On this September 2010 issue, bandwidth featured Jason J. Bullah on its magazine. An exclusive interview was done by Arthur Lee the editor and owner of Bandwidth Steet Press Magazine. Tampasak Production would like to extend their thanks to Arthur Lee for the interview and helping out in promoting Tampasak Production and Jason J. Bullah
Some screen shot from the bandwidth magazine
Here is the link to the online copy of the magazine.
The Interview
BANDWIDTH: How did filming started for you.
JASON: This was really funny to start off with. When I was in high school, I never really thought about it. I just love watching movies and I am a TV-freak last time. I remembered when I was in form 1, a friend of mine Clement Jaikul Jr. often talked about movies and filming stuff. Never really bothered about filming stuff though back then, but I always like to be the one who holds my dad's video camera (that time it was huge) and started recording people around me. But ended up having wobbly videos (more like Blair Witch Project kinda style)..Then I went to Australia, I met few international friends there and one of them who really pursued cinematography was Putra Arradin. He's one of the top directors in Indonesia now. Still I am not interested in filming but still going to the movies a lot. But back in Kota Kinabalu, one day my wife (but at that time we were not married yet) asked me if I could do a music video for her sister Saldivianna Wences. So I said, I don't know, I do have the basics though but never really tried doing it solo. So I gave it a try equipped with a BenQ digital camera, a laptop and create a music video. The result of course is not that good, but on that very time, it got me thinking, "hey I can do this"...So I think that's where it all started.
BANDWIDTH: Filming wise - who's your inspiration?
JASON: I can't say who's my inspiration because there are lots of good movies out there and good directors. I never really sit down and watch the credit roll till the end to know the name of the director. But at the very early age I do know Steven Spielberg. Heheheh. But to say he's my inspiration, I am not really sure if it is in the context of he's behind the reason for me to start filming.
BANDWIDTH: You shot Esther Applunius and Andalusia's music video this year and last year, what was the feeling?
JASON: To be honest..IT WAS AMAZING!!. (laugh) I got to say, I can't believe that I was given the trust and opportunities to shot Esther Applunius' and Andalusia's music video. At the back of my head that time, I said to myself, these artists have made their marks and they are MALAYSIAN Artist already. I felt a bit hesitated that time because of the equipments that I had compared to professional full-blown production company. I was not that confident if I could give the best results to them. Mind you, when I shot Andalusia's music video, it was only using HD Sony Handycam. But I guess, it was the editing and concept that really brings out the magic. As for Esther's, I was really nervous because I didn't know what she would expect and to be honest, first time I heard her voice, I knew that she's a perfectionist and that really scares the hell out of me.
BANDWIDTH. Apart from directing music videos, you do videography services in KK as well, tell us more about that..
JASON: Yes. Actually that wasn't part of the plan. I just wanted to do music videos and cinematography, but I had few requests for wedding video services, events and also offline editing so I go along with it. Especially wedding videos, I did a wedding mv, which has this sort of cinematography feel incorporated into that video. It is not a normal wedding videos but I just go for it and create it. At first my client is not really sure about it. It was my wife's client actually but I managed to convince the couple to give it a go. So they go for it and they love it. Apart from that I do events coverage and also offline editing.
BANDWIDTH: Tampasak Production, tell us about it..
JASON: Well Tampasak Production came about when I was trying to look for my production name. I do not want to put my name on my work, so I had to find something for my production name. To be honest, I was a chat freak as well last time, so i go by the nickname of Tampasak. Tampasak is the name of my kampung in Tambunan. (Before Tambunanites going to say "There is no kampung tampasak registered in Tambunan) It is actually where my grandparent's house is in Tambunan. The name of that place is Tampasak. So I kinda like that name so I just put Tampasak Production. I know it is not as glamourous or commercial but I like it...
BANDWIDTH: Any intentions on doing up a movie?
