A single a day keeps your creativity in play.
Join me as I share some of my fav tunes in an effort to pay the inspiration forward.
Ladies and Gents, this is the Holiday Edition of:
Inspired Singles: Issue 04 by Luke Fandrich
Winter Skin by Jars of Clay
This haunting and mellow tune from Jars of Clay inspires images of people bundled up, walking in a winter haze. The whimsical chimes and simple piano chords add that Christmas sound which suggests that through the cold, there really is something incredible, magical even, about this time of year.
Merry Christmas, Here's to Many More by Relient k
With telling lyrics and a low key arrangement that grows with the song, this single reflects that building excitement (or perhaps acceptance) of the holidays. A nice transition towards the end of the song suggests that everything isn't really that bad, it's Christmas after all.
Holiday Road by Matt Pond
Made popular by Lindsay Buckingham for the Vacation series of movies, this cover by Matt Pond has a lot of charm. Ideal for those winter road trips and getaways to see family and friends, it'll be tough not to sing the chorus - and make the comparison that singing 'road' in the song is just as long as the road ahead.
For every filmmaker I assume there's a certain level of pride and identity wrapped up in what one chooses to call their production company. This company is either quite literally a business or simply a badge or brand that a filmmaker puts on his or her work to represent themselves and their body of work (usually both).
From Kevin Smith's View Askew to Tarantino's A Band Apart there's something immediately defining in seeing these credits on the screen. So after considering this I thought it was about time that I addressed this question myself. What's the story behind fandrix productions? Why fandrix?
Of course, the easy answer is that my name is Luke Fandrich and it doesn't take a scientist to recognize the connection between Fandrich and Fandrix. True, this is the inspiration for the name. The meat of the story is that I was 12 when I picked this name however. I was thinking about a production company name simply as a mark of ownership on the videos I was sharing with family and friends. This is Fandrich's video - or as it became, Fandrix.
As years passed and I reached my late teens I began to think more seriously about the name and what it meant to me. The more time rolled on, and as I found myself in film school, it became clear that I was locked in. There was no good reason to change my name, if simply for the reason that from the very first short amateur video I ever made up until then, you could see Fandrix Productions or fandrix on it.
Nostalgia and branding have made it so much more interesting, especially since over a decade has past since I started using fandrix. A stylized and hand drawn image of a TV with rabbit ears was my first logo - and it's still kicking around. I occasionally use it on my posters these days. I now have an actual old TV with rabbit ears that I use as part of my logo, or I simply use an image of the rooftop that I've incorporated into Editing Luke branding over the years. The fact that this production nickname has acquired a history of its own is reason enough to continue nurturing it.
While part of the name, logo, and branding is about playing around and creating an experience, there is also a lot to be said about making your work easily recognizable. My goal has never been about personal fame - but if people can recognize the name on the work and have that as a clue to who I am, that's ideal. I'd much rather have the John Hughes type of fame - you recognize the name and the work, but the average viewer probably couldn't pick him out of a line-up.
So, why fandrix? At this point it's because the name links me directly to my changing work from childhood to adulthood, it's a unique variation on my name that I've been able to popularize as representing only me, and I've been able to see myself grow and evolve with a name and logo that is capable of growing and evolving too. It's a time capsule of sorts, that's just too valuable to let go of.
And then again, why not?
Kiss the Sky
Written by M
Adventure. Just the mention of the word creates a mountain of possibilities. The mind wanders and you think of all the things that thrill you without any reason for this thrill. For some people it's tales of old with pirates or cowboys, for others, it's the realization that you are about to jump out of a perfectly good plane. As a young boy I was faced with an object that made these thoughts without mentioning a word. To this day when ever I see an image, a movie or am immersed in the wonder of mountains I escape in my own adventure.
A while back I was reminded of this boyish adventure but this time I connected it with the drive to be a filmmaker. I became familiar with a video called 911 by Jules and Gadeon Naudet. Typically I don't go for documentaries that seem like they might be new age propaganda. Yet this one had a specific allure I couldn't pass up and I knew the library would have it. This film was to have the only footage of the first plane hitting the World Trade Centre. The brothers just happened to be doing a documentary on how hard it is to become apart of the NYFD. They just happened to be on the street a few blocks from the World Trade Center and just happened to hear a noise and point the camera to it. The unexpected part was that, rather than taking a propagandist view, the film continues as an experience, as they travel with the NYFD and into the buildings as they fall, literally. It is likely the most intense movie I have ever seen and it seemed to escape most people's radar.
This documentary reminded me why I do what I do. I love the idea that my work in film and video can have such a profound meaning to so many. Most of all I love the idea that anything can happen. It makes the process a bit of an Adventure. After I watched this I couldn't help but think how I would have loved to be one of the Naudet brothers. Coming out of this experience having my life change, knowing how adverse I am, how capable I am and the thought that I could hold my composure through such extreme conditions. This very real possibility is one of my main attractions to documentaries, the “can you imagine?” being there for that moment, being fortunate enough to record it and share it.
On an off chance I saw a couple mountain documentaries sitting on the library shelf. One of them titled Everest Mountain of Dreams Mountain of Doom also reflected this want for adventure. A series of television and an award winning film all about touching the sky. If you look past the cheesy 90's production and outfits it really makes you want to reach the top of Everest. In my mind it seems like a very basic adventure, a “Where is the highest place on earth?” with answer and then response “Let's go there because we can.” The documentary concentrates on the pioneers who have tried conquering the summit, the climbers who got there and the issues they had, including two grisly pictures of two people literally frozen to death, frozen in position and frozen so badly their bone is exposed.
In the race to reach the top of Everest I couldn't help but think how it relates to my time in life right now. Particularity with this article. This is a first for me, writing this article, like climbing Everest, it will have challenges, and like many climbers it will take several attempts, some will make it and some will fail. But this is life. Anything worth doing is worth failing at several times, and for the one time you reach your goals, you do come away with that connection of who you are by learning new capabilities and pushing your limits while trying only to succeed the last effort.
I always like to explain Saskatchewan as a place of utopia. Thinking about the first explorers going through the hell that is the Canadian shield without proper technology and then finally reaching the prairies and thinking “Thank God”! Only to continue on and eventually see the Rockies and think “Crap!” or something much worse. Or maybe they were like me and just dumbfounded in the awe of something so spectacular that your mind wanders in a world of adventure. I guess what I am trying to say is, inspiration is sparked by adventure. Whether it is completely unrelated to what you do all you need is a starting point. When you begin something an adventure awaits, your own creativity boils and you'll soon realize that the two somehow cross a parallel path.
FYI- First Man to summit Everest: Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay
First Woman: Junko Tabei
First Without Oxygen: Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler
The top of the world is located at Latitude 27° 59' N, Longitude 86° 56' E and peaks at 8850m
Other recommended viewing: The Man Who Skied Down Everest
My next viewing: Everest: Beyond the Limit.
