Boisjoli and Cabana credit SHS for Juno nom

A bit over a year ago, Evren Boisjoli 2008 and Nicholas Cabana 2006 teamed up to produce a music video for the DJ/producer Kaytranada entitled “Lite Spots”. The video has since garnered numerous awards and nominations, including a Much Music Video Award nomination for Best Music Video and a nomination for Best Dance Music Video at the UK Music Video Awards. It was also named No. 2 Music Video of the Year in Rolling Stone magazine, and was nominated for the Young Director Awards at the Cannes Lions Festival.

 

Most recently, the clip was nominated for Best Music Video at the 2017 Juno Awards, the premier Canadian music awards show. The album on which the song appears won the Juno for Electronic Album of the Year.

 

“Of course, timing and luck were crucial to us working together on this project,” says Nicholas, “but we’d be the first to admit that our Selwyn House roots played THE major role in bringing us together.

 

“There’s just this sort of organic element to the relationships we have with other Old Boys,” Nicholas continued. “Evren and I hadn’t spoken in about two years prior to teaming up on this project, but all it took was one phone call and a few beers, and the rest was history. My hands were already full—I was working on big movie productions such as X-Men and Jurassic World—but I couldn’t resist this little gem. I offered to help supervise animation and visual effects, and put together a team of veteran artists I had worked with to help bring the computer generated robot to life.”  

 

“Nic was so generous with his time and expertise,” says Evren. “The project would have never happened without his help, his involvement gave life to this great success. It has always impressed me how strong the Old Boys network is. This collaboration was born mostly out of the trust that the Selwyn connection offers. It’s really crazy. My career takes me around the world, and I often meet other Old Boys and it’s like meeting an old friend you never knew you had. People literally open up their homes or connections without question. It really inspires me to do the same; you never know what doors you can open by teaming up!”

 

Today, Evren and Nic are co-producing multiple music videos and projects with the intention of establishing themselves as a go-to team in the Canadian scene.

 

Evren is a movie producer, executive and entrepreneur. He is owner of Achromatic Media http://www.achromatic.ca/, and partner at Fh Studio http://fh-studio.com/, a leading Montreal production company. Last year, he produced his second feature-length film, which garnered acclaim at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in the Czech Republic and praise by Variety and Indiewire. He has produced videos for talents such as Tiga Sontag (Old Boy Class of 1990), Steve Aoki, Kaytranada, and Daniela Andrade.

 

Nic is currently a lead animator at RodeoFX. He has also worked at Sony Imageworks, Image Engine, and MPC (responsible for 2016’s Jungle Book), and has been part of multiple Academy Award-nominated visual effects teams. Nic has animated on films such as Jurassic World, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Alien: Covenant, and X-Men: Apocalypse.

 

Both Evren and Nic credit the Selwyn House media program as a crucial part of the development of their creative artistic drive and ultimate career path.

 

“Bill Bedard’s media program was one of the major starting points for me,” says Nicholas. “It fueled my desire to explore technologies and storytelling methods. Our curiosity for film and media was always nurtured and, most importantly, encouraged and invited with enthusiasm. Technology-wise, Selwyn’s budget ensured we had top-of-the-line tools and software at our disposal, some of which are still industry standard!”

                                                                                 

“I was lucky enough to find my passion for film as early as Middle School,” says Evren. “The support I received from Selwyn House and, most notably, Bill Bedard, shaped our futures. His continued support through high school and after has propelled me into the film world with confidence. The opportunities and skills that Bill and Selwyn House taught me had a direct impact on much of the success I achieved at such a young age.”

To watch the Juno-nominated video, click here.