This is the no.1 question!

“little” stands for youth. We started the studio after university as a means to pursue our ideals of creativity. People are often surprised at our age and many have doubted us. But we have proven to be more than capable of handling big projects. Clients we worked with commented that we are more mature than our age, something we dont know whether to laugh or cry about. At the same time, we are constantly learning and challenging ourselves.

“red ants” stands for hard work and collaboration. We work hard. Very hard. We are five individuals with different skill sets, inclinations and life philosophies. But we rub off each other in a good way.

Individually, we have been recognized as photographers and independent filmmakers. Our formal training spans the fields of broadcast media, journalism and marketing.

Alex

likes to write, travel and take pictures. His photojournalistic works has been published in The Straits Times, Singapore Architect Magazine, ECS Magazine and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. His camera takes a break only when he picks up a good book and allows his mind to wander off.

Adeline

was formerly a freelance photojournalist with The New Paper and What’s Up Newspaper. She has also written for publications like The Columbia Missourian, Home Concepts and NewMan. In 2008 she received an award from the Missouri Press Association for a health feature. When she’s not out on a shoot, she spends her time in office editing and occasionally transforms into a t-rex to bite people when she has too much on her plate.

Darren

is the “technical helpdesk” in little red ants creative studio. He started his own photography and videography company in 2006 and never looked back since. His love for photography and films makes his work seem more like having fun than a job. Darren has also won numerous awards including the best video for the Asian Television Award in 2009.

Kang Li

graduated as valedictorian (2009) of Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information and received the Singapore Press Holdings Gold Medal awarded to the top journalism student. He has work published in The New York Times, National Geographic Traveler and Time Magazine. Choosing not to work in a news organisation has granted him liberty to explore stories closer to his heart. It has also freed him to pursue different methods of expression. To make a human connection; that’s what guides his work.

Yan Zhao

is the marketing guy in little red ants creative studio. Previously an assistant regional brand manager in Unilever, Yan Zhao is the recipient of the prestigious Batey Gold Medal in 2009. When he is not racking his brains over new business strategies, he sits down with a good cup of coffee and starts planning new travels to satisfy his wanderlust.

A brief overview of our work so far include: corporate videos, documentaries, campaign coverage, commercials, multimedia shows, music videos and short films for clients ranging from governmental agencies and non-profit organisations to private corporations and boutique agencies.

We don’t have a style. Having a pre-conceived notion of style handicaps our work. For us, the message is more important than the medium and we make very conscious efforts to avoid pigeonholing a story into a style when it could have been told in a more effective way. However, we also like to experiment with new ways of storytelling. We focus on having strong concepts, i.e. building a strong script and a well-crafted storyboard.

It is not as easy as giving a number. There are many parts that make up an engagement, such as delivery time, production costs and audience reach etc. An engineering friend gave us this term “the project triangle”. There are always three components in every solution – quality, time and cost, and usually, we can only choose 2 out of 3. Hence, it is impossible to have the cake, eat it and bring it home for tomorrow’s breakfast. The three outcomes are i) an excellent solution in a short period of time, but costs incurred are higher, ii) a cheap solution in a short period of time, but the quality is suspect, iii) a cheap and excellent solution but you take eons to arrive at it.

Of course, this is still a bit of an oversimplification because there are other factors too, such as purpose of project, client relationship and creative freedom. In short, no straightforward answer!

Too many cooks spoil the broth. When a project is at the mercy of too many hands, unnecessary compromises have to be made in the process of creating a story. As much as possible, we want to remain intimate with what we do and how we go about telling stories.

We are always keen to meet anyone who is interested to collaborate. To date, we have worked with motion graphics artists, animators, illustrators, sound designers, VO artistes, numerous acting talents and have internship tie-ups with several educational institutions. However, we prefer to keep the core team small so as not to dilute our creative vision and camaraderie. Do drop by for coffee! (although our favourite drink of the moment is Vitasoy)