Oh Mercy - My Man

Inspired very much by exploitation films of the 70's this video was my first real delve into something a little bit sexier than usual , albeit twisted and creepy . 

I really wanted the tone to change on repeat viewings , so at first it seems like a little semi erotic bit of entertainment but as its revealed through the video something far more disturbing is going on and those nuances of the actors then begin to take on other meanings.

I loved making this video , we shot with very little crew in a warehouse / set space above a props factory in sydney , even though the tone was twisted there was always a very playful spirit on set ( as you can see from the wonderful BTS pics taken by my lovely partner Dim ).

There was also a lot of experimentation going on from me behind the camera

using old stills lens mounted to the front of my digital lens to give it that

aged feel 

( even though it was aged in post , its good to get as much of it in camera ).

As a funny side note we shot the clips climatic ending where his possessions are torched by the scorned lover on the front drive way of my house early one morning , to the raised eye brows and amusement of the neighbors 

It's beginning to look a lot like...

Its that time of year again when clients start to ask for xmas themed posters and designs and the majority of your work starts to have the same feel , but its always good when you can have a ww2 spitfire shooting xmas tree rockets . but not all are xmas in theme ( the crazed old man is not in fact a demented santa ). and its nice to swing from the bombastic to the subtle..its also a nice time of year where you can play with a colour palette that might not suit those wintery months.

Jackson McLaren And The Triple Threat - This Be The Place

So here it is , A few months ago i had the rare treat of going to New Zealand to shoot the music video for jackson . Honestly that counties beauty does more than half the work for you , all you need do is point the camera and keep it in focus and your done.. a majority of the clip was shot in the lovely queenstown area

The clip was based upon St Francis of Assisi ( of course ) , when i was young my sibling and I would always watch the movie brother son , sister moon about st francis leaving his modern world and going into the hills and building a church out of the rocks from the near by cliffs..I guess it really stuck with me , so when asked to come up with a concept this idea ( during a cough medicine high ) came to me and luckily they said yes...

A lot happened during the making of this , notably a blizzard where i was left in thongs and shorts , but on a whole it was an amazing experience ...here's hoping a sequel is wanted..

below is the blizzard at Queenstown airport

Throwing snowballs off the side of a mountain

Also here is the live and unplugged cover jackson and jack carty performed by the side of the road at dusk...so much fun

The reel world

Here it is the show reel for the last 2 years video work... I suppose this will always be a work in progress but its nice to have this one up and out for all to see and im very proud to have Tim Hart's support on the use of his wonderful song " architects"

new poster art

fools rush in

Here is the cover art for the Beautiful fool Ep release . It was inspired by a bit of late night doco watching on the colossus of Rhodes ( I remember being told about it when i was younger and had always found it amazing ) so the idea was that this giant forgotten statue has been out at see for hundreds of years and now has become a landform itself...

Me and my shadow

This a a fun twist on the performance based clips . As the song was about childhood i thought it would be neat to have those moments from her youth shown like a children's shadow puppet show ( but as my puppetry skills aren't what they once were i built the animations in the computer ) . So it would look like she was the old theater screen we projected the animation onto her dress..I think the end result is a nice blend of the two.



also here is the Behind the scenes video made by lovely partner Dimity
 Also below  are few stills from the animation stage

The Paper Kites - A Maker Of My Time (Official Music Video)

This was such a fun experience shooting and working on this clip . For a long while i have been the biggest fan of the paper kites and we have tried to do a video in the past but to no avail , so when this was offered I jumped at the chance. It was also a very strong collaboration between us which made it feel more personal for all.

Shot in the outskirts of Mildura in regional Victoria during its busiest weekend of the year ( the vanilla slice festival ) we shot this one take 15 - 20 times and filming in a varying array of light . In the end we all fell in love with this take which has such a joyful performance by Dzwairo Tendai.

All involved , I feel , have a special connection to this clip , our hope is that it transfers to the audience.

below are some BTS snaps taken by me.

new poster work

Above is the tour poster that ties in directly with the Ep art I designed for the band , except i really pushed the war propaganda side of this with this ( me thinks it be inspired by all the captain america i have been watching ) 

Next is the reworking of the Rainbow Unicorn poster for conception day conception day is a pretty big thing in the drinking calender for sydneys youth , so it will no doubt get a large yet wobbly audience. 

The is a poster I'm very happy with..i was playing with the idea of the most bizarre lunar eclipse you could think of and the idea of a rare phase of the moon that takes the shape of a rabbit wall shadow puppet struck me..( i'm also very happy with the colouring i did on this poster 

Last but not least the Patrick james tour poster inspired by the work of MC ESCHER .I'm a big fan of his work so it was nice to finally tie it into something.. so these are just a few of the posters i have been working on.. Been a busy boy of late , I have..must remember to see daylight once in a while.

