Ian Kibbey and Corey Creasey, the two men who make up the directing team known as Terri Timely, are perhaps the most underrated music video directors today. They have laid out an impressive yet little-known body of work in the mere seven videos and several shorts and ads they have filmed. As with many great directors, what's most notable about their work is that it has a singularity of vision. They most clearly recall the sensibilities of one Michel Gondry, particularly his sincerity, warmth, technical traditionalism and tactile creativity, qualities also shared by Mike Mills and Hammer and Tongs. But indeed their specific aura of well-set, homespun whimsy brings up only a few direct references. (Four videos that come to mind: Michel's third Björk video, Isobel, Kate Bush and Peter Richardson's 1989 romp through the woods, The Sensual World, Iron & Wine's equally sensual Naked As We Came, and, dare I say, George Harrison's Got My Mind Set On You by Gary Weis.) Terri Timely's videos and shorts provide an aura of absolute comfort, of home. Like an evening spent by the fire in an age of digital monitors, their videos breathe life into a world of motion design and pop plasticity. Childlike without being immature, sincere without being overly sentimental, their work so far is immersive and tactile, grounded in nature and the physical world, yet with narratives that are almost zen-like in their inconclusiveness. In We are the Doctor, The Pleased take you through a hands-on library search for their own existence; I Will Come Again for Bobby Birdman is, simply, the story of a peculiar taxidermist. Their best video, Sprout and the Bean for the sprightly Joanna Newsom, is an exceedingly well-directed, vastly under-appreciated piece that sets Newsom in a captivating classroom full of wonders - namely Joanna herself, shelves full of artifacts, and a magical chalkboard. Betwixt these set-ups are equally inspired nature scenes that see Newsom enveloped by (and enveloping) her surroundings. It's a video whose subtlety and complexity are exquisitely matched by Joanna's lilting tune. Sprout and the Bean may not be a well-known video (yet), but it is certainly amongst the best videos of this decade, if quietly so. Ian Kibbey and Corey Creasey have had virtually no press written about them, so it's time to get to know them. They were kind enough to answer these questions separately via e-mail. How long have you guys known each other? Where did you initially meet? Kibbey: I met Corey about 5 years ago. We were both studying art and film at Berkeley. I was in a film class that Brett Simon taught, and during one class he said that we were going to take a break and watch this film that a student he knew just finished. So we went to another classroom and we all watched Corey's movie. Then I found out that my sister-in-law and Corey's girlfriend are cousins. That same year Corey and I were both runners up in this film contest at school. We're both pretty competitive so we commiserated about being pretty equally robbed. Then we started seeing each other at family functions and we talked about making something together. Initially it was going to be this really convoluted short film but we hit some snags with that. Around that same time I helped out Brett on a video he was making and I had a lot of fun doing it. I told Corey about it and we both thought it would be fun to make something different. A month or so after that while we were still on draft #62 of our short film, Corey got a call from Noah Georgeson from The Pleased who had done some music for one of Corey's films. They had just gotten signed to a label and they needed a video. We talked about some ideas and decided we might as well try making it together. How long have you wanted to be a filmmaker? Creasey: Since high school. I grew up drawing a lot and playing dungeons and dragons (I was the dungeon master) so I guess doing something where I get to create something from my imagination appealed to me. Describe for me the Terry Timely process, from song/idea to production. Kibbey: Its all depends. For the videos that we know we will be producing ourselves (small budget) we have to figure out an idea that both works well for the song and us and then we really have to consider if we can pull it off before we put it into the treatment. Most of these videos actually ended up costing us in the end so they really have to be something that we believe in. We have this ever growing list of small ideas, nothing that could really fill a whole video or that makes much sense out of context, things like "#89. Container ships," or "#122. Identikit." Corey and I talk about concepts together and usually he is the one who puts it all together. He is good at figuring out how the parts fit together. Then we sort of come back together at the end and work out the kinks. The process is difficult because there is very little chance of getting most tracks we write on. So it can be a bit hard to motivate [yourself] to write when you know with this video we're writing about will most likely not be made. Seriously, it's