Crime Investigation Channel - The Al Maunah Weapons Heist (behind the scenes stills)

After a 2 month hiatus, we have returned with some interesting content. Naturally, it'll be no fun if I posted them all on the same day, then you wouldn't return the next day to check for new content, and that wouldn't be very fun, would it? =)

In September, LAProd was involved in a documentary shoot which highlighted the incident of a weapons heist, with which a group of civilians dressed as army men managed to obtain weapons from an armory, enough to start off a mini war!

LAProd was employed to act as some of the terrorists for the 2 day shoot, holding replica M4A1's with grenade launchers, dressing up with army fatigues and hoods. Check us out, the profiles of different types of terrorists in LAProd (after all, variety works):

Left: Fierce Terrorist! Right: Slightly cheerful terrorist.

Kung fu Terrorist! (Garry)

Religious Terrorist. (Hong)

Nipple protuding terrorist! (Terry)

Hip Terrorist. (Danial)

Vampiric Terrorist! (Choon)

Intimidating Terrorist! (Adrian)

The shoot lasted 2 straight days, and we were exhausted when we were done with it all. The outcome of the exhaustion was the scariest that could happen to us... we had:

2 sleeping terrorists and 1 depressed in the centre.

A dead terrorist, who lays like sleeping beauty hoping that Prince Charming would one day awaken him with true love's kiss.

A terrorist gone insane, thinking he can hear voices from the helmets.


Terrorists celebrating their madness and exhaustion.

Anyway, here's a slideshow for your viewing pleasure. Terrorist Attack!



Likely Malicious,
Garry E

Ramly at War Begins is online!

Here is Ramly at War Begins...online! (Mental block again, so let's keep this short)

It's been submitted for a German movie making competition. We need your votes!

Here is the video



Please register at http://www.hobnox.com/ and vote for our video! To go to the competition's official website, click on the following link:

http://www.koenig-filmaward.de/contest,koepi,1497

LAProd thanks everyone for their support!

Likely Malicious,
Garry E

LAProd member profile - Adrian

Name: Adrian Poh
Location: Petaling Jaya, Selangor (Malaysia)

Martial Arts Background:
Goju-Ryu Karate-do

LaProd Membership:
Action Performer, Camera Operator

Personal Background:
Started learning Goju Ryu Karate at the age of 14 and has been doing so for the past 15 years. A man of few words.

Note of appreciation: Never being calculative with either of us (aside from the occasional scolding we get from Adrian for being fickle at times), we thank Adrian for being great company and for punching us in the gut, reminding us how powerful his punches are *spits blood from mouth after getting 1 from him*

Likely Malicious,
Garry E

Unsecured Loan 2

We've been quiet, we know it.
We've a good reason, you know it.
We've been training hard, you'll know it.
We've started a new project, we're doing it.

Unsecured Loan 2...

Here is the pre-shoot action teaser. We know you'll like it!



What do you think? Shooting started yesterday!

Likely Malicious,
Garry E

LAProd Member Profile - Terry Saw

Name: Terry

Age: 29

Location: Subang Jaya, Malaysia

Occupation: Capoeira Instructor, Copywriter & Independent Pet Rescuer

Language spoken: English, Malay & Hokkien

Martial Arts Background:

Monkey Style Kung Fu (1996 - 1998)

Capoeira (2003 - Current)

Goju-Ryu Karate-do (2009 - Current)

Skills:

Martial Arts Styles: Kung Fu, Capoeira, Karate

Screen fighting and choreography

Body hits reactions and stunt falls

LaProd Membership:

Action Choreographer / Action Performer / Flips Instructor

Shooting Experience:

Film:

1. Ayan 2008 - Background Dancer/Acrobatics

2. Ramly At War 2009 - Capoeira Fighter

TVC:

1. Panasonic AC-Robot 2005 - Robot cleaner

2. OCBC Bank 2007 - Background Acrobatics

3. OCBC Bank 2008 - Guy falling off a bicycle (I had to flip over it... :))

Personal Background:

Driven by a passion for martial arts, Terry joined APEC (Alan's Physique Education Centre) in Penang and picked up Monkey Style Kung Fu. He left the island to further his studies in KL and discovered Capoeira in 2003. Now he teaches Capoeira full-time and does Goju-Ryu Karate with his LAProd friends to maintain his love for martial arts.

Aspirations:

Terry strives to find wisdom in the philosophy of martial arts. He wants to share this knowledge through his work with his students, friends and family. With this he hopes to be able to cultivate a culture of peace, love and understanding among all living beings. He also wants to show the world that Malaysians have the quality and skills to make action movies. We're just waiting to be discovered. :)

Note of appreciation: Looking at you go at your acrobatics makes us yearn to learn more. Thank you for motivating us to improve and grow, Terry!

