 ft) bridge was opened on June 28, 2003. Its main span of 550 meters (1,804 ft) over the Huangpu River is 32 meters (105 ft) longer than the previous recordholder, the New River Gorge Bridge in the Fayetteville, West Virginia, United States.

The name of the bridge, Lupu, is an abbreviation of the two districts of Shanghai which it links - Luwan District on the north bank, and Pudong New District on the south bank. This follows the naming convention of the three earlier bridges on the Huangpu River - Nanpu (Nanshi-Pudong), Yangpu (Yangpu-Pudong), and Xupu (Xuhui-Pudong).

During the hearings and evaluations of the construction of the bridge, scholars and experts agreed with the local government in that a bridge was indeed needed for further development, but that was where the similarity ended. The experts have continuously advocated the local government on alternative designs that cost much less and produce the same result, but the local government, under the reign of disgraced mayor Chen Liangyu, decided against the advice to select the current arch bridge design. The reason was simply because for the cheaper alternative bridge designs, there were already such bridges in Shanghai, and the arch bridge design not only provided a first for the city of this design, but also enabled the city to claim a world record for being the longest. Critics point out that such showpiece project is the proof of the city officials’ superficiality, and ignored the real need of the city, causing the city and its residents to pay much more and much longer in the long run to recover the investment cost.

Yao Ming, the Chinese-born NBA basketball player, ran among the first group to cross the bridge during the opening ceremony.

The top of the west tower is open for visitors, with access from ground level by elevator then along and up the north east arch to the viewing platform at the top. Most of the time a guide will accompany you. (And maybe a security guard as well.) From the top you can see the development underway for the expo site on both sides of the river.

Source: Wikipedia