PHILIP SPORTEL

DIRECTOR

DIRECTOR'S REEL - SPRING 2011

A THOUSAND LIES - ANIMAL CONFESSION

Shot entirely on green-screen, this video uses exclusively period-authentic images to make up its characters and backgrounds.

< img src="images/video_stills/a_thousand_lies_21.jpg" width="540" height="240" alt="A Thousand Lies 21" />

RIOT SONG - JOHNNY POLYGON

"The Riot Song" premiered on MTV2's Subterranean, eventually reaching #8 on MTV's top 100 videos.

Production took several months and involved shooting the video twice, once to capture the live action, and a second time (after four people took a week to cut out three thousand live action shots) to photograph the characters, one frame at a time, in miniature sets. The cutouts were made at two different scales to accommodate different sized of background props.

Some of the work took place remotely, as the background performers couldn't make it to Toronto for the principal shoot. To get them into the video, director Philip Sportel gave detailed instructions to the background performers and received their contributions by email.

T-Shirts in the clothing store were all hand-designed. Several dozen were made, of which only a few are visible. The hangers were all hand-folded out of wire. These are just two of countless background details which make up this video.

(I WANT THOSE) FLASHING LIGHTS - COLIN MUNROE

Shortly after release, I Want Those Flashing Lights" was the second most popular video on the internet (according to viralvideochart.com). The clip caught the attention of Kanye West, who expressed his affinity by posting it on his official blog. To date, it has garnered more than a million views across numerous video sites.

Shooting only lasted two takes, but the second take was magic (thankfully, as that's when security asked us to leave!). Post-production lasted three weeks, where every single billboard was digitally replaced, the antagonists got their sparkle, the sky and background were darkened, and some glow effects were added on top of it all.

Source material for all the sparkle effects and billboards comes from flashing lights found all around Yonge and Dundas square. One effect (though its heavily altered) even comes from a police officer who was kind enough to turn on his roof lights when director Philip Sportel knocked on his window.