Hi! it seems the bend control is not working...is there anything I need to activate?

Most likely you need to enable "Auto run python scripts" in the files tab of the user preferences panel.  This took me a long time to figure out.  I tried to manually connect the controls using Transform Constraints but the result was not like the video.  Finally turned on auto run and everything works well.

thank you andrew! i was getting nowhere fast till i found your answer. 

best wishes,

julian