saam gabbay

I’m very excited to be part of Adriene Jenik (Chair of UCSD Art) and inter-media artist Charley Ten’s “Open_Borders” performance on Friday 11/21/08.  As part of the Actions of Transfer conference at UCLA, open_boarders allows for improvisation across networks, distance, and time zones.  Globally-situated live performances are mixed and projected in real-time into the EDA Room at UCLA’s Broad Center.  DJ Wiseacre (Eric Tucker) and I will be performing and interacting in the space along with other artists.  Technology + improv + movement + performance + sound + global network.  Event flyer.

To help my clients’ expanding needs, I am looking for a very unqique executive producer / business partner.  You can read the full description here.

Director Michael Shaun Conaway is an expert at taking difficult thought concepts, distilling then explaining them through film.  We helped by creating 10+ minutes of 3D animation to support his storytelling style for Gap International’s Breakthrough Thinking course.  The subject of the film by itself made it a fantastically fulfilling project.

“We brought Saam and his team a somewhat exotic project that required both deep conceptual understanding and unique creativity.  From the outset we were able to start a dialogue that produced outstanding creative solutions.”  Michael Shaun Conaway - director/storyworks

For Humunculus, I was creative director and the absolutely amazing Robin Roepstorff was on Maya.  For Storyworks, Alex Melnyk was producer.

A photofilm of Polish cinematographer Magdalena Gorka is posted in podcasts.  She had just had a terrible day.  We decided we should document it.  Made with 650 photographs.  Music is Tabula Rasa by Arvo Pärt.

A sad day.

I directed and photographed 25 personalities (including Eric Trump, LA Mayor Riordian, etc) in four cities for the most recent version of the Belvedere / UrbanDaddy microsite.  We shot in LA/NY/MIAMI/VEGAS, with not nearly enough time spent in Miami.  Alessandra ran production from Los Angeles.  I also scored the music along with Bix, and managed post.  Full project details here.

Mark Baker of Mansion, New York

Helped [Non] Fiction Spots and JWT / Detroit with graphics and animation for their multi-city Ford campaign.  Arash Ayrom was post producer.  For JWT, Michael Priebe, Mike Johnson, Bob Rashid and Tiffany Moy-Miller.

I was asked to speak to the Sierra Club of Los Angeles about photography. I’ve always been curious about the experience of holding different cameras and how each “begs” for a particular type of photo to be taken.
I talked about the relationship of the photographer to his gear and how the feedback from different cameras affects the entire experience of shooting. I showed work shot with a cell phone camera up to a medium format panoramic film camera as a way to discuss the physicality and feedback of various apparati.

On Tuesday I presented some of our work and methodology along with work from Logan, Troika, National Television, Laundry, Blind, and Propelo to Milka Broukhim’s “Type In Motion” course at UCLA. Also got a chance to look at and crit the work of some VERY talented students.

Los Angeles personalities Kerry Simon, Josh Richman, Eric Greenspan, Charissa Saverio (DJ RAP), Jason Bentley, Johnny Zander, and Jenn Laskey join on set in Los Angeles for the Belvedere Vodka shoot. LA producer was Alessandra Pasquino with Bill Megalos and me on camera.

A shoot for Elizabeth Paige Smith’s Kittypod creations, featuring her cat Kat, taken at the studio in Venice.

I was invited to give the first ever alumnus commencement speech for the graduating students of UCSB’s art studio department today, almost exactly 20 years after I had set foot on campus.
It was a total honor that I ruined terribly by telling the students that just because they chose to make art doesn’t mean anyone is going to pay them for that privilege, and that they were going to die soon so they should get on with living.  Needless to say, there was more applause from family members than from the students as they have absolutely no concept of death yet.

Thank you to my friends and mentors Kip Fulbeck and Richard Ross for the opportunity.

I shot neck ties for director Craig Price.  Well, neck ties and about 500 other objects for his icon-rich spot for Citizens Bank called “Everyday Points.”  Kevin Shale was agency producer for Arnold Worldwide.

A massive combination of ID work, print, video, and product design for Gensler and MGM Grand / Las Vegas.  Partnering up with Orange22 in downtown Los Angeles, we helped create the Harmon’s identity as part of MGM’s City Center development.

Acura had never animated their end tag before so the client was eager to see a lot of options.  I designed this end tag while the french mounted police were riding by, which made it all the more appropriate since James Spader ended up doing the VO for it.

For HUMUNCULUS, Max Keane, Christian Perez and Alessandra Pasquino.  For RPA/LA it was Kenia Colderon and ECD Mark Erwin.

I directed Toyota Anthem for Saatchi & Saatchi NY.  It was a fully animated :60 in HD with a combination of Cell animation, 2D, and 3D.  This is what it looked like at Humunculus half way through the production of  Anthem.  Cell animation and paint on the left… Alessandra producing in the middle, 3D and AEP on the right.  Click for a bigger file.

On set with DP Arlene Donnelly Nelson shooting the 1 hour class sequence for Feel Good Yoga.  Paul Sangster of Future Lighting provided projection support.  Oliver Reinsch was instructor.

Shooting veteran instructor James Brown for Yoga Works’s 2005-2006 campaign which was featured in-store, nationally, and in their print ads for Yoga Journal and the rest.

Eric Grunbaum and Scott Trattner made HUMUNCULUS their home during the compilation and production of Big Magazine’s Issue #51: “Technology.”  I shot the cover as well as panoramics for the table of contents, etc. and got to hang out with two of Venice’s big brilliant brains.

Chiat/Day asked us to create style frames around the iPod experience as they were getting to roll out what would ultimately become the silhouettes campaign.  We created a book of distinct styles in 24 hours (a period of time synonymous with eternity for this client) and mixed photos, graphic arts and 3D.  Heck a few of them even had silhouettes so who knows…

There’s something crazy about sitting in a studio on a Mac, delivering a project on a drive, then walking into a huge theater and watching the project projected in ultra-wide anamorphic format.  Ludovic and I boarded IFP’s festival trailer.  I animated, and Bix did sound design.