"None of the snow in this piece is simulated. I went out and show on the snowiest days of winter. The last scenes in the video were shot during a blizzard."
'Fire' is the work of Erik West. He's been labelled as a Renaissance Man. He wears many hats as a full time freelancer and does so with complete competence. Erik is a Broadcast Audio Engineer, a two time Emmy Award winning Videographer and a Final Cut Editor with over 10 years experience.
'Fire' was shot on a Canon Powershot SD630 Point & Shoot. Additional footage was shot on a Sony EX1 by Jeff Thomas. Posted using Final Cut, Photoshop, Motion and Color.
Gucci, Chris Cunningham, and perfume...seems an odd combination, what would happen if you took a measure of the macabre and mixed it with the essence of Gucci?
I’m going to assume that you are all aware of the global fashion house of Gucci.
What about this Cunningham fella’ eh? What do we see of Cunningham being delicate, his most notorious works are seen as nightmarish scenes of hell, totally fucked up...But once you get passed that, you start to appreciate what Cunningham has created.
Only then do you start working out these weird and twisted images, and suddenly finding them fascinating, questioning how he managed to create, capture and expose them. They mesmerise and fascinate you, exposing different environments and captivating mind sets.
With Cunningham’s seriously established reputation, his craftsmanship with video, no wonder Gucci approached him.
The ‘Flora’ campaign is a combination of talent, Richard Ruini (REM), Frida Giannini (Gucci Creative Director) and Chris Cunningham. They have managed to create a visual feast perfectly, complemented by model Abbey Lee encapsulated in an intoxicating field of pink flowers, beatuifully shot on location in Latvia during the summer of 2008,
Donna Summer swings in as the sun radiates and bathes the model in ecstasy. She pushes a wave of air which spirals around her and flows through her. She rises, and her dress explodes to form a kaleidoscopic image, chopping and twisting the fabric in perfect symmetry.
‘Hush’ is the feature debut from the multi talented, actor, writer and director Mark Tonderai (Pictured). This British film is a psychological thriller that explores the line between social responsibility and self-interest, and makes us question how far we would go to save the one we love. The film is part of collaboration between Warp X and Film 4, bringing fresh British talent to our eyes. The production has recently wrapped and is out now!
Hush has Mark Herbert producing, who has worked with Shane Meadows on This Is England, and Robin Gutch, who produced Touching The Void, as well as Tonderai's partner Zoe Stewart, with whom he founded Shona Productions.
Shot on location in Sheffield and the East Midlands, the film follows a young couple, Zakes (Will Ash) and Beth (Christine Bottomley) as they drive home along the M1, a familiar journey full of harshly lit service stations and instant coffee.
Out of nowhere a white truck narrowly avoids hitting them. As the couple's car is overtaken the tailgate lifts up to briefly reveal a terrified woman caged and bloodied in the back. Zakes immediately calls the police for help, with Beth fuming after Zakes casually ignores the event, they stop at a service station. Beth goes missing. Could she be the next victim?
Writer-director Mark Tonderai began his career writing, producing and presenting radio shows (Radio 1 & Kiss FM) he was on the brink of giving up filmmaking when he got his break with this stunning debut.
Tonderai, an adamant fan of Alfred Hitchcock used a simple formula to produce ‘Hush’. In an interview with Holly Grigg-Spall of Film 4, he said “I think you should keep it really simple. Hush is a love story, a coming-of-age story. I think now we cross-pollinate in films so much, mixing genres.”
To keep production costs at a reasonable level, Tonderai had to keep to a story that would adhere to this concept. The story concept seems simple, two people in a car with a rampaged truck driver, a few service stations, and a motorway location set at night time, sounds simple doesn’t it? Nope, this motorway is well-lit, you can see everything that’s going on, yet Tonderai still manages to draw incredible suspense from it.
Warp X has said that Hush, in the great tradition of horror movies, investigates today's culture and the fears and neuroses that can arise from it. In his interview with Film 4, Tonderai explains this deeper, reflecting on his personal life experiences.
“I think all good films ask something about human nature. That's how I like to write. I start with the fundamental question. I decide what I am asking. And for Hush it is, where is the line between social responsibility and self interest?”
“We live in a 'walk on by' culture. I began to think about this after a particular incident. I was on a bus, and a guy shouted 'nigger' at me. No one said anything to him. I got off the bus and confronted him, but everyone else kept schtum. I am interested in this hush. It was something I wanted to talk about. Another time, I was with my wife and we saw a girl crying in the street. I asked her if she needed any help and she told me to 'fuck off'. It got me thinking about when is it right to get involved?”
‘Hush’ is another brilliant British film, maybe I’m a patriot and slightly biased, but this is no Americana take on horror, this is a truly excellent film, and considering the two leads, Will Ash and Christine Botttomley, had to work 38 nights in a row with minimal sleep, without going mad, truly shows the pure superiority of this production, go and watch it now!
These two English brothers have worked as a creative unit since 1992. Their works, often of grusome content came to public attention in their two shows "Sensation" (1997) and "Apocalypse" (1999) at the Royal Academy.
Their works range from childlike paintings on paper, installations, sculpture, painting and of course video art. Their provocative and transgressive pieces depict disturbing images amended with phallic attributes and iconoclastic connotations. It is difficult to describe their work in one word, but these words usually come to my mind, violent, disturbing, funny, ironic, dirty, horrific, transgressive, surreal, absorbing and terrifying.
Despite this I find the Chapman brothers extremely interesting, mostly because of the time they put into their works, quite literally "Fucking Hell", i guess the guys at Airfix co. must be very happy!
Originally “Fucking Hell” (1999) was on show at the White Cube gallery in central London, it consisted of 9 glass cabinets arranged in a swastika formation. Inside the cabinets were tens of thousands of 2-inch high figures. Most figures were dressed in Nazi uniforms, performing the most egregious acts of cruelty.
“Fucking Hell” (1999) presented the viewer with a combination of historical, religious and mythical narratives. The effect of miniaturising these subjects, is truly amazing, the detail and the time spent on creating each box is a feat of engineering in itself. But what truly engages me are the truly harrowing simulations that are happening before my eyes. It makes me look closer and examine each figure, their look in their eyes, their contorted bodies surrounded in chaos and frenzy.
The original installation was lost in an east London fire, which destroyed much of Charles Saatchi's stored art collection. Who knows maybe this was an act of God ridding the world of these sadistic models….I doubt it though! Fortunantly here is a film of "Fucking Hell", played to Samuel Barbers, "Adagio For Strings" (1936).