Directorial duo Bright Black–composed of Austin Rhodes and Ivan Landau–has joined bicoastal integrated content studio Humble for commercials, branded content and music videos. The move marks Bright Black’s first time being repped by a commercial production company.
Collaborating on directing, cinematography, and post, the duo is behind music videos for artists such as Beats Antique and Sigur Ros, and docu-style branded content and ads for Nike, Wilson, Grey Goose, Beck’s, Beats by Dre, Neff, and others. Along the way Bright Black worked with leading talent and athletes including LeBron James, Nicki Minaj, Gina Rodriguez, Norman Reedus, Kim Jones, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant and Travis Scott.
“Austin and Ivan have an innate synergy and it’s incredible to watch them work–between the two of them, they have every aspect of production and post totally covered. Their backgrounds dovetail nicely, and their enthusiasm and tenacity is infectious on set. We’re excited to work with them as they continue to make their mark in the ad world,” commented Shannon Lords, executive producer at Humble.
A skilled photographer who embraces a vérité approach for both still and moving images, Rhodes spent six years earlier in his career embedded in Ciudad Juarez as a DP, capturing documentary footage that was used by Frontline for programming on human trafficking. He also spent several years in New York collaborating with a variety of musicians to create visual projections for their live shows.
Landau earned a degree in film studies at UC Berkeley before landing a job at Francis Ford Coppola’s American Zoetrope, launching his career in editorial and sound on films such as The Virgin Suicides. He later transitioned to VFX, working at The Orphanage on features including Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
