It came to me via Google Alert last week, another creative Zwicky: Denis Zwicky, videographer in Miami. At first, I guessed from his French first name and his fluent but non-native English that he was related to the Zwickys of Wallisellen, outside Zürich, of the Zwicky thread and yarn company and now the Zwicky Areal Facility, an exploration of urban development on the grounds of the thread factory:
(#1) Wallisellen: the old factory and a corner of the new development
Though they’re in German-speaking Switzerland, the younger generations of the family mostly have French names (I’ve written about Joelle); see my 6/27/18 posting “Three Züricher Peter Zwickys”, with a section about “Silk Peter” of the thread company and his four daughters.
But no, far otherwise. As I wrote in yesterday’s posting “Das Wappen”, Denis turned out to be one of the Slavic Zwickys (more in today’s posting “Tsviki from Belarus”). However, I’ll put this personal and family history aside for today, to report on Denis the videographer.
Specifically, from his ZwickyFilm website for “wedding and cinematography video in Miami”, this “Who we are?” statement:
(#2) A display of six of DZ’s videos: five wedding videos and a 2019 Miami Beach Pride video ad for the men’s fashion company 2(X)ISTZwicky Filmmaking is a Video Company located in Miami, Florida. We always try to make our works cause feelings and be special. We take the process of shooting very seriously, and we always try to do something unique in every work. Zwicky Filmmaking we specialize in Commercial, Wedding, Promo-Video as well as Real Estate and non-commercial projects.
From DZ’s page on the WEVA (Wedding & Event Videographers Association International) site for professional wedding photographers (in the US, UK, Canada, Ireland, Iceland, and Australia) — of course there’s a professional organization — this intense banner:
(#3) Featuring a still from the very erotic “Black Magic Woman” (cinematic video)
Then two photos of DZ himself:
(#4) On a shoot for a video about New York City, with camera and notably magenta t-shirt
(#5) DZ’s presentation of himself for prospective clients
It’s worth reflecting on these, since they’re an artist’s self-portraits. In both, DZ’s gaze is to the side, not confronting the viewer, but absorbed in his work. In the ad shot, he’s casual in a flannel shirt, masculine and easy-going, smiling pleasantly; his wedding clients are young couples, so he wants to appear both cooperative and competent, and inspire trust in both women and men (not too fussy, not too aggressive, not too stiff). (This is my reading; I’m sure Denis didn’t think it through like this when he was choosing his clothes and striking his pose — he just went with what felt right, no doubt after trying a lot of things out, that’s what artists do, but the result is there for people like me to analyze.
A bit more detail on the Miami Beach Pride video, which I think is wonderfully shot and wonderfully cut; I wanted more (but it’s an ad). The video:
(#6)”Promo video for American luxury fashion label 2(X)IST on Miami Beach Pride 2019 . Videographer: Denis Zwicky. Music: Mikey Geiger – Fern Avenue.”
From Wikipedia:
2(X)IST (pronounced “to exist”) is an American luxury fashion label that makes men’s underwear, swimwear, activewear, loungewear, socks, and watches. 2XIST also launched a women’s line featuring activewear, sleepwear and intimates. The company was founded in 1991 by Gregory Sovell and is headquartered in New York City.
The core business is high-end homowear (underwear and swimwear), often advertised extravagantly, as in this ad from a 6/8/16 posting of mine:
(#7)
Leave a Reply