Today we're spending Seven Questions In Heaven with Hart Perez, one half of the Perez Brothers, two very talented music video directors.Tell us about your directing career for our readers who may not be familiar with you.
Hello to everyone out there in the Twittersphere. We're the Perez Brothers and we're music video directors based out of the San Francisco Bay Area. For those of you who are not familiar with our work, which we're guessing is everyone (insert lolz here), we have recently worked with such San Francisco indie rock bands as The French Cassettes, Kapowski, Ash Reiter, and My Second Surprise. We strive for the bizarre and unusual in our films, which have included such crazy things as mermaids, robot butlers, ice-cream genies, and gun-wielding grizzly bears. If we can entertain a YouTube viewer for three-and-a-half minutes, then we've done our job. One writer once described our style as "suburban surrealism," so we'll just go with that.
Who are your influences and idols?
Hmmm... We might sound like total snobs on this one, but we'd have say Wes Anderson, as cliché and hipster as it may sound. His visual aesthetic (the cinematography of Bob Yeoman), art direction, and use of pop music is unmatched. I also really enjoy the screwball wit found in the films of Preston Sturges (Sullivan's Travels) and the slapstick comedy in Stephen Chow's films (Shaolin Soccer, Kung Fu Hustle).
Devon's two favorite directors (he's right here making sure I don't slander him too much, is it slander or libel?) are Tim Burton and Ridley Scott. Burton's gothic style has always captured our imaginations and Scott's ability to seamlessly transport his viewers from the Roman Coliseum to outer space has really set the bar in terms of creating cinematic landscapes.
We also both love the Daniels, they've done some amazing videos for Chromeo and the Shins, so they're probably one of our favorite music video directing pairs right now, along with Terrie Timely, who we have been lucky enough to have worked with on a couple of occasions.
