11.01.10 – Control Denied

What a great opportunity I’ve been given to direct a music video for the band “Control Denied”. The video is being created to celebrate the new deluxe reissue of 'The Fragile Art of Existence' available now on 2CD/Ltd. Ed. 3CD/Digital/Deluxe Digital via Relapse Records! Nuclear Blast originally issued this album in 1999. This video is going to be a wicked unique challenge for me … in that I do not have access to the band members! What to do? What is the concept? That is the question! I guess you will just have to wait and see.

The following is some very interesting background information on Control Denied creator Chuck Schuldiner:

Since its formation in 1983, Chuck Schuldiner was the creative center of the influential heavy metal band, Death. Combining strong songwriting with powerful, brutally delivered lyrics, the band was anything if not extreme. Seeking a project a little closer to his classic metal roots, in 1996 Schuldiner assembled Control Denied, a band which borrowed most of Death's personnel and added the strong and clear vocals of Tim Aymar. Aymar had provided vocals for a string of successful metal bands, including Psycho Scream and he suited the more melodic approach that Schuldiner was looking for.

To Schuldiner, Control Denied part of a vision — he acted much like a director or coach in bringing that vision to fruition. He maintained tight creative control, yet allowed the creative talents of musicians like Aymar and bassist Steve DiGiorgio to shine through.

The project produced one album, The Fragile Art of Existence, in 1999, issued by Nuclear Blast America before Schuldiner began experiencing pain in his neck and shoulder — after consulting a chiropractor and acupuncturist, he got an MRI which revealed a cancerous tumor on his brain stem. In the autumn of 1999 he began intensive radiation therapy, which did succeed in breaking apart the tumor, but both Control Denied and Death were on infinite hiatus until he regained his health.

10.21.10 – Move Forward Until You Are Dead

Below information taken from The Unravelling website:

The Unravelling is an eclectic progressive rock/metal band from Calgary, Canada. Described by Pure Grain Audio as “overflowing with a blood-thirsty passion”, the Unravelling's music ranges from the engaging and inviting to the aggressive and controversial. A confidante of the band remarked that "The Unravelling sounds like the illegitimate love child of Lisa Gerrard And Zack de la Rocha". Suite 101 says "This is a band who can combine the alternative stylings of Tool with the adventurousness, ambition and refusal to compromise of The Dillinger Escape Plan". Music Connection Magazine named them in their top 25 new music picks of 2009. They have opened for acts such as Helmet and Bison BC, topped the CJSW Metal charts, and were nominated for 3 2010 Alberta Metal Awards, winning in the best album production category.

Their debut full length album "13 Arcane Hymns", a psycho-analytical concept album in the tradition of Pink Floyd's "The Wall", Nine Inch Nails's "The Downward Spiral" and Faith no More's "Angeldust", was released May 13, 2010. The album features many reoccurring lyrical themes, particularly the theme of being buried alive and presumed dead, then crawling your way out, and "moving forward". Metalunderground.com called the release "a surprising firebomb of an album", while Pitch Black Magazine called it "a 13-track emotional and industrial-infused metal masterpiece".

It's been confirmed that The Unravelling will be shooting a music video for "Move Forward Until You Are Dead" with acclaimed Calgary director Doug Cook, who last filmed Divinity's most recent video "Lay In The Bed You've Made". Doug has contributed some great concepts and we are excited to get started on the full moon November 21st. Live performance dates are currently being booked in Western Canada.

Information on The Unravelling as well as a free download of "13 Arcane Hymns" can be found at www.theunravellingmusic.com

10.05.10 – Music Video premiered on Guitar World.com

I recieved the awesome news that the "Lay in the bed you've made" music video will premiere on the well established Guitar World Magazine Website. Between Vimeo and Youtube we have had over 6000 hits.

Canada's metal wizards Divinity have just released the video for "Lay In The Bed You've Made," from the band's Candlelight Records debut The Singularity.

The vibrant, explosive video was directed and filmed by fellow Calgarian and cinematographer Doug Cook, who also created Divinity's "Plasma" video, from the band's 2007 release, Allegory.

"The song is about taking responsibility at both a personal level and as a civilization; how the decisions we make have trapped us in certain ways and a limited number of people have controlled our fate almost arbitrarily in some aspects," says guitarist Sacha Laskow.

