The Exam
Follow Willard Snow as he tries to open an art gallery while painting giant guitar sculptures, real drums, guitars and portraits of Rock Stars. The film opens with a themed mantra: "In order to manife…
The Exam
Follow Willard Snow as he tries to open an art gallery while painting giant guitar sculptures, real drums, guitars and portraits of Rock Stars. The film opens with a themed mantra: "In order to manifest..." setting off the quest of Willard Snow, an educated Pop Artist who has developed his own style, pursuing his own vision of success. This 'Artistic and Musical Documentary' is unique and a work of art in itself, inspired by the art of the artist it portrays. Willard Snow received his master art degree from a prestigious college in San Francisco which he equates to a Phd in art. After commenting about many years of trying different approaches to life and his vision with many different jobs doing graphic art for companies, clients and websites, Willard decides to move forward in his career by dropping all side activities and focusing solely on his original style art. He begins by painting Rock Star portraits and several giant guitar sculptures provided to him by The Gibson Foundation in an original, unique style all his own. With no more income from his regular jobs, Willard ventures into the unknown by securing a temporary free studio to work in. The film follows his work with innovative time-lapse photography set to new original rock music and songs, many of which were written and submitted by great musician friends including 'Mot' or Tom Gardner who Willard has known since high school. AC Alexander also plays live guitar, AC toured with Lizzy Borden for many years as a lead guitarist. Willard paints a custom made guitar for AC and visits him to see it complete with all its custom hardware installed. AC jams with it, showing off his virtuoso guitar playing. With the time-lapse photography and artistic videography, we see the artistic vision of Willard come to life, captured by the director cameraman Mark Knudson in a way that compliments Willard's style and vision. After completing 4 large Rock Star portraits and 4 giant guitars with those portraits hand painted onto them, Willard gets a moment of recognition at the 'Guitar Town' event held in West Hollywood on the Sunset Strip. The guitars, along with many others chosen, decorate Sunset Blvd in West Hollywood, mostly outdoors next to sidewalks and on buildings like the Whiskey a GoGo, a famous iconic Rock n Roll club where bands like The Go Go's and Van Halen have been discovered. Willard's giant painted Guitar Town guitars are selected to be installed nearby at the famous Andaz Hotel and in the center meridian of Sunset Blvd in Beverly Hills where they stood permanently mounted for several years. As a result of this moment of recognition and fame, and posting photos of his art on Social Media, Willard is recognized by an investor who meets Willard online, then in person, taking an interest in Willard's career. The two begin searching for a building in the Los Angeles area with the intent of opening a new art gallery. When a suitable building is found, and the investor places a deposit to secure it, Willard gets access. it seems Willard is on his way to success with his ultimate vision as everything seems to be going well. Willard immediately gets to work renovating and painting in his new studio, yet obstacles arise. Complications between the investor and landlord arise with the negotiations over the lease. Soon Willard finds himself in the middle of a big dilemma: try to keep it together or bail out. A temporary new location for an art show is secured by Willard and John Felix, Willards friend and gallery manager. They collaborate with Vintage 47 amps store, which makes custom guitar amps that sound just like the classic original guitar amps of the 1960's. The owners of the store agree to host an Art Gala party featuring Willard's art and the music of many musicians they know. The show is a high point in the story as the musicians show up to perform original harmonica jams, slide guitar, original songs and to party. Original music by great musicians like Susan Mona Sheller entertain the audience, along with a wonderful showing of art mostly by Willard Snow. Next, Mark Schulman, the permanent drummer for Pink for over a decade, decides to meet with Willard to talk about his art. They hit it off. Mark decides to offer Willard one of his favorite, yet dormant drums he used to play, for Willard to paint in whatever style Willard decides. Willard takes the drum home to his studio and whips up a genius theme with a collection of colorful imagery that dazzles the eye with complexity, beauty and color. When Mark finally sees the newly painted drum for the first time, he is very pleased with the result. He refers Willard to his friend, Justin Derrico, the guitarist for Pink and the three admire a real guitar that Willard painted and wants to sell. Mark likes his newly painted drum so much, he takes it on the next Pink tour around the world! Jon Anderson, the singer of Yes is one of Willard's all-time favorite Rock Stars. Willard gets a chance to meet him in person at the Saban Theater in Beverly Hills / West Hollywood after being a fan his entire life. Jon is promoting his new solo record '1000 Hands' by launching a tour and signing posters. WIllard meets him and gives him a T-shirt with his latest 'Legends and Idols' Rock Star portrait of Jimi Hendrix in Willard's signature style, painted on it. Jon loves the work, and gladly accepts the gift which sparks a memory Jon has of meeting Jimi Hendrix as a young man in Europe. The story takes us back to the very beginning of Jon's musical career when he formed Yes with Chris Squire. They have a nice conversation and later Willard talks into the camera about meeting some of his favorite rock stars including Keith Emerson of Emerson Lake and Palmer. With an even mixture of interviews, artistic scenes, new music and musical performances, the film follows the ups and downs, trials and tribulations, and a day in the life of a very talented and capable artist facing obstacles to success. Continuing on its legendary journey, the film ends on a note of triumph as Willard gets married, delivers a Johnny Cash painting to a client, and finds a new studio with plenty of space to work in, continuing the manifestation of his vision.
