James Houston is an filmmaker and artist from Glasgow, Scotland. He has been featured throughout numerous print publications and his work has appeared on hundreds of different blogs. Many of his films are characterized by a colorful, retro aesthetic. Mr. Houston was kind enough to answer a few of our questions regarding his films and filmmaking process.

Your degree is in graphic design; traditionally, most people would associate this with print/web design. I have seen some prints you have made, but it seems that film dominates the work found in your portfolio. What initially sparked your interest in film and how long have you been actively creating films?

I almost failed my penultimate year at art school. I didn’t have a great love for creating typography or layout although I’ll always have an admiration for the work of others who do it well. I asked my tutors (Steve Rigley & Jo Petty) if I could go off on my own and try some video experimentation. Luckily, they welcomed the idea and I haven’t opened InDesign since. That was in 2008, the same year that I created the Radiohead video. I owe a lot of thanks to Steve & Jo at GSA for allowing me to take that risk.

What inspired you to create Big Ideas (don’t get any), and what exactly did the conceptual process entail?

It was never intended to be a Radiohead project. Dr. Roland Shregle from Ganjatron.net wrote a tutorial back in the dark ages of the Internet on how to replace a default sound file that’s inside every HP scanner. The original file is Fur Elise and was intended as an Easter egg for early technology enthusiasts. I couldn’t help but notice the excellent bass sound and so the next logical step was to find other instruments that would accompany my bassist. Look Around You probably inspired the final treatment.

Pavel Fuksa is a Creative Director at the advertising agency JWT Prague and an Commercial Director at Rats Prague, a film production company. He is a visual designer by schooling, and has been illustrating and designing for clients for seven years. The Journal interviewed Mr Fuksa on his latest creative venture, a music video that combines his unique graphic style with his directing skill.

You directed and designed for The Navigators’ music video. Have you ever worked on a project like this before? What was it like to direct the video after designing the matchboxes?

I have never done project like this – this was in my charge from the very beginning till the end. The actual direction wasn’t hard, it was all about the finalized designs, good locations and capable editor (thank you, Petr from asfalt.tv, again.)

Sean Stiegemeier is a filmmaker and photographer from California. He received his Masters degree in cinematography from the American Film Institute and has been featured in numerous publications including American Cinematographer.

He has recently received international attention from his stop-motion film of Iceland’s volcano Eyjafjallajökull which has received neary two million views on Vimeo. It was shot on the Canon 5D MarkII on a stage zero prototype MILapse motorized dolly track built specifically for stop-motion. This trip to Iceland was pure self-motivation, paid out of Sean’s own pocket.

You mention that you went to Iceland to out-do the mediocre pictures you were seeing in the news. Amongst the comments left for the film you say that this trip was of your own accord, payed out of your own pocket, and I can imagine it was quite expensive. How were you able to justify this trip?

I had just finished doing some well paying jobs and thought why not?! Its like a vacation.

How soon after the initial eruption happened was your trip planned?

It was planned 2 days before I left.

I recently wrote about the Australian production company, Blue Tongue Films, and decided to take a deeper look into two founders, Joel and Nash Edgerton. They have received 25 awards since they began in 1998, including a Short Film Award Honorable Mention at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. Since 1992, they have directed, produced, acted, edited or wrote in over 90 films.

The Edgertons provided interesting insights into both their inspiration and background, especially if you are considering a career in the film industry and require some guidance.

Sorry I’m Late is a fantastic short animation by director Tomas Mankovsky. This was shot at the Amadeus Centre in London in December of 2007. The film was shot with a 1:1 ratio, successfully shattering my expectations of the limits of film and animation. Documentation on the creation of this piece can be found at the film’s website.

These films come from the Korean artist and animator Choi young-hoon under the moniker NXK. The still frame Vimeo had for RUN.RUN.RUN was enough to draw me in. It exhibits bold and detailed line drawings combined with a very quick frame rate. It’s reminiscent of old 2-dimensional adventure games in many ways including even the music. I can’t help but feel bad thinking of my dust-covered Sega Genesis when watching this.