Upscale article

UPSCALE ~ Upwardly Mobile [February 1997]

Film Noire

In the 1940′s, the term “film noire” brought to mind a genre of dark, moody, movies dominated by tough-as-nails private eyes, two-faced “dames” and bloodthirsty gangsters. In the 1990′s, the phrase has come to stand for one of the nation’s most successful film production companies – aptly called Film Noire.

Since filmmakers April Lundy and T.H.Davis founded the company two years ago, it has earned a reputation for creating cutting-edge music videos for record labels like LaFace, Motown and MCA and artists such as A Few Good Men, Passion and Speech.

“Co-founding Film Noire is the most important thing I’ve ever done,” says Lundy. “Not only have we created an artistic vehicle for some of the most talented visual artists, but we’ve created a venue that allows us to intertwine parts of who we are into effective visual messages for our clients.”

So, what is the connection between Film Noire of today and that of yesteryear? “We have those same traditional values,” says Lundy. “Most people doing music videos are not film people. We value film.”

Prior to forming Film Noire, these two were kept busy with their pursuits of undergraduate degrees. Lundy studied broadcast journalism at Georgia State University and Davis majored  in film at Clark Atlanta University. They met years later while serving as proteges at the Atlanta-based video company Westside Stories. There, they distinguished themselves as shrewd professionals and carved out a niche within the competitive motion picture industry. It wasn’t long before Lundy and Davis were overwhelmed with calls asking them to produce projects on a freelance basis. Before they even realized it, Film Noire was born.

“I don’t know what happened,” admits Davis. “I knew I couldn’t work for other people anymore. I feel like this is what we were born to do.”

Initially, potential clients were coming out of the woodwork and their fledgling company boomed. Along the road to success, however they hit their share of snags. “Making videos is very risky,” says Lundy. “Once we fronted a record label some money to do a production and they were over 90 days late paying us back.” “But I have to believe that everything happened for a reason,” Davis adds.

These days, they manage an office staff with four employees and a roster of over 20 directors, including former “Webster” star Emmanuel Lewis. Now, poised for success, Lundy and Davis look forward to venturing out into the world of television commercials and feature films.