Alex Knell

Branded Fashion Film - DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT

We love your initiative to develop new work that reacts to your classic spaces, and we want to help you do it. A digital community of dancers and cultural enthusiasts awaits! They’re hungry and more sensitive than ever to the visceral, ephemeral, and spiritual experience of live performance in a palpable setting. With funding and an imaginative wardrobe from Brand, our dance-on-film will romance your extraordinary Company Theater space by daring to renew a tradition that’s been with us since we were little girls—The Nutcracker.

This classic ballet is as mainstay a part of our holiday tradition as is getting a Christmas tree. Sometimes, though, a tradition needs to be shaken up, cracked open and roasted! We are totally ready to present our own nut-cracked version of this well-known performance to the wide world on the web, and what better way to do it than in the inspiring space that is the Company stage. Brand’s 4 million Instagram followers and 52 thousand YouTube subscribers are braced and waiting.

Merde, quoi!

Horror Feature - LOCATION ETHICS

Shooting on location gives us immense opportunity to capture under-seen sights, rich textures, and a distinct color palette. At the beginning of our film, when foreign adventure and local hosts enchant our heroes, we can express respect for our locale by infusing its unique color palette into our production design, wardrobe and photography. Then, as the friends disembark from society and travel further off grid, our colors can take on the native hues of our characters’ majestic and at times intimidating natural environment. Finally, when the home appears it can contrast with the wild around it and exude local grandeur—a trusty beacon of hope, calm and salvation. We’ll be sure not to create fear around exoticism itself, around foreigners, or around a particular culture; our fear will be honed in on the off chance that we meet an unusually angry dog, in a sadly derelict house, far from anyone who can help us.

Pharma - TONE

These films are just my cup of tea: hopeful stories about hard times told with craftiness and delight. That we can blend the candid with the posed here really excites me; our docu elements will make these stories real, while the art will catch the eye, simplify complex ideas and soothe our painful topic. Because we are staging a whole collage of setups, I will be emphatic that every detail expresses, as clearly and memorably as possible, our storyteller’s message—that donating plasma is truly a life-giving act.

As a commercial filmmaker it’s a huge treat to sell the audience on doing a good deed. I love that we can show there’s an option for giving back to the world that is simple, satisfying, and indisputably effective. As we design each patient’s story, our necessary ingredients must prevail: 1) that this is the story of a real person; 2) that they once struggled bleakly with illness; 3) that plasma donation revived their life; and 4) that all thanks is due to Brand X’s donors. As we find the right stagings, props, and photo set ups to represent this story arc with cleverness and surprise, let’s keep our finger to the wind, making sure our creative storm is always blowing in the direction of a clear message emotionally told.

Luxury - SHOOTING STYLE

Blending photography stills with cinematic camera moves is my favorite way to build an energetic film. The crisp light in still photography adds a nice boldness to the smooth cinematic shadows of theatrical footage. In naturally-lit spaces with sun and windows this is an easy combo, while darker spaces call for a more expert hand. I’m over the moon to bring a real heavyweight to the table, stills photographer X, and my longtime gaffer Y.

It’s important to me that we capture everything in-camera and not manipulate the truth in post. We should give ourselves the time to find great, grand angles and practice our choreography so that we can authentically showcase the best of Brand and run our set ahead of schedule. I’ve been in touch with DPs A, who created the beautiful motion in the Brand spot, and B, a sweet presence on set who’s full of ideas for solving problems. I also feel super confident with C, who knows my style and reliably delivers a plethora of great options for our edit. All three of these cinematographers are keen on blending footage with still imagery, and understand that communication is key to operating an efficient set of dancing cameras.

Automotive - APPROACH

Brand has quite a persona! From its earliest history, it exudes a way of life, an attitude. Let’s make our film in the same spirit, with a sense of freedom and agility, evoking feelings of fun and boundary-pushing adventure. We can discover how the designers’ personalities express Brand’s character too, shining a light on the vibes that make a Brand, a Brand. We can also explore the challenges our designers’ experiences today; that will hit at the heart of Brand’s capacity to endure.

As an art-forward filmmaker who avidly watches design-centric content, I notice how many films fail to bring the narrative of design full circle. The story often flatlines, hinting that visual aesthetic is enough to propel our interest. Let’s break this shallow habit and be sure to champion why design is important in the first place: good design argues for a philosophy, speaks to a contemporary moment, evokes an emotional response and respectfully evolves from functional needs that make the world a better place. For example Brand’s space-saving, fuel-reducing backstory is awesome; I’m keen on including it here. This puts the substance back in ‘product substance’.

Docu-style - EDITING

I adore an efficient editing timeline and can edit quite quickly, largely because I thrive off of that post-shoot energy. I get so eager to see what we’ve captured and how it can thread together in a creative way. As I dive into the edit and just after wrapping up interviews, it’s nice to share a text transcription between the creative team and I so we can get a sense of our favorite quotes. Then, upon presenting a rough cut, it’s helpful to partner with the agency in-person for finessing the tweaks that bring us to a final edit. This can make a tight turnaround a reality. In the past I’ve been able to present a rough cut and finesse it to final cut in just one day because the creative team and I were so in sync.