‍In our Staff Spotlight series, we’re pulling back the curtain on the talented artists, artisans, and craftspeople who make up our crew. Our team is a gumbo pot of creativity: painters, sculptors, woodworkers, fiber artists, costume designers, metalsmiths, actors, musicians, writers, jewelry designers, and the list goes on. If you can dream it up, chances are we’re already doing it in our free time, too. That’s what makes us so good at our day jobs as custom experiential fabricators.

Each month, we’ll shine a light on one of our team members—their inspirations, their after-hours projects, and the creative spark they bring to both their life and our shop floor. Because behind every masterpiece is a person with a story worth sharing.

_____________________________

This month, we’re spotlighting Brian Bruhn, our Head of Technology and AV Integration, whose creative work as an experiential filmmaker and visual storyteller spans decades, cities, and mediums.

The first thing you should know is that Bruhn hasn’t gone by “Brian” since he was a kid.

“Brians are a dime a dozen—Bruhn is memorable,” he says.

And that’s definitely true. Once you’ve met this man, you’re guaranteed to remember him. He embodies mad scientist energy in the best way possible; he’s constantly on the move and always looking for new angles and better ways to do things. For Bruhn, life is art, so career and creative practice have to be one and the same. His chosen moniker reflects a creative practice that is somehow both single-minded and unusually wide-ranging, shaped by early exposure to analog technology and VHS culture.

Raised in New Orleans by a mom who worked in video distribution and a TV technician dad, Bruhn’s childhood was saturated with film and storytelling. While his friends went to after-care or played sports in the afternoon, Bruhn’s after-school routine was hanging out at his grandfather’s TV and radio repair shop or his uncle’s video rental store, playing video games (Duck Hunt was a favorite) projected onto the wall. He couldn’t have known it then, but growing up surrounded by electronics equipment and boxes of screener tapes would set him up for a lifelong relationship with image and sound.

The film bug bit early. Long before he was ever professionally behind the camera, middle-schooler Bruhn helped his boyhood friends Chris Gianelloni (AKA "Spaghetti"), Hank Swaney, and Chris Joachim cobble together short films under the name the B-Group Productions. Spaghetti illustrated credits on loose-leaf, Hank and Chris wrote and acted, and Bruhn’s access to a video camera automatically made him the group’s video tech.

The group's home movie experiments paid off a few years later when Bruhn and Spaghetti scored their first major gig through a chance AOL Instant Messenger conversation that landed them a rap video project for Big Boy Records. Armed with a Sony Handycam and dabbling in early video editing tech, they turned a casual exchange into a creative leap. This project, along with their later successes in competitions like the Kraft Cheese commercial contest and the 48 Hour Film Project, bridged Bruhn's playful beginnings to a serious passion for film, blending analog know-how with emerging digital skills.

Formative Years at UNO

Bruhn's journey through higher education at the University of New Orleans (where he studied—you guessed it—Film) richly informed his technical expertise and creative trajectory. Working in the UNO media department, he found himself running what amounted to an AV rental business for an entire college campus. He couldn’t have known it at the time, but the role played a crucial part in reinforcing Bruhn’s acumen in equipment management and technical problem-solving.

It also introduced him to a pivotal opportunity, when a random caller’s request for media services evolved into an invitation to shoot and edit a true-crime documentary, Zack and Addie. Like many documentaries, the film remains a long-term, ongoing project as the story has evolved. However, after screening at festivals across the U.S. and Europe in 2014, the film won Best Edited Documentary at the Madrid International Film Festival.

Building from his work on Zack and Addie, Bruhn has also had the chance to capture the essence of New Orleans’ musical legends like Dr. John, Allen Toussaint, and Irma Thomas. His projects include the upcoming documentary Cosimo Sound, which delves into Cosimo Matassa's influence on the New Orleans music scene, as well as an exploration of the eccentric musician Biff Rose.

Venturing Into Film and Event Production

With the solid foundation laid at UNO, Bruhn transitioned smoothly into the film and event production industries, working on more than 20 film and television productions, including prominent titles like Jurassic World, Five Nights at Freddy’s, Queer as Folk, Queen Sugar, and Terminator Genysis. As a versatile professional, he worked across departments, showcasing his proficiency in lighting, AV, and fixtures management, and growing his knowledge on every set. He found that his positive, can-do attitude and willingness to continue to share and expand his technical know-how could open doors, especially in scenarios demanding creative solutions under pressure.

A pivot into event production extended his role beyond film, introducing him to the technical intricacies of festivals like Coachella and Stagecoach. This diversification empowered Bruhn to innovate on a grand scale, applying his film ambition to the construction of immersive live experiences. It wasn’t long before he realized that the event world wasn’t the only place his unique expertise was needed, and true to form, he dove head first into storytelling through tech integration in permanent themed environments.

Inspirations and Artistic Vision

Bruhn’s creative world is rich with influences. Like many 80s kids, he was completely captivated by the many worlds of director Steven Spielberg, especially the original Jurassic Park. In fact, when asked how it felt to get to work on the set of Jurassic World years later, he said “Life had come full circle. I was so happy, I could have died.” Much of the movie was filmed on a giant film stage at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility, which made for an even more epic career experience.

Film scores also hold immense importance for him, with the music of Requiem for a Dream, composed by Clint Mansell, standing out as one of the first times it dawned on the budding filmmaker that soundtracks hold a pivotal role in storytelling. Dark, gritty themes from true crime documentaries and the narratives of filmmaker Guy Ritchie were also particularly impactful in shaping Bruhn’s filmmaking style (and sense of humor).

Of course, one of the biggest influences on Bruhn’s creative journey has been his family. His parents, grandparents, and extended family shaped his young world and set him on the path to becoming a filmmaker. Today, his wife, Nicole, and son, Ridge (12) provide a constant source of inspiration. He recounts watching Ridge’s face light up when he found out his dad was going to be working on Five Nights at Freddy’s as a high point in his career. Now an avid gamer and burgeoning content creator on YouTube, Ridge keeps Bruhn on his toes with what’s new and cool in tech and onscreen for Gen Z audiences.

In the DFW Shop

At Downtown FabWorks, Bruhn’s forward-thinking methodology continues to inspire how we blend artistic vision with technical precision. His eagerness to question, improve, and imagine bridges the gap between technology and storytelling, setting new standards for our team, our clients, and their projects. Simply put, he makes us better.

We hope his best stories are yet to come.