Block title

Work samples

Share:

About Corey

Baltimore City

Corey Hughes's picture
Corey Hughes (b. 1992) is a Baltimore based director and cinematographer whose work exists in between narrative, documentary, and experimental forms. His work has premiered at International Film Festival Rotterdam, SXSW, New York Film Festival, Maryland Film Festival, and Locarno Film Festival, where he was awarded the Pardi di Domani Special Jury Prize for the short film "Armageddon 2." As a cinematographer, his credits include Theo Anthony’s "All Light, Everywhere" (Sundance Jury Award... more

Corey Hughes

Chiffon "Woke Me"

Music video for the track "Woke Me" by Baltimore band CHIFFON. 
Digital Video / 4 min. (2020)

Feat. Amy Reid with Background Vocals by Chase O'Hara 
Direction & Editing by Corey Hughes 
Cinematography by Tyler Davis 

Synopsis:
Filmed in one night at the THE COMPOUND right before lockdown, “Woke Me” re-creates the feeling of wandering through a party late at night, thinking about other things, and then being brought back and grounded into the present moment by the people around you. It’s a celebration of the dancers, performers, artists, and musicians in Baltimore and the collaborative creative energy of the city. Featuring many faces familar to the Baltimore music scene including Eze Jackson, Abdu Ali, Pangelica, & EN'B.

PRESS 
Week in Pop - (Baltimore strong ⁠— Chiffon celebrates their intersectional scene)
https://www.weekinpop.com/features/baltimore-video-woke-me-chiffon

"The Corey Hughes-directed visual for “Woke Me” is like a dream state event set in an opulent ballroom of enchantment and wonderment. Captured and curated before the lockdown; the audience is invited to join some of Baltimore’s best and brightest stars that are criminally underrepresented in both — and outside of their home digs. A contemporary viewing of the video feels like entering a vision world of an alternate and inclusive new realities of togetherness and camaraderie"
- Week in Pop

*

  • Chiffon "Woke Me" - Excerpt #2

    Excerpt from: Chiffon "Woke Me"(2020) Music Video. Director & Editor. Synopsis: Filmed in one night at the "The Compound" right before lockdown, “Woke Me” re-creates the feeling of wandering through a party late at night, thinking about other things, and then being brought back into the present moment by the people around you. It’s a celebration of the dancers, performers, artists, and musicians in Baltimore and the collaborative creative energy of the city.
  • Chiffon "Woke Me" - Title Card

    Title Card image created in After Effects using 3D modeling.
  • Chiffon "Woke Me" - Group Dancing

    Chiffon "Woke Me" - Group Dancing
  • Chiffon_WokeMe_Still 1

    Outdoor fire filmed at a low frame rate to create a blurred over-exposed image.
  • Chiffon_WokeMe_Still 2

    Amy in the Red Room
  • Chiffon "Woke Me" - Amy & Chase Singing at the Party

    Amy & Chase Singing at the Party
  • CHIFFON "WOKE ME" - Full Video 4 min.

    Music video for the track "Woke Me" by Baltimore band CHIFFON. Digital Video / 4 min. (2020) Feat. Amy Reid with Background Vocals by Chase O'Hara Direction & Editing by Corey Hughes Cinematography by Tyler Davis Synopsis: Filmed in one night at the THE COMPOUND right before lockdown, “Woke Me” re-creates the feeling of wandering through a party late at night, thinking about other things, and then being brought back and grounded into the present moment by the people around you.

My Expanded View

Experimental Short Film - 8 min. (2018)

Starring  Malek Robbana
Filmed by Danielle Criqui, Corey Hughes, Tyler Davis, Aidan Spann, George Cessna, Fiona Sergeant Cooper Wright, & Christian Hughes 
​Original Score by Baltimore-based DJ and musician John Jones (Nerftoss/AV Moves) 

Synopsis: A  YouTube Yoga tutorial.  A collapsed body. An expanded view. "My Expanded View" uses the format of a YouTube yoga tutorial and it's collapse as a basis for exploration of  new age spirituality, domestic surviellance, and camera technologies. How do we document the body and who is doing the documenting?

Commissioned by Adult Swim for an episode of "Off the Air" curated by Baltimore based performance group Wham City Comedy.  

