All posts by Lorraine Wilder

Actors, Australian Talents

Mark Davis on transformational acting and representing well-known brands

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Mark Davis

Mark Davis describes his style of acting as transformational. To him, there is no specific way to perfect his craft; it is simply about becoming an entirely different person the moment the camera is on him. He does whatever instinctually feels right, and as a sought-after actor in both his home country of Australia and abroad, he is definitely doing something right.

“I’m blessed with an ability to adapt my physicality and appearance to suit what I need. Though sometimes I just copy the greats. Steal everything,” he joked.

Film is a way for Davis to express himself, and as many of his projects have gone on to critical acclaim around the world at some of the world’s most prestigious film festivals, he knows how to connect with an audience. Whether working on dramas like I Want You, romance’s such as Lucy, or comedies like Topdecked, the actor’s versatility shines whatever the genre.

Australians would also immediately recognize Davis’ face from several national commercials for well-known brands, including a three-year long campaign for Honda. At the time, it was his first commercial, and he remembers the audition well.

“I walked in and pretended to talk to my girlfriend whilst driving a nice car and that was it. My mate ended up marrying the girl who played my girlfriend in it which is pretty funny. We joke that we had a relationship prior to them meeting,” said Davis.

Soon after, Davis once again graced small screens around his home country in a commercial for Crownbet, one of Australia’s largest sports-betting companies. In the advertisement, he played a young, wealthy gambler in a suit having a great time. He was the main character with a bunch of friends on a rat pack style night out. It showed a high end look at what a night out at Crown could be like, with an amazing hotel, beautiful scenery and lots of fun. However, it was shot entirely in front of a green screen, so Davis had to truly be in character and not pull from his surroundings to portray a believable performance. The commercial played during the Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival, which screens nationwide and gets millions of viewers.

“Crown is a huge company in Australia and it had a big budget to match. It was over the top and I knew it would be a good laugh,” said Davis. “Crown is a Melbourne icon and I love my city, so it was cool to work with the brand.”

Another unique commercial experience for Davis was when he shot a spot for Interflora, the international flower delivery service. In the Valentine’s Day campaign, one of the most important for the retailer, Davis played a teen, a mid-twenty-year-old, and a forty-year-old, putting up a fun acting challenge to quickly transition between such different age groups. He also had to manufacture a loving relationship with his co-star that showed them through the ages. At first, he was a cheeky teenager trying to steal a kiss, then a young dad, and finally a middle-aged man giving his wife flowers. He also had to dance, and having never taken dance lessons before, he let his natural abilities shine.

“This was a great commercial to shoot. It had amazing art direction that you can expect from a flower retailer, with lots of color and beautiful locations. It’s also a quintessential romance and Valentine’s Day story. I’m not sappy, but it did have a nice sweetness to it and romance is kind of cool. It’s great because my mom loves it,” he laughed.

So, what’s next for this industry leading actor? His latest film, Fallen, comes out later this year. The WWI period drama is some of Davis’ best work and can’t be missed. Be sure to check it out.

Editor/Colorist, Film

Colorist Cynthia Chen shows emotion behind Sichuan Opera masks in award-winning film

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When Cynthia Chen was a little girl growing up in China, she was always inspired by her mother. She was an art teacher, and a young Chen therefore began painting from a young age. She was always sensitive about the different colors she used and playing around with color always amused her. As she grew, this fascination only intensified, and she found it impacting her hobbies. She began to have an interest in photography just to play around with the photos while editing, changing the colors and enhancing them to create a captivating piece of art. When she began filmmaking, she realized how impactful color is to every shot in a piece, conveying emotions and acting as another way to tell a story. It can impact film styles, she realized, and when she already had an interest in editing films, she realized that being a colorist would allow her to explore this interest she had from childhood and turn it into a fruitful career.

Chen is both a highly successful editor and colorist. Her passion for what she does is unwavering, her talent unparalleled. Every project she has been a part of, including I Don’t Want to Sleep Alone, Offsprung, Slingshot Prince, and The Last Page, have gone on to critical acclaim at many of the world’s most prestigious film festivals thanks to Chen’s efforts.

“Just like editing has a rhythm to tell a story, the color, as another method to express the emotions, also can have a “rhythm” when it comes to contributing to create a film. I believe a film masterpiece must be treated and polished as a great art piece. Color grading enhances the texture of a film picture which makes it become a completed art piece. Every time I finish the color grading works, the group of filmmakers I am working with are always shocked after seeing the before and after pictures. That is my proudest moment. The whole color grading process makes me believe that my talent brings this film into a higher level,” she said.

