Today is International Women’s Day and we would like to celebrate it by giving a little shout-out to some of the women in our community who we think are doing remarkable work and who impress us on a regular basis. May their passion and hard work be a source of inspiration and pride to us all. Here are just a few:
It all started on a cold December night. A small group of friends gathered around a small kitchen table and attempted to wow each other with their favorite pasta recipe. Eight unique dishes were served, grades were allotted, a winner was proclaimed. Thus, The Foodie Collective was born.
I sit, looking at the Bis Films Vimeo page and I think: “How is it that Kat and I both graduated from Concordia Communications Studies and have been pushing forward in the film/video production world since 2008, yet we have so few videos online?” I think it’s time to assert our digital presence on the pages of Vimeo.
For the past four months, Many and I have been working on several pitches, all of which have taken a lot of time and research. Working on a pitch is no easy feat; the job is not guaranteed, company time and savings are used for printing and mock up purposes, the simple fact that you’re in doubt until you get that call – these all contribute to a general feeling of uneasiness.
That aside, writing a pitch is exciting, especially when there’s competition involved. It’s your moment to show the prospective client what you’re made of; to let yourself shine so to speak. We’ve been getting a lot of practice and have narrowed in on some key elements that are crucial to writing a successful pitch.
A 7 year old boy sits in the back seat of his parents car, driving along Sources Blvd in the West Island, looking out the window. Somewhere along the drive, an old abandoned stone house catches his eye, slightly out of place in this 1988 sprawling Montreal suburb. The boy’s eyes sparkle as dreams of adventures and abandoned treasures crowd his mind. What would he find behind those crumbling cobble walls were he to escape his parents gaze long enough to explore?
Around this time in 2005, Katherine was teaming up with Chris Taylor with one goal in mind: to create the best Film II horror film ever to come out of the Concordia Communications Studies department. Shot on 16mm film in Taylor’s redecorated apartment (I especially remember the blood/rot stain on the ceiling over the bed) with Constantine Kourtidis as main character, the Asian inspired horror film tells of a paranoid-schizophrenic man who discovers he has a winning lottery ticket and thinks this evil spirit has come to claim it. Check it out for yourself!
Chris Taylor, director in action
We’re back in our beloved Montreal town after a 9 hour drive! Again this past week was lots of fun and a big learning experience for everyone. Film sets are curious. Continue reading
Wow! We’ve finally made it to day 5, the last day of shooting for Chris Taylor and Jesse Bick’s short film “Back in 20…” The days have been long and backward – waking up at 1:30 pm, shooting from 8pm until 5am, then repeating the process 5 times. Not surprisingly though, we’ve all sort of gotten accustomed to this wacky schedule, so much so that at 6:30 this morning we shared a beer and a quick game of super nintendo in order to decompress before hitting the pillow.
We are now in Thornbury Ontario shooting a short film with director and friend Chris L. Taylor. For the next 5 days, we will be living with the cast and crew, spending our time between sets and filming this short dark comedy that Chris wrote with Jesse L. Bick.
Bis Films Thank You Card
There are essential steps to running a business to ensure smooth sailing. As part of our blog mandate, we would like to share with you certain tools and knowledge that we’ve gained working on Bis Films for the last two and a half years. The subject I would like to address is the idea of ‘going beyond the call of duty’ in regards to clients – old, new, or future – and peers. This is one thing that we promised ourselves to upkeep over the years, regardless of how much work comes our way. There are several ways to stand out as an honest, hardworking, and loyal company:
