01 April 2012

30 Years of Behemoth media


2012 marks the 30th anniversary of Behemoth media. What started as the name (Behemoth Productions) for super8 productions made by myself and partner in crime Jeannette Reeves merged with my graphic design business to become Behemoth media in the 90's and continues to this day. I expanded into more post production and animations after the year 2000 along with leaving film behind for a digital workflow.

After making several test films and playing around with my Bell & Howell super 8 movie camera (oh how I still miss it) I took a film editing class from ”the Jamaica Plain Newsreel” who were a small group making super 8 documentaries in the Boston area. My first project was called ”Different Drummer”. The simple concept was to film my good friend at the time, writer Stephen Merritt, and put the footage to music. I used a song he chose, ”Watching and Waiting” by the his favorite band, The Moody Blues. It was fairly well received in class. I have no idea where Stephen is today, but I still appreciate him letting me film him and show it. He was a geek before it was chic, like many of my friends, and I think the film shows this and his love of solitary activities like reading, writing and walking in the nature.

I've retooled the old dragon logo and I like it so much I think I'll be using a modified version on future productions from now on. It seems more ”film oriented” and the love of story telling through film and illustration is what's kept me doing this stuff for 30 years.

2 comments:

T' said...

Interesting! I went to high school with someone named Stephin Merritt who ended up being a huge pop song writer and star. Different guy. I miss Super 8, too. There's something.. impersonal about it that video, especially done with iPads and iPhones lacks. None of my super 8 films survive, I don't think. Then again, I didn't do anything nearly as introspective and poetic as this.

Vincent-louis Apruzzese said...

I tried to google my Stephen and yours comes up instead! I have a song of his on a CD with other artists about the 7 plagues in the Bible... doesn't surprise you i'm sure.

I think digital cameras are about where 35mm film was and more now but video... unless you have a high end RED camera, still aren't there yet. Super 8 has something about the colour and grain that still isn't matched. I have a few other films, one on a woman artist I knew and.. are sitting down? Searing Hate! Yes I have a copy of it still!