One of Chen’s greatest successes as a colorist was the film Mask. The animated drama looks into masks in Sichuan opera that are traditionally used to reveal the changes of inner feelings and emotions of the characters participating in the drama. The masks turn abstract emotions and mental states into visible and sensible concrete images, and reveal the feelings of the characters inside the story. By raising the hand, swinging a sleeve or tossing the head, an actor uses different masks to show different emotions, expressing invisible and intangible feelings through visible and tangible masks. Mask, is inspired by Sichuan Opera Face changing. It is a story behind a mysterious mask, which shows different patterns as different lights go through.

The three characters in the film are heroes from different traditional Chinese historical contents. Qingshi Huang, represents as the breadth of vision, is the first king in Qing Dynasty.  Monkey King, one of the most famous and classical characters in Chinese fairy story, the guardians of his master, as the leader protected his group on the West Road, through eighty-one trials and finally reached the goal. Zhuge Liang, the smartest military advisors from three kingdoms era, served for Bei Liu, represents wisdom and loyalty. Those characters are also three heroes in Chen’s heart. For the Chinese native, it was an honor to work on this film that has a deep Chinese culture background.

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According to those three different characters, Chen decided basic color tunes for each one. The king Qingshi Huang has a yellow and green color tune because in Ancient China, yellow means power in social classes. Zhuge Liang, who represents wisdom and loyalty, uses a blue color tune as the main color base. In the color theory, blue connects to calmness and cool emotions. Chen set golden and orange color tune for the brave Monkey King as those colors stand for positive minds, passion and braveness. Therefore, the scenes where those three characters appear, and the weapons on their hands, have the unite color tunes.

As the entire film was CGI, the renders had a strong contrast in colors, which Chen thought looked very digital. To solve this problem, she decreased the contrast of the entire picture, adding some yellow color tune and film grains. She then adjusted each scene for each character, and finally finished the color grading work. She helped to bring the whole picture to a new stylized level.

“This short film had a very large creative space for me to try on the different color palettes and stylize the picture, which made this piece very interesting and fun to work with. The CGI images contain more color information than the images shot by cameras, so there was a lot of space for me to adjust the color for this film,” said Chen.

Mask had a tremendous film festival run with the help of Chen. It was an Official Selection at the New Media Film Festival and the Asian Film Festival of Dallas 2018. It also went on to win the Award of Excellence at both the Best Shorts Competition 2018 and the One-Reeler Short Film Competition 2017. Chen could not be happier about the film’s many accolades.

“It was such an honor to work on this project that explores such an important part of Chinese culture. This is a milestone project in that it was a brand-new experience for me. The success of this film encouraged me to do more color grading work in the future which has more culture background,” she said.

The new works Chen has contributed to, feature film Indivisible and documentary Fantastic Fungi, are expected to be released later this year. Be sure to check them out to witness this colorist’s talent first hand.

Advertising, Art Director, International Creative Talents, MODERN DESIGN AND PROMOTION, Television, Uncategorized

Art Director Cagri Kara Mixes Creativity and Ambition for a Winning Formula

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The acclaimed Turkish art director Cagri Kara always knew his destiny lay in the arts. As a teenager, Kara wasted no time, successfully creating and selling a variety of progressive, eyecatching web designs before graduating high school. After attaining design degrees at university, the ambitious, driven Kara established himself, in short order, as one of the most skilled art directors in hometown Istanbul, the biggest, most sophisticated metropolis in eastern Europe.

The international entertainment, promotion and design communities are a tight knit pool of craftspeople and Kara’s mastery of the universal language—visuals—and impeccable reputation as a reliable, intuitive and groundbreaking artist quickly spread. Kara’s early formal accolades included numerous high-profile industry awards Crystal Apple Festival of Creativity, Kirmizi Advertising and MIXX Awards and the famed Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity. All of this notably preceded his 2016 arrival in Los Angeles, where Kara’s characteristic professional alacrity found him taking on a spectrum-spanning array of assignments and campaigns for a wide variety of agencies and clients.

One of Kara’s first, key alliances in California was with the prominent Hollywood agency Forbidden Toast, a relationship which served both as proving ground and springboard for his American career.

“I’ve been working with Forbidden Toast since I’ve moved to LA,” Kara said. “It’s a high end creative services company that focuses on entertainment art work for movies and television The company’s owner, Sherry Spencer, hired me as an art director for several projects she was working on.”

It was a significant break for Kara, and also one that demanded he deliver first rate product. “Forbidden Toast has a very high quality work standard and a clear vision for the work they produce,” Kara said. “I very much respect that and enjoy working with the team. And I enjoy the challenges of producing such great work.”

From the start, Kara’s stylish, skillful contributions fit right in.

“My responsibility with Forbidden Toast is overseeing campaigns in post-production, and ensuring the artwork is correctly executed,” he said. “The projects I worked on were highly visible and vital to the success of the films and television shows for which we developed these campaigns, and my work resulted in both increasing the company’s revenue stream and exposure in the market.”

Kara’s mixture of technical skill, instinctive flair for appealing design and comprehensive grasp on the adaptability each visual element must have is a priceless combination.

