A Salute to Patient Editing

The Fast-cut Industrial Complex

A major influence music videos have had on modern film, is that they have increased the number of cuts per minute in films of all kinds. A typical music video, film trailer or modern summer block buster looks almost as if it's being fast forwarded, when viewed beside a thriller from the past like Steven Speilberg's JAWS.

Music video editors face a lot of pressure to make their clips exciting enough stand apart from both other music videos and the obnoxiously fast-paced television ads. An arms race has ensued between the two camps that has left directors insecure about holding shots for more than two seconds and audiences with twitchy ADD symptoms.

The downside to over cutting a sequence is that, while it does raise tension in the viewer, it often does so my disorienting them. Bärbel Garsoffky discovered cuts in a video feed can significantly hinder an audience's ability to follow action. This is why professional sporting events are almost always shot with no more than three camera angles, and always adhere to a strict stageline

Fast camera cuts can also make it more difficult for audience’s to remember a sequence after the fact.  Consider the horribly edited James Bond film Quantum Solace. A cut a second on average with rapid-fire burst for variety. Notice that while all the flashing colours and explosions succeeds in making us tense, it also leaves us with no idea where the vehicles are in space, which direction they are heading.

Long Takes

Some of the most memorable sequences in all of filmmaking have had no cuts at all. Consider the Scorsese’s Copacabana sequence in Goodfellas, or the opening of Orson Wells’ Touch of Evil, or hammer fight sequence in Old Boy. Michel Gondry became legendary in the music video scene with a series of mind-blowing one cut videos for Kylie Minogue, Lucas with the Lid Off and Cibo Matto. 

Tightly cutting footage to a track is most useful when making otherwise inappropriate visuals fit the song. An example would be if director wanted to ironically pair footage of 60s beach bunnies with an industrial rock song.

When conceiving and shooting original material, we can avoid the need to over-cut by simply staging more energetic shots in the first place. Consider Stop Making Sense, Jonathan Demme’s masterful collaboration with Talking Heads. Despite the up tempo music, none of shots in this section is under 4 seconds. This patient edit focuses audience’s attention on the intensity of the performance instead of style of the filmmaking.

Aesop TV Project (2008)

AesopTV | Failted Collaborative Film

In 2008, there was a great deal of email being passed between indie directors online. Young filmmakers from many countries were connecting via the videos.antville.org blog, using it to share cool music videos, offer feedback and celebrate best work that had been seen month to month. 

Videos. Antville.org Awards logo, 2008

I thought it might be fun to build a collaborative feature film, made up of several shorts each directed by a one of the new filmmakers I had met online. We had a lot of interest in fables and myths in the mid-noughties (apparently fantasy work becomes more popular during recessions and in wartime) so we chose the theme Aesop's Fables for the collaboration.

Aesop's stories were ideal for development, especially by multiple directors. The fables had a simple characters with clear goals. The characters were all animals, which makes the art direction fun, and makes the film accessible to audiences of all ages and backgrounds. Finally, Aesop, like most fairy tales, is recognisable enough name that people can describe project easily, which in theory helps raise money and spread the word about the films once they are finished. The idea was also interesting from a distribution angle, as each director could organize rep cinema screenings for the film in their areas.

Soon various indie directors in our scene were choosing their favourite Aesop stories and forwarding their treatments.  Andy Bruntel director of classic videos for Bonnie Prince Billy and Liars adapted the Eagle and the Arrow. Toronto's film making mad-scientists Exploding Motor Car (Timber Timbre, One Hundred Dollars) did a rendition of the Truffle Hog. Stopmotion director Tobias Stretch adapted The Dancing Camel. Director Cameron Tomsett (Beta Frontiers) adapted The Dog and Wolf. Renown filmmaker Adam Garnet Jones adapted the Ant and the Grasshopper. 

Ultimately the project failed to come together due to a lack of financing. Originally, I imagined each director would design and fund-raise projects of their own, however once the project moved past the wiring stage, the limited time each of the other directors had forced them to walk away from the project. This may have been avoided if the project had recruited a dedicated producer. For my part, I was lucky enough to get a grant for my section from Toronto's Bravo TV. My section was entitled Aesop: Kingdom of Frogs and can be viewed here. The amazing artists Winston Hacking and Brett Long (Exploding Motor Car) helped with the shooting and animation. Dean Tzenos of Odonis Odonis wrote the score. 

Wolf costume design by Cameron Tomsett

Celebrity Grave | Tim Burton's Superman

Tim Burton’s Superman

Much has been written about the Tim Burton's failed attempt at a Superman film. Once posted online, harsh criticism surrounded the images from early wardrobe fittings showing a long-haired Nick Cage in an ill-fitting rubber suit, complete with nude body fabric, common in figure skating costumes. We assume the fabric was to cover Cage's chest hair.

​Nick Cage wardrobe test.

The project's viability was also doubtful due to the production team's obsession with merchandising.

From Wikipedia... 

Art designer Sylvain Despretz claimed the art department was assigned to create something that had little or nothing to do with the Superman comic book, and also explained that Peters "would bring kids in, who would rate the drawings on the wall as if they were evaluating the toy possibilities. It was basically a toy show!"

