Meet Vincent Ducarne of Big Time Studio LA in Downtown Los Angeles

Vincent, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I went to Art school in Montpellier, France and spent the 5 years of that Master’s degree program focusing on developing and creating a body of work. I’ve always been a cinephile therefore I quickly chose film and video as my main medium. After I graduated in 2006, I directed a few non-narrative short films and both my work and personal goals gravitated towards the contemporary art world.

For almost a decade I leaved a true and enriching bohemian life! I leaved in different countries and was traveling from art residencies to gigs as a director of photography for artist friends or former teachers’ film projects. I ended up taking two consecutive trips through North America in 2008 and 2009 that led me to the idea for Line-Crossing, a film about about slowness and wandering.

I spent a month and a half on board a cargo ship between Europe and Brazil to shoot this film as a one man crew doing camera, sound, light, key grip, everything! It took me five years to bring this project to life from its ideation to its completion as an abstract documentary, a series of portraits of the sailors and a book. This project definitely taught me a lot about commitment.

I had moved to Marseille to work on Line-Crossing and while I was working on it, I started really building my career as a freelance DP and filmmaker. Due to my background in contemporary art, I worked for and collaborated with many other artists: musicians, dancers, filmmakers, visual artists, etc. I loved jumping from one universe or ambiance to the next- a group of independent dancers one day to the next a month-long journey following a politician on their campaign in Rio, kept me surprised and humbled for sure.

In 2016, my wife (who’s American) and I moved to LA to be on her side of the ocean after 7 years in Marseille together. We had more hunches than a definite plan and starting over from scratch here was an opportunity to shake up a few things. It notably shifted my mind towards a more scripted and narrative type of artwork, something that always intimidated me in the past. I swiftly found myself becoming an Angelino! Also being in LA enhanced my career as a freelance filmmaker and DP. There are so many great projects to work on and talented artists to collaborate with!

A year and a half ago, I opened a production space called Big Time Studio that is also my workshop/studio in the heart of downtown LA. This space allows me to make all the projects that I thought of in the past come to life: film shoots, pop up dinners, film premieres, drawing sessions, you name it!

Great, 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?
I feel like the ongoing struggle of being an artist is to combine or to find a balance between personal art projects (that don’t always pay the bills) and a professional career. I found that balance when I realized that I could put my technical and artistic skills to work with other artists. Working for other people’s projects has always been inspiring and fulfilling. It feeds my own creativity.

Everywhere I’ve lived in the past I’ve had a rhythm of life that revolved around a close group of friends- a community. After 4 years in LA, I’m still frustrated about how difficult it is to spontaneously get together with friends as often as I wish! Is it the busy, hustle LA lifestyle or because we’re so spread apart in space? This is really a cultural difference that I didn’t anticipate. That’s one of the reasons I want Big Time Studio to be a hub!

Obviously the current Covid-19 health crisis is a major challenge that we’re all going through right now. It has put all film productions in limbo since March and running a production studio during this time is a bit scary. But I’m trying to stay optimistic and see it as a gift of time to work on a script.

Please tell us about Big Time Studio LA.
Big Time Studio is a film and photography studio in the heart of the Historic District of downtown LA. It’s a spacious, cozy and uniquely detailed penthouse loft that offers the most versatile location for a shoot and the perfect sanctuary for creative stimulus! The loft can be used as a location as it is and it also offers some production equipment and a CYC. Since its opening a year and a half ago,  it hosted a lot of different productions for film shoots, music videos, TV shows, documentary interviews, commercials, fashion shoots, cooking shows, etc.

It also works as a venue for small events such as film premiers, pop up dinners, community gatherings, album release parties and all sorts of things!

Big Time Studio also offers full production services for all types of projects.

Also, it’s currently on hold because of the covid-19 gathering restrictions but I’m looking forward to hosting our Sketch & Sip events as soon as it’s safe again! These events are untutored nude figure drawing sessions for which we have a model (female or male depending on the session) that poses for us for 2 hours. You get to practice and improve your craft in a convivial environment while sipping on a drink! No need to be a pro, these drawing sessions are very laid back and for every level. Check our meetup group page and join us for our next session! https://www.meetup.com/DTLA-Sketch-Sip-Untutored-Figure-Drawing-sessions/members/?sort=join_date&desc=true.

So, what’s next? Any big plans?
I’m currently collaborating with the French contemporary artist Selma Lepart on a short film project. In brief it’s a dystopian story about an AI created with the purpose to solve complex environmental and human preservation issues, and the confusing solution it comes up with. We’ll launch a crowdfunding campaign for it soon!

I surf and I really fully embraced the surf culture here in LA, making it a big part of my life. Observing surfers out in the water in all sorts of situations inspired me to start developing a comedy series project about the surf lineup microcosm here in Southern California. It’s a work in progress.

I also recently started a short video series called Big Time Studio Sessions. I’m surrounded by lots of creative and talented friends and friends of friends: visual artists, musicians, dancers, chefs, writers, etc. So I started inviting them to come to the studio to perform what they do in front of my camera to make a short video episode for each artist. The mission is similar to yours at VoyageLA except that there’s no interview, just their art, an original piece shot in the studio!