David Gaz
David Gaz

FEATURE FILM DIRECTION • CINEMATOGRAPHY • SCREENWRITING

Kindness Is Contagious is a feel-good documentary by David Gaz, narrated by Catherine Ryan Hyde, the best selling author of the novel (and film) Pay It Forward. It’s a film all about being nice and the benefits of being nice. Kindness Is Contagious profiles cutting-edge scientists and best-selling authors from Berkeley to Harvard and everywhere in between as well as real life people from all walks of life whose lives illustrate their incredible discovery:

NICE GUYS FINISH FIRST!

It all began with an article about James Fowler and Nicholas Christakis and their research concerning the viral nature of kindness. Fowler and Christakis demonstrated that if you are kind to one person, they will be kind to four other people, and that each of those four people will be kind to four more people, and so on and so on… eventually circling back around to you again. Showing in fact that Karma may actually exist in the scientific sense.

We asked people from all walks of life one deceptively difficult question:

What is the nicest thing anyone ever did for you?

CEOs, baseball players, roller girls, concert pianists, artists, street performers, soup kitchen volunteers, police officers, models and many more tell you their heartfelt stories of kindness and generosity. Learn how a little generosity can help YOU live a happier, healthier, wealthier, longer and more fulfilling life.

Kindness Is Contagious will be distributed internationally via Cinedigm, Universal and iTunes.

www.kindness-is-contagious.com

CREATIVE DIRECTION • CINEMATOGRAPHY • COPYWRITING

David Gaz loves the documentary format. Longer-form video that breaks the conventions of the traditional 30-second television spot defying audiences’ short attention spans with content they’ll keep watching. With competition for consumer attention at an all-time high, story is what makes ads that people feel compelled to share. According to research, 92 per cent of consumers trust “earned” media – such as word-of-mouth messages or recommendations from friends and family. More than all other types of advertising.

In this spot for the LA Dodgers, Dodgers hall of famer, Kenny Landreaux, talks about sportsmanship, athletes who are nice guys and what it takes to be a strong competitor.

Click here to watch more clips.

David Gaz

CREATIVE DIRECTION • BRANDING • SITE DESIGN & BUILD

Having began his career as a photographer in Paris, David Gaz was delighted when visionary fashionista, Michael Williams, invited him to become Creative Director for his NYC fashion magazine Imagista. He spearheaded the development of their new web platform. Imagista is committed to discovering, developing, and presenting creatively-driven, and exclusive content across a multitude of genres. In addition to the art, Imagista is building a massive database that securely hosts the imagery the of top international photographers, artist and filmmakers featured on the site.

www.theimagista.com

CREATIVE DIRECTION • CINEMATOGRAPHY • COPYWRITING

David Gaz’s job is to help persuade people to buy a certain product or use a certain service. He is a psychological mercenary. Some people may even find it shocking that many ad agencies don’t alway use or love the products that they promote. David doesn’t have that problem. It is important to believe in the people he works with. He feels extraordinarily lucky to have clients like Coachart that do something that he fundamentally believes in and is fundamentally good for the world too.

FEATURE FILM DIRECTION • CINEMATOGRAPHY • SCREENWRITING

This project is a funny one. David Gaz put an ad on craigslist asking people if they wanted to sell their soul (on TV) and let his team film it. Lines formed around the block (it was LA after all). It was the dark precursor to Kindness Is Contagious for 2 reasons. 1) It had the same intent as Kindness Is Contagious. To demonstrate that selfishness and greed are not a good path to success. 2) It caused him to reframe his creative process from a critical process to a solution oriented process. David now make what he calls do-umentataries rather than documentaries because he finds that most documentaries draw attention to causes and criticize the status quo (both of which are important) but offer little in the ream of solutions. David wants to offer solutions.

David eventually pulled this film from distribution because it was misunderstood and he didn’t want it to cloud the good aura of Kindness Is Contagious. But for a good laugh, Click here and read the comments.

David Gaz

CREATIVE DIRECTION • BRANDING • SITE DESIGN & BUILD

Having produced many documentary films, David Gaz knows first hand how to develop the sophisticated digital tools that build community, harvest email addresses, entice distributors, sell promotional material and downloads.

Voices is a feature length documentary that features the stark and intimate portraits of three very different individuals and their struggle with severe mental illness in America. The challenge here was to create a compelling platform that balances the commercial needs of marketing a film and simultaiously highlights the severity of the issue and the deeper message.

www.voicesdocumentary.com

David Gaz

CREATIVE DIRECTION • PHOTOGRAPHY • BRANDING • SITE DESIGN & BUILD

Peabody Award Winning Writer/Director Julie Hébert approached David Gaz to build a highly personal website that reflected her creative life as a theater director and playwright. To achieve the look she was going for, David photographed a series of artifacts that she has collected and put on display in her home. Additionally he hand-crafted a digital “Cornell Box” that allows you to rearrange them onscreen in real time and peek behind for an additional level of navigation.

Julie writes for American Crime (ABC), Boss (Starz) The Good Wife (CBS), Blue Bloods (CBS), Numb3rs (CBS), Rizzoli & Isles (TNT), Nashville (ABC) and many more “A List” series.

www.juliehebert.com

David Gaz

PHOTOGRAPHY

David Gaz creates a lot of the imagery used in his work and often is hired by agencies as the principal photographer. His photography has been featured in Communication Arts, Graphis, Photo District News and many other publications. I have shot for award winning ad agencies like Publicis, Foote, Cone and Belding, DDB and BBDO and top tier magazines like Discover, Fast Company, Sports Illustrated, Time, Bloomberg and W.

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