Nick DenBoer is a Canadian film and music video director.
Early life and education
DenBoer was born in
Clinton, Ontario
Clinton is a community in the Canadian province of Ontario, located in the municipality of Central Huron. Clinton was established in 1831, when Jonas Gibbings and brothers Peter and Stephen Vanderburg cleared out a small area to start. Clinton ...
on December 25, 1979. He moved to Toronto, Ontario in 1998 and studied at the
Ontario College of Art and Design
Ontario College of Art & Design University, commonly known as OCAD University or OCAD, is a public art university located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The university's main campus is spread throughout several buildings and facilities within d ...
for 2 years before dropping out.
He then started a construction company in Toronto while working in video and animation business on the side. In 2009, production work became the focus and he started Generic Versatility Inc., a video production company.
Career
DenBoer has directed and produced three
music video
A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing devi ...
s for Canadian electronic music artist
deadmau5
Joel Thomas Zimmerman (born January 5, 1981), known professionally as Deadmau5 (stylized as deadmau5; pronounced "dead-mouse"), is a Canadian electronic music producer and DJ. He mainly produces progressive house music, though he also produces ...
, including ''
Monophobia'' in 2018, ''
Drama Free'' feat.
Lights
Light is an electromagnetic radiation, part of which stimulates the sense of vision.
Light or Lights may also refer to:
Illumination
* Light bulb
* Traffic light
Arts and entertainment Music
* Lights (musician) (born 1987), Canadian singer-son ...
and ''Pomegranate'', a collaboration between deadmau5 &
The Neptunes
The Neptunes are an American songwriting and production duo composed of Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo, formed in Virginia Beach, Virginia, in 1992. Williams often provides additional vocals on records and appears in the duo's music videos ...
, both in 2020. Nick directed and produced the critically acclaimed short film ''The Chickening'', a visual effects remix of
Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick (; July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, his films, almost all of which are adaptations of nove ...
's ''
The Shining'', where he and co-director Davy Force used visual effects to alter the film's characters and scenery to create a new story.
The Chickening was featured in many film festivals most notably the
Toronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a perman ...
in 2015 and
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,6 ...
in 2016. Nick is also credited as a visual effects artist of the feature film ''
Kuso
''Kuso'' is a term used in East Asia for the internet culture that generally includes all types of camp and parody. In Japanese, is a word
that is commonly translated to English as curse words such as fuck, shit, damn, and bullshit, and is o ...
'' by
Flying Lotus
Steven Ellison (born October 7, 1983), known by his stage name Flying Lotus or sometimes FlyLo, is an American record producer, DJ, filmmaker and rapper from Los Angeles. He is also the founder of the record label Brainfeeder.
Flying Lotus h ...
and on the music video ''Fire is Coming'' By Flying Lotus featuring
David Lynch
David Keith Lynch (born January 20, 1946) is an American filmmaker, visual artist and actor. A recipient of an Academy Honorary Award in 2019, Lynch has received three Academy Award nominations for Best Director, and the César Award for Be ...
.
In 2020, DenBoer directed and executive produced an ad campaign called ''Virtual Influencer Colonel Sanders'' for
Kentucky Fried Chicken
KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) is an American fast food restaurant chain headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, that specializes in fried chicken. It is the world's second-largest restaurant chain (as measured by sales) after McDonald's, with ...
through the ad agency
Wieden+Kennedy
Wieden+Kennedy (W+K; earlier styled ''Wieden & Kennedy'') is an American independent global advertising agency best known for its work for Nike. Founded by Dan Wieden and David Kennedy, and headquartered in Portland, Oregon, it is one of th ...
, which won a
Webby Award
The Webby Awards are awards for excellence on the Internet presented annually by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, a judging body composed of over two thousand industry experts and technology innovators. Categories includ ...
for best use of social media. The campaign featured a lifelike, computer generated incarnation of Colonel Sanders and portrayed him as a virtual influencer on social media in a series of images.
