“Inspired by the song, I wanted to create something dark and elegant that took place inside of a haunted house. That’s just what the song sounded like to me–a dream-like world of slow-motion, macabre imagery. I also loved the idea of a first-person’s perspective where you are finding unsettling things in the dark with a flashlight–you look even though you don’t want to. This probably comes from growing up on a wonderfully creepy farm. The sisters, roses, and terrified children getting their picture taken were images that I had always wanted to shoot, but didn’t have the right song for. The Gravedigger’s Song worked perfectly.” –Alistair

Indeed, the song’s grisly and brooding sound certainly shapes the visuals and grounds the overall vision of the piece. It’s the perfect soundtrack for a world where otherworldly apparitions run rampant and even adorable little girls might be ghosts. “The Gravedigger’s Song” is a darkly delightful treat. The setting, too, seems to have been made for this project. Built on a secluded hillside near Salinas, CA in 1872, that house has essentially remained untouched since the retreat of its last residents. Still clad in taxidermied heads and dusty Victorian photographs, it’s just the kind of place you’d expect ghosts to play out the lives they were prematurely torn away from. When combined with Alistair’s dramatic visual storytelling, it’s enough to bring us into that timeless dimension where trivialities are stripped away until all that’s left is that tingle in your spine.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE GRAVEDIGGER’S SONG

The visceral landscape that Elliott captures allows us to connect to and meditate on each shot individually while also leaving us the agency to string the images together in our own ways. Every sun flare and portrait contains within it a connection to the core of the human experience that’s usually only found buried within a midnight drive or a much-needed glass of lemonade. In a world where we’re forced to constantly tune out the inundation of media and images, the ability to conjure up these feelings is not only unique but also much-needed.

“Colours” exists in two forms, both the original and the Armin van Buuren Remix. Take a look here at the remix and let yourself be consumed by the idiosyncracies that make every day an inestimable experience.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH COLOURS (ARMIN VAN BUUREN REMIX)

December 18th at 7:00pm, The Masses will hold its annual end-of-the-year screening with a $10 entry, with all proceeds going toward Cinefamily. Several Masses directors will be screening their work from over the past year including: Eli Stonberg, Ben Kutsko, Raul B. Fernandez, Ben Fee, Matt Amato, Spencer Ockwell, Abram Pineda-Fischer, Chris Coats, Ariana Natale, Alex Pelly, Elliott Sellers, June Zandona, and Alistair Legrand.

The wide range of artists includes Alexander, Busdriver, Crystal Antlers, Data Romance, Sister Crayon and We Are Augustines. 

The Masses program commences on the heels of Cinefamily’s main fundraiser. Beginning December 17th at 12:00pm Cinefamily will hold their 24 hour Telethon Screening, which you can attend for free at The Silent Movie Theatre on Fairfax, or watch live via broadcast on their website. Cinefamily is a non-profit organization devoted to finding and presenting interesting unusual programs of exceptional, distinctive, weird and wonderful films. The Cinefamily goal is to foster a spirit of community and a sense of discovery while reinvirgoating the movie-going experience, a goal which The Masses firmly supports. The upcoming Telethon event will feature; a show and tell with Spike Jonze, Doug Benson with surprise guests, the return of “Jim Henson: Commercials and Experiments!” and much more! The full line-up is viewable here.

The Masses event will be hosted by Frosty and Morph0 with featured musical guest NOW. We couldn’t be more excited to show you guys our work from this year. consider this your official invite to come support your favorite directors at The Masses and the Cinefamily community!

Between the confetti, the silly string, the capes, the sloths, the scavenger hunts, the bands, the shopping carts, the green screens, and of course the cameras everywhere, it’s probably safe to say that OMG! CAMERAS EVERYWHERE! was one of (if not THE) greatest week in all of music video history. But what, you may ask, made it so spectacular??

Well, OMG! CAMERAS EVERYWHERE! began as a dream this summer when a few of us music video folks decided we wanted to share what we did with the next generation. After a few feverish think-tank sessions, we put up a Kickstarter, dug up some cameras,  and decided to give the camp business a whirl. We set out to organize a week-long series of workshops, the goal being to provide these kids with a unique opportunity to experiment creatively, develop artistically, and learn new skills. We’d hoped that by looking through the lens of a camera, they’d be able to expand their worldview and start seeing the universe as a place subject to their own creativity, open to manipulation by their imagination. After all, the program was founded upon the belief that the increased accessibility of cameras to everyone today can potentially give kids the tools they need to create and communicate like never before. We chose music videos not only because it’s what we know, but because it’s also something that they are all familiar with. In doing such, our goal was to establish OMG! CAMERAS EVERYWHERE! as a place for kids to collaborate, develop confidence in their work, and just be kids for awhile.

So we took the leap of faith and hosted a week-long series of workshops for kids in the Los Angeles area from August 29th-September 2nd. In addition to a bit of our own scouting, we also partnered with two amazing organizations, Heart of Los Angeles (HOLA) and HYPE Los Angeles, to recruit some of the best and brightest minds in this city. We ended up with an incredible group of twelve kids aged 9-16 who proved themselves to be absolute naturals. From dancers and horror buffs to actresses and comedians, together they made one heck of a film crew.

In only five days, they wrote, planned, directed, and acted in a total of five music videos, a live takeaway video (cameras everywhere style), and dozens of short films. (By the way, many of these videos are now set to be released as official videos for the artists). For each project we partnered a group of kids with several working directors with the ultimate intention of fostering an open, creative environment. Every now and then we’d throw them a time restraint or a “no green screen” rule, but turns out that just got their wheels turning even faster! Once they’d learned the basics of perspective and DIY effects, the “restrictions” just seemed to open up an infinite universe of loopholes and possibilities. In the end, it turns out that we were the ones who’d been taught a thing or two about film. Sure, we showed them the basics of camera operation and how to frame a shot, but they’re the ones who reminded us that nothing is impossible when you’ve got a camera and some friends.

