Given last week’s UK parliamentary vote for a 42 day detention period, I’m especially glad to have Marc Hawker of Dark Fibre Films join us this week to discuss the Amnesty commissioned ad spots Waiting for the Guards and The Stuff of Life, which are part of their Unsubscribe movement designed to united people concerned with human rights abuses committed in the ‘war on terror’.

Waiting for the Guards & The Stuff of Life Materials
Stills
Waiting for the Guards Treatment
The Stuff of Life Treatment
The Stuff of Life Mood/Storyboard

Showlinks
Dark Fibre Films
Amnesty Unsubscribe Me
Living Goddess
Rize
David LaChapelle
Bartle Bogle Hegarty
Christian Aguilera - Dirty
Clowns in the Hood
Slamdance Festival
Drugstore
Sony HVR-Z1U
MOVIEtube
Phantom HD
Prime Focus UK
Sony PMW-EX1
Pirate Productions
Archive
Adam Freeland
CNN Report
Zaha Hadid

• Waiting for the Guards & The Stuff of Life - Marc Hawker
• Phenomenal Xmas Irn Bru - Robin Shaw
• KCRW Inner Level & Full Circle - David Vegezzi
• It’s Beatiful - Nicolas d’Haussy
• DN EP 086: Extraordinary Rendition - Jim Threapleton

Waiting for the Guards (2008)
Waiting For The Guards is the first of 3 films commissioned by Amnesty to highlight the enhanced interrogation techniques used by the CIA in the “War on Terror”.

The Directors approached the making of the film in a way that has never been done before, choosing to show the reality of Stress Positions in as authentic a way as possible. They filmed a person who was put in Stress Positions for over a 6 hour period. There is no acting on the part of the “prisoner” – his pain and anguish are real.

This powerful film shows without a doubt that what the US administrations say is interrogation is really torture, and must be stopped.

The Stuff of Life (2008)
You are tied to a board, your ankles, wrists, chest and head strapped firmly down. The board is tilted 45 degrees, so that your head is lower than your feet. Water pours onto your face, flows up your nose, into your mouth, down your throat and fills your lungs and stomach. You gag, choke and struggle for breath. You feel as if you are about to drown. Throughout the ordeal an interrogator fires questions at you. The water only stops when you start to give the ‘right’ answers.

This is waterboarding.

Both Waiting for the Guards and The Stuff of Life were created for Amnesty International’s unsubscribe campaign - Sign up and find out more.

• DN EP 093: Waiting for the Guards & The Stuff of Life - Marc Hawker
• Phenomenal Xmas Irn Bru - Robin Shaw
• KCRW Inner Level & Full Circle - David Vegezzi
• It’s Beatiful - Nicolas d’Haussy
• DN EP 086: Extraordinary Rendition - Jim Threapleton

Our guest director today Nicolas d’Haussy, is a master at keeping an eye on the minutia of a project, even when working with no budget and a volunteer crew as he did on the AIDs information ad spot, It’s Beautiful.

It’s Beautiful Materials
Stills

Showlinks
Nicolas’ Site
Frenchkiss
Manganelli
Shynola
Air - The Virgin Suicides
Carol Goode
Supinfocom
Josephine Baker
Escape Pod
Samantha Henderson

• It’s Beatiful - Nicolas d’Haussy
• DN EP 037: Gobblynne - Katy Davis
• DN Ep 023 reposted: Virtuosi - Marcelo Garcia
• Waiting for the Guards & The Stuff of Life - Marc Hawker
• Time Piece - Kat Mansoor

It’s Beatiful (2006)
Part of a 10 film series to educate and combat against the spread of AIDS.

• DN Ep 027: It’s Beatiful - Nicolas d’Haussy
• Waiting for the Guards & The Stuff of Life - Marc Hawker
• Phenomenal Xmas Irn Bru - Robin Shaw
• KCRW Inner Level & Full Circle - David Vegezzi
• DN EP 093: Waiting for the Guards & The Stuff of Life - Marc Hawker

Our interview this week is with director Marcelo Garcia, who’s work has seen him warmly accepted by his peers, being able to take his pick of working with companies such as Fabrica and Lobo, not to mention having his inventively experimental ad spot for the Virtuosi International Music Festival in Recife, Brazil, be lauded up and down the motion blogosphere.

Note - Thanks to those subscribers who let me know about the download issues with the original fix of this episode. Hopefully everything should be hunky dory now and this little problem shouldn’t be plaguing us again!

Virtuosi Materials
Stills
Process Movies

Showlinks
Molho.tv
Podholes
Escape Pod
New England Conservatory of Music
Imaginary Forces
Fabrica
Art Center College of Design
Kyle Cooper
Lobo
Jarbas Agnelli
Adobe After Effects
Trapcode
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Photoshop
Vitrola
boards
Creative Review
I-D Magazine

• Virtuosi - Marcelo Garcia
• DN EP 081: My Paper Mind - Javan Ivey
• DN EP 076: Duelity - Boca & Ryan Uhrich
• DN EP 060: Drift - Carl Burton
• DN EP 043: Mind Games - Peter Bunzl

Virtuosi (2006)
TV ad for the Virtuosi Music Festival (Recife, Brazil).