pretty fucking discouraging. Your work feels strongly inspired by nature and perhaps an early 20th Century-style tradition. From where do these interests come? Creasey: For me, nature definitely inspires me. I grew up in a small town in the foothills of Northern California so I was always around it. I also think both Ian and I tend to avoid direct references to the contemporary world. Visually we both prefer setting our work in contexts that are somewhat "timeless" or antiquated. Maybe it leaves a little more to the imagination? I think things that are mechanical as opposed to digital or whatever, also really appeal to me. With mechanical things you can actually see the cleverness of the invention. It's very tangible. I think that we like to reveal a little bit of the "magic trick" in our work. The Wrens are perhaps the most down-to-earth of all bands. How did you convince them to hire you? What was the budget on that video? Kibbey: A friend knew Cory Brown (the owner of Absolutely Kosher Records) and gave him our reel, which at the time consisted of only the Pleased video and some of our work from college. My mother worked at the Maritime Association in San Francisco and they maintain an operational WWII-Korean War submarine for tours and educational programs. We thought it would be great to shoot a video there for their song Everyone Choose Sides as if it were some kind of Cold War sub movie meets battleship theme. Our friend Matt, who worked at the Orphanage was able to get a lot of free effects work done that would really add to the production value. Cory was very supportive of us and our idea. The band was pretty laid back about everything. We talked to them once on the phone and they were great. They trusted us a lot for some reason. The budget on that video was $3500 and we went a few hundred dollars over. How did you choose the locations for: Sprout and the Bean? We Are the Doctor? Young Bride? Kibbey: When we made Sprout and the Bean I was working at Berkeley in the English as a Second Language program. I didn't actually teach, I just helped teachers out with their email accounts and what not. I would always walk past [that] classroom on the way to the bathroom. My boss was really supportive and reserved the room for us under the auspices of a teacher training workshop. Corey was still running professionally at the time so he found the outdoors locations on one of his 20-mile sojourns. Its funny because the outdoor shots look like they are in the middle of the woods or something but they are right beside the street in the Berkeley hills. We Are The Doctor was shot in the library at Berkeley. When we were thinking about the idea we wanted to do something with the card catalog and microfilm and this was the coolest library that either of us could think of. We found a kid we knew who was still in school to say it was his project so we could get permission to shoot there. Corey and I have used the "we're just students" line more times than you can imagine. The room with the cabinets was at this place in west Berkeley that sells used office furniture. They had stacks and stacks of file cabinets. We asked if we could shoot there and the man let us do it for free. He taught Corey how to use a pallet jack and Corey got the hang of it pretty quickly. He moved all of the cabinets in an hour or so. The cabinets were stacked fifteen feet tall and they swayed back and forth. I am somewhat high strung so I nearly had a heart attack while those things were being shuffled around. That was definitely a case when it was good to have a partner. [Young Bride] was actually a four day shoot. It was particularly hellish because we had two video treatments and a commercial treatment to write after each night of shooting. The bulk of the house footage was shot in a family friend's house in Berkeley. He is an older gentleman who has a beautiful house with really great furniture. We did three or four shots in my mother's house. The performance we shot in my grandfather's warehouse. We bought fourteen Ikea bookshelves and brought them in and filled them with 1500 books that we rented from the San Francisco Public Library. Corey and I returned the bookshelves to Ikea a few days later and we got into a shouting match with a Swedish supervisor about the definition of 'original packaging.' In the end we only got 70% of our money back. The outdoor stuff we shot in the snow up between Nevada City and Lake Tahoe. It was a late winter this year so there was not snow in a lot of places where there usually is. We had to go to a much higher elevation to shoot this. Corey found this great spot right next to a rest area, which was great because we could park right there. Its funny because if we would pan the camera some of these bucolic looking shots would have a freeway going through the frame. Ian has said the art direction on Belle Genevieve cost $250,000, apparently. Where did you get that kind of money, and how much did that piece ultimately cost? Creasey: Ian has a much better sense of humor than I do. I think if you take away the 4 zeros