Today we’d like to introduce you to Ryan Rundle.
Hi Ryan, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I grew up in the mountains North of Spokane, WA, where at times, the silence was more deafening than a Nine Inch Nails concert. As a musician, I was always fascinated by the relationship between sounds, images and the feelings produced by those elements in harmony (or dissonance). When you watch Uma Thurman dancing to Urge Overkill in “Pulp Fiction” or Dean Stockwell performing Roy Orbison in “Blue Velvet,” there’s a feeling you get that makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up. It’s a feeling that neither the sound or image could’ve achieved independently of each other – that feeling is what got me into filmmaking.
When I moved to Los Angeles in 2012, I took every job I could find on set and in the editing room, even working overnight security on TV and commercial productions. As I continued honing my craft, I picked up work directing commercial campaigns, and in 2017, I was hired by MI giant, Roland, to revamp the company’s photo and video content. I didn’t want to just hawk a product. I wanted to have a conversation from one musician to another about instruments that (in some cases) I had used since I was a teenager. I made authenticity my voice, and in the process, redefined the way a 50-year-old brand communicated with musicians around the world.
In 2020, I was asked by LA trio, Cannons to direct the music video for their single, “Fire for You.” The band and Columbia Records allowed me the freedom to marry not only my love for music and narrative films, but their’s as well. That year, the song hit number one on Billboard’s Alternative and TV/Film charts and I’ve been marrying sounds with images ever since.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Shortly before I started at Roland in 2017, I began production on a documentary called “Afterlife.” The film followed two-time Olympic swimmer, Mihail Alexandrov, and his struggle with retirement. No one commissioned the project and the budget was comprised of pocket change, but I knew somewhere in my core that this was a story I needed to tell – like breathing oxygen.
I spent over two years breaking myself in half, directing campaigns for Roland on the weekdays and “Afterlife” on the weekends. The hours spent burning the midnight oil and deluging my irises with raw footage are probably countless. Missed calls, missed birthdays, missed hangs – your relationships begin to crumble, and yet, you feel as though there’s a message in all of this that someone, somewhere could really benefit from hearing.
In 2020, “Afterlife” was selected by three Academy-Award qualifying film festivals and distributed by DocsNow Plus. I’ve lost track of the number of messages I’ve received from former and existing pro athletes who were touched by Mihail’s story because it made them feel a little less alone. And it doesn’t matter how many people will ever see the film, because no amount of money in the world will ever compare to the feeling of knowing that I put everything I had on screen.
Life has and will always be a series of challenges. The only thing that matters is how you face them. When I look back, the projects I’m most proud of were often the most challenging to make. So as long as you’re pushing yourself and the people around you, then I think you’re doing something right. Because the real joy is rarely in the finished product, but in the doing.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I write, direct and edit narrative films, documentaries, commercials and music videos. I also shoot and retouch photo campaigns. I’m most proud of my work with Cannons and Columbia Records because they’ve given me the opportunity to be myself at every fork in the road. Whether it’s an artist, an athlete or a brand, I put love into every detail. Because it’s not just the image that goes on screen, it’s you too.
Do you have any advice for those just starting out?
I think the most important thing you can do as an artist in any medium is be yourself. Identify what is uniquely you, what comes naturally, what brings you joy, and cultivate that garden.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://bundleofrundle.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bundleofrundle/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/afterlifethedoc
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/BUNDLEOFRUNDLE
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4HQevc9JE0
- Other: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4579759/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1
https://vimeo.com/ryanrundle
Image Credits:
Grant Puckett, Meredyth Lewis, Kevin Lee, Kevin Perea