The week culminated in a screening of the kids’ work on Saturday at Cinefamily. From the moment we read OMG! CAMERAS EVERYWHERE! on the marquee, the reality of what had just happened began to sink in. We were struck by how incredible the last five days had been, and by how much we’d grown to love every one of those kids. Watching them talk about their work during their director Q&A was truly something else. Not only were they confidently standing by their films, but they were also sharing bits of their individual creative processes and things that they had learned from the experience. And now that that’s happened, we can’t really imagine doing anything else.

So what’s next for OMG! CAMERAS EVERYWHERE!? Well that’s where the good news comes in—we’re now incorporated as OMG Everywhere, a California nonprofit organization, and are currently entering the 501(c)(3) process. So look out, because these talented kids aren’t going anywhere any time soon.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEOS AND FIND OUT MORE

**Special thanks to HOLA, HYPE Los Angeles, Cinefamily, Isaac Ravishankara, DANIELS, Jack Richardson, Matt Amato, Dugan O’Neal, Ben Fee, Ben Kutsko, Ariana Natale, Hiro Murai, Alistair Legrand, Doomsday Entertainment, Alex Pelly, David Altobelli, Raul Fernandez, Spencer Ockwell, Eli Stonberg, Larkin Seiple, David Myrick, Correatown, 3oh!3, Bryan John Appleby, Judson McKinney, and all our supporters on Kickstarter without whom this camp would not have been possible.

On Ditch Plains beach in Montauk NY, director Matt Amato filmed newly-formed We Are Augustines (from remnants of band Pela) playing a midnight jam session around a flickering bonfire. This scene would later become a large part of “Book of James,” the first music video off the band’s debut album, Rise Ye Sunken Ships. The project is an epic and intimate portrait of a troubled soul based on lead singer Bill McCarthy’s brother James (for whom the song was also written). The deeply personal account of the song’s composition and creation is detailed on the We Are Augustines website.

Naturally, with such a meaningful piece, McCarthy was cautious about approaching someone to interpret the story behind the song. After considering some forty directors, the Masses’ own Matt Amato was chosen to undertake the direction of the video. Struck by both the “Born in the USA” Springsteen-esque intensity of the song and the band’s earnest intentions (realized upon their first meeting at the Brooklyn Inn), Matt felt pressured (in a good way) to deliver a video worthy of the song.

He enlisted actor and friend Brady Corbet (who, in addition to being featured in the upcoming films Martha Marcy May Marlene and Lars Von Trier’s Melancholia, also appears in Matt’s Ima Robot video) to star. In every shot he gives a powerfully contemplative performance as a lost soul roaming around outer Manhattan. And, as FILTER magazine recently noted about the piece, ”you don’t need to be a New Yorker to appreciate the beauty and potential magnitude in a journey across the boroughs following a traumatic event.”

As the anthemic instrumentation of the song drives on, the young man’s journey persists, eventually interwoven with McCarthy’s memoriam-like journey to retrace the man’s footsteps. Although the ballad-like song is one to be sung to the rafters, the quiet intimacy of the video shows, in Matt’s words, “how through our memory and our work we attempt to honor the struggle of our beloved and the lives they led.” Though the video itself should be evidence enough of this, Matt describes how many aspects of the project seemed to exemplify this very concept. For instance, while filming on the beach in Montauk, they happened to cross paths with several paper lanterns that had been launched up into the black, starry night. As the band and crew watched these lanterns floating up into the Milky Way, a wave of catharsis swept over them that seemed to encourage the healing process, leaving an atmosphere that’s certainly palpable in the final product.

WATCH “BOOK OF JAMES” HERE

Let’s Go

For the video, Madi wanted to create an “attainable dream state,” visualizing the sense of unrestrained joy that lives within the best of moments.  To express the point of view of the songwriter and musicians in the most immediate way, Matt turned to PowerShovel’s Harinezumi camera, the ideal of which is to capture “laughter and delight” in our daily lives.  Known for its dreamy, color saturated visuals, the Harinezumi’s tiny size makes it the perfect camera for unique moments.  “You are like a child looking forward to a field trip, hoping it won’t rain.”  According to PowerShovel’s philosophy, “a camera signifies hope.”

“I gave Kyle and Madi cameras as soon as I met them, and they immediately showed interest and got super creative with it.”  Matt escorted east coast based Madi and guitarist Kyle Ryan around LA, shooting his own Harinezumi footage while the two experimented with their cameras.  From Venice Beach to Elysian Park, the musicians captured great shots, many of which made the final cut.

Matt also dealt out Harinezumi cameras to fellow artists and friends, seeking authentic summer adventures.  Actor Brandon Lim shot in Hawaii.  Actress Jillian Federman filmed her exploits hiking, rock climbing, and surfing.  Writer/directors Abram Pineda-Fischer and Stanton Dean made use of a first date to shoot romantic visuals in a Minneapolis park.  Photographer Adarsha Benjamin focused on her sister’s visit and a subsequent photo shoot.  Musician Grant Leuchtner shot everything from day to day moments in his apartment to a trip to Magic Mountain.

The footage was fit into the framework of Madi’s creative life, comprised of moments of reflection, songwriting, and performance.  “The song has this whole new life,” says Madi, “and the vignettes punctuate it with so much personality that we would never have been able to witness.”  To further the energy and spirit of the video, The Masses hosted a party and concert for Madi, capturing her performance with luminous, atmospheric photography courtesy of cinemtographer, David Myrick.  The Harinezumi vignettes mixed with HD footage create a piece that is both fresh and nostalgic.

“It was a fun project because every element was set up to seem organic by the time we filmed it,” says Matt.  “Everything did flow together naturally, which gave the camera something genuine to record.  We laughed a lot.”

The video makes its premiere on IFC.  Filled with light, color, and life, Let’s Go captures the beauty of youth, relationships, and the joy that an adventurous spirit can bring.

LET’S GO

Well folks we’ve got some great news for you–the Masses Lab is expanding! The venture that began with a handful of young, promising directors has exploded into something more fantastic than we ever dreamed! In just a few months, the Lab is proving to be a colossal success. That’s why we couldn’t be more pleased to announce our first addition to the Lab–Elliott Sellers!

