Saturday September 5, 2009

Catching a sneak peek into bloggers’ lives

BLOGGED OUT By NICOLE TAN

I FIRST heard about Project Alpha during a two-minute telephone call from my agent.

“Nicole, you’ve been selected as part of the cast for a show about bloggers. Are you okay with that?” he asked.

After a moment’s hesitation, I grabbed at the opportunity, little knowing that barely two weeks later I would be standing in a luxurious hotel suite in Sunway with celebrity Jojo Struys filming a segment for the first Online TV programme on bloggers in Malaysia.

Project Alpha, which was a collaborative effort between Nuffnang and hitz,fm, showcased the lives of seven Malaysian bloggers and revealed what made them famous as well as providing a glimspe into their lives beyond the blogosphere.

Some of the bloggers featured garnered more than 20,000 unique visitors a day on their sites so I was thrilled to be invited to be a part of the first season of the show.

Meticulous: Lim spent weeks preparing the script.

The 34-year-old director, Michael Lim, spent weeks preparing the script and spending at least a day which each of the bloggers before even starting on filming.

Lim had co-founded Kyanite Sdn Bhd with Struys in 2006 to provide TV content and their current project is Project Alpha. Other Kyanite projects include Jojo’s Ticket to Wellbeing and Health Buzz.

After two days of shooting, I finally managed to corner Lim and have a heart-to-heart chat with him.

What were you doing before Kyanite?

I started at Ogilvy and Mather, an international advertising agency, more than 10 years ago and was the brand director there. While there, I conceptualised a reality TV programme for Gillette and it was a finalist at a regional TV awards show. I was hooked on producing TV content after that.

Why a programme about bloggers?

I feel that blogging and social microsites are slowly becoming a natural medium and Malaysians are catching on to it. It can be a very powerful medium which reaches out to different groups and different demographics across the world.

There are blogs dedicated to everything from travel to fashion and from IT to social issues so we also tried to cover a cross section of Malaysian bloggers. We hope Project Alpha will not just stop here and want to travel with the show to discover top bloggers around the region.

We did not want to choose a contest format so there are no nasty judges and no winners or losers. The show aims to give viewers a sneak peek into the lives of bloggers.

How do you pick your bloggers?

The bloggers we picked had to be top bloggers in their own right. This could depend on their daily traffic, their natural personalities, the topics they write about and other factors.

Nuffnang recommended a list of bloggers and Struys and I interviewed each of them to see if they were able to tell their stories on camera.

What do you intend to achieve?

To be a breakthrough programme that raises awareness of bloggers who are a unique breed of people. Years ago, it would be unfathomable to think of it as a profession but there are many bloggers now who are doing this full time.

Do you have a blog?

I don’t have a blog but I helped create and set up Jojostruys.com with Struys and a team of designers.

Where are your favourite hang out places?

I love hanging out in nature and love going for walks with my dogs. I used to work in nightclubs, bars and pubs in the UK and have partied since I was 13-years-old and, as you get older, you tend to get a bit tired of the whole party scene. But I will go to places like Asian Heritage Row, La Bodega and Luna bar occasionally.

What are your hobbies?

I love tennis and I’m a Liverpool fan so I try to catch every game. I will also jump on a plane and go off whenever I feel like it.

Finally, any advice to those who want to pursue a career like yours?

As Michael Schofield from Prison Break tells his brother all the time, “Just have a little faith!”

Project Alpha will be aired on hitz.fm on Sept 18.