Video for LGM

A film crew descended on to my house on July 9th and 10th to shoot a video for a song named LGM from WHY BIRDS FLY... what an incredible process! The original concept for the video came from Zach Ginsberg and was further developed by me and Breck Larson, the director.


THE CONCEPT

The idea for the video is to combine a simple song (LGM) that is basically saying: "This world can be a rough place... Let's face it together", with footage and a loose story that shows the unadorned, everyday beauty of two people living together. We decided to shoot it at my house with lots of back-lit, close-up shots... Alternating scenes of a girl and guy going about their daily life -- living together, boyfriend and girlfriend... at the dinner table. eating breakfast, writing a letter, reading a book, talking on the phone... any number of things.

There will also be some "performance shots" of me playing my acoustic guitar and singing (close-ups of hands, guitar strings, etc) as well as shots of Jeremy Lawton playing lap steel -- interspersed into the "couple living together" footage. When it's edited, it will have a washed out, over saturated film look... with sharp focus on certain areas to draw attention.... a guitar, a coffee cup, her hand, a chair... etc.


THE CAST AND CREW

I was blown away when I saw the amazing group of people that Breck pulled together from Denver's independent film scene to shoot this video... I was also amazed at alll of Breck's GEAR: lights, lights, lights, stands, cameras, lenses, cables, gels, cases, etc. It was kind of amazing to see my house turned into a movie set. We had such a good time... Here are all of the people who worked on the video:

Breck Larson: Producer, Director, Director of Photography
Mark Weiler: Camera Operator
Scott Jones: Lighting/Grip
Joshua Trager: Grip
Courney Hart: Make-up/Wardrobe
Angela Blake: Props/ Set Decorating
Laszlo Varga: Lighting/Grip
Gary Hansbrough: Audio Playback
Jen Fiskum: Actor
Matt Buckstein: Actor
Jim Biddix: Grip 2
John Common: Producer, Bartender, "Get Out Of The Way John, You're In The Shot"

Day One consisted of shooting all of the scenes with Matt and Jen (the couple). We shot my and Jeremy's performance shots on Day Two, along with a bunch of interior shots of the house. I'd never been a part of anything like this before... it's a really tiring but great process. So incredibly collaborative! I can see how you could get as addicted to making films as you can making music. I can't wait to see how this all turns out...


PICTURES FROM DAY ONE

Here are some photos I took from Day One's shoot... Sorry for the out of focus stuff. I was literally shooting from my hip, walking around, trying (and failing) to get out of everyone's way...

















And perhaps the most IMPORTANT part of the entire video... Ladies and Gentleman, I now present to you... [drum roll] THE LGM COMMEMORATIVE FRUIT PLATE !!!!!



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PICTURES FROM DAY TWO


Today was the video shoot of me singing and playing LGM out in my backyard and Jeremy playing lapsteel. Wow, what a production. Breck and Laslo and Josh and Angela and Jim built a little semi-circular rail road line on my back porch for the camera truck thingy to move around... Ah, just look at the pictures, you'll see what I mean.

Oh, and they made me wear makeup... including mascara?? "You have really light eyelashes, John, and we can't see them". Umm, okay. That was a first for me. Not having any sisters growing up, I can honestly say, today was my first time "in makeup". How do you girls do it? It feels like I have... stuff... all over my face. Wait. I do.

Anyway... Everyone who has been a part of this things has been so great! Hopefully these snapshots will convey some of the work (and passion) that went into shooting this little film...