A Demo Reel of Featured Work by Cinematographer and Collaborator Ryan Randall

My Role(s): Editor, Animator
Featured Music:
“Bitters End” (Roxy Music Music Cover) by Paul Kimble & Andy Mackay from “Velvet Goldmine Soundtrack”
“Song of Victory” by Tomahawk from “Anonymous”
“First, Love” by She Wants Revenge from “This is Forever”
“Fantasia, Wq. 117-12.” by J.S. Bach

A promotional video for a multifaceted media services provider. The challenge was to find interesting ways to integrate static content into a fully immersive DVD experience. This particular sequence was the opening of the DVD, and is used as a “Demo” for the Company.

Job Role: Creative, Animator, Editor

Video by Benjamin Dickerson

This is the Little animation that could. A rejected little cartoon I started for the Rated R Art Show. This is the finished version I never bothered to post. The sound is rough, but the animation I found to be fun and worth sharing.

Institute of Medical Science (University of Toronto)

A short Recruitment Video.
Job Title: Editor, Animator, Post-Production Management.

Teaser Trailer

My Role(s): Writer, DOP, Editor, Music (Co-Credit) and Director

Lindsay the AlchemistSynopsis: Lindsay is an abscess human laying within a margin only few of us would understand and she is changing. It is this change and the threat she feels it presents that catalyzes her decision of self-imprisonment. Equipped with only the bare essentials for survival and a camera to record the artifact of her struggle, which becomes a literal video diary of her battle with something larger and potentially greater than herself.
“Movies are regarded in the sequence of Mythology, Stories and Drama, as expressions of often obscure fantasies in the people among whom they are produced and diffused.” -Martha Wolfenstein and Nathan Leites. From “Movies: A Psychological Study”.
Lindsay the Alchemist is a 20 Minute exploration of a disease. Developed through a combination of medical, theoretical and heuristic research. With a lot of attention placed on the character and themes of isolation. The medical research was organized around symptoms of Schizophrenia. The symptoms and disease pattern the films narrative, as a kind of fictionalized case study is transposed into film. The sole character (Lindsay) is designed without application of our most common assumptions of gender, mental illness, sexual orientation and ethnicity. The ambition of this being to disseminate a compelling character story without perpetuating and condoning the misrepresentation of abject people through the continued marginalization and defamation of the individuals circumstance. Lindsay, is an undifferentiated Schizophrenic, this is the foundation for every movement throughout the film. Each scene constructed around how the character reinforces the Schizophrenic’s primary conflict (the core delusion or hallucination in which the Schizophrenic combats), with dialogue and incident contextualized through the variety of symptoms of Schizophrenia (i.e. disorganized thought, speech and behaviour; Alogia, avolition and social dysfunction)

Lindsay the Alchemist is a short film I wrote, shot, edited, directed and wrote music for. I know that seems like a lot. Part of the benefits of going to an art school is that through necessity you develop the habit of doing everything on your own. And by doing so, you get to dramatically expand your skill set. Lindsay the Alchemist is the marriage of all these acquired skills. By the same token, it’s the first time I was able to work with a professional actor in a collaborative and immersive way to really bring the character to life. So, I didn’t do everything myself

This is a teaser trailer for the film.

Web Promo

Client: Sharkwater Productions, Tribute Entertainment & Alliance Atlantis.
My Role(s): 1st Assistant Editor, Title Design & Animation, Promo Online Editor, Web Promo Editor, Viral (Online) Marketing

Official Site
iMDB
iMDB: Benjamin Dickerson

Sharkwater – The Story “An eye-opening film…visually stunning… this movie will change the way you see our oceans.” – Bonnie Laufer, Tribute Magazine

For filmmaker Rob Stewart, exploring sharks began as an underwater adventure. What it turned into was a beautiful and dangerous life journey into the balance of life on earth. Driven by passion fed from a life-long fascination with sharks, Stewart debunks historical stereotypes and media depictions of sharks as bloodthirsty, man-eating monsters and reveals the reality of sharks as pillars in the evolution of the seas. Filmed in visually stunning, high definition video, Sharkwater takes you into the most shark rich waters of the world, exposing the exploitation and corruption surrounding the world’s shark populations in the marine reserves of Cocos Island, Costa Rica and the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador. In an effort to protect sharks, Stewart teams up with renegade conservationist Paul Watson of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. Their unbelievable adventure together starts with a battle between the Sea Shepherd and shark poachers in Guatemala, resulting in pirate boat rammings, gunboat chases, mafia espionage, corrupt court systems and attempted murder charges, forcing them to flee for their lives. Through it all, Stewart discovers these magnificent creatures have gone from predator to prey, and how despite surviving the earth’s history of mass extinctions, they could easily be wiped out within a few years due to human greed. Stewart’s remarkable journey of courage and determination changes from a mission to save the world’s sharks, into a fight for his life, and that of humankind. Written by Sharkwater Productions Inc.

For Sharkwater; I wore numerous hats. Most of what I did for the film was Post Production related. However, before the Canadian theatrical release I was given the opportunity to promote the film using some really basic but constant online techniques. Offering new and exclusive content and cross posting images, links and opening discussions in several forums, message boards and other online communities.

Institute of Medical Science (University of Toronto)

Job Title: Editor, Animator, Post-Production Management.

This is a spec spot that wa intended for online distribution.

My Featured Cinematography work from selected films and videos.

Featured Music:
“Who Knows What Love Is? (Reprise)” by Strawberry Switchblade