We Need A Hero x Shentonista: Look Of A Hero—High Definition

In this series for We Need A Hero, we feature some of our favourite men sporting four of 2018’s upcoming hair trends.

You might be a little more familiar with Jasper’s online persona; the filmmaker has amassed over 18,000 followers on his Instagram account, but you won’t find self-indulgent selfies or photos of perfect latte art. Instead, Jasper seems to revel in the imperfect, and his real-life character is as irreverent as the photos that he shares: grainy film shots of his friends; strange, wacky faces; and seemingly unintentional snaps of the most random of things. He doesn’t seem too bothered by how people view him though, and though he might appear to be a little rough around the edges at times, there’s nothing wrong with being your own person, and if Jasper’s career is anything to go by, he’s got a lot to prove and a lot more potential and talent than he lets on.

Shentonista (S): Do you think it’s important to be well-groomed, and why?
Jasper (J): I think the first thing someone would notice is either your face, hair, or what you’re wearing, so yeah, I think it’s important, especially when it comes to how people view you.

S: What are your usual grooming habits?
J: Mostly shaving. Sometimes I shave my eyebrows, because they’re damn thick! I used to thread them, but the shop below my house closed down.

S: Anyone that you look up to for style inspiration?
J: There isn’t one particular person. Perhaps KOHH, this Japanese rapper? I just pick from here and there, and form my own style. I’m not sure how I’d describe it, but I guess it’s more old-school or ‘uncle’. When I was a teenager I was really into that whole metal/punk-rock style, like studded belts, tight black jeans and a tight band t-shirt. Later, when that phase died, I started listening to and watching more indie videos, and started going into that whole fully-buttoned T-shirt look. It slowly evolved into a ’90’s, Hong-Kong-style, gangster uncle fashion, which I’ve always loved especially because of the Young And Dangerous movies.

S: Have your parents/other people ever mentioned anything to you about your look?
J: Well, my friends call me ‘uncle’ because of the hairstyle I had before this, and the way I wear clothes that look like they belong to my dad. On the other hand my dad finds it weird that I wear dress pants with sneakers.

S: Tell us about a haircut you’ve regretted.
J: I’ve tried a few haircuts mainly because I wanted to do something new, but I never know how to explain it to the barber, so he’d cut it in a way according to what he thought I was trying to say. But the worst one so far was this shop that wanted to try something out, and just shaved a line right down my hair parting. My hair was already parted, but they wanted the parting to show more. I had to wait for it to grow out and I had the hairstyle for maybe two months.

S: What’s a look that you’ve always wanted to try?
J: Maybe going botak (bald). I mean, I had to shave my head for National Service, but I was thinking very short hair, dyed blond or brown, like a Japanese punk vibe.

S: When and how did you pick up videography and photography?
J: I picked up photography because my mum had this camera lying around, so I took it and played with it for awhile. I just shot plants and shit. There was this guy whom I used to know that did wedding photography, so I asked if I could follow him around. I went on to shoot some weddings and stuff. At the time, I used to be into hardcore music, and I liked this director called Tom Welsh who shoots metal bands. My friend was starting a band, and asked me shoot a video for them, so I just imitated Welsh’s work. After a while they got bigger and asked me to shoot more stuff, so I kind of went into videography more than photography. Now, I’ve been doing freelance videography for 6-7 years.

S: What’s the best part about your job?
J: You get to choose when you want to work and when you don’t want to. Sometimes you can’t choose lah, but I think the best thing is doing what you want to do every day.

S: What are some of the most memorable projects that you’ve worked on?
J: Probably the music video for Shifting Over by (local artist) Gentle Bones. We flew over to Sydney in a small, three-man team and we had some friends there who helped us. It was mainly very fun and memorable because it really didn’t feel like a shoot—we were all good friends, joking and playing around while shooting. The weather there was cold so it made it way easier to get through a whole day shoot. Everything was more or less impromptu, and I was winging everything, including the locations to shoot at and what props we could have. At the same time, because of all the scenic locations we chose, it was like working and having a holiday at the same time.

S: What are some projects that you’re working on, or would like to work on?
J: Some of the projects I’ve done recently were videos for Reebok and L’Officiel, and I’m currently working on a music video for Tabitha Nauser, another local singer. I would like to work on anything that lets me have full creative control, lor. If I could dream I’d like to shoot a music video for (Canadian artist) The Weeknd.

S: What’s one thing you’ve learnt from your years of work?
J: To be patient. Also, when I first started I’d turn down ‘corporate’ kind of jobs because I wanted to do my own work, not anything else, but I’ve learnt to not reject jobs just because I want to.

S: What do you think you’d be doing if you weren’t a videographer/photographer?
J: I don’t know, man. I want to do so many things. I’d be backpacking, I guess—probably around Europe first, then Australia. I don’t travel as much as some other people but I think I do travel quite a fair bit.

S: What are some of your outlets for inspiration? Any role models that you look up to?
J: Vimeo is one of the biggest outlets of inspiration for me, but I also use Pinterest. I like this videographer called @_brthr_ on Instagram. I really like his style of editing, which is really tedious and very stylized. Also because I’ve been following him for a long time, and he’s always improving so much on his style.

S: What was the last thing you read or saw that inspired you, or changed the way you thought about something?
J: I just watched The OA on Netflix and it made me think about life and death—what is the actual meaning of life? Is it just working all day or is it just taking care of yourself all day? What is the real gauge of balance? Also there’s a lot of expectation going around now, like what kind of job you have or work you do, how it’s going to sustain you in the future, how much you earn, who you will marry, how many followers you have, how healthy you are e.t.c., and I guess people get lost in it, especially with social media. But I think the real question is, “Are you doing it for yourself, or is it just for everyone looking at you?”

Find out how to create Jasper’s look here.
Jasper wears sweater, jacket, and pants from HUGO, which will be launched next year.