He has directed and produced many other advertising projects for the companies and brands such as KFC,
Old Spice
Old Spice is an American brand of male grooming products encompassing aftershaves, deodorants and antiperspirants, shampoos, Shower gel, body washes, and soaps. It is manufactured by Procter & Gamble.
Old Spice was launched as Early American Old ...
,
DC Shoes
DC Shoes is an American company that specializes in footwear for action sports, including skateboarding and snowboarding. The company also manufactures apparel, bags, accessories, hats, tshirts, and posters.
History
The company was founded in ...
,
BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
,
Adult Swim
Adult Swim (AS; stylized as dult swim'' and often abbreviated as s'') is an American adult-oriented night-time cable television channel that shares channel space with the basic cable network Cartoon Network and is programmed by its in-house ...
and
Red Bull
Red Bull is a brand of energy drinks of Austrian company Red Bull GmbH. With 38% market share, it is the most popular energy drink brand as of 2019. Since its launch in 1987, more than 100 billion cans of Red Bull have been sold worldwide, inc ...
. among others. Prior to his advertising work and music video directing debut, Nick worked as a bit creator on
Conan O'Brien
Conan Christopher O'Brien (born April 18, 1963) is an American television host, comedian, writer, and producer. He is best known for having hosted late-night talk shows for almost 28 years, beginning with '' Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' ( ...
, and worked for
Team Coco
A team is a group of individuals (human or non-human) working together to achieve their goal.
As defined by Professor Leigh Thompson of the Kellogg School of Management, " team is a group of people who are interdependent with respect to infor ...
from 2012 to 2015, producing
political satire
Political satire is satire that specializes in gaining entertainment from politics; it has also been used with subversive intent where political speech and dissent are forbidden by a regime, as a method of advancing political arguments where su ...
and pop culture clips for the show.
Nick is responsible for creating the series ''
Alex Trebek has Gone Insane'' which was a recurring bit on Conan's monologue where he took clips from the show ''
Jeopardy!
''Jeopardy!'' is an American game show created by Merv Griffin. The show is a quiz competition that reverses the traditional question-and-answer format of many quiz shows. Rather than being given questions, contestants are instead given ge ...
'' and cut up
Alex Trebek
George Alexander Trebek (; July 22, 1940 – November 8, 2020) was a Canadian-American game show host and television personality. He is best known for hosting the syndicated general knowledge quiz game show '' Jeopardy!'' for 37 seaso ...
's words and rearranged them through editing to make Alex say absurd sentences. Nick also created the recurring Conan monologue series ''
If they Melded'' where he took celebrities faces and swapped them onto other celebrities.
Filmography
Films
Music videos
Awards and recognition
In 2019, DenBoer was
Prism Prize The Prism Prize is a national juried award recognizing the artistry of the modern music video in Canada.[Webby Award
The Webby Awards are awards for excellence on the Internet presented annually by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, a judging body composed of over two thousand industry experts and technology innovators. Categories includ ...]
for "Best Use of Social Media 2020" for his work on ''Virtual Influencer Colonel Sanders'', where he served as director and executive producer. In 2021, his 3D animated music video for ''Pomegranate'' by deadmau5 & The Neptunes was nominated for the upcoming
Juno Awards of 2021
The Juno Awards of 2021, honouring Canadian music achievements, were presented on 6 June 2021, observing the 50th anniversary of these awards. The main ceremonies were televised on CBC.
The ceremony was originally scheduled to take place in Ma ...
for ''
Music Video of the Year''.
Private life
DenBoer currently lives in Toronto with his spouse, Leanne O'Brien.
See also
*
Music of Canada
The music of Canada reflects the diverse influences that have shaped the country. Indigenous Peoples, the Irish, British, and the French have all made unique contributions to the musical heritage of Canada. The music has also subsequently been ...
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:DenBoer, Nick
1979 births
Living people
People from Huron County, Ontario
Film directors from Ontario
Canadian music video directors