C&F PRODUCES ANDREW BELLE'S 1ST MUSIC VIDEO

Earlier this year, C&F charted new territory when we signed on to produce the first music video for up-and-coming hit-maker, Andrew Belle. His debut album has already been featured on all the big prime-time dramas and has garnered a quick following.
Static Waves - one of the catchiest songs on the album - was ours to animate.

Our original concept was a complex narrative involving an apartment building turned maze from which our protagonist, Mr. Belle, could not escape.
However, after about 21 different rough cuts were proposed, the artist preferred a far simpler version. It features Mr. Belle and his collaborator, Katie Herzig, performing the song.

Because the protagonist is supposed to be physically stuck in the apartment, and figuratively stuck in the past, we wanted the performance footage to match the video's concept. Inspired by Mark Romanek's "Criminal," and Michel Gondry's "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," we shot the performance with a single spot light as if we were sneaking in on something private.

There are a few remaining shots from the narrative version, but for the most part, they ended up on the cutting room floor. Then again, maybe we'll come out with a director's cut some day.


Shot on Canon 5D. Edited on FCP. DP - Josh Goleman.

C&F VIDEO ANNOUNCES 2010 ECHOING GREEN FELLOWS

In collaboration with our friends at Workshop, we created 17 videos to announce the 2010 Echoing Green Fellows.

Echoing Green wanted the look of this year's video to capture their new brand strategy - young, bold, cutting edge. We proposed four angles, and off-center framing with the gradient gray background established by Workshop's design strategy. Workshop proposed using a one-page website to host the videos.

We had one day and about 10 minutes with each finalist back in May during their final interview process. It was a marathon shoot with four camera operators working without a break to capture the stories of these inspirational social entrepreneurs. Though we weren't able to get the fellows out of their interview attire, we are confident we captured their independent spirit.

Shot on Canon 5D. Edited with FCP. Music by Jake Zavracky. DP - Andrew Wonder.

THE POWER OF COMPASSION

One of our greatest experiences in recent memory was producing a video performance of "The Charter for Compassion".

Moss and I started our careers working for Bill Moyers - someone whom we truly admire and who inspired us to be good people in addition to doing good work. One of his frequent guests on "NOW" was Karen Armstrong - religious scholar, former nun, author and self-described "freelance monotheist." She also happens to be a calm voice of reason in an otherwise chaotic, loud and rude media landscape.

Armstrong won the TED Prize in 2008 after which she initiated "The Charter for Compassion" - a text written over the course of one year by contributors spanning the globe as well as the religious spectrum.

Our job - along with our pals at Workshop - was to take the text and bring it to life. We had one day, a patient crew, and a cadre of volunteer actors and friends to make it happen.

The wonderful people at TED had one conceptual idea from which we worked - they wanted it shot in a single take. We realized this would not be easy especially given our time, budget and personnel limitations. Instead we came up with a staging plan in which the actors were revealed as the text was read. Our intention was to portray the idea that we are part of greater whole. We started with one actor, and pulled out one by one to reveal him in the context of a greater group.

Because the text is rather lengthy, we needed to break the staging into four parts - each with its own concept - to keep the energy moving. The whole video comes full circle when we end up with our original actor framed alone.

The video was a hit at TED Prize, and even played at the official TED conference a few months later. Listening to the words of the Charter and taking it on as our own personal mission as we worked was really grounding. If only every job made us feel so good!

Shot on Canon 5D. Edited on FCP. DP - Andrew Wonder. Music by Naturalistic.