The Exam
Drama,Thriller
Film Details
Follow Willard Snow as he tries to open an art gallery while painting giant guitar sculptures, real drums, guitars and portraits of Rock Stars. The film opens with a themed mantra: "In order to manifest..." setting off the quest of Willard Snow, an educated Pop Artist who has developed his own style, pursuing his own vision of success. This 'Artistic and Musical Documentary' is unique and a work of art in itself, inspired by the art of the artist it portrays.
Willard Snow received his master art degree from a prestigious college in San Francisco which he equates to a Phd in art. After commenting about many years of trying different approaches to life and his vision with many different jobs doing graphic art for companies, clients and websites, Willard decides to move forward in his career by dropping all side activities and focusing solely on his original style art. He begins by painting Rock Star portraits and several giant guitar sculptures provided to him by The Gibson Foundation in an original, unique style all his own.
With no more income from his regular jobs, Willard ventures into the unknown by securing a temporary free studio to work in. The film follows his work with innovative time-lapse photography set to new original rock music and songs, many of which were written and submitted by great musician friends including 'Mot' or Tom Gardner who Willard has known since high school. AC Alexander also plays live guitar, AC toured with Lizzy Borden for many years as a lead guitarist.
Willard paints a custom made guitar for AC and visits him to see it complete with all its custom hardware installed. AC jams with it, showing off his virtuoso guitar playing. With the time-lapse photography and artistic videography, we see the artistic vision of Willard come to life, captured by the director cameraman Mark Knudson in a way that compliments Willard's style and vision.
After completing 4 large Rock Star portraits and 4 giant guitars with those portraits hand painted onto them, Willard gets a moment of recognition at the 'Guitar Town' event held in West Hollywood on the Sunset Strip. The guitars, along with many others chosen, decorate Sunset Blvd in West Hollywood, mostly outdoors next to sidewalks and on buildings like the Whiskey a GoGo, a famous iconic Rock n Roll club where bands like The Go Go's and Van Halen have been discovered. Willard's giant painted Guitar Town guitars are selected to be installed nearby at the famous Andaz Hotel and in the center meridian of Sunset Blvd in Beverly Hills where they stood permanently mounted for several years.
As a result of this moment of recognition and fame, and posting photos of his art on Social Media, Willard is recognized by an investor who meets Willard online, then in person, taking an interest in Willard's career. The two begin searching for a building in the Los Angeles area with the intent of opening a new art gallery. When a suitable building is found, and the investor places a deposit to secure it, Willard gets access.
it seems Willard is on his way to success with his ultimate vision as everything seems to be going well. Willard immediately gets to work renovating and painting in his new studio, yet obstacles arise. Complications between the investor and landlord arise with the negotiations over the lease.
Soon Willard finds himself in the middle of a big dilemma: try to keep it together or bail out. A temporary new location for an art show is secured by Willard and John Felix, Willards friend and gallery manager. They collaborate with Vintage 47 amps store, which makes custom guitar amps that sound just like the classic original guitar amps of the 1960's.
The owners of the store agree to host an Art Gala party featuring Willard's art and the music of many musicians they know. The show is a high point in the story as the musicians show up to perform original harmonica jams, slide guitar, original songs and to party. Original music by great musicians like Susan Mona Sheller entertain the audience, along with a wonderful showing of art mostly by Willard Snow.
Next, Mark Schulman, the permanent drummer for Pink for over a decade, decides to meet with Willard to talk about his art. They hit it off. Mark decides to offer Willard one of his favorite, yet dormant drums he used to play, for Willard to paint in whatever style Willard decides.
Willard takes the drum home to his studio and whips up a genius theme with a collection of colorful imagery that dazzles the eye with complexity, beauty and color. When Mark finally sees the newly painted drum for the first time, he is very pleased with the result. He refers Willard to his friend, Justin Derrico, the guitarist for Pink and the three admire a real guitar that Willard painted and wants to sell.
Mark likes his newly painted drum so much, he takes it on the next Pink tour around the world! Jon Anderson, the singer of Yes is one of Willard's all-time favorite Rock Stars. Willard gets a chance to meet him in person at the Saban Theater in Beverly Hills / West Hollywood after being a fan his entire life. Jon is promoting his new solo record '1000 Hands' by launching a tour and signing posters.
WIllard meets him and gives him a T-shirt with his latest 'Legends and Idols' Rock Star portrait of Jimi Hendrix in Willard's signature style, painted on it. Jon loves the work, and gladly accepts the gift which sparks a memory Jon has of meeting Jimi Hendrix as a young man in Europe. The story takes us back to the very beginning of Jon's musical career when he formed Yes with Chris Squire.
They have a nice conversation and later Willard talks into the camera about meeting some of his favorite rock stars including Keith Emerson of Emerson Lake and Palmer. With an even mixture of interviews, artistic scenes, new music and musical performances, the film follows the ups and downs, trials and tribulations, and a day in the life of a very talented and capable artist facing obstacles to success. Continuing on its legendary journey, the film ends on a note of triumph as Willard gets married, delivers a Johnny Cash painting to a client, and finds a new studio with plenty of space to work in, continuing the manifestation of his vision..