“Mainly, we do print ads, large outdoor billboards and social media campaigns,” Kara said. ”The platform is not as important as the flexibility of the art work—it needs to be effective and integrated into all types of media, both internet and large scale print campaigns.

Kara’s keen vision has created important advertising campaigns for productions by some of the biggest names in the business—Sony, HBO, Fox, Netflix, Starz, National Geographic and numerous others.

“I worked intensely with Sherry in producing the final art work for the client,” Kara said. “The art gets approved directly by the studios and, often, also by the talent. And they were all very happy with the results.”

Kara’s successful ventures include campaigns for shows with wildly disparate themes and content. He successfully worked a winning campaign for the current season of comic provocateur Bill Maher’s “Real Time” (“The show is very timely and, I feel is very important to the American political climate. It was very special to be a part of the production of the art work for this series. The art went all over the United States and the show was highly rated and successful”) preceded by one completely opposite, 2017’s launch for the National Geographic television series Genius.

“It was very exciting and challenging,” Kara said. “The talent needed to give the impression that we were actually looking at Albert Einstein. Sherry and I worked closely together to produce a successful final product that appeared not only throughout the city but also appeared on the one of the most visible billboards in the city including—the entrance of the Fox studios.”

Whether it’s documentary, fantasy, film, television, album cover art or an international promotion for FIFA giant EA Sports, Kara’s sweeping creative scale, holistic grasp of his field’s requisite elements and most effective practices create the foundational basis upon which Kara’s formidable natural skills excel—and Forbidden Toast continues to reap his bounty.

As company president Sherry Spencer said “I’ve worked closely with Cagri over the last several years—I’ve been impressed by his ability to successfully lead teams of artists and watched his creative skill and impressive talent push my company even further into creative entertainment marketing. “

 

 

Uncategorized

Working All the Angles at Eddie’s with Will Shivers

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Will is Daren Willis it's a play on words as Will is Daren Willis

(Photos courtesy of Robert Kozak)

It has been said that you are known by the company you keep; this also applies to talent. In the case of Will Shivers and his latest work in the television series Eddie’s, it’s relevant to both. Alex Scrymgeour (writer and executive producer of Eddie’s) met Shivers three decades ago when they were both young lads at a boarding school in Pomfret, Connecticut. While most of their classmates were jocks looking to announce their masculinity, Will and Alex were fixated on humor and entertainment…creating their own that is. Present day finds them both with successful careers in Hollywood and finally working together. Scrymgeour’s latest production is Eddie’s, starring Eddie McGee (CBS’s Big Brother, NCIS: Los Angeles, Mutatnt X), George Wendt (Cheers, Fletch), and Shivers as Daren Willis. Alex openly admits that it was Will’s talent in front of (Shivers is a co-producer and editor of the show) and behind the scenes which assured the writer that he was a key component to its success.

 

When the show’s writer approached Shivers about the role in a family friendly show which takes place in a Bar & Grille in Venice, California…the actor immediately expressed an interest. Will confirms, “I for one am done with everything having to be dark and mean in comedies. At one point Eddie actually says ‘Don’t be a jerk.’ It’s a basic life lesson that is too often overlooked these days. I think people are seeking a refuge from all the grim news and entertainment out there; I know I am. Eddie’s [the program] offers up some dysfunctionally good-hearted people who have each other’s backs. They don’t judge but they also don’t tolerate jerks.”

 

Shivers appears as Daren Willis on the show. Daren is a bit dichotomous, in a pleasing manner. He is a high tech nerd working in AI who’s also very conscious and present, having done a lot of yogic and meditative work. Willis is a socially awkward genius, very self-aware and craving improvement with social interaction. It’s this expertise with complicated things and simultaneous uncomfortablity with simple human interaction which is endearing to Will’s presentation of Willis. Shivers is not unfamiliar with complexity and navigating it. The actor not only stars in Eddie’s but he is also one of the show’s producers and the editor. Appearing on screen while also working in a capacity that necessitates he produce off camera could become problematic for anyone. Co-producing with Eddie’s co-producer and writer David Brzozowski (21 Jump Street, Anamorph) allowed Will to vacillate between his dual roles. He notes, “David is incredible so I never had to worry. I found ways to split my time. The script was so good that I just had to be involved in some way. When Alex wrote a role specifically for me, it makes things more complicated but also more enjoyable for me. I loved development and watching it blossom into something more and more with each draft. And then to show up on the shoot day and actually feel it as it came to life on set as an actor and then to take over as editor? I mean there is nothing more satisfying than being a part of all of those stages of the process.”