I get by with a little Elk from my friends

I recently did a design for a stamp for great sydney musician Leroy Lee , it was a great learning process and something very new so i started with the idea of having it much like an old stamp mixed with old american currency ( below )

but these results didnt really gel well with the maker of the stamps were only a certain level of line detail can be achieved ... the final result is below as well as some pics from leroys hand made production line of his EP

hey diddle diddle..

The above is an image created for a music night , almost like a logo but with a little more personality ..our little feline fella thats not just content with the fiddle ( thats pretty much where the idea came from , what if the cat played more than just a fiddle )will be applied to many number of posters and promotions for the night.. he currently being animated for little looping " in venue " ads

and boom goes the dynamite

So lets get a few things straight , cause i would hate to take credit for another
directors work , I only directed the intro to this video , the boys having fun and playing games on there wii aka the product placement ..two words that may be dirty to those who call themselves artists but i don't have those ideas about myself , I know i am a commercial artist so there for peddling the wares of a big company is not something I'm gonna run from also the challenge of having the whitest guy in the world and a professional wall flower like myself direct something dance related seemed like too great a challenge to pass up..

so enjoy the pillow spinning , spiral stairs running , just dance playin' inrto i directed for justice crew's latest video :)

the adventures of an in-action hero or new uses for old curtains.

I have worked with jack carty for years doing a lot of his design work

some of which are my fave things i have done and in fact my first video

clip was supposed to be with jack , making an epic space tug boat video,

but alas that never happened . So when he asked me to work on a video for

his latest catchy indie hit " she's got a boyfriend " i jumped at the chance.

The song is very direct so there was no escaping jack would serve as some form

or narrator in the clip but finding a hook proved challenging ..until i struck

upon the idea that jack saw the boyfriend as a arch nemesis something akin to

Louis dating Lex luthor ..from there it was a fun romp making our hero as home made

and pathetic as possible..i drew a lot of inspiration from Daniel clowes and

from a lot of what if questions i had asked myself over the years.

The result is was an incredibly fun video that wears its silliness on its

home made sleeve and was such a joy to shoot ..( behind the scenes pics coming soon )

flaunting my wares

Above are a few pics from the opening night of my first

full exhibition . It was a retrospective show with a dozen prints , 

3 projection screens displaying my hand drawn , poster and cd work

and a large screen playing all my clips. twas an amazing night and the free

wine helped the nerves. These photos were taken by by very own sister !

I'm on a roll..time to go solo

tonights the night for my first solo show..pics from the event will be up soon

eastern promises

So i have been busy of late but its always good to work on a constant basis with someone you know and trust and they feel that way in return ..that's the feeling with eastside radio ( who recently interviewed me on air to plug my exhibition ) the three images here a very different in styles and thats kinda one of the reasons i love working with them so much ..

hey ya !!!

 

Hey Geronimo are one of those great bands that right the best kind of pop..music that is so so much fun to listen to but isnt hollow and just ear candy..and doing work with them is the same..the want meaning behind an image but at the same time something that is so much fun to look at..in this case it was b52's putting out bushfires with backyard swimming pools and waterslides..

a serious axe to grinde

My new video for the wonderful Charlie Mayfair is up and i could not be more proud of it . Its dark and brutal and beautifully acted by Peter Maple and Randa Khanoum Say . It was an amazing experience getting to make this and go into so dark a territory

lets go fly a kite

Heres the new poster for the paper kites ..its kinda a return to the posters i used to do all the time that had a few little stories going on at once..

when one door closes another door opens

so here she is..the golden girl aka the new faith lee clip.
This video was different for a few reasons , firstly it was the
first time i wasn't going by my own concept for the video , it was
originated with faith and we molded it together , also its the
first time i have used slo mo for the whole of the narrative to give it
a very dream like feel.

It was an incredibly fun shoot over the space of a weekend around the city ,
a few locations are ones taken from my first short film , made 16 years ago,
it was a bit of a trip to return using the same methods of filming ( wheelchair
dollies etc ) but with more advanced camera tech ( short was shot on super 8 this was shot on a DSLR ) ..anyways enjoy the fanciful journey and here are a few bts pics too

we didn't start the fire !

The new single artwork i did for QLD band Hey Geronimo could also be the book cover to a children's book about a lovable field mouse and his friend the duck who like to start happy bush fires on a summers day