My Expanded View premiered at the 2018 Maryland Film Festival alongside a public group meditation event organized by artists involved the film. The event featured a meditation on the history of technology & spirituality, an installation of paintings on fabric, a cocktail bar, and live permformances by two Baltimore based experimental musicians, John Jones & Aimee Lin. It had it's International Premiere at the Locarno Film Festival in August 2018. 

Official Selection: Locarno International Film Festival, Slamdance, Maryland Film Festival, Moscow International Experimental Film Festival, Valdivia Film Festival, Janela Internacional de Cinema Recife, Kurzfilmtage Winterthur

Awards: Vimeo Staff Pick 2019

Press:
Locarno Film Festival 
https://www.locarnofestival.ch/de/pardo/pardo-live/today-at-festival/2018/day-9/Pardi-di-Domani.html
NoBudge 
http://nobudge.com/main/my-expanded-view

"[My Expanded View] should be labelled as a tutorial on shooting in the age of digital cinema. Hughes delivers a masterclass on using tools such as drones, iPads, Osmo cameras, thermal cameras, and what-not, to expand our views on how images can be created today."
- Locarno Film Festival

*

Crestone

Crestone (2020) - 72 mins. 

Cinematographer and co-writer for Crestone, a hybrid-documentary feature film directed by Marnie Ellen Hertzler. Produced by MEMORY. Distributed by UTOPIA. Original Score by ANIMAL COLLECTIVE. 

Synopsis:  In a world that undulates between fact and fiction, digital and physical, a group of SoundCloud rappers lives a solitary, post-societal existence in the desert town of Crestone, Colorado. Once a religious and spiritual mecca for many, Crestone’s endless sand dunes, waterfalls, and dark caves act as a backdrop for images of tattooed bodies, cosplay wardrobes, and clouds of weed smoke. "Crestone" explores the often hidden aspects of collaboration and friendship as well as the human desire to persist against all odds. What does music sound like if there is no one left to repost and share it?

Official Selection: SXSW, True/False,  Maryland Film Festival, Champs Elysées Film Festival

Horse Lords "People's Park"

Music Video for the track "People's Park" by Baltimore band HORSE LORDS. 
Digital Video / 5 min. (2020) 

Direction, Cinematography, & Edit by Corey Hughes
Choreography by Melissa Ivester
Skaters: Melissa Ivester, Victoria Bush, Vince Shacknies, Isabelle Shacknies, Sylvia Johnson

Filmed at THE GARDENS ICE HOUSE in Laurel, Maryland. 

Synopsis: 
Experimental documentation of a figure skating routine choreographed to the track "People's Park" by Horse Lords. A group of talented youth Figure Skaters learned the choeography and performed the routine for the shoot at an outdoor rink. The camera was mounted to a Easy rig and operated by an ice skating Corey Hughes. Having the camera handheld and on the ice allowed for more dynamic and energetic camera movement, closely following and reacting to the figure skating routine. Digital zooms and re-positioning were added in post-production to add in a digital element that counters the filmic texture of the images and creates an etheral quality to the video. 

*

Armageddon 2

Experimental Short Film - 5 min. (2017)
Written, Directed, Filmed, & Edited by Corey Hughes 

Synopsis: The internet in Cuba is very slow. Movies, television, and information are exchanged through a black market system of media distribution via external hard drives known as “el paquete semanal.” Shot over the course of a day in the town of San Antonio de los Baños, the film combines narrative, documentary, and experimental elements to create, like the paquete itself, new images and new connections between distant and unseen forces. A meditation on the flow of data and the search for human connection in a groundless world.⠀

Armageddon 2 is an experimental narrative short film produced during Black Factory Cinema's Filmmaking in Cuba workshop taught by Werner Herzog in San Antonio de los Baños, Cuba. The film was selected by Herzog as one of the top ten films from the workshop and received international festival distribution through Black Factory Cinema. 

The film premiered at the Locarno Film Festival where it was awarded the Pardi di Domani Special Jury Mention Award. The film was included in the short film compilation Eyeslicer Season 2 and released online via NoBudge. It was released in a limited edition of physical USB Hats designed in collaboration with visual artist Michelle Uckotter. 

