Jokes Yanes
Born in Miami, Florida, December 9, 1975. JOKES, A/K/A Jorge Yanes is a Cuban American filmmaker most known for creating music videos films and his contributions to urban Latin television.
Early life
Yanes was first exposed to film making in his early teens while attending a magnet school art program for disadvantaged youths. In those years, he began to explore the discipline of writing screenplays as well as performance and camera angles alongside fellow creative classmates Gabe Alberro (of Rap group UBNAWKSHIS) and J.Bishop. It was in those years that Jorge (known then as Cam) became a graffiti artist with particular stance towards making characters and pieces known as "burners".
Yanes attended Miami Dade College film program, at Miami Dade College, Jokes created the film short FATSACKS, a dark comedy experimental starring J.Bishop. The short inspired a follow up short titled IF JIMMY WAS ABRAHAM AND GOD WALKED WITH HIM sometimes known as ...IF JIMMY. Jokes was offered an opportunity to co-write a low budget indie street film Real Hustla. He eventually managed to also DP and Edit the film, which was nationally distributed straight to video by Maverick entertainment.
FILMMAKING
In 2001, Jokes was hired to produce a music video TV show titled Upbeat for a brand new Latin youth network called MUN2. The show soon went from meager ratings to become the leading ratings’ winner for the network. Its success inspired the network to take on a bilingual format; the show was retitled THE ROOF, the flagship two-hour nightly live event for the network. Serving as creative director and co-creator, THE ROOF became an international hit in the Latin urban music world and is credited with exposing Latin hip hop and reggaetton to the international community. JOKES then decided it was time to direct his own music videos and shape the genre in his vision. Bringing a fresh yet authentic savvy style to his work, he became a sought-after talent in the mainstream market. His keen ability to work with new artists and make them look like pros attracted many mainstream stars of today, such as T-Pain and Tila Tequilla, to begin their careers with a video directed by JOKES.
In 2006, Love & Suicide the controversial anti Cuban embargo independent feature film was released in theaters; he served as co editor and music supervisor as well as being part of the creative core of the film.
In 2006, JOKES directed the music video “Groundhog Day” for the band MAYDAY!, and upon upload to the newly launched site YouTube, it quickly rose to become one of the Internets most heavily viewed videos, receiving just under 3 million views in two days. What soon resulted was heavy media attention from outlets like the New York Times, E! Entertainment and ABC World News Tonight. After working with various high profile clients and developing short film musicals for a few notable talents, JOKES decided it was time to grow once again and began to pursue the narrative world of film making. In 2007, “OOHWEE”, the T-Pain concert intro comedy film that featured T-Pain’s acting debut was written directed and edited by JOKES and premiered to over 4.5 million SCREAM TOUR concert attendees. In 2008, Jokes served as editor on the Latin TV mini series event “Gabriel: Amor Immortal”, which was nominated for 8 Emmy’s, and was awarded the Emmy for best editing. JOKES has now turned his attention to feature film directing and has released his first drama, VLADIMIR’S VODKA, a short film based on characters from his feature film script, “Eenie Meenie Miney Moe”.
Credits
Editor:
Magic City Memoirs (2010) (post-production)
"El Vacilon" (2009) TV series "Gabriel" (8 episodes, 2008) El Ultimo Amanecer (2008) TV episode Lo que dejamos atras (2008) TV episode Estirpe de sangre (2008) TV episode ¿Amas la vida? (2008) TV episode Eva sin paraiso (2008) TV episode
Love & Suicide (2005) ...aka "Cuba's Love & Suicide" - USA (DVD title)
Director: Lean Like a Cholo: The Movie (2010) (post-production) Vladimir's Vodka (2010) (completed)
Writer:
Lean Like a Cholo: The Movie (2010) (post-production) (screenplay)
Vladimir's Vodka (2010) (completed) (screenplay)
Producer:
Vladimir's Vodka (2010) (completed) (executive producer) (producer)
Visual Effects:
Vladimir's Vodka (2010) (completed) (digital effects)
Sound Department:
Vladimir's Vodka (2010) (completed) (sound editor)
Editorial Department:
Lean Like a Cholo: The Movie (2010) (post-production) (post-production coordinator)
Animation Department:
Lean Like a Cholo: The Movie (2010) (post-production) (layout supervisor)
Music Department:
Love & Suicide (2005) (music supervisor) ...aka "Cuba's Love & Suicide" - USA (DVD title)