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december 8, 2008: "Mister Sparky - Confessions" by sungho

We just finished putting together our final version of a commercial for Mister Sparky called "Confessions of Electricity." If you want to spend a minute or two procrastinating your work, feel free to take a look. A number of Duke students were a part of the production so be sure to congratulate them on the great job they did when you see them. Gluck to everyone on their finals and have a great winter break!

november 17, 2008: "Creativity Is" by shang

Creativity isn’t all fun and games. You learn that pretty quickly. It’s not the first good idea that comes to your mind, and it’s certainly not as easy as most people think it is. A quick look through youtube reveals what many people don’t realize about creativity—that it is a process. A very long one, involving a lot of banging your head on walls and praying for ideas.

Creativity may start out with a rush of unfiltered excitement and anticipation as you and your creative partner get signed on by a client. You look at the creative brief and somewhere deep down you know you were meant for each other. There are limitless possibilities to explore and develop, and you are the one destined to bring them to fruition.

Three days later, creativity is staring bitterly at the brief as if it were a girlfriend who had just cheated on you. All those promises of a creative plethora turned out to be empty. And on top of that, the stupid brief has the gall to rub salt in your wounds by mocking your inability to come up with anything other than that stupid jingle. You flush the brief down the toilet.

read full entry here

november 5, 2008: "Thankster - I Love You" by shang

After failing all our midterms (in the bottom 16th percentile), we decided to go back to what we're actually good at--making ads. This latest one is for a startup called Thankster, which lets good deeds be known with thank you's that can be shared within your community. Check it out at:

http://apps.facebook.com/fbfundvote/contests/109/entries/3446

You'll need to add fbfund to your facebook applications to view the entry. While you're at it, please vote for our video, as it is an entry to the FBFund Contest. You can vote daily. The spot and director's cut can also be viewed in the work section.

october 10, 2008: "Poor Can" by sungho

Have exactly one more minute to spare?

Another new PSA for your viewing pleasure has arrived--Poor Can. This one stars one of the most amazing actors we have ever worked with. Take a look in the work section.

Now that we've skipped classes for a month, we take a break to catch up for midterms next week.

october 1, 2008: "Make A Choice" by sungho

Have exactly a minute to spare?

Sweet and Sour is starting the year off by using the knowledge we've gained over the summer in advertising to make a new PSA - Make a Choice. It's a bit different in style than anything we've done before--take a look for yourself.

august 9, 2008: "Nostalgia" by shang

Nostalgia is delicate, but potent.

In Greek, nostalgia literally means the pain from an old wound. It's a twinge in your heart far more powerful than memory alone, reminding us of a place where we ache to go again.

It's the pang of loneliness that hits after saying goodbye to friends and loved ones, when the realization suddenly dawns that, even though their memories and legacy will no doubt be with you forever, you will inevitably each move on and continue with your own lives. It's the dull but deep sorrow when the skyline of the city fades away behind you, and with it all the vibrant memories of another chapter of life gone by, of people and places that will no longer be a part of your everyday living, and the heartache that comes with acknowledging that even if you do return, it will not be the same.

read full entry here

july 25, 2008: "Advertising" by shang

I look over the bid for the new Eclipse gum job. I never imagined I would end up here. Well, I did imagine ending up here in my daydreams, but I never thought that day would be today. I must’ve done something right… …right?

I take a glance around the lecture hall. The student next to me slowly nods to sleep but manages to yank himself awake at the very last moment. Then he nods to sleep again. In front of me, a kid plays Mario 64 on his laptop. A girl doodles a masterpiece. A boy snores. The professor drones on, unaware of the many adventures happening before him. And I’m paying $50,000 to watch it all. I wonder when I would ever need to know whether the variance of a regression was homoskedastic or heteroskedastic. Maybe it will save my life one day. Even if it doesn’t, college still does teach me a few useful things. To get things done. To get things done on time. To remember the little things. To pay attention to details. To take initiative, be prepared, and to know when to suck it up and do whatever it takes. You know, the basics. Basics that are all too often neglected. More importantly, it teaches me to think—another basic that is ignored far too much. To use the left side of my brain. To first figure out the simplest and most direct way to solve a problem, and then to think of all the other options available. To apply existing methods to new domains.

read full entry here

june 15, 2008: "Summer Update" by shang

Summer offers a temporary hiatus from the excessively hectic senselessness of classes, yet we've been anything but bored. Shang and Sungho are working in broadcast and print production at Energy BBDO (Chicago) and McKinney (Durham) respectively, both advertising agencies, and Lawrence is at Anonymous Content (Los Angeles), a commercial production company.

Even though we've been busy with the "real world," We haven't forgotten about our filming--we've been fleshing out ideas for the next year. We figure we'll let everyone know what we're up to as we actually get things in motion, since half our plans decide to pull disappearing acts last minute anyways.

We hope everyone is enjoying their escape from the iniquitous evils of higher education.

february 26, 2008: "The Tunnels and Make A Wish" by shang

After weeks of dark, claustrophobic filming in the tunnels under East Campus, Sweet and Sour completed and premiered "The Tunnels," a scary movie, at the Froshlife Film Festival this weekend. We have also uploaded another short film for your viewing (dis)pleasure--"Make A Wish." This was a short film we did in preparation for filming our scary movie, and our first time using (offensively expensive and horrifically fragile) film lenses and film adapters with our cameras. Check both of them out under in the work section.

january 23, 2008: "Froshlife Interview" by shang

Sweet and Sour Productions has been featured in a short Duke News interview clip about the upcoming Froshlife 2008 Film Festival. Sweet and Sour's director Shang Gao shares some of the origins of the group as well a few thoughts on Froshlife. The clip was shot and edited by Steve Milligan, who is a professional cinematographer from Durham and has greatly assisted Sweet and Sour in past productions. The interview can be seen here.

january 7, 2008: "BCG - The Coffee Interns" by shang

Sweet and Sour kicks off the new year with a brand new short, "The Coffee Interns." Filmed and edited four days before it was due (today), this film was submitted as an entry to The Boston Consulting Group's undergraduate strategytube competition. The requirement was to make a two-minute film about business strategy--we decided to give it a humorous spin by making it about two interns trying to get coffee for their boss. In addition, Sweet and Sour called back their old high school film star, Matt Nguyen, to guest act, and followed it up with a 30-hour editing marathon. The result? See for yourself in the work section.