Parallel Stories in Parallel Places

As a premium venue forever in Hong Kong, we had to carefully feature and celebrate Man Wah restaurant’s renovation, well know by connoisseurs in Hong Kong. We paid particular attention to the architectural details of the place in the framing, pace of movement for the talents and staff, foreground subject, background particularities, and color grading during the post-production, emphasizing the place’s look and feel. Producing a video for such a place was an honor and a challenge we appreciate honoring all along with this filming project.

It was essential to consider having two dramatically different aesthetics for each venue, making the audience identify The Aubrey and Man Wah restaurant clearly in a glance. While the stories run in parallel, with similar action, the distinction is first the architecture, then having different groups of people, three women friends at Man Wah, and one couple in The Aubrey. It was slightly more challenging in the kitchen, once these places and the staff uniform are more similar; nevertheless, the type of dishes and cooking style made all the difference.

Filming in the Mandarin Oriental kitchen restaurants, we had to ensure to celebrate these places, usually unseen from the public and customers. The site visit in each establishment was crucial to estimate the distance with the subject, knowing that space is limited. Once on set, we composed each scene with ingredients, kitchen tools, and a series of plates and bowls offering various textures and colors. Then, once the setup was ready, we coordinated each movement with the chefs and their team, keeping in mind the split-screen video technic, therefore guiding each one in connection with the other venue’s action.