The best parkour team in the Middle East, Kuwait’s PK Jaguars took a trip to London and hit all the local spots and trained with local traceurs. They had a great time and really showed the international free runners training in the UK what they can do. All footage was shot by the Jaguars themselves using various cameras from smartphones to Canon’s. I sifted through over 750 clips to find stuff that I enjoyed and edit a video I like. Hope you like it to.
This years BC One was big. Red Bull BC One World Champ BBoy Lilou from France and BC One All Star BBoy Pelézinho from Brazil flew into judge the competition here in Kuwait. There were some controversial decisions, great side acts, sweet music and as always killer Kuwait BBoying. BBoy Hush of the always outstanding Electrik Crew took the win and will be traveling to Egypt for a chance at the World Championship in Seoul, South Korea. I wanted a fast paced, colorful clean edit and went with a fun music track to match the vibe of the show. Sit back and enjoy the best moments of the 4 hour event in just over 5 minutes.
This footage was originally supposed spread out in a rap video but it didn’t work out. I still wanted to use it because it is pretty cool and was a lot of fun to film. The look and style we were going for was the Matrix but since we didn’t use it for that I went another direction with the edit. This defo shows with time and planning the Jagaurs could make a nice action movie or be part of a that type of a production. That being said hope you all enjoy it.
I recounted the views on my TJC Films official YouTube and videos I have done for other pages such as the Gulfrun, Big D, Social Paintball, Infinite Delusion and others I’m at 565,000 views. The majority of those views coming from Kuwait. Thank you very much to all my friends and fans.
I shot and edited this movie in one night. Why? Because I noticed a lot of people on my youtube channel and other places who say that I make Kuwait look beautiful. That is awesome to hear. While Kuwait can be very brown i.e. buildings, roads, the sky it is also an interesting and beautiful place. While it can be hard to find things to do and I have many Non Kuwaiti friends who hate it most people who say that don’t make an effort to get out ant see if that is always the case. So I figured I would show how cool Kuwait could be on any given night and this is the result. Though it can be a very frustrating place I do love Kuwait. And this is my thanks to it and the friends I have made here who make it a great place to be.
So I got with the folks on Camp Arifjan who handle celebrity visits and shows. They have brought over 50 Cent, Ja Rule, Ciara, The American Gladiators, UFC Fighters, Taking Back Sunday, The cast of Spartacus and more. I wanted to see if they could do a show that would show the troops on base, their friends and families back home and anyone else watching that Kuwait isn’t all what they see in the news, browse on the web and emails, read in the paper or hear on the radio. So I suggested The Kuwait Underground. A show that would showcase Kuwait’s dopest talents. I basically asked everyone I have done a video with and others I have seen perform here. We went with the name The Kuwait Underground because the people participating are doing amazing things but these things are just now starting to be accepted in Kuwait. We will have Rappers, Bboys, Dubstep Dancers and Traceurs(Free Runners). There are a lot of names on the roster like The PK Jaguars, 965 Crew, Electrik Crew and Kuwait Got Rhymes with more being added. The video below will be played all over the base so the Soldiers, Sailors, Marines and Airmen can get a taste of the awesomeness that is The Kuwait Underground’s talent. Unfortunately only people living and or working on Arifjan will get to see it live. But I will be recording and posting all the performances for you guys to watch!!!
Mahdi Baqer my friend, a big reason for my conversion to Islam and a star of a bunch of my Parkour movies has been featured on the very popular parkour website Parkour Generations. He and the PK Jaguars have done so much for the sport and so much for the youth of Kuwait. I am proud to call him and the rest of the Jags my friends and my brothers! Check out the article here! Here is Mahdi and the rest of the Jags in one of my first videos(it shows…LOL) the skills are insane and they are super fun guys.
Live performance by Big D, O-Zone, Hera and DJ Africa at the Southern Smoke Show that was held here in Kuwait.
Here is one of my favorite music videos I shot so far. It had over 20,000 views and 300 likes until youtube deleted it for some reason but couldn’t explain why!!!! Big D and Deep raw recorded this song and I was there to capture it on film. It is real, raw and fun. They were all business but had a good time with it.
I have been doing a lot of videos with Kuwait’s Hip Hop scene the past few months. Rappers, BBoys, Beat Boxers and DJs are creating a vibrant Hip Hop scene here in Kuwait. Below are some of the people featured in my work for that scene.
Love him or hate him if you are living in Kuwait you have probably heard about Big D and seen some of his videos. The guy is continuously trying to get better and always writing or in the studio. I’ve worked with him a few times and consider him a friend now. The Big D you see online is loud, in your face and outrageous. He is very different than the introspective, mellow guy I know. Either way the music he is starting to put out now deserves the attention and hopefully getting some play on people’s iPods and Androids. Check out the videos I shot for him below. We wanted to keep them intimate and simple not make them huge productions and they get the point across pretty well.
Cursed Ink featuring Deep Raw (In The Studio)
Rage Of A Poet (In response to his “haters”)
Relevant Existance (Remembering the Iraq Invasion)
Gran Milli is an American rapper from Georgia working and living here in Kuwait. He is a modest, intelligent, talented guy and a charismatic rapper with real skills.
Gran Milli The Movement
MC Element has one of the most laid back and smooth flows I have heard in a while and his music is great. I heard one of his songs and wanted to work with him straight away. He just put out a new mix tape that is pretty diverse. He is currently in San Francisco
MC Element Faith In Me
A few months back most of the rappers here in Kuwait gathered together for a cypher the highlighted the skills and talent of the artists doing their thing here in Kuwait. Here is the cypher video featuring Beat boxers and beats.
