A rundown of a few things that caught my eye today; trying to build that link karma.

New Hit Boy posse cut ft. Raekwon, Schoolboy Q & more. – Pigeons & Planes

Trailer for Cali Beat Scene Documentary – OkayFuture

Fresh New Blu & Exile Video for “Ease Your Mind” – OkayPlayer

Wavves new video is apocalyptic fun “Demon To Lean On” – Pitchfork

Nova Rockafeller “Call Me Batman”

Yeah this is happening and I couldn’t be happier. I moved to LA 9 years ago, Stones Throw Records moved into my heart 15 years ago, so seeing that this is coming together I’m all over it.

I”ve given STR plenty of my money over the years, so might as well give them some more. Stones Throw Records have put together a Kickstarter campaign to put this all together. I’ll let them explain it themselves:

THE FILM:

OUR VINYL WEIGHS A TON (THIS IS STONES THROW RECORDS) is a feature-length documentary about avant-garde Los Angeles-based record label Stones Throw Records. Under the direction of founder and world-renowned DJ Peanut Butter Wolf, Stones Throw has consistently released critically acclaimed, left-of-center albums since its founding in 1996.

Catalog highlights include hip-hop classics like Madvillain’s Madvillainy, Dilla’s Donuts and Quasimoto’s The Unseen. They also include retro-soul hits such as Mayer Hawthorne’s A Strange Arrangement and Aloe Blacc’s Good Things, Dam-Funk’s boogie-funk masterpiece Toeachizown, and the oddball works of James Pants and Gary Wilson. Drawing on live concert footage, never-before-seen archival material, inner-circle home video and photographs and in-depth interviews with the folks who put Stones Throw on the map, OUR VINYL WEIGHS A TON will delve deeper into the label’s enigmatic artists, history, culture and global following.

I like the guy, I think thats all I can say. Stay winning D. Glover.

Not much more you need then this; a serene night, powder, your board, & LEDs. I haven’t snowboarded in close to 10 years, but watching this is enthralling.

Coming Nowness.com Fashion photographer talks about his inspiration for this project:

Fashion photographer and filmmaker Jacob Sutton swaps the studio for the slopes of Tignes in the Rhône-Alpes region of south-eastern France, with a luminous after hours short starring Artec pro snowboarder William Hughes. The electrifying film sees Hughes light up the snow-covered French hills in a bespoke L.E.D.-enveloped suit courtesy of designer and electronics whizz John Spatcher. “I was really drawn to the idea of a lone character made of light surfing through darkness,” says Sutton of his costume choice. “I’ve always been excited by unusual ways of lighting things, so it seemed like an exciting idea to make the subject of the film the only light source.” Sutton, who has created work for the likes of Hermès, Burberry and The New York Times, spent three nights on a skidoo with his trusty Red Epic camera at temperatures of -25C to snap Hughes carving effortlessly through the deep snow, even enlisting his own father to help maintain the temperamental suit throughout the demanding shoot. “Filming in the suit was the most surreal thing I’ve done in 20 years of snowboarding,” says Hughes of the charged salopettes. “Luckily there was plenty of vin rouge to keep me warm, and Jacob’s enthusiasm kept everyone going through the cold nights.”

Sweet.

This is a fresh idea on how to use this new fangled augmented reality technology, called Augmented Reality Cinema. The plan is to take locations and match movie clips to them through augmented reality; check out the teaser video below.

Though seems more appropriate for events and teasers as opposed to outright daily consumption. Though for entertainment companies, bands, and the right marketing/advertising minds this could be a really cool set up. I could even see a History Channel app using this.

To quote Frank Ocean’s “Novacane” – “Some visionary shit”. This video is fresh as hell. Great concept and executed perfectly to an amazing track that marries obsession, sex, lust, and young love into a comedic and ultimately haunting video.

Picked up from the man @johngotty
Follow for more visionary shit @social8gency

I caught with one of the young guns in music video directing, SMKA affiliated Dustin Chambers, and all around top notch dude.  One of the guys that I’m expecting to see a lot from this guy in the future so good to drop into Dustin Chambers & The SMKA Experience.

