50 Videos / 50 Weeks

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Week 25

Half-way. The peak of the mountain. It’s all downhill from here, baby! This feels real good. Like, putting on a new pair of socks good. But better? More satisfying? Either way, I wonder how many of you out there are losing bets right now. And where's my cut of the bet?

A special Halloween episode for you. I haven't done the math, but this might be the only holiday that falls on a Friday during this project? Had to make the most of it. Yeah it’s long. No one said you had to watch it! But if I could make a suggestion, throw it on in the background and listen to some legitimately frightening stories from a few of my friends.  I say legitimately frightening because when I called out for help on this one I didn’t really expect anyone to show up with truly scary instances. I shouldn’t have assumed.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN, BE SAFE, AND CATCH ME CELEBRATING THIS MILESTONE 'ROUND TOWN TONIGHT!

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Week 24

Another conceptual piece, this time for my buddy Ben's design start-up, Aesthetic. Fashion is largely beyond me, so when I'm filming these I do my best to surround myself with people well-versed in style.

You guys know what next week is? I sure do. Keep you eyes peeled, there might be a few unique things going down!

Be good

Brendan

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Week 23

I’ve been feeling this intense pressure about my creative work, this project, how I present it, whatever. I decided to stop feeling like that this week. I’m ok with releasing something as stupid as this into the wild. Never said all 50 would be great!

Be good Brendan

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Week 22

You’ve had awful weeks before, right? The kind that makes you want to tell your mother you’re too sick for school today, figuratively? Have you had your windows smashed in, even though there’s nothing worth taking? Or found yourself in a car accident on the way home from work the very next day? (No injuries, car is fine, stupid, stupid fender bender)

I had two shoots planned out both of those days, but my light was gone by the time I had dealt with both scenarios. I’ve become a monthly weekly subscriber to Murphy’s Law. Rather than settle for something last minute that wouldn’t meet my expectations, or be anything you’d want to watch, I present to you a work video that I’ve had in my pocket in the instance something like this happens. I’ve become opposed to posting work videos because it’s low hanging fruit, and that’s my least favorite kind of fruit. But this is what backups are for.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank anyone who keeps up with this project and these films in the slightest. In the grand scheme of things , myself and my work are entirely insignificant. But it helps knowing that there’s some sort of audience out there that is maybe, in a small way, paying attention to whatever pressure, stress, and hustle I choose to put myself under. I can’t wait to share with you what I have planned in the future. You’re all the best.

Be good Brendan

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Week 21

Another one from Utah this summer! I was working 12 hour days while I was out there, so filming this All-City piece was my time to hang out and swim a little. And I had more golden light in the Wasatch Range than I knew what to do with! Why can't I film in the mountains every day?

Thanks to my new friends Kyle Kelley and Ty Hathaway from Golden Saddle for being fun to work with and riding super hard. #partybrand!

Best Brendan

p.s. really missing the dry heat on a day it might snow in Minnesota p.p.s. shout out to Kyle's ass!

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Week 20

An excerpt from Bill Watterson's Kenyon College commencement address on May 20th, 1990. To me, a lesson in understanding and perspective for when I'm capable of feeling anything but.

Disclaimer: A new camera has come into my life, and it's got capabilities for super slow motion, as you can see. Part of this video is trying to get that out of my system so I'm not so tempted when I'm shooting for real. I get it, no one wants to watch a full video at 240 fps!

Best Brendan

p.s. I always feel pretty vulnerable about the more abstract shorts that I do, especially this one since my voice is in it. I think that's a good feeling.

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Week 19

Studio on Fire is the best letterpress shop in the country, and it’s not even close. My friend Steven likes to say “We’ve always been into weird shit, and now we’re getting into even weirder shit”. He wasn’t lying.

I showed up at Studio on Fire’s space for a couple beers and to watch this whole experiment go down. It was no bullshit when they told me they didn’t even know if it’d work. I heard the phrase “Holy shit I think it’s actually working” more than once that day. This serves as a call out to local artists and screen printers to invite them the opportunity to have their shit run over by a massive steamroller, too. Don’t ask me how to get that invite, though. I don’t even know if I’m invited.

Again, an extreme pleasure to collaborate with Studio on Fire. I’ve following their work for a long time, and I suggest you do the same. I'm thrilled at the notion of more collaborations between us in the future.

Brendan.

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Week 18

First music video! I feel like I've almost been putting off doing a music-themed video because it feels so apart of my world and I've been trying to branch out more. But we always come back to what pulls us in the first place.

I really like how this turned out, Brent's a good friend and a total goofball. Sidenote, his beautiful wife Ashley cuts my hair at Stellar Hair Co in NE Minneapolis, she's fantastic. For those of you who noticed, I'm posting early since I'll be on a 6 am flight to Chicago for Riot Fest this weekend. In the area? Gimme a shout!

Best Brendan

[50videos50weeks]

Week 17

This week’s video is as much about this project as my first one. I’ve been in the middle of a busy two weeks. Maybe the busiest of my life. Between working a lot, packing and moving my life across town, filming for projects on the horizon (keep an eye out), and lots of other obligations, I’ve been feeling stretched in all sorts of different directions. But that’s ok, these are the moments that refine us. After getting home late last night from a work shoot, I wanted to give you guys a portrait of what most Thursday nights look for me; taking care of what I need to, and staying up really, really late to edit. It might not mean much to anybody, but it means something to me.

