Tag Team

By Wendy Helfenbaum

With their street-art sensibility and skateboarding roots, Frank Lam and Zema of Montreal “love to mix as many media as possible,” in projects ranging from skateboard designs to outdoor murals to videos paying homage to tacky 1970s music compilations

Split Run is a new portfolio section that uses the power of both print and the Internet. Featuring an original image-maker who does both stills and motion work, the portfolio appears in Applied Arts Magazine and on www.appliedartsmag.com. Pick up the May/June 2012 issue of Applied Arts to see the print portfolio of Frank Lam and Zema.

Montrealers Frank Lam and Zema met eight years ago through mutual skateboarding friends, and soon discovered a love for cutting-edge graffiti, urban art and each other. Inspired by filmmakers Tim Burton (Zema) and Spike Jonze (Lam), the couple began collaborating on a wide variety of commercial and personal projects, switching seamlessly from photography to motion, from spray paint to acrylic paint, from traditional animation to digital compositing.

The creative partners most enjoy combining elements of each other’s visions to produce memorable, quirky art that has made their tag names well known throughout Montreal’s underground scene.

Zema, 32, and Lam, 29, each left their post-secondary studies early to pursue their art full-time. Lam studied computer science at Cégep de Sherbrooke then spent six months doing multimedia at Montreal’s Académie internationale du design et de technologie. Zema completed three semesters at Cégep du Vieux Montréal and one semester at Collège Salette. 

“I quit because I lost interest,” explains Zema. “I was focused on my graffiti and painting projects. In the end, being college dropouts worked out pretty well for both of us.” 

Together, Lam and Zema have tackled multidisciplinary projects ranging from skateboard designs to outdoor murals, from funky concrete furniture designs to videos paying homage to tacky 1970s music compilations.

While Lam has done full-time stints in ad agencies, gaming companies, post-production and animation studios, Zema has always freelanced. Some of their clients include Ubisoft, Red Bull Canada, Coca-Cola and Adidas. 

“We love to mix as many kinds of media as possible,” says Lam. “For example, I’ll take one of my graffiti projects, photograph it and integrate it into an animated video where I can digitally layer in other illustrations. In my video compositing work, I often use the same techniques used in painting, such as applying different layers of effects to really blend the images together. When I’m painting, I’ll use some ideas that stem from Photoshop or After Effects.”

Lam says he figured out what he wanted to do with his life at age 13, when he discovered skateboarding. “From there, I started watching skateboarding films, and was really inspired by Spike Jonze,” he recalls. “I decided I wanted to take photos and make films, so I started to edit video and do graphic design. I owe my career to skateboarding. It really opened my eyes to that world, and gave me all the tools I needed to make it happen.”

Zema was pulled in a different direction when she was younger. “I loved art, but I studied microbiology,” she recalls. “At the last minute, I changed my mind and moved toward the arts. At first, I only wanted to paint, but realized that if I wanted to make a living, I had to diversify. I’ve always been inspired by the way Tim Burton creates characters in such unique environments. When I discovered that he not only makes films, but also animated films and art, that became my ultimate goal.”

When the couple works on videos together, Zema usually does the illustration while Lam takes charge of the animation and visual effects. 

“We really complement each other’s styles. Our technical skills really meld well,” says Zema. “That’s the secret to our success; the artistic punch we bring to each project.”

One of the couple’s favourite collaborations was for Montreal rockabilly band Les Prostiputes. “We knew them well and they had practically no budget, so we took this project under our wing and really put our hearts into it,” recalls Zema of “Je veut danser avec toi,” an animated video packed with classic black-and-white 1950s images, hits of bright fuchsia and a cheeky nod to iconic Quebec film director Pierre Falardeau’s chunky “Kentucky Fried Chicken Kid,” circa 1979, at the film’s close. For this project, the couple both directed, with Zema handling art direction, design and illustration, and Lam doing photography, visual effects and motion design. 

That project quickly led to others, including a 2010 music video for local band Payz Play’s “Disco Rocket.”
“That one was incredibly fun, because we did a pastiche of 1970s funk music and 1980s hip-hop, and we mixed live-action footage and illustration, blending the two techniques together with the two musical styles to create a nod to those cheesy old K-Tel record album covers,” explains Lam.

For a 2011 Coca-Cola spot, “La brigade de Bonheur,” for Montreal agency Publicis, Zema drew dozens of graffiti-inspired sketches, many of which didn’t make the final cut. “Frank did some, too, then I’d take his ideas and transform them further. We inspired each other.”

Zema and Lam also spiced up a 2011 TV spot for Cossette, promoting the Quebec government’s retirement programs, with whimsical line-drawn animated elements. 

“It was a huge challenge to make this topic interesting,” recalls Lam. “It was fun selling them on the idea of how to animate and illustrate this concept, and we’re really proud that we were able to make our mark on this, both design-wise and technically, too.” 

Zema illustrated, while Lam handled motion and post. “This video was very challenging technically – lots of compositing, green screen – and I think it really succeeded. Motion and video art is a great way for us to represent what we do. We see each project as a little treasure,” she adds.

Wendy Helfenbaum is a writer and television producer in Montreal at www.taketwoproductions.ca.