 

The tagline to Eddie’s is “Where all are welcome.” While dark humor can most certainly be funny it can also be the path of least resistance. Will Shivers, Alex Scrymgeour, David Brzozowski, director Michael Lange, and everyone involved in Eddie’s aspired to do much more than this. The goal was not to make something easy that would sell but rather to make the best television they could and be motivational in message and comedy, rather than being reactive and following the status quo. Eddie’s is most certainly different and is most certainly full of laughs.

Scrimmy and Will Shivers on set in between takes

(Eddie’s Place creator Alex Scrymgeour and Shivers on the set of Eddie’s Place)

Canada, photographers

Photographer Hubert Kang combines artistry and storytelling for Metropolis Mall campaign

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Hubert Kang Bio Photo by Peter Yang
Hubert Kang, photo by Peter Yang

For Canada’s Hubert Kang, his hobby and his career are the same. Being a professional photographer allows him to do what he is truly passionate about every day. He believes that is the key to driving himself forward, as he never loses interest in his work.

“I like photography as an art form. I also like working with people. Being a professional photographer allows me to work with different projects and different people almost daily. It’s exciting and interesting,” he said.

This attitude has allowed Kang to soar to the forefront of his industry in Canada. His photos have been featured in the Globe and Mail, a leading Canadian newspaper, and his images have helped large brands for campaigns for Fairmont Hotels and Fairmont Royal York, as well as Canadian Tourism.

Kang often shoots advertising campaigns for travel and tourism companies and destinations. He continued this pattern when he created imagery for the last three seasonal campaigns for Metropolis at Metrotown Mall, the largest and most successful mall in the Vancouver Area. His images were used extensively for outdoor billboards, especially in the busiest subway station in Vancouver. They were also used online and in print. The video he directed was used as a spot in cinema as pre-roll advertising before the feature movie.

Traditionally, Metropolis used mostly fashion photography for their campaigns. For their new brand, however, they wanted to take a storytelling approach showing sweet moments in life. Twice Brand therefore reached out to Kang, knowing that he would excel at such a feat. His efforts helped boost customer interaction at the mall.

“I am really proud to see the success of the campaign. Metropolis took a risk to try my photography skills, which is very different from what they usually did in the past. It was great to see that I was able to create these beautiful and effective images to reward the client taking the risk,” he said.

The central theme of the campaign is “life happens here”. Right away in the brainstorming process, Kang and the team at Twice were looking for activities that are photographically compelling and yet at the same time showing enough emotional quality and products so that they could advertise the mall. Kang came up with unique ideas for the Christmas shoot. For example, he shot a group of friends at a dinner party, showcasing all the food, gifts, decorations, cookware, and more that highlighted what could be purchased at the mall. The ad also told a story and evoked an emotional connection that people could resonate with when they looked at it.

“It is very inspiring that I can return to my documentary photography roots and apply it to a commercial project. I was also attracted to the project because of the large print implementation they planned to do with the images. It’s a very photography driven campaign and I was intrigued to lead it,” said Kang.

It was exciting and refreshing for Kang to bring a new photography concept to the largest mall in Vancouver. He and his team elevated the standard of productions for Metropolis. He was a big part of the creative process in coming up with the stories and finding locations. Then when it comes to actually shooting the photos, his approach and thoughtfulness in considering everything from production, art direction, lighting, and model performance led to images that look natural and interesting, and at the same time help Metropolis’ reach out to the targets they want to reach. This is a combination of Kang’s artistic sense and experience in both commercial and documentary photography, exemplifying what a unique skill set he possesses.

“I enjoyed this project for so many reasons, but most of all it was the people I worked with. I have worked with Twice many times throughout my career so there is a lot of trust between us. The creative team at Twice was very collaborative and open to new ideas from all members of the crew. It was a great feeling to work with a group of like minded professionals who are on top of their game in this field. I really like the execution of the project as well. Metropolis took up ads that took over one of the largest subway stations in Vancouver. It was an immersive experience to see these images printed large scale plastered all over the station. With so much advertising moving to digital these days, I really enjoyed seeing the images in print,” he said.

Kang credits his vast success as an advertising photographer to the work he does as a documentary photographer. His eagerness to tell stories for his clients rather than simply taking a photo is what makes him so in demand.

One of Kang’s most heartfelt projects in his career is the work he does in Uganda. He has gone there to document the progress of baseball development in the country, showing how the sport positively impacts the lives of the children in the country. In the future, he would like to extend the project to other sports as well, as he has seen the incredible power it has to positively influence one’s life.

“I have enjoyed teaching quite a bit. I guest lecture in our local colleges from time to time. I like being able to give back to my community since this profession has given me such an incredible life so far. I like spending time in Uganda to teach photography to the local children as I see they enjoy having another way to express themselves and tell their stories,” he said.

Kang also will soon be starting a new photo project on the relationship between people and animal. He is passionate about animal rights and likes to utilize his skills to help promote the causes he cares about. Be sure to keep an eye out for it.

