William Morrison (director)
Encyclopedia
William Morrison is a Canadian born Juno Award
-nominated music video director
, documentary film
director
, and musician. He has directed music video
s for popular rock bands Matthew Good
and Fear Factory
, and popular electronic music
acts Skinny Puppy
, Delerium
, and Front Line Assembly
.
, Canada area. It was here where Morrison developed his long musical relationship with the band Skinny Puppy, first directing the music video for the song "Killing Game" and then producing background film and video for their live performances.
During the mid 1990s Morrison founded Process Media Labs, a multimedia company inspired by his involvement with The Process
, an internet art collective associated with the Skinny Puppy album release The Process. He later founded a company in Vancouver by a similar name, called Process Productions, with a continued focus on music video production. He was also employed in 2004 by YYZ Pictures, a Toronto based production company.
Morrison's frequent music video work for Matthew Good resulted in a Video Director of the Year award at the 2002 West Coast Music Awards, and many best music video nominations over the years at both the Juno Awards and MuchMusic Video Awards
.
on a multimedia project titled American Memory Project. The band combines original music and visual effects
with public domain
material available from the United States archive project of the same name, American Memory
. The band toured during 2008 in support of the band ohGr.
Morrison played live guitar while on tour in the band ohGr
during 2001 and 2008, and collaborated with bandmate Tim Skold
to create the visuals projected during the 2001 concerts. Morrison also played live bass and guitar for Skinny Puppy during the band's tours in 2004 and 2005, again producing CGI
visuals used during the concerts.
Morrison was a member of the band Sixtynine (69), which released two songs ("NAKED" and "We Love You") on Mp3.com
and one music video online.
Juno Award
The Juno Awards are presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music...
-nominated music video director
Music video director
A music video director is driven by a given music track. These are called music videos and are then used as promotional tools for popular music singles...
, documentary film
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
, and musician. He has directed music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
s for popular rock bands Matthew Good
Matthew Good
Matthew Frederick Robert Good is a Canadian rock musician. He was the lead singer for the Matthew Good Band, one of Canada's most successful alternative rock bands in the 1990s, before dissolving the band in 2002...
and Fear Factory
Fear Factory
Fear Factory is an American industrial metal band. Formed in 1989, they have released seven full-length albums and a number of singles and remixes. Over the course of their career they have evolved from a succession of styles, as well as steadily pioneered a combination of the styles death metal,...
, and popular electronic music
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
acts Skinny Puppy
Skinny Puppy
Skinny Puppy is a Canadian industrial musical group, formed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada in 1982. The group is widely considered to be the founders of the electro-industrial genre....
, Delerium
Delerium
Delerium is a band from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, formed in 1987, originally as a side project of the influential industrial music act, Front Line Assembly...
, and Front Line Assembly
Front Line Assembly
Front Line Assembly is a Canadian electro-industrial band formed by Bill Leeb in 1986 after leaving Skinny Puppy. Influenced by early Industrial acts such as Cabaret Voltaire, Portion Control, D.A.F., Test Dept, SPK, and Severed Heads, FLA has developed its own unique sound while combining...
.
Director
Morrison's video directing career started in the early 1990s creating music videos for independent bands in the VancouverVancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
, Canada area. It was here where Morrison developed his long musical relationship with the band Skinny Puppy, first directing the music video for the song "Killing Game" and then producing background film and video for their live performances.
During the mid 1990s Morrison founded Process Media Labs, a multimedia company inspired by his involvement with The Process
The Process (collective)
The Process is an art and philosophy collective formed in the early 1990s. The idea was initially birthed at the same time as, and with a subset of the same people from, the studio work for the Skinny Puppy album The Process, though the direct interrelation ends there. Some of the early...
, an internet art collective associated with the Skinny Puppy album release The Process. He later founded a company in Vancouver by a similar name, called Process Productions, with a continued focus on music video production. He was also employed in 2004 by YYZ Pictures, a Toronto based production company.
Morrison's frequent music video work for Matthew Good resulted in a Video Director of the Year award at the 2002 West Coast Music Awards, and many best music video nominations over the years at both the Juno Awards and MuchMusic Video Awards
MuchMusic Video Awards
The MuchMusic Video Awards are annual awards presented by the Canadian music video channel MuchMusic to honour the year's best music videos....