From Wikipedia... 

​Via Digital Spy

Burton gave Despretz a concept drawing for Brainiac, which Despretz claims was "a cone with a round ball on top, and something that looked like an emaciated skull inside. Imagine you take Merlin's hat, and you stick a fish bowl on top, with a skull in it." Concept artist Rolf Mohr said in an interview he designed a suit for The Eradicator for a planned scene in which it transforms into a flying vehicle.

By the time concept photos surfaced online, Burton had made a sting of dull by the numbers films including Alice in Wonderland, Charlie and Chocolate Factory and Planet of the Apes. It was easy to laugh at some of the films concept art and be thankful the film was cancelled. We must be reminded however, that Burton made 1989's Batman, one of the finest superhero film of all time. To me there are elements from Burton's previous films that hint this project could have been great. The nostalgic 50's feel Burton created for Edward Scissor Hands wound have been perfect for Metropolis and Smallville. Brainiac, the villain chosen early on by mega fan boy and original screen writer Kevin Smith, would have been a great fit for the kind of art direction Burton played with in Mars Attacks and Beatlejuice. 

I think the casting of Nick Cage was also inspired. Cage's incredible performance in 2002's Adaptation demonstrated his range. While playing the twin Kaufman brothers, Cage effortlessly shifted from the bumbling, insecure Charlie, to his arrogant but earnest brother Donald. This range would have worked well for Superman / Kent, and is an aspect of the character that's been missing in the Superman adaptations since Christopher Reeve held the role.  More recent wardrobe test photos also show the final Superman costume would have made Cage look like a much more traditional superman.

Via Digital Spy

In the end project was shelved due to production dithering over the budget.  

From Wikipedia... 

Ultimately, Warner Bros. chose to put the film on hold in April 1998, and Burton left to direct Sleepy Hollow.  At this point in production, $30 million was spent, with nothing to show for it. To this day, Burton has depicted the experience of Superman Lives as one of the worst experiences in his life, citing various differences with Peters and the studio, stating, "I basically wasted a year. A year is a long time to be working with somebody that you don't really want to be working with."

The next Superman film Man of Steel is set for release summer 2013 and will be directed by Zack Snider. Snider has yet to make a truly great film, but his handling of the Doctor Manhattan sequences in The Watchman show potential and collaborating with Christopher Nolan (producer) might help to add realism to Snider's often vapid digital images. Fingers (half heartedly) crossed.

Celebrity Grave | Frank Gehry's WCH Trophy

Celebrity Grave | Frank Gehry's World Cup of Hockey Trophy

Bold art always invites a backlash. World class architect Frank Gehry knows a lot about this.

Gehry has a commitment to taking risk, and he understands criticism comes with the territory. “If you show any kind of architecture in early stages that represent anything outside the norm they get clobbered," Gehry said in 2012 "because people say, ‘Well, you can’t do that," 

His work at the edges of commercial design has made him the most famous architect in the world, but his creative risks have also lead to public embarrassment.

In 2004 Gehry was commissioned by the organizers of the World Cup of Hockey to update design of their championship trophy. The original trophy looked like cheesy corporate hood ornament, and Gehry was hired to build prize befitting of the 21 century. For Gehry, Toronto-born and lifelong hockey fan, the pressure was on.

"I had no idea of what I was getting myself into," Gehry confessed during a press conference at Toronto’s Hockey Hall of Fame. "We only just made the deadline by the skin of our teeth. But I'm thrilled to be part of this."

Leading up to the project, Gehry was at the top of his fame. His 1997 curving titanium design for the Guggenheim gallery in Bilbao Spain, was an undisputed triumph. Critic Paul Goldberger celebrated the it saying “The building blazed new trails and became an extraordinary phenomenon. It was one of those rare moments when critics, academics, and the general public were all completely united about something.”

Gehry seemed like a safe choice for the redesign. After all, he was the most famous architect at the time. However, when the trophy was unveiled. Dead silence followed.

​WCH 1996 version, via Wikipedia

Journalists were confused. Tradition-obsessed hockey fans were aghast.The trophy was not what they expected. To begin with, it looked nothing like the Stanley Cup. 

"I can tell you don't like it," Gehry joked at the press conference.

No one was laughing. Online comments mocked,“The Fruit goes in here, and it makes the freshest, tastiest, healthiest juice you've ever tasted! BUT THATS NOT ALL!!!..” The following day poor reviews where posted in Canada's largest newspapers. The trophy unveiling was a failure.

Gehry, a Toronto native and lifelong hockey fan himself, was aware the trophy looked nothing like the Stanley Cup. He approached the project with the same boldness that made the Bilao gallery look nothing like a conventional home for art. He offered a minimalist silver cup, embedded in a multi faceted translucent base. The chosen materials represented, obviously, the metal blades of the hockey skates cutting through the ice. The silver cup was removable and each year, the names of the winning players would be engraved on the cup and embedded in the glacier-like holder, preserving the names for all time.

