Sand The Crack (Or How To Make A Video). Issue #38

On Friday we started shooting the video for my first single off SONGS FROM THE ORANGE ROOM, "Sparkle And Fall". After getting up at 4:00 AM (Ouch), the crew and I met up at Carkeek Park in North Seattle for what would be the first of three days of shooting. When picking location shots for the video, I really wanted it to take place in all my favorite areas. Carkeek has always seemed like a magical place to me since I was a child so there really was no other option for a beach setting as far as I was concerned. Since we planned on filming the whole thing outside, we had been keeping our eyes on the weather reports pretty closely and if you were in town you now know that we really lucked out with one of the sunniest weekends in a long time! Now, you know as well as I do that sun does not equal warmth, and you don't even know how cold it was down by the water. Good thing frostbite is all the rage in 2008...

After filming the "morning" scene forom 6:00-2:30, we called it a day and everyone was happy with the footage we got. I'm not gonna give away to many details regarding the video because I want it to be a brand new experience you see it, but I've included some behind the scenes pictures and from those you may be able to piece together some sort of storyline....

On Saturday, we met up at THE COMIC STOP in Lynnwood (another favorite place) for the second day of shooting where I meet some "unusual characters" in an otherwise normal setting. The hardest part about this shot was trying not to laugh at them the whole time and though I'm tempted to show them to you, I'm going to make you wait until you see it.


The next locale was a park in Shoreline where I meet a little kid who hustles me for money in an action figure war. Yes, an action figure war. My co-star in this scene was Kai, an adorable 4 year-old who's parents were kind enough to have him appear as anything but that. I'll just say his dad spent the week with him working a "mean face" that almost transcended "mean" into "disturbing". This was Kai's first introduction into the biz and I can say he impressed everyone with his ability to follow acting staging directions and his mad skillz. I don't think I could have done that at age four. I think it helped though that every 15-minutes he would stop for a cookie break. Good idea, and I think I'm going to work that into my rider next time...

I know I mentioned last week that I was going crazy trying to make 20 violins out of cardboard for the final scene A LA Michel Gondry. Well, it took my 2 hours to make one of them and after it was finished I actually began laughing hysterically when I realized how band it looked (it was that or cry). It was official that cardboard violins would just not do, so I began a mad hunt by calling all the rental shops in the area until someone took me seriously ("I'm sorry...HOW many did you want?").
My new friend Patrick at KENNELLY KEYS hooked it up, and a big stress was lifted as after seeing how cool the video was going to be from the 2 days of filming, I realized that the bar had been raised past my ugly cardboard monstrosities.




On Sunday I did my rain dance to ward of bad weather, and I think it worked as again we were treated to a beautiful day that I needed to close the deal on the shoot. My employers and I came to the agreement that in addition to the scene driven video, they wanted me to put together a performance based one as well. The band and I shot Sunday morning back at Carkeek right on the waters edge and seemed to be the car crash that beach goers couldn't look away from. At some points we had gathered quite a crowd only to be ditched for the much cooler trains that passed by every 45-minutes.


At 1:00, the "string section" showed up comprised of old friends that have supported my music for many years and band spouses. Everyone was in an all black attire at my request as I wanted to create the vibe of a Grammy-esque string section. After "rehearsing the look" for a few hours (Thanks Shaun!) we were all ready for the big final shot of the video where the string section would perform behind the band rocking out full stage setup and all. We had a little bit of a panic during this scene as the tide began rising very quickly and really was only about 8 feet in front of the amps! Just as I had envisioned, by the time we started filming the sun hit the witching hour light and everyone was bathed in a beautiful orange glow from a setting sun. If it looks as good on tape as it did in real life it will be AMAZING!

I am VERY happy with the experience and the creative professionalism of director Heather Canik and her her team, and can't wait to get to editing so I can show everyone what we created! I think you'll love it.

Next week, I'll give a final wrap up of how RPM Challenge 2008 turned out!

A reminder that COLLIDER and I will be performing this Saturday (3/1) @ THE SHOWBOX in Seattle for our debut show.

THIS SHOW WILL ROCK YOU HARD.

'Nuff Said.


See you there!

-K