Kuwait Hip Hop Cypher Vol 2
Djiby and Guled a rapper and R&B singer teamed up to create Lost Souls which is a thoughtful, poignant song about when life gets you down and getting up and pushing forward.
While working on the Cypher I met Duffy a funny, shy and very talented Beat Boxer. This is him entertaining the rappers while we waited for others to show.
Duffy – Kuwaiti Beat Boxer
Dance is getting more popular here in Kuwait…Much to the chagrin of many. Which is a shame because some of the dancers here are world class like the 965 Crew, Elektrik Crew and X Crew.
Doss is one of the founding members of the 965 Crew along with NJ and KG. Here he is below having a good time around Kuwait.
Doss Kuwait is my dance floor
Doss Kuwait dancing on the Edge of Kuwait
Moath aka BBoy Psycho is a fun loving down to earth guy who happens to be one of the baddest BBoys in the Mid East. Check him out at my apartment and in a massive battle with Can’t Stop Us.
BBoy Psycho
BBoy battle featuring the music of Arabique another amazing Kuwaiti Rapper.
One Soul Crew was a BBoy Crew that sadly disbanded so they could pursue their own interests but man were they talented and funny. They also introduced me to Doss and the 965 crew!
So there you have it. The next time someone says Kuwait doesn’t have a music scene show them this post as evidence exhibit A. The scene here is big and this is just a fraction of what is going on!
I have been making movies in and about Kuwait since the end of 2009. In the last year I have had over 400,000 views online. I have also had Ads I filmed and edited as well as music videos play on Kuwait TV. I’m not bragging. I’m not trying to get you to hire me. I ‘m not even trying to get you to watch my videos right now. What I am trying to do is establish a little credibility as to why I am writing what is to become a weekly series on how you can make movies people will actually want to watch and why you might want to read it.
The first thing you should know is kind of obvious but often overlooked. You have to film something you love. When you think about your favorite things to see or do all kinds of images flash through your mind. You get excited about them and can’t wait to experience them again. So when you planto do a video it should be about something that you find exciting. You should be able to recall those images that flashed through your mind and maybe even use them as mental storyboards for shot selection. There is a catch though. What you love may not interest others. There is also the danger of filming and editing something you enjoy and getting wrapped up in it. Think about it. Say you are an automobile gear head and you make a video about the car culture in Kuwait that comes in at around 15 minutes long. To you this is great and 15 minutes of total freaking awesomeness. I have been guilty of this on previous occasions. But someone who is into cooking could give two craps about the car scene in Kuwait. They may still have been interested in viewing but may see that length of the video and either not watch or get bored and just stop watching part of the way through out of sheer boredom. So you have to think about how others may perceive what you love and how to keep it interesting. Think about when you go on youtube. You sometimes spend hours watching related videos to what you went on to watch in the first place. But even in that list of videos you watched there is usually one or two that you skipped because of something you disliked about them. A good example for me is the first movie I did with the PK Jaguars. RUN! was a trailer for a Zombie movie we still haven’t been able to make do to scheduling conflicts. LOL the idea came from my love of two things Parkour and the Undead. I figure why not combine them and make something interesting. Like the previous statements I knew some people would not be a huge fan so I couldn’t go hardcore blood and guts like a traditional zombie film or make it straight up sprinting from start to finish like a parkour video. I had to make it interesting and tolerable to casual viewers too. As this series goes on we will discuss techniques on how to do this. For now watch the video we made and see what you think. And yes I know these aren’t traditional rising from the grave zombies. These are infected zombies like in 28 days later and 28 weeks later.
If the subject isn’t something you love then there has to at least be something you are passionate about going on with the project. You have to enjoy people you are working with. The way you are filming it. Even the style you are editing it. I have done some Public Service Announcements for the U.S. Army that were boring as hell. To make them more enjoyable to edit for me or to watch for the viewer I did certain things with editing or filming to give it a little something extra. If you are filming your nephews football match you have to realize only you may love your nephew while others will not. You may not even like football either so you have to make it visually interesting for yourself and others or else you will go insane while filming and editing it. And people watching will not give a crap about whats going on. Find something about it to make it exciting. Show the rivalry between the two teams or the battle between two players. Give it a protagonist and an antagonist. It has to be a story. It should have a start, middle and an end. Wrap it up into a nice tight little package like a box of chocolates that people will want pop open and come back to or at least sample once. Going back to enjoying who you are filming with…This is key. If they are a douche or a group of douches you will be miserable. Always work with those you like and or trust or optimally both. When I made RUN! the PK Jaguars and I didn’t know one another well so there was a little resistance and it showed in the execution of the movie. It is still fun to watch, short and sweet and very unique to Kuwait but it defo could have been better. Which it will be when we make the real movie. Inshallah haha. All the movies we made after this came out great as we were comfortable with one another and had established trust and it shows. But remember when making any movie the most important thing is to have fun. Watch the behind the scenes we made to see what I mean.
Even though we filmed during Ramadan and were limited by no food, no water and not even being able to use fake blood to give the zombies a more blood spewing menacing look like Zombieland it turned out pretty well and we had a good time doing it because the atmosphere on the set. Even when we were exhausted, tired and dehydrated we were having a blast. So either love what you are making the film about or find something to love about it or else it will be a huge piece of crap and people will never watch it. Hope you enjoyed this and will want to read the next one. Let me know what you thought in the comments section…As if you wouldn’t have anyway.