Gehry took the criticism with grace, even offering to take another stab the design if needed. Bravely, Gehry’s patrons stood by him. Ken Jaffe of the NHL and the WCH Organizing Committee said Gehry "gladly accepted the assignment and vigorously developed a great looking icon for the game." No changes were made to the design.

​Gehry with WCH trophy via CBC.ca

 Had Gehry decided to play it safe, he could have designed a traditional-looking trophy and had a more pleasant press conference. But doing so would have disappointed his real fans, the people who love him because takes risks. As marketer Seth Godin would say, “If you cater to normal, you will disappoint the weird.”

Ilya Schwarz | Knightwalker

Every creator has projects that will never see the light of day. Typically, for each music video or feature film a director finishes, four others will be written and abandoned. The same is true in the game business.

​Schwarz's concept art.

Toronto game designer Ilya Schwarz describes his process developing Knight Walker, a game idea based on hand-drawn fantasy maps from his youth. The object of the game was to march a knight across a player designed environment, until he is reunited with a giant bee.

Schwarz explains:

"Winning the level depends on the mood of “Knightwalker” character. He has to make the walk from his starting position to the enemy - A Giant Bee placed on the map. The mood of the knight changes depending on the objects he encounters in the level. When he approaches the bee and his mood matches the bee’s mood - he captures it."

Read the rest here.

​Knight's expression acts as a status bar for the game.

Celebrity Grave | Chris Cunningham's Neuromancer

Today the first in a series of failed projects by my favourite directors… First up, Chris Cunningham, creator of classic music videos such as Aphex Twin’s Windowlicker and Bjork’s All is Full of Love

Chris Cunningham | Neuromancer 

Cancelled November 2004

Even creators considered by many to be modern masters, have trouble getting projects of the ground. Consider Chris Cunningham, perhaps the most talented director of the Jonze / Gondry / Romanic music video wave in the 1990s. Cunningham was signed to direct the long awaited adaptation of William Gibson’s Neuromancer in 2000. After years of script revisions and preproduction (rumour has it Cunningham had drawn a huge amount of concept art and storyboards) the project was cancelled, due to fact that Cunningham was not granted final cut (ie complete control over the final edit of the film). The executive producers reserved final cut for themselves on account this was to be Cunningham’s first feature. Cunningham has since switched his focus to music production, gallery art, and live events.

​The Horrors | Sheena is a Parasite

From Wikipedia…

In 2000, Cunningham and cyberpunk author William Gibson began work on the script for Gibson’s 1984 novel Neuromancer. However, because Neuromancer was due to be a big budget studio film, it is rumoured that Cunningham pulled out due to being a first time director without final cut approval. He also felt that too much of the original book’s ideas had been cannibalised by other recent films.

On 18 November 2004, in the FAQ on the William Gibson Board, Gibson was asked:

Q: Is it true there’s a movie of Neuromancer in the works? A: Perpetually, it seems, and going on a quarter of a century now. The most recently rumoured version, to have been directed by Chris Cunningham, is now definitely not happening.

In an August 1999 Spike Magazine interview, Gibson stated “He (Chris) was brought to my attention by someone else. We were told, third-hand, that he was extremely chary of the Hollywood process, and wouldn’t return calls. But someone else told us that Neuromancer had been his Wind In The Willows, that he’d read it when he was a kid. I went to London and we met.” Gibson is also quoted in the article as saying “Chris is my own 100 per cent personal choice…My only choice. The only person I’ve met who I thought might have a hope in hell of doing it right. I went back to see him in London just after he’d finished the Bjork video, and I sat on a couch beside this dead sex little Bjork robot, except it was wearing Aphex Twin’s head. We talked.”

I find it inspiring that Mr. Cunningham had the strength not to compromise his vision for a project. The temptation is that even if the film were to turn out trite, the exposure would have given him instant house-hold name recognition and a big pay-day. 

Cunningham has since released several personal projects, including Rubber Johnny, and a remix video for Gill Scott Heron. Guardian UK reports “Now Cunningham is tired of videos and adverts. “Making commercials,” he says, “is the dustbin of film-making. It sucks you dry.”

Men Without Hats | This War

Men Without Hats | This War

Director Jesse Yules www.jesseyules.com

Concept

Watching strange flying people through the glass floor of a tall building. 

Synopsis

In one continuous take, we watch the feet person walking on the glass floor of the CN tower, tapping her toes to the music. Below her feet, in the air over Toronto, various colourful characters (including the snow man from Met Without Hat’s video Pop Goes the World) fly by in time to the music.

Technical

Camera: 5D Canon Mark III DSLR + Canon EF 24-105mm zoom lens.

For the flying effect, actors will be shot under natural light in front front of a green screen. The actor’s bodies will be suspended with simple rigging. 

Budget

• Director: 2000
  Producer: 2000
  Cinematographer: 1000
  Writer: 250
  Actors: 2000
  Props: 200
  Wardrobe: 500
  Craft Service: 200
  Camera: 2200
  Grip package: 1000
  Filmstock (digital cards): 200
  Location: 200
  Set Design: 500
  Transportation: 200
  Editor: 2000
  Transfer: 150
  Masters Dubs: 100
  Insurance: 1000
• Total 20K

Moon King

Director Jesse Yules  www.jesseyules.com

Rejected by MuchFact Dec 7, 2012

Concept
Underwater performance video in a strange pool of embryonic fluid.

