Passion for film drives Poliquin

trevor.kenney — Thu, 19 May 2011 17:25:15 +0000

Do you remember when the family video camera was a rare and valuable piece of bulky equipment brought out of its protective case to record little more than holidays and birthdays? Fast-forward a decade or more and video cameras, found in everything from cell phones to laptops, are a common and well-used technology that we can no longer imagine living without.

Like most of his generation, 24-year-old John Poliquin (JP) (BFA '08) grew up using digital media to capture the everyday moments of his life. Unlike his peers, however, this up and coming music video director took it to another level, building a creative and promising career using the common technology.

"In high school I was into skateboarding and my friends and I were always making videos for that. I also took graphic design and was into flash animation and Photoshop. I designed a lot of posters for plays and parties, but it was just for fun. I really wasn't thinking about new media as a career," recalls Poliquin. "Then my mom read about the New Media program at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge in Macleans magazine."

Alumnus JP Poliquin at work in the studio.

After recommending the program to a friend, Poliquin visited her on campus, saw the facilities and enrolled himself.

Although Poliquin's initial intent was to focus on graphic design, he fell in love with film production during his second semester at the U of L. As a child, he'd acted in several commercials and spent time on set with a childhood actor friend. Taking Terry Gallie's film production course reminded Poliquin of how much he loved the energy and activity on a film set.

"After my first assignment in film production, I was so excited with it that I realized I really liked the aesthetic of film and working in that medium. I also really liked learning about effects and about how I could bring my design
experience into that," says Poliquin. "The New Media program at the U of L is really good. I know a lot of other directors that went to film school but I am really glad that I have a full university degree. It is so much broader in terms of the media we learned. The fact that I have different skill sets that a lot of people in my field don't, that I have experience with sound design and editing and graphic design and web editing, it just makes it a lot easier for me to market myself and not be pigeonholed into one thing."

Following his first year at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ, Poliquin spoke to Gallie and got some advice about how to work in the film industry. He returned home to Vancouver and began working with a production assistant on the sets of The Fog and RV. He continued to spend subsequent summers immersed in the Vancouver film industry, sampling everything from camera assistant and assistant director to working in wardrobe.

Poliquin also brought his passion for film back to campus. He and his friends founded the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ's Student Film Festival in 2007, premiering the film, Inside Charlie, which they had written and produced. He pulled all-nighters in the new media lab and even had to hide from a security guard once in order to keep working after hours – although he would not recommend doing that today!
Since his graduation in 2008, Poliquin has amassed quite a body of work directing music videos, and is beginning to break into commercial directing and fashion photography.

"I love being a director, writing the ideas and following it through to the editing. It is nice to be able to look back at your portfolio and see these different creations," says Poliquin. "My next goal is to move to New York City; I want to try it out while I am still in my twenties. My goal is to eventually direct high concept commercials, music videos, maybe a feature film or TV episode once a year, and then do fashion photography and editing on the side."

GET THE FACTS

· Poliquin has directed more than 30 music videos.

· He was nominated for music video directing awards for: ill Scarlett featuring Kardinal Offishall (Much Music Video awards); Paper Lions, Tim Chaisson, Morning Fold (East Coast Music Association Awards and Music PEI Awards); Hey Ocean (Leo Awards).

· His film, Inside Charlie, was nominated for Best Short Film at the Calgary International Film Festival.

· To check out some of his work go to: www.johnpoliquin.com.

This story first appeared in the Legend. To view the Legend in a flipbook format, follow this link.

The art of illusion

trevor.kenney — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 20:35:29 +0000

For as long as he can remember, U of L alumnus David Hoffos (BFA '94) has been fascinated with magic, illusion, trickery and deception.

As a child, he was absorbed with movies like Star Wars, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T. – watching them as many as 20 to 30 times. Later in high school, Hoffos took in almost every Alfred Hitchhock movie at a local repertory theatre.

"I would pick these movies apart," recalls Hoffos. "It wasn't so much the storytelling that drew me in but the details of technique and craft, the special effects, the mechanics of suspense."

Today, as a nationally renowned artist, Hoffos has carried that fascination with motion picture magic into his practice.

David Hoffos, at home with his unique cat.

His current exhibition titled David Hoffos: Scenes from the House Dream, recently on view at the National Gallery of Canada, combines low-tech ingenuity with old and new media to create vignettes where characters are caught in time and space. Taking up 5,000 sq. ft., it is comprised of 20 installations that Hoffos produced between 2003 and 2008.

"It's a rambling labyrinth of miniature dioramas and life-size projections that create a dreamlike space that viewers walk through," explains Hoffos. "I've created 3-D illusions and effects that don't require any special viewing apparatus, you can walk right up to them and experience the illusions – and even understand how they are created."

Using mirrors, television monitors and other basic devices, Hoffos brings seemingly ordinary scenes to life. In one, a ghostly child rides a bicycle up and down a suburban street, oblivious to the fireworks exploding in the sky. In another, a security guard paces an art gallery like a caged tiger. He checks his watch, plays with his keys, ties his shoes. Then there are other scenes where very little appears to be taking place, that is until you notice the curtains eerily blowing or a strange movement behind a crack in the wall.

"My work is all about this line between illusion and reality, between body and spirit, the physical and the non-physical," says Hoffos.

As the title of the exhibition suggests, Hoffos found inspiration for his work in a recurring dream he had about an interior, domestic space.

C.P. Fail, 2008 Single-channel video, audio and mixed-media installation Photo by David Miller

"I didn't know this when I started the project, but a lot of people have this dream, of this space that changes over time in their lives. It often contains hidden spaces – places that represent the past, the present and the future."

And while Hoffos thought he was simply bringing that dream to life, he was surprised at what emerged.

"Now that it is complete, when I look at this labyrinthine experience, this dreamlike journey, it speaks to the modern conditions of anxiety, depression and addiction. These are things I was not consciously putting into the work, but now, when I go through it, I really feel this melancholy, this sense of waiting, and sense of sadness and nostalgia. I never would have guessed that these sensations would come out of what started as a dream about a house."

In the future, Hoffos sees his illusion techniques moving from the gallery to the stage – expanding to dance, theatre and even rock shows. And the possibility of pursuing a childhood dream to create a feature film always lingers in the background.

"Right now that project is still a fantasy," says Hoffos. "But a lot of my work has come from dreams, so who knows?"

For a look at SAM in a flipbook format, follow this link.

UNews - security guard

Passion for film drives Poliquin

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