Walter Robot is a creative studio founded by artist Bill Barminski and director Christopher Louie. They work in multiple mediums including film, television, art and sculpture. Their film work has screened at several film festivals, including the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

and the

Los Angeles Film Festival The LA Film Festival was an annual film festival that was held in Los Angeles, California, and usually took place in June. It showcased independent, international, feature, documentary and short films, as well as web series, music videos, episodi ...

where in 2012 the festival hosted a retrospective of their work. Their artwork has been showcased in several installations and galleries in Los Angeles, New York and London. In 2014, to much critical success, they worked with the world-renowned

Cleveland Orchestra The Cleveland Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Cleveland, Ohio. Founded in 1918 by the pianist and impresario Adella Prentiss Hughes, the orchestra is one of the five American orchestras informally referred to as the " Big Five". T ...

and staged the first ever interactive animated version of

The Cunning Little Vixen ''The Cunning Little Vixen'' (original title ''Příhody lišky Bystroušky'' or ''Tales of Vixen Sharp-Ears'' in English), is a three-act Czech-language opera by Leoš Janáček completed in 1923 to a libretto the composer himself adapted from a ...

opera.

History

Walter Robot began as a robot they built to star in a music video for the

Modest Mouse Modest Mouse is an American rock music, rock band formed in 1993 in Issaquah, Washington, and currently based in Portland, Oregon. The founding members were lead singer/guitarist Isaac Brock (musician), Isaac Brock, drummer Jeremiah Green and ba ...

's " Missed the Boat" green screen competition. Walter Robot won the competition and went on to direct music videos for several notable artists including

Kid Cudi Scott Ramon Seguro Mescudi (born January 30, 1984), also known by his stage name Kid Cudi ( ; formerly stylized as KiD CuDi), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, and fashion designer. Born and raised in Clevelan ...

Gnarls Barkley Gnarls Barkley is an American soul music, soul duo composed of singer-songwriter CeeLo Green and producer Danger Mouse (musician), Danger Mouse. They released their debut studio album, ''St. Elsewhere (album), St. Elsewhere'', in 2006. It contai ...

, Vitalic, Rob Thomas of Matchbox 20 and

Death Cab for Cutie Death Cab for Cutie (commonly abbreviated to DCFC or Death Cab) is an American rock music, rock band formed in Bellingham, Washington, in 1997. Death Cab for Cutie's music has been classified as indie rock, indie pop, and alternative rock. The ...

. In addition to their music videos they have worked with commercial clients ranging from

Nokia Nokia Corporation is a Finnish multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications industry, telecommunications, technology company, information technology, and consumer electronics corporation, originally established as a pulp mill in 1 ...

Play-Doh Play-Doh, also known as Play-Dough, is a modeling compound for young children to make arts and crafts projects. The product was first manufactured in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, as a wallpaper cleaner in the 1930s. Play-Doh was then rewor ...

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

Wendy's Wendy's International, LLC, is an American international fast food restaurant chain founded by Dave Thomas (businessman), Dave Thomas on November 15, 1969, in Columbus, Ohio. Its headquarters moved to Dublin, Ohio, on January 29, 2006. As of D ...

Lexus is the luxury vehicle division of the Japanese automaker Toyota, Toyota Motor Corporation. The Lexus brand is marketed in more than 90 countries and territories worldwide and is Japan's largest-selling make of premium cars. It has ranked amon ...

and

American Express American Express Company or Amex is an American bank holding company and multinational financial services corporation that specializes in payment card industry, payment cards. It is headquartered at 200 Vesey Street, also known as American Expr ...