Approach
We will construct a forest of red kelp at the bottom of an indoor swimming pool. Using filters, we will make the blue pool water appear warm and pink, reminiscent of being in the womb. Daniel will make his way through the forest sing the lyrics of the song. Hidden kelp will be various baby animals in embryonic sacks. Daniel will discover the fetuses, untangle them from the kelp and send them floating to the surface.

Set construction diagram

Technical
We will shoot using an HD SLR in an underwater housing. We will shoot in an indoor, heated pool. 

Budget

• Director: 350 
  Producer: 350
  Cinematographer: 350
• Editor: 350
  Writer: 100
  Props: 500
  Craft Service: 150
  Camera: 400
• Filmstock (digital cards):50
  Location: 250
  Set Design: 250
  Transportation: 200
  Transfer: 50
  Masters Dubs: 50
• Closed Captioning: 100
• Closed Captioning: 100

Evans Blue | The Pursuit Begins

Giuseppe Arcimboldo

Evan’s Blue | The Pursuit Begins 

Rejected May 7th, 2007. What we made instead… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azkGI6OFZJc

Concept

A lonely man builds himself a girlfriend out of vegetables.

Execution 

Jim Henson-style filmmaking. Live action with puppeteering. 

Summery

We open on a shot of an an old farm that has long since become abandoned and overgrown. It’s late afternoon. In the foreground, a cicada dangling from a branch breaks free from it’s shell and extends it’s wings. A shift in focus reveals Kevin Matisyn observing the cicada as it warms itself in the sun. Alongside him is wheel barrow filled to the brim with roots, dead shrubs and shrivelled vegetables. After a moment, the cicada flies off leaving it’s translucent shell behind.  

Kevin returns to work. He pushes the wheel barrow through a large patch of yellowed, knee-high grass. In the centre of this area there appears be a much larger version of the cicada shell, except that this one seems to be in the shape of a young woman. She is frozen in a kneeling position, with her hands out in front of her and is resting on top of a pile of weathered barn wood. As with the cicada, the back of this woman’s shell seems to have been torn away. Her clothing still hangs limply from the shell. 

Kevin dumps the wheel barrow at the foot of the woman’s shell and sets to work. He breaks the shell into separate pieces, which he then lays out evenly on the ground. He begins using the old roots and shrivelled vegetables to reassemble the girl’s body. He builds her face out pine cones, wheat seeds and gourds  He strings her hair from a papery wasps nest and thorny stems from a rose bush.

As Kevin finishes work on the  head. Suddenly, his creation comes to life and begins to talk to him.  

Subtitles appear as she speaks.

The shell-girl tells Kevin how grateful she is for all he’s done for her. She dreams she could she could show her gratitude with a hug. Kevin begins busy constructing a torso and arms for the plant woman. Once finished, the woman warmly hugs him.

The woman dreams she had legs, so that her and Kevin could dance together. Kevin anxiously builds her a set of legs. He helps the woman to her feet.  

She moves awkwardly as she takes her first steps. 

Together the new couple begin to take laps around the work area. The shell-woman’s confidence and speed increases with each lap until the two are jogging side by side. The shell woman shots that she is happy to be alive and free as she runs. Soon Kevin begins to tire and fall behind. He kneels down panting.  

As the shell-woman continues her laps around him, Kevin tugs at her roots and pleads her to slow down. She breaks into run and strides off into the distance. Kevin collapses humiliated.

Cut to black.

LIAM TITCOMB | LOVE DON’T LET ME DOWN

Photo credit Ishaan EarthScape

Liam Titcomb | Love Don’t Let Me Down 

Rejected 05 /25/ 2012. What they made instead… 

Concept 

A summer walk through an unconventional cemetery, with portraits of the dead carved into trees.

Mood

Warm and sublime.

Approach

We will shoot at magic hour at the Scarborough Bluffs in Toronto.

Using carved foam and special effects painting, we will dress tree trunks in a rural area to appear as if portraits have been carved into them. Some of the portraits will look freshly carved, others will seem weathered, as if they were carved a decade ago. 

We follow Liam as he wanders through the park visiting each of the unique portraits.

One of the carved faces has a dark mouth that opens into a hollow in the tree. It has been filled with bird seed. Birds and squirrels crawl in and out of the ancient wooden-head.

As the video ends, Liam begins carving a tree.

We see that Liam has carved the portraits of two figures facing one another. 

Cut to black.

Delivery

Aprox. 4 weeks after receipt of the production funds.

METZ | Wet Blanket

Test Pilot (METZ Wet Blanket concept III)

Rejected 07/05/2012 What they made instead...​

One take video…

We see a medium close-up of a test pilot strapped into the cockpit of a centrifuge. There is a small window to the man’s right, that allows us to see outside the vehicle.

The vehicle begins to spin around a central axis. It spins at a faster and faster pace. The pilots face deforms.