Commercials, VFX Artists

Character Technical Director Qiao Wang brings iconic characters to national Target campaign

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It is not often that one individual is both technically and artistically inclined. Such skills normally find themselves separated, considered two different ways of thinking entirely. However, this is not the case for China’s Qiao Wang, where the fusion of both technology and art have led to a dynamic skill set that most do not possess. As a Character Technical Director (Character TD) or Character Effects Artist (CFX), Wang combines his technological way of thinking with his innate artistic talent. Compared to other roles in a CG animated film or a visual effects driven film, a Character TD tends to be both artistic and technical, and most of the time requires more technical knowledge and skill sets than other roles. As Wang was trained in both art and science, he knew those two roles would be a great fit for his career path, and he has dedicated himself to it ever since.

Wang now finds himself as a leader in his industry, having worked on several prolific projects. Whether he is working on films, such as Avengers: Infinity War, music videos, including the hit “Filthy” by Justin Timberlake, or commercials, including a series of recent ads for Lexus, Wang’s talent is evident, using CGI to create extremely realistic looking characters and objects.

“To me, design is to create a better experience or better life for users. The artwork, character animation system or whatever I design, is simply trying to make the users happy, to create the most efficient setup to make their lives easier. I think that’s my design style,” said Wang.

One of Wang’s ongoing professional relationships is with the iconic department store Target. He has worked on many commercials for the company over the past couple of years and enjoys it every time. They were one of the first series of projects that he did at Method Studios and they incorporate many aspects of what he likes about his job. The commercials offered a variety of digital characters, from Marvel superheroes, Lego characters, Trolls, ponies, Barbie dolls, etc. They all have different body types and they all require different rigging and character FX setups.

The challenge was creating such an array of characters, and Wang was eager to develop them.

Last year, Wang worked on the store’s Holiday campaign, including “Together’s The Joy | Target Holiday 2017”, “What Are You Thankful For This Thanksgiving | Target Holiday 2017”, “A Home For The Holidays | Target Holiday 2017”, “Order Pickup | Target Holiday 2017” and “Super Mario Odyssey – Now at Target 2017”. This year, he has worked on two commercials for the company’s “Jurassic World” campaign, “Target 2018 – Giant Steps” and “Target 2018 – Dino Clash”.

“All these spots are all over the internet and TV, and they’ve got millions of views, with very positive reviews. It feels great that consumers love the creative content that we did for our clients. I was so happy reading the reviews on YouTube, kids are very into the toys, cartoon characters, and the short stories. I feel very happy to see all these characters come to life, and I’m very excited about getting ready for the new Target holiday commercials in 2018 and creating more fun characters,” he said.

On every commercial, Wang jumped into production and started creating characters’ rigs including skeleton animation system, cloth and hair/fur simulation effects right away due to the tight schedule and large amount of CG content. He built characters and wrote thousands of lines of code for tons of different types of digital characters, props, vehicles, and massive environments.

Wang was also responsible for cloth and hair/fur simulation, muscle effects along with various other character finishing tasks and shot finishing tasks. He essentially is a groomer for the hair and fur, and characters like Trolls have a lot of hair to be managed. His skills in hair/fur simulation were essential. There was only one groomer in the studio besides Wang, who was quite busy at the time, so he stepped up and helped deliver high quality hair grooming and simulations.

One of Wang’s greatest accomplishments for the Target commercials was the system he developed to create generic rigging templates for Lego characters, Minions, and Barbie doll characters, which he was then able to apply to many other characters that had similar body types. It helped create facial rigs, and lip syncs to improve characters’ facial workflow and performances. The cartoon character facial setup system saved Wang and his team a lot of time, as the old system was broken. Wang’s new system saved the entire production.

“I really like how the commercials merged characters from different worlds, different productions into one story, and made them look like they belonged to the same world. I like to work on different types of characters to face different challenges. I really enjoyed being able to contribute to the character technology pipeline and workflow for the studio. The story and the lines are very entertaining and working on them makes me feel like the holiday season is right around the corner. Even though these are VFX commercial projects, we really treated them as top-notch fully CG animated short films,” he described.

Keep an eye out for the 2018 Target Holiday campaign to see more of Wang’s outstanding work.

 

Photo by Dustin Han

Art Director, Music Video

Youjia Qian provides insight and artistry to new music video for DeathByRomy

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From the time she was a child, Youjia Qian always had a great interest in the arts and fashion. She learned to play the flute at a young age and began painting very early in her life. Music was always a great passion of hers, with an eclectic playlist featuring many genres. She enjoys expressing her attitude and emotions through clothing and accessories, which she has all her life.

“I think clothes show the characteristic of one person and the style that they want to express at that day. Same as artworks, dressing is also an art. To me, being a stylist enables me to help others to show their attitude with clothes,” said Qian.

