70 MIN / COLOR / FRANCO-ITALIAN + ENGLISH / SURROUND
WORLD PREMIERE
FIDMarseille
- International Competition -
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FIDMarseille Interview
English
Cineuropa
49 world premieres on the agenda at FIDMarseille
Screen Daily
FIDMarseille 2022 unveils line-up
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SPANISH PREMIERE
COMPETITION
NOVOS CINEMAS E07
FESTIVAL INTERNACIONAL DE CINEMA DE PONTEVEDRA
- SECCION OFICIAL -
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LATIN AMERICAN PREMIERE
Festival Internacional de Cine Documental Buenos Aires | FIDBA #10
- International Competition -
—
CALIGARI Interview
English / Español
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RENCONTRES INTERNATIONALES PARIS
2023 EDITION
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NOMOTOPOWELL Work in Progress - Pitching at
Ji.Hlava IDFF 2021 : New Visions Forum: US
Variety
U.S. Documentaries Selected for
Ji.hlava Film Festival’s New Visions Forum
NOMOTOPOWELL explores unnamed histories around a village in Florida. Structured as a travelogue, and combining landscapes with abstracted archival texts and voices, the film summons the spirits that haunt a shape-shifting territory, reflecting a violent national residue without ever leaving the village.
WORLD PREMIERE
FIDMarseille
- International Competition -
—
FIDMarseille Interview
English
Cineuropa
49 world premieres on the agenda at FIDMarseille
Screen Daily
FIDMarseille 2022 unveils line-up
︎
SPANISH PREMIERE
COMPETITION
NOVOS CINEMAS E07
FESTIVAL INTERNACIONAL DE CINEMA DE PONTEVEDRA
- SECCION OFICIAL -
︎
LATIN AMERICAN PREMIERE
Festival Internacional de Cine Documental Buenos Aires | FIDBA #10
- International Competition -
—
CALIGARI Interview
English / Español
︎
RENCONTRES INTERNATIONALES PARIS
2023 EDITION
︎
NOMOTOPOWELL Work in Progress - Pitching at
Ji.Hlava IDFF 2021 : New Visions Forum: US
Variety
U.S. Documentaries Selected for
Ji.hlava Film Festival’s New Visions Forum
AWARD NOMINATIONS
Grand Prix of the International Competition (FIDMarseille)
Premio a la Mejor Película de la Competencia Internacional de Largometrajes (FIDBA)
Premio NOVOS CINEMAS á mellor longametraxe da Sección Oficial (NOVOS Cinemas)
Premio XURADO NOVO á mellor dirección da Sección Oficial (NOVOS Cinemas)
Premio da CRÍTICA ao mellor filme das seccións competitivas (NOVOS Cinemas)
Premio do PÚBLICO (NOVOS Cinemas)
INQUIRY
NOMOTOPOWELL [a] GMAIL
CREDITS
A film by
Brent Chesanek
Cinematography
Owen Levelle
Brent Chesanek
Original score
Chris Zabriskie
Narration
Alessandro Magania
Daniel B.C. Powell
Wendy Kay White
Krysta Wallrauch
Ana M. Beranek
Re-recording Mixer
Kevin T. Allen
European Festival Poster
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WEAR & TEAR
&& (Ampersand Ampersand) hired me to direct the launch spot for their Wear & Tear modular synthesizer. In their own words, &&'s work lies “at the intersection of boolean operators and jokes.” The Wear & Tear module takes a clean audio signal and outputs anything “from the gentle flutter of tape warble to the gritty charm of a forgotten attic tape collection.”
The idea was to emulate but subvert the iconic Maxell Blown Away Guy spot, emphasizing the analog low-fi aesthetic produced by the Wear & Tear module.
Low Fidelity
Mickey-mouse gloves, tuxedo t-shirts, and visible puppet strings informed the overall approach. The spot blends high concept promotion & product design with handmade effects & analog signal distortion. In the final piece, we wanted to achieve the same level of practical effect mastery as the original, but also to retain evidence of our on-set trickery.
Lampshade, tie, chain, and wine flute all needed to move at different moments. The puppeteers each had unique cue-points to remember. Dan Keezer was the lynchpin keeping everyone in sync with the timings required to match the original inspiration. We did not have a megaphone. The leaf-blower was very loud.
