2008 presented a great opportunity to direct this music video for Wil B. & The Billionaires.  The video marked my contribution to the electoral process outside of the voting booth.  The rapper, Wil B. was quick to get our piece submitted to CNN’s iReport.com “Campaign ‘08″ online film festival, where it soon became a selected finalist in the competition.

What thrilled me about making a rather outspoken jab at the “recycled bodies” that have come to be our political representatives and the media machine that perpetuates them, was the fact that we had folks from all political perspectives participate on this film shoot.  Each committed to preserving the sanctity of the electoral process and the power of the ballot box.

A shout-out needs to go to all the cast and crew, Executive Producer for The Billionaires, Clifford Tasner, my Co-Producer and partner-in-crime Eric Mofford, long-time collaborator & D.P. David R. Hardberger.  Without these people, this project would never have come together.

Today in 2010, I finally got around to a re-cut which is as close to a final vision as I have for the project.  It’s my goal to get a second music video under my belt this year to help build momentum on continuing projects as a music video Director.  Still under wraps is a project that looks to be coming together in the next month:  a full-length music performance video that I’ll be cutting for another filmmaker who will be directing a pioneering New Age artist on his next big endeavor.

If I were to come up with a short wish list of artists I’d love to work with, it might be as follows: Michael Franti and Spearhead, The Mars Volta, Porcupine Tree, OVIDEO, Ben Harper & Relentless 7, OK Go, Bill Laswell & Method of Defiance, Toledo Diamond & The Toledo Show, Sigur Rós, Jamie Catto of 1 Giant Leap,  Pat Metheny, Peter Gabriel and David Sylvian to name just a few!

As with my goals as a filmmaker, I have the goal of creating music videos which are innovative and indelible.  The sort of concepts and images that set the artist apart as much as the image and vibe. Creating the next Sledgehammer, the next Afrika Shox, the next Glósóli. . .

More to come,

–S.

With the launch of my 2010 Editor’s Reel, I am announcing that I am currently available for editing projects.  I work on the Final Cut Pro editing platform and have not only the experience with the music video format, industrials, TV pitch videos, but with my background in marketing, I am more than a simple cutter.

For Intention Products, I created a series of teaser videos (as seen in my reel) intended to promote the BrandU Conscious Entrepreneur Experience, as well as a ten minute digest of the complete Conscious Entrepreneur Experience.

For Unconventional Media, I created the pitch video for the Drift Alliance Reality TV show which is making the rounds with production partners and cable networks looking for its home.

As you can see from my résumé, I have worked as a film professional now for over a decade.  But as a self-professed “process junkie”, editing suits my temperament and I find it to be a very rewarding and creative process.  I am eager to work with individuals and companies who will help me grow my reel and create dynamic works.  For this reason, I am able to offer very competitive rates, and as my clients and colleagues will tell you, I am the guy who is constantly who looking to exceed expectations and deliver the best possible end result on whatever project I work on.

For questions and inquiries I can be contacted via this website or directly via e-mail at:

connect (at) coffeecartproductions (dot) com.

It seems like each and every month, I struggle for the first few days to establish the theme to my work.  December and January are no exception to the rule.  This month, the only direct artistic influence can be found in Japanese Edo-era artist, Hokusai. Although many images depict literal lines, I tried to venture outside of literal interpretation and draw deeper lines within the work.  Amazingly, the theme appears in the work before I know that I am doing it.

To view higher resolution images of these and all of the 365 photos, you can view them here via Picasa.

Lines by Stefan Rhys is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://www.facebook.com/new.era.artist or by e-mailing me directly at connect (at) coffeecartproductions (dot) com.

To view higher resolution images of these and all of the 365 photos, you can view them here via Picasa.

AloneTogether by Stefan Rhys is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://www.facebook.com/new.era.artist or by e-mailing me directly at connect (at) coffeecartproductions (dot) com.

