Ich muss dieses grausame Pendeln nur noch für ein paar Tage aushalten, dann war es das endlich. Kaum zu glauben, dass ich jeden Tag fast 300 Kilometer hin- und herfahre. Es zehrt an den Kräften und zermürbt einen zunehmend. Zwar ist es keine verlorene Zeit, da ich immer was arbeiten kann, aber es stresst irgendwie trotzdem. Von der neuen Wohnung aus sollte ich jeden Tag theoretisch…
Nachdem ich im letzten Toskana Urlaub meine Nikon D2x samt mehrere Linsen dabei hatte, merkte ich, dass es mir zunehmend lästig wurde, immer so viel Equipment rumzuschleppen, zumal ich eigentlich nur noch zum Spaß fotografiere. Darum hab ich gestern meine Nikon D2x auf eBay gestellt, sowie drei weitere Linsen in anderen Auktionen, und damit angefangen, Kompaktkameras und Systemkameras zu recherchieren. Der Einfachheit halber schreibe ich nur…
Je mehr man sich mit einem Thema beschäftigt – in diesem Fall UX/UI, also die User Experience, die Benutzererfahrung und User Interface, also die Bedienoberfläche – desto mehr achtet man auf diese Elemente auch in anderen alltäglichen Dingen, wie DVD Playern, Klimaanlagen im Auto oder eben Games. Ich habe mir vor kurzem Just Cause 3 im Playstation Store gekauft, es war im Angebot (ich kaufe fast…
Und wieder ein Jahr rum. Es geht so schnell. Ein Geburtstag jagt den nächsten. Bin gespannt, was dieses Jahr bringen wird. Emily kam vor einem Jahr in die Schule, das hat super geklappt bisher, auch wenn sie sich bei den Hausaufgaben mehr Mühe geben könnte... Die Lehrerin hat aber ganz klar gesagt, dass sie weit vorne mit dabei ist und wir uns null Sorgen um sie…
Es ist nicht nur die Temperatur des Sommers, die mich schlecht schlafen lässt. Es sind die vielen Dinge, die unangenehm im Hinterkopf herumschwirren und an mir nagen. Ich habe gelesen, dass es befreiend sein soll, sich so Probleme vom Leib zu schreiben – vielleicht hilft diese Notiz mir ja dabei. Gestern habe ich das schon mal getan, heute mache ich es nochmals. Es ist das gleiche…
Nachdem ich im zarten Alter von 18 Jahren nach Frankfurt zog, und seitdem nicht mehr in Heidelberg lebte – mit einer Ausnahme von wenigen Monaten – ziehen wir nun Ende Juli zurück in meine Heimatstadt, in meine Vergangenheit, zurück zur Familie, zurück zu meinen Freunden und Freuden. Wenn ich sagen würde, ich wäre nicht aufgeregt, wäre das eine riesige Lüge! Nach fast 20 Jahren wieder nach…
Not a single day of rain during our easter-trip to Montepulciano. How lucky. Each day better weather, better food and even better sceneries. Squeezed into a tiny BMW 116i with a little Thule box on the roof, my brothers from Berlin as well as my daughter started the trip from Germany. We drove through France and Switzerland and made our first stop at the lake of…
Nicht einen Tag Regen gab es bei unserem Trip über Ostern nach Montepulciano. Was für ein Glück. Jeden Tag T-Shirt Wetter, gutes Essen, immer schönere Gegenden. Mit meinen beiden Berliner Brüdern und meiner Tochter machte ich mich, in einen kleinen BMW 116i mit Thule Dach-Box gezwängt, auf die Fahrt. Es ging durch Frankreich über die Schweiz zum ersten Stopp am Comer See. Da die gesamte Reise…
Ab morgen ist es endlich mal wieder so weit, und ich fahre in den Urlaub - Ostern sei Dank. Nachdem ich meinen Sommerurlaub letztes Jahr wegen unglücklicher Umstände ausfallen lassen musste, ist es nun auch wirklich an der Zeit. Selten hat sich ein Urlaub so verdient angefühlt. Ich werde bewusst nur mein Handy und meine Kamera mitnehmen, keinen Computer. Mit ausgeschaltetem Roaming. Ist noch nicht ganz…
Die Müdigkeit des gestrigen Tages konnte ich zum Glück wegschlafen. Aber eine böse Überraschung gab es dann doch heute Morgen: Es kam nur kaltes Wasser aus der Dusche. Nachdem ich notgedrungen eiskalt duschte – was nach den ersten Sekunden tatsächlich erfrischend war – und mich fertig gemacht hatte, ging ich in den Keller. Die Heizung war aus. Ich hatte keine Zeit, mir das genau anzusehen, da…
Im Januar hatte ich einen Hörsturz. Panisch wachte ich nachts auf, lautes Piepen auf meinem rechten Ohr. Es war kein Schmerz im Sinne von physischem Schmerz, es war viel mehr psychischer Schmerz. Es tat nicht wirklich weh, aber ich merkte sofort, dass etwas nicht stimmt. Nach drei Tagen ging ich zum Arzt und wurde zunächst mit einer Kortisonbombe behandelt. Diese half, und nach einer Woche war…
Emily... My little girl. Growing so fast. You got into first grade three weeks ago! I knew this day was coming. Started recording the fun times we had exactly a year ago. All the fun times we had together, leading up to your first school year. In Italy, Germany, in summer, in winter. We love swimming, we love the snow. With family, with friends, or just…