As the song peaks the vibrations from the vehicle, and distortion of the man’s face, make the picture increasingly abstracted and surreal. We almost feel as though the pilot is breaking through to some other dimension. Colours and strange light spills enter the frame. It feels as thought the pilot is disintegrating. Abstract beings made of pure colour drift in and out of the frame, like something out of Fantastic Planet. The frame is filled with pure white light as the pilot blacks out.

Suddenly the craft begins to slow. A medical team rushes to revive the pilot.

Technical

The window of the centrifuge will be an HD video screen. This TV will act as a rear projection screen for the cockpit. We will display footage of an engineering lab spinning faster and faster on it.

The facial distortions of the pilot will be produced using an air cannon. The video will be shot at 60 fps and the final video will pay in slow motion. 

Test pilot footage

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qh39NMLqY9w&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=XM4rS38pd0U#t=23s

Fantastic Planet Meditation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwrip4d1JFc&feature=player_detailpage#t=36s

METZ | Wet Blanket (Version II: Initiation)

Masonic Initiation​

METZ | Wet Blanket (Version II: Initiation) Listen Here

Rejected 07/05/2012 What they made instead...​

Concept 

A continuous steadicam shot following a person through a bizarre initiation ritual.

Summery

We open with a shot of a blindfolded person tied to a filthy mattress, being dragged behind a vehicle on a rope in the middle of the night. The mattress is sliding around the asphalt surface of a basketball court. The mattress and blindfolded victim are illuminated with a spot light. 

We were on Dr. Phil!!!Its US!!! Riding on a mattress

The vehicle stops. A crowd of people carrying torches, wearing burlap masks pull the blind-folded person off of the mattress. The blindfolded person begins to run, still partially bound in the ropes that held him to the mattress. The blindfolded person’s path is guarded on two sides by menacing people in ugly burlap masks and holding torches. Standing shoulder to shoulder in two lines, the torch carriers form a long tunnel, which the blindfolded person runs through. We follow the blindfolded man as he runs. The camera stays just ahead of him. As the blindfolded person advances, the torch carriers touch their torches together behind him, preventing him from turning back.

Finally, the blindfolded man comes to a break in the line of torch carriers. He realizes that the torch carriers have been shoving him in a circle. He walks into the centre of the circle, looking disorientated. Suddenly the stocky men with the padded bats reappear. The men grab the blindfolded man and drag him towards the tall steal post used to support the basketball hoop. The men use bindings dangling from the blindfolded victim to hoist him into the air. They dangle the victim from the basketball hoop like a pinata.  

As the video closes, the torch carriers close in around the victim. They lower their torches and touch the ground underneath the dangling, blindfolded victim. The ground erupts with sparks, fire and smoke. The blindfold falls away from the victim. We see a huge close up of his convulsing, terrified face.

Cut to black.

METZ | WET BLANKET (version I)

METZ | Wet Blanket Listen Here

Rejected 07/05/2012 What they made instead...​

Concept

Werewolf groupies murder the band.

Mood

Let the Right One In vs Teen Wolf

Summery

The video will be one continuous shot, played in reverse, as if the audience is rewinding a security tape. 

We will open with a shot of three female werewolves partying and drinking blood from beer steins. In the background, three bodies are suspended from the ceiling, wrapped in plastic. Plastic tubing has been inserted into the bundled victims to allow their blood to drain. The plastic tubing leads to a dispensing nozzle (similar to the hose on a beer keg at a frat party).

The tape winds back further. We see woman wrapping the band members in plastic like human spiders, and hoisting up their cocooned bodies to hang from the ceiling.

The tape winds back further. One by one, we see the band members murdered by the werewolves.

The tape winds back further. We see woman transforming in front of the camera.

The tape winds back further. The groupies look like regular young women, hanging out with the band.

We close with a traditional shot of the band posing with the girls. In an homage to the ending of Micheal Jackson’s Thriller, we freeze frame and zoom in. One of the girls has demonic eyes.

Cut to black 

Technical 

The werewolf girls will have prosthetic fangs. Hair will be applied to their chests to obscure their breasts. Two LED lights on thin wire will float in front of the actresses eyes, creating an animal “glowing eyes” effect in camera. 

The footage will be grainy and desaturated. Similar to a security video, or a snuff film. 

RITUALS | MESMERIZE

Rituals | Mesmerize

Rejected by MuchFact 05/30/2012

Concept 

The band reanimates a mummified corpse using a car battery.

Mood 

Dark, ambient. Moments of humour.

Direction

A) We open with a shot of a blackened, mummified human driving a pick-up truck at night.

B) Flashback: Three men arrive at a swampy lake in Northern Ontario in a pick up truck.

C) The men locate a tree stump near the lake with rusted chains wrapped around it. They unwrap the chains and begin pulling them. Bubbles erupt from the lake. The men pull a coffin from the lake wrapped in plastic drop cloth. 

D) Using a box cutter, the men cut away the plastic. They pry open the casket with a crowbar. Inside is a blackened muffed corpse. 