Despite the seams-and-all aesthetic, the spot still required some level of post-production cleanup and compositing. Limitations in stage square-footage ($$) required us to shoot the wide shots in pieces. In post, I stitched those pieces together, removing distracting grip equipment, rearranging the speaker prop, and creating camera movement, eventually matching our spot frame-for-frame with the Maxell original.
FLOG 2 RCA
Once we locked picture, I brought the spot to Chris Zabriskie, who would create the final visual touch. Chris ran the 4K video signal through various SD video processing devices to give the image a suitable low-fidelity visual treatment, complimenting the audio possibilities of the Wear & Tear module.
Wet & Dry
I left Chris’ studio with 40 minutes of glitchy video. Back in my own studio, I combined various takes of SD distortion with the original 4K image to produce a distinct wet/dry look of hi + lo-fi visuals.
Thank you Jason & && for having me ✌️ 📼 🍕, & thank you to everyone who worked so hard to make this happen.
Directed, Edited, Composited & Color Graded by
Brent Chesanek
Produced & Creative Direction by
Jason LaFerrera
First AD
Dan Keezer
Talent
Thomas Graft
Jason LaFerrera
Puppeteers
Weston Ulfig
Molly Baker
Jade Nakabayashi
Voice Over
Rob Milton
Video Signal Processing
Chris Zabriskie
For Loyalkaspar (also compositing, animation):
For FujiFilm (also Creative Director, graphics provided by client)
For Showtime Networks.
Using their pre-existing animation pattern, these spots contain a single line of dialog and only eight shots, with the purose of encapsulating an entire season within fifteen seconds:
These spacers for Showtime Networks are built from key-art elements, which I animated and edited.
30s Launch Spot for && Wear & Tear (also Director):
Trailer for my film City World (also Director):
Music videos I directed, edited, and animated:
For Haitian Initiative (also Creative Director)
Music videos I edited for Saline Project:
For FujiFilm (also Creative Director, graphics provided by client)
For Showtime Networks.
Using their pre-existing animation pattern, these spots contain a single line of dialog and only eight shots, with the purose of encapsulating an entire season within fifteen seconds:
These spacers for Showtime Networks are built from key-art elements, which I animated and edited.
30s Launch Spot for && Wear & Tear (also Director):
Trailer for my film City World (also Director):
Music videos I directed, edited, and animated:
For Haitian Initiative (also Creative Director)
Music videos I edited for Saline Project:
CITY WORLD is an investigation into the whereabouts of an unseen child narrator, set in the lifeless suburbs around Orlando, Florida. Told by mixing documentary footage with fantasy elements, the boy's tale slowly swivels from a possible theme park ride into his own harrowing familial reality.
69 MIN / COLOR / ENGLISH / STEREO
RENT OR PURCHASE ON VIMEO
RENT OR PURCHASE ON DOC ALLIANCE
PURCHASE INDIVIDUAL OR INSTITUTIONAL LICENSE
INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE
CPH:DOX | Main Competition
︎
WORLD PREMIERE
Seattle International Film Festival
Seattle International Film Festival
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AWARDS
BEST DOCUMENTARY - CINEMA AT THE EDGE (2013)NOMINATIONS
DOX AWARD - CPH:DOX (2012)NARRATIVE GRAND PRIZE - IndieMemphis (2012)
SCREENINGS
CPH:DOX (Denmark)Seattle International Film Festival (USA)
Rencontres internationales du documentaire de Montreal (Canada)
DOXA Vancouver (Canada)
IndieMemphis (USA)
Denver Film Festival (USA)
Big Sky Documentary Film Festival (USA)
Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival (USA)
Cinema At The Edge (USA)
Southern Alabama Film Festival (USA)
Hammer To Nail Screening Series (USA)
Cinema Zuid (Belgium)
Visions.MTL (Canada)
CREDITS
A film byBrent Chesanek
Produced by
Yvette Granata
Justin Strawhand
Original score by
Chris Zabriskie
Narrated by
Sean Kaufman
Edited by
Brent Chesanek
Stacey Foster
Sound design & mix by
Steven Dressler
Casting by
Zan Ludlum