Amherstburg Producer/Director Mixes Work & Play

Hello time traveller!!
This article is 4304 days old.
The information listed below is likely outdated and has been preserved for archival purposes.

Gavin Michael Booth directs Cambridge-band Something You Whisper’s
video for Greatest Of Hiding Places at the Raindance Center on
Ouellette Ave. (Photo by: Lynne Therrien)

When taking little time to rest, work often has to allow for some fun along the way.

This is the case with Gavin Michael Booth’s recent activities. Beyond his upcoming movie production, Fix and Flip, his most recent projects have allowed him to geek-out a bit. For starters, the director is currently editing some footage from a “bucket list” experience.

Directing and producing a Steven Page live project, Booth was thrilled by the opportunity.

“This is what I refer to as my ‘Big Shiny Tunes Bucket List’ coming to life,” he said. “I’ve had the pleasure (and giddy thrill) of working with many of my favourite bands from the 90’s that I grew up loving their music in the past five-years or so: Third Eye Blind, Better Than Ezra, Big Wreck, The Tea Party, Vertical Horizon, Gin Blossoms, etc. A lot of these bands were part of the Big Shiny Tunes compilation albums that Much Music released annually in the late nineties. These are some of my favourite CDs and Barenaked Ladies fit that mold. Steve Page’s songwriting is a big part of my listening catalogue. I’ve always loved his vocals and lyrics so when I got the call to work on this live project it was an absolute thrill.”

Filmed with cinematographers Jarrod Ferris and Kyle Van Dongen, being at Niagara On The Lake’s Jackson-Triggs Vineyard was icing on the cake. It made for a great shoot, complete with a sunset to compliment the amphitheatre’s beauty.

From there, the film-maker took a trip northeast. Booth participated in Toronto’s North By North East (NXNE) film and music festival and was on hand for a documentary screening. Showing the making of a one-take music video, Sure As The Weather: Making A Music Video was officially selected by organizers.

Needless to say, the experience left him a bit awestruck.

“I was asked to speak on the panel after the film screened,” he said. “I was standing there amongst Oscar-nominated directors and producers with star-studded short films. Definitely the small fish at the table but it was just such a blast to hear everyone’s stories in creating their projects and getting to meet tremendously talented people.”

While in the city, Booth also filmed a video for Gavin Slate’s Life As A Salesman. Pranking Starbucks, the pair have received coverage from the likes of Canadian music-journalist Alan Cross, MediaBzz, StyleDemocracy and IndieGroup. It’s been a popular concept, earning a lot of views online.

“The Gavin Slate Starbucks prank has been a fun ride so far,” said Booth. “Lots of press, lots of people sharing it around – it’s already had over 60,000 views. That’s mammoth for an independent Toronto singer/songwriter. That’s taking in to consideration the other three music videos I’ve directed for him have a combined total of 10,000-11,000! So mission accomplished – we tapped into something that people found entertaining and a little more of the world knows who Gavin Slate is.”

As for other projects, Booth is continuing with music videos at a rapid pace. Cambridge-band Something You Whisper’s clip, Greatest Of Hiding Places, came out just last week and was shot at the Raindance Center – a future location for the bulk of Fix and Flip filming.

Whether it be filming an indie band in town, a major- label recording artist’s concert or screening a documentary in Toronto, Booth keeps it in perspective. After all, it’s still about having fun.

“First and foremost, I will always remain a film geek,” he said. ”I still do midnight screenings, read magazines and websites for the latest movie news, jump out of my seat when the Warner Brothers logo fades in during the latest Batman or whatever. So the part of this industry where I get to meet my heroes and get an inside look at how all these films are made is just satisfying that little Amherstburg geek in ways I never would have imagined.”

For anyone interested in being cast or crew members for (mostly Windsor-Essex County) shoots, they can visit the News section at Mimetic Entertainment’s website – all content can be found in the Videos section as well.