save me from being confusedLast year MHB spent July 4th in Atlantic City producing a Carolina Liar music video for the famous pop director Diane Martel. This summer, the vid is in heavy rotation on VH1’s Top 20 Countdown and the track can be heard on just about every soul searching teenage TV show.
File this under the “they shoot things, don’t they?” category. This collaboration followed from the series of 20 music docs about New York City bands we did for Sony a couple years back. Lead singer DJ McNanny’s former band Neutral Mute and I collaborated on what became a kind of pet project — shooting footage from time to time vaguely in service of a music video. Though that band eventually went on hiatus, DJ’s new band AAAPE has started playing out. And his label keeps pumping out the dope remixes.
In between, we ended up with a branded song, or an ad for a music video, or a two-minute thingy (technical term) that looks cool and allowed me to get my Terry Richardson on.
Looking at the finished pics, there’s a temptation to holler, “our friends are cooler than yours!” But the simple truth is, that’s just how we roll. At least that’s what I tell the guys over at Citibank who keep calling. Rakesh what up, baby!
Enjoy our State of Elation. And look out for the fragrance.
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That’s worldwide hottie Allison Caviness bringing a new level of cool to sunglasses. And, of course, she’s already shot with Terry Richardson.
We produced a suite of 20 new media documentaries about music for Sony’s Crackle.com. Here are two of our faves, above is The Exit and below is Neutral Mute.
Access is that most elusive quality that is granted to some who wield cameras. The best seem to command it of their subjects instantly, effortlessly. The rest of us work for every scrap we can get and hire the best camera people to buttress ourselves. Perhaps as a cheat, a short-circuit, we who shoot things with cameras for a living decide to use our friends as subjects from time to time. It is simply too enticing not to do.
Fresh off the wire, this is the most surreal music video of the summer. Kanye’s personal trainer is friends with Zach. Kanye gave Zach carte blanche to do a video. Will happened to be at Zach’s farm that weekend. Amazing. I’m gonna go remix some Palace Brothers now.
