Demo Reel 2013
2013 Demo Reel from Rory Gordon on Vimeo.
I shot some awesome stuff in 2013, huh?
I can’t believe I haven’t shared this yet!
Two years ago I was visiting Oklahoma for the holidays and had just bought my first SLR, a Canon Rebel T2i. I shot this photo essay, which ultimately would shape how I shoot all my video essays: as a little pun cracking gremlin that’s a part of the scenery for a day and gets an authentic, irreverent view. Damn, I want that on my epitaph.
Anyway, two years later I’m incredibly proud of this video. And it makes me feel really awesome to see it on the home page of the University of Oklahoma Health Science Center graduate college website.
Viva la Nerds!
Pretty Things Peepshow
Pretty Things Peep Show: I’m at Work! from Rory Gordon on Vimeo.
Featured in my currently shooting documentary is the Pretty Things Peepshow, a burlesque meets sideshow act that’s a total trip back to the days of Americana vaudeville. I love a good variety show, and add fire, boobs, drills, and swords to that, plus a kick ass business lady that’s running the show with the power of the internet and you got me hooked.
If I haven’t babbled about it enough, my doc is called Domain Names and it follows people who are running creative businesses through the internet. Want to get involved with it? Email me! I’m always looking for more people to talk to.
Stuck in traffic with a new camera. So this is what we do to unwind.
I’m working on a personal documentary right now about using the internet to make a creative living. The above clip features some highlights I shot with Meg Keene, who runs A Practical Wedding.
I love working on docs because they always surprise me. I had a structure I was pretty certain would hold me up through the whole movie, and halfway through my first interview I knew I was going to have to divorce myself from that initial picture I had of the final product.
I started with the question, “What does the internet offer to business owners?” and I’ve quickly become more psychological than that. Now I’m wondering: How do you reconcile personal success that happens in a public forum? Is the internet really a place anyone can start a business? What kinds of effects does that have to start a business, or even launch a Kickstarter in front of friends and family, and anonymous strangers at the same time, all of whom can give you positive or negative responses with a few keystrokes?
A lot of these themes will find themselves. My job right now is to gather and structure a narrative. I just have to make sure my story has a clear beginning, middle and end. I can hope it’s that simple, at least.
Another challenge I’m dealing with is how to bring different visuals to a very non-cinematic subject (the internet). I really enjoyed learning some kinetic typography for this and I look forward to seeing how the animation will come to support the story.
All Over the Internet
Do you know what’s awesome? When someone says, “Please shoot this however you want.” And that happened a bunch in Northern California.
The CoLab Workshop - A Little Corner of the World. from Rory Gordon on Vimeo.
Maddie, Jonas, and Emily hosted a workshop called CoLab for creatives in the process of starting photography businesses. They had a lot of great things to say to encourage their crew of 15 attendees to get those businesses off the ground. And then they let me run around them with a camera for a day. I was so happy to do so, namely because there were puppies and ponies and people saying smart shit and oh man, I just got distracted again by all the stuff that was there.
Allison Andres - Moment of Memory from Rory Gordon on Vimeo.
Allison brought me on for a small business video essay, and it was definitely one of those, “Oh okay, we are friends now,” kind of partnerships from the first Skype call. People frequently use the phrase “will do anything for a shot” to describe photographers, but the funny thing about Allison is in that shooting her, I discovered she actually will do anything for a shot… without calling any attention to face that’s she’s weaving through some vines or sitting in the dirt, and probably she’ll do it while wearing an adorable dress. And then she’ll get up and magically have not flashed ANYONE and not have any dirt on her. And then have a great shot. She is graceful like crazy.
I really loved making everything here. I am really, really glad I’ve discovered how much I like working with small businesses. It’s so much easier to work your ass off when you love the final product. And of course, I want to make more so you should probably call me if you’re a small business that needs a video produced.
PS - Have you heard about the video scholarship yet?
Long story short, I’m giving away a video essay for free to a small business that couldn’t afford one. I want you to nominate your dad’s pizza place, or your best friend’s handbag business she runs on the weekends in her apartment. Do you know anyone who’s got a great start up business? Are they passionate about its pursuit regardless of starting with or without capital? Of course you know that person. This is 2012. And let’s give the internet a little more access to those awesome tiny businesses.