Now, Qian is a celebrated stylist and art director, and a leader in her industry. She has worked on many successful music videos, such as “Say Less” for Roy Woods, “Devil in California” by Burna Boy, “Talking to Me” for Gab 3 and “Hollywood Angel” by BEXEY and Gab3. She has also made her mark with commercials, working with the famous department store Barneys New York earlier this year on their “Starwalk” campaign.

“I think the greatest challenge as an art director is pre-communication, since the visual effect is hard to express with words. Sometimes customers are not able to imagine what you want to express and then I need to prepare so many cases and proposals with clearer visuals to let them know what I want to express finally. I always make sure to discuss everything with my client in detail. Any problem that arises can be overcome with patient communication,” she described.

Such an attitude is why the art director was approached by newcomer DeathByRomy to take on her debut music video. DeathByRomy needed an experienced professional at the helm to make the project a success, and she knew Qian was just the person. Qian enjoys working with young artists, giving them insight into what it takes to make a hit video.

“I am very happy to work with female artists and hope to cooperate with more girls and new artists in the future,” said Qian.

Qian was eager to work with DeathByRomy. The two had an understanding that the video would have a slightly more feminine feel, and as the two are both female, they found it easy to strike a balance in what they both envisioned. They spent a lot of time discussing the details prior to shooting. They decided to use a dreamy color to express the feeling of youth, while interspersing a lot of cute shots to express a girlish feeling.

“I think this new artist is very willing to try new ideas and styles, so the actors in the audience are some of her own friends, and the cooperation with everyone is very harmonious and happy. We can also know what kind of things and styles young people like now through the communication,” said Qian.

The video was released in June of this year and was published by Elevator. Watch it here to witness Qian’s artistry first hand.

Actors, Film

Josh Futcher goes dark and withdrawn for captivating performance in new award-winning film

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As a child, Australia’s Josh Futcher was extremely shy. He recalls it as “debilitating”, and at the age of eight, his mother put him in acting classes to get him out of his shell. That was when his life changed. He began to fall in love with acting, and when he first performed on stage, the shyness that plagued him all his life melted away. Hearing the audience laugh at his Dracula impression with a Transylvanian accent was cataclysmic for Futcher. He knew even as a child that he was meant to pursue acting for the rest of his life. That was the first time he felt truly seen, and now audiences around the world have seen his work and know his face.

“I come from a low-income household with a single mother. No one in my family has ever been in the entertainment industry. I have built everything I have achieved in my career from hard work and determination. I’ve known this is what I’ve wanted to do since the age of eight and have never looked back or doubted it since. I’ve not had help or handouts, other than the love and support of family and friends,” said Futcher.

Futcher is known for films such as Répetez S’il-Vous-Plait, Wedgetail, From Parts Unknown, and many more. He has graced the small screen many times in hit television shows like Conspiracy 365 and No Pink Cowboys, and his face is instantly recognizable in Australia from the viral campaign for Victoria Tourism “Remote Control Tourist”, winning international awards. There is little doubt as to why he has become such a force to be reckoned with in the Australian entertainment industry.

Earlier this year, one of Futcher’s latest films, Fatal Flame, won the Audience Spotlight Award at The Idyllwild International Festival of Cinema. The film, which premiered in 2017 at the L.A Shorts Awards, where it won Best Film Noir Film, has had a tremendous run at many prestigious international film festivals. It took home the top price at the Women’s Only Entertainment Film Festival 2017 and was a Special Mention for the Award of Merit at the Accolade Global Film Competition in Los Angeles.

“It’s a very rewarding experience to have a project that you had such a strong hand in from start to finish be as successful as it’s been. It’s been received with critical and audience acclaim since its release and I’m incredibly proud of the work,” said Futcher.

Fatal Flame follows Police Detective McDonald, played by Futcher, who is summoned by shady criminal Rico to a vantage point overlooking the wake for gangster Julian Blakley’s recently murdered father. Rico riles McDonald with news that Julian has corrupted his police colleagues; and ordered the death of McDonald’s informant. But McDonald, who suffers from PTSD, isn’t interested until he sees a mysterious beauty provoking a fight with Julian. As Julian tries to escape, McDonald is hot on their trail. But it isn’t Julian who interests him. Instead he pursues the enigmatic woman.

“I loved the fact that this man has gone through so much grief but is motivated to make sure it doesn’t happen to another innocent woman. He sees a woman being mistreated and he knows the man is no good, so he goes to warn her. I think he is a great man, with a care and respect for women. Not just as sexual objects. And in a time when so much harassment of women is being brought to the forefront – I feel this story shows men how a lady should be treated,” said Futcher.

In the film, McDonald suffers from PTSD after seeing his girlfriend murdered in front of him by a gangland boss, who discovered McDonald was undercover and betrayed him. This causes McDonald to be dark, quiet, and withdrawn, but the appeal of a magnetic femme fatale style character quickly peaks his interest. He can save her, like he wished he could have saved his girlfriend. Such a character had great appeal for Futcher, who is known for his improvisation and comedy, and gave him the chance to show off his versatility as an actor. He made McDonald a tortured soul with a dark past, but with a motivation to be better, which in turn made him human and relatable.