On my birthday this past October, I began a year long project of daily photos taken and posted online.  In just a few months, I have already taken a couple thousand photos, and as of this date, posted less than 80 photos.  My original intention was simply to take these photos one by one, but eventually, I was seeing themes developing in the work, and thus I began shaping the themes of the work once I identified an underlying current.

Recession was the first theme and the most natural of themes.  Much of my initial inspiration for the photos came from the countless signs on empty businesses that dot the area everywhere around me.  Soon other forms of “recession” began to emerge in the work, less literal and I leave it to the viewer to judge for themselves.

My underlying rule to all the work has been that all photos are exactly they happened. No posing, no setups.  A moment captured, and sometimes stolen,  in time.  By the end of this project, I very well may come to be known as the poet laureate of shopping carts.

Before the end of the year, I will be catching my galleries up to the current date, and then they will be published monthly thereafter.

To view higher resolution images of these and all of the 365 photos, you can view them here via Picasa.

Recession by Stefan Rhys is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.  Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://www.facebook.com/new.era.artist or by e-mailing me directly at connect (at) coffeecartproductions (dot) com.

I remember when I saw the above clip from Orson Welles‘ still unfinished final film The Other Side of The Wind. I would have been in my late teens or early twenties when it was screened as a part of a film festival in Santa Monica, just blocks from where Welles shot his final film appearance in Henry Jaglom’s Someone to Love. Gary Graver, Welles’ long-time friend and cameraman was present to talk about this footage which was a part of Orson Welles: The One Man Band, and the Wind project itself.

My heart had long since been captured not only by his films such as the ubiquitous Citizen Kane, The Lady from Shanghai, and The Trial, but I also had probably finished reading This is Orson Welles not too long before. (Truth be told, I probably carried my paperback copy of the book to the screening.)

I really thought I knew Welles and his work.  The good and the less so.  I remember I had met a writer one day working at Kinko’s in Pasadena who told me something of a book he’d written on Welles.  He (like many others, including Peter Bogdanovich) indicated that Welles’ greatest work, had yet to be seen and that it existed in the form of his unfinished feature, The Other Side of The Wind. What Joseph McBride never told me was the fact that he was IN The Other Side of The Wind.

And so, this scene which features Welles’ muse and companion, Oja Kodar completely floored me.  THIS was Orson Welles?!

If you are seeing this footage for the first time, you’re likely thinking the same way.

The film is in lush color (not unheard of in Welles’ repertoire, but certainly unusual).  For a filmmaker known for the way he opened up the expanses of the frame,  a filmmaker who was quoted as saying that he was resolutely against the use of close-up, this scene is incredibly intimate and sensual.  It evokes a level of intimacy, beyond the sexual, not usually a part of Welles’ palette.

Sadly, I think it’s the case that many aspiring filmmakers of today, and even current filmmakers know little about the man, even as a filmmaker.  Why he was significant.  Why he was the ORIGINAL Indie and guerilla filmmaker.

Welles was certainly no different than any human being with his share of demons and foibles.  At times, he very well may have been his own worst enemy.  But if you look at the body of his work that he made as a filmmaker, whether he started it, completed it, or dreamed of it, his vision was singular and unmistakable.  Citizen Kane was the film where he learned from the rule book, and immediately went about breaking the rules.  As significant a film as Kane was, I’ll be bold enough to say that 50% of the credit should also go to the man who showed him the rule book, and chief rule book breaker, Cinematographer, Gregg Toland.

His films often were self-referential, and self effacing.  One need only look at the role he chose to play in Touch of Evil.  Look closer at the role of Mr. Arkadin in Confidential Report, even Kane itself has a certain level of tongue-and-cheekness which one could interpret as a finger pointed in his own general direction.  In fact, The Other Side of The Wind is often stated by some to have a certain level of autobiographical intent.  In it, Director John Huston plays the lead role of Director Jake Hannaford, an aging Hollywood filmmaker trying to revive his career by pandering to the audience’s taste for sex and violence.