.
Musician
Morrison is currently collaborating with musician Justin BennettJustin Bennett
Justin Bennett is a studio and live performance session drummer. He has been working professionally since 1997, and has participated on tours and albums with a number of notable bands, including Skinny Puppy and My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult, as well as forming his own project, American...
on a multimedia project titled American Memory Project. The band combines original music and visual effects
Visual effects
Visual effects are the various processes by which imagery is created and/or manipulated outside the context of a live action shoot. Visual effects involve the integration of live-action footage and generated imagery to create environments which look realistic, but would be dangerous, costly, or...
with public domain
Public domain
Works are in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired, if the intellectual property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all...
material available from the United States archive project of the same name, American Memory
American Memory
American Memory is an Internet-based archive for public domain image resources, as well as audio, video, and archived Web content. It is published by the Library of Congress...
. The band toured during 2008 in support of the band ohGr.
Morrison played live guitar while on tour in the band ohGr
OhGr
ohGr is a band formed by Nivek Ogre, of Skinny Puppy, and musician/engineer Mark Walk. Although the pedigree of the group's members might suggest otherwise, early ohGr releases differed in sound to its related industrial bands, drawing more on hip-hop and electro-pop influences, incorporating more...
during 2001 and 2008, and collaborated with bandmate Tim Skold
Tim Skold
Tim Sköld is a multi-instrumentalist who, in addition to producing solo work, has also collaborated with multiple musical groups including Shotgun Messiah, KMFDM and Marilyn Manson.-Early life:...
to create the visuals projected during the 2001 concerts. Morrison also played live bass and guitar for Skinny Puppy during the band's tours in 2004 and 2005, again producing CGI
Computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...
visuals used during the concerts.
Morrison was a member of the band Sixtynine (69), which released two songs ("NAKED" and "We Love You") on Mp3.com
MP3.com
MP3.com is a web site operated by CNET Networks providing information about digital music and artists, songs, services, community, and technologies. It is probably better known for its original incarnation, as a legal, free music-sharing service, popular with independent musicians for promoting...
and one music video online.
Music Videos
- Adrienne PierceAdrienne PierceAdrienne Pierce is a Canadian singer from Vancouver. She has two albums, an iTunes EP, and a Christmas EP called Making Angels. Her song "Fools Gold" was featured in Grey's Anatomy, and her song "Lost and Found" was featured exclusively in Veronica Mars and was released on the original soundtrack...
"Arizona" (2003) - Bif NakedBif NakedBif Naked is a Juno Award-winning, Indian-born American-Canadian multi-platinum record selling, rock singer, writer, poet, motivational speaker and actress.-Personal life:...
"Daddy's Getting Married" (1996) - Christa Couture "Scared, Too" (2007)
- The Dirtmitts "Get On" (2003)
- DeleriumDeleriumDelerium is a band from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, formed in 1987, originally as a side project of the influential industrial music act, Front Line Assembly...
- "Flowers Become Screens" (1994)
- "Incantation" (1994)
- "Euphoria (Firefly)" (1997)
- "Duende" (1998)
- DownloadDownload (band)Download is an electronic music group formed by Dwayne Goettel and cEvin Key of Skinny Puppy in 1994. The initial lineup also included Off & Gone's Phil Western and Mark Spybey of Dead Voices on Air, but has since been particularly fluid, with Key and Western being the only constant members...
"Glassblower" (1996) - Facepuller
- "Firebomb" (1992)
- "Snakes In The Grass" (1992)
- "Bored With Beauty" (1997)
- Fear FactoryFear FactoryFear Factory is an American industrial metal band. Formed in 1989, they have released seven full-length albums and a number of singles and remixes. Over the course of their career they have evolved from a succession of styles, as well as steadily pioneered a combination of the styles death metal,...
- "Cars" (1999)
- "Resurrection" (1999)
- Free Agents (featuring DJ Kemo) "Breakdown" (2002)
- Front Line AssemblyFront Line AssemblyFront Line Assembly is a Canadian electro-industrial band formed by Bill Leeb in 1986 after leaving Skinny Puppy. Influenced by early Industrial acts such as Cabaret Voltaire, Portion Control, D.A.F., Test Dept, SPK, and Severed Heads, FLA has developed its own unique sound while combining...