“I loved being able to sit in silence on the screen. As actors, we constantly feel we have to do so much to be interesting. It was so freeing to be still and silent and sit in the pain of my character. It taught me a lot about the power of stillness on screen and what it portrays for the viewer,” he described.

McDonald was originally written as a 50-year-old-man. However, after the Director, Janet Dimelow, saw what Futcher was capable of, she decided to re-write her story for Futcher to play the leading role, knowing that he was the actor who could make her film a success. For Futcher, being offered the role so early in the piece allowed him to be a part of the creative process from start to finish. He was able to have input into rewrites, and much of the creative choices for the film. In addition to this, he was appointed casting director early on, and was therefore able to hand pick the cast he wanted to work with. When it came to shooting, he took his producing hat off and focused on the role, giving the best performance he could. Obviously, his efforts paid off.

“I was excited to be the lead actor with of lot of creative sway in the pre-production, and all the way through the process,” said Futcher.

Fatal Flame is now looking into making a feature length film, with Futcher once again as the star. Keep an eye out for it in theatres next year.

 

Photo by Lachian Woods

Advertising, International Creative Talents

Jeff Venida talks honor of creating a shift in today’s branding culture with Paradam

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Creative Director Jeff Venida

There are two types of people in this world: those with compelling stories to tell and those who actually tell them. One of those people is highly sought-after creative director, Jeff Venida. What sets Venida apart from most is the fact that his storytelling doesn’t come bound between two book covers or scattered through carefully arranged music notes. On the contrary, Venida uses creative branding to stimulate the minds of consumers and to take them on quests they wouldn’t have otherwise imagined traveling. He takes a thought-based, captivating approach to creative branding and shares stories with the world in a way that keeps him at the top of his industry.

Throughout his career, Venida has earned himself the opportunity to work with some of the world’s biggest brands, allowing his talents to captivate consumers in a number of different markets. He prides himself on the fact that his job, unlike many others, requires him to have a keen understanding not only of top brands and their target audiences, but also of some of the world’s most niche industries. He realized from an early stage in his career, that being a creative director would require far more than an eye for design. He would need to be able to identify important trends in society and determine how best to gauge the audiences consuming them. It has been a journey rich with learning opportunities and chances to look at parts of the world in a new light. In addition, after several years spent working for other brands and striving to bring other people’s visions to life, Venida realized that he needed to shift his focus towards putting his own ideas first and bringing them to life on a large scale. For these reasons and more, he decided that his talents could be best offered to the world by starting his own company: Paradam.

Per Venida’s vision, Paradam is focused on developing a thought-based, storytelling approach to creative brand building and marketing. He sees great importance in communicating complex ideas to his clients that tap into their emotions and connect intimately with their minds. His reputation, along with his business savvy, allowed him to build a strong client base and to leave a lasting impression on all of his clients, everywhere from start-up companies to major brands. His venture has been so successful, in fact, that Paradam was featured on AdWeek’s podcast in 2017, reaching audiences on a mass scale.

“I wanted to change the way people consume media and I wanted to have a larger impact on the culture I was so clearly contributing to. I knew that I didn’t want to create a product that was ‘for sale’ because I don’t really believe that any product will have a larger impact on people’s lives. Having said that, I do believe that awareness and an opening of the mind can have a great impact on the collective consciousness of the world. I wanted to streamline my beliefs and processes in a way that others might be able to take something away from. I started Paradam so that I could disseminate my approach to a brand communication for a larger audience and hopefully leave a positive, lasting impact on the way we experience the world. It is so much more than just an agency or a company; it’s an ideology and a way of viewing the world,” told Venida.

When developing Paradam accordingly, Venida endeavored to become an agency that specializes in conscious consumerism. To the world, this may seem like too large of a feat to tackle; however, for Venida, it is unfathomable to build an agency in any other way. During Paradam’s inception, the idea of generating a fundamental change in the way people think about marketing and branding motivated Venida to honor the ideas and intentions that are embedded in Paradam’s foundation and he was shocked by how easily his ideas came to fruition. Using his photography and videography skills, he shot content for his website and created a brand video that would later draw clients into soliciting his services. He also created icons and logos to match his brand’s concept, and focused his efforts on developing a unified, coherent branding strategy to show prospective clients the sort of output they could expect from working with him. For clients like Paul Andre Pinces, knowing Paradam’s ethos and seeing the calibre of content it housed were nothing compared to what he experienced when he actually worked first hand with Venida.

