Duncan Gibbins (1953 - 1993)
Make his feature film directorial debut with Paramount Pictures «Fire With Fire» after an enormously sucessful career as a producer and director of music videos. He has created videos for such blockbuster groups as the Eurythmics, WHAM as well as scores of others. It was Gibbins work on his "Smuggler's Blues" to Glen Frey's clip that won him the 1985 MTV Award for the Best Concept Video.
Gibbins also came to realize that his work is rather long range in it's rewards unlike videos which provide a sense of immediacy. "You can be sitting at your desk on Monday morning with a blank piece of paper. You get an idea and have a meeting with the record company the next day and with no luck you could shooting the video on Thursday morning. By Saturday night you can have a copy of what you did in your hands. Then your friends come over during the weekend and ask ; so what did you do this week? You pop in a cassette in the VCR and tell them; This is what I did. Then you edit the work the next week and it's played on MTV and people either love it or hate it. It's all rather direct."
"I always wanted to direct movies, but I figured my vehicle would be my writing. Some studio would want my script and wouldn't give it to them unless I could direct it. Then all this Fire with Fire came along and well I suppose it has worked out rather nicely."
"The ironic aspect of that concern is that as a video clip director, you have the chance to experiment with the story, actors and camera. I've been able to use every piece of equipment there is to use. In addition to all that, in a video clip you must be able to tell a story within four minutes and within the constraints of the music itself."
Video is not however the entire scope of Gibbins experience. He was a reporter for BBC in his native England, and then he became a producer and director of documentaries for network. He also was a writer for a number of dramatic and comedy programs in episodic television. During the pre production and the filming of «Fire with Fire», Gibbins experience a sense of timelessness to the work process. "On a video you work for five days and then you can collapse. Here you work five days during the week and then work one day on the weekend in preparation for the coming weeks shooting and then you work another five days. The process keeps going on the mouths and if you feel like collapsing at any time the train just keeps on going without you."
Duncan Gibbins died in the massive wildfires that plagued the Southern California region in 1993 because of hazardous and dry conditions. Gibbins at first got out safely, but he went back to the area where he was living because he was trying to rescue his cat, Elsa, and perished. The cat was found days later, alive, but with the tips of its ears burned off and hiding in the bottom area of a shed.
Gibbins also came to realize that his work is rather long range in it's rewards unlike videos which provide a sense of immediacy. "You can be sitting at your desk on Monday morning with a blank piece of paper. You get an idea and have a meeting with the record company the next day and with no luck you could shooting the video on Thursday morning. By Saturday night you can have a copy of what you did in your hands. Then your friends come over during the weekend and ask ; so what did you do this week? You pop in a cassette in the VCR and tell them; This is what I did. Then you edit the work the next week and it's played on MTV and people either love it or hate it. It's all rather direct."
"I always wanted to direct movies, but I figured my vehicle would be my writing. Some studio would want my script and wouldn't give it to them unless I could direct it. Then all this Fire with Fire came along and well I suppose it has worked out rather nicely."
"The ironic aspect of that concern is that as a video clip director, you have the chance to experiment with the story, actors and camera. I've been able to use every piece of equipment there is to use. In addition to all that, in a video clip you must be able to tell a story within four minutes and within the constraints of the music itself."
Video is not however the entire scope of Gibbins experience. He was a reporter for BBC in his native England, and then he became a producer and director of documentaries for network. He also was a writer for a number of dramatic and comedy programs in episodic television. During the pre production and the filming of «Fire with Fire», Gibbins experience a sense of timelessness to the work process. "On a video you work for five days and then you can collapse. Here you work five days during the week and then work one day on the weekend in preparation for the coming weeks shooting and then you work another five days. The process keeps going on the mouths and if you feel like collapsing at any time the train just keeps on going without you."
Duncan Gibbins Music Videos:
Wham! - Wake me up before you go-go / Carless Whisper
Glenn Frey - Sexy Girl / The Heat Is On / Smuggler's Blues
Eurythimcs - Who's That Girl
Communards - Never Can say Goodbye
Glenn Frey - Sexy Girl / The Heat Is On / Smuggler's Blues
Eurythimcs - Who's That Girl
Communards - Never Can say Goodbye
Duncan Gibbins died in the massive wildfires that plagued the Southern California region in 1993 because of hazardous and dry conditions. Gibbins at first got out safely, but he went back to the area where he was living because he was trying to rescue his cat, Elsa, and perished. The cat was found days later, alive, but with the tips of its ears burned off and hiding in the bottom area of a shed.
Labels: Cast and Crew, Duncan Gibbins