- "The Blade" (1992)
- "Laughing Pain" (1992)
- "Epitaph" (2001)
- Goat "Great Life" (1998)
- GWARGWARGwar is a satirical heavy metal band formed in Richmond, Virginia, United States, in 1984. The band is best known for its elaborate science fiction/horror film inspired costumes, obscene lyrics and graphic stage performances, which feature humorous enactments of politically and morally taboo...
- "Phallus in WonderlandPhallus in WonderlandPhallus in Wonderland was GWAR's first attempt at a commercially released, long-form movie. The plot tells the tale of GWAR's conflict with the Morality Squad, after the theft of Oderus Urungus' "Cuttlefish of Cthulhu" . Meanwhile, the giant T-Rex, Gor-Gor is born and helps GWAR defeat the Morality...
" (1992) - credited as "Distortion Wells" - "Saddam A Go-Go" (1994)
- "Phallus in Wonderland
- Kim StockwoodKim StockwoodKim Stockwood is a Canadian pop singer and songwriter. She was a member of Atlantic Canadian regional music group Shaye from 2003-2009 with Damhnait Doyle and Tara MacLean ....
"12 Years Old" (1999) - Male or Female "Primitive Reflections Twisted from Sound" (visual artist, 2004)
- Matthew Good BandMatthew Good BandMatthew Good Band was a Canadian alternative rock band formed by Matthew Good that existed from 1993 to 2002. The band consisted of Good , Dave Genn , Ian Browne and Geoff Lloyd from 1995 to 1999...
- "Everything Is AutomaticEverything Is Automatic"Everything is Automatic" is the first single by Matthew Good Band from their second studio album, Underdogs.-Music video:The music video for "Everything Is Automatic" was directed by Bill Morrison. The video features several up-close, zoomed and defocussed shots of the band preparing and...
" (1997) - "IndestructibleIndestructible (Matthew Good Band song)"Indestructible" is the second single from Matthew Good Band's second studio album, Underdogs. The song was relatively successful, reaching #7 on Canada's Alternative chart. The song was also featured on MuchMusic's Big Shiny 90's compilation. It continues to receive airplay on Canadian rock radio...
" (1997) - "ApparitionsApparitions (song)"Apparitions" is the third single released by Matthew Good Band from their second studio album, Underdogs. The song received tremendous success in Canada, being nominated for "Best Single" at the 1999 Juno Awards. An edited version of the song is featured on the MuchMusic compilation album, Big...
" (1998) - "RicoRico (song)"Rico" is the fourth single released by Matthew Good Band from their second studio album. Underdogs. The song peaked at #23 on Canada's RPM Singles Chart....
" (1998) - "The Future is X-rated" (2000)
- "Hello Time BombHello Time Bomb"Hello Time Bomb" is the first single by Matthew Good Band from their third album, Beautiful Midnight. It was recorded in 1999 at Greenhouse Studios, Burnaby, British Columbia. The song was nominated for "Best Single" at the 2000 Juno Awards, losing to The Tragically Hip's "Bobcaygeon"...
" (2000) - "Load Me UpLoad Me Up"Load Me Up" is the second single by Canadian group Matthew Good Band from their third studio album, Beautiful Midnight. The song reached #1 on Canada's Rock/Alternative chart. It is featured on MuchMusic's compilation album, Big Shiny Tunes 5...
" (2000) - "Strange DaysStrange Days (Matthew Good Band song)"Strange Days" is the third single by Canadian group Matthew Good Band from their third studio album, Beautiful Midnight. The song peaked at #6 on Canada's Rock/Alternative chart, and is one the band's most well known songs.-Music video:...
" (2000) - "Carmelina" (2001)
- "It's Been a While Since I Was Your Man" (2004)
- "Everything Is Automatic
- OddsOdds (band)Odds are a Canadian alternative rock band. The band's power pop style has been frequently compared to that of contemporaries such as Squeeze, Elvis Costello, Weezer, Tom Petty, Sloan, The Clash, XTC, Franz Ferdinand, and The Tubes.-Odds :...
