I just finished post on my new music video for Robert Wilson's fantastic (and timely) song "Gonna Make It". Robert is a singer/songwriter from Vancouver that I met through a friend several years ago.
I always wanted to do a video for him. I heard him play a live version of "Gonna Make It", where he looped the beat, background vocals, etc. It was pretty awesome and I loved the song. He FINALLY got around to recording a studio version of it and it's very different - more jazzy - but I like it. (It would have been awesome to shoot the video in New Orleans but the budget, $0, nipped that in the bud pretty quick.)
So, I was laying around one day, thinking of what to do next. I had a trip planned to Seattle towards the end of April and thought, hell, maybe Robert will come down to Seattle and we could shoot a video. I know a guy who might lend us the RED and we could just shoot him walking around the city.
The initial idea was to have the video be a bit of a love story to a city, see Robert walking through the city, saying hi to people, etc, just a general movement video. We had no money, and one day to shoot, so doing more would have been tough.
I pitched it to him and he loved the idea of doing a video. So we agreed to meet up in Seattle and just do it. When I arrived I got a call from the friend with the RED. He got a paying gig and couldn't lend me the camera. Damn. Half the reason I thought of shooting this video was to just play around on the RED. So, I asked him if knew anybody who owned the HVX, since then I could at least shoot this on HD. He did and passed along the info.
That guy couldn't do it, cause he had a shoot that day. So, he gives me the number of a friend. THAT guy can't do it, he's got a shoot that day. I can't tell you how many people I went through trying to get an HVX. Of course, I was borrowing it, and had no money, so it's slightly understandable. What I don't buy is the lying. There is absolutely no way 10 different people had a shoot with their HVX on a Thursday.
I was a little pissed and irritated that nobody was willing to let me borrow a camera but considering I wasn't paying anything, it's somewhat understandable, as I said before. But come on, help a brother out. I always pay you back in some way if I can. And it was for one day. I would've given you a credit card...okay, rant -- over.
Fortunately, I had a backup. The trusty good ol' XL2. My friend Arthur, who use to be a part of my company, still had his sitting in storage somewhere and let me borrow it. I always knew I could use the XL2 but I just really didn't want to. Anyway, that problem was averted. But then, the night before, I'm laying in bed, thinking about the video, and I'm a little worried because I'm basically winging it. And then I get an idea for what the concept could be, that thing which just makes it. I won't tell you what it is though so as not to ruin the video for you.
The next day, I went out, met up with Robert, and we walked around Seattle shooting. Just me and the camera. We found this really cool location in Post Alley for the performance. It looked like a stage with all the public/street art on the walls.
I'm actually really happy with it. I think it came together really nicely, the black and white looks great, and I'm really hoping the video spreads since the message is so pertinent to to what is going on around us. Spread the word people!
Here it is:
And now that you've seen it, I can talk a little about the idea. I just hope that this, in some small way, impacts people. I think the notion of hope is an extremely important part of what makes us human, what defines us in this world, this idea that things can and will get better and that we have the power to make that happen.
I told Robert he should start an organization called "Spread the Hope!" and figure out a way to help somehow. I don't know if he took me up on it. But the song is just so timely and I would like your help spreading this video and the message to as many people as you can. Thanks.
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