i forgot more than you will ever know

i went to a great short film screening friday. the screening was comprised of 7 short films (all 16mm) by director ben rivers--- a shy, whispy, and ruddy cheeked brit with a pentachant to ramble and flail, but all in all a seemingly passionate and genuine individual. my research prior to the screening unearthed a pleasant surprise, several years ago he directed a music video for amon tobin-slowly. when i brought his video experience up he was shocked that i knew about it; and swore up and down how much he loathed doing them, but in the end it's essentially what pays the bills and he only does them for good friends.
if only my career sacrifices were so easy...
looking at several other amon tobin videos i came across one
by floria sigismondi- 4 ton mantis:




the more i watched it, the more it reminded me of the photographer dario villalba:







also i see similarities with this recent video for the kills:




and last but not least this piece by dash snow came to mind as well:



floria has hands down been one of my favorite directors since...
i recall one time i was visiting my brother when he was a producer at arnold in boston. i was about 15 and probably a handful. he was stuck in meetings during my office visit, so the best babysitter he could muster was plopping me down to view a stack of directors reels. at the top of the heap was floria's reel.
the whole concept of watching a directors reel was completely foreign, but also extremely intriguing. most reels are comprised of ads, but a good nugget have music videos on them. at it's best it's like watching the salad days of mtv's 120 minutes-- uninterrupted.
those 'babysitting' sessions essentially solidified my interest and desire to pursue something, anything, that would get me closer to these directors and this world they were showing the rest of us with their lens.