• DN Ep 023 reposted: Virtuosi - Marcelo Garcia
• _grau - Robert Seidel
• To Shoot a Rurf - Shane & Paula Sheils
• Stumble Then Rise on Some Awkward Morning - Kurtis Hough
• My Paper Mind - Javan Ivey

Phenomenal Xmas Irn Bru (2006)
A tongue in cheek hand drawn rendition of the journey of a Snowman and boy flying above Scottish landmarks while a minor disagreement brews!

• _grau - Robert Seidel
• ZOMBIE ZOMBIE: Driving Clip - Simon Gesrel & Xavier Ehretsmann
• What We’ve Found Out About Stem Cells - Richard Fenwick
• Waiting for the Guards & The Stuff of Life - Marc Hawker
• Virtuosi - Marcelo Garcia

A definite Christmas theme to the show today, my guest is animation director Robin Shaw. The chances are that if you’ve been online for more then about five minutes in the last week or so, you’d have either seen or read about his truly great homage to illustrator Raymond Briggs’ The Snowman in his spot Phenomenal Xmas for the Scottish staple that is Irn Bru.

Phenomenal Xmas Irn Bru Materials
Stills
Storyboard

Showlinks
Robin’s Sherbet Director Page
Tandem Films
Daniel Greaves’ Flatworld
Picasso Pictures
The Moving Picture Company
Sherbet
Cindy Sherman
A Snowman Made of Girders
Different Voices
Deal Machine

• This post is all alone.

KCRW - Inner Level (1999)
A woman’s search through an eclectic urban landscape in search of her utopia.A theatrical commercial for KCRW, ‘Inner Level’ follows a woman’s journey through the urban
landscape of Los Angeles. Wearing a multi-channeled headset, she is tuned into the many eclectic and diverse sounds of KCRW which guides her through the city in search for her utopia.

KCRW - Full Circle (2005)
A theatrical promo for the independent radio station KCRW, the spot is a visual journey following a woman’s daydream. The interpretive images reflect the diversity and daily struggles of life while representing KCRW’s ability to reach their audience through its eclectic and diverse mix of programming.

• Waiting for the Guards & The Stuff of Life - Marc Hawker
• Phenomenal Xmas Irn Bru - Robin Shaw
• It’s Beatiful - Nicolas d’Haussy
• DN EP 093: Waiting for the Guards & The Stuff of Life - Marc Hawker
• _grau - Robert Seidel

Today we have the pleasure of talking to director David Vegezzi about his excellent KCRW spots - Inner Level & Full Circle, along with how his graphic design background influences and shapes his film work whilst using of the best tools for the job.

KCRW Inner Level & Full Circle Materials
Stills

Showlinks
David Vegezzi
CalArts
REDCAT
Sci-Arc
Adobe After Effects
KCRW
Panasonic DV200
Deborah Ross Design
Pablo Ferro
Moviola
Dumb Type
Slamdance Festival
Living With War Today Videos
Motionographer

• This post is all alone.

When director Steven Hore was handed £5,000 and an open brief to create a film as part of the rebranding strategy of production company BDA, he took the company literally with his 67 second long adult birth scenario in Push. “BDA was going through a transition (or rebirth) and was keen to dramatize how it had matured and grown. The idea of showing an adult birth was a pretty clear fit for me.”

With very little in the way of prep time, Hore quickly got staff effects designer Rob Thomas of Artem on board to build a prop bed after remembering a documentary on Aliens that described the use of a false floor for the scene in which android Bishop is torn in half. This gave the production the flexibility required without having to rely solely FX shots. Several other ingenious in camera effects were developed, including a disturbing latex love tunnel and an umbilical cord made from painted bubble wrap. Hore decided early in the production to use a harsh overhead lighting rig that would allow the use of two handheld PD150s without the concern of where camera op shadows were falling. The choice of a two camera shoot was a combination of freeing up opportunities to maximize coverage during the limited shoot time, as well as finding ways to grab weird and interesting angles while covering the action in master shots. Although initial concerns were for the makeup and sheet continuity, the main problem on the day came from trying to keep the naked actor warm and minimizing the amount of time he was in the buff.

After Effects was used for the grade, which combined with the lighting of DoP Karl Watkins, pushed the DV format to the edges of its capabilities. Audio was created from scratch in Pro Tools due to the syncing problems of matching numerous fast cuts of the mother screaming with the other sound design elements.

Hore is currently working on various projects for BDA, but also has plans to complete another short within the next year.

Watch Push

- Originally published in Showreel, Issue 5 (Autumn 2004)

• The Scent of Seth - Anita Shukla
• Remote - John Burns
• Left or Right for Love - Magali Charrier
• Finisterre - Kieran Evans & Paul Kelly
• Dialog - Stephen Irwin