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.
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.
Rainbow Around the Sun. Perhaps the culmination of Team Awesome’s aggressively rapid production rate. The first time we had worked together was in February of 2006, and by November of the same year we were already shooting our first feature film. Kevin Ely, Matt Brown and myself had been developing this project over the summer, and held numerous meetings trying to get it off the ground. We needed someone to help us produce. I quickly latched on to my friend Kim Haywood. She would continue to serve as our producer, with Kevin and I co-directing, and myself editing.
Though it sounds cliché, this film was a labor of love, and very personal to Matt, whose debut concept album the film is based. An insanely talented crew, including the production design of Rebecca McCauley and the cinematography of Alan Novey of FieldGuide Media, made this film larger than life. Rainbow was accepted into the third annual IFP Narrative Rough Cut Lab put on by the Independent Feature Project which is literally a once and a lifetime opportunity. It debuted on the festival circuit at South By Southwest Film Festival in Austin, and has since played in festivals all over the country, and in Athens, Greece. We are currently planning our distribution strategy.
This short film, created in 24 hours, may be the most important project I’ve ever worked on. I had just come off of, or was in the middle of, shooting an independent film. A film where everyone volunteered their time for well over a year. While good times were had, it still wasn’t a project of my own. Up until this point, so much of my time had been devoted to THINKING or TALKING about doing projects, but never actually DOING them. Well, while working on the independent film mentioned above, I met my now dear friend Kevin Ely.
When Living Arts Gallery in Tulsa, Oklahoma rolled out it’s first annual 24 Hour Video Race in 2006, I called up Kevin and we decided to put aside all thinking and talking, and just do it. It almost didn’t happen, but I’m thankful it did. Teams had no more than 24 hours to write, shoot, and edit a short film based on three criteria announced at midnight. The finished product was due 24 hours later.
It felt great. No more talking about shooting something, but actually really shooting something. MissCommunication was a catalyst in our creative careers to follow. After taking home the grand prize for the 24 Hour video race, we were asked to create a series of openers with our friend and cohort Matthew Alvin Brown, who also starred in MissCommunication, for the deadCENTER Film Festival in Oklahoma City. During this time, we also created a short for a local alternative magazine which they proudly featured on their website for months. From there, we couldn’t stop. By late fall of 2006, we were shooting our first feature film, Rainbow Around the Sun.
I cannot stress enough how important it is to simply get out there and create. A dear friend of mine once told me that the minute you say it out loud without actually doing it, it begins to dissipate. I am now a firm believer in that wisdom. Create. Share. Grow.
Living Arts Gallery in Tulsa holds their 24 Hour Video Race every February. Various other cities hold similar races as well. For more information, visit www.livingarts.org, or create your own race in your town.