I’m running this like a scholarship: the application has three essay questions. And by all means, please feel free to nominate a business other than your own. Hell, pair up with another business and write each other’s applications. And don’t worry: you have all the way until December 1st to enter. Give me some good reading material!
So why am I doing this?
Short answer: It feels good. I want to. People have helped me and I want to pay it forward.
Why should you take the time to enter?
Because you (or a well-deserving business owner you submit an application on behalf of) could get a video for FREE! And in the process, you’ll hopefully get to know your own business a little better and get some rad publicity and hopefully rad new customers. Times is tough. Money is a bummer. But helping each other is fun and so am I.
So enter! Let’s work together. Really, you’re doing me a favor because I get an awesome assignment and can start to return all the wonderful favors done for me as I’ve launched my business. Win/win/win.
It’s been a really intense few days! I have not stopped shooting since Friday, I’ve been on the road since then as well, and I won’t be back in LA until June 1st. Holy cow!
So please excuse my sporadic posting and please enjoy this outtake at the CoLab 2012 Workshop. Ponies!
A Little Bit of Video
The other day somebody told me something along the lines of, “But it’s only a little video. It doesn’t need to be fancy.”
And everybody that’s ever made any sort of motion pictures ever simultaneously rolled their eyes.
Here is the thing… that is one hundred percent correct: video doesn’t need to be fancy! If you have an iPhone you can make a movie and tell a story with just a little production value.
But you can’t have just a little context. Heartfelt Interview with a lot of laughter in the background feels less heartfelt than Heartfelt Interview with clean sound, or Heartfelt Interview that never says what exact Heartfelt Issue we’re addressing. It takes time and energy to set context up no matter what.
There’s this guy that is kind of a staple in film school curriculum by the name Kuleshov. He taught at the first film school ever. He’s kind of a big deal.
Basically, this Kuleshov character cuts together a shot of an old man at a table acting very neutrally with several different cutaway shots: a bowl of soup, a young child, and a coffin. He screened the three different pairings of the old man + one of the three shots to his students, and depending on what the second image was, that determined how the viewers saw the old man. When he was with the soup, they thought he was hungry. When he was with the coffin, they thought he was mournful. You get the idea.
So I thought I’d try Kuleshov’s experiment on myself. I used one line, “My name is Rory Gordon and I make videos,” seven different times.
More than your words. from Rory Gordon on Vimeo.
I look, in order:
Normal*, Sexy**, Creepy***, Clueless****, Aloof, Like a Crazy Cat Lady, Normal again.
All of these are on top of “ridiculous” obviously.
My point in all this: be deliberate with your video. Just because all you want is a 60 second montage of you at work, be mindful that the most professional mission statement in the world won’t hold up if you’re saying it half naked, if the sound is bad, or if otherwise what you show doesn’t back up the words you say. The magic word is context.
And when you hire a professional like me, that’s what you actually pay for: not my gear, but my ability to set up context in which you look like a deliberate version of yourself. I’m not fancy: I’m just a good story teller… which is fortunately for me, not something that Apple has figured out how to sell in that sexy minimal packaging yet. Fingers crossed.
PS - Anyone out there have any experience where you didn’t look like yourself in a photo or video? Let’s commiserate.
*As normal as possible with me anyway.
**If jailbait is ever sexy and I am ever not completely awkward.
***More than my usual “staring at you unblinking behind a camera” creepy.
****As if I’m not always.
My husband and the bulk of my good friends here in LA are animators, and I’ve spent a lot of time watching and talking about animation. So I’m always thrilled when there’s overlap between my work world and theirs and I actually have something to contribute.
John is a character animator and asked me to pick a 10 second clip and direct him through it. I picked a scene from To Wong Foo and he went to town.
It was really fun to get back in the director’s chair and not worry about hurting the talent’s feelings. Except his. Except he can take it anyway. But you know, I could say things like, “Make it ugly,” and “She needs to be more of a stuffy bitch” without hurting an actor’s feelings. We talked through it and I shot some reference footage, and here’s what he got. Well done, John! There were some things we disagreed about along the way (cough, peg leg, cough), but I promise neither one of use would have come up with this working solo. You can read what John thought about the whole thing over here.
Just goes to show you, never know what medium is around the corner. Storytelling skillz is storytelling skillz.
So, anyone need a director?
