Balancing Blocks

    Pretty much a documentary on how Fort Standard makes their Balancing Blocks.

    Directed by Part & Parcel
    Director of photography & animation: Ian McAlpin Sound & Music: Brian Jones

    The Russian Winter

    Brooklyn-born John Forté was a Grammy-nominated musician in The Fugees at 21 and a federal prison inmate at 26. When his prison sentence was remarkably commuted in 2008, Forté was given a second chance to share his talents with the world. This feature documentary chronicles his concert tour across Russia, a journey of musical and personal discovery. The Russian Winter will debut at the Tribeca Film Festival 2012.

    Directed by: Petter Ringbom
    Cinematography: Ian McAlpin & Petter Ringbom
    Produced by: Le Castle Inc.
    Creative Producer: Dream Hampton

    Featuring: Alina Orlova, Sunsay, Brian Satz, Victor Logachev, Artemy Troitsky, Billy Novik, Zero People, Ryan Vaughn, Patrick Firth & John Forté

    Interview with the Robot

    The second of two videos for Marketplace's Robots Ate My Jobs series. The talented Max Silvestri interviews a robot of questionable talent... and motive.

    directed by Joe Posner & Ian McAlpin
    cinematography: Ian McAlpin
    starring: Max Silvestri
    music: Kelly Pratt
    robo linguist: Emma Tsujimoto Cunningham

    Invisible Robota

    Challenged by APM's Marketplace to create two videos for their Robots Ate My Jobs series, Joe & I decided to search out the robots we use everyday, but might not think of as robots. Which begs the question, what qualifies as a robot?

    directed by Joe Posner & Ian McAlpin
    cinematography: Ian McAlpin
    animation: Joe Posner & Heather Faye Khan
    music: Kelly Pratt

    Op-Video

    A continuing series for Daily Beast TV, Op-Video is a platform for writers, thinkers, and doers to share an idea with the world. Director Joe Posner then riffs on that idea in his animations. In mathematical terms, (Op-Ed + Op-Art) x motion = Op-Video.

    director: Joe Posner
    cinematographer: Ian McAlpin

    John Forté & Sunsay: Windsong

    One long shot in the Moscow apartment I lived in with John Forté's band during the filming of the documentary The Russian Winter. With appearances by Alina Orlova, Brian Satz, Ryan Vaughn, Patrick Firth, Dirty Lick-Lick, and Grunge John Orchestra Explosion.

    Directed by: Petter Ringbom
    Cinematography: Ian McAlpin

    Levi's: California Summer

    Photographer & director Cass Bird street-casts the best models for her shoots. Each brings his or her own unique energy to the shoot and then Cass orchestrates it all like a conductor of beautiful chaos, which makes my job easy. Shot in Santa Monica, Malibu, & San Pedro, California.

    Director: Cass Bird
    Cinematographer: Ian McAlpin
    Client: Levi's Europe

    Javelin: Soda Popinski

    The Sea Floor Sea Urchin Dance Troupe perform a
    Busby Berkeley inspired number to Javelin's hit song,
    Soda Popinski!

    Official Selection SXSW 2009!

    Between 2 Islands

    A film-symphony for The Roosevelt Island tram.

    Shot on one reel of super-8 film, in camera editing.
    Official Selection of the Straight-8 Festival, 2008.

    Directed & Shot by Ian McAlpin
    Assistance by Purva Amar
    Music by Sam Posner

    Sit & Read/UNIS: Risom

    Kyle of Sit & Read re-upholstering a RISOM chair with left-over scraps from a UNIS collection, to be displayed in the UNIS store. As with much of my work with Part & Parcel, a blend of stop-motion animation and observational cinematography.

    co-directors: Part & Parcel
    cinematographer: Ian McAlpin
    music: Garrett Morin

    The Student of Prague

    Faustian pacts! Dueling suitors! Diabolical doppelgängers! A re-imagining of the 1913 "grandfather" of German expressionism, The Student of Prague combines silent film aesthetics and the latest in movie-making technology to provide the discerning spectator with a uniquely modern silent film.

    Directed by: Ian McAlpin & Spencer Collins
    Produced by: Karla Stojakova
    Cinematography by: Klaus Fuxjäger

    Horror author Hanns Heinz Ewers, excited about the mew medium of moving pictures, wrote a screenplay, "Der Student von Prag." His tale borrowed elements from Faust, Edgar Allan Poe's "William Wilson," and E. T. A. Hoffman's "The Double." Stellan Rye directed the film in 1913 with Paul Wegener in the title role. Predating Das Kabinett der Dr. Caligari by six-years, Der Student von Prag awed audiences with its trick filming techniques, making it one of the earliest examples of German expressionism. It was subsequently remade twice, in 1926 and 1935, the '26 version starring Caligari's somnambulist Conrad Veidt in the title role.

    The Student of Prague

    The Shape of Powders, Pellets, and Pills Proved Unreliable

    director: Ian McAlpin
    co-writer: George Ducker
    cinematographer: Aaron Kovalchik
    costume designer: Erika Munro
    assistant director: Adam Abada
    gaffer: Davina Semo
    sound design: Sam Posner
    still photographer: Elisabeth Bernstein

    patient:Anna Kull
    caretaker: Peter Hlinka
    voice: Joe Ullian

    Shot on location in New York City's only romantic ruin, the Renwick Ruin on Roosevelt Island. The film appeared in the 2007 Straight 8 festival and strictly adheres to the Straight 8 credo:

    One cartridge of super-8mm.
    No editing.
    Blind soundtrack.

    The Shape of Powders, Pellets, and Pills Proved Unreliable

    Kate Spade: PINK

    Frequent collaborators Part & Parcel brought me on to shoot and help them animate this stop-motion Pink Museum for Kate Spade's year of color.

    about

    Ian got his first camera (a Polaroid Sun660) when he was 5 years old. He immediately started using photos to tell stories.

    He went on to study photography & film at Brown, with additional classes at RISD and a semester at FAMU in Prague.

    After graduating, he returned to his hometown, New York City, and worked on independent films as a camera assistant. Along the way he developed skills in lighting, camera operating, stop-motion animation, as well as some collaborative partnerships. Now, he's always on the hunt for stories to tell with a camera.

    contact

    ian [at] ianmcalpin.com
    @IanMcAlpin

    side projects

    Funeral Photography - A digital shoe-box of analog images.
    Hive Lighting - Next-generation plasma lights for film production.

    site

    Running on Stacey, coded by Ian Hatcher, designed by Ian McAlpin.

    All icons from The Noun Project. "Super Eight Camera" designed by John Caserta. "Headphones" designed by Fredrik Jansson.
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