Here are some selections from Edyta Stepien and Chuck Przybyl’s 25 minute immersive video installation “upSTREAM”. The sometimes playful and fractured imagery works around the theme of information stimulation. Instead of commenting outright – the two artists push the focus to an almost molecular level showing the raw elements of light and movement. From the point of luminescence, they have mined the core elements of our data driven culture. The video goes upSTREAM to identify the source of our insatiable appetite for light.
upSTREAM premiered April 17th 2015 at Chicago Art Department as part of the LakeFX and CIMMfest showcase Synergies.
The format was a 6 projection immersive visual space that doubled as a performance environment for Modern Tapes recording artist Cellule34 and Froe Char.
Here is the documentation of Cellule34’s performance – shot by Chicago Art Department’s Nat Soti
Most Visual is pleased to announce 2 of their creatives – Chuck Przybyl and Edyta Stepien – will each have a short film premiering at the Lake FX and CIMMfest programmed experimental film screening Synergies.
Chuck Przybyl produced the short “Play Ground” which uses a vintage playground in London’s Norwood neighborhood as location. Shot after a dawn rain, this short focuses on the charm of the aging rides in an elegant documentary style. The video also works as a microcosm to show London’s gritty underbelly. “Play Ground” features a playful music score by Lee Jarvis. Lee mixed the location audio into the track adding another level of documentation to this experimental video.
Edyta Stepien directed the short film “Never Coming Home” which uses a soft yet sterile natural setting as a base for layering imagery with subtle beauty. It is set to the haunting downtempo track of the same name by Michael Daly of The Michelles.
Lake FX is a film and music symposium that is hosted by the City of Chicago’s DCASE and “powered by Google”. The film portion of Lake FX is programmed by CIMMfest. Synergies is hosted by Chicago Art Department and takes place Friday April 17 at 7PM. The film program includes a diverse group of Chicago-based artists and filmmakers – including work by Christopher Andrew, Matt Egan, Steve Wood, Chris Hefner, Theodore Darst, brownshoesonly, Kim Alpert, Brett Naucke, and Emily Tolan. The night culminates with a live music performance by Modern Tapes recording artists Cellule34 and Froe Char within the video installation. The film program also features the premier of a Timelapse tale of the city by Christopher Andrew, Stoptime341.
A selection of screenprints by Chicago Art Department residents Tyler Deal / Idiot Pull, Dud Lawson, and Ryan Troy Ford will be on display.
Over 8 months in production – Chicago Architecture Foundation’s new online section Skyline Stories is up and ready for viewing. Chuck Przybyl and Edyta Stepien worked with Zero One Projects and producer Nat Soti to create 40 stunning videos for CAF. This remarkable project began as the an objective – to create 4 videos showcasing each of the 1o most iconic buildings in Chicago. The buildings selected were Chicago Board of Trade, Marina City, Willis Tower, The Rookery, Monadnock Building, Marquette Building, Thompson Center, Inland Steel Building, Harold Washington Library Center, and Tribune Tower. Each building has been meticulously filmed by Director of Photography Chuck Przybyl as Directed by Chicago Architecture Foundation’s Anjuli Maniam.
I’ve posted the videos I’ve worked on and a general description below.
The Chicago Board of Trade for Chicago Architecture Foundation’s Skyline Stories – this was our first day of filming Chicago’s 10 most iconic buildings. I gained an awestruck appreciation for the amazing interior decor. The lines and symmetry within the building were a dream to shoot – especially for someone like me who likes details and order in composition.
I thought I knew a lot about Chicago. But when we began to find out more about our subjects for Skyline Stories I had no idea that the Chicago Board of Trade building was the tallest building in Chicago for 35 years. And that the observation deck which has been shuttered for 50 years was once the top attraction in the city. It was a great treat to find myself in one of the most unusual urban exploration spaces I could imagine.
Yes – we drove the 19 story spiral up Marina City’s famous parking garage – the first 8 floors at relatively high speed. It was amazing to gain access to this section of the building. The story of Marina City is excellent and after doing the drive up and down I can see why it must be an all valet system 🙂
One thing that stuck me on this shoot was that units next to each other can be bought and joined together, they knock down the walls and combine them. Residents jump at the opportunity to buy their neighbors place and add it to their own. Call these towers corn cobs or sunflowers – Marina City – Bertrand Goldberg’s utopian urban community is still active today.