- "King of the Heap" (1991)
- "Wendy Under the Stars" (1991)
- "It Falls Apart" (1993)
- ohGrOhGrohGr is a band formed by Nivek Ogre, of Skinny Puppy, and musician/engineer Mark Walk. Although the pedigree of the group's members might suggest otherwise, early ohGr releases differed in sound to its related industrial bands, drawing more on hip-hop and electro-pop influences, incorporating more...
- "Cracker" (2001)
- WeltWelt (album)Welt is the first album by the band ohGr, formed by Nivek Ogre of Skinny Puppy, and musician/engineer Mark Walk.-Track listing:All songs written by Nivek Ogre and Mark Walk.- Personnel :* Nivek Ogre* Mark Walk...
tour backing video (2001) - "Majik" (2003)
- "Minus" (2003)
- Pepper Sands
- "So Fine" (2000)
- "Win Big, Lose More" (2002)
- Skinny PuppySkinny PuppySkinny Puppy is a Canadian industrial musical group, formed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada in 1982. The group is widely considered to be the founders of the electro-industrial genre....
- Too Dark ParkToo Dark Park-Personnel:*Nivek Ogre – vocals*cEvin Key – drums, synthesizer, guitar, objects, treatments*Dwayne Goettel – synthesizer, keyboards, guitar, bass*Mr. D. Pleven – fretless bass , stick bass *Green Guy – 12 string *Greg Reely – piano , mixing...
tour backing film (1990) - "Killing Game" (1992)
- Last RightsLast Rights-Personnel:*Nivek Ogre - vocals*cEvin Key - synthesizer, drums, percussion, guitar, bass, production*Dwayne Goettel - keyboards, synthesizer, guitar*Dave Ogilvie *Ken Marshall *Anthony Valcic...
tour backing film (1992) - "Curcible" (1996)
- "Hardset Head" (1996)
- "Pro-Test" (2004)
- The Greater Wrong of the RightThe Greater Wrong of the RightThe Greater Wrong of the Right is the ninth studio album by Skinny Puppy. It was their first new full-length LP since 1996's The Process. It was also their first album since 1985's Bites without the support of deceased keyboardist Dwayne Goettel...
tour backing video (2004, 2005) - The Greater Wrong of the Right LiveGreater Wrong of the Right LIVEThe Greater Wrong of the Right LIVE is a 2-DVD set from Skinny Puppy. Disc one is live footage from their 2004 fall tour shot in Toronto, Ontario and Montreal, Quebec...
DVD (2005)
- Too Dark Park
- SNFUSNFUSNFU is a Canadian punk rock band formed in 1981 in Edmonton, Alberta and later relocated to Vancouver, British Columbia. They have released nine full-length albums and are cited as a formative influence on the skate punk sub-genre....
"Fate" - The Tear GardenThe Tear GardenThe Tear Garden is a psychedelic/gothic/electronic band, formed by Edward Ka-Spel of The Legendary Pink Dots and cEvin Key of Skinny Puppy in 1985 after Key served as a sound engineer on tour in Canada for Ka-Spel...
"Shiela Liked the Rodeo" (1992)
Misc
- "Poetry & Apocalypse", Holy Body TattooHoly Body TattooThe Holy Body Tattoo is an award-winning Canadian contemporary dance troupe based in Vancouver, British Columbia. It was formed in 1993 by co-artistic directors and choreographers Noam Gagnon and Dana Gingras who had performed together since 1987 and also Jean-Yves Thériault composer-musician and...
Dance Company (1997) - "Namaste", a television pilotTelevision pilotA "television pilot" is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell the show to a television network. At the time of its inception, the pilot is meant to be the "testing ground" to see if a series will be possibly desired and successful and therefore a test episode of an...
(2003) - "Glutton for Punishment", a television series on the Food NetworkFood NetworkFood Network is a television specialty channel that airs both one-time and recurring programs about food and cooking. Scripps Networks Interactive owns 70 percent of the network, with Tribune Company controlling the remaining 30 percent....
(2006–present) - "American Memory Project" (2006–present)