Irgendwie seltsam mit der HoloLens. Sobald Apple einen Stift für 100 Euro vorstellt, bloggt jeder darüber, und man kann sich vor Memes auf 9GAG kaum retten. Doch entwickelt man eine Revolution in der Computerwelt, und heißt dazu noch Microsoft, scheint das keinen mehr zum jubeln zu bringen. Hat Microsoft sich mit Windows und den fehlgeschlagenen Lumia Handys so ins Abseits befördert, dass alles nur noch belächelt…
Damit mein privater YouTube Channel auch eine Verlinkung erhält, hier mal mein meistgesehenes Video. Habe mit den über 400.000 Views bestimmt schon genug Kleingeld für einen Döner oder so verdient. Da fahre ich mit dem Tempo einer Schildkröte die Große Mauer in China runter. Und weil ich das Video (unbewusst, ich schwör's!) "Great Wall Ride" genannt habe, um, ja, der Mauer gerecht zu werden, haben sich…
Arnold Schwarzenegger’s career has been defined by larger-than-life action heroes—characters who wield guns, flex muscles, and deliver iconic one-liners. From The Terminator (1984) to Predator (1987) to Commando (1985), Arnold built his legacy on adrenaline-fueled spectacle. So, when he stars in Maggie, a slow-burning, emotionally driven zombie drama, it’s not just a departure—it’s a gamble. Directed by Henry Hobson, Maggie trades the bombastic action of Schwarzenegger’s…
In 1984, The Terminator stormed onto screens with a singular vision: gritty, relentless, and terrifyingly original. James Cameron’s low-budget sci-fi masterpiece gave us Arnold Schwarzenegger as the perfect killing machine, a role that became one of the most iconic in film history. Fast forward to 1991’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and Cameron upped the ante, crafting one of the greatest action films ever made—a thrilling, emotional…
Ende Juli bekam ich ein Nokia Lumia 930 und hatte somit bisher etwa zwei Monate Zeit, es intensiv zu testen. Zeit, das Gerät zu rezensieren! Wie die Überschrift verrät, ist es ein absoluter Traum für Fotografen jeder Art. Zum einen hat es eine tolle f/2.4 PureView Linse aus dem Hause Zeiss, zum anderen nimmt es mit 20 Megapixeln auf (die dann aber tatsächlich mit ein wenig…
There’s a point at which nostalgia stops being fun and starts feeling like exploitation. With The Expendables 3, that line is crossed, trampled on, and left in the dust. What began in 2010 as a tongue-in-cheek love letter to ‘80s and ‘90s action cinema—a franchise designed to unite aging titans like Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Bruce Willis for one last hurrah—has, by its third installment,…
Hayao Miyazakis Wie der Wind sich hebt (Kaze Tachinu, 2013) ist ein Film, der sich anfühlt wie der letzte, zarte Pinselstrich eines großen Künstlers. Es ist nicht nur eine Biografie, sondern eine Meditation über das Leben, die Liebe, die Kunst und die Komplexität menschlicher Träume – ein Werk, das sich deutlich an ein erwachsenes Publikum richtet und thematisch wie atmosphärisch deutlich reifer ist als seine bisherigen…
Arnold Schwarzenegger has always been the quintessential larger-than-life action star, commanding the screen with explosive charisma and iconic one-liners in films like Commando (1985), Predator (1987), and The Terminator (1984). With Sabotage (2014), however, Schwarzenegger steps into murkier territory—an ultra-violent, morally ambiguous crime thriller that trades the fun, over-the-top escapism of his earlier films for gritty realism and nihilistic brutality. Directed by David Ayer (End of…
By 2013, the golden era of ’80s action heroes was long gone, but Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger had found ways to keep their legendary names alive in modern Hollywood. Escape Plan serves as a team-up vehicle for these two titans, promising a prison-break thriller that capitalizes on their combined star power. Directed by Mikael Håfström, the movie offers a handful of fun moments and a…
The Last Stand marked Arnold Schwarzenegger’s first starring role after his tenure as the Governor of California, and it seemed designed to reintroduce him as the action hero fans loved in The Terminator (1984) and Commando (1985). Directed by South Korean filmmaker Kim Jee-woon, the movie mixes high-octane shootouts, small-town charm, and a touch of humor. Throw Johnny Knoxville into the mix as comic relief, and…
