pulse chicago

I got a new video art project this week. This video represents a "thank you" to the city and everyone I've had the pleasure to work with. Also this is a video art project so there is no straight narrative just an abstract combination of visuals and audio. The bio on it is below Pulse Chicago is a video art project by videographer/filmmaker David Weathersby. It is a summary of one year of video work within the Chicago art scenes. The clips are from various projects accompanied by words from the artist crew or observers present during the shoot.

verge connected: Obisoulstar "Call Me"

verge connected is finally back. Sorry for the delay but I had a ton of shooting to get done. Besides where do you think I get all these clips Ha! This week I have the music video from Obisoulstar entitled "Call Me." We shot this video over two days, one interior and one exterior. The most amazing thing about this video is that we had a set list of shots like a normal shoot. But as we were walking through the city from one location to another we found various spots that were as good or better than the scheduled shots. This city packed with great locations. Check out the video below.


Obisoulstar: "Call Me"

"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: Gallery D'Estee presents Dr. Burroughs

This week I want to show a clip from a short documentary I was honored to do on Dr. Margaret Burroughs. Dr. Burroughs is the co founder of the Du Sable Museum and an all around icon of the Chicago art world. This was a part of the Delta Sigma Theta's Gallery D'Estee Exhibit that pays tribute to an influential person to the Chicago Black art scene.


It was amazing to see how many lives Dr. Burroughs has touched as well as her own words through poetry. Check out the clip below.

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: the last four days

This week we are going WAAAAAYYY back for this entry. This was actually one of the first short films I ever did, and it’s a little experimental. It’s basically 4 video diary entries from a man losing his faith and grasp on reality. He expresses his feelings through monologues and confessions.

We shot this in one day, with an extremely small crew and I wish I had footage of the rehearsals because we really had some intense moments developing the character.

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.

Wrap Party Blog: Chi Town City Life by Tasleem "Jamila" Firdausee

This week we have the new music video for Tasleem"Jamila" Firdausee called "Chi Town City Life." The song is a biographical look at Tasleem’s life growing up in Chicago and how it shaped her past and present.

Pre Production, production and post production was done in a week. After getting a list of the locations that were mentioned in the song and had a significant meaning to Tasleem, it was my job to make sure that the shots flowed with the pace of the song. If I had to give it a name it was more of a narrative montage, meaning there was combination of shots from various locations but they were still in a order that followed the lyrics of the song.

On a side note, This was shot on the COLDEST day of the year. The maximum takes per shot was two. LOL Chicago weather is a great motivator. Check out the video.

Wrap Party Entry: Flamethrowers

A While back I was honored enough to do a 9 vignette video for Deana Dean called Natural Progression (There will be specific Wrap Party blog for that one). As a part of the DVD,we did a 6 poet piece called Flamethrowers.

Flamethrowers was amazing, because I was working with what I consider 6 of the best poets in the city. Each poem seemed to build momentum to next poem which gave an abstract yet subtle feel to the poetry.
As a videographer, I was able to focus on using the various locations and blocking as if it were a supporting cast member to the poets. As you see in the video, I took out all color in the video to highlight the straight forward power of each piece. Along with the shot framing I tried to create a contrast between Natural Progression by eliminating the narrative, and creating a "in the moment" video.

Check out the clip and be looking out for the next Wrap Party Blog.