Official Blog of City Sonic Toronto

LL: Give us your “elevator ride” pitch: the concept for your film in three sentences or less.
GV: Within a couple of years of moving from rural Ottawa to Toronto the artist goes from the role of producer to singer/songwriter, and then translates his local success into an American record deal with Universal/Motown records by singing over a Kanye West track and then getting it officialized by the man himself. Along the way, it was the open mic nights at Revival that introduced him to the scene and to the people that would help him get his music heard by Motown.

LL: Can you share a mentorship story of your own?
GV: I was a professional IATSE camera assistant before I started directing, but my mentors were not cameramen, they were actually the staff at Panavision Canada: first Helmut Cremer, then Jeff Flowers, then the late Bruce Sparling. They taught me more about motion picture cameras than any DOP I assisted. They are the mechanics great cinematographers go to for the technical answers that make them great.

LL: What’s the secret to making a film that looks good on both a mobile phone and big theatre screen?
GV: Keep it visually graphic by choosing the right compositions. Also, make sure nothing relevant is too small in the frame for mobile use, like text, titles and action. Then making sure nothing appears too big. For example, an extreme facial close may work great in a small frame but may look distorted on a big frame depending on where you sit.

LL: This was your 4th City Sonic film. What would you say is your favourite thing about making films for this series?
GV: Being apart of a culturally relevant music series and getting to wrap up a great rock ‘n’ roll story with a music video treatment.
Thanks Bob [Lang, Executive Producer]! You weren’t kidding when you said “”anything goes.””