Apologies by Lindsay Ferguson

I met Lindsay Ferguson a bit over 3 Years ago after she performed a show at Cafe Henrici in Zürich. It was was nice to be able collaborate with her again on my recent trip back. You can see the videos from three years ago in the first link below.

Related Posts
A Perfect Moment with Lindsay Ferguson
Ancestor by Christina Maria
Photo Blog #9

Not Titled by Eshovo

I directed this video for local artist Eshovo. Check out his website for the subtitled version.
Download his album "In Neutral"
 

interested in working together on a music video? contact me

Related Posts:
Photo Blog #160, Test: Eshovo
Everything You Have by Joy Ike
Jailcard by Jane Lui

Jailcard by Jane Lui

Here is the official video for Jailcard by Jane Lui.
 
This video was a fun to direct as it is to watch. I want to thank William Eubank for his beautiful photography and Matt Guttierrez for his kickass choreo.  

Jailcard is the first single from Jane's new album Goodnight Company which can be downloaded for FREE from janelui.com. Make sure you download it!! Also make sure to check out the Jane's YouTube channel.

Related Posts
Freddie Goodtime
Libra Armor
Illusionist Boy 

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Got My Jailcard.

We just finished production of the Jailcard music video which will be the first single from Jane Lui's new album Goodnight Company. Check out these cool kids:

Pictured: Myself, Angela, Anthony, Sonali, Kayla, Matt, Marc, Jane and AppaThe video features a really cool dance sequence choreographed by Matt Gutierrez. The people pictured are the core dancers who did an amazing job. In addition to the dance scene which took place at night, we also filmed near the LA railyard around sunset. The cinematography in both scenes was done by the very talented William Eubank.

I'm really happy wth what we came up with and am excited for when it's done and everybody can see it. I'll start cutting it together as soon as I return to Switzerland. Look for it soon!

If you read my last film update about the video for Goodnight Company, its still coming but just a bit after Jailcard. Stay tuned.

The First Music Video Shot Entirely on a Camera Phone -- The True Story

With all the buzz about the iPhone4's video capabilities, I thought it would be appropriate to tell a story from the archive. This is a story of the harsh mistress that is internet fame and of pushing technologies beyond the cutting edge. It is also a story of self-congratulatory exaggeration. It is the true story of the first music video shot entirely on a camera phone:

iPhone/iPad Friendly Video

 

Set your judgement aside and come with me way back to 2004.

(Ripple dissolve - Chimes sound effect )

Random Nokia 3650 PhotoCamera phones were first becoming popular in the US, and I had recently picked up a Nokia 3650. This shining piece of technology had a 0.31 megapixel camera that also recorded 176x144 video, though limited to 12 second or 96kb clips (whichever came first). In addition, I was equipped with an unlimited GPRS plan from T-Mobile and an account with the now defunct proto-twitter service Textamerica. I was posting photos and short messages regularly from my phone way back in the early mid-2000s. I was a true member of the avant garde. Little did I know that my penchant for pushing the envelope would catapult me quite nearly to internet celebrity.

The night was February 30th, 2004. I was visiting San Diego for the weekend. It was late, so a group of friends and I were at the only place to go in track-home-laden North County San Diego -- Denny's. As it got later, we all became slightly punchy. My friend Haber (known only by his last name) was punchier than most and I began to film him with my camera phone. I discovered that you could stop and start within a clip, which allowed for basic in-camera effects like making things disappear. At one point in a video clip, my other friend Dave told Haber to get down from something he had climbed on to. That line was born to be a sound sample.

Later that night I returned to Haber's place, where I was couch surfing. I got the idea to throw together some loops in Garage Band and edit the grainy clips into a "music video". Haber, who is one hell of a guitar player, added the pièce de résistance -- a kick ass guitar solo. I inserted an MTV-style music video title and named the "band" XFYA, since everyone at Denny's that night had been in my high-school band, FYA (like ex-FYA, get it?). I hastily uploaded the video to Textamerica (Archive.org Link), giving it the title "the first music video shot entirely on a nokia 3650", and promptly went to sleep. The next morning, Haber Get Down had been seen nearly 10,000 times. It spread like a small brush fire through the nascent Web2.0 and went on to be viewed nearly 200,000 times (which was a lot for back then). It was even written about by several prominent bloggers including BoingBoing's Xeni Jardin who wrote "It's kind of lame, but it's still a first."

Filming "Cornelius Swarthout"To continue riding this wave of internet celebrity, we made an attempt to shoot a planned music video on my camera phone. We recorded a few songs the next night and filmed the second music video shot entirely on a camera phone: Homage to Cornelius Swarthout.

Alas, I was too far ahead of my time. Youtube didn't exist yet and web videos didn't have as much ability to go viral. Some TV shows appeared interested, but the video had too little resolution and television didn't really "get" internet video yet. (I actually sent a a mini-DV of this to a cable channel! Imagine 176x144 badly encoded video blown up to 720x480. Yuck!) Haber Get Down was forgotten. Over a year later, the Presidents of the United States of America claimed that they were the first to film a music video with cell phones on their song Some Postman. XFYA, being essentially a fake band, had no chance at refuting this. I still stand by my acheivement though. Granted, their video may have been better -- but we were first.

Ok, setting this silliness aside, something did strike me during that time. It was something people are only starting to talk about now. When we were filming Homage to Cornelius Swarthout, I thought about how liberating it was to be able to make a film with a pocketable device. I thought to myself that some years in the future we would have HD video camera phones, and the boundries of where and when cinematic stories could be created would be broken down.