From the bottom to the top – an overview of the tower formerly known as Sears
Three times up to the roof of the Sears Tower for this Skyline Story.
You can read more about that experience in the Roof of the Sears Tower blog post.
Tribune Tower – Chicago’s skyscraper cathedral. The secrets of this building are so vast we were only allowed access to the outside 🙂 I will not complain – mostly because we were able to gain access to the view from next door which was a wonderful way to experience the tower – although from a distance.
Tribune Tower – the story of the tower. I worked on 2 stories for each building one about it’s form and structure and one about the stories behind the building. This one discusses the architectural influences of the tower.
Marquette Building – with this building the concept of the branded skyscraper was born (in 1895). One of Chicago’s oldest standing skyscrapers. I was familiar with it from previous meetings at the MacArthur Foundation whose headquarters are located within. The lobby rotunda is a unique marvel – and trust me I wouldn’t make a statement like that often.
How the Marquette Building got it’s hat back. The story of how it was brought back to its original look with the installation of a new high tech cornice.
Monadnock Building – an architectural curiosity that is as monolithic as it’s name. This is what Wikipedia has to say “Monadnock was the largest office building in the world, with 1,200 rooms and an occupancy of over 6,000. The Chicago Daily Tribune commented that the population of most Illinois towns in 1896 would fit comfortably in the building. It was a postal district unto itself, with four full-time carriers delivering mail six times a day, six days a week. It was the first building in Chicago wired for electricity, and one of the first to be fire-proofed.”
Chicago’s Optimo Hats in the Monadnock Building brings classic quality back into our era.
The Inland Steel Building. Modernest, clean, and of course steel – a revolutionary modular open floor plan inside housed by an elegant cage.
Skyline Stories with Richard F. Tomlinson II of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill discussing working in the Inland Steel Building
I think that the Thompson Center is one of the more under appreciated buildings in downtown Chicago – it has amazing statistics – but the one that gets me is the number of glass panes viewable in one of the worlds largest enclosed spaces. It must have been something to look upon when it was built – you can view a plan on paper and try to imagine the outcome but to actually be in that place and witness the reflections in the glass and the lightplay is something else.
Cooling the massive Thompson Center with ice.
Harold Washington Library – Chicago’s colossal post-modern monument to itself. Loved by tourists, a sometimes confounding structure to locals: HWLC is big, bold, and beyond compare.
Further interest and steep, deep city trivia on this one – Chicago’s Public Library system began with a gift from from Queen Victoria after the Great Fire.
The Rookery – this is the last building of the series. Of all the ones we shot this is my favorite interior – we made good use of the jib for the atrium lobby. An amazing place to shoot.
The last video in the CAF Skyline Stories I’ve been posting. This one showcases the Frank Lloyd Wright redesign of the Rookery atrium. This series was produced by Nat Soti with Zero One Projects. Special camera assistance from Jeremy Handrup.
Update:
The Box of Sound screening was a great success, packed house and a perfect pairing – playing with I Dream of Wires. Thanks to all those that came out. This site will eventually contain a multimedia Box of Sound experience. Check back for updates.
I’m very excited to announce that Box of Sound – our short documentary will be screened at Chicago’s CIMMfest on May 2nd. It opens the for the long-awaited documentary “I Dream of Wires”. Our crew will be in attendance.
Description:
This short documentary weaves process, story and sound experimentation into a visceral cinema experience. Box of Sound – documents the process of making a cigar box into a synthesizer by Antoine Kattar: circuit bender, musician, and audio hardware engineer. The box is expertly put to use by Chicago electronic music producer Searchl1te, to create a truly unique song. Searchl1te is also shadowed as he gathers field recordings, breaking glass to create a snare and banging train cars for use as a bass drum.
The transformation of the cigar box into an analog audio instrument and the song created with it, has all been meticulously documented, in every glorious detail, by director and cinematographer Chuck Przybyl and producer Mark Salach. They went into this project with the stated goal of making the visual as interesting as the audio, or more so – when possible. Every scene in this documentary has been meticulously captured and every image distilled to its essence. It is a glimpse into the world of circuit bending and proof that anything can be used as an instrument to create music.
When I heard that Moviemaker Magazine voted Chicago the #1 Best Big City to Live and Work as a Filmmaker, a number of thoughts came to mind. The first was “Of course”, The second was “Uh-Oh”, hopefully my city will not be overwhelmed with filmmakers. I imagined droves of crews, large and small, jockeying for positions at locations like a giant media spectacle.