Official Selection: 

Locarno Film Festival, International Film Festival Rotterdam, New Orleans Film Festival, Melbourne International Film Festival, Valdivia Film Festival, Havana Film Festival, Kurzfilmtage Winterthur, Uppsala Film Festival, Short Waves Film Festival, Janela Festival de Cine Recife, FIDOCS, Tenerife Shorts, Pančevo Film Festival, DOC Buenos Aires, Transcinema Peru, Oaxaca Film Festival, Message to Man - Silico Experimental Competition, Kurzfilmfestival Köln

Press:
NoBudge
http://nobudge.com/main/armageddon-2
Desist Film - Valdivia Film Festival Highlights 
http://desistfilm.com/valdivia-2017-armageddon-2-de-corey-hughes-e-idizwadidiz-de-isiah-medina/
Indiewire - Filmmaking in Cuba with Werner Herzog 
http://www.indiewire.com/2017/06/werner-herzog-filmmaking-lessons-cuba-1201835852/

  • Armageddon 2 - Excerpt #1

    Excerpt from: Armageddon 2 (2017) Hybrid Documentary Short Film. Writer, Director, Cinematographer, Editor. Synopsis: The internet in Cuba is very slow. Movies, television, and information are exchanged through a black market system of media distribution via external hard drives known as “el paquete semanal.” Shot over the course of a day in the town of San Antonio de los Baños, the film combines narrative, documentary, and experimental elements to create, like the paquete itself, new images and new connections between distant and unseen forces.
  • Cuba 2017 - Werner Herzog & Corey Hughes

    Armageddon 2 is an experimental narrative short film produced during Black Factory Cinema's Filmmaking in Cuba workshop taught by Werner Herzog in San Antonio de los Baños, Cuba. The film was selected by Herzog as one of the top ten films from the workshop and received international festival distribution through Black Factory Cinema.
  • Armageddon2_USB Hat Wide

    Armageddon 2 was released in a limited edition of physical USB Hats designed in collaboration with visual artist Michelle Uckotter. Further expanding on the idea of covert portable storage devices for media, the USB hat is both wearable and functional. The custom rock-like objects hanging from the hat open up to reveal a USB stick. The USB includes a high resolution version of the film, a digital zine, and mixtape.
  • Armageddon2_USB Hat Close Up

    The custom rock-like objects hanging from the hat open up to reveal a USB stick. The USB includes a high resolution version of the film, a digital zine, and mixtape.
  • Armageddon 2 - Full Short Film (5 min.)

    The internet in Cuba is very slow. Movies, television, and information are exchanged through a black market system of media distribution via external hard drives known as “el paquete semanal.” Shot over the course of a day in the town of San Antonio de los Baños, the film combines narrative, documentary, and experimental elements to create, like the paquete itself, new images and new connections between distant and unseen forces. A meditation on the flow of data and the search for human connection in a groundless world.⠀

MyToeShoes.Com

Experimental Short Film - 8 min. (2019)

Starring  Nick Vyssotsky  Filmed by Corey Hughes, Marnie Ellen Hertzler, & Nick Vyssotsky  Music by John Jones - 3D Animation by Anna Brancaccio - 3D Toe Shoe Model by Max Anderson  Funding provided by the Maryland State Arts Council

Synopsis: A Florida man (known only by his YouTube username: DeerPro42) records an unboxing video for Vibram Five Finger Toe Shoes. After a vision from a mysterious CGI camera operator, he travels to the Florida keys by hoverboard. As his unboxing video continues his attention shifts from the product to himself. A crisis on the beach. An eye in the sky. The unboxer unboxed. 

"MyToeShoes.Com" is the second film in a series that focuses on popular YouTube genres as creation sites for new types of performative avatars. Filmed with a variety of different cameras (aerial drone, head mounted GoPro's, 360 camera on selfie stick, screen recordings, CGI, cinema camera), the film explores a world in which each person is both watching and being watched, filming and being filmed. The project was filmed by a three person cast/crew over the course of a week travelling from Miami to the Florida Keys in a minivan. 

Official Selection: Maryland Film Festival, Florida Film Festival, Borscht Corp, Slamdance

"In Hughes imagination, the drab format becomes a macrocosmic journey documented with GoPros, 360 degree cameras, Google Maps views and beyond. As the unboxer tests out his new toe shoes with regard to comfortability, water resistance, and speed, he’s led into the unknown by a mysterious automated voice. Hughes has established himself as one of our preeminent experimental filmmakers"
- NoBudge 

Abdu Ali "Did Dat"

Music Video for "Did Dat" a track off of Baltimore-based performer ABDU ALI's 2016 Album MONGO. 

