At 26, Michael Maxxis has established himself as an original and highly sought-after director of music videos. His vids are full of forceful, sometimes nightmarish imagery, captured with precise lighting, carefully chosen locations and lush color schemes. He's worked with the kick-ass LGBT band The Cliks, the Nu metal band P.O.D. and alt-rockers OURS, among others. He's traveled around the world, from Spain to the Salton Sea.
Originally from Canada, Maxxis's success story is about more than natural ability. It's also about finding a scene you're interested in, networking with people, following good advice and working at it until your fingers bleed. In other words, the path to success for just about any indie filmmaker.
Maxxis recently spoke with Openfilm about working with The Cliks, shooting in Spain and directing his first short film, Steak and Milk. Most of the photographs on this page were taken by him.
What formal training do you have? Did you go to film school?
I actually have no formal training. I studied business in university. I just learned the craft by diving in head first, making all sorts of mistakes, and learning from them. I was lucky to meet a couple great mentors who I spent a lot of time with and learned from.
How did you get into the music video business?
Just one of those things that seemed meant to be. I've always enjoyed being out at night and from that, got to know a bunch of bands - a couple of them were crazy enough to let me make their music videos for them, and in the end it turned out alright.
Once you know what the song will be, what happens next? Does the band have any input on what the video will be about?
When I'm sent a track to write on, I'm also sent a "brief". This outlines what the band and label are looking for. Sometimes they have all sorts of ideas, but most the time it's pretty open. If I don't like their ideas, then I pass on the job - if someone knows so specifically what they want, then I honestly think they should direct the video themselves, otherwise they'll never be happy with it. I definitely prefer situations that are a bit more collaborative - especially when I'm working with a band that I don't know really well. The back-and-forth usually always leads to a better product in the end.
All of your videos show an impressive use of camera, lighting and design. How do you work with your crew to achieve the look you want?
It's a combination of things, but more than anything, it's just understanding how all the gear works and understanding the concept of lighting. The look is VERY important to me, since I believe it has perhaps the most significant influence on the emotional response the viewer gets from a scene. And really, making videos or films is all about affecting people's emotions.
Do you gather a lot of references?
Sometimes, but to be honest, I'm not much of a student of the arts. I grew up loving hockey and action movies, and could care less about paintings and poems. So, my catalogue of references is somewhat limited, but I actually think this works to my advantage, as it leads to more of an original style.
You shot Worst Things Beautiful for OURS in Valencia, Spain. Talk about that experience.
It was pretty much a big vacation. Sure, we shot for 15 hours a day for 3 days, but everyone involved were already great friends from before. Conceptually, it was a bit of a letdown, as we went there to film during the Las Fallas festival, which is supposed to be all about building and then burning satirical and metaphorical effigies. The concept was for the payoff to be performance footage of Jimmy (Gnecco) singing in front of these giant, symbolic, burning structures, but the year we showed up happened to be the 1st year that Disney decided to sponsor the thing. So, the large majority of the figures were characters from Disney films and not at all worth filming. It forced us to change the idea a bit, and make it more about the journey and walking around footage.
I'm a fan of The Cliks. What was it like working with them?
Well, I only really spent a lot of time with Lucas (Silveira), because he came down to New Orleans for the narrative stuff. He was really cool and easy to work with. We shot in New Orleans in the middle of the summer, so it was a pretty grueling shoot for all of us, but in the end it was a very rewarding job. The performance footage was all shot in Toronto in a half day, so I didn't have a ton of time to get to know the band.
Your videos are full of surreal, far-out imagery, especially Addicted and Live Again. Where do these images come from?
It's tough to say. I just close my eyes and try and fall asleep to the song, and see what images/dreams come into my mind. When something interesting appears, I pop up and write it down. Then I go through all the crazy shit I have scribbled on the page and try and craft a concept out of it.
You have some amazing photography on your MySpace page. What advice would you give to young photographers?
The first thing is to study your subject closely, and if it looks beautiful to the eye, it will usually look great on film. Secondly, take some time and really study your pictures and play around with them in Photoshop. Soon you will get a real sense of what compositions work best, what sort of colors (and color densities) to look for, how to make skin look beautiful, how to create moods, etc. I would also suggest trying to create as much in camera as possible and not counting on computer programs to make your photo great. Photography is much more rewarding that way.
You directed a 17-minute short called Steak and Milk. Tell us about the film.
Well, it was a deliberate departure from the darker and more heavy-handed music videos I was doing. I wanted to make something that was more of a reflection of my lighter side. The whole cast is made up of my friends and family and we shot it in my hometown of Edmonton, Alberta. It was great to work with actors and dialogue, and not just rely on stylization to tell a story. It just premiered at the European Independent Film Festival in Paris, and is also screening at The Beverly Hills Film Festival, The MECAL International Short Film Festival of Barcelona, The Boston Underground Film Festival, Outfest, and The Vail Film Festival. I've submitted to a few others, but haven't heard back yet.
What's next?
Well, I'm shooting another short film called 8 for Infinity starring Jimmy Gnecco from OURS at the end of April, and am trying to squeeze in a couple more music video shoots before then. I also directed a 2nd video for Bedouin Soundclash, which will be out the first week of April, and shot one in Coney Island for The Heavy's new album, that should be released in May.
You can view more photos here.