Who: Minivegas
Founders: Luc Schurgers and Dan Lewis
Innovation in: Directing
Why you need to know about them: The modern director is tech savvy, DIY and media agnostic, as au fait with programming, apps, animation and post-production as live action, and the creative possibilities that come with that are boundless.
“Whether you’re directing a traditional live-action spot, or a rich media project, I don’t really see a difference,” says 30-year-old London-based director Luc Schurgers [pictured], who with Dan Lewis makes up Nexus- and Green Dot-repped Minivegas. “We can do pretty much everything. We do our own programming, 3D and compositing.”
A cursory glance through current projects from Minivegas, (which formed as a collective in 2005 but became a duo in August 2009), backs that breadth of creative scope. Schurgers recently shot a live-action comedy spot for Snack-A-Jack, and a CG bonanza for the Star Wars Clone Wars console game. Perfect for time-starved travelers, Happy Granny is an iPhone app that sends a real postcard of photos taken on the iPhone. In conjunction they’ve also created a hilarious, fully-animated viral and website.
In terms of matching music to visuals, however, they’re really pushing the envelope. The pair are working on a real-time, audio-reactive projection system that visualizes music for a live performance pitting labels Warp and Ninja Tune against each other. As well as running a physical gallery and creating installations, their experimental, virtual gallery manifests music as fantastic 3D sculptures of sound, while gesture-recognition technology allows users to interact with the music and move around the space.
“[Directing is] a feeling communicated, whether that’s something you do via sound analysis or live-action photography. The ideal situation is to mix projects: programming, then live action for the next one, then 3D. It keeps you on your toes,” says Schurgers. EW
www.nexusproductions.com
www.greendotfilms.com
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