Getting Giphy with Kyle Sauer

Here at Source we relish the chance to discover fresh unsigned directing talent and put them on a pedestal for you to enjoy. Sometimes these lovely directors are then snapped up by a lucky production company, and on the road to directing stardom.

In this instance were talking about vibrant Kyle Sauer a recent signing to Neighborhood Watch, who previously featured in our very own Scout section in 2018.

We enjoyed his music video work so much we decided to take the chance to quiz the young creative on how he got a break in the industry and how his projects come to fruition. 

Tell us a little about your professional background?

I started out working in production design when I first moved to Brooklyn. My first couple directing gigs were stop-motion animations, which I loved because there was a lot of visual freedom to be bright and wild on a budget, without needing to build out a giant set.

I worked at the design and branding supergroup Dark Igloo, which is where I got introduced to Giphy, and became senior designer on Giphy's brand. There, I directed their original content, which ranged from internet-inspired brand videos, original GIFs with celebrities from Wiz Khalifa to Tommy Wiseau, and animations you can still find on Instagram and "anywhere GIFs are sold."

Since going full-time freelance directing, I've worked on videos combining live action and animation for Lucky Charms, Google, Brooklyn Museum, and Warby Parker, among others.  

How did you get involved with making music videos?

I love music videos; whenever I hear a new song I dream about what the music vid could look like. Some of my first professional projects were little music videos, or stop-motion lyric videos. I made some for the band Matt and Kim when I first moved here, that they ended up touring with and used as their stage backgrounds.

A lot of my commercials play like music videos-- the Warby Parker is a re-sung version of "Total Eclipse of the Heart," and Lucky Charms featured Biz Markie singing an updated version of his classic song. So it was fun this past year to start pitching actual music videos with bands, which I've wanted to do for a while. 

We came across your video for Young The Giant, “Simplify” earlier this year, tell us about how you came up with the concept for the video?

So in addition to sending the song, Young The Giant shared the single's album cover, which was a painting by Rob Sato that looks like a solitary person wandering through the desert.

The song is a love story about finding love despite the distractions of the digital age. I thought it would be cool to represent our virtual selves not as chrome-plated bots walking through green grids, but rather people just wandering through the desert on their own path, without noticing that they're not alone. And when two characters notice each other, it turns into kind of an oasis. Visually it was one part Where's Waldo, one part Wii Plaza avatars, one part Black Mirror.

How do you find inspiration for your work?

I love illustrators and animators, comic books, zines... show flyers, posters. I like trying to translate these compositions and colors and overall energy into live action videos and seeing what comes out of it. I'm trying to make live action videos that play like cartoons; they don't follow the same rules of the physical world.

Other than that, I guess I like walking around the city, and going down Internet rabbit holes. I've got an album on my phone, and a folder on my desktop, both labeled "Inspo."   

What are some of your favourite music videos? Any directors work that you look out for?

I mean I was raised on the classics from Spike Jonze and Michel Gondry, and will always love those. But I also have a soft spot for that wild early 00's period of Missy Elliot and Destiny's Child videos.

I think this past year I watched Christina Aguilara's "Come on Over" music video like 40 times. What I wouldn't give for 5 set changes and 20-person dance numbers. Current directors that I love watching are Sally Tran and Greg Barth, Vallee Duhamel, Canada... Any time they come out with a new video I make popcorn.

The Mikes Hard Lemonade spots are bold and creative, what was the brief? Or were you free to go wild?

That was such a fun project because the brief was so open and the creatives over at Havas were so down to get wild. The brief was a dream, because it was basically just a 5-sentence summary of each vid: "Hikers reach a lookout point. They see a hawk, an eagle, and a falcon. The birds drop off the makings for a picnic, complete with Mike's Hard Lemonade. The dudes celebrate." That was the brief, and then I got to play the game of "How much can we pack into 12 seconds?"

You made a cool split screen video “Music From Your Basement Time Machine”. How did that come about?

Haha, this is a good example of one of my scrappier projects... Warner Music Group came to me and my buddy to make an online video that advertised Record Store Day. The main goal was to capture the timeless impracticality of vinyl, while showing off their limited edition records.

Other than that the brief was pretty open. So we made kind of a fantasy that spans the decades from the 1960s to today, all staring the same actor dressed up in different styles. Sourcing the props was a labor of love, lots of calling family members and seeing what they could donate... and how I could convince my mom to ship the dusty macrame she made in the 70s.  

What is coming up next?

Beyond chasing a couple commercials and working on some personal projects, I'm finishing up a new music video with a band I really admire that got in touch with me via Instagram. It's a mix of live action and claymation (Back in the game!) and I'm really excited for it. Hoping this next year I'll be able apply my style to some longer-format, dialogue driven stuff.