E) One of the men pops the hood of the pick up truck and attaches jumper cables to the vehicle’s battery. Using alligator clips the corpse is wired to the battery. The truck is started. The corpse sits up with a jolt of electricity. 

One of the men reveals a remote control, similar to one used on remote control cars or aeroplanes. The man pushes the nobs on the remote control. The corpse stands up robotically in response. 

F) The man with the remote control sends the mummy after his companions as a joke. Startled, the two companions rush away. One of the frightened men stumbles. The mummy jumps on his chest. The man with the remote control struggles with it’s switches and buttons. The mummy is no longer obeying him. 

G) The mummy begins strangling the companion violently. The first man drops his remote control and tries to pull the mummy off his companion. The mummy is too strong. The first man grabs at the copper wires still connecting the mummy to the car battery and yanks them away from the mummies body. The mummy is continues to attack.

F) The third man returns with a large thick tree branch. He strikes the mummy in the chest and frees the man who was being strangled. The mummy staggers back, bracing it’s self on the hood of the truck. The three men rush away from the scene into the woods, with the creature in pursuit.

G) As the video ends we see mummy turn around and begin loping towards the idling truck.

H) We return to the open shot of the mummy driving.

Technical

Camera 7D Canon DSLR + Canon EF 24-105mm zoom lenses + shoulder mount. 

Effects The mummy will played by a thin actor performing in heavy body paint, with prosthetics and special effect make up on his face hands and feet. 

We will shoot in daylight at magic hour.

Sparks and smoke during the car battery sequence will be shot practically.

Hooded Fang | Tosta Mista

Hooded Fang | Tosta Mista Listen Here

Rejected by MuchFact 04/12/ 2012

Concept 

Hooded Fang party at a movie theatre walking on top of the seats and other guests as they perform. Behind them, on the big screen weird black and white science fiction footage is projected. By the end of the video, the whole crowd crawling over one another / moshing / dancing.

Art direction / Mood

Rambunctious, art punk party.

Approach

Step1 We will shoot weird black and white science fiction images similar to those in the Weekly World News. Examples may include the Fiji Mermaid, Batboy, cannibal zombies, alien heads, CIA agents, pirate gold, bigfoot ect.

Step2 Hooded Fang will perform at the Toronto Underground theatre. As they sing, the band will climb on top of the theatre seats, walking around on top of the audience members laps and shoulders. The weird black and white footage from step 1 will be projected on the movie screen behind them. By the end of the video, everyone in the theatre is climbing on top of one another, dancing / moshing.

Technical Treatment

Camera 7D Canon DSLR + Canon EF 24-105mm zoom lenses + Steadicam Pilot & Vest Arm Kit. Black and white sci-fi footage will be given a “super 8” look via Magic Bullet Suite.

The Elwins | Sittin’ Pretty

photo credit: wild-cardz.co.uk​

The Elwins | Sittin’ Pretty Listen Here

Listen to live version here  Great video in it’s own right!

Rejected by MuchFact 04/30/2012

Concept

The Elwins have a medieval joust wearing armor constructed entirely from balloons.

Art Direction / Mood

Fun, viral, pop psychedelic, stop motion.

Approach

Step 1 We will construct costumes using 2000 twisting balloons, similar to the those used by magicians to make balloon animals. The characters will include three knights wearing balloon suits of armor, three princesses wearing balloon-crafted dresses. The knights will ride stick ponies with large horse heads completely sculpted from balloons.

Step 2 We will act out a joust in stop-motion. Each time a knight makes contact on another knight with his balloon sword or balloon lance some of his armor will pop, and disappear. Once a knight has all of this armor popped, he will be eliminated from the tournament and run from the jousting area in only his underwear. At the end of the video champion is crowned and he receives the hand of the princess.

Technical Treatment

Camera Stop motion 5K stills. 7D Canon DSLR + Canon EF 24-105mm zoom lenses.

Studio We will be shooting in the large room at Silver Line Studios. 

PIG MAGAZINE INTERVIEW

Jesse Yules at home.​

PIG Magazine Interview (Translation)

Italian version here: http://www.pigmag.com/it/2012/06/05/almost-famous-jesse-ewles/ 

1. Hi Jesse, where are you now? What are you doing at the moment?

Hi! At this very moment? I’m eating a piece of spelt-bread toast with humus that my girlfriend Jessica Rae Gordon made me. 

2. You’re very young talent. How did you find your passion and when did you start to work?

My enthusiasm for the work gets renewed daily. Mostly because I’m curious and I have a good internet connection…
Originally I was attracted to film because it encumpasses all of the arts I was curious about. Filmmakers curate experiences by combining sounds and visuals in interesting ways. I think the internet is allowing filmmakers (and everyone else) to take that curation several steps further. Urban-noir filmmaker David Lynch for instance doesn’t just make movies anymore. He doesn’t just combine sound and image to give an audience an experience. Lynch’s website offers many different items, some digital some physical,  that can be considered “Lynchian”. He makes ambient music mp3s that will make you feel unsettled, even while strolling around your friendly neighbourhood on a sunny day. He sells dark roast coffee to sip on before a transcendental meditation session. He has a video that teaches you to make his favourite food, Quinoa. It’s the same world-building a great director would do when creating a film, but it’s been made more real. Lynch is helping curate real people’s lives.
This opportunity to do real life world-building is exciting. My world view is that of a tinkerer. I like to take things apart and put them back together again, leaving out a few screws to see if the thing will still run. Sometimes stuff doesn’t work (I have a whole blog about stuff that didn’t work) but that’s what experimenting is all about.

