The Cavalry Productions, a commercial and digital production company, has signed director/DP Bryce Gubler for exclusive representation in the U.S. The announcement was made by Cavalry EPs Ross Grogan and Chris Wedding. Gubler has spent the last four years directing commercials, digital and documentary work for companies such as Nike, Red Bull and Canon.
Gubler had been working with ManaMedia out of Europe on spots and long-form work for the aforementioned Canon and Red Bull. The latter project, a six episode documentary series titled Game Quest chronicles the making of an extreme sports video game. Shot on location in central Europe and North America, Game Quest wedges a small game developer, Bongfish, between two mega-national corporations–racing against budget constraints and impossible deadlines to create a high-octane gaming experience. Directing and shooting this project booked Gubler up for almost two years.
Gubler’s other recent work includes long-form branding work for Canon (“Influencers”, “Wild Horses” and “Lake Garda and “Rad Ball,” highlighting Canon still and video cameras) and Nike’s “Always On” series of branding shorts. Two of the Nike shorts feature NBA basketball star Kobe Bryant and soccer superstar Christiano Ronaldo demonstrating that they are “always on” in everything they do.
The last four years has seen Gubler has come into his own as director/DP. Working as a post producer at ManaMedia, Gubler spent his spare time experimenting with the Canon EOS 5D MKII and was enthralled with the digital camera’s agility in the field and resulting images. As he tells it, ManaMedia was impressed enough with his talent that they asked him to direct and take a leadership role at the company. Soon Gubler was handling a high-profile client base that includes Microsoft, Nike, Red Bull and Canon. He also started working with agencies like Wieden & Kennedy, Sid Lee, Dentsu and 180Amsterdam.
Gubler said his extensive experience as an editor helps him know precisely what he needs to make a story shine. “I can visualize in advance what the end result will be and capture accordingly,” related Gubler. “It’s all about pre-visualization and knowing what you need to achieve the result you want in the end, and that’s a huge asset to have in your trunk of tricks.”
Gubler has always been fascinated with the moving image. Growing up he experimented and familiarized himself with 16mm, 35mm and various other camera systems. He credits his unique aesthetic to attending film school at the University of Colorado in Boulder. There he met with Phil Solomon and Stan Brakhage, two of his mentors at the college and both noted American experimental filmmakers. “I learned how to tell a story with image, how to orchestrate sequence,” said Gubler, who has taken up residence in Venice, Calif., and is looking to make his mark stateside.
Review: Writer-Director Coralie Fargeat’s “The Substance”
In its first two hours, "The Substance" is a well-made, entertaining movie. Writer-director Coralie Fargeat treats audiences to a heavy dose of biting social commentary on ageism and sexism in Hollywood, with a spoonful of sugar- and sparkle-doused body horror.
But the film's deliciously unhinged, blood-soaked and inevitably polarizing third act is what makes it unforgettable.
What begins as a dread-inducing but still relatively palatable sci-fi flick spirals deeper into absurdism and violence, eventually erupting — quite literally — into a full-blown monster movie. Let the viewer decide who the monster is.
Fargeat — who won best screenplay at this year's Cannes Film Festival — has been vocal about her reverence for "The Fly" director David Cronenberg, and fans of the godfather of body horror will see his unmistakable influence. But "The Substance" is also wholly unique and benefits from Fargeat's perspective, which, according to the French filmmaker, has involved extensive grappling with her own relationship to her body and society's scrutiny.
"The Substance" tells the story of Elisabeth Sparkle, a famed aerobics instructor with a televised show, played by a powerfully vulnerable Demi Moore. Sparkle is fired on her 50th birthday by a ruthless executive — a perfectly cast Dennis Quaid, who nails sleazy and gross.
Feeling rejected by a town that once loved her and despairing over her bygone star power, Sparkle learns from a handsome young nurse about a black-market drug that promises to create a "younger, more beautiful, more perfect" version of its user. Though she initially tosses the phone number in the trash, she soon fishes it out in a desperate panic and places an order.
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