Sometimes it's the simple things that really grab me. Like, for example, gig posters.
As someone with a particularly unhealthy obsession with music and a corresponding devotion to the clever and unique ways music nerds create cool artwork and packaging for that music, I'm really drawn to a well-crafted gig poster.
Apparently so is Sergio Salgado, who directs these short docs on people with small businesses in their work spaces.
A few months ago, Salgado filmed Illinois artist Jay Ryan, who runs the small-batch gig and art poster company, The Bird Machine (Full disclosure: I have one of Ryan's creations -- this Interpol/Secret Machines poster -- hanging over my records at home). Salgado takes an exacting and loving look at how Ryan creates his very colorful and very cool creations, and the video looks something like a cross between a "This American Life" episode (you know, back when it was on TV for a bit) and an Errol Morris film.
And lest you think Salgado is only into music, he also takes a look at an Illinois butcher and his shop.
Great stuff!