YouTuber Of The Week: Bryan Lim, The Accidental YouTuber
In this week's column, we feature Bryan Lim, a YouTuber who stumbled upon the video sharing platform all thanks to one video. Read who he is, what he does and the advice he has aspiring YouTubers.
By Darian Goh — 24 Nov 2014, 03:24 PM — Updated almost 10 years ago
You have definitely seen his work on YouTube before, whether he was producing or acting in them. Meet Bryan Lim, the face behind BryanLimTV.
Before starting his channel, Bryan had been collaborating with the guys from The Ming Thing (TMT) to make their first video together, "Alone, Forever?" Little did they know that it would be the start of many videos to come.
Bryan: I had been shooting some videos for The Ming Thing (TMT) channel two months before BryanLimTV channel happened. Met Ming Han through a mutual friend and co-produced TMT channel’s very first short film “Alone, Forever?”, my first collaboration with him and it’s still my favourite short film in TMT channel until now.
But how did it all begin for Bryan? The Taylor's University graduate started his channel by chance in 2012 to produce client sponsored videos and freelance work. It led to his first video, "30 Days" which featured Joseph Germani and Isabella Wong.
Bryan: To be honest, BryanLimTV channel wasn't really planned properly. The channel started in April 2012 and I just graduated not too long ago at that time, freelancing, producing videos for brands & corporate, events and such. During one of my client projects with Samsung, they wanted people to make videos about their product but did not want it to come from themselves or to be placed on their channel (needs to look as if it’s fan-user generated). I made the short film “30 Days” featuring Joseph Germani & Isabella Wong with some Samsung product placement in it. That was how a new channel called BryanLimTV was born.
His skills were honed during his college days as he starting making videos for his assignments. Back then, video production was a pretty new thing and this led him to pursue it as a hobby.
Bryan: I started my video making journey during my college days as part of my assignments. I was studying a communication & media management course in Taylor’s University at that time and there was only 1-2 subjects throughout the entire 3-year degree course which involves video production. It was an entirely new skill set and it sparked my curiosity to explore more about it as a hobby ever since.
His efforts paid off as one of his videos was one of the shortlisted finalist for the BMW Shorties Award back in 2012. According to him, the idea for 'Leap Of Faith' came to him spontaneously and was shot, directed and produced in just 2 weeks before the deadline!
Bryan: The short film “Leap of Faith” managed to be nominated as the ‘Top 10 Finalist’ + ‘Best Cinematography Nomination’ in the BMW Shorties 2012 award. Why? Because it was a genuine ’no budget’ shoot that somehow worked out in the end. The idea sparked really late (1-2 weeks before competition deadline), and the whole shoot took place within 2 hours (because we only had permission to shoot in the bookstore for 2 hours). It involved 2 cast (Ming Han & Isabella Wong, friends whom have acted in my previous videos), 2 production crew (Ming Yue as my 'assistant' and I), and not forgetting Nick Davis who willingly compose a new set of music score for my film edit. It was definitely worth the rush for the competition and we were also really fortunate for the film to be nominated amongst many other worthy films during that year.
When he's not making videos, Bryan is a regular guy. He loves futsal and is a big fan of Arsenal. He also formed a video production company, Core Studios, together with Ming Han from The Ming Thing and Raffi.
Bryan formed a video production company with Ming Han, Ming Yue and Raffi called Core Studios.
Image via Bryan LimBryan: I love sports, I play futsal, I support Arsenal #COYG, I used to be a ‘fairly credible’ blogger in the blogosphere & client scene before I even started making videos (closed down the blog now), and I currently own a video production company along with Ming Han & Raffi called Core Studios.
Life as a YouTuber does open up amazing opportunities. After making videos for Samsung, he was chosen to represent Malaysia to witness the London Olympics in 2012!
Bryan: The most notable experience I had was that I was chosen to represent Malaysia as a Samsung influencer for an all-expense paid trip to witness the London Olympics 2012. This happened because of the videos that I have made for Samsung on my channel. It was a great experience to personally witness such a prestigious worldwide sporting event. These are all thanks to video making & Youtube platform plus the trust that Samsung Global had given me to represent Malaysia.
But it's not all glitz and glamour. Bryan says one of the toughest challenges he face as a YouTuber is coming up with good content. Besides that, finding the right balance for a client video that is not too ad-ish yet effectively delivers the branding is important.
"My team would try to make it a point that we would balance our videos to at least 70:30 ratio (personal work & client project) just so we keep our passion alive."
Image via imgur.comBryan: Writer’s block is another challenge. Really wanting to make more content for my own channel but sometimes you just can’t force an idea out for the sake of wanting to post a video. For example, the concept of “Leap of Faith” video just came randomly when I was reading an article, it turned out to be an ‘award-nominated video’ in the end.
Bryan: To be honest, sometimes it may feel like a chore when a client is heavily involved in the project. However, my team would try to make it a point that we would balance our videos to at least 70:30 ratio (personal work & client project) just so we keep our passion alive.
P.S. Did you know? Bryan's last video was shot in our old office? It even featured Khailee Ng, one the founders of SAYS!
