Invisible Arts was created by
Beau J. Leland to facilitate a need for a hub in the independent film and music world in Oklahoma City. With work ranging from music videos to documentaries, Invisible Arts works with other collaborative-based facilities in the area to create compelling work.
Primarily working as a post-production facility, it’s our belief that the best editing should go unnoticed. Film editing is often referred to as an unseen art, where the best artists remain invisible.
Recently my wife Stefanie was commissioned by the Sierra Club to create a film about the town of Bokoshe, OK and how for the past several years they have fallen prey to “shady business practices” by the nearby coal burning facility and a local disposal facility. Fly ash is the byproduct of burning coal. It contains many heavy metals and toxic chemicals. The residents of Boksohe, as well as residents of many poor communities throughout the world are suffering from adverse health effects allegedly due to the prolonged exposure to fly ash contamination. This is happening all over the world, under the radar.
Working on this project really opened our eyes on the true cost of cheap energy. We went to the town of Bokoshe, we met the people, we saw the effects first hand. Like all the others who went out there with us, we seriously think about the consequences of flicking a light switch.
Please watch the film, and let us know what you think. And feel free to get involved with the cause.
I’ve been spending a lot of time lately diving into getting my wife Stefanie’s film “Where Did the Horny Toad Go?” setup for all the various forms of social networking, marketing and film making sites, and an “official website,” and I think I may finally be starting to grasp the wonder of social networking. It may be a tiny grasp, but it’s been interesting nonetheless. With “Rainbow Around the Sun” my partner in crime, Kevin Ely, handled all of that stuff, and still continues to do so. If you visit Rainbow’s website today, it will take you to our page at Virb, another social networking site geared toward the visual arts. While Kevin has been working on getting the official site for Rainbow up, the Virb page has certainly held its own. Kevin has done just about everything to customize it to meet our needs.
Then there is P2Rents. P2Rents is another venture I’m a partner with that makes costly P2 cards available to cash-strapped productions by renting them at pretty low prices. It’s entirely based online, but we’ve always had difficulty in figuring out how best to get the word out there. We’ve recently hired someone to do for P2Rents what Kevin has been doing for Rainbow, and what I’m now beginning to do for Stefanie’s film. Before you know it every man, woman and child will be renting p2 cards.
Then there’s my friend Chris Sharpe whose first language actually may be social networking. His attention to detail and continuity when promoting his film “Sex Machine” was impeccable, and the strategy he had in place for his second film was like a finely crafted Swiss time piece. Chris now applies a lot of the knowledge he acquired (and crafted) in the world of publishing, and he usually guides me along here and there.
So, the horny toad movie, Rainbow Around the Sun, P2Rents.com, Chris Sharpe. What are they telling me. They’re telling me I need to get the ball rolling for my own damn site. If I don’t do it, nobody is going to come along and do it for me. So hopefully over the coming weeks, my site will undergo a makeover (though probably a baby baby one). I hope to continue promoting my work, the work of my colleagues, more on the craft of editing creative processes, and finally more about what’s going on in the Okie filmmaking scene. If I don’t, I’ll quickly erase this entry thereby erasing evidence of a failed reality.
2010′s winning entry for the annual 24 hour video race sponsored by the Philbrook Museum, Living Arts Gallery and IAO of Oklahoma City. These are always so much fun to do, and our team this year, Team Tennessee Bladder Milk, somehow managed to pull it together for a victory. I recommend for anyone interested in making films to start with a 24 Hour Video Race.
This year’s Required Elements:
Theme: The Year We Make Contact
Prop: 8 Ball
Line of Dialogue: Pleasure of the Evening
Team Members:
Mike Waugh, Darren Dunn, Alan Novey, Derek Duty, Ben Pendleton, Stefanie Leland, Beau Leland
I’ve had art on the mind lately, and the creative process. A year or so ago I had the privilege of being hired to shoot and edit for the Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition on Oklahoma artists and the creative process. Under the direction of brilliant minds Melissa Scaramucci and Cacky Poarch, we created two pieces entitled “Art 365.” We first created a short version of the film following six Oklahoma artists who each received a large grant, and were given one year to create a body of work. Three weeks after the short film was completed, we had to have a feature version edited. This in itself was an intensive creative endeavor. We worked day after day finding the story within the hours and hours of footage of each artist creating their works. This is when I realized how much I enjoyed editing documentary film; literally searching for the story as we combed through footage. There was no script. There was no real plot…at first. We built it from the ground up into what I believe are two very insightful looks into the creative process and its challenges.
This project was Okie all the way. Funded by an Oklahoma organization which also funded these six Oklahoma Artists, a small Okie film crew directed by two Okie directors, and music composed by two Okie musicians. It’s almost sickening how much Oklahoma is in these films. For more information on Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition, visit OVAC
The horny toad movie shoot continued last weekend in the bustling town of Eastland, TX. Eastland serves as the county seat in Eastland County, TX; a county of around 19,000 people who gather each year in Eastland to celebrate the “Old Rip Festival.” More on that in a later posr.
