Tyler Gibb - Writer, Director, Editor, Filmmaker

Making truly independent film and music is a struggle. We don’t do it for glory because there is no glory. We don’t do it for money because there is no money. We do it because, at our core, we have to.

And we do it with the hope that what we create will add value to the lives of those who hold our success or failure in their hands: You, the audience.

“Independent” film and music does depend on one thing. It depends on the audience. It depends on you, the culturally curious, to help spread the word. Refrain is now available on DVD and VOD (Video on Demand). Support the struggle by seeing our movie, hearing our music and passing it along.

And of course, let me know what you think! Feedback is also very important.

CLICK TO ORDER The DVD from:
Amazon.com
Indieflix.com
Our eStore!

CLICK TO WATCH The Video On Demand (VOD) at:
Indieflix.com (US/International)
Amazon.com’s Video on Demand (US only)

DVD shipping costs vary from distributor to distributor depending on your location so I suggest you shop around for the best option from the choices above.

Here’s what you get with your order: NTSC, All Regions DVD, Colour, 2.0 Audio, English Subtitles. Extras include: Commentary track from Writer/Director Tyler Gibb & Actress/Composer Vidya Lutchman, deleted footage, cast interviews and more.

Don’t forget also that all the music from the movie as well as the music from our Side Project is available for free to download at our website.

Below is a new trailer I put together just for the DVD release. I truly hope you will be touched by Refrain.

Hey, who’s tired?

I’ve been in promo mode this week to get the word out about Refrain’s DVD/VOD release now slated for Tuesday, March 9th. I could - and eventually probably will - do an enormous post just about trying to promote a film on your own. It’s not a lot of fun but it’s got to get done.

So yup. That’s the date. Just around the corner really. And what you’ll be getting with your purchase is an all regions, NTSC disk (in the case of the DVD) with a full colour, full wrap jewel case. The disk’s got a few extras including a deleted scene, cast interviews and a commentary track from both lead actress/composer Vidya Lutchman and myself. Did I forget anything? English subtitles as well.

Did I mention my fatigue?

So that’s it. March 9th. The icing on the cake. I’ll post details here including what vendor to use to get the best price on shipping (in the case of DVDs).

What an age we live in.

There’s a lot being made these days of the Olympics in this country. Canadian sports organizations got together a few years back and created the “Own the Podium” initiative to, among other things, give us a sense of pride or ownership, if you will, over our top athletes. It’s been enough to make a few visiting nations bristle a little bit during these 2010 Winter Games so all signs point to it working so far.

My question is, can we hire these guys to do the same for the Canadian film industry? Would that be possible? Could we Own the Box Office?

It’s okay, it’s okay… This is not a rant. Not at all actually. It’s a battle cry.

I was driving into town today to one of our blessed socialize film industry functions when I spied something poke itself out of the car in front of me. Amid the blowing snow and splashing slush the passenger in the car ahead of me was rolling down their window and erecting a full sized Canadian flag at the end of a sturdy pole. No doubt a symbol, at that moment, of support for our athletes. What would it take, I thought to myself, to see that kind of dedication, enthusiasm and obscene patriotism for a Canadian movie?

I found the answer over muffins and juice at the film thing later that morning. So allow me to take you inside the hallowed halls of today’s Canadian cinema glitterati. Behind the curtain. Into the mindscape of this country’s next generation of filmmakers… The answer is: We have to make better movies.

Wait! Let me rephrase!

We have to make movies people actually want to see.

Okay, that actually sounds even more insulting to our forefathers of cinema but, please, don’t shoot the messenger. It’s the truth. It’d be really easy just to blame the public. Try to argue that if they’d just blindly wave a flag to support us the same way they support… speed skating or whatever, then we’d be getting somewhere. Do more people really want to watch speed skating than see a Canadian film?

Yes! They do! Why? Because it’s fun. It’s got excitement and tight clothing and it’s shot in HD - it’s the whole package.

Last weekend I saw a new film. A new Canadian film but not a Canadian film if you know what I mean. It’s called The Wild Hunt. It’s a crazy, funny, shocking, twisted and dare I say thought-provoking movie. Okay forget I said that last part. That part’s not important right now. You want to be entertained, I want to be entertained, this movie will entertain the hell out of you. And that’s what’s been lacking. The Wild Hunt comes out in a limited release in April.

Go see it. It is the beginning. Forget what you know. There’s a storm brewing in the Great White North. Own it.

T

Nearly two years from when I first announced pre-production on Refrain (it went by another name back then) an international DVD and VOD release is finally just around the corner!

We’re going to have a little launch party here in Montreal on March 6th and the film will be available ’round about that date - I haven’t completely ironed out the details yet. Rest assured, the announcement will be made right here when it happens.

But yeah. Two years from start to finale. I’ve cut my time in half since Minushi. By this standard the next film should only take a year… Eesh, I better get back to work.

Continuing in my do anything once for free just for the experience manifesto I took the opportunity to play soundman on a small but ambitious production this past week.

The soundman’s job, like many positions on a film crew, is a pretty unsung responsibility. Sound really is fifty percent of your film and bad sound will pull an audience right out of the moment faster than anything on the screen. Yet the director of photography’s title still seems to come with a little more prestige than that of the soundman.

So I donned my headphones and hoisted my boom pole and did my thing. The experience was a great one. My back is still a little sore and my sleep schedule will be screwed for another few days but that’s par for the course. What was really great was not being the guy in charge. I felt like I was on vacation. Or at least, maybe, visiting a dominatrix of some kind.

Just thinking about a shooting location in strictly sonic terms was a great eye-opener. Being in the vicinity of an airport is a fairly obvious no-no but scouting locations previously I wouldn’t have immediately thought about the perils of situating your set near an open intersection. On straight bits of road cars roll at an even clip but at intersections you have to consider the volume of accelerating engines. Also, if you’re in a low-income housing area you may want to consider that a lot of those cars may have noisier mufflers than elsewhere. The neighbourhood garbage pickup rotation is also something that’s worth factoring in to your schedule.

This of course assumes that you have a pick of several locations. And anybody who’s ever tried to put together a small but ambitious shoot will tell you that this is a pretty rare luxury. But anything I can do to help out my soundman will be on my mind the next time I go into a production.