"We went with director Doug Cook once again as he is intensely creative and professional. Working with Doug is always an awesome experience and he matched the visuals to the music perfectly. We wanted more of a performance-based video this time to showcase the playing aspect but still maintain some concept as well."

www.guitarworld.com/divinity

09.16.10 – Pieces Of Stone

Chris and I had this really great plan for his music video "Pieces of Stone". However - the morning of our shooting day - our plans were litterly washed away due to the crap summer weather we have been enduring. So - we sat down and discussed our options. During our discussion I discovered that the room we were sitting in was the room Chris wrote the song and came up with the tune. Surrounded by paraphernalia that represented Chris we got the idea and acted impulsively … we decided to shoot the entire video in this tiny10-foot X 10-foot room.

I really enjoyed working this way for a change. I threw out my entire storyboard and plans and built the video one shot at a time. It took Chris and I roughly 6 hours to shoot the entire video but we were both very pleased with what we had come up with. The video is now in the editing stage and should be completed with in the next month or so.

Check out Chris Gheran’s website

www.chrisgheran.com

08.15.10 – Divinity under a macro lens

Enduring through various up's and downs since the release of their first album "Allegory" nearly a year ago, Divinity persevered and finished their (amazing) second album titled "The Singularity”. I had the privilege of directing their latest music video for the track “Lay in the bed you’ve made”. In this video we got up close and personal filming 70 percent of the video with a macro lens.

It was a pleasure working with Johnny Vincent and Ryal Maxwell-Lyster (actors). With their help we captured a short story that binds the video. They played the same character of a young boy that takes on the burden of our world’s poor decisions. Ryal plays the scared young boy that turns into a very angry and frustrated man, which is played by Johnny. The symbolic image of a scared little boy and an infuriated grown man reflects what may possibly be our up and coming generation. Both Ryal and Johnny did a great job and I’m thankful for their contribution.

The video is simple but sweet. I look forward to presenting the finished piece, which is geared for release October 1st 2010. Stay Tuned.

www.divinity.ca

07.26.10 – Just want to feel “Human Again”

Today we filmed at one of my favorite places, “Forget Me Not Pond”. The pond is located roughly 45min outside of Calgary in Kananaskis country. I used this location as the backdrop for Marija Smolcic single “Human Again”. The pond and surrounding area turned out to be more of a character then a backdrop. It was a very hot, cold, sunny, cloudy, windy and rainy day for the three of us, Krista Kent (Make-up artist), Marija (Performer) and myself (Cinematographer, Director and Producer).

I used the Canon 7D once again. With the variety of lenses, high-resolution and the flexibility it offers … I’m having a hard time coming up with excuses not to shoot. It’s been a challenge filming outdoors but the rewards sure come out in the image … not to mention the pocket book.

Marija and I have been talking about doing a music video for almost one full year. We pulled it together and I think we captured some very unique images and one stellar performance from Marija. Thank you to both Marija and Krista for working really hard and giving this project as much passion as you could muster. I recommend downloading Marija’s latest album “On the inside”.

http://www.myspace.com/rijamusic

06.13.10 - When the sun shines ... the flies come out!

I directed a music video for blues singer/songwriter Darren Johnson called “When The Sun Shines”. This video was extremely spontaneous but we managed to capture some amazing imagery in such as short period of time. Big nasty flies ate us alive in the scorching hot Kananaskis country sun for 4.5 hours, however it was totally worthwhile. I’m amazed at the image quality thanks to the Canon 7d camera and it’s lovely sweet, sweet lenses. Check out Darren’s latest work on his website and check back here in a few weeks to watch the video.

www.darrenjohnson.net

03.28.10 - finally finished

We filmed the Knowledge in Fibers music video almost nine months ago and I've been picking away at it during my spare time. It was great to have this project to work on and not feel rushed. During editing I learned tons about motion-tracking and matte painting but also in regards to abstract filmmaking and how (for me) there is a fine line between making “art” and “film”. During Pre-Production this video was originally heading down a very abstract looking road, but once editing began I found that I subconsciously headed down a different road, a road with story. I feel the audience deserves to walk away with some-type of lesson or meaning from the video in return for investing 3 – 5 minutes of their lives watching it. I’m so pleased with the final video and I’m delighted to hear such positive remarks.. A special thanks to Jeremy and Lee for stepping in and helping, very much appreciated guys.

03.22.10 - big rock eddies again

I found inspiration for the upcoming big rock beer contest "The Eddies" with a little help from the 2010 Winter Olympic games in Vancouver. I submitted a print ad titled “A Canadian Landmark”. The “Inukshuk” symbol/logo seen during the winter games was the inspiration behind the design. Big Rock is a strong recognized brand in Alberta and I thought the two symbols coming together made “Canadian Landmark” a very strong statement. The really fun part was creating the Beer Inukshuk, I needed at least seven cases of big rock beer to build it. So even if I don’t get into the Top 12 this year at least I’ll walk away with a original print ad and a shit load of beer to drink. Cheers!