We are seeing this now. When the iPhone 3GS came out, I made another music video, which was the first ever to be to be shot on that device -- Technologic Overkill. It was sort of an inside joke to myself about Haber Get Down (Technologic Overkill was the name of my moblog on Textamerica). Other videos came shortly after (1, 2, 3). Now with the iPhone 4, people are creating and even editing HD videos from a device that fits in their pocket. The results are pretty good (1, 2, 3).

Back in 2004 again. I had another thought that day while filming my second camera phone project. More important than where and when videos could be created with a pocketable device was who would do it. In the future, any kid with a camera phone could create the next masterpiece of cinema. I know Haber Get Down is far from a masterpiece, but I think it was an interesting step towards the future -- or it could just be a blurry camera phone video.

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Related Posts
Technologic Overkill
Homage to Cornelius Swarthout
Everything You Wanted to Know about iPhone 3GS Video
Pocket Cam: The Future of the Colony

New Music Video In Progress


I have known Jane Lui for a long time and it has been my pleasure to collaborate with her on two music videos: Freddie Goodtime from her first album, Teargirl and Libra Armor from her second album, Barkentine. A few weeks ago Jane came through Zürich for a visit. While she was her we shot a new music video for a song called Goodnight Company which is also the title for her upcoming third album. I am now in the process of editing the video and it is looking great! Stay tuned for the video's release soon!

Ad Hoc = Andre Hochuli + Linda Suter


iPhone-Friendly Youtube Version

Ad Hoc is a duo from Winterthur comprised of Andre Hochuli (Guitar, Vocals) and Linda Suter (Violin, Vocals). On Tuesday February 23 they performed the song Futile Crush which has become the third in the Niederdorf Music Video series I am creating for Cafe Henrici. The location was on Spiegelgasse right up the alley from the famous Cabaret Voltaire.

Download:
For iPod/iPhone or Mp3

Related Posts:
Lia Sells Fish
Amir-John Haddad @ Cafe Henrici
The Cabaret Voltaire 

From the Archive: Libra Armor by Jane Lui


iPhone-Friendly Youtube Version

Jane Lui is a musician and good friend of mine. We met many years ago in the San Diego cafe music scene. Back in 2007 we happend to be in London at the same time. Unfortunately our schedules only intersected for two hours. What would be a better use of those two hours other than making a music video? Nothing.

Currently Jane is working on her third studio album and is raising money for it through Pledge Music. Check out some of her music on Youtube. If you are in to it, think about dropping her a donation.

My favorite Youtube videos from Jane:
Duck Tales
Edelweiss
Long Ago

Related Posts from thautomaticfilmmaker:
From the Archive: Freddie Goodtime
Pocket Cam: Tom Brosseau w/ Angela Correa live in Zürich
From the Archive: Tuesday's at Paddy's 

Lia Sells Fish


iPhone-Friendly Youtube Link

Lia Sells Fish is the stage name of singer/songwriter Christine Hasler. She played a show at Cafe Henrici on February 2 with her guitarist Steve Schnider. Before the show, we found a nice secluded spot in the Niederdorf and filmed the video above. The song is called Eve.

Download: for iPod/iPhone Download: Mp3

Related Posts:
Need a Place to Play?
From the Archive: Tuesdays at Paddys
Tom Brosseau is so Punk Rock

Need a Place to Play? (w/ free mp3 & video)

Cafe Henrici is the best cafe in Zürich -- no contest. Karla and I discovered it several months ago and I have been hooked ever since. Not only is their coffee delicious and amazing, but the people who run it are super nice as well as passionate about coffee. They have recently began live music sessions in the evenings and when Will Sartain came to play on Dec 12, we made this video.


iPhone-friendly Youtube Version

Since it is the season for giving here are a couple free downloads for your virtual stockings:
mp3 Small Humans by Will Sartain
Small Humans video for your iPhone/iPod

 

Technologic Overkill: The First Music Video Shot on an iPhone 3GS

I present, the first Music Video shot on iPhone 3GS!

Technologic Overkill is the first music video shot on an iPhone 3GS. The song by XFYA accompanies the plight of a little blue robot and his attempt to be relevant in an increasingly technological world.

Youtube Link (click to watch on an iPhone)

UPDATE(July 3rd):
Many people have asked me where they can download the MP3 of this song. I am happy to say that XFYA has graciously allowed me to post it here as a free download.
Download Technologic Overkill MP3

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From the Archive: Freddie Goodtime

This music video was the last project I directed at Brooks Institute of Photography. The song is Freddie Goodtime by my friend Jane Lui. If you haven't heard her music, you should definitely check it out. Freddie Goodtime is a song about an angel who is tired of his angelic life. He wants to shead his wings and enjoy more lascivious human pursuits. Freddie has sent a letter to a friend explaining all of this, but the letter is sent to Jane by mistake. The song is Jane's response to his letter.

The scenes with Jane were shot at Lestat's in San Diego. Freddie's scenes were shot in Ventura. Just like the characters in the song; they have never met. The cinematography was by William Eubank.

From the Archive -- Tuesday's at Paddy's

I have decided to start a recurring segment on my blog that will feature some older projects of mine. First up is "Tuesdays at Paddy's," my first music video. During my first year in film school, I was visited by my friend Ryan Blue. We decided to shoot a music video and since there was a place in town called Paddy's, his song Tuesday's at Paddy's was a natural choice. Shot on my old mini-dv Canon ZR-10, the video quality definitely doesn't hold up to the test of time. I am, however, still proud of my first attempt at music video.


One cool thing to note about this video is that it will loop seemlessly :)