Was directing always where you felt you wanted to be?

Yes and no. When I was a kid, I really wanted to be a director, then in college I wanted to be a documentary photographer, and at this point I do about 50% video and 50% photojournalism. They’re two very different types of storytelling, though I find that my documentary photo style seeps into my music videos quite often. I’ve always connected less with directing narratives and more about creating rhythmic visuals.

Where are you originally from?

Atlanta, GA.

Has your hometown/how you grew up affected your outlook on filmmaking at all?

I grew up in a very visually literate family; my mom is a painter and my dad is an advertising photographer, so I was always around it. As I got older we would pick apart commercials and photos as we saw them in passing, so I really learned what a successful visual was, what an unsuccessful visual was, and most importantly, what elements made them each that way.

Who inspired you to get into the field?

It’s hard to say. I of course have my favorite directors, but in terms of music video, I really got into it when I got iMovie in Junior High or maybe even earlier. My first video was some stuff I filmed at a July 4 parade in a friend’s neighborhood; I cut it to Born In The U.S.A. by Bruce Springsteen, and it was really magical to discover the power of making a cut as a beat in the song hit. Great editing is still the most important thing to me. Also, a huge inspiration in music video editing is a little movie called Interstella 5555, an anime set to Daft Punk’s album Discovery. It’s unbelievable. Every single movement, flash, cut, blink, etc. syncs with the beats of the album.

What has been your greatest tragedy and triumph in the business thus far?

Hmm, tragedy? I generally avoid tragedy at all cost. I guess as I still feel like I’m starting out, budgets are very low, and there’s no money to rent lighting equipment. This is fine, fortunately cameras these days allow to shoot in very low light while still looking pretty damn great, but it’s definitely a crutch. Directors, including myself, aren’t learning to light their scenes, and I feel that’s really crucial to the next level. So. That’s relative tragedy.

Triumph. I guess being lucky enough to be affiliated with and respected by SMKA. They’ve definitely got a huge movement going on in Atlanta and I wouldn’t be anywhere near it without them. If you’re trying to learn how to come up in the game as an artist, producer, or manager, watch them, they’re smart and tasteful.

I’m also very thankful that Aleon Craft was the first artist I got to work with extensively.  It meant a lot to fall in with someone who was willing to have fun, be weird, and try stuff that most rappers wouldn’t.  Don’t get me wrong, Craft has got swag, but he’s not afraid to let his guard down and be human.  I’m tired of rappers trying to fit into that tired old bling mold.  It’s not about that anymore.

Favorite 5 movies & why?

This is always tough. Excuse most of these answers being based on the visual aspect of movies:

City of God – For all reasons good movies are good. Cinematography is gorgeous, but the kicker is the editing. Just watching the opening scene, from the sharpening of the knife to chasing the chicken in the alley, it’s all perfectly executed.

Indiana Jones and The Raiders of the Lost Ark – Childhood favorite. Like all older Spielberg, the cinematography is epic and unlike most movies today, it’s all real! No shitty green screen and CGI backdrops.

Barton Fink – I’m a Coen Brother fanatic. This is a weirder one, but all the performances are great.

Chicago – What? A musical? Yes, a musical. I love this every time I see it. Great actors, great music, great choreography. I like most anything that feels like a really long music video.

Spirited Away – Hayao Miyazaki is in another world.

Favorite 5 albums/songs & why?

“Babylon” – OutKast – Ultimately my favorite OutKast song. The humming on the beat. Big Boi’s coming-of-age verse. Incredibly relaxing.

Grizzly Bear – Yellow House – A great album to put on and tune out. One summer I listened to this and played Earthbound, my favorite SNES game as a child, a whole lot. Now when I hear it I see little flashes of the 16-bit characters walking about. Maybe that’s bad?

Pixies – Doolittle – Nonstop jams.

