Eva Tam & #LifeAtWork

Senior Multimedia Producer @ Fidelity International. Former journalist at the Wall Street Journal . Torontonian living in Hong Kong . Interests include basketball, traveling and whisky

[evatam]

I normally don’t work on ad campaigns for Fidelity, but this was too good and creative of a project to pass up. We are teaming up with the marketing teams in Singapore and Hong Kong to produce a series of videos on how outside passion of Fidelity employees can relate back to their work at Fidelity.

Our first video featured Johann Santer, the head of private banking in Asia, ex-Japan. We followed him endurance running through the trails of Hong Kong and how that helps him focus with his clients at Fidelity.

[evatam]

While China’s ageing population is scrambling to save enough for retirement, many Chinese millennials believe they will enjoy a carefree one without the need to invest their savings. Here’s a day in the life of three people in Shanghai and a deep dive into how they’re saving for their future.

I went to Shanghai last month and sat down with three of China’s working class on their thoughts about retirement. I shot, wrote the script, edited and produced this story.

Also -- my first voiceover debut for Fidelity!

[evatam]

What MSCI inclusion means for a Chinese soy sauce factory | Fidelity International

Companies like Haitian will be opened up to a broader, deeper and more international shareholder base.

I went to Foshan, China in May where we filmed and talked to Haitian, China’s biggest soy sauce maker, on what it means for their company to be included in the MSCI index.

[evatam]

Captured on my Canon 650D with EF 75–300mm lens 

[evatam]

Implicit risks in investment, or unintended exposures are often not the type of risks that would be picked up in traditional modelling; to identify them, investors need to be rigorous and proactive.

Producing a video about protests, crashes, technology and sports are easy. The visuals lead your story.  

Producing a video about finance is a lot harder, and more challenging. How do you turn such abstract concepts into life? 

It is one of the reasons why I left my job at WSJ to challenge myself at Fidelity.

For this video, the toughest challenge was to figure out how to make this concept dynamic. We thought shooting this outside would help, but there was one specific interview where we had to shoot on green screen. Mixing green screen with live shots was difficult because sometimes, the edits don’t look congruent. After much deliberating and a few rough drafts later, we found a solution that looked sharp and smart for our Fidelity branding. 

[evatam]

On the ground in China: automation and higher wages | Fidelity International

Neil Gough explores a Chinese warehouse adapting to the future.

This is my first post since I worked at Fidelity, and it’s mostly because my workplace blocked most social media so I couldn’t upload any of my new videos lately.

Anyway, I spent 40 hours in 3 days editing and producing this video back in February and it finally came out last week. 

Each year, Fidelity puts out an Analyst Survey where our analysts answer some of the biggest questions we have about the industries they cover. This year, one of the findings included China’s rising labour wages and how automation will change the way factory employees work. Unfortunately, my visa to China was not approved yet so my manager went out to the outskirts of Shanghai and visited an express shipment factory and a sorting company to see how robots are used in the shipment industry. When my manager got back to Hong Kong, we filmed a few more interviews to really give the story some context and the bigger picture before we wrote the script.  

This video gained a lot of attention in our local Facebook accounts, and at the moment, have at least 150,000 views! So you can say, it’s our first viral video since I joined Fidelity, and produced by me :) 

[evatam]

Electric Cars Are a Hit With Chinese Consumers

China is the world's largest market for electric vehicles, thanks largely to subsidies that drive costs down. Those incentives will end by 2020, but the government is betting that won't be the end of the road for its electric dream. Photo/Video: Eva Tam/The Wall Street Journal

The last video I would ever produce for the Wall Street Journal is now published! 

I went to Shenzhen back in June to film this for a few days, and with help from my intern, she went up to do some additional filming. 

Next week, I’ll be Fidelity International’s newest senior multimedia producer. I’ll help lead the video efforts to produce their financial and editorial content. This is an exciting change for me, and I can’t wait to step into a completely new field.

[evatam]

China Takes Advantage of U.S. Limits on Drone Sales

As the U.S. tries to curb the selling of military drones overseas, China is filling the void, expanding sales of the advanced weaponry in the Middle East and Africa. Photo: Getty Images

A video I forgot to post up that I produced on Chinese drones selling to the Middle East and Africa. It was the first time I did side-by-side comparisons on 3D-moving objects.