. Their video " Grapevine Fires" for Death Cab for Cutie was accepted into the 2009

where it won Audience Award for Best Music Video. Shortly after the success of the "Grapevine Fires" video they teamed again with

for their song " Meet Me on the Equinox" which was the premiere single for The Twilight Saga: New Moon (soundtrack). In 2012 they also directed the video for Death Cab for Cutie's "Underneath the Sycamore" (which included a clip of the "Grapevine Fires" video within this video). A retrospective of their work was hosted by the 2012

in two screenings titled, THUNDERDOME (Walter Robot vs. The Daniels). As well as their music videos they have completed several successful viral videos and short films. A short film they did in collaboration with

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

journalist

Joel Stein Joel Stein (born July 23, 1971) is an American journalist who wrote for the ''Los Angeles Times''. He wrote a column and occasional articles for ''Time'' for 19 years until 2017. Early life Stein grew up in Edison, New Jersey, the son of a sale ...

was accepted to screen at the 2009

. They also worked with

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

-nominated and

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

winner, director

Jeffrey Blitz Jeffrey Blitz is an American film director, screenwriter and producer best known for the documentary '' Spellbound'' (2003), ''The Office'' (2007 - 2010), the fiction film '' Rocket Science'' (2007) and ''Comedy Central’s'' ''Review'' (2014 - ...

, on the documentary '' Lucky'', which premiered at the 2010

. For feature films and TV they are represented at

William Morris Endeavor Endeavor Group Holdings, Inc. (formerly William Morris Endeavor and WME-IMG) is an American holding company for talent and media agencies with its primary offices in Beverly Hills, California. The company was founded in April 2009 after the me ...

for whom they directed and produced a short film titled, The Transfer. They are currently developing several feature film, television and artistic properties. One of which include
Mojowski 77
; a surreal neo-noir set in an alternate Los Angeles filled with robots and cardboard guns. The cardboard guns have been displayed as artwork in several art gallery shows that opened in 2011. And a video they directed/animated for Death Cab for Cutie's "Underneath the Sycamore" previews the animated TV show version of Mojowski 77, and also features a clip from their earlier video for "Grapevine Fires". In September 2012 they collaborated on an art show titled This Side Up.
/ref> The show was hosted by the Robert Berman Gallery at

Bergamot Station Bergamot Station Arts Center is a Santa Monica facility housing many different private art galleries and appears in most tourist guides as a primary cultural destination. Opened September 17, 1994 as Bergamot Station the campus-like complex is ...

in Santa Monica, California. The art show featured video installation, cardboard sculpture as well as paintings and drawings.

Videography

* " Missed the Boat" -

(2007) * "U and I" - Vitalic (2007) * "The City" -

Milosh Mike Milosh, known professionally as Milosh, (born 1976) is a Canadian electronic music, electronic musician from Toronto, who is currently based in Los Angeles, California. Career Milosh started learning classical cello at age three, later ta ...

(2007) * "Desperate Times, Desperate Measures" -

Underoath Underoath (styled as Underøath or UnderOath) is an American rock band from Tampa, Florida. It was founded by lead vocalist Dallas Taylor and guitarist Luke Morton in 1997 in Ocala, Florida; subsequently, its additional members were from Tamp ...

(2008) * "Practice Makes Perfect" -

Cute Is What We Aim For Cute Is What We Aim For was an American pop-punk band from Buffalo, New York. Formed in 2005, they have released two albums: ''The Same Old Blood Rush with a New Touch'' (2006) and ''Rotation (Cute Is What We Aim For album), Rotation'' (2008). ...

(2008) * "Mystery Man" -

(2008) * " Grapevine Fires" -

(2009) * " Give Me the Meltdown" - Rob Thomas (2009) * " Meet Me on the Equinox" -

(2009) * "Nervous Breakdown" -

Hawthorne Heights Hawthorne Heights is an American rock band formed in Dayton, Ohio in 2001. Originally called A Day in the Life, their lineup currently consists of JT Woodruff (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Matt Ridenour (bass, backing vocals) and Mark McMillon ...

(2010) * "Slippin" -

Quadron Quadron is a Los Angeles–based Danish people, Danish Musical ensemble, duo consisting of singer Coco O., Coco O. and musician/producer Robin Hannibal. The group considers their genre "Electronic music, electronic Soul music, soul music". ...

(2010) * "Balloons" - Them Jeans (2011) * "Underneath the Sycamore" -

(2012) * " Teleport 2 Me, Jamie" - WZRD (2012) * "Apple" - Barnaby Saints (2013) * "Good Help (Is So Hard to Find)" -

(2016)

References

External links

Walter Robot
Homepage
Walter Robot
on YouTube {{authority control American video artists American music video directors