Elliott’s one of those people who manages to keep us guessing. With a look that’s more Mumford than Metallica, it came as quite a shock when we found out this once home-schooled kid from Arizona started touring the world as a death-metal drummer when he was only sixteen. Lucky for us he did, though, for it was on the road that he first discovered an affinity for visual media. And thanks to the rapid demise of the VHS, his self-education was cost-efficiently comprised of discounted classics picked up a truck stops.  Then, one day, his life arrived at a turning point: “Before, my friends were telling me about good films and what I should watch. Then, slowly I started asking them if they’d seen things.  It escalated until I really wanted to start doing it.”

It was only a matter of time until Elliott packed up his life and moved to Los Angeles to study film at the Musician’s Institute in Hollywood. Here he met Alan Calzatti, “an amazing teacher and even more amazing cinematographer” and friend Dean DeBlois, who were working on fantastic projects like Sigur Ros‘ first film, “Heima.” Eventually, their work resulted in an opportunity for him to edit a pile of footage they had just shot in Iceland for Jonsi’s solo project. Within a matter of days, he had completed the edit and was named chief editor of the project, “Go Quiet.”

Elliott’s work for Jonsi opened up doors that he’d never imagined existed. Through it he discovered that his percussive background and natural sense of rhythm integrated quite nicely into his film work, especially when it came to editing.When he was asked to do a lyric video for Atlantic Records artist Christina Perri, he said yes even though he wasn’t exactly sure what the project would entail. But the lyric video is, of course, charming, and you would never know from watching the impeccable stop-motion that it was one of Elliott’s first directorial efforts.

“For the lyrical projects, I think people are used to seeing an all-post video, and that’s really uninspiring. I wanted to introduce practical effects and cinematic elements to give a project like this new life. These kinds of videos show people you can make something out of nothing and I love doing that–especially with no money.”

A little more fate and a splash of curiosity eventually lead Elliott to the Masses. He reached out to us in the hopes we might someday collaborate, but had no idea we just so happened to be scouting out new talent. When we hinted at the possibility of forming an alliance in the near future, however, Elliott hesitated. “I didn’t want to force that relationship–I wanted to make The Masses want me, not to feel obligated to include me–so I waited.”

When Masses director Matt Amato called him up a few weeks later to propose a collaboration for his upcoming Explosions in the Sky project (Taking Care: 6 Visual Interpretations), it seemed like a prime opportunity for Elliott to prove his worth. Thanks to some brilliant surfing footage and a feverish weekend of editing between Coachella sets, the duo emerged with a video that compliments the cathartic and stirring subtleties of Explosions perfectly. And so it was through this very project that both the Masses and Elliott felt the time had finally come for Elliott to join the Lab.

Though chance/fate seems to have played a large role in bringing him to us, that certainly doesn’t mean he isn’t capable. Most recently, Elliott directed a stunning piece with the help of friend Bryan Dos Reis (a frequent collaborator and a visionary in his own right) for progressive fusion band Symphonic Circles. Despite having a minimal budget and limited resources, they made an outstanding video that exceeded all expectation. Of course Elliott, in his typical humility, is quick to point out that he wouldn’t be where he is today if it weren’t for friends like Bryan who challenge him to try things he may not necessarily show immediate interest in.

“The more I do it, the more the art form begins to reveal itself. So many things have been done but at the same time, there’s still many voices to be represented. People are seeing things like they have never seen them before, but there’s still a little bit more to be done; I’m hoping that little bit could be my contribution.”

CLICK HERE TO WATCH ELLIOTT’S REEL

The Masses is kind of a funny place, certainly not your typical office set-up. You won’t find hordes of drone-like office staff, and instead of a receptionist you’ll find a spunky pup named Vancouver there to bark hello. And though most of us float in and out of the office from day to day, there’s a handful of dedicated individuals you’ll find working tirelessly at headquarters from a.m. to p.m. Jack Richardson, our new executive producer and resident pull-up-bar acrobat, is one of them.   Though he’s only been with us a couple months, he’s already become an irreplaceable member of the Masses and we couldn’t be more excited to have him.

So just who is this guy that seems to be on top of everything?  Well, he’s not exactly your average LA producer.  As an undergrad at Arizona State University, he studied journalism. “I knew I didn’t want to do news, but that was the closest I could get to using cameras and editing projects,” Jack said.  Together with his college roommate, Dugan O’Neal (Doomsday Director and friend of The Masses), they created a few hilarious commercials and comedy shorts for their school’s TV station.

After college they migrated to the City of Angels, eager to make a name for themselves in the land where cinematic dreams come true.  After serving as production assistant on a job or two, he struck gold and quickly acquired one of the most coveted positions in the industry: he became a grip!  He wanted to learn from the best, to be in the trenches with the real visionaries.  And in our eyes, it’s partly this experience that makes him so valuable as a producer.  He’s not a suit who barks orders at people — he knows what he’s talking about, and he’ll do whatever it takes to get your show on the road.  On any given day he’ll book the job, find a crew, be your production assistant, and man the playback.  Jack does it all.

“I wanted to learn from the ground up in hopes that someday, if I had my own projects, I would intimately know what was going on and how to do it myself.  I wanted to know what it was really going to take to get the job done.”

Within his first six months in LA he joined the crew of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition with whom he traveled the country for five years.  An immensely rewarding experience, it seems to have left quite a mark on our friend.  Years of watching entire communities come together for a common purpose–to build a house in only a few days–proved what can be truly be done when people put self-centered agendas aside and just help each other out.

In hindsight, maybe it’s this affinity for idealism that led him into producing.  During some down time he made an initial foray into producing, helping to make a stunning short that a friend had written called “Alice & The White Hair.”  The project, which also happened to be one of the first productions to use the Canon 5D, only fueled his growing desire to branch out.  After checking in with some old pals, long-time buddy and cinematographer David Myrick (yet another Masses friend) asked for his help producing a music video he was shooting.  Since Jack’s season at Extreme Makeover was about to wrap for the summer and the video was shooting in Big Sur (near his hometown of Salinas), he shrugged and said why not?