For real insight into Welles as a filmmaker, I can’t recommend highly enough the Criterion edition of F for Fake.  In it, you’ll realize that Welles was way ahead of his time, not only in terms of technique, but really, Fake could be called the first mocumentary before anyone else had thought to coin the term.  The Criterion edition also contains Orson Welles: The One Man Band, the documentary co-directed by Oja Kodar, and other great supplemental material.  It’s as complete an introduction to Welles as you are to get in a DVD box set.

It’s one of my hopes that we’ll finally get to see the completed piece in 2010.  The word going around from Peter Bogdanovich is that we will finally get to see the film premier at Cannes next year.  Showtime Networks will likely carry it on cable shortly thereafter as it has been said that it is the key financial backer of the film’s completion.

Until then, I’ll wait and continue to let his dreams influence my own.

In reality, I am like so many other filmmakers from all backgrounds and experiences these days, looking for the next opportunity to get the next project off the ground.  And really, many of us who consider ourselves “Indie Filmmakers” are trying to figure out how to bring our projects to life and paying the bills.

In the meantime, as I continue moving forward toward those projects, I’ll be sharing a number of things that inspire and move me, other creators who fascinate me, and who knows what else.

Jamie Catto and Duncan Bridgeman

First up is the 1 Giant Leap project. The multi-media project created back in 2001 by musician/filmmakers Jamie Catto and Duncan Bridgeman.  The double-Grammy nominated project started coming to light in the States right about the time I was exploring Brazil in the hopes of getting a similar project of my own off the ground.  I mention this not so much to draw attention to my own adventures, but more to illustrate a level of kinship that I feel with these guys.

The original 1 Giant Leap project consisted of a CD and DVD release which chronicled a six month journey in which they recorded music, filmed talks with writers, teachers and every day people.  The result is a multi-part filmed reflection on the human experience.

Catto (one of the original members of English Trip-Hop band, Faithless) and Bridgeman had the opportunity to create a work in which a diversity of talent such as Faithless band mate Maxi Jazz, Michael Franti, Ram Dass, U. Srinivas, Cosi Fabian, Asha Bhosle, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. and Brian Eno to name just a very few.

But really, it’s best to let the work speak for itself:

“Music to me, is proof of the existence of God.”

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

Now in 2009, 1 Giant Leap has released its long anticipated follow up What About Me? I have yet to hear either the new d0uble CD album, nor see any more than bits and pieces of the new DVD, but both are most definitely in my future.  One very cool little toy that I have been playing with quite a bit on my iPod Touch is the iKlax “re-mixable” version of “How Can I Be A Better Friend to You?” It’s a free app available from iTunes, and is definitely a shiny and fun toy, and the song featuring Maxi Jazz and Jhelisa Anderson is definitely as good as anything on the 2002 album.

That song’s companion chapter “Bombardment” can be seen here:

I have such respect for what these guys have set out to do, and have accomplished. . . This typifies New Era Artistry perfectly.  The work uses music, imagery and ideas to explore themes of culture, spirituality and the human experience in all of its diversity.  It does so not by illustrating our differences, but shining a light on our similarities as a global culture.

As someone who believes firmly that art of all sorts not only can, but will help to launch humanity into its next phase, I believe 1 Giant Leap serves as a model and inspiration for more work like it, and the artists that create it.  It’s also worth pointing out that the music and films do so without an air of “New Age” crunch, and you never feel as if you are being preached to.  This is music at it’s infectious best, and cultural exploration at it’s most inspiring.  I can’t recommend it highly enough!

The event was hosted by REDCAT at the Music Center in Los Angeles as a benefit for Stilley, who suffers from ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s Disease).  Wiseman, friend to both Stilley and his wife, Lindsay Mofford, offered a print specifically for the benefit event.  An enthusiastic group of friends and supporters came out not only have the rare opportunity to screen Wiseman’s work, but also celebrate Tucker and his work, The Permanent Record  which can be explored at TuckerStilley.com.  

