Ben Knechtel- Cavan’s Award-winning Videographer

As a boy growing up along the border of Cavan and Bethany, Ben Knechtel was often seen with a video camera in hand.  He began using his grandfather’s old video camera recording the antics of his sisters at play, and at 14 armed with a new camera he began filming his friends horsing around making their versions of the then popular “Jack Ass” movies in his basement.  It was a harmless way to entertain teenage boys in the country.  After graduating from Crestwood, he pursued his interests in video recording to complete a multi-media design program at Fanshawe College in London, Ontario. 
    After college Ben followed the local Peterborough band Hawk Nelson to Nashville, making videos for the media of band performances and their tours; in Ben’s words, being their “video dude”.   He was drawn back to Canada by a love interest who became his wife to work in Vancouver as New Media Producer for 604 Records, where he met Carly Rae Jepson, of Mission, B.C., a connection that would jettison both of their careers into the stratosphere.
    Ben is one of those lucky people who employ their passion to make their mark.  His love of music combined up with his sense of humour led to the creation of the smash music video for Carly Rae Jepson’s chart-topping hit, “Call Me Maybe”, which has attracted over 466 million hits on youtube and won Knechtel 3 Much Music Video  awards at the June 2012 ceremony, including Video of the Year, Fan Favourite Video and Most Streamed video of the year. When Carly Rae won 3 Junos based on this hit single, she dragged Ben up on stage to collect their prize, a stage which was later shared with local star Serena Ryder who picked up Alternative Adult Album of the year that evening.  This was a significant confirmation of Ben’s talent, as  he wrote as well as recorded this video.
    Awards notwithstanding, the true mark of success is demonstrated by the abundance of copy cat and parody versions of the video, including ones performed by a group of US Marines based in Afghanistan, the Miami Dolphins football team and the USA Olympic Swim team.  You may have seen Carly Rae perform this song last November at the half-time show of the Grey Cup Game in Toronto.  He has also worked with Canadian artists Nelly Furtado, Nickelback, Hedley and upcoming bands Marianas Trench (also Juno award winners) and Dragonette.
    Ben is not one of those “One Hit Wonders”.  His first full-length documentary about the making of the album “Better Off” by Edmonton band Ten Second Epic was also nominated last year for a Juno for music DVD of the year.  You can watch the hour-long film at http://www.youtube.com/watch
?v=TC6jxACOrbk.  One of his recent projects is filming a web series for Juno TV which is a new on-line channel aimed at highlighting Canadian musicians.  He is now recognized as one of the top Canadian video producers, bringing his brand of creativity and humour .
    Cambridge is where Ben, his wife Kristen and daughter Calli call home, surrounded by relatives from his mother’s side of the family.  While not quite home, this is a more central location for work and family.
    Next month will mark the first anniversary of Ben flying solo as a free lance video director without a “day job” paying the bills.  Instead, he has agents in Toronto, Los Angeles and the U.K. seeking projects upon which to apply his talents.