[evatam]

South Korea Seeks Peace, but Prepares for War

As tensions rise once again between North Korea and the U.S., Seoul is caught in the middle. If war should break out, just how prepared is South Korea to defend itself? Photo: Associated Press

My latest video full of animations. I’m improving by the day!

More South Korea/North Korea videos coming soon! 

[evatam]

Race for Self-Driving Cars Gears Up in Asia

Asian tech giants, startups and auto makers, including Baidu, nuTonomy and Nissan, are aggressively pursuing driverless-vehicle technology. Photo: Getty Images

My latest story, that took 1.5 weeks for scripting, editing and animating.

I wish I was able to film myself in a self-driving car instead, haha. 

[evatam]

Can North Korea Survive Without China’s Support?

China and North Korea's relationship dates to the 1940s. But experts question whether Pyongyang's ambition for a sophisticated nuclear-weapons program is testing the strength of their alliance. WSJ's Eva Tam has the details. Photo: Reuters

This story is finally out! I’ve been working on this video for over a month now. First, scripting in Hong Kong, then went to NYC to film the on-camera sections plus a lot of animation help from my fellow American colleagues, and then back to HK to finish the video.

I’ve learned a lot about green screen and After Effects work flow from this project, and definitely one of my favourites to date. North Korea and China’s history is fascinating considering how so much of its Communist roots is from China and USSR. 

[evatam]

Seven Years Without Google in China

In the seven years since Google abandoned its China operations, the Chinese have learned to live without it. Photo: Getty Images

It’s been awhile! I was in Toronto for a few weeks, and just came back last week.

This is my first time trying out a new video style that WSJ is turning towards to.

[evatam]

A Wife's Search for Her Missing Husband

Jee Ick-joo, a South Korean businessman in the Philippines, was abducted by police from his home in October. It took his wife, Choi Kyung-jin, three months to learn his fate. Video: Eva Tam; photo: Jes Aznar for The Wall Street Journal

The most emotional story I’ve produced in my career so far. I went to Manila for just 48 hours to film this video and spend weeks working on the script, transcriptions and edit.

[evatam]

Beer Pong in Hong Kong has its own kooky rules—and purists hate them

Hong Kong bars have tweaked the standard rules of the American frat-house drinking game to simplify play—and sell more beer—to the horror of many traditionalists. ‘It requires absolutely zero skills.’

My first ahed, and byline for the Wall Street Journal.

I wrote the story AND produced the video. One of my first :) 

It’s been a story I want to do for a while now, so thank you to my colleagues for encouraging me to pitch. I had a lot of fun reporting on this. I’ve had long 1-2 hour conversations with many “beer pong experts” about the game, the trends, and the evolution of the rules over the past two weeks. I’ve personally witness the trend from just 1-2 bars having a beer pong table 6 years ago to this bandwagon of bars that all have the PongCONNECT tables now. 

[evatam]

Why Indonesia Has Such Threatening Volcanoes

Indonesia's volcanoes, some of the world's most active, pose dangers not only to people on the ground but also to the many planes that increasingly fly through Southeast Asia. The government is now better using technology, science and communication to monitor eruptions. Photo: Getty Images

My latest video working with my colleague from Jakarta. 

I’m trying to do more and more animations with each project I take on. I’m quite proud of the spinning globe! That took a whole day to figure out. 

[evatam]

Who Will Be South Korea’s Next President?

South Korean voters facing the possibility of an early presidential election—following Park Geun-hye's impeachment last month—are closely divided between a former United Nations secretary-general, a longtime opposition leader and an upstart mayor, polls show. Video: Eva Tam

One of my favourite pieces to date! I’m back on camera, learned how to use expressions on After Effects and produced this in three days time. 

I really love digging deep into a topic for a story, especially one like South Korean politics. Two out of the three contenders came from the Roh Moo-hyun camp from a decade ago, and now are facing off each other. Roh Moo-hyun campaigned on cracking down on corruption but a year after he left the office, he was prosecuted for corruption (the irony). In order to stop the investigation, he killed himself and left a suicide note. 

[evatam]

Golden Globes: 'La La Land' Wins Big, Meryl Streep Criticizes Trump

"La La Land," a romantic musical starring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, swept all seven of the categories in which it was nominated at the 74th Golden Globe Awards. Meryl Streep used her Cecil B. DeMille Award acceptance speech to take on President-elect Donald Trump. Photo: EPA

Another Golden Globes package!