The Roots – Phrenology – This was my first Roots album, lots of high school memories attached to it.

The Beatles – Rubber Soul – My childhood jam. I listened to a lot of Elton John, Bruce Springsteen, and Beatles when I was little thanks to my pops.

Where do you believe your strengths are in this game?

My strengths…I’d say my strengths in terms of video is editing. I can polish a turd pretty well. In terms of “the game”, probably just practicing good business. Communicating well with others.

To up and coming directors what advice can you give them about focus, how to get into the industry, etc?

I’d say practice like hell. I know I keep going back to the editing bit, but it’s so important. Filmmaking is relatively very very cheap these days; you can be a one-man studio. It’s what I do. To be able to edit in Final Cut efficiently, so you can translate what you have in your head to your sequence as easily as possible, is imperative. This will also teach what works in terms of flow and what doesn’t. Find people to make free videos for so you can keep practicing. Setup a website with WordPress or whatever you want that showcases only your content. Be a nice guy, people like nice people. Call people back, respond to emails quickly. Reach out to people you want to work with, more likely than not, they’ll be down for at least a beer.

What are the craziest moments you’ve had on set?

I can’t say there have been really crazy moments on set. Shooting Aleon Craft’s video for “Sunday” was just a crazy two days of driving around in a Bronco. We would find ourselves in someone’s neighborhood, pick them up, drive around for a take or two, then move on. It was a blast. There was a moment when I was like, wait, is this my career I’m carrying out right now?

Where do you see your future leading you?  What is the endgame for Dustin Chambers?

I honestly have no idea. I have a lot of very different things going on. I’ve come to the realization that I’ll eventually have to choose a path and stick with it, but for now I’m just working really hard and having a lot of fun.

You’ve had a diverse clientele (Nat Geo, Adult Swim, @SMKA, etc) what do each of them bring to the table for you which made them appealing and vice versa?

I mean, they’re all really great companies. Most importantly they bring new experience from which I learn a whole lot. I feel like I’m generally winging it and hoping for the best.

You’ve done a lot of work with SMKA, how’d that relationship come together?

I was in high school with all three original member of SMKA(shout out to Paideia), though they were all a couple years older than me, so I never really knew them well. When they dropped SMKA Experiment Vol. 1 during my senior year of college, I was amazed by it. I couldn’t believe I semi-knew the people involved with it. I decided they’d be great to work with once I got out of school, so I shot Mike an email saying that I’d like to do photo or video with them and nearly a year later he called about doing the first Aleon Craft viral, “Strange“. It’s been love ever since.

How would you describe your style?

My video style is colorful and clean I think. A little heavy handed on the editing. They look like they were made on the spot, but are executed well. I’ve found myself using whip cutaways a lot, you can see a lot of them in Kyle Lucas’ Funeral video. Something about handholding the 5D makes it such an easy and effective camera move, especially when you do it at the right time.

What’s the equipment you most cherish?

I gotta say the Canon 5D Mark II. I just wouldn’t be able to make anything without it. No photos, no videos. It’s an expensive little box that my career depends on.

When I linked up with Kenneth Price earlier this year for the Behind The Video Series, he made mention of “The Wonder Year” soon to hopefully see the light of day, and below is the trailer for Ken Price’s year chronicling the great Grammy Award Winning Super Producer 9th Wonder.

After checking out the video read Part 1, our interview with Kenneth Price and check out Part 2, Kenneth & 9th discuss Actual Proof‘s video for “Genius” & Part 3, where they discuss Big Remo’s “Go Ladies” shot at Howard University’s famous Homecoming.

After checking out the video read Part 1, our interview with Kenneth Price and check out Part 2, Kenneth & 9th discuss Actual Proof‘s video for “Genius”.

We released part one of our series this morning and now Social8gency is happy to present Part 2 of our Behind the Video Series with Kenneth Price. On this portion Kenneth enlists a special guest 9th Wonder to take us through the video for Its A Wonderful World Music Group artist Actual Proof and their video “Genius”. Part 1.