The new image campaign for Belo Broadcasting’s KHOU Channel 11 in Houston is on the air. The spots feature places and people filmed all over Channel 11′s broadcast area. The “KHOU Stands For Houston” promos are part of a complete new branding program for KHOU. Special thanks to the many people and organizations that assisted in this production. More to come.
Producer: Brittany Holland
Director: W. Ross Wells
Cinematographers: Wayne Forster, W. Ross Wells, Dan Mohr, Chris Multop, Hank Schyma.
Editorial: W. Ross Wells
Kareem Salama and Kelley Peters in “Be Free Now”, a new single presented as a message of hope and support for the people of the world that are fighting for freedom, democracy and human rights. 50% of all proceeds from the sale of the single are being donated to Save the Children to aid in relief efforts in areas that need it most.
Production: Zenfilm
Executive Producer: Merideth Melville
Director: W. Ross Wells
Produced by Kareem Salama and Brittany Holland
Director of Photography: Dan Mohr
Editorial: Scott Marett
Music Produced by Kareem Salama, Rich Whiting and Dan Workman
Recorded at SugarHill Recording Studios.
Today our good friend and creative partner Kareem Salama released the first of many music videos coming out this year in support of his new CD “City of Lights.” The first video “Makes Me Crazy” is a fun, behind-the-scenes look at last year’s studio production for the record, film production for the cinematic music videos and Kareem’s tour of the Middle East. It is a bit of a teaser for all the great stuff we will be releasing this spring. Hope you enjoy it…
We were surprised when a new client called us after seeing us featured on LivingSocial.com. It’s a nice mention and oddly intuitive. The Zenfilm bunch is currently in development on a new feature project. Doesn’t mean there isn’t room for more.
ZenHill’s Dan Workman and W. Ross Wells discuss Houston’s rich musical history, 69-year-old SugarHill Recording Studios and the Houston music scene with Host Debra Duncan in this segment from Great Day Houston. Houston recording artist Robert Ellis shares a little bit of The Houston Sound as well. Recorded Oct. 12, 2010.
Bluesman Scott H. Biram and art punkers NoBunny are the musical guests. Community representative and Audience of One is Craig Hlavaty of the Houston Press. SugarHill’s Gina Miller is joined by Guest Host Matthew Wettergreen of Caroline Collective, Do713.com.
After his departure from Harvard Business School, Craig Hlavaty now spends his days tirelessly defending the merits of Lady Gaga and Slayer. The love child of Oliver Stone and Lester Bangs, Craig makes a living as the assistant music editor of the Houston Press, or does it make a living as him?
Scott H. Biram, a self proclaimed ‘Dirty Old One Man Band’ successfully, and sometimes violently, lashes together blues, hillbilly and country precariously to raucous punk and godless metal. Biram ain’t no candy-ass singer/songwriter either, sweetly strumming songs about girls with big eyes and dusty highways. HELL NO!!! His singing, yodeling, growling, leering and brash preachin’ and hollerin’ is accompanied by sloppy riffs and licks from his 1959 Gibson guitar and pounding backbeat brought forth by his amplified left foot. The remainder of this one-man band consists of an unwieldy combination of beat-up amplifiers and old microphones strung together by a tangled mess of guitar cables.Years of non-stop touring have honed his assault to a fine edge; his wide-eyed throw downs in the First Church of Ultimate Fanaticism routinely lead giddy followers to a fiery baptism.Scott H. Biram won’t die. On May 11th, 2003, one month after being hit head-on by an 18-wheeler at 75 MPH, he took the stage at The Continental Club in Austin, TX in a wheel chair – I.V. still dangling from his arm. With 2 broken legs, a broken foot, a broken arm and 1 foot less of his lower intestine, Biram unleashed his trademark musical wrath.
Entertaining atypical audiences fits squarely into Nobunny’s career plan. “I originally wanted to be a rabbit Elvis impersonator, then wanted to be a children’s performer,” he explains. “I still might do both, though I kind of am both. We can play to any crowd, young or old, PG or R.” Which explains why one finds playful props like foam novelty ears and dolls at his merch table as well as lines in his lyrics like, “This little piggy wants to get an erection.” Though he now lives in Oakland on the rare occasions when he’s off tour, the mysterious self-dubbed “half-man, half-jackalope” grew up in Chicago’s Ravenswood.
