Tuesday, July 23, 2013

KAB Media Kyle Brearey

The proprietor of KAB Media, Kyle Brearey is a world-class filmmaker, photographer, actor, and media mastermind. Based in Yorkshire, England, Kyle travels the world capturing the essence of people, horses, and much more…

Welcome Kyle!

What is the history of KAB Media?

The name KAB Media stems back to my college days. For one of my projects I was to create a website and generate some content for it. I chose to make a website about film, as I knew it’s the sector I wanted to work in and chose to make the content of the site a film.

For a while I thought of a website name or company name to produce my film under and after many different ideas, I thought “What could be more true to me than my name?” So my initials Kyle Andrew Brearey became the acronym KAB. Originally, for my project I was producing a website and a film so the word “Media” covered everything and seemed to fit well with KAB.

So now after all this time, almost 10 years, I still use the name, KAB Media for the same reason I did back then. I'm proud to put my name on anything that I release.

Now I run KAB as both a creative film company and a corporate work company that provides all sorts of shooting and editing options.

Which do you like best; writing, camera, directing ...?

It’s hard to say what aspect of the work I like best. It varies, first and foremost I love directing. It’s what I eventually want to do, been able to create something from scratch that I can call my own. My own little piece of history, that’s where I want to be.

Having said that, its often the writer that creates much of the film than the director, sure the director is the one that takes the words from the page and puts them onto the screen but it’s the writer that creates the words and the story. I do like writing, but I’m not a writer. Everyone loves to write and direct and sometimes that works really well, but I don’t consider myself able to write at a feature film level yet! – maybe one day.

As for the work side of things, I like to get my hands on and get stuck into KAB Media’s work. That covers a wide range of things, directing, camera operating and editing! It’s great to have a hand in every stage of a production, to see how it takes shape and changes from an idea to a fully-fledged piece of video! I guess you could say that what I do in KAB Media, is a reflection of a Directors role in the creative side of KAB.

You've filmed promotional film for equestrian events/companies. Is it difficult to film horses?

I’ve shot equestrian events before. Mostly for a company called “Atkinson Action Horses”  - a great bunch of people, mostly family run business, headed up by Mark Atkinson.

Since getting to know them we have worked with them a lot I think we have learnt a lot from each other. I’ve defiantly learnt a lot about horses and how intelligent, playful and amazing animals that they really are!

When we started working with the horses, they were already used to some of the setups that we used and we shot a show and promotional videos at the Royal Armories Museum. From that we produced the video on this page:


I’ve also worked with the same company on a short film called “Tech Hunt”, I worked on it as assistant Director. The film features a massive horse chase and a mounted gun fight.  

Working with the horses was really hard but at the same time really rewarding; we got some amazing shots. Horses look epic and so majestic as the run - all we had to do really was point and shoot. Haha, of course that’s easier said than done!

Keeping with fast moving horses was hard work, not so much us keeping up, but matching our camera rigged pickup truck to the speed of the horse, as well as having them speed up, slow down, change direction or get close enough to let the riders make contact.

An Assistant Directors job on set is to keep everything running on time, and constantly think ahead of what’s happening, so that when the next shot is ready to be shot, everyone is prepared. Horses, I have learned, can be an Assistant Director’s nightmare! Sometimes the horses just didn’t want to do what we needed them to do… they wouldn’t ride to where they needed to, wouldn’t do the stunt we needed or simply didn’t want to run. Like all animals they have their hard times as well as their good times!

All in all I love working with horses, it has its challenges but that’s just part of the fun!

To date, what has been the most rewarding project you've completed?

Hmmmm… that is a difficult one, I’ve learnt something on all of the projects I have been involved in. If I had to say at a push….it would be “Tech Hunt”.

I don’t think people understand how much work goes into filming horses, from checking the area for pot holes, checking the horses, safety of the horses and the riders; we even had to play the sound of an “octocopter camera” that we were going to use to the horses to have them get used to the sound so it wouldn’t spook them on the day of filming!

Do you film/create all over the world?

In short yes. I’ve shot all over the UK and now we are branching out to the world! I’ve edited for some clients in the USA, doing a TV opening for a Mixed Martial Arts show that was on American TV.

I’ve recently got back from shooting in Italy, for a band called “Hands of Time” or HOT. They saw some of my work and asked me to come over and shoot one of the shows they were putting on during their Italian tour; they will be doing a UK tour in the near future and it’s a good way for them to build up some good publicity!

I love working abroad and widening my scope and view of the world. It’s great to get out and see different places and meet so many different people!

What are the book/film trailer essentials?

Trailers are essential for any book or film I think. The whole purpose of a trailer is to get people into the shop or the cinema for more of what they have seen in the trailer!

As a marketing tool for a story, there really really is no better way to do it! You give your audience a taste of something…those that want more will seek it out! And it’s great to make trailers! – A dash of the hero, a smidgen of his dilemma or quest, a peak at a love interest and the hook of the story! Trailers really sometimes write themselves!

Other times it’s harder, maybe you need to rely on the feeling of a story, and it’s hard to get that across in the short time of a trailer but it’s doable with the right music and tone of filming.

Trailer essentials are:

Show your audience something to get their attention in the first 5 seconds. Most trailers are viewed on the internet these days and easy to skip, or click away from. Most humans on the web have a very short attention span so 5 seconds is a good time to show something!

You’ve got the attention of the audience, now you have to tell them the plot. Introduce the Hero, and show how he has come to find himself in difficulty, establish his “quest” or his “mission”, of course it doesn’t have to be a quest or mission but show the difficult path he has to take!

And possibly the most important, in the words of Walt Disney “Always leave ‘em wanting more”. This is why trailers often have a funny joke at the end or a cool shot of the villain, just after the credits. It’s just a final full stop that cut the audience off before they have had their fill. And it’s that hunger that will drive them to find out more!

I love your short films. Do you have a favorite of your own creation?

Wow, its really hard to give a specific project! I recently enjoyed making a short film for the UK Film competition “Four4 horror”. The challenge was to make a film with only 4 shots and each shot had to last exactly 4 seconds! It’s very restricting but at the same time very enjoyable because it limits what you can do and measures everyone on the same scale! I'm really proud as the film has made the finals and it’s in with a shot of winning the top prize.

Watch and vote for “Four4 horror” by tweeting #four4horror #votethecave, or you can see it here:



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