3. What is the gap between the first feeling you have when you start to work on something, and the feelings you have when your project is completed? Does your work fit perfectly with your idea / imagination?

No project arrives into the world exactly as conceived… and that can be a very good thing. Filmmaking is collaborative medium for most directors and you’re hope is that the great people you’re working with will be able to elevate your ideas. You hope they can take the direction they are given, and create compositions that are much better than what the filmmaker could have done on their own. 
I think filmmaking can be approached like gardening. You have a seed, that is the idea. You place that seed into comfortable conditions — comfortable conditions vary depending on the idea. Action sequences for instance, seem to “want” to be shot in circumstances that are somewhat precarious for the crew. A scene when a character is ruminating on this future is best shot in a quiet place with a locked down camera. 
As the seed sprouts and grows, the gardeners job is to train the plant up a lattice, gently steering, while letting it grow in natural directions. By harvest time, you probably don’t have exactly the plant you were imagining, but you’re still happy as long as it’s healthy and bears fruit. 

4. I often see animals in your videos. How do animals inspire your virtual worlds and concepts?

People have always had a fascination with animals, especially those of us who live urbanized lives and see animals rarely. You tend for instance, to find more die-hard vegans in urban areas as opposed to on rural farms. The situation reminds me of Philip K. Dick’s book Do Androids Dream Electric Sheep. In the book as the natural world hovers on extinction humans keep both real and synthetic animals as status symbols. The pets are badges of empathy and demonstrate that the owner is still capable of love and compassion. 
For my part, I find animals interesting for the same reasons ancient people did. They’re good tools for storytelling. If you look at old fables, animals were often used as stand ins for humans, so the story would not be held up by the details of the protagonists background. If a wolf is central character, most people in the audience have an idea of what a wolf is and how it acts, the storyteller doesn’t need to explain where the wolf is from, or its philosophy. 

5. I think every kind of project in life is like a pregnancy: what is your favourite phase, and why? (I mean: when you start and finish a project in your life -not only professional stuff- what is your favourite moment according to the metaphor I gave you)

Hmm. Well… much like pregnancy, conceiving is the fun part. Labouring to bring the idea into the world takes the most effort. Watching how your children make their way in the world after their born is the most scary and rewarding part.
Some other thoughts I like…There is no sharpness without friction. And… Seek out difficult challenges. Things that are hard to do are rare (and therefore valuable) because they are difficult for people to copy.

6. In your work, how much is “handmade” and how much is “digital manipulation”?

It’s 50/50. My images are almost always real objects or paintings I have photographed and animated in the computer. There are very few 100 % computer generated images.

7. I know that Svankmajer is one of your favourite artist: how he influenced/influences you? 

Svankmajer is cool. I was really into his work when I came out of college because it was so tactile, and I had just spent a year making an cold CGI student film. You could see Svankmajer’s fingerprints in the clay, and can imagine Svankmajer, this mad filmmaker, down on all fours strangling the clay into place.

Lately my heroes are people I think of as fearless. Kurt Vonnegut or Alan Moore or Seth Godin or Richard Branson or Margaret Atwood. 

8. What’s the difference between making a video for a band, and making a video for every other kind of client?

There’s no real difference I can see, apart from the fact that musicians usually have a taste for fringe work and business people generally like more commercial stuff. As far as the ease of the process goes, the personalities of the clients make more of difference than their backgrounds. Dream clients are typically patient, curious and brave. They take their time selecting a director who they really love, and then dive into the project. They generally don’t stress about deadlines because they know if they don’t have time to do a project right, they probably don’t have time to do it over.

9. When I appreciate an artist, I like to know something personal about him, like how his standard day is, what he reads in the toilet or the safety valve he uses to vent his anger. Would you tell me three things about you personally? (not necessarily the same as I suggested)

This might give you an idea of my personality… I was in an open-mic storytelling show last winter. My story was about porn. NSFW https://vimeo.com/23015659

My personal life is pretty quiet. I’ve tried to build a simple life, so that I can take risks and attempt to do hard things in my work. I have unique group of crazy, irreverent friends that are my only valuable asset. Everything else I own could go up in a fire and I wouldn’t really miss it.

If you’re looking for more specific details… I cut my own hair and I like to make Gordon Ramsay’s F word recipes.

Zeds Dead | Living Dead

Zeds Dead | Living Dead Listen Here (and see what they made instead)

Rejected 05/17/2012 | What they made instead.

Concept 

Post-apocalyptic beach party. 

