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Crystal Violet - Orphica

  • Devin Keane
    Director
    Director, producer, animator, videographer, production desgner, editor
  • Devin Keane
    Writer
  • Devin Keane
    Producer
  • Project Type:
    Music Video
  • Runtime:
    3 minutes 16 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    May 15, 2016
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Devin Keane

Devin Keane is a biomedical science student, animator, and electronic music keyboardist who has worked in television, film, and video in the Austin area over the last 8 years, often under his company and its subsidiary: Veracity Productions LLC and Old School Productions. Over this time, he has filmed many live performances and several music videos for bands, including his own -- Orphica.

He actively worked in Austin's film industry from 2009 - 2011 as a production illustrator, production designer, unit production manager, and producer for various projects such as "The 2 Bobs," "Cherry Bomb," and commercials for Nike and World Wildlife Fund while creating his own comedy short featuring kid actor, Ryan Lee, a sketch about how to make yourself sick in order to get out of school the next day.

Devin began to specialize in healthcare media projects after teaming up with DiviTree Media in 2010, creating promotional and educational content for Diabetes America and Canon Medical Imaging, eventually creating promotional content for the Susan G. Komen Foundation in 2013. It was during this healthcare-oriented work that he was inspired to return to school to pursue a career in biomedical engineering and research.

Today, Devin is a full-time student who is interested in induced pluripotent stem cells, aging, and cancer research. He still creates videos under Veracity Productions LLC and Old School Productions.

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Director Statement

This video is about the dance of life, at the cellular level; it was inspired by my study and work in microbiology, and is dedicated to those fluorescent-ridden labs where all of life's great discoveries are made.

I wrote this song for my electronica band and made this video while working on my first academic research project, which was a spectrophotometric assay that investigated bacterial biofilm colony formation. I was amazed at how these bacteria -- our seemingly primitive unicellular predecessors (by about four and a half billion years) -- have developed incredible methods of communicating and coordinating with each other through a chemical process known as "quorum sensing."

One day, while playing a show at Empire Control Room, we used audio-generated graphics designed by Synesthesia.live as a background projection. One of these projection patterns reminded me of bacteria and amoeba, so I decided to use these graphics and cut them together into a music video for the song "Crystal Violet."

The song was named after the stain we used, a rich purple compound, in order to "count" the cell population after each assay. The song and video are dedicated to the astonishing fact that even the simplest forms of life, including individual cells and unicellular creatures, have an elegant means of communication and coordination.