To catch you guys up, a 5x5 film is a simple video composed of five 5-second shots, using only natural sound. It’s an interesting way to put restrictions on the creative film process, which isn’t too far off from what I’m trying to do with this project. 

Be good, Brendan

[50videos50weeks]

The Minneapolis Egotist blog is your source for advertising & marketing news in Minneapolis, St. Paul & the greater Twin Cities area

The project got some love over at Minneapolis Egotist!

[50videos50weeks]

Week 16

A few weeks ago my name got passed along to John Mark, the man behind Hotrocity and MPLSTYLE, and he came to me asking if I would be willing to shoot a launch video for his new fashion e-commerce brand. As he was demonstrating his vision, showing me the clothes, and explaining the brand imprint all I could think about was how over my head it all was. So I agreed. I’ve reached a point where doing what seems intimidating and putting myself out of my comfort zone is the easiest way to find the same high I got when I first started shooting.

I found that the pace and collaboration of working with talent and fashion was really appealing to me, and I hope to do lots more of it. That desire was where Week 14, Graveyard Girl, was born from. The crew on this shoot was outstanding, I can’t say enough how much of a pleasure it was to work with John Mark, Irv Briscoe, Matt Blizel, the dancers, and the assistants. Julia from Ignite was fantastic, I think her talent is beyond obvious in the video.

I hope you enjoy it!

[50videos50weeks]

Week 15

Another one with me in front of the camera, sorry y'all! I love doing fun intimate pieces on my own, but I think larger scale corporate videos are just as fascinating. I got to collaborate with some real folks in this one, and having resources to bounce idea's off of is invaluable. Lots and lots of motion graphics in this one, diving deeper into the world of keyframes.

Full disclosure, I didn't shoot this video. Cinematography from the talented Marty Wood, Art Direction from Allie Long, and Storyboarding, Video Direction, Editing, and other post work from myself.

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Week 14

I find that my two biggest creative outputs, music and film, have an inverse relation when it comes to inspiration for me. I wanted to create visuals that matched the melodramatic and moody vibes of this song, and bring this unsatisfied and distant character that I kept picturing to life. I've been stretching myself in the direction of working with more talent, and it's been so much fun. This was no exception.

Big thanks to Emma, who was down to hang out with some drifters and bite an Uno card when I asked her to. She came to the rescue.

Watch this, share this, and then leave your computer for some place outside. I'm off to Chicago, peace!

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Week 13

So.

This is the first week where I've hit a real roadblock in posting a video every week. I had a video that I worked on this week that I had planned on posting, but for reasons I won't go into, I couldn't. It was a lesson in logistics and planning for me. However, this is a video that I made for All-City Cycles for their Frostbike party. Since we must have the rights to music for commercial work, my friend Ethan and I whipped up this super dorky tune one night. Consider it working ahead!

Cheers!

[50videos50weeks]

Week 12

First, let me say this. Sorry Mom, I know you're reading and watching.

I met Jake location scouting for another video, aka trying to break into a grain elevator. I couldn’t get in, but he gave me a tip on one I could get into down the road. I said thanks, and took off on my bike in search of it. About 15 minutes later, I see Jake pop up again. He came by to check that his directions led me to the right place, and it was a good thing because they hadn’t. This is when I noticed what a character Jake is. I could sense that he just wanted to share with me, his experience, his tools, his social opinions. It was getting dark, but I asked Jake if he’d like to meet me there the next day, and if he was comfortable with being on camera. Initially, he wasn’t. He stated that privacy is important to him, but I gave him my website and number and asked him to take the night to think about it. He did not disappoint.

If I’m being honest, I was feeling creatively drained after a few long weeks of working and traveling non-stop. It was Wednesday, and I had nothing for my Friday deadline. In what felt like a last ditch effort, I left home on my bike in search of anything that might help me focus. That’s when I stumbled on Jake. I learned an important lesson on finding inspiration when I need to, and seizing an opportunity when divine intervention places one in front of me. 

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Week 11

This weeks video comes all the way from the Wasatch Range of Utah! I've been traveling for work doing video assets for our brands at our Dealer demo event, Saddledrive. Here's one of the videos I did for Salsa's new product line.

An added note, I got to ride down the mountain on this exact bike while we shot this. When you've got 30lbs of camera gear on your back, the Bucksaw is very forgiving. Thanks to Paul Westbrook, KellyMac, and Kid Reimer for helping shoot as well.

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Week 10

A milestone, of sorts. It feels good to get into the double digits!

I set out to create something using footage that I had not shot, and craft a story out of something it wasn't intended to be apart of (although I did sneak a handful of my own shots in there). I also want to try my hand at more avant garde filmmaking, not because it's what I love, but because I think it makes my other work better.

The legality of this one is pretty grey, but hey, I'm making exactly zero dollars off of this! I mostly used free archive footage and shots I had taken myself, but there are others that are not so free. Good on you if you can pick em out.