Some of my favorite music videos.

Posted By on Jun 22, 2009

I’ve been working on music videos for almost two years now, and am starting to feel like I have a grasp on this industry. There’s still so much yet to learn, and I’m excited to do more and learn more in the months (years?) ahead. I’m one of the few that LOVES working on music videos. Most people would rather be on a commercial shoot, or obviously a feature film shoot, but to me – music videos are where it’s at. Maybe I’m crazy for enjoying the torture of long, grueling 15 hour days. All that said, I’ve compiled a list of some of my favorite music videos. There’s no rhyme or reason to this. The Killers – Mr. Brightside. Sophie Mueller did this one, and it’s amazing. Evidently it’s an homage to Moulin Rouge. I shudder to think how much they spent on art direction and stylists alone. All-American Rejects – Move Along. Adam Gregory – Crazy Days. This is a Wes Edwards video, and it’s great. It’s more of a rock video than country, and that might be why it was so underplayed and unrecognized. The Elms – Hey, Hey. This is genius in it’s simplicity. I remember loving this when it first came out, and as it would turn out, Revolution did this video for $10k. Weaver did this years ago and it made me one of his biggest fans. I still gush to him about it almost every time I see him. Coldplay – The Scientist. Let’s shoot an entire video forwards and then play it backwards. Switchfoot – You Already Take Me There. This video is what turned me into a Switchfoot fanatic, which I guess could serve as proof that music videos can have an impact on people. For years the guys wouldn’t tell whether or not it’s actually them sky diving, and I still don’t know the truth, if anyone actually went skydiving, etc. Lee Ann Rimes – Nothin’ Better to Do. David McClister’s finest. Carrie Underwood – So Small. I’m not a big country music fan, but this song is amazing, and I think the video compliments the song immensely. Michael Jackson – Thriller. I saw this on Pop Up video a couple weeks ago. It had the budget of a million dollars ! – and it is so long it has credits at the end. And I’ve love to learn the dance...

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f you, wolf camera.

Posted By on May 14, 2009

On a shoot today and we needed an extra camera battery for the Canon 5D. The producer called the closest Wolf Camera at about 4:30, which was about a mile away from our location. “Yes, we have the battery,” they tell her. I drove down there, only to get the run-around. “It isn’t in the battery book,” he mused as he walked over to the antiquated computer system from 1985. He punched in the model – Canon 5D, Mark II. A slew of options came up, and he placed them on the counter before me while I called someone on set to verify. No, the battery I need is an E6. None of the options the guy has given me are anything close to an E6. “My boss called earlier and spoke with someone who said you guys carry it.” I said, wondering if the battery had been set aside somewhere. “Honestly, she spoke with our district manager, and he has no idea what we carry,” the clerk replies lamey. “I’ve never heard of the E6.” He saunters over to the battery book again and flips it open again. “I have an E3.” “Can you doublecheck for me?” I press, gesturing to a more modern-looking computer in the middle of the sales floor. The previous week, I went into a different Wolf Camera, completely ignorant to what battery my new Nikon D60 used. The kind sales clerk gladly checked for me on his personal cell phone, I bought the battery, and everyone was happy. But this guy – Mario, I think his name is – must be on salary and not commission, as his enthusiasm for being of any use is dwindling. After a quick glance at Ritz’s homepage, he’s had enough. “It doesn’t say on our website.” Not satisfied, I continue. “Can you check online? Google, or something?” “No, we don’t have internet in here,” he says, and hesitantly types in canon.com, which, surely enough, doesn’t load. And then, he loses all grasp of good customer service. “You can drive down to our West End store and see if they have one.” Yes, thanks, buddy. You’ve already given me the run-around, tried to get me to buy a battery that you were unsure of, and didn’t bother asking one of your coworkers for assistance. It’s 5pm rush hour traffic and your solution is to send me downtown? How about you call the other store and check for me? But whatever, I’ve had enough of this guy’s crap, and he’s had enough of me. He moves on to some elderly woman who’s got her eye on a Sony digital...

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a diamond in the rough and a jewel in dickson county

Posted By on May 24, 2008

Yesterday was delightful. It didn’t begin that way, however — for the first time in my 21 years, my REM cycle took a rain check. 11:20pm I first laid down to bed in order to rise at 4:45am to get to work on time. And for whatever reason, I truly didn’t sleep a single wink. The rest of the day went quite the opposite. I got to work with a different production company–Taillight TV, specifically– a different director, different PAs, but the same crew. Knowing the crew and being familiar with the music video aura made the day more accommodating than intimidating, and being able to observe the workings of a different production team was insightful. I didn’t know the gaffer, but he took the time to teach me a quick way to wrap bandit (sp?), the insanely thick and heavy wires that run from the generator to the lights, thus further adding to my continuous process: Becoming a Knowledgeable PA. The video was one of the most fun to experience, as the majority of the day was spent filming muscle cars peeling out and turning donuts in a gravel parking lot. And the director was, ironically enough, the same director that executed and casted the video for Josh Turner’s “Firecracker”, back when I was desperate enough to attend a casting session– just a short 10 months ago. So technically, I had met him before. For the last scene, the artist was sitting in a car that was stationary — because the director wanted to shoot additional performance footage that also was a close-up “beauty” shot. The director stood on one side of the car, rocking it back and forth to simulate motion, while I stood on the other side with a 4 foot by 2 foot flag (used by the grips, these flags aren’t normal flags — it’s merely a square of piping that runs through the lining of the perimeter of the fabric) The window of the car was down, the artist began singing, and the director shouted, “Start the wind!”It was my cue. I flapped the flag up and down, rather jerkily and intermittently, in an attempt to replicate the wind one experiences on the open road. She kept singing. “Niiice wind, keep it coming!” The director praised. I beamed with pride, but sixty seconds later, my arms began to give out. The flag movement became more hasty and jerky, and it didn’t go unnoticed. “More wind! More wind!” ordered the director, and I felt all the eyes of the crew, the production team, the label, the DP, and God looking expectantly at the stationary blonde...

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