Likely Malicious,
Garry E

LAProd member profile - Garry E

Name: Garry E

Age: 26

Height: 165cm Weight: Slightly overweight

Day Job: Technical Services Engineer

Languages spoken: English, Malay, & Cantonese
Location: Seri Kembangan, Selangor (Malaysia)

Martial Arts Background:

Goju-Ryu Karate-do - 1996 to current

Skills:

Martial Arts Style: Karate-do
Weapons: Nunchaku, Sai, Bo, Tonfa, & Katana
Screen fighting & choreography.
Body hits, reactions & stunt falls.

LAProd Membership:

Action Choreographer / Action Performer / Event Organiser.

Personal Background:
Joining the Goju-ryu Karate-do Kenpo Seibukan Association at the start of high school, Garry developed a huge interest in martial arts in spite of having joined the club due to a requirement of the school for every student to participate in at least 1 extra-curriculur activity. He obtained his 3rd Dan in Goju-ryu Karate-do in 2007, and has actively instructed since 2003 till 2007. He has gained some slight exposure to wushu and taekwondo, mostly through crash courses and discussions with friends who practise the disciplines. Garry continuously trains in Karate, using it as his fundamental discipline, to further progress in action performance. He now focuses in developing his style towards speed and intensity.

Aspirations:
Garry wishes to entertain family and friends by making quality action sequences. He has gotten slight exposure in the movie making and stunt industry. Ultimately, it is expanding his network and making friends that matters most to him.

Note: Self praise is no praise. Thank you Garry for not praising yourself while writing his own profile, haha!

Likely Malicious,
Garry E

A series of pictures that tell the story of winners.

In wake of having lost my creative juice in composing blog posting lately, I have decided to try something new. This is a series of pictures which tells the story... here we go.

If you dislike pictorial story telling, check out the video here in the link below:
http://www.corntoz.com.my/

Sometimes I still ask myself, "Did we really win the grand prize for Corntoz Express Yourself?"
And the answer is a definite "YES! OMG! Yea Man!"

Time to celebrate!

Likely Malicious,
Garry E

LAProd member profile - Michelle

Name: Michelle
Origin: Chinese
Location: Klang, Selangor
Country: Malaysia

Martial Arts Background:
ITF Taekwondo - 1988 to current

Skills:
Martial Arts: Taekwondo
Screen Fighting, Body Reactions.

LAProd Membership:

Action performer

Personal Background:
Having started training Taekwondo at the age of 7, Michelle actively competed and was often seen in the ring since year 2000, whilst representing the state and has been a national representative for Malaysia from 2005. She has always been an achiever, having won numerous tournaments, frequently winning the best female overall champion and best female performer titles. She is currently a 4th degree black belt holder, and is slowly retiring from local tournaments. The next challenge for Michelle is judging, coaching and instructing her students in the art while still going and trains for international championship (Asian Championship,World Championship, London Open and etc).

Michelle has a reputation for her micro light frame, being smooth and natural in her fighting movements, and the ability to perform high kicks. Events that she participated are pattern, free sparring, power breaking and special techniques. She joined LAProd in 2008 when the team needed a female fighter, and found new experiences in action shooting, coming to realise that her skills can brought to entertainment.

Aspirations:
Michelle wishes to learn more on-screen fighting, and exchange of ideas with other martial arts experts. By capturing the action on screen, she can study her strengths and weaknesses and improve. She hopes that her ability and passion can lead to opportunities in the filming industry, and to provide entertainment to action movie lovers.

Photos from Michelle.

Note of appreciation: Michelle, your kicks have aspired us to work harder. Thank you for the motivation!

Likely Malicious,
Garry E

Trailer - Ramly at War Begins

Enough to build up the excitement once more for the final release of the finished product. Ramly at War Begins will premier in September 2009. One month away!

Muah hah hah hah!! (Watch the ending of the trailer)

Likely Malicious,
Garry E

LAProd member profile - Hong

Name: Hong
Origin: Chinese
Age: 31
Sex: Male
Weight: 63kg Height: 168cm
Country: Malaysia
Occupation: Project Architect
Language spoken: English, Cantonese & Malay

Martial Arts Background:
Goju Ryu Karate-do – 1994 to current
Competition wushu – 2002 to 2005

Skills:
Martial arts: Karate & Wushu
Weapons: wushu broadsword, bo & nanchaku
Screen fighting, choreography & directing
Body hit reactions & stunt falls
Action editing

Shooting Experience:
Film:
Mendam Berahi
1. Role: Stuntman / Masked bandit
Company: Metrowealth International Group

Commercial Ads:
Samsung: True I “Colours”
1. Role: Wire Rigger
Company: Applebox Asia
Aired in Asia Pacific 2002
2. Samsung: Digital Excitement
Role: Monk
Company: Applebox Asia
Aired in Korea 2003