The video was for Fawnhawk’s “Hunter’s Hide,” directed by Masses veteran Benjamin Kutsko.  Jack, despite never having worked on a music video before, managed to pull some strings with Dave and Ben to ensure that everything was good-to-go on their tiny budget.  Everything was going great–that is, until Twilight came along.  You see, the treatment for the Fawnhawk video called for wolves.  And, though they initially had a connection to some very talented and very cheap actor wolves, the craze for teen werewolf sagas drove wolf values through the roof.  So they lost their wolves.  But Jack, determined as ever, refused to let those tweenagers kill this video.  They got creative and after a series of Facebook posts, emails, and some word of mouth, eventually stumbled upon The Shadowland Foundation, an educational non-profit that introduces wolves to children.  Though they weren’t technically actors, the wolves were well-trained enough to understand basic commands, such as “don’t eat the DP.”  So, after sending a most heartbreaking and desperate email, Jack managed to book the wolves for the video.  With a bit more convincing, Jack even found a place for the wolves to stay…in his parents’ house with the rest of the crew.

After the Fawnhawk project, Jack produced a few other videos (including 40 Day Dream) and one more season at Extreme Makeover before joining our team for good.  Now, with a desk chair to call his own, he’s become invaluable to us both as an EP and as a friend.  (Let’s just say that when we took a Masses field trip to Six Flags and found ourselves wandering aimlessly around the park, Jack was the one herding us safely onto the next coaster.)  And while he admits that he hasn’t even scratched the surface of this career, we appreciate the hard work he’s put in to get here and all the sacrifices he’s made for The Masses.

“I never went to film school, I’ve just been out there physically doing it–just working on sets.  Initially for me, producing was more about just trying to make sure my friends got their projects off the page and helping them finish things because I knew how talented they were.  Whatever I can do, I’ll sacrifice some sleepless nights and run up my phone bill to make sure my friends are doing alright.”

And that’s an honest, true glimpse at the way Jack really functions.  Like the rest of us, he believes that there is possibility in the collective ideal and we’re confident that he’s the perfect (if not only) man for the job.  Welcome to the family, Jack!

“I just wanted to shoot monsters having a dance battle,” says director Alistair Legrand on his new project for Canadian duo Data Romance. As our unofficial expert on all things ghoulish and monster-related, it should come as no surprise that his chilling video for The Deep is a dark and bewitching delight.

“The idea for this video came to me about a year ago, when I was listening to this song I really liked a lot.  I couldn’t stop visualizing these robotic forms engaged in this street-style battle dancing…I kept thinking it would be perfect for a song that wasn’t hip hop.”

Always on the lookout for just the right song, Alistair began to research.  Fate (and a few YouTube searches) led him to “jookin,” a Memphis dance style similar to gangsta walkin’ that uses the whole body in a robot-meets-ballerina kind of way.  As images of figures from Beksinki paintings then crept into his mind as the perpetrators of these movements, the fragments began to merge and blend into one cohesive vision.

When Alistair heard The Deep some months later, he knew this was just the opportunity he had been waiting for.  (Can you imagine a better match than a group that describes their sound as “the contrast between human feeling and hard tech?”) After exchanging ideas and video links back and forth, they realized they not only had similar taste, but also a similar vision for the video–simple and elegant, of course, but ultimately unsettling.

And so, together with producer Monte Zajicek, they began the search for the perfect dancers.  Dozens of auditions turned up scores of dancers who could buck and grind as well as Boogaloo Shrimp, but none of them seemed quite right for the video.  Alistair found his mind drifting back to Lil’ Buck, an especially phantasmagorical jookin’ master he’d discovered during his initial research sessions.  After watching the video Lil’ Buck did with Yo Yo Ma, Alistair and Monte realized they would never be able to find anyone nearly as perfect as Lil’ Buck himself.  So, despite the fact that it was quite a long shot, they sent Lil’ Buck a YouTube message and anxiously awaited their dream dancer’s response.

Lil’ Buck responded within minutes.  He invited Monte and Alistair to join him and his cousin, Primetime, for dinner that night and the group immediately hit it off.  Though Lil’ Buck and Primetime had heard the song only an hour before, they were already full of great ideas for the video.

“After dinner, when we were waiting for the check, I looked over and saw Lil’ Buck and Primetime both dancing in place, and I knew these were the guys for our video.  They just couldn’t stop dancing!  I guess that’s how you know you’ve found your passion, when you just have to do it all of the time” - Alistair

So while Lil’ Buck, Primetime, and their friend Keviorr worked on the choreography, Alistair began thinking about the look of the video.  Will Lemon, a friend of the Masses and the hands behind the facial landscapes from “A Million Years,”  joined the team as makeup artist.  An elaborate painter of faces, he painted his own while on a shoot in Canada and sent photos to Alistair so they could collaborate.  With these stunning designs, Will managed to transform the three dancers into a nightmarish gang of snarling wraiths, setting the perfect mood for the piece.

The day before the shoot, Alistair met up with the dancers in an empty parking lot for a crash course in Monster 101.  Lil’ Buck, Primetime, and Keviorr blew everyone away with the routine they had put together.  ”The videos we shot on our iPhones of those dance rehearsals alone would have been a great video,” Alistair says. With this choreography in mind, cinematographer John Frost built a miniature studio using action figures as stand-ins to run their camera tests.

And then, of course, there was the actual video shoot.  The results of that fateful day are what we now lay before you.  Lil’ Buck (who, mind you, did dozens of backflips without ever tiring) and his crew offered up a hauntingly beautiful performance that will certainly leave you mesmerized.  Data Romance, who were on set with manager Seb Webber, have a cameo in the piece, “just a great shot of them looking otherworldly.”  And of course the editing, executed by fellow Masses director Ben Fee, is seamless.

So what do you get when you add up all of these elements?  A gritty, gorgeous piece that manages to be disquieting and strangely beautiful simultaneously–”a music video highlight for 2011″ (Toro Magazine). We can promise you one thing, though–that after you’ve watched every unforgettable shot of this video, you’ll be hopelessly entranced by “The Deep.”

