8 WAYS OF LOOKING AT A POEM (an ode to prose poems)
Year: 2023
Voice: Ever D., Syd Straw
Source: "Reconstruction" by Max Jacob; various images
Music: Federico Mompou, Ariel Kalma, Paul Horn, Pascal Schumacher, Michel Legrand, Frantz Casseus, Vanessa Gould, Max Roach
Running Time: 6:56 min
UNDIÚ, JOÃO GILBERTO (an edit experiment)
Year: 2023
Picture: "Pas de deux" (1968), Norman McLaren and “Opus 4” (1925), Walter Ruttman
Music: Undiú, João Gilberto (1973)
Running Time: 6:47 min
MOTHERS AND CHILDS by Jascha Hoffman
Year: 2022
Artist: Jascha Hoffman
Picture: NASA's Cassini spacecraft 4K footage of Saturn
Running Time: 3:46 min
ENTR'ACTE (an edit experiment)
Picture: "Entr'acte" (1924), René Clair
Music: Satie Blues, Toby Twining (2017) performed by Margaret Leng Tan
Running Time: 4:41 min
NEW YORK SCENES (NON-NARRATIVE SHORTS)
Project Role: Cinematographer / Editor
Camera: Canon 5D Mark III
Location: New York City
ANDREW O. HUGHES
(above)
Music: "When the Horizon Bursts"
by Ben Siems
Running Time: 2:40 min
A few summers ago, for a project titled Abstraction, I shot this series of short videos as part of a project for PBS's POV Hackathon, working with composer Gil Talmi and filmmaker Smriti Keshari. Our goal was to explore how neutral moving images could change when paired with different music cues. While the project was largely an experiment, it was awarded the POV Hackathon Grand Prize.
Below are some of the shorts I created for the project, shot over the course of one week on foot throughout the city. The music used here was not part of the POV project – instead, added by me afterwards.
LATE DAY SUN
Role: Cinematographer / Editor
Location: Washington Square Park, NYC
Music: "Layers" by Kevs One
Running Time: 2:10 min
JOE MANGRUM, SAND ARTIST
Role: Cinematographer / Editor
Location: Union Square Park, NYC
Music: "Garden in the Sand" by Moruza
Running Time: 1:32 min
DANCER 4
Role: Cinematographer / Editor
Location: Washington Square Park, NYC
Music: "The Eternal Return" by Sonogram
Running Time: 3:07 min
COLOR AT NIGHT
Role: Cinematographer / Editor
Location: Brooklyn & Manhattan
Music: "Secret Heat" by Jami Sieber
Running Time: 1:38 min
SPRING STORM 2
Role: Cinematographer / Editor
Location: Park Slope, Brooklyn
Music: "Skin Color" by Russell L. Howard III
Running Time: 1:21 min
RUSH HOUR 1
Role: Cinematographer / Editor
Location: Grand Central Station, NYC
Music: "Pedestrian04 - Excerpt 5" by Autohypnosis
Running Time: 1:20 min
RUSH HOUR 2
Role: Cinematographer / Editor
Location: Various, Midtown NYC
Music: "Voicemail" by Red Animal War
Running Time: 0:54 min
AFTER HOURS
Role: Cinematographer / Editor
Location: Brooklyn
Music: "Rain" by PHYLR / Jim Coleman
Running Time: 2:00 min
SHOWTIME
Role: Cinematographer / Editor
Location: City Hall Park, NYC
Music: "The Show" by NITEPPL
Running Time: 1:15 min
PARALLEL UNIVERSE
Role: Cinematographer / Editor
Location: Times Square, NYC
Music: "Magic Behind the Wall" by Hench
Running Time: 1:55 min
STREET BOXERS
Role: Cinematographer / Editor
Location: Union Square Park, NYC
Music: "Fractal 4" by Susie Ibarra
Running Time: 2:22 min
SKY ABOVE SOUND BELOW
Role: Cinematographer / Editor
Location: NYC
Music: "Repeat" by J.K. Wiechert
Running Time: 1:37 min
BIRDS 4
Role: Cinematographer / Editor
Location: Park Slope, Brooklyn
Music: "Tokyo Night" by The Kindness Kind
Running Time: 1:12
NEON
Role: Cinematographer / Editor
Location: Various, NYC
Music: "Enter Darklight" by Tobias James
Running Time: 1:33 min
MUSIC VIDEOS
BEN SIDRAN
In November 2014, jazz legend Ben Sidran wished to release a track from his upcoming album BLUE CAMUS, titled "Wake Me When It's Over", in reaction to the lead-up and outcome of the mid-term 2014 elections. He flees to Paris as his frustrations are put into words and music.
BLUE CAMUS was released in the US in Spring 2015.