This was only the second film by Frederick Wiseman that I have ever seen, so I can not claim to have any real deep knowledge of Wiseman or his work, nor cinéma vérité as an overall movement.  I was however, left with a number of thoughts regarding the work, and how it relates to a world some forty years later.

The first film of Wiseman’s that I was exposed to, is perhaps his best known, High School.  I had the chance to see the film roughly 15 years ago or so in a film class, and in all honesty the film never stayed with me.  I remember how many of us in the class often chuckled at the people we were watching.  Students and teachers who were familiar and alien to us all at the same time.  At that point, I’m sure I viewed High School as more of a curiosity piece.  Since the film didn’t actively engage me as a viewer or as an aspiring filmmaker, (Errol Morris‘ The Thin Blue Line was far more engaging to me in this way), I neatly filed it away as due diligence.  If I were to go back and watch it again today?  I honestly don’t know.  Certainly I’d have a better sense of Wiseman’s craft, but whether it would leave a greater mark upon me, I can’t say.

Wiseman’s Hospital on the other hand, definitely left an impression.

Hospital serves as a window into a “day-in-the-life” of the people served by, or serving in a major metropolitan hospital trauma ward and outpatient clinics.  Wiseman’s camera has all but disappeared to the subjects he focuses on. That in and of itself, is an achievement. It also seems like a reflection on a different era of media culture and awareness, but all of that should not undercut the clear patience and care of Wiseman and his capable crew.

At the film’s opening, I was taken aback by the near-surreal nature of what I was witnessing.  A title card with the word “Hospital” appears, and moments later, we are in an operating room as a patient is being prepared for surgery.  Whether there was a conscious or coincidental connection between the films, Guy Maddin’s Tales from the Gimli Hospital is easily called to mind during the film’s opening.  The operating room, like all the rest of the hospital is cramped, and the patient appears as if he is about to be tortured upon a cross.  The machines and tools of patient care are huge and archaic, and one imagines that even the most contemporary individual might have been left with an ill sense-of-ease. However, once we get past the early moments where Wiseman rather graphically, entirely cooly and metaphorically opens the hospital to us, much of that sense of surrealism disappears.

One by one we are introduced to the people who work at the hospital, and the largely poor, destitute and elderly patients under their care.  This is after all, a “Metropolitan Hospital”.  As modern viewers, we might be inclined to look at these people as somehow alien to us, both patient and care-givers, but the more the layers are pulled back, the more familiar these people become.  The sense that ill health, suffering and loss democratizes us all seems key to Wiseman’s argument, but then again in Wiseman’s films there are no arguments.

I have heard Wiseman himself describe his films as having more in common with a mirror, rather than a magnifying glass.  He further suggests that the situations depicted in his films are open to the interpretation of the viewer not unlike any work of art.  In respect to High School, Wiseman tells a story of how teachers and school administrators were initially pleased by the film, however when criticism of the school appeared in reviews of the film, administration and teachers became divided in their support of the film.  One film, two perspectives reinforced.

One could get into a long argument of what documentary filmmaking is, and the function of a filmmaker in relationship to the world of the story.  Many filmmakers, including myself, would argue that by inserting one’s self into a “world” or a situation, you immediately change it.  Wiseman, through months of being present, creates the illusion of invisibility which is quite convincing, but ultimately should be at least be questioned by the viewer.  This is not to criticize Wiseman or his methods, but in a culture that is overrun by media “content” as much as our society is, people are right to balance their own perspective with a healthy dose of skepticism.

Hospital got me wondering how possible vérité was in our modern culture of “reality” television and YouTube.  Although certainly not strictly an American phenomenon, few cultures are as obsessed and consumed with the idea of being “famous” and “seen”.  Few cultures create content, consume content and have content that is consumed to the degree that American culture does.  We know that behavior changes when a camera starts running.  

