New Orleans filmmaker and Loyola University New Orleans Artist-in-Residence and Professor of Video Technology Jim Gabour has been selected as a featured director for the annual International Broadcasters Conference in Amsterdam.
The conference, which typically draws more than 50,000 international technical and creative executives each year, was held September 10–14, 2009, at the RAI Convention Center, in the Netherlands. As part of the conference, Gabour presented a masterclass on the making of his current feature-length concert film which documents the 25th anniversary tour of the legendary mockumentary rock band, Spinal Tap. The film, “unwigged & unplugged,” was released globally on September 1.
The video project features Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer performing acoustic versions of their original tunes and reprised songs written for Guest’s movies “A Mighty Wind” and “Waiting for Guffman.” It also includes vintage clips of the original band, along with fans’ outrageous YouTube videos.
Gabour produced and directed the concert with eight high-definition cameras utilizing the New Orleans YES Productions location truck, a New Orleans-based technical crew and a Loyola graduate as production coordinator. He also supervised post-production, sound remix, color correction and DVD authoring of the 2 hour seventeen-minute film. Gabour has been given the IBC honor twice before, once in 2001, showcasing his Quincy Jones and Kelsey Grammer projects, and again in 2003 for his worldwide number 1 DVD, “Norah Jones Live in New Orleans.”