that more closely approximates the entire budget for Belle Genevieve. We shot it on the HVX and everyone involved worked for free. Actually I take that back those mannequins cost like a 100 bucks on ebay. Which coincidentally, are back up on ebay but now with new and improved pubic hair and are selling for a really cheap price. Our friend David Viola helps with the art direction on a lot of our projects and he did a pretty amazing job with the pube renderings. I swear from a distance they look creepily life like. Which musicians do you wish to someday do videos for? Kibbey: I'm not quite sure. I love the new Beirut album. I would really like it if we could make a video for something from that album. I guess the only other two I can think of off hand would be Spoon or Arcade Fire. It would be fun to do something for Camera Obscura. When I start thinking about the question more it is difficult because most of my favorite bands wouldn't have any money to make a video. It's also really frustrating when you see a video that a band you love made and it fucking sucks and you find out they loved it - which happens more than you would think. Are you guys headed toward feature filmmaking? Creasey: Not consciously. I think like most music video/commercial directors we would love to make a feature but I think we are just happy to have just about any opportunity to make work. For the most part as long as we are making enough to live and we are working we are doing pretty well. I do think we are trying to branch out and do more projects that have a more humorous slant as well as maybe some dialogue. We have a pretty awesome short we are finishing right now called "children are a gift" that chronicles the saga of one kids fight to not wipe his own butt. Which filmmakers inspire you? Creasey: Lots. There are tons of good directors, but for me, I find that none are infallible. There are some obvious choices, Dougal Wilson, Gondry, Martin de Thurah, Traktor, etc. Most of the Antville superstars. Some videos I've really liked recently are: The new one from Jaron Albertin [Emily Haines & the Soft Skeleton ·· Doctor Blind] is amazing (how did he do that, with the people falling?). Otherwise he is very hit and miss for me. I like the Cut Copy video [Future] a lot. The Album Leaf video [Always For You] by Aaron Stewart-Ahn is solid. We were asked to write on this but passed as the budget was really low and we were busy at the time. Great job, especially given the budget. Something like 7 grand? Waverly's clip of the week has moments of brilliance and is a perfect distraction when you are procrastinating writing a treatment for some awful song. I actually like most of their work, although I really don't see what the big deal was with the TV on the Radio video [Wolf Like Me]? I thought it was kinda crappy for what I heard was like 100 grand although maybe the budget was reduced? Who knows, I still like their other stuff. Scott Lyon's work has been consistently great, lately. I thought that Zutons video [Why Won't You Give Me Your Love?] he made was really fun. My buddy Arno Salters is always bringin' the power. Kibbey: I think Corey and I were pretty equally blown away by the Emily Haines video. I thought it was amazing and so well executed. I am looking forward to seeing what Jaron Albertin makes next. I really liked the Bob Dylan video that Bennett Miller made [When the Deal Goes Down]. He is one of my favorite directors, his first feature The Cruise being one of the best movies I've ever seen. I found the video to be very watchable. I have a pretty short attention span and usually don't watch videos all the way through but this one kept me watching. I loved Adam Bizanski's Wolf Parade video [Modern World]. I think he is a really great director. A lot of times stop motion can seem very 'small' like it is this precious little thing made on a tabletop and he made it feel very 'big'. This is not necessarily a music video, or particularly recent, but I loved it when Ricky Gervais did that rad dance as David Brent on The Office. I believe he prefaced it as 'sort of like Flashdance mixed with some MC Hammer shit.'		joanna newsom ·· sprout and the bean Downloadable Videos Midlake ·· Young Bride Bobby Birdman ·· I Will Come Again Laura Viers ·· Galaxies The Exit ·· Don't Push Joanna Newsom ··· Sprout and the Bean The Wrens ·· Everyone Chooses Sides The Pleased ·· We are the Doctor the pleased ·· we are the doctor laura viers ·· galaxies Downloadable Shorts Liftoff Belle Genevieve A Persistent Vision Teeth midlake ·· young bride laura viers ·· galaxies Downloadable Ads Vinaphone Vinaphone Milo Converse ·· Right and Left Converse ·· Play Converse ·· Cards Links TerriTimely.com Merge @ CROSSROADS Fader Magazine interview bobby birdman ·· i will come again the wrens ·· everyone chooses sides joanna newsom ·· sprout and the bean the pleased ·· we are the doctor midlake ·· young bride the exit ·· don't push joanna newsom ·· sprout and the bean Published 9 October 2006. This page (C) 2006 Kevin Holy. 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