"He who laughs, lasts."
-Mary Pettibone Poole
Role: Director, Producer, EditorSelf-important music videos are nonsense. It's a naturally playful form--it's based on visual experimentation. The whole point is to try new things and have a good time while doing it. The added fun of working with bands on bigger labels is having the resources to fully commit to zany ideas. My buddies in Cold Fronts approached me about making a music video for the title track of their new album. They told me they wanted a big idea--Who says no to that?
The prompt they came to me with was silly enough: "We want to be in a boy band," they told me. I thought we could go bigger and weirder.
I like the process to be collaborative, so we got together and went down a youtube rabbit hole of 90s music videos, looking for fun angles and ideas. This process ended up spitting us out at weird, Eastern European Public Access Television boyband and karaoke videos. It seemed like the perfect chance to experiment with different layers of art direction. I put the idea in the blender, and this goofy idea came out.
We rented out a semi abandoned club in Philly, and built the entire thing out. All the furniture, except the bar, was brought in by my incredible art department (thank you Lenore and Matt!). We shot the green screen footage separately, and then composited everything in post.