WAKE ME WHEN IT'S OVER (2014)
Role: Video Editor
Artist: Ben Sidran
Produced by: Leo Sidran
Cinematographer: Mathieu Wilson
Running Time: 3:52
Website: www.bensidran.com
LEO SIDRAN
In 2019, multi-instrumentalist and singer Leo Sidran released the single "Barcelona", about the city where he had spent time as a child. Edited from entirely archival home movies and other material.
BACK IN BARCELONA (2019)
Role: Video Editor
Written & Produced by: Leo Sidran
Recorded at Electric Poodle Stoodles, Brooklyn
Running Time: 3:15
Website: www.leosidran.com
MOVIE TRAILERS
REVENGE OF THE MEKONS
The Mekons have been one of my favorite bands for as long as I can remember. When I heard about Joe Angio's feature documentary, I was eager to pitch in, if he needed. It turned out that in the final hour before the film's NYC premiere he needed a trailer, and so we put this one together in about 48 hours. It was some of the most fun editing ever.
Lester Bangs calls The Mekons the "most revolutionary band in the history of rock 'n 'roll." Greil Marcus writes "The Mekons were best known as the band that took punk ideology most seriously." Joe writes: "Political provocateurs. Social agitators. Punk’s reigning contrarians. The Mekons have been called all this and more." Joe and the film had a great festival and theatrical run.
ZEMENE – TRAILER
Role: Trailer Editor
Director/Producer: Melissa Donovan
Format: Feature Documentary
Website: www.zemenefilm.com
Directed, produced and shot by Melissa Donovan, Zemene is the story of a girl born in Ethiopia with severe spinal curvature, as it charts her unlikely and miraculous path towards recovery. In a region with few resources, Zemene is transformed in part through the good will and humanity of doctors in the area doing all they can to treat common childhood illness. In Zemene's case, that doctor is Dr Rick Hodes and, together, they form an extraordinary bond through faith and understanding.
Zemene and director Melissa Donovan received numerous jury awards on the film festival circuit.
ADDITIONAL TRAILERS
Editing teasers and trailers is one of my favorite things to do. In the case of OBIT, the process of assembling a short exploratory teaser was crucial in helping to find the project's approach towards archival material and visual possibilities.
Similarly, in editing the "sizzle reel" for the tv documentary series "Years of Living Dangerously", it was via our work on that short piece that informed decisions and an evolving understanding of how to visually and narratively communicate the complex issues surrounding climate change.
OBIT (brainstorming teaser)
Role: Director / Producer / Teaser Editor
Music: Thomas Newman (non-commercial use only)
Website: www.obitdoc.com
I ONLY READ IT FOR THE CARTOONS
Format: Book Trailer
Role: Camera Operator / Trailer Editor
Author: Richard Gehr
Website: www.richardgehr.com
YEARS OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY (2012)
(not for public release)
Role: Sizzle Reel Editor
Creators: David Gelber & Joel Bach
Website: www.yearsoflivingdangerously.com
BETWEEN THE FOLDS
Role: Director / Producer / Trailer Editor
Cinematographer: Melissa Donovan
Music: Gil Talmi
Website: www.BetweenTheFolds.com
ADDITIONAL MUSIC VIDEOS
Science journalist, songwriter and singer Jascha Hoffman and I collaborated on videos to accompany nine tracks from his album, The Afterneath. All lyrics were inspired by the subjects of New York Times obituaries.
Our goal was to work exclusively with archival and found material on the internet to create loose and metaphoric interpretations of the past eras during which the people he sings about lived. The Atom Bomb was inspired by the life of scientist-turned-Maoist Joan Hinton. The Little Airplane was inspired by the life of Maynard Hill, the first creator of a model airplane to cross the Atlantic.
"The Atom Bomb" screened as part of the 7th Annual Imagine Science Film Festival and the Philip K. Dick Film Festival..
THE ATOM BOMB
Role: Video Director / Editor
Artist: Jascha Hoffman
Running Time: 4:52
Website: www.afterneath.org
Official Selection:
2014 Imagine Science Film Festival
2015 Philip K. Dick International Film Festival
THE LITTLE AIRPLANE
Role: Video Director / Editor
Artist: Jascha Hoffman
Running Time: 3:40
Website: www.afterneath.org
THE TENNIS TABLE
Role: Video Director / Editor
Artist: Jascha Hoffman
Running Time: 5:11
Website: www.afterneath.org
THE FREEZER
Role: Video Director / Editor
Artist: Jascha Hoffman
Running Time: 4:04
Website: www.afterneath.org
THE GUARDIAN
Role: Video Director / Editor
Artist: Jascha Hoffman
Running Time: 3:24
Website: www.afterneath.org