Directed by Abdu Ali & Corey Hughes
Shot & Edited by Corey Hughes
Drone Operator - Travis Levasseur

Filmed at the BELL FOUNDRY in Baltimore, Maryland. "Did Dat" premiered online via THE FADER. 

Press:
Baltimore Sun 
http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/music/midnight-sun-blog/bal-abdu-ali-did-dat-video-story.html
THE FADER
http://www.thefader.com/2016/08/10/abdu-ali-did-dat-video-premiere
Afropunk
http://afropunk.com/2016/08/abdu-ali-did-dat-prod-mighty-mark/?xg_source=activity

200 Nam Nam

Experimental Short Film - 12 min. (2017)

Directed by Corey Hughes, Marcelline, & Beau Vasseur
Score:  Winter ~ Will Schorre / Spring ~ Eva Moolchan / Summer ~ Jared Brown / Fall ~ John Jones 
Costume Design: Helen Jackson-Adams & Marcelline - Production Assistant: Stephanie Wallace

Synopsis: Remake of the 1999 Robin Williams feature film comedy “Bicentennial Man,” starring Marcelline as “Nam Nam,” a robot who wanders the earth for two hundred years trying to become human so they can die. The film was shot entirely on an aerial drone camera. 

A collaborative film project by video artist Beau Vasseur, performance artist Marcelline, and filmmaker Corey Hughes. The project was shot in 4 sections, corresponding to the seasons, over the course of a year with an alternating crew of artists, filmmakers, and performers. Each section of the film has an original score composed by a different musician (Will Schorre, Sneaks, Jared Brown, & Nerftoss). 

200 Nam Nam premiered at the Borscht Corp Film Festival in Miami, Florida and was screened in Baltimore at Open Space's PMF VIII Launch Party at The Crown. It participated in the MACAO MILANO's Nocturnal Reflections Screening Series in 2018 and was released on the BMA Virtual Screening Room in 2020. 

*

Caesars Palace

Experimental Short Film - 7 min. (2017) 

Written, Directed, Filmed, & Edited by Corey Hughes 

Synopsis: A middle aged woman travels to Caesars Palace on a business trip following the unexpected death of her husband. Her disembodied voice floats between an increasingly messy hotel room and the crowded Las Vegas strip. 

The film was installed inside a Casears Palace Hotel Room Bathroom for the installation Casaears Palace Live. The installation includes Drawings and Sculptures created soley from materials found within Caesars Palace Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. The installation was documented using a 360 camera and can be viewed using a VR headset. 

Official Selection: Maryland Film Festival, NoBudge 

"Scanning an empty Las Vegas hotel room shouldn’t be interesting, but Hughes makes it so with odd, drone-like camera movements focused on the sink, or the shower head, or a mysterious pile of lettuce scattered throughout the room. It doesn’t feel natural, but somehow it feels true."
- NoBudge

*

Ouchiemongo

Narrative Short - 14 min. (2016)

Starring  Harley Hollenstein
Written, Directed, Filmed, & Edited by Corey Hughes 
Score by George Cessna / Color by Holden Brown

Synopsis: The sun is shining through the clouds. An injured man eats a burrito and cruises towards paradise. A boy barfs in a hot tub. A slapstick comedy in super slow motion. An unnamed tourist with a leg injury searches for physical and spiritual healing on a week long Carnival cruise vacation from Baltimore to the Bahamas. Floating between narrative, documentary, and experimental tendencies the film creates an atmosphere similar to that of being on the ship itself, weightlessly and nauseously gliding through surreal and absurd environments. 

Ouchiemongo premiered at a free screening event held at the Baltimore performance space Floristree in 2015. The event included works by Baltimore artists, a tropical cocktail bar, and a performance by the "Official Steel Drum Band of Baltimore." The screening was named as a Top 20 Art Moments of 2015 by BmoreArt. The film premiered online via NoBudge and was awarded a 2016 NoBudge award for "Best Experimental Film."

PRESS:
NoBudge:
nobudge.com/main/ouchiemongo

Bmore Art: 
http://www.bmoreart.com/2015/12/top-20-moments-of-2015.html

Connect with Corey

Corey's Curated Collection

This artist has not yet created a curated collection.