“I first worked with Jeff on a project for Native Shoes in Vancouver. He had a vital role on all 2014 and 2015 seasonal campaigns, contributing to brand messaging, look-books, and online content. He defined the brand tone throughout each campaign, giving the company its distinctive voice in the market during their most vital period of growth. His company, Paradam, is an exceptional example of his command in the industry and he is certainly one of the best creative directors I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with,” raved Pinces.

Testaments from clients like Pinces serve as a reminder that the risk of stepping back from his work to focus on a passion project paid off in the end. He is humbled by the thought that through Paradam, he is able to practice what he preaches and to bring something fresh to the market.

“I can’t tell you how much it means to me that this project has become such a success. When people call me just to tell me they’ve discovered Paradam and that it really speaks to them on a personal level is indescribable.  It makes me feel like I’m on the right path. Some of the creative individuals I’ve worked with on this project have called me to tell me that the completed project is something they thought they could only dream of, and that makes me feel honored. I feel inspired to push the envelope more and try my next creative endeavor,” he concluded.

Actors, Film

Maja Lakomy goes on ‘Vacay’ in new film

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Poland’s Maja Lakomy is a true storyteller. As an actress, she tells someone’s story in her own interpretation, having respect towards the character and the narrative at the same time. Her goal is to be a part of as many spectacular stories that are written or told by great minds as possible. She aims to both entertain and move as many people as possible, whether they laugh, cry, think, or simply feel. That is what she finds satisfying.

“There are so many beautiful, thrilling, terrifying and touching stories in the world and the more people they reach, the better, in my opinion. Actors are in some sense tools that are needed for these stories to reach people. Through movies and theatre people can experience new things and educate themselves, which I think is so important,” said Lakomy.

Lakomy is known for her work in films such as Star House and Diminuendo, receiving great praise for her acting abilities at many international film festivals. This year, she has lots going on, including a music video for Italian singing sensation Andrea Bocelli. On top of this, she has several upcoming films, including Straying from You, Moral Inequity, What’s with the Doll, and the artistic flick Vacay.

Vacay offers up a unique challenge for Lakomy, as it is a creative, cinematic film with no dialogue. The film is meant to entertain of course, but also make the audience think and feel shocked, which is why Lakomy was interested in the project. Before she auditioned, she read the description of her character and knew exactly how to play her. Upon reading the script, she found the story unique and incredible.

In the film, Lakomy plays Veronica, the “mysterious messenger” in the story. Nobody knows exactly what the history is between her and the main man, played by Juan Blasquez, but one can suspect that something deep and unresolved occurred between those two. She goes through many different phases of emotion, adding necessary and intense drama to her scenes. She is a tough woman on the facade, who leads an independent and successful life. Once audiences see a little more of her, we find out that underneath, she carries some trauma from the past that sometimes she isn’t able to cover. She is like a ticking bomb of emotions that if she doesn’t manage to contain, might explode.

“I like that the story is light and entertaining for the most part but gets intense and shocking in some moments. I also like the style of it, that it’s told without any dialogue, which makes it universal and even more powerful. I think the story is important because it touches upon some relevant and controversial matter, but at the same time entertains the audience, leaving them with a lot to think about after watching it, maybe even with an unsettling feeling,” said Lakomy.

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Lakomy was asked to audition for the part of Veronica by the director of the film. He had previously seen the actress’s work and was greatly impressed. Upon meeting her, he slightly altered the part to make it a principle role, knowing Lakomy could make a difference to his film. Such a reaction was incredibly touching for Lakomy.

Vacay began filming at the end of last month. Currently, Lakomy focuses on getting into the mindset of her character. A very important part of the process is connecting with one of the lead actors who her character has a strong history with. They are working on building the relationship so that when they act together, they can make the story between them as believable as possible, even without any words.

“I love that the whole film has no dialogue, so the story is told through the actors’ actions, facial expressions and the scenery. I like working on this specific aspect of acting, where drastic transitioning between different emotions is required. I enjoy challenges like that. I really appreciate working with great actors and an incredibly passionate director. I like that everybody who’s involved in this project fully engages with it and gives a hundred percent of their energy into it,” said Lakomy.

Vacay will be finished and submitted to film festivals later this year. There is little doubt that it will impress, and that Lakomy’s performance will be incredibly captivating. After its film festival run, it will be made available on various digital on demand platforms. Be sure to check it out.

Needless to say, Lakomy is a dynamic and in demand actress. She never gave up on her dream of acting, despite various roadblocks that came up on her journey. She encourages all those with the same dream to keep pushing, because eventually it will be worth it.

“As actors and artists in general it’s hard to be satisfied with yourself. There’s never a perfect answer or way to do something when it comes to acting. This profession is very subjective and it’s important to remember that we can’t always make everybody happy. My advice would be stay determined and work on yourself instead of comparing yourself to other people’s successes and failures. And even when you hear “no” way more than you hear “yes”, as long as acting brings you joy, don’t ever quit,” she advised.