By the time The Expendables 2 hit theaters in 2012, the idea of reuniting every major action star of the ‘80s and ‘90s had lost some of its novelty. The first Expendables (2010) was a fun but flawed celebration of testosterone-fueled mayhem, weighed down by tonal inconsistency and a meandering plot. With The Expendables 2, director Simon West doubles down on the nostalgia, leaning hard into…
Check out a preview from the book ASIA: You can download the iBook version for the iPhone and iPad free of charge right here: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/533526/Asia-by_Jakob_Montrasio.epub You can download the book directly if you open the link from an iPhone or iPad. If you download it with a computer, just import it into iTunes afterwards and sync it to your device. You can also order a beautiful…
Nowadays it's rare that you miss out on something, thanks to the internet and its many sudden notification systems. The more stunned I was when I stumbled upon "Empire Avenue", which is an awesome stock market simulation. The twist is, you are a stock, and so are you friends. Those mentioned achievements are lots of fun, and keep the game interesting. After a while, you don't…
I've been so busy in the last months that I even forgot to post this music "Kiss You Again" video which we shot. It was finished in the beginning of August, days before I flew to Japan to shoot Souls of Zen, so I completely lost track of everything due to the jetlag, shoot and unavailable internet connection in Japan. We shot it with two Canon…
Since Monday, I've been working while standing. No more seat for me. There are various reasons for this, among the top ones are my (over-)weight as well as the back pain that I had in Japan from shooting handheld and with a six kilogram heavy steadistick so much. I've read about the benefits of working while standing some month ago and wondered all the time if…
Check out the teaser trailer to my upcoming documentary "Souls of Zen - Ancestors and Agency in Contemporary Japanese Temple Buddhism": You can visit the official website at www.soulsofzen.com and stay updated through our Facebook page.
The Social Memories of Jakob Montrasio. Review Today my "Social Memories" book arrived. It's a new book service that DHL offers. The Facebook application diggs thru your Facebook account and creates a book based on a timeframe that you can edit and ships it to you. You are able to choose between different languages, different colors and you can replace pictures that were chosen with other…
The poor girl hit her head twice in the last days, and has a small fever since the last two days. She never cries hard, only wakes up at night screaming, but then she calms down quickly once she knows we are there for her. We also got a place for her in a pre-kindergarten club from June on, so her mother can finally work a…
Starting March 15th, I will be working as a video producer for a large advertising agency based out of Saarbrücken. It’s really a win / win situation, not only for me, but for us, my family, my friends... Not only will we be able to enjoy living in Germany and Europe, but we’ll also live in a home near my parents and near my friends, they…
SHANGHAI — At a Shanghai building site, a man in a black Stetson looks over his shoulder at two approaching thugs. Four others appear, fists raised. They lock eyes and the cowboy springs up in a whirlwind of kicks. The scene is from "Shangdown: The Way of the Spur", an independent kung-fu spaghetti western, and the cowboy is Christian Bachini, a 25-year-old Italian actor who came…
Media Markt opened it's first store in Shanghai last week, and they did it with a bang! 40 trucks drove all over the city and delivered boxes to 1.000 movers, who then walked through Shanghai, raising the attention of the opening. In the evening, there were 3D shows on the giant building on Huaihai road as well as a uncountable amount of spectators and customers. What…
While embezzling $14 billion from a Chinese bank for the US government, two Western bankers grab $15 million in cash for themselves. They store it in an upright bass case and wander the streets of Shanghai, waiting for their morning departure. When the more experienced of the two insists they spend their last night partying in a local club, the night takes a wild turn. Goodbye…
SHANGHAI — September 27th 2010 /PRNewswire/ — The new full-length trailer for MK Media Productions' highly anticipated motion picture Shangdown: The Way Of The Spur debuted today. Shangdown: The Way Of The Spur, starring Christian Bachini and The Way Of The Dragon's famous villain Jon T. Benn, and directed by Jakob Montrasio, pays homage to the violent and gritty Spaghetti Western genre while adding an Asian…