WATCH “THE DEEP” BY DATA ROMANCE HERE

Alex Ebert of Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeroes is lying on a table, face covered in moss.  Will Lemon applies tiny trees to his forehead, dusting his eyelids with green paint.

Such is the shoot for Benjamin Kutsko’s latest cinematic adventure, “A Million Years,” off Ebert’s solo album, “Alexander.”  Ebert’s track is a warm folk ballad, which Kutsko matches with stunning landscapes and whimsical surrealism.  His face integrated into each landscape, Ebert croons as a cliff face, desert dune, and a forest hillside.  Ebert dances through this composite landscape, while two children prance about the hillside.

Kutsko has previously collaborated with Ebert for “Desert Song,” part of Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeroes’ film odyssey, “SALVO!.”  With cinematographer David Myrick’s expert camerawork, Kutsko creates a glowing, romantic backdrop for Ebert’s new song.


EXPERIENCE “A MILLION YEARS” HERE

When you ask someone what their dream job would be, most people wouldn’t respond with the job that they’re currently doing. But then again Brady Corbet is not most people. If you didn’t know better, you might guess that you were chatting with an Old Hollywood veteran rather than a twenty-two year old actor. Yet despite his age, this young talent certainly seems to know his way around the cinema. In fact he’s quite simply one of the most charming people in “the industry” and a delight to talk to.

So where exactly did this guy come from? Brady was raised in a small town in Colorado by his mom. Since it was just the two of them they were able to travel and pursue opportunities whenever they arose. Eventually Brady had a chance to act in his first feature and, in 2003, made his cinematic debut as Mason Freeland in Thirteen. He returned with a heart-wrenching performance the next year in Mysterious Skin as an alien-obsessed teen.

“I sort of fell into acting, not so much because I was super passionate about performance but because I was really passionate about the cinema from a young age.” –Brady Corbet

Here at the Masses we first met Brady when he was about sixteen years old. Always the music-enthusiast, Brady spent much of his time in LA going to shows to check out new and emerging bands. One day he started talking to this guy he kept running into at shows and that’s how Brady met Matt Amato, one of our directors and a co-founder of The Masses. They had a lot of similar interests and passions and a strong bond quickly developed. Brady began collaborating and spending more time with The Masses and went on to act alongside Alex Ebert in the music video that Matt directed for Ima Robot’s Lovers In Captivity. (You may also recognize him from videos for Le Loup and Bright Eyes). In 2007 Brady returned to the world of features with Funny Games where he played a seriously disturbing psychopath. His performance was so astounding that it earned him the Young Hollywood Award for “One to Watch.”

More recently Brady has been blowing up the indie scene. “I’ve never had a year when I worked so much,” he said. He began last year working as a co-editor on Two Gates of Sleep (which, coincidentally, he also starred in.) Directed by Alistair Banks Griffin, it’s an immaculately beautiful film that demonstrates the cast’s ability to act sublimely even without much dialogue. You may also remember hearing some buzz at Sundance about Martha Marcy May Marlene, a feature about a girl’s recovery after leaving a violent cult that won Sean Durkin the award for Best Director. Well, that’s one of Brady’s projects as well. It was based on a short called Mary Last Seen, on which they had collaborated to make a few years before.

“Everything that I’ve been doing the last few years have pretty consistently been passion projects in one way or another, things I would hope to see.” –Brady Corbet

Right now Brady is seizing the opportunity to finally take a breath. He was in Denmark and Sweden for Melancholia, a Lars von Trier film in which he stars alongside the likes of Charlotte Gainsbourg and Kirsten Dunst. Brady also recently wrapped up work on Simon Killer, a film he did with Antonio Campos that they shot without a traditional screenplay. A festival veteran, Brady has two movies  in competition at Cannes this year, Melancholia and Martha Marcy May Marlene.  And of course Brady is always working on his own projects that he hopes to someday get around to completing.

“I definitely think of myself as being extremely and almost profoundly lucky at times because I’ve gotten to work with the filmmakers that I have and they’ve made a profound impact on my life; that’s an opportunity I never thought would work out. My fantasy job would be to work for more guys like them. I’ve always felt that I’ve reached a few peaks in my life as far as people I’ve worked with and now I’d be happy just supporting the projects of people I believe in.” –Brady Corbet

So keep your eye on the young and passionate Brady Corbet, the super cool actor who’s both incredibly talented and refreshingly down to earth. We are definitely excited to see our friend doing so well and can’t wait to see where the future takes him!

The song, You Hide, written by Eulogies band member and Dangerbird co-founder Peter Walker, is the first single from their latest album, “Tear the Fences Down.”  The project signals Peter’s return to the writing scene after tragedy struck the Dangerbird family in 2009.

“These songs became my lifeline. This is a diary of the trauma of war, and ultimately a way out of those horrific depths.” –Peter Walker

So for “You Hide,” The Eulogies wanted a video that embodied the bright-eyed perspective of youth.  And who better to capture childhood than an eleven year old!  (Ever humble, however, Azul was quick to remind me that he did, after all, co-direct.) Add to that an easy to use camera like the Harinezumi that’s hardly bigger than a roll of 110 film and what you have is bound to be fantastic.

Matt and the band essentially turned the song over to Azul, giving him freedom to let the sounds ruminate around his head.  After listening to it he had a very clear vision: “I thought of this dream I had a couple years ago of a girl running away from something and thought that’d be perfect, and then I thought, well, hide and seek! That would be great!” –Azul Niño

And with Matt by his side to help him out, they managed to create a truly charming piece.

“It was amazing, watching them work together.  I really like Azul’s uninfluenced interpretation of the song” –Peter Walker

Of all the endearing shots in the video, the images of the storybook are sure to catch your eye.  Azul, an avid reader, created the book with the help of a friend to illustrate the adventures of him and his co-star, Romy Flores, as they play throughout the day.

The whole piece has a nostalgic feel to it, like the rediscovery of a memory you forgot about long ago, and it’s just a delight to watch.  It’s also solid proof that The Eulogies made the right choice in collaborating with their younger friends.  Though they don’t yet have the experience of a Godard or a Bergman, Azul and Romy have a passion for filmmaking that shines through every aspect of their work.