But after reading a few lines into the article, it was very clear to me that my filmmaker’s paradise was not going away any time soon. No, the article did not herald a dystopian future rife with camera toting zombies, although I did learn that if a Tom Cruise dystopian future film being produced here they would be rewarded with a 30% tax break.
See, what I failed to realize was that – probably – no actual Chicago filmmakers had been polled about the joys of filmmaking in my city. Instead, they used six criteria to rank the cities – dollars generated, shooting days, indie shooting days, film community and culture, equipment and facilities, tax incentives and cost of a living, all completely valid measures, but mostly lists and statistics.
Here’s my attempt to add an independent filmmakers’ perspective. Keep in mind that I am describing a city that I’ve known and loved my whole life, and I’m sure other cities have similar qualities in varying degrees. But at the same time there is something wide open about this city, something that allows you to use in it many ways, as a stage.
Chicago locations have always been the city’s strong point. From seedy alleys to gleaming skyscrapers, – everything in between is good as well – beaches, the magnificent mile, viaducts, skyscrapers, neighborhoods, tree lined streets, urban blight, bridges, railroads, ships, grain elevators, forests, prairies, industrial wastelands, suburban sprawl, snow and sun. There really is a lot to choose from, but of course if and when you need deserts and mountains you may already know where to go for that.
Then there is the L train. Countless shots have been elevated through the use of an L track in the background, line it up at a strong diagonal angle and the rest is framing gravy. Or even driving shots from under the L makes for great cinema like in the Blues Brothers famous car chase scene under Lake Street. Full disclosure, I have an unparalleled obsessive love for the original Blues Brothers film.
Actually, The Blues Brothers movie is always referred to as a landmark for production in Chicago, the wide use of the city and substance abuse of the crew are legendary. The story goes that the iconic locations used in the movie put Chicago on the filming map, and the unbelievable access that the city gave the production can never be overstated. But the location stars that stand out to me are the street corners and the shops, with both creepy nooks and sweeping industrial landscapes – it is all here. I imagine they approached their scouting of the city much as i do – like a giddy kid. It can be like shooting fish in a barrel (good name for a production company too BTW).
A producer friend had remarked at the crew screening of our feature narrative – One Body: “If Chuck wasn’t Director of Photography, he’d have a great career as a location scout.” I’d like to think that was true but a lot of my knowledge of Chicago comes from exploring the city both as Director of Photography and many years as a street photographer. This city has been host to many amazing photojournalists and street photographers and even the recent spotlight on Vivian Maier, showcases Chicago as her playground as well.
I’ve worked on large and small scale projects in Chicago. Either can be facilitated by the ability to mobilize in this city. Whole blocks can be reserved for productions and currently are on a regular basis. But on a smaller scale you can maneuver a micro crew around this city with the speed and agility of a street photographer. If you are shooting a documentary or reality show you may want to do just that.
One thing that seemed to be strangely absent from the Moviemaker Magazine article’s description of Chicago was the wonderful documentaries that are being produced here. The recent list of documentaries from Kartemquin Films and Siskel/Jacobs Productions are stellar. I point to great recent documentary films like The Interrupters, The Trials of Mohammed Ali, and Louder Than a Bomb, all true examples of quality documentary films produced in Chicago. The quality work being produced by other great documentary production crews and studios in Chicago is beginning mount and be recognized as well. When we discuss Chicago as a top city for filmmakers, I think it is the documentary filmmakers that reap the most benefit, even if they have the lowest profile. The accessibility and resources available make it possible to keep personal documentary projects in the works, whether as side projects or bonafide full productions.
The shooting of dramatic series’ has been building over the recent years. I remember hearing over and over way back when the show ER was first popular, “They only shoot the exteriors in Chicago.” I always understood it as a way to discredit what was being done here in some backhanded way. Now that Cinespace Film Studios has anchored studio production within the city, it has become easier to utilize the pool of actors that are still calling this city “home”. I’ve heard a handful of stories about Chicago actors returning from LA and New York because they can find work here once again.
Yes in all – it would appear, without bragging and boasting, that Chicago does have an edge when it comes to filmmaking. I know I am planning to make work here for a long time to come and I’m sure there is room for everyone to play along side.