JASON: Hahahha...man, you really know what to ask..hahha...yerp of course. I wanted to be the first Sabahan to break away from the normal typical movies that we see around here. You see, the differences between Americans and the rest of the world excluding India, Thailand, Indonesia, Hong Kong is that, they produce movie for the purpose of making money. Now I am not saying that I am going to do this because of the money, of course who doesn't like money right? But you see, they put their emphasis on making it marketable up to the point where they can produce something out from the extraordinary. Look at Bollywood, of course as a child I hate hindi movie but look at the new generations of movies produced by Bollywood, the cinematography is excellent. So instead of putting too much on art appreciation and theatre style of acting and all, I wanted to break away from all the common genres I've seen around locally. So I wanted to do something different this time around. In fact I have just called few people to sit down with me and make this project work. Mind you, even the actors and actresses will not be someone that Malaysia are familiar with. I wanted to be like what happen to the movie "My big fat greek wedding" All the casts are unknown or not famous at all.
BANDWIDTH: Do you think we get much support by the government in terms of independent filming?
JASON:It's hard to say, because in the past, we are not that exposed in terms of financial and non-financial support or maybe I’ve been living in my own world. (laugh) But my honest opinion is many of the independent filmmakers, go through their own separate ways and the only proper channel that we have here is TV1. Most telemovies that we've seen here are produced by independent companies and it is not that well commercialized just yet. I don't know, maybe I am wrong. But as far as I am concerned, there is no full-scale movie done by a Sabahan and featured in cinema. I might be wrong in my judgment but i guess since the FFM22 which was held in Sabah, becomes the eye opener for many Sabahans who wanted to jump into this industry and it can be a turn around point for the independent filming industry here locally.
BANDWIDTH: Any advice for filmmakers wannabes?
JASON: Be persistent and put pride in your work. Do not go around back stabbing people. Of course in reality it is a "dog eat dog" world but always remember KARMA. If it is an expert that criticized you, LISTEN and if non-expert criticized you, HEAR IT.
BANDWIDTH: What's in store for Jason J Bullah in the near future?
JASON: I wanted to focus on cinematography because I am really excited with this new idea I have. I wanted to make it a reality. I do not know if FINAS will ever let it go through, but usually creating something out of the extraordinary and breaking away from the common movies seems to be the way of how great movies were made. I wanted to give it a try and see to what extend that I am able to reach with whatever support that I have from my family and friends.
JASON: This was really funny to start off with. When I was in high school, I never really thought about it. I just love watching movies and I am a TV-freak last time. I remembered when I was in form 1, a friend of mine Clement Jaikul Jr. often talked about movies and filming stuff. Never really bothered about filming stuff though back then, but I always like to be the one who holds my dad's video camera (that time it was huge) and started recording people around me. But ended up having wobbly videos (more like Blair Witch Project kinda style)..Then I went to Australia, I met few international friends there and one of them who really pursued cinematography was Putra Arradin. He's one of the top directors in Indonesia now. Still I am not interested in filming but still going to the movies a lot. But back in Kota Kinabalu, one day my wife (but at that time we were not married yet) asked me if I could do a music video for her sister Saldivianna Wences. So I said, I don't know, I do have the basics though but never really tried doing it solo. So I gave it a try equipped with a BenQ digital camera, a laptop and create a music video. The result of course is not that good, but on that very time, it got me thinking, "hey I can do this"...So I think that's where it all started.
BANDWIDTH: Filming wise - who's your inspiration?
JASON: I can't say who's my inspiration because there are lots of good movies out there and good directors. I never really sit down and watch the credit roll till the end to know the name of the director. But at the very early age I do know Steven Spielberg. Heheheh. But to say he's my inspiration, I am not really sure if it is in the context of he's behind the reason for me to start filming.
BANDWIDTH: Name us your favorite directors and influences.
JASON: I loved to see the works from Peter Jackson (LOTR), Wilson Yip (Ip Man), Michael Bay (Transformers) and the latest are Prachya Pinkaew (Ong Bak), Putra Arradin (Commercials/TVC), A. Gandy (Music Video Directors)BANDWIDTH: You shot Esther Applunius and Andalusia's music video this year and last year, what was the feeling?