There is a hysterical sequence in Hospital which features a young man who has consumed a quantity of mescaline which he believes is poisoned.  What starts out as an exchange between a panicked patient and slightly jaded and laconic doctor, devolves quite hysterically into an adventure with Ipecac and one young man’s idea of what being an artist means.  At the time the film was made, this happening was likely an embarrassing moment which our young “artíste” would have sooner forgotten than having the moment revealed to the world.  Today, he’d be interviewed on Larry King, asked about what he was thinking at the time, and offered a book deal to write “Portrait of a Young Artist on Ipecac”.

Is vérité possible without hiding all evidence that recording is taking place?  If we agree upon the phenomenon of behavioral change in front of the camera, we can take it a step further.  Ours is a media culture that creates artificial constructs through the “set-up” (putting an explosive bunch of people into an environment or a situation knowing that chaos will ensue) or through the edit (creating a certain type of character by choosing only the aspects of that person’s personality that make for “the best TV”).

Vérité (as it applies to truth) suggests that we have insight into moments of privacy, moments unfettered by expectation, artifice, or a subject’s knowledge that they are revealing anything. Even in Walker Evans‘ famous monograph, Many Are Called, a series of depression-era photographs taken on the New York Subway, Evans knew that the only way to achieve true insight was to hide his camera out of plain view.

It’s with these ideas in mind that I am brought back to the idea of what then is possible for a documentarian? What is his or her relationship to audience and subject?  If a filmmaker knows that this relationship changes content, then what does that mean for the end product that they choose to create?  Is it practical, honest or somehow noble to strive for something that could be called vérité?  If we know as filmmakers that change occurs automatically as a result of filming and adding or subtracting structure to tell a story, then perhaps the only honest thing to do is to make one’s intent clear and have a specific viewpoint.  Is anything else honest?  Or real?

*    *    *    *    *

I have only met Tucker Stilley a couple of times, and it has been since ALS has taken the lion’s share of his motor functions away.  What I do know about him come from the stories from family, a bit of the written word that I have read or listened to by him, and the video artwork that he has taken to since the onset of his condition.  He’s got a great sense of humor.  Perhaps what I have taken away most is what he has demonstrated as an artist with a distinct voice and capabilities.  

I had an opportunity to see some of Tucker’s most recent work with Tucker and a small group of friends in the theatre after the screening of Hospital.  What I saw was often times hypnotic, and very watchable.  The work was like a visual form of Found Poetry, full of motion, visual texture, and emotional content.  I also know from my conversation with his wife Lindsay, that much of his work is very personal, and works on levels not immediately apparent to the dispassionate observer.

Perhaps what is most inspiring about Tucker and his work, is what he accomplishes with his limited physical capabilities.  As someone with full use of my body, what tends to slow me or other creators, are the roadblocks we construct in our mind.  And if we are responsible for our own roadblocks, don’t we prove ourselves capable of creating something? But then what artist aspires to create their own roadblocks?  

Tucker Stilley achieves even when his body has become the obstacle, but certainly like all of us he’s had the those same obstacles of heart and mind.  Like so many other artists given a set of challenges, I have to imagine that the ultimate difference is he chooses to create.  Perhaps out of sheer necessity.  So if the able- bodied artist doesn’t choose to overcome their own self-created, self-imposed obstacles, who is the disabled individual?  The artist in a limited body or the artist in a limited mindset?  What happens when we remove our mental and emotional limitations?  What happens when we remove “can’t” from our vocabulary?

I doubt that Tucker longs to serve as example to anyone, but perhaps inspiration is another matter.  Here’s to inspiration. . .

technorati tags: frederick wiseman, tucker stilley, hospital, the permanent record, tuckerstilley.com, cinema verite, high school, media, media culture, documentary filmmaking, guy maddin, tales from the gimli hospital, interpretation of frederick wiseman, documentary filmmakers, media content, reality television, YouTube, media consumption, filmic constructs, walker evans, many are called, media manipulation, tucker stilley’s art, lindsay mofford, artistic challenge, artistic achievement, inspiration

There have been some developments with the “Don’t Vote” video I directed and co-produced with Eric Mofford.  The video was recently submitted to CNN’s iReport.com where it was selected as a finalist in their “Campaign ‘08″ online film festival.