While the final points have not been tallied to determine the grand-prize winning city for the National Ford Fiesta Movement, the results are in for the film competition!
Pause,” the short time-twisted romance film by Zenfilm has taken 2nd place in the national Ford Fiesta Movement film competition. The competition included two teams from LA, two teams from NYC, two teams from Chicago and nearly a dozen other markets. The film was written and directed by Zen’s W. Ross Wells and lensed by DPs Raul Casares and Hank Schyma, with considerable support from the Zen team and from Fiesta Movement Team Houston.
Zenfilm director W. Ross Wells has been selected as the first featured filmmaker for Sony’s online professional showcase VideOn. The site was developed by Sony to showcase filmmakers that utilize Sony’s CineAlta line of digital cinema camera systems in the creation of their work.
“It is a real honor to be selected for thelaunch of the site”, says Wells. “It’s a terrific opportunity to share our work and to promote Houston as well.” Of the pieces submitted for the project, Sony curated a mostly music director’s reel for the Zen feature. The very popular and multiple award-winning My Houston “ZZ Top” commercial was selected. Says Wells, “ZZ Top has real star-power and the spot showcases the power of Sony’s products when working with complicated opticals. Filmed on green screen, the bands iconic, signature beards would have made for some long nights in the compositing suite if not for the quality of images we were able to achieve.”
Other work selected by Sony includes music videos created for recording artists The Tontons, Southern Backtones, Dark Every Day and Twisted Roots. TheTontons, D.E.D. and Backtones are Houston recording artists that shatter stereotypes about Texas music. Twisted Roots are an extremely popular East Coast hard rock band that traveled to Houston last year, at the behest of their label Rat Pak Records, to shoot their video with Zen.
“The music video projects began as an endeavor to promote the Houston music scene and to challenge ourselves creatively, but they have taken on a life of their own, selling records and creating notoriety for the bands and Zenfilm as well as H-Town”, adds Wells.
Though not credited in the feature, Houston cinematographers Wayne Forster and Raul Casares played a large role in the quality of the work featured on VideOn, Gaffer Richard Lacy, Key Grip David Zenteno, our stellar Houston film crews, The Lighting Zone, Panavision Houston, Pastorini-Bosby Talent, SugarHill Recording Studios and the talented Zenfilm staff all contributed to this creative effort.
Check out the site and if you want to send Sony the message that Houston means creative business… take the time to rate, comment and share the link on social media.
Roky Moon and BOLT! and the Covington-Richmond band are the musical guests. Community guest and ‘audience of one’ is Vernon Caldera, founder of KeepHoustonRich.com, a Website that promotes the city’s attributes by assuming the role of a Houston-centric video channel.
The hour-long program features sets by both bands recorded live in SugarHill’s 69-year-old Studio A as well as interviews with award winning record producer Dan Workman and his co-host Gina R. Miller.
Roky Moon and BOLT! are a rock n roll/glam rock band. Winners of the 2009 Houston Press Music Award for Best New Act the band has opened for national acts such as Sugar and Gold and Dax Riggs. In late 2009 Roky Moon and BOLT! were featured in the play “Life is Happy and Sad” which focused on the early life and works of Daniel Johnston. Roky Moon and BOLT! are recording their first full length record and completing a live rock opera that will debut in 2011 by Catastrophic Theater at DiverseWorks! Studio.
Melanie Covington is half of the soul duo, Covington – Richmond Band. She is a session vocalist from Saint Louis, MO, who at the age of 4, was asked to sit in with the Temptations. Her small frame duplicated dance steps, face gestures and sang loud enough to be felt & heard during a charity performance. Active in church and musical functions, she became the drum section leader in high school. Her all female band Kymistry was selected to tour with Roy Ayers and she’s opened for The Braxtons, Back Street Boys, Glenn Jones and Johnnie Taylor. Ms. Covington performs 3 nights a week at The Skybar in Houston. She is currently featured as the lead singer for the show Get Out! Of the Closet! and can be heard on various television campaigns.
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