Hennessy Artistry concert promo

Promo for Hennessy Artistry Concert featuring Q-Tip, The Roots, Erykah Badu, Kid Sister, Curren$y. brought to you by nthebackground.com

Hennessy Artistry Concert Promo from sub.verse.studios. on Vimeo.

City Vanguard Documentary Series

Here is the latest project from sub.verse.studios. We are really excited about these film projects.

City Vanguard is a documentary series for the arts and culture communities of Chicago. The purpose of the series is to provide a portal to segments of the arts world that do not get the exposure they deserve. By providing consistent documentary style programs and original programs, City Vanguard brings a deeper understanding of Chicago artists as well as the fascinating cultures that may not have a voice. The target audiences for City Vanguard are those that understand, appreciate, support and participate in the Chicago arts community as a whole. Our audience is predominately African-Americans and people of color, between the age of 19-45, as well as fans and supporters of urban art forms.
We want to do more than document the cultures of the community; we want to cooperate with the community. To accomplish this, we have developed a video production apprentice program called Community Studio. Community Studio is an apprentice program for video production beginners which will give the participants a chance to be a part of a local video production as crew or cast members. Participants will experience the three main phases of video production: pre production, production and post production. Through hands on participation and professional instruction, people from the community will have the opportunity to complete a video project that will be screened to the public.

The City Vanguard Project from sub.verse.studios. on Vimeo.

Rockstar Poetry Project EPK

Its always exciting doing a project with Khari B and the Rockstar Poetry Project is no exception. This fusion of poetry, soul, rock and jazz makes for one of the most eclectic, and groundbreaking live experience. Check out the EPK for this amazing band.

Rockstar Poetry Project EPK from sub.verse.studios. on Vimeo.

Phenom performing "ashtray" at the Shrine.

This clip is from a while back. It is one of my favorite hip hop artist and a really talented musician by the name of Phenom. This is one of his original songs that is a crowd favorite where ever he performs it. Check out the clip.

Phenom at Shrine performing "Ashtray" from sub.verse.studios. on Vimeo.

Black Monks of Mississippi performing at the South Side Community Art Center

Got a new update today. Sharing a clip I did for the South Side Community Art Center's Art Exhibit "Demise of the South Side Community Art Center." During the exhibit we had the pleasure of having the Black Monks of Mississippi perform featuring Theaster Gates. Theaster Gates brings a refreshing originality and depth to his work and its best to view it rather than describe it. Check out the clip below.

Black Monks of Mississippi performing at the South Side Community Art Center from sub.verse.studios. on Vimeo.

Vo Era

It's a new year so we have a new day for the sub.verses.studios. blog. I'll be posting new entries on Wednesday instead of Monday from now on. The first clip of the new year is a commercial from an extremely talented artist in Chicago by the name of Vo Era. On top of creating great music he also puts on a great live show. I was privileged enough to put together a commercial for him and look forward to more projects in the future. Check out the clip below.

William Kurk EPK

I recently finished an EPK for musician William Kurk. William was great to work with because he has an original and refreshing sound so it was alot of fun to use that as base for the visuals. This EPK is combination of live performance and studio work that I had to weave to together around the songs. It was important to show his range from the stage to the studio. Check out the clip below.

Deana Dean EPK

I recently finished an EPK for one of my best friends and favorite poets; Deana Dean. She is one of the my most dynamic and insightful poet I've had the pleasure of meeting and a pillar on the Chicago scene. We've worked together on Natural Progression as well as capturing footage of her at various events. I was able to combine the various footage into one project While using a common audio source for all of it. Check out the clip.

City Census: Music Venues in Chicago

As some of you might know I'm currently working a number of projects for local musicians. I've had quite a bit of experience shooting at venues all over the city. Naturally I have my favorites and my not so favorites. However, I'd like to hear from you about your experiences and which venues would you consider your favorite spot for live music. I’d like to see if there is a consensus on the best spots in Chicago.

verge connected: New sub.verse.studios. commercials

Hey Everyone

Thought it was time for a new commercial since we got so many new projects. This one highlights the new focus of the studio on documentaries, EPK, music videos and commercials. Sub.verse.studios. will be producing various projects such as verge: the documentary concert series and other film projects. All updates will be posted on the website sub.versestudios.com so check back in the next couple of weeks.