Hayao Miyazakis Ponyo ist ein Film wie das sanfte Rauschen einer Meereswelle, die zugleich das Versprechen von Abenteuer und die ehrfurchtgebietende Macht der Natur in sich trägt. Als eine der charmantesten und visuell lebendigsten Arbeiten aus dem Studio Ghibli-Kanon, greift Ponyo (Originaltitel: Gake no Ue no Ponyo) Themen auf, die sich durch Miyazakis gesamtes Schaffen ziehen – Liebe zur Natur, kindliche Unschuld und die Fragilität des…
On paper, The Expendables sounds like every action fan’s dream come true. A movie that assembles the greatest action stars of the ’80s, ’90s, and 2000s—Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Mickey Rourke, and, yes, Arnold Schwarzenegger—should be nothing short of spectacular. It should’ve been the cinematic equivalent of a massive fireworks show, a celebration of over-the-top violence, cheesy one-liners, and macho camaraderie. But…
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. The Way of the Spur
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:
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. Nuit Blanche is such a video. Nuit Blanche from Arev Manoukian on Vimeo. I am speechless. This short deserves awards, lots of them. It's perfectly smooth, everything about it is done well (the lighting! the costumes!…
Jiajia gave birth to our beautiful daughter:
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.
Yay! CNNGo is using one of my creative commons photos in a article called "Fake Chinese money is a problem, but so are fake anecdotes in articles". You can read it here: www.cnngo.com/shanghai/shop/fake-chinese-money-problem-so...
There are great HDR tutorials on the internet, but many or most of them require you to invest an hour or even more into the editing of a single image. The problem is, I don't have that kind of time! HDR is an hobby, and sometimes I've got really little time for it. But I love HDR pictures. So over the last three years, I've learned…
Wuzhen is a beautiful and historic city located in the northeastern part of China's Zhejiang Province. It is well-known for its picturesque canals, traditional architecture and rich cultural heritage. The city is an important tourist destination, attracting visitors from all over the world who come to explore its charming streets, ancient bridges and peaceful water towns. Wuzhen has a history that dates back more than 1,300…
View towards Puxi from the Lupu bridge in Shanghai, China. Treated in Photomatix and Photoshop. Shot with a Canon 5D Mark II and a 85mm f/1.2 lens. UPDATE! As you can see on the screenshot below - which was taken on a windows machine that is not genuine - my image made it onto the frontpage of the popular german photo magazine VIEW by Stern. Yay!
a helping hand from Jakob Montrasio on Vimeo. omo supports since 15 years a charity organization which helps handicapped widows in the countryside. this video shows their efforts, as the charity organization helps a mother who is unable to help her child. shot for omo / unilever via ogilvy shanghai. this is the 'cinematography cut', if you will. the original two minute version can be found…
America: Video from my first-ever trip to the United States. Shot with a Canon 5D Mark II and the following lenses: 17-35mm f/2.8 50mm f/1.8 70-300mm f/4-5.6 Edited and color corrected in Final Cut. Some shots stabilized with SmoothCam.
Since a certain government decided that websites such as Facebook or Twitter could harm the harmony, they were unavailable here in Shanghai. When that happened in 2005, I actually asked my wife to call the internet company and to tell them that I am a foreigner, hoping that they'd 'unblock' my line completely. Well, that didn't happen. And they tell you always the same thing, anyway:…
Looks awesome in HD on YouTube, too. They must've drastically improved their compression, the new HD videos on YouTube look way better than a couple of months ago. Hope the video gets as many hits as on Vimeo!
So, the Skyscraper Museum put together an awesome walkthrough for the current Shanghai exhibition. You can start here. It gives you an great impression of the exhibition. There's even a new video that I shot while I was in New York, walking through the exhibition. Have a look and enjoy! PUXI: OVERVIEW, originally uploaded by MK Media Productions.
