Jonathon Stearns BIO
BIO
Jonathon Stearns is a film maker, animator, multi-media producer, and musician-composer. He is the founder/owner of Channel B4 Media, which since 2001 has provided mutlimedia production and post production services for an array of clients and collaborators, ranging from Harley-Davidson to California Institute of the Arts, as well as supporting Stearns' original work (including sci-fi series Copper Sky).
Stearns grew up in upstate New York and chose music as a high school major, studying trumpet and piano from an early age and later composing/arranging. He maintained a fascination for film and animation throughout his youth, making 8mm stop-motion shorts and no-budget action films. He also wrote humorous articles and drew comics, receiving special student achievement awards for the creation of a zine-style newsletter and a comic-book yearbook.
Stearns received a BFA in Film from SUNY Purchase in 1989, studying underTom Gunning and the late Richard Rogers. Living in NYC, he designed numerous scenic/projection installations for nightclubs and events. He also worked as a carpenter-welder for Broadway scenery companies on shows such as Kiss of the Spider Woman and Starlight Express. Later, he was the lighting designer for the famous Bottom Line Cabaret, and house set designer for the original Shooting Gallery.
Moving to LA in 1991, Stearns found work as a commercial art director through Propaganda Films, Satellite Films, DNA, HSI and others. He art directed music videos for artists Beck, Mariah Carey, Hootie and the Blowfish, Primal Scream, Snoop Dogg, Wu Tang Clan, and many others, as well as commercials for Sony, Reebok and others.
Meanwhile, he performed and recorded music (trumpet and keyboards), collaborating with artists Rickie Lee Jones, Possum Dixon, Elvez, Geraldine Fibbers, Ann Magnuson, and others. He eventually formed his own band Tesch, which independently released 2 CDs and performed extensively in LA, as well as at music festivals South By Southwest and North by Northwest. Stearns' music has also been used for commercial film and video projects and live performances.
In 1994, Stearns found representation as a director through Original Film, and directed music videos for Geraldine Fibbers (Virgin), Velocity Girl (Subpop), Throneberry (Alias) Lutefisk (Bongload) and others. In 1998 he was offered a full-time job as a staff producer-director for Quickband, generating original content for DVD-format magazines Circuit and Short Cinema Journal, distributed through Warner Home Video. Working mostly in documentary, Stearns worked with many artists such as Flaming Lips, Moby, Cake, Mark Mothersbaugh, XTC, Cracker and more, to locations from The Liberace Villa in Las Vegas to to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Quickband was folded in the dot com crash of 2000, and Stearns decided to start his own company.
In 2001, Stearns formed Channel B4 Media (formerly Return to Whatever Media), originally located in the Mack Sennett Studios in Silver Lake, CA. Stearns' concept was to create an online television station. Stearns soon developed ongoing business relationships with a range of clients; corporations, ad /marketing agencies, colleges, TV stations, record labels and more, providing production and post production services.
As technology changes, Stearns has continually modified the business model. In recent years, he has made a stronger focus on multimedia/web content, as well as motion-graphics/animation.
Currently, Stearns lives with his wife and daughter in Silver Lake, CA.