Wow. It’s been like six or seven months since I’ve posted on here. I almost forgot I have a personal blog. Hopefully I can get a post or two up here every month or so from now on. I’d really like to turn this into more of a ‘personal projects’ sort of thing, but for now I’ll just start by posting this kick ass music video by director Romain-Gavras. It’s for Justice’s new single, Stress, and it follows a gang of thugs sporting Justice bomber jackets as they terrorize a city, one person at a time. The visuals are insanely visceral, and the brutality gives Funny Games a run for its money. Especially great is the decision to include the audio, mostly clipping and distorting throughout the video. The realism is disturbing at times, yet the cinematography is simply stunning.

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Today I was lucky enough to have my film-school-made-fan-video for The Arcade Fire’s ‘Neighborhood #2 (Laika)’ posted on Pitchfork. I had recently seen a post about a great fan-made Joanna Newsome video, so I figured I’d send them a link and see what happens. Surprisingly, they posted the video today and I’m thrilled. This is just one step closer to my goal of making Tomas Bajuk an international superstar. Here’s the write up:

The Arcade Fire, doing it for the kids. Fan of the band Jay Cheel made this video for a film school project a few months after the release of some record called Funeral, with the Montreal-based indie rockers’ permission. Shot on 16mm film, the clip swaps out the actual Arcade Fire for a likeable cast of school children. Wearing ties, the kids rock out “Neighborhood #2 (Laika)” in preparation for the big talent show. One dude sits in class, looking bored behind a copy of Macbeth; a girl passes him a terse missive: “Come on Alex you can do it.” It’s really a classic work, dude.

But the surprising star of the video is the mustached, bespectacled gym coach, whose subtle humor could make you forget that “Neighborhood #2 (Laika)” probably has something to do with a Russian space dog (unless you already did?). With the offbeat presence of a Napoleon Dynamite character, the coach stands out even though he’s only a minor character. He eventually shows up to see the kid band perform on the talent show stage, nodding his head to the urgent beat. At last, he and three other judges render their verdict: 9.7.

Tom’s in the army now, hunting down Bin Laden. Hopefully he’s got an internet connection. Thanks Pitchfork!

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Right click and save as for high quality version. (Recommended)

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Sell outs or not, commercial directors are some of the most creative filmmakers around. Creating a visually interesting and clever spot to sell a product in under 1 minute is no easy task. This Cadbury chocolate ad could take the top prize for most unusual and hilarious. Check it out.

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Wow, it’s been a while since I posted on here. I’ve almost lost all enthusiasm for blogging, but I thought i’d try and slowly get back into the swing of things. What better time than now, after having just completed an interview with Graham Wing, founder and editor of the Access Niagara blog. The interview was great and we had the opportunity to shoot it in the underground killer whale viewing tank at Marineland. Check out two stills below:

For those interested, the only lighting used was a 3 bulb cool light. Luckily the tank provided a nice blue side light. (although possibly covering more of the face than necessary) Either way, the footage turned out amazing and i’m happy to have my second interview in the bag. Although I will admit that the overall uncertainty of this project is both exciting and a tad stressful.

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Also available on Google Video and YouTube.

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Here’s a cool little development in my film. I’ve recently asked Graham Wing, the webmaster of the Access Niagara Blog, if he’d like to sit down for an interview. Graham gives some pretty in-depth coverage of the on-goings within the city of NF and has recently created an online petition in support of Jay Cochrane’s wire walk across the falls. (You can sign it here.)

So I was trying to think of an interesting location that would sum up Niagara Falls as a tourist attraction, and aside from the Falls itself, I came up with one of the landmark images that most folks around here think of when talking about Niagara tourism…Killer Whales. Marineland has been around forever, and its killer whales (and now beluga’s) are definitely one of the main attractions for tourists and locals alike. Say what you will about the inner workings of the place and their controversial collection of animals, Marineland is definitely, like it or not, synonymous with Niagara Falls. I decided to shoot them an email and was thrilled to hear that they’re willing to let me come in and shoot my interview in their ‘Friendship Cove’ underground viewing tank. Should be pretty interesting. The woman i’ve been dealing with has been more than gracious and co-operative. The shoot should take place right after labour day, so I’ll keep you updated with the results.

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I just managed to secure a very important interview for my yet to be titled Niagara Falls documentary. Jay Cochrane is one of the world’s greatest tight rope artists in the world. His 1995 walk over China’s Qutang George landed him in the Guinness Book of World Records, and at age 63 he’s still going strong. This summer he’s doing regular walks near the Skylon Tower in Niagara Falls. Two walks a day, seven days a week, for TWO MONTHS straight. He’s also currently attempting to obtain permission to walk across the falls itself, from the Canadian side to the American. I’m pretty happy to be getting the chance to sit down with him this weekend, and based on our phone conversation, he seems like a great guy with lots of energy and plenty of interesting things to say. Here’s an excerpt from his Bio:

One October morning in 1995, Jay Cochrane stepped onto a thin steel wire a quarter mile above the Yangtze River in China’s legendary Qutang Gorge. In 53 minutes he skywalked 2,098 feet to the Lion’s Face of the gorge, an accomplishment recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the greatest wirewalk in history.

“When I looked across the gorge, my first thought was `Holy shit! You want me to walk across that?’” Jay said. “It was the first time I ever had to talk myself into a walk,” he admitted. “Then I started thinking about how it could be done. I knew I would do it.” The skywalk over Qutang Gorge was the pinnacle of a life spent overcoming obstacles — and exceeding expectations. And it sparked his desire for bigger, bolder achievements.

Could the great Niagara Falls be next?

Stay tuned for stills from my interview with Jay, and possibly a podcast on the recent developments with my film. Until then, check out this video I found on YouTube of Jay doing one of his walks.

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