Taipei: Images in Rhythm ­—Bito Studio Bites the Bullet

An arrow is loosed at a target; a sprinter kicks off the blocks at high speed; various scenes captured from the Tai­pei MRT flash by; traffic surrounds Tai­pei’s North Gate. The short film features images reflecting the power and beauty of the athletes, interspersed with bursts of the Tai­pei streetscape.

Launched with the title Tai­pei in Motion, the video features neither words nor heroes, but its captivating rhythm and unique visual style have won great acclamation from viewers. Typical online comments include: “I was covered in goose-bumps after watching it”; and “It could easily compete with Tokyo’s 2020 Olympics promotion.” One viewer even claimed: “I burst into tears and ended up kneeling on the floor in front of the screen.” So how did the film originate, and from where?

The answer is clear: it was produced by Bito Studio, led by creative director Keng Liu with three teams totaling about 30 staff. It took them just five months to create this outstanding piece of work.

Let the world see Taipei

Liu himself is a great sports fan who loves watching Taiwanese players like Wang ­Chien-ming, Chen We-yin, and Lin Tzu-wei who are currently working in US major league baseball. And like most Taiwanese people, he’s passionate in his support for the sporting community in general.

Although Liu has quite a lot of experience filming internationally, this is the first time that he’s taken complete responsibility for shooting an official video. “This is Taiwan’s first opportunity to host such a prestigious international sporting event, presenting us with the chance to show Taiwan to the world. Our team was not going to miss out on such a rare break,” says Liu.

Bito Studio specializes in motion design, so they eschew common video shooting techniques, instead using an enormous number of stills, combined visually with a fast rhythm. The completed work is a far cry from what many viewers are accustomed to. But the director isn’t worried. He’s confident that “this is what the world wants to see.”

Liu’s confidence stems from his immense experience working with media. He spent many years working in New York before returning to Taiwan five years ago to establish Bito Studio. And back in Taiwan, he also gained rich experience producing promotional films for multinational companies such as Mercedes-Benz.

As well as introducing new shooting techniques, Liu also avoids common Tai­pei vistas. “Looking through past promotional films for Taiwan, they all tend to focus on Tai­pei 101 and the night markets,” says Liu.

He questions whether these scenes really represent Taiwan: “The greatest attraction of this youthful nation is its vitality,” says Liu. Compared to Europe or other countries with a long history, Taiwan is rather young and is still searching for its own identity. And because that identity is still to some extent in question, this gives Taiwan almost unlimited possibilities and great vitality.

Many people, for example, criticize Taiwan’s unappealing streetscapes, full of untidy signage and countless noisy scooters flying through the traffic. But in Liu’s eyes, these scenes are representative of the vitality of the city. “People ride scooters everywhere to get to work to make a living.” Such apparent bedlam is in fact one of the great charms of Taipei.

Innovating the everyday

Liu refuses to use the same idea twice. In meetings, he is always urging his colleagues to bypass the first idea that occurs to them. “It’s often the one that most people would have anyway,” he says.

Bito Studio chose to shoot the film from different perspectives using a range of innovative techniques. Although some elements of the film, such as daily life events, would be familiar, the team was able to offer new interpretations and novel angles. For example, a scene showing the casting of moon blocks at Da­long­dong ­Baoan Temple was given renewed significance in the film. 

This isn’t the first time that Liu has employed scenes from Chinese folk religion. The rituals of burning incense and prayer are very familiar for Liu, who was born in Tai­pei’s Wan­hua District. Liu remembers that in his childhood, the family would often visit Lung­shan Temple for family events or festivals. So burning incense and praying has been a daily ritual for him, as it is for many in Taiwan. Such folk beliefs are deeply rooted in Taiwan society, and the inclusion of temple culture into people’s daily lives is quite unique, different from the tradition in other Chinese communities such as in mainland China or Singapore.

By incorporating elements of folk religion such as the casting of moon blocks, Liu meant to bring good luck to the 2017 Tai­pei Universiade. Casting the blocks means putting your future into the hands of fate, which reflects the spirit of sport where you can never be sure of the result until the final second.

The flow of traffic and the vibrant nightlife echo the energy of the city, and demonstrate the immediate potency of the young athletes. Watching the 90-second film is like riding an invisible light beam, transporting one swiftly through Tai­pei, powered by rapid bursts of energy from the athletes. The rhythm keeps up from begin­ning to end, never running out of steam.    

Sound effects

Aside from the dual visual focus on the energies of the city and the athletes, sounds also have a key role: familiar announcements from the Tai­pei MRT are inter­mixed with the intense breathing and pulse of the sportspeople. “As viewers hear the sounds, images are created in their minds,” says Liu. To achieve the best audio possible, Liu invited a Canadian team to produce the sound and music. Links to unconscious memories evoke a resonance as viewers watch the film with these familiar sounds as background.

The film has been extraordinarily well received by the public. Liu says frankly that he had no expectation of such a remarkable outcome. In order to produce this type of composite media which integrates animation and reality, the Bito Studio team was augmented by the inclusion of short film director Howard ­Cheng and animation director Gavin Yin.

After they took up their responsibilities last year, creative ideas began to flow and ended up pasted over the transparent wall in their meeting room. In order to achieve the best possible vision, two teams used a range of equipment including high-speed cameras, drones, GoPros and a special underwater camera to capture scenes from above and below that people would never see in daily life.

Each scene was discussed in great detail before shooting took place. But despite the precise preparation, there were some surprises: for example, the geometric beauty of the tennis and basketball courts as shot by one of their drones was impressive enough to stun even Liu.

The entire task has been a novel experience for Liu and his team. Government-sponsored films are sometimes the subject of criticism, but from the very beginning of this project, Liu determined to correct that impression: this one would be different. The international standard of this work speaks highly of his skills.

Bito Studio’s creative director Keng Liu used three teams to produce the stunning promotional film Taipei in Motion for the 2017 Taipei Summer Universiade. (photo by Lin Min-hsuan)