“I loved acting, I really enjoy doing it.  I definitely want to pursue it.” –Romy Flores

“I love film, I think that it’s a great art form and that it should be respected more!” –Azul Niño

With lame attitudes all too common in the industry today, maybe a few more Azuls and Romys is just what we need.  And with people like Matt and the Eulogies there to help them out, who knows what creative masterpieces will result!  The MTV Buzzworthy clip, You Hide premieres at mtvU and is the lead video on MTV’s Subterranean this week.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE VIDEO

40 Day Dream

The series began with Desert Song directed by Benjamin Kutsko and Corelleo and continued with Isaiah Seret’s Kisses Over Babylon. The eventual goal for SALVO! is to create a full-length feature with different chapters centered around each song on the Up From Below album.

“Even while writing the album I had ideas in my head, just sort of vague cinematic visions, some specific but not necessarily any that could be carried out.  Kisses Over Babylon for instance always felt to me a sort of desperate but strong statement of survival in the face of death.  And then to do the 40 Day Dream thing is great.  The initial vision was more of a feeling of grandeur and space and sort of sweeping over geography.  40 Day Dream was always a moving song for me, rushing over landscapes, you know vast, beautiful, full of galloping freedom.” -Alex Ebert

For this next installment, the ever-talented Matt Amato came on board to help develop Alex’s vision into a truly cinematic experience.  While each director has managed to tell a unified, cohesive story, they’ve also brought their own original perspectives into the project.

“The most important thing was to introduce the other band members and help the viewer fall in love with these faces in a way that was warm and enveloping, like some grand pageant as if these figures existed inside of a painting.  Even though I knew all these people really well, I still wanted to see them in this iconic way and it became increasingly more and more about the Zeros.” -Matt Amato

“There was a lot going on, a lot riding on it, a lot of bold sort of moves. It was a miniature Heart of Darkness, we had a lot planned.  But eventually we did it.  I definitely had my moments when I would relax into it, and it was one of those things you can definitely get a little lost in when you’re out in the middle of the desert and you’re actually enduring the situations that are somewhat similar to the situations you’re portraying.  You know, the life imitating the art.” -Alex Ebert

If you recall, we first met Edward wandering in an arid desert, struggling with questions from his past.  After being sent to water-labor prison for the murder of his father, Edward is soon reunited with Brother, a friend from the past (who also happens to be a Magnetic Zero).  Together they break out during a violent prison rally and narrowly escape with their lives, now forced to roam the desert plains once again.  In this next chapter, it is the ever-charming Jade who comes to the rescue.  Having received Brother’s telepathic message, she arrives on horseback with an embroidered canteen of water, reinvigorated, the trio makes its way back to where the rest of the Magnetic Zeros are camped.  The Zeros welcome Edward immediately and shroud him in love and good spirits as they dance together into the night.

“The shots of everyone sitting on those rocks and dancing around the fire, that celebratory mood—that is the stuff that clenches the video.” -Alex Ebert

“We were shooting on the last day, the sun was going down and I just wanted to get more and more shots of those beautiful faces.  So, I took the camera up to the top of the rock and stayed close to the band until the sun went down.  Most of them I’ve known for years and to me the entire purpose of creating visuals is showing the world what you love.”  -Matt Amato

Yet all has not been reconciled in this barren world—while the Magnetic Zeros sleep innocently, others are worried by the situation at hand.  In this full-length version of the video, Edward is summoned from his slumber by Angel, the elder leader of the Magnetic Zeros.  Their conversation, filled with riddles, leads us even deeper into this mysterious world, making us more curious to see what happens next.

This last intimate scene between Edward and Angel is responsible for the development of much of the mysticism of 40 Day Dream.  Angel is, in fact, played by actress Lisa Richards, Alex’s mother.  With the help of makeup artist Sarai Fiszel and some tribal art inspiration, Angel was developed into an incredibly believable avatar of the Zeros.  Their chemistry is impeccable and her performance is just as convincing as the rest of the Magnetic Zeros, who manage to make you forget that you aren’t actually wandering around the desert with them.

“Sarai and Lisa created something really unique together.  When Lisa showed up on set, we immediately felt the impact of this Angel character.  The desert night was upon us after a blistering hot day, the wind picked up and this total vision arrived on our set.  It was a beautiful experience to work with artists who conjure real magic.” -Matt Amato

Equally striking is the score for the piece, created by Miguel Atwood-Ferguson.  Though it’s never easy to create music for another musician’s project, Miguel managed to craft several perfect numbers that dramatize the vision and truly add to the video.

“I really think Miguel is our answer to Ennio Morricone.  Every director in Hollywood will be working with him in years to come.  He’s amazingly talented and we are blessed to have his contribution.  The music prepares the video for take off.” -Matt Amato

Having premiered on the VEVO network, Rolling Stone has already reviewed the video as “gorgeous, incredibly cinematic execution…stunning visuals.” So check out 40 Day Dream directed by Matt Amato, complete with horses, gritty close-ups, sweeping helicopter shots, and the desert’s natural beauty.  This is only place you can watch all ten breathtaking minutes of the project, so enjoy!

CLICK HERE TO WATCH 40 DAY DREAM

Crafting videos both whimsical and wild, Ben has garnered attention for his eclectic sense of style.  Ben’s goal is “to bring light to things so people can see how strange, how colorful they are.”  From Iceland, to Thailand, to his own backyard, Ben has crafted soulful and surreal meditations on the vibrancy of life.  “People forget that beautiful things are right in front of them,” he says.  In Portland, he started Bar Bar Apartment Sessions, a takeaway concert series filmed in an apartment and small bus.  Using live performances and the simple setting, Ben created intimate and luminous portraits of artists and their music.  The project features artists like The Head and The Heart and Seabear, and within three months, it had accumulated sixty videos and significant media attention.