Shot from July 31st until August 3rd on location in Shanghai, China. CREW DIRECTOR导演 Adam Christian Clark HEAD OF PRODUCTION 总制片 Michael Ouyang PRODUCTION DESIGNER 艺术指导 Walter Wong FIRST ASSISTANT DIRECTOR 第一副导 Jakob Montrasio PRODUCTION MANAGER 制片经理 Peter Ge ASSISTANT UPM Liu Yongming DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY 摄影师 Shu Chou CAMERA OPERATOR摄影助理 Liu Shun Bin SOUND 收音师 Cloud Wang IMAGE DIRECTOR 造型 DouDou Gu Gaffer照明 Xiao Diao…
On June 24 2009, The Skyscraper Museum in New York City opened China Prophecy: Shanghai, a multi-media exhibition that examines Shanghai's evolving identity as a skyscraper metropolis. Featuring models of the major iconic structures, including Jin Mao, Tomorrow Square, Shanghai World Financial Center, and the new super-tall Shanghai Tower, as well as computer animations, film, drawings, and historic and contemporary photography of the city, the exhibition…
I tried for 45 minutes or so to come with some cool headline and text for this post but I just can't, so there you go, in your face: We're having a baby! Should be due February 2010, but we'll consult a doctor about a exact date soon. We're very excited!
Shanghai Sideways: On a Changjiang Motor Bike! from Jakob Montrasio on Vimeo. www.shanghaisideways.com Discover Shanghai from a sideways look, seated in the side-car of a classic motorbike. Enjoy an incredible cruise through the city and avoid traffic jams. We make you feel the pulse of this fast changing city and take you from modern Shanghais futuristic look to the heart of the 1920s French Concession. Tours…
So I spend the last four days in Hunan (湖南) province, shooting some tea mountains near a city called Shimen. We flew from Shanghai's Hongqiao airport to Changsha (长沙), the capital of Hunan province. Mao Zedong is from that province and he's pretty much everywhere around there - on posters, paintings and even statues. From Changsha we drove 5 hours or so to Shimen to spend…
In October 2007, I had the chance to join the JOHN RABE movie team in Shanghai and took it immediately. What followed were almost 4 months full of excitement, pain and so much learning and experience. It was the best time of my life. And now, the movie finally started running in german cinemas. It will probably also start running in China on April 29th. I…
Ein packender Einstieg in die Apokalypse Bird Box – Schließe deine Augen eröffnet mit einem intensiven und mysteriösen Szenario, das sofort fesselt: Eine Frau und zwei Kinder navigieren mit verbundenen Augen durch eine gefährliche Welt. Schon die ersten zwanzig Minuten bieten eine filmische Wucht, die an das beste Mystery-Kino erinnert, wie man es aus Stephen King-Adaptionen kennt. Regisseurin Susanne Bier gelingt es, diesen bedrohlichen Ton direkt…
It's been a long time since I last posted some of my images here. I'm trying to upload at least 5 new works every week to flickr, but recently I've fallen a bit behind - there's much business stuff going on at the moment and I've to take care of a visiting family member, too. But I managed to squeeze in some time here and there…
My brother's in town during his summer vacation, and that was reason enough to visit a fake market yesterday. He wants to stock up on some nice things. We went to the nearest one on Nanjing road, but were shocked to learn that Olympia has reached even to there. No watches available. No DVD's. No fake iPhones. Nada. Of course, they have insane amounts of faked…
My wife's cousin from Xi'An arrived yesterday. She's with us for a couple of days to brush up her english. My wife told me in the beginning that this will help her to get into a Hong Kong university. But by now I've found out much more about this topic, and it's really scary what's going on. In Europe, or at least Germany, you kind of…
I was comfortable moving to Shanghai in 2005 because I knew I had work there. Selling machines from Europe to China. Eventually, in 2006, we build up a partnership with the italian company Sinico S.p.A. - they produce tube processing automation machines. Machines, that cut long tubes in small parts and make them ready for use with operations such as facing and chamfering. These machines are…
Yesterday night, I finally managed to finish the last mission. I'm now 70-something percent through the game, only having side missions and other stuff left. But I'm not gonna play that anymore. I am so damn bored from the game! I've played GTA. GTA II. GTA III. Vice City. San Andreas. I enjoyed them all, except San Andreas, and after reading some reviews of GTA 4…
I've got a little cold from all the heat, to be more precise: From all the air conditioners standing everywhere. It's not really healthy to have sudden temperature changes from over 20 degrees, but some people simply ignore this fact. Example: When I enter our office building, the temperature changes from 38° Celsius to 20° Celsius. Is that nuts or what? Anyway, so when I got…
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