Approach

Intro 0:00 - 1:00 Using a series of slow motion tableaus, we show a group of horribly disfigured, zombie-like people posing in 50s style beach-party scenes. Behind the zombies, a rear projection screen plays looping footage of an idyllic beach with waves breaking on the shore line. The beach scenes will be lit with a moody red lighting, as if to suggest the events are taking place under a giant heat-lamp. The scenes will feel “staged” as if the beach set has been constructed in a bomb shelter miles bellow the surface. 

Middle 1:00 - 3:35 As the pace of the track speeds up, we will cut more quickly to various other beach activities shot in slow motion. Activities include volleyball, hula hooping, crushing sand castles and fake water skiing in front of the projection screen.

Exit 3:35 - 4:30 We cut to face of a dreary-looking lab tech(s) with a thousand-mile stare. The lab tech is sitting in front of a large monitoring station lined with hundreds of colourful lights. A monitor in font of the lab tech displays the beach scenes. Looking bored, the lab tech turns a dial marked “ambient radiation”. 

We cut to an image of the sun projected on the rear-projection screen. It glows noticeably brighter. The beach zombies gaze at the burning sun reverently. They lean their heads back as if enjoying the added heat. Slowly their skin begins to melt from their bodies. 

We see the lab tech once more, looking desensitized. He turns up the heat further.

To close, we repeat the slow motion tableau pans from the opening of the video. The zombies are still posing enthusiastically, but by now, they have been fried to skeletons by the heat of the room.

Cut to black

Band Involvement

Depending on Zack and Dylan’s comfort level, they can participate in the zombie sequences or simply act as the lab techs.

Completion

Aprx. 4 weeks from the date the productions funds are received.

We Have Band | Love What You’re Doing

We Have Band | Love What You’re Doing Listen Here

Rejected 09/03/2010

Concept

A video featuring three ancient Tai Chi masters shot in slow motion. The eyes of the masters will flash red and blue to the beat of the song. The movements of the masters will be inter-cut energetically with pop psychedelic animations of Chinese dragons. The band will not appear in the video. The art direction for the dragons will be similar to this:

Technical Treatment

The video will be inter-cut between two scenarios.  Scenario one will feature three Tai Chi masters performing on a set of ruined over grown steps.  The Tai Chi routines will be performed and filmed at twice normal speed, then converted to slow motion in post.  This will give the movement of the performance added intensity and make the footage ominously beautiful.

Scenario two will be an animation based on a Chinese dragon.  The dragon will be an elaborate stop-motion puppet decorated with jewels, metallic textiles and silky fibers.  The animation will feature the dragon snaking through a natural environment with fantasy / pop-psychelic elements (ie rivers of jewels ect)  The dragon peruses the tail of a second dragon.  Eventually he catches it, and in the final shot we see that there are dozens of identical dragons all connected together mouth to tail into a giant psychedelic chain.

Theme Park | Jamaica

Theme Park | Jamaica

Rejected 05/14/ 2012 What they made instead...

Concept

An animation following a stunt bike, as it drives through various colourful L.A backyards. 

Approach

The video will be one continuous tracking shot of the stunt rider driving through a variety of Los Angeles backyards. The characters in the backyards will be looping animations. 

Mood

The vibe will be similar to the NES classic PaperBoy, except the images will all be hand painted in the style of David Hockney, and the images will move from left to right instead of diagonally. The overall mood of the video will be warm, relaxing and cheeky. The video equivalent of melting neapolitan ice cream. 

Shot List

A) An Evel Knievel-style stunt man stands on top of a dirt hill surrounded by colourful streamers, palm trees and a few photographers. The stuntman drives down the ramp picking up speed and charges into a huge loop to loop. He then hits a second ramp and flies over some wrecked cars. The stunt man completes the jump but fails to stop at the victory circle. The bike flies off the course and breaks through a safety barrier into the neighbouring backyards.

B) The motorcycle crashes through multiple backyards inhabited by the following…

A sexy pool party. People are sunbathing and diving. The motorcycle goes over the diving board, lands on the other side of the pool. 

The motorcycle passes a steel drum band.

It passes a man scuba diving in his pool.

Girls in a hottub. 

A vacant house filled with stray cats.

A homeless man with a barbecue built into a shopping cart, cooking weiners. A flock of seagulls take.

Two 70’s wrestlers, wrestling on a trampoline. 

A movie crew filming muppets. 

A collection of colourful billboards.

A pornography shoot.

70’s bodybuilders weightlifting. 

A group of people rollerskating with a dog.

A ferris wheel. 

A fry truck. 

Classic cars.

An LA gang, harvesting marijuana.

A graffiti artist painting a mural.

A robot dinosaur eating cars. 

A garage band.

A helicopter taking off.

A group of cheerleaders stacked into a human pyramid. 

Two Dogtown skateboarders, skating in an empty pool.

C) The motorcycle drives down into the empty pool with the skate kids. The bike flies up the opposite side of the pool into the air. We see the motorbike fly out of the backyards and zoom off of a cliff face towards the ocean. We watch the motorbike fall. A rainbow parachute pops out from the stuntman’s back. He glides slowly into the Pacific, being cheered on by some surfers and some curious dolphins.

Fade to black.

*image by David Hockney