The Punk-Forged Director-Editor Duo Bringing 2 Frequencies Into Harmony

​Institute director Blaise Cepis and Cut+Run founding editor Jay Nelson are a couple of young punks – all grown up. Now collaborating on commercials and music videos, their creative partnership is imbued with a multi-generational rebellious spirit forged in the late 20th-century counter-culture.

“No matter where you end up – visually, stylistically, professionally – if your seminal years are grounded in those DIY ethics, you’ll always carry that with you,” says Blaise. “It’s a bit of a real-recognise-real type thing. You can always smell your own, and with that, there is a level of immediate trust that becomes the foundation of your relationship.”

The elder of the two, Jay says he brings very different tastes and interests to the duo, informed by the art and music of the ‘70s. Meanwhile, Blaise is an unapologetic ‘80s kid with an eye for opulence and bright, surreal visuals. “Other than the fact that we are both night owls and passionate about creating things, [Blaise’s] tendencies are in complete contrast to mine, but I have such a regard for how he sees the world.”

He adds, “I’ve been doing this a lot longer than Blaise. I’ve edited literally every sort of medium there is to edit. Commercials are by far my favourite realm; however, he and I have recently collaborated on a trio of music videos, which is where I got my start. It's been an absolute blast.”

^{Above: 'The Beat' -- Angel Du$t}

​These music videos are right in the pair’s wheelhouse: a trippy triptych of swagger and aggression for hardcore punk band Angel Du$t – two of which, ‘The Beat’ and ‘Cold 2 the Touch’, are out now. With little to no budget, the project has been a labour of love – but one that’s helped kickstart the director-editor duo’s dynamic.

“Jay’s enthusiasm blew me away,” says Blaise. “I knew he was on board before we shot anything, so I was able to go into the production with a clear vision of tackling three distinct visual styles for each video, and knowing that I could count on Jay to make that vision come alive – and that I wasn’t over-promising or kidding myself.”

Necessitated by the budget, Jay worked solo and from afar, using the footage’s lo-fi aesthetic to drive his edit style and ‘throw the rules out of the window’. Describing the first video ‘The Beat’, he says, “It was pure pacing expression. Blaise shot on a SUMO heat sensor camera, which required very little setup or correction, so I always had the bizarre media to cut to, and it doubled the amount of takes I had to work with. What post brought to the party was a means of creating interesting shots via manipulation and image combination. We manufactured split diopter shots, and having edited in DaVinci, I was able to create a lot of camera effects for the party.

“‘Cold 2 the Touch’, which is on FX right now, shows just how incredible Blaise is at maximising the resources he has to work with,” he adds. “He made a lot with very little, and we followed that in post by making some sparse imagery feel massive. And ‘Gun’, which will follow in December, is going to be my tour de force in editing – a culmination of what we did in the first two. I look forward to every project we do. He is constantly upping his game.”

^{Above: 'Cold 2 The Touch' -- Angel Du$t}

On the commercial side of things, the pair has worked on a hero cut of Blaise’s Velveeta campaign, ‘La Dolce Velveeta’, and just launched a campaign for California Almonds. The Velveeta work was their first collaboration together, after meeting at a Cut+Run happy hour event.

Jay had recently seen Blaise’s reel, describing it as “one of the most unique” he had seen in a long time. “I freaked out… It showed a dimension of invention and design which I know to be extremely rare. I had to meet him just to congratulate him. We hit it off. I felt a connection to his passion for creation and image-making.”

“It was like running into an old friend,” Blaise reflects, “We ended up cooking for a few hours, and he made all my dumb ideas look good. It just felt like I found someone who got it.”

The chemistry is no mystery, as, in addition to the punk connection, both Blaise and Jay share a background in visual art and design. Jay studied studio art while at college and directed for the C.A.G. theatre company, while Blaise graduated from the Parsons School of Design and built a career as an art director at agencies such as JWT, Mother and Sid Lee before focusing on directing and photography.

^{Above: Still from 'The Beat'}

“The first thing that struck me about Blaise was the incredible set design and attention to style,” says Jay. “One can learn this, but to do it at the level of execution Blaise achieves is a gift one is born with. My guess is that, in an unconscious way, our mutual disciplines contribute to the creation process at a flow state level.”

He continues, “When we first worked together on Velveeta, we finished it in three hours. There was very little pause. He would suggest something, and was on the same wavelength. I've never really experienced a fluidity with direction in that way. We are very different people, but I relish where he’s coming from. I trust his vision, and I suppose it has a lot to do with the things he knows, which I don't, and complements our process. Hopefully, I deliver the same. I think so.”

Now with an established partnership, and a reverence for Jay’s storied career that’s seen him edit some of the most praised Super Bowl ads in recent years, Blaise likes to get Jay involved in projects as early as possible – especially when an obvious solution isn’t apparent. “We both like projects that still feel like there’s some wetness in the clay,” explains Blaise, “[projects] that we can both slap around and have the ability to surprise ourselves with the final form.

“We usually kick it all off with a nice catch-up session, and then draw out the Venn diagrams of what's new and exciting us at the moment, what the project calls for, what we’ve done before that we like, and what we haven't done that we want to… We see what overlaps and start getting into it.”

^{​Above: Still from 'The Beat'}​

In this vein, the pair’s new project for California Almonds saw Jay involved from well before production started. “I got a play-by-play from afar and just kicked back and watched as Blaise won the job and then led the process,” says Jay. “It was amazing to witness. All my faith in his ability to guide the process was affirmed. I have unimpeded confidence in what he does.”

He adds, “Blaise had the vision so clearly that the shoot was over at lunchtime. He didn’t need anything else. He overdelivered on the media they needed, and there was not a single hiccup in the post process as a result. The agency and client have been kinda flabbergasted at how smoothly it’s gone.”

Jay shares that this project came about as a direct result of their Angel Du$t work, and so the pair hope for this upcoming launch, and the final two music videos of the trio, to open more new doors as well.

“I look forward to speaking with [Blaise] about that. I think, at least for myself, I’ve been living in the moment. That in itself is growth for me. But I look forward to tomorrow and working with Blaise. What I haven’t mentioned is that he’s an enormously gracious person. He’s shown a great depth of gratitude and appreciation. It’s a force multiplier for everyone who works with him.”

“We don’t have a grand plan,” says Blaise, “but I do know we both want to keep surprising ourselves and making work that doesn’t feel like the last thing we did.”

Jay adds, “Blaise and I are different creatively, and our aesthetic life represents us in a certain way. We live on different coasts at different frequencies but I’ve learned to celebrate our differences, as they contribute to a greater whole. I know there are years of discovery to come. It’s going to be a beautiful friendship.”