Twist Director Marc André Debruyne has shot his first American commercial project for Maine Medical Centre; and completed his 100th music video for Canadian music artist Tyler Medeiros featuring Lil Twist and their new hit song “Say I Love You (Please Don’t Go),” which has received over 400,000 hits on YouTube.
To view Marc André’s commercial reel via Twist, as well as his newest projects, go here: http://bit.ly/qJe1ra
To view the Main Medical Centre spot, go here: http://bit.ly/o9kM2m
A visual style and fashion Director, Canadian-born Director Marc André offers a focus on emotion and music-driven work. He studied the arts and architecture prior to getting his degree in film studies. Having spent his childhood summers living in Paris, he is fluent in both French and English. International perspective and production experience is an invaluable asset for Marc André – especially as it relates to the changing world of fashion. His passion for music is also evident, with now over 100 music videos in his archive.
Since Twist began building him over a year ago, the company has been extremely supportive of Marc André’s next-gen talent. “For me, Twist has treated me more like a family member than a business associate and that means a lot,” comments the Director. “This is a business and we’re here to make good film and good money, but it really says something about a company when the people who work there ask me first about my little girl before anything else. I love that.”
Over the past year, Marc André has shot 22 music videos, including clips for such well-known Canadian music artists as Cory Lee, Alyssa Reid, Danny Fernandes, Kool Krys, Tru-Paz, and WildLife. A music video for Keshia Chanté “Set U Free” was shot in Isla Mujeres, Mexico, while Mia Martina’s “Latin Moon” was shot in Cuba. The Director was nominated for the “Most Watched Video” Award at the 2011 Much Music Video Awards for Edward Maya & Mia Martina’s “Stereo Love,” which received over 14 million views on YouTube. Other award nominations at this year’s Much Music Awards included “Best Pop Video” for Alyssa Reid’s “Alone Again,” featuring P. Reign. On the commercial front, Marc André has shot around the world for such nationally recognized brands as Motts, Kraft, RC Cola, Coca Cola, Toyota, and Nescafe, as well as collaborations with global ad agencies JWT, McCann Erickson, and Lowe Worldwide.
According to Marc André, his 100th music video was unique because of his extensive cameo. “I’ve done cameos in a few of my own music videos for fun,” explains the Director. “I’ve never really quite liked being in front of the camera. But for this video, it called for our camera to pull out and reveal the ‘making of a movie.’ I thought I would get some really, really, really good looking (and thinner) guy to play the Director. But the label insisted on having me in the video. Let’s just say I hated every minute of it and I’m in this video quite a bit. It all turned out great in the end, but I think I won’t revisit my acting skills (or lack there of…) any time soon.”
For Maine Medical Center, Marc André shot on location in Portland, Maine for a 2-spot campaign, collaborating closely with ad agency creatives from gerrrand. Marc André also edited the project, which gave him creative control over the commercial campaign from inception through completion.
According to Amyliz Pera, Executive Producer at Twist and based in New York, Marc André caught her eye a few years ago as an emerging Director with as-yet untapped talent. “Directors in the States used to grow up in the music video business, where they were able to experiment and hone their filmmaking skills before graduating to commercials and then feature films,” she explains. “With the disappearance of music videos in the U.S., young commercial Directors are hard to find these days with the skill set that Marc André has. Not only does he have the energy of a next-gen Director, he is also a skilled filmmaker who has cut his chops on literally now 100 music videos. He has extensive experience with celebrity personalities, has produced projects all over the world, brings an enormous amount of creativity to his work, understands how to get value out of a budget – – and of course, I like his artistic choices. Twist is known for selecting and building new talent. We are so thrilled to see Marc André reach this important career milestone with his 100th music video and his very first American commercial project in the can.”
Agrees the Director, “I love the fact that I have been able to produce wonderful videos with challenging budgets,” he concludes. “That training has helped me out many times in the ad world, helping me to maximize the dollar, getting the most we possibly can.”
About Twist
A global production company, Twist has offices in New York and Minneapolis. Headed by President/EP Jim Geib and EP Amyliz Pera, the Twist directorial roster features the diverse talents of Directors Matt Pittroff, Rich Michell, Grady Cooper, Chris Stocksmith and Marc André Debruyne. Recent Twist projects include commercial campaigns for Affinity, Colorado Lottery, Pepsi Max, Nascar and Picadilly. A hilarious new campaign for Ad Council is due out in October. www.twistfilm.com
