The Brains Behind Blurred

Jenn Cohen | July 1, 2012 | 0 Comments

by Steffanie Giesler

Just north of downtown Denver sits an abandoned building. Multi-colored graffiti has marked the walls with tag lines and spray-painted pictures. Broken pieces of wood and other neglected materials cover the ground. Some may label this area as a waste of space, but directors Christopher Dodge and Rosco Guerrero have just discovered a location for a music video.

Dodge and Guerrero, with the help of Daniel Alvarez and Fredo Jones make up Blurred Pictures, a Denver-based production company quickly becoming just as known for their creative cinematography as for the emotionally driven videos they produce. Blurred Pictures formed in 2010 when Guerrero approached Dodge for help on a local music video, Input’s song “Left for Dead.” In the last year and a half, they have produced music videos for local artists including Input and Caleb Slade, Della, Take to the Oars and Ape 9.

Getting involved in the music scene came easily for these two. “We relate to the music scene a great deal in our company already,” explains Dodge. “That sort of ambition, that sort of passion for the actual art itself. If you go somewhere else it’s about something else. It’s about cliques, or about money or whatever.” This belief is apparent in the videos they’ve so far compiled. While each captures the talent of the project being filmed, there’s a compelling emotional element to each: Frustration, betrayal, loss that really captures the story behind the song. Guererro explains the importance behind using videos. “When you put someone on video, that’s when fans can watch it. They feel closer to the person just being able to see them. It’s almost like you can know that person through the video.”

Besides music videos, Blurred Pictures has worked on many promo videos for companies such as Beta Nightclub, Regency Student Housing, and most recently UFC’s Ring of Fire. Dodge explains how they captivate a person on camera so clearly. “It’s not so much trying to force a relationship that’s not there,” he says. “It’s more like we have a relationship with these people in some way, shape, or form already, and that’s why we want to work with them. It’s kind of a natural progression already.”

With many short videos completed, Blurred Pictures took their first step toward film. This spring they shot their first short movie, titled Sink, a thriller about a guy who wins the lottery and isolates himself by buying a hotel to deal with his own emotions and psyche about winning. The goal of this film is to create a character piece amidst the thriller aspect so it’s more than a genre piece. “We’re more interested in characters’ motivations,” says Guerrero. “What makes someone do what they’re doing.”

Sink was shot at a hotel in Estes Park during the off-season. A Kickstarter was used to raise enough money to shoot the film on a Red Epic camera, used in films such as Spider Man and the Hobbit. Along with all the learning curves of working on a film for the first time, shooting became extra adventurous because the hotel was being renovated at the time. “Water mains would break and ceilings would just be dumping water while we’re shooting” laughs Guerrero. “They’re having a catastrophe and we’re having a brilliant moment.”

The trailer will be out early Fall, with the film to be debuted in October. Sink will hopefully hit the film festival circuit after that with Sundance in January, and South by Southwest in March.

Keep an eye out for these gentlemen, as they have many projects in the works, and a music video for Denver-darling Rob Drabkin.

Here is a link to their latest video with We Were Cosmonauts http://vimeo.com/44557893

Website: blurredpicturesstudios.com