TV:
Skuad Elite
Role: Gang member
Year: 2003

Motion capture:
Rojak #1 : Saga
Role: Hitam
Company: Young Jump Animation Sdn. Bhd.
On VCD 2002

LAProd Membership:
Action Director/Editor/Action Choreographer/Action Performer / Camera Operator for Fight Scenes

Personal Background:
Having started training in karate at the age of 16, Hong's enthusiasm for martial arts has led to his regimental training of the often 4 times a day in a 3 day week training schedule. He was known for his speed and his kicks which never failed to impress. Hong progressed to being a 3rd Dan in Goju-Ryu Karate-do in 2001. Subsequently, his interest in Wushu built up and was selected to trained with the Selangor Wushu team in 2002. Having participated in competitive patterns and forms, Hong gathered an impressive array of moves and diversifying his form. He still currently trains with the Goju-Ryu Karate-do Kenpo Seibukan Association of Malaysia regularly. Hong directed all of LAProd's action videos.

Aspirations:
By creating more quality action sequences, Hong hopes to gain exposure and work with film makers and people in the movie making industry, focusing on martial arts and fight action scenes. Hong also wishes to learn from the professionals in the stunt industry.

Photos courtesy of Bong Cheng Tzuu.

Note of appreciation: Hong, if you didn't stay, we wouldn't have gotten to where we are now. Thank you!

Likely Malicious,
Garry E

What is Ramly at War?

After all these practise videos, action teaser, and the on-location shoot preview, you must be pretty curious over why the title is Ramly at War.

I might have purposely mislead you to think that I would even dare reveal the story line or the theme of the film by questioning, "What is Ramly at War?".

No doubt, you've seen the poster.
No doubt, you've seen the action teaser.
No doubt, you've seen some of us with our costume and make up from FB.
No doubt, there were quite a number of gay jokes relating to the pictures taken.

And still, I have not answered your question. I'll tell you what Ramly at War meant to us at LAProd...

New friends:

We got to Ampang Galaxy mall, not knowing what kind of people to expect. The director mentioned that the bikers might look fierce and intimidating, but they were the most shy and nice people around! Needless to say, we needed to see it for ourselves. Here are some of the interesting people we met.

Let's start with the director, Juliane Block. Being a German, quality of work seems to be her top priority. She is seldom out of chocolate but when she is, my best guess is that she'll rip apart anything & everything that stands in her way. Have you seen how tall she is?? Anyway, we've known Juli for a few months already. Lovely gal!

Juliane Block: "I'm now happy from chocolate".

And on to the producer. There's Danny 'dC' Chua, who might look scary, but is actually harmless like a teddy bear. Of course, you shouldn't mess with bears either way, you might regret doing so.

Danny: "All hope is lost for humanity".

Then there's the Director of Photography, Deckster Kaitaua. When I first met him, he reminded me a lot of a manager I used to work with, and I liked the guy a lot. His nipples almost poked someone's eye out when he went topless while handling the camera because it was getting cold on the set.

Deckster: "I enjoyed the durian scene in SS2".

There's basically too many people to cover, so I'll put up captions for each coming picture.

Left to right: (Fe)male escort(Terry of LAProd), Jamilah who's gonna knock you out cold, 2nd male escort.

King Wu (production) and Charlene (up and rising star).

Monggographer (pro photographer). He almost caused me to piss my pants with his jokes!

Hong (LAProd), action director with the hot biker chic, Rainie.

Puga, King and Joe. These are only guys you need to setup the site.

Marcus, who has graciously become my chic replacement, haha!

The main stars of the show! Left to Right: Michael looking gleeful, Bong looks pissed with him.

Adrian (LAProd) with the resident papparazi, Rainie.

Choon (LAProd), the knight in shining T-shirt.

Ramly at War also meant other things to us.

Diversity in Fight Styles:
Well, I am unable to elaborate on that, because you have to watch the fights to see the different styles of fighting we choreographed. This is a big step for us, because all these whiles, our fights have been in a way generic fighting. Exploring the speed possibility and the technical movesets have opened our minds to other ideas. It will be very interesting to see where our training brings us, along with the opportunities that might present themselves. We're getting better (I wanna say we're good, but shy la).

An investment for the future:
Why do I say that? Because Ramly at War is what the production unit calls a no budget short film. No one got paid to act or fight in it, in fact there were generous people who sponsored stuff to eat and drink. The bikers trustingly left their choppers at the shooting location for our perusal. So what kind of investment are we talking about? That's right.... it's become our new showreel :0)

Now that it's more or less said and done, shooting wrapped up on the 12th July 2009, and it has become our most memorable shoot ever, because it is our 1st major work with people from the industry, and we're glad we met them 1st. LAProd wishes to thank everyone involved in the production of Ramly at War for making the fight sequences successful. See you at the premiere screening!

Likely Malicious,
Garry E