"The Wrap Party" is now Verge Connected

“The Wrap Party,” the companion blog for sub.verse.studios., is now Verge Connected. The blog is a preview of the upcoming documentary series “verge” coming soon from sub.verse.studios. Check out the new link and I will be sending out info on the debut of the pilot episode.

http://vergeconnected.blogspot.com/

Wrap Party Blog: Tkumah Sadeek Performance

Earlier this year I had to pleasure to shoot Tkumah Sadeek performing at the Grass Roots Art Gallery. Tkumah is an amazingly talented performer that seemed to use the energy of the crowd to propel the performance. She was accompanied by Kafele Bandele who is another phenomenal artist. This was alot of fun to shot and edit because the source material was so good. DVD's areavailable. Check out the clip.

Wrap Party Blog: Artist of Hatch Entertainment

This week I want to show you a clip I did last summer. This was for Hatch Entertainment and features footage of Maggie Brown, Corey Wilkes and Yaw. This clip was literally a compilation of a summer of shooting. I spent alot of time that year getting footage from their various performances. These are three of the most talented artist I've had the pleasure of shooting. Check out the clip.

Wrap Party Blog: Dream Team Collective

This week I want show you guys a fashion show by Stacie Patrice and the Dream Team Collective. What I liked about this clip is I was able to add some different art elements since this wasn't a traditional fashion show. Stacie was great about being open to something unique so I had some freedom. This was shot at her Birthday party. The models walked through the party instead of a runway so that allowed me opportunity to try some different angles. Check out the clip.

Wrap Party Blog: Natural Progression (some of my favorites)

Last year I did a great project with Poet and buddy Deana Dean. We adapted 9 of her poems into short films for her DVD. It was probably the most fun I've had on a set working with her and all the Chicago poets and finding a complimentary visual concept to go along with her poems. The feedback was very positive and inspiring and it was very interesting to see how diverse the interpretations of the film were.

Everyone seems to have a favorite clip/poem, the one that seemed to touch them the most. Well this week I wanted to post three of mine in no particular order. Check out the clips and if you have seen the DVD let me know if share the same favorite.

Wrap Party Blog: Noise

This week I decided to post something from the video art files. I started doing video art projects after being inspired by an art exhibit I attended. What I like about video art is the ability to "freestyle" with video. Video production is very structured with alot of pre-planning. I was always jealous of my music and poetry friends that could flow with their art anywhere and anytime. This is as close as you can get with video.

Noise is literally left over pieces of footage and audio from other projects. I wanted to use some monologue audio from a theatre project and give it a visual presence. However, I wanted to be very abstract.

Check out the clip below.

Wrap Party Blog: Soul of a Woman

I know it's been a while but the Wrap Party is back. I'm proud to present "Soul of a Woman" this week. The reason I'm so happy is because I've been informed that this film has been accepted into the Black Harvest Film Festival. Soul of a Woman is a documentary I did a few years back about 25 women of color who contributed to the art exhibit of the same name at the South Shore Cultural Center.

This was an amazing shoot. The ages and background of each artist was so varied and unique that the interviews were like personal documentaries in them self. From spending time in a Tibet monastery to tales of life in Rwanda the interviews were enlightening.

Check out the trailer and be on the lookout for more information on the premiere.

Wrap Party Blog: Phenom's Performance EPK

This week I'm really happy to present Phenom's performance EPK. This was a little different from a usual EPK because it's more of a music video style. Since I had alot of footage of Phenom performing, it was a matter of going through all of it and seeing what fit the song as well as pulling out the quotes from his interview. We tried various styles but settled on this one because it fit him and his music best and that's what is important in an EPK.

Check out the clip below.

Wrap Party Blog: K-Fleye

This was a fun project I did last summer. It was a promotional video for a great Designer named K-Fleye. She does some of the best jewelry I've seen. Basically, we needed to do a video that could be played while her jewelry was being modeled. I had alot of freedom on this project so I structured it like a video art Project. Check out Clip below.

Wrap Party Blog: The Text Fight

Every once in a while we will be going back in time with the Wrap Party. Meaning, old projects will be highlighted along with the new ones. This week we are "revisiting" The Text Fight.

This was a short film we did a few years back. Its actually a short of a short film that came about because I was submitting to a film festival that had a 5 minute running time limit. Thus The Text Fight was born.

Its actually the first scene of Life in Quotations, which is the story of a man who can only talk in text quotes. Unfortunately, this includes his every thought which are on display for everyone to see.

By the way the film was chosen for the film festival (Chicago Short Comedy Film Festival) and from there was picked up by WTTW 11 for their program Image Union.

Check out The Text Fight below.