His videos also feature surreality and magic.  In Quiet Life’s “Cave Country/No Surprise,” a couple hit the road and slowly shed all of their possessions, reveling in the coming of fall.  Ben’s also hard at work on his first feature, Albert & Eliza. Directly inspired by Ben’s travels and experiences, he aims to create a film that’s “tangible and real.”  Shot in Iceland, the film features stunning, dreamlike visuals, and follows one woman’s amnesia and the elaborate past her best friend weaves for her.

Ben got his start through commercial and writing work.  He met Hunter S. Thompson while living in the ranching community of Woody Creek and became his writing assistant and cinematographer.  Later, he collaborated with Academy Award-winning Alex Gibney for his documentary, Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, as well as his yet to be completed project about Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters. When Hurricane Katrina struck, Ben worked with Douglas Brinkley (The Great Deluge) to research and photograph New Orleans in the wake of the disaster.

At the same time, Ben gained notoriety through his offbeat commercials. Featuring everything from skateboarding horses for MTV to split-framed dancers for Nikita, Ben proved himself adept at creating intriguing visuals.  For work with Nikita Clothing and Snowboarder magazine, Ben traveled the world, merging his own offbeat style with his passion for travel and storytelling.

Ben came to The Masses through his works’ travels, meeting director Börkur abroad.  His diverse background and cinematic style matched with his passion for collaboration make him an ideal fit, and we look forward to seeing what he comes up with next.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW BEN’S WORK

Now meet the directors of The Masses Lab.  The task—to pair inventive music with equally stunning visuals—is far from easy, but the results so far have been nothing short of exceptional.

ABRAM PINEDA-FISCHER’s music video for Sister Crayon is the first of The Masses Lab/Manimal Vinyl collaborations to reach completion.  Having been given much control over the venture, he managed to create a video that matches and even intensifies Sister Crayon’s already ethereal sound.  Shot in black and white, it has an odd, almost Dr. Caligari-esque feel that draws you in immediately.  Though the narrative is non-linear, there’s a sense of urgency and curiosity that pushes you through the song and renders every moment suspenseful.  Essentially this means that you’ll find it impossible to listen to Sister Crayon without this video playing in your mind’s eye.  The video makes its debut on MTV’s Logo station.

ARIANA NATALE -It’s clear from Air’s work that she is a dreamer at heart.  Her style is hallucinatory  in a comfortable way, tricking you into thinking that cupcake-obsessed scientists and “underwater melting popsicle psychedelia” are the most natural things in the world.  She’s also one of those increasingly rare artists who would rather let their imaginations run loose with a few friends than create a self-glorifying catalogue of work.  Her latest project, an astoundingly mystical music video for “Trolls” by Oy on Creaked Records, is nearing release and she is developing an idea for a documentary on a New York City dance collective.  But her interests are widespread, so don’t be surprised if you find her shooting look books or reading poetry at Echo Curio.

ALEX PELLY is living proof that The Masses is more like a family than anything else.  She started off here as an intern during her time at USC and stuck around till she made it to director.  Coming from a post-production background, she has a unique perspective that enables her to see what could be when looking around at what physically is.  Alex’s passion for sound is woven into every project she creates, rendering her an expert at the cross-fertilization between music and film.  Her music videos for hip-hop electro duo Javelin recently debuted on Pitchfork and are already drawing plenty of attention. A favorite and frequent collaborator of the legendary dublab, she’s one of those people who truly understand the mediums she works with and has a habit of stirring creativity wherever she goes.

ALISTAIR LEGRAND has already done several projects, including a music video for Beach House’s “Heart of Chambers” and also a video commissioned by Sony to tell the story of an actual Sony employee.  Using everything from Polaroids and grocery carts to sheet ghosts and cardboard robots, he manages to pinpoint those activities endemic in every person’s childhood and remind you what nostalgia feels like.  Despite not using overt or spoken narratives, he manages to tell intricately woven stories that unfurl at just the right moment.  His sharp but dreamy stories are just the kind of thing that we would like to see more of.

CHRIS COATS started in the world of short films.  In 2009 he received the New Filmmakers Grant to begin his newest movie, “God’s Country,” which he shot on 35mm film in Big Sur.  More recently he has begun working with music, creating videos for bands like Vincent Minor.  But throughout all of these projects, he demonstrates the capability to create something magical out of the everyday experience.  And now that he has the ability to focus on directing, he is sure to grow in this collective environment.

JUNE ZANDONA‘s background as a cinematographer is obvious from her videos: her camera work is immaculate and her ideas well thought out.  The video she directed for the Crystal Antlers’ “Swollen Sky” is perhaps her most well-known project to date.  Featuring several visual layers of action, June manages to maintain a certain logic despite the visual chaos unfolding on the screen.  More recently, June shot a documentary on folk music and is putting the final touches on a music video for Random Patterns (an LA band).  Having learned from the DIY film environment in San Francisco, she is a true collaborator and just the kind of person you would want your band to work with.

SPENCER OCKWELL -If there’s one word to describe Spencer’s style, it would be “juxtaposed.”  Using everything from animation to film noir to futuristic sci-fi, he manages to combine elements and mediums in a way that’s strangely logical and appealing.  After encountering success on the festival circuit with his projects at CalArts, Spencer decided to pair his love for music with his knack for visual art and has now ventured into the realm of the music video. He’s currently working on the next video for Fitz & the Tantrums and has several other pitches lined up.  Spencer is even developing some concepts for television and features, including an idea for a children’s puppet show that’s dreamier than any Lamb Chop episode ever was.

The point is that whether you started off driving a production truck or fetching coffee for a cranky DP, every one remembers how hard it can be to get your name out there.  By creating a community in which bright-eyed youngsters bring fresh viewpoints and battle-worn veterans their hard-learned expertise, our aim is to get the world to listen.  Though The Masses Lab artists may not have the experience of a seasoned director, you would certainly never know it by looking at their work.  They have become an integral part of The Masses family and we know that amazing things will come from this collaboration.

Look for The Masses Lab this year at the Noise Pop Festival in San Francisco, February 22-27.  They’ll be conducting a workshop and making new friends so be sure to say hi!