JASON: To be honest..IT WAS AMAZING!!. (laugh) I got to say, I can't believe that I was given the trust and opportunities to shot Esther Applunius' and Andalusia's music video. At the back of my head that time, I said to myself, these artists have made their marks and they are MALAYSIAN Artist already. I felt a bit hesitated that time because of the equipments that I had compared to professional full-blown production company. I was not that confident if I could give the best results to them. Mind you, when I shot Andalusia's music video, it was only using HD Sony Handycam. But I guess, it was the editing and concept that really brings out the magic. As for Esther's, I was really nervous because I didn't know what she would expect and to be honest, first time I heard her voice, I knew that she's a perfectionist and that really scares the hell out of me.
BANDWIDTH. Apart from directing music videos, you do videography services in KK as well, tell us more about that..
JASON: Yes. Actually that wasn't part of the plan. I just wanted to do music videos and cinematography, but I had few requests for wedding video services, events and also offline editing so I go along with it. Especially wedding videos, I did a wedding mv, which has this sort of cinematography feel incorporated into that video. It is not a normal wedding videos but I just go for it and create it. At first my client is not really sure about it. It was my wife's client actually but I managed to convince the couple to give it a go. So they go for it and they love it. Apart from that I do events coverage and also offline editing.
BANDWIDTH: Tampasak Production, tell us about it..
JASON: Well Tampasak Production came about when I was trying to look for my production name. I do not want to put my name on my work, so I had to find something for my production name. To be honest, I was a chat freak as well last time, so i go by the nickname of Tampasak. Tampasak is the name of my kampung in Tambunan. (Before Tambunanites going to say "There is no kampung tampasak registered in Tambunan) It is actually where my grandparent's house is in Tambunan. The name of that place is Tampasak. So I kinda like that name so I just put Tampasak Production. I know it is not as glamourous or commercial but I like it...
BANDWIDTH: Any intentions on doing up a movie?
JASON: Hahahha...man, you really know what to ask..hahha...yerp of course. I wanted to be the first Sabahan to break away from the normal typical movies that we see around here. You see, the differences between Americans and the rest of the world excluding India, Thailand, Indonesia, Hong Kong is that, they produce movie for the purpose of making money. Now I am not saying that I am going to do this because of the money, of course who doesn't like money right? But you see, they put their emphasis on making it marketable up to the point where they can produce something out from the extraordinary. Look at Bollywood, of course as a child I hate hindi movie but look at the new generations of movies produced by Bollywood, the cinematography is excellent. So instead of putting too much on art appreciation and theatre style of acting and all, I wanted to break away from all the common genres I've seen around locally. So I wanted to do something different this time around. In fact I have just called few people to sit down with me and make this project work. Mind you, even the actors and actresses will not be someone that Malaysia are familiar with. I wanted to be like what happen to the movie "My big fat greek wedding" All the casts are unknown or not famous at all.
BANDWIDTH: Do you think we get much support by the government in terms of independent filming?
JASON:It's hard to say, because in the past, we are not that exposed in terms of financial and non-financial support or maybe I’ve been living in my own world. (laugh) But my honest opinion is many of the independent filmmakers, go through their own separate ways and the only proper channel that we have here is TV1. Most telemovies that we've seen here are produced by independent companies and it is not that well commercialized just yet. I don't know, maybe I am wrong. But as far as I am concerned, there is no full-scale movie done by a Sabahan and featured in cinema. I might be wrong in my judgment but i guess since the FFM22 which was held in Sabah, becomes the eye opener for many Sabahans who wanted to jump into this industry and it can be a turn around point for the independent filming industry here locally.
BANDWIDTH: Any advice for filmmakers wannabes?
JASON: Be persistent and put pride in your work. Do not go around back stabbing people. Of course in reality it is a "dog eat dog" world but always remember KARMA. If it is an expert that criticized you, LISTEN and if non-expert criticized you, HEAR IT.
BANDWIDTH: What's in store for Jason J Bullah in the near future?
JASON: I wanted to focus on cinematography because I am really excited with this new idea I have. I wanted to make it a reality. I do not know if FINAS will ever let it go through, but usually creating something out of the extraordinary and breaking away from the common movies seems to be the way of how great movies were made. I wanted to give it a try and see to what extend that I am able to reach with whatever support that I have from my family and friends.