The shoot was an overall success, but we had to work for it. Every last soundbite. For all you sound guys out there, my undying love and gratitude grew exponentially that weekend. And here’s why…
1) The entire town of Eastland resides along the intersection of two major state highways…highways with major construction traffic.
2) Upon being locked out of our scheduled location, we were relocated to the courthouse…which was under construction.
3) Once we were able to postpone the interview until the construction crew’s lunch break, the plumbers showed up.
4) When we realized the plumbers were actually quite quiet, we were able to shoot…until child custody battles erupted from the floor below
5) It finally quieted down, and we were able to shoot…accompanied by the constant, intermittent buzzing sound of the metal detectors…and traffic.
A special thanks goes out to our sound man, Royce Sharp, for being able to handle such circumstances. Sound recording takes a special breed of person, and no crew, no matter how small, should be without a proper location sound mixer.
Next week we return to Eastland (this time for B-Roll of the festival…MOS).
This is a ridiculous little video by my friend over at FieldGuide, Alan Novey. This is the result of being bored, having access to a Red One camera, and the need for a shave.
The man featured is Mr. Novey himself, camera by Mr. George Salisbury, with the occasional frame shot by yours truly.
Things are changing in the entertainment industry. The internet is providing almost unlimited access to just about anything, and as a result of this audiences are expecting more and more access for less and less commitment on their part. This translates to “We want the same content, but we want it for free.”
The film industry is learning this from the music industry, and while it can be very depressing for those of us who have chosen this career path, it’s also somewhat exciting to be on the forefront of change. What’s going to happen next, and how can we make it work. Perhaps this is a sign that art shouldn’t cost anything. You make it to make it, and give it to the people is like paying it forward. Yet, like Karma, making your art available for free may have it’s benefits.
Lance Weiler of workbookproject.com is a prime example of this mantra. Every day he shares his knowledge with those of us willing to listen (which I’m trying to be more disciplined in doing so), and this video is no different. From his DIY Days conference, here’s a video of the Tribeca Film Institute’s Brian Newman on “Free (plus fee).”
Those who know me know that I do a lot of work for the rock band, Hinder. I’ve been doing work for them off and on since they got together, back in April of 2001. A lot of people have a problem with Hinder, particularly those involved in the music scene in Oklahoma. I’ve never really fully understood this. As most of the guys in the band know, I’m not particularly fond of their genre of music, but they know I appreciate what it is that they do, and that they do it well. There is no denying it. And I’ll be damned if they don’t have some catchy tunes. They have been great friends to me, and are some of the nicest guys out there. They have been an insanely successful band, and in my opinion, they have earned every last bit of it. That’s not to say that there aren’t other bands out there that don’t deserve success just as much, but it’s important to know that their success wasn’t just handed to them.
As I mentioned above, I’ve been working with the band since the beginning, contributing to many of their early endeavors, and they’ve remained loyal to me throughout the years. And it’s in this respect that I find one of the more exciting reasons to be working in video production in this day and age. My production office is based in Oklahoma City, yet I have been able to create content for Hinder and Universal Music based in New York and California time and time again without having to travel (unless I travel to acquire footage, of course). There have been little to zero issues working in this way. I’m able to work on a draft of a project, shoot low res approval versions to the label in an email, and FedEx final copies overnight once approved.
Using this workflow, I’ve been able to produce 16 Webisode shorts, a 30 minute behind the scenes video, and the band’s music video for their recent single “Up All Night” (featured above), all without leaving my office in Oklahoma City.
I’m currently working on a new viral video for the band’s new single that, with a little luck, should be released soon.
Last week I went on the first shoot for the wife’s new documentary film currently titled “Where Did the Horny Toad Go?” This was the first of what is to be many trips as we make our quest to find out just exactly where this famed lizard has gone? Among our destinations were the small town of Kenedy, TX which has been dubbed the Horny Toad Capital of Texas; Kingsville, TX near the King Ranch where Texas A&M has a small wildlife preserve, and perhaps the most interesting place of all, the Island of Matagorda. Matagorda, which is off of the gulf coast of Texas, is a 38 by 2.5 mile island that serves as one giant wildlife preserve filled with rattlesnakes, wild boars, endangered birds, and what else, Texas Horned Lizards. AKA, Horny Toads.
Why the documentary on the Texas Horned Lizard? Stefanie grew up in Western Oklahoma, where looking for horny toads was a favorite pass time, as it was for just about every child. And not just with our generation, or geographical location. The more people she talked to, the more stories she heard about how much these little buggers are adored. And just about everyone asks the question, “Whatever happened to the Horny Toad?”
For as long as I’ve wanted to make films, I’ve wanted to make a difference, and two times now, my wife has been the one to make that happen for me. Who’d a thunk it? With her first film, Food For Thought, which is about farming and local agriculture, and now with the making of this one, I finally feel like I am starting to feed that romantic desire to change the world.
This film will be a long journey, but I know the final product will be well worth it. Keep checking in for more updates about our journey.