In addition, the video in just two weeks received nearly 2,700 hits just on the iReport.com website.  The video was also picked up and broadcast on CNN during it’s regular political programming to be seen by countless numbers of viewers.

technorati tags: don’t vote, cnn, coffee cart productions, eric mofford, iReport.com, campaign ‘08 film festival, finalist, the billionaires, music video, wil b., duke stroud, vote

At this point, the music video I wrote, produced and directed for “The Billionaires” song “Don’t Vote” has been posted on CNN’s iReport.com website.  The whole process for me, has been a roller-coaster ride which I sense still has yet to reach the end of the line.  

As the video starts to see the light of day, and possibly the eyes of millions of television and Internet viewers, I think it is worth saying a few words about my intent on doing this video.  I suppose that is fairly unusual for any filmmaker to make any comments about what his or her thought process was in doing any project, but I suppose at the end of the day, what I have done is to make a very pointed political statement.

Actually, the video itself really is the largest statement that I have made, and with the exception of a missing sax-playing Bill Clinton in a corner of the barber shop, and a few other ideas that became technically and financially impossible,  the video speaks many of the original points that I wished to make.  However, it is worth pointing out that the version of the video that has been posted and possibly aired on CNN has been sanitized of a few corporate logos that were very specifically used and placed.  I will only post the video that hasn’t been sanitized on this website.

The Billionaires’ song “Don’t Vote” became easy inspiration for me to imagine an American President who is brought into an all-American barber shop at the end of a physically, morally and in the case of this video, metaphorically damaging eight years.  It’s Floyd’s Barber Shop located in the heart of Twin Peaks.

Some will point to the video being a very deliberate finger pointed at the outgoing occupant of the White House, and one of the current possible presidential choices up for election.  But quite honestly, I am glad that production, budget and technical challenges prevented us from having such overt representations. Albert Stroth and Bob McEwen were both wonderful performers and true professionals.  Instead, we end up with a larger representation: a political and media culture that recycles its own.  This has certainly been the larger pattern during my lifetime, and certainly as long as I have been a registered voter.

Unquestionably, the heart and soul of this video came from the bearer of the message, rapper Wil B.  You only need look at his dual performance as “The Angry Man” and “The Gangsta” to see the way he brings equal parts joy and frustration, while never losing his sense of charm.  Wil’s the real deal, and it was a pleasure working with him.

I could, and probably should thank a long list of people who came together to make this video happen, but I hate the idea of singling out some and not others in a cast and crew so talented.  However, I can’t get away without thanking Duke Stroud, our barber and my teacher some years ago.  Duke has a bunch of golden material that is sitting on the proverbial cutting room floor, and at some point, I may post a “blooper & gag reel” featuring some of that great material.

In closing, the message that I’d like to end on is a thought about the great people who came together to do this video.  Nobody got rich making this video.  It might also surprise you to know that a number of the folks who worked on this video would not fit into categories like “democrats” or so-called “liberals”.  We had people on this show who identify themselves and vote Republican.  Everyone on this show contributed and came together on this project for love and belief in their country.  I like to think that they did so because no matter which candidate they support, they want to contribute to positive change in their country.  At the end of some very long days, no one flagged, lost their focus, or gave up short of the goal. Let it be a lesson and inspiration for us all.  It certainly was for me.

Vote.

technorati tags:don’t vote, cnn,coffee cart productions, iReport.com, floyd’s barber shop, twin peaks, presidential candidates, the billionaires, music video, albert stroth, bob mcewen, political culture, media culture, wil b., duke stroud, positive change, vote