This article is also available in Vietnamese.

On the grounds that there is a growing domestic demand for high-end TableTop shots and motion control, Ginger Shots has been established as a unique Vietnamese full in-house studio specializing in TableTop.

Founded by ME Group partners & Mr. Joel Spezeski - an experienced Cinematographer, Ginger Shots is an agile and precise blend between a talented local team and the most up-to-date tech production practices and tools.

The “TableTop” concept is relatively new to Vietnamese people. It refers to a specialized area of photography and film where the subject typically sits on a table. With the advent of high-speed motion control, the creative possibilities have expanded tremendously, along with the technical requirements for precision and timing. 

There is a considerable gap in the market locally in terms of producing world-class tabletop work, as a result these kinds of jobs are going overseas to Europe or Bangkok or the production houses would have to bring special effects specialists with equipment from abroad for just one or two shots because the expertise is not available locally. Fueled by these motives, in Q2 2020, Ginger Shots was born and within such a short time, the company has been able to deliver some challenging videos. 

The team has set out to train and equip a local team with the skills, tools, and experience to operate at a world-class level. From that, Ginger Shots’ capabilities help promote Vietnam as a production hub regionally and globally. 

1. Experience working with foreign directors

One can say that tabletop projects are by essence very technical and specific. It is hard to make it happen without experienced foreign directors who have accumulated years of tests and failures before. Taking advantage of building a solid network of international tabletop experts and directors, Ginger Shots has been cooperating with foreign specialists from Holland, Portugal, Singapore, Mexico... 

Acting as consultants on a regular basis, these specialists have been very supportive and did lead the team carefully through all the processes. Thanks to their assistance, Ginger Shots has empowered the local team in terms of filming techniques.

2. Modern engineering and technology

In order to work efficiently and meet the highest standard, Ginger Shots has made significant investments to equip the team with industry-standard tools and equipment. They have quite a lot of inventory, which is the only of its kind in all of Vietnam but is de rigueur in other countries.

Ginger Shots is not the first one to bring Motion Control capabilities to Vietnam. Still, they believe their vision goes beyond providing motion control capabilities with BOLT.

Concerning the unique working process, the production house is continually working as a team to hone their craft and refine their methods. Every day, they are shooting tests, building rigs, and experimenting with new tech.

3. Remote collaboration with the international network

One more highlight feature that sets Ginger Shots apart from other production houses is the remote working process. As COVID-19 threatens lives across the world, remote work is on the rise. Luckily, a few months before the COVID-19 pandemic, Ginger Shots had invested in Remote Production technologies (QTake technology) and trained a very efficient team, knowing that they would need international experts' support.

Maintaining communication lines across time zones can be a challenge, but it also offers advantages. For instance, the director is free to focus only on the image without the distractions of being on set. Tabletop, in particular, is well-suited to remote production in this regard, as typically, the team members are not working with actors.

Take the two of the highlight projects - Vinamilk and AFC TV for examples. Ginger Shots worked remotely with some of the best global Directors.

For Vinamilk, the team worked with Director Pedro Costa (remotely from Portugal) and minimal ingredients. In the preparation, Pedro sent the team CG previs files of the shots and camera movement, the team could match the lens and move he sent and start building the lighting and effects. 

Regarding AFC’s TVC, Ginger Shots had the opportunity to cooperate with Director Ronald Koetzier (remotely from Holland), an absolute master in tabletop art. It was an extreme challenge to work to Ronald’s standard; however, he gave the team excellent direction and taught them quite a lot in the process. 

Sharing about the working process, Duckie Chu - Special Effects Technician, said: “Each project has its difficulty in each department. But the most difficult thing for the whole team is to meet the foreign directors' expectations and requirements, which is a challenge but also an honor for the Ginger Shots team to work with the top professionals in the TableTop industry. ”



Developing Ginger Shots abroad is not a priority but developing the branding of Ginger Shots abroad is. Running as an independent company of the ME Group network, Ginger Shots aims to work for regional clients expecting world-class expertise. 

For the immediate future, the production house is focusing on developing its capabilities in special effects and visual engineering to establish Vietnam as a primary global player in this challenging market. They also see additional opportunities in the coming fusion of real-time physical production with computer imagery, combined with Motion Control capabilities. It happens that the company has all the tools to do virtual production in house.

In summary

The founders of Ginger Shots launched the company with the aim to build capabilities and offer opportunities, and promote Vietnam as a production hub regionally and even globally. 

Ginger Shots’ mission is to level the standard of Vietnamese advertising productions up. Stay tuned for upcoming satisfying shots from the team!

Ngọc Anh / Advertising Vietnam