This filmmaking process was very unique to me, unlike anything I’ve made before.  Most of the time a shoot lasts one day and you’re fighting against the clock to complete everything on the shot list.  For this video I had weeks to play around and film whatever looked good.  Before the trip started, I loosely planned out the story and wrote down the types of shots that I needed.  That way, as I traveled around, I could spontaneously decide to film a certain shot depending on what the location had to offer.  I never let the filming get in the way of having fun on vacation and that way the video never felt like “work”.

Filming on the Digital Harinezumi 2 was such a joy and it provided me with a number of big advantages.  The best thing was simply that it fit in my pocket, which made for total filming freedom.  The tiny size of the Japanese toy camera also allowed me to film on an airplane, out of a car window, attached to a bike and on a rollercoaster.  I had heard that Sofia Coppola was the only person who filmed a movie at Versailles… not any more, thanks to the covert powers of the Harinezumi!  Everywhere I went people wanted to know what the little black thing I had in my hand was.  And I know that many Europeans thought I was crazy running around with the zumi trying to make a pinwheel fly.

While I did a lot of the video on my own, I had help from some incredibly talented folks.  Liz Garner fabricated the pinwheels, Josh Sasson did the compositing, Peter Van Dyke was my technical assistant, and my family was the best pro bono crew of all time.  In addition to making the track, the guys from YAWN also did an amazing job crafting the trippy soundtrack in the beginning of the video.  Thanks everyone!  I hope you have as much fun watching this video as I had making it.  - Eli

WATCH THE VIDEO HERE

The video for “Knight of Wands” is unique in form, and Mashable.com points out that  “videos like this demonstrate how the oeuvre of the music video is changing as the web continues to become a destination for music and entertainment.”  The coloring book that begins the video immediately makes the audience active participants, which is just the effect Stonberg was hoping for, saying that such interactivity “demands an audience attention that most videos don’t…the interactive aspect helps tame the internet ADD inside of us all.”

Even the most severe case of ADD would likely be tamed by the “Knight of Wands” video, which takes the viewer from the coloring book into a haunting live action version of the coloring book page.  Stonberg says he knew a coloring book concept would work perfectly with Au Revoir Simone’s music and aesthetic, and indeed the band does look very at home in the spooky, ethereal space Stonberg has created, with the tarot cards that inspired the song’s title floating by.

The video has already drawn comparisons to The Arcade Fire’s recent interactive promo for The Wilderness Downtown, with Promo News calling Stonberg’s work “equally compelling.”  Viewers are encouraged to save their coloring book creations in a Flickr album, allowing viewers from all over the world to see others’ various interpretations.  With the video premiering on Mashable.com and also being featured on the popular advertising industry site Creativity-Online, there will certainly be no shortage of contributors to the growing online gallery.

“With ‘Knight of Wands’ I was seeking a more personal video experience,” says Stonberg.  “I hope that people come away with a sense of pride for the creation that they made while playing.”  This desire to not simply create a piece of art, but to make the audience a vital part of his unique creation is what makes Stonberg’s video so compelling.

PLAY THE VIDEO HERE

Taken from the sweeping We Come From The Bright Side, the song “Take the Pain Out Of Your Chest” is the album’s magnum opus.  Kevin, who stars in the video as a suburban husband and father, is like a firebrand preacher when he performs as the band’s frontman.  His vocals on this track are notable for their soaring desperation.  When he sings, the emotion pours out of him and you can feel it in the 60 Watt Kid recordings as well.  I thought it would be interesting to repress that energy for the sake of this story.  The camera magnifies things, and with the song as the sound-track, I knew we would feel this man’s pain just by looking at him engage in everyday activities.  By separating him from the band, I hoped there would be an immediate tension at play.  I asked Kevin to watch John Cassavetes “Husbands” before he arrived on set; notice the early ’70′s style reflected in his wardrobe.  While we filmed in the house only one day, the three actors quickly became that family you see in the video.  Jack, the 10 year old, was actually calling some shots by the day’s end, telling me what was a good take when he saw it.

Over the years, 60 Watt Kid and I have become friends.  The band has traditionally performed at our office parties and the pure energy they provide never fails to move the room.  Sitting here now in the office I can remember the party crowding around the band as their thunderous playing rattled the floorboards.  There is a great source of inspiration inside the swirling textures and intricate patterns of 60 Watt Kid.  It’s music that celebrates the experience of being alive while embracing all the complexities of it.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW

Robin and Coco had admired previous work of Amato’s, and knew that they wanted him to film the Average Fruit video.  Amato’s skilled work with the Harinezumi camera is a large part of what caught Quadron’s attention, and what contributed to the striking imagery and the Euro-centric feel of the video.  Amato has been committed to perfecting the nuances of this camera, a point-and-shoot that offers a very sophisticated look, and used the Harinezumi to shoot Harinezumi Movie, a short film starring Mia Doi Todd that premiered this past March at the “Imperfect As They Are” video show at the New Museum in New York, then headed to Tokyo.

Quadron’s pairing with Amato allowed all three to expand creatively.  “Matt is very open,” say Hannibal and Coco of Amato, “and we trusted him with anything.”   Amato agrees, noting that it must have taken a great deal of trust to allow him to truly experiment with the Harinezumi, getting inches away from the band members’ faces with the camera for several scenes.  The video’s combination of unique camera work, Hannibal’s skillful arrangements of beats and instrumentals, and Coco’s subtle yet powerful vocals, creates a very stylish piece, which Coco says they all thought of as “more about place than story.”  However, Amato also sees this as a piece that he hopes is “healing in its imagery,” and portrays an ever-evolving philosophy of love.

The album Quadron was released in March, and has been getting more and more attention, so much so that MTV France has recently decided to air the Average Fruit video.   This is a testament to Quadron’s power as musicians, and Amato’s skill as a director, as this is the first Harinezumi piece that has gone to broadcast.  Quadron says that Average Fruit, especially with a video that corresponds so completely with their artistic vision, is a song that will hopefully introduce many new fans to the work they’re doing.  “Everyday we get surprised by new people discovering us,” says Coco modestly – however, it’s clear that this attention is something both Quadron and Amato will have to get used to.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEO