It’s live! I’m so excited to share Amanda Palmer’s music video for “Drowning in the Sound”, where I wore a few hats as assistant producer, unit production manager and props procurement/master.
Directed by Michael Pope with choreography by Coco Karol, this video was filled with challenges, mostly involving water: building a 20’ x 20’ wading pool at Utopia Soundstage in Woodstock NY, dance sequences in the wading pool and in a full size pool, submerging a baby grand piano for an underwater shoot, and even chasing a rabid raccoon off of set.
Amanda wrote a behind the scenes blog about the shoot HERE including photos and thoughts from several of the amazing, hard working crew members.
Still to come from this shoot: Amanda’s video for “Look Mummy, No Hands,” out later this year.
The awesome crew (not pictured is my rockstar PA Bimini Wright who was picking up vital equipment for the shoot that night.)
“I started out as an Art PA on several Pope-directed Dresden Dolls videos, so when he approached me about this video, I was excited to reunite and in this more logistical role of support. I knew Pope, Amanda and Coco would make something honest and moving and that the process would evoke a transformation as any time I have worked for Pope and Amanda/The Dolls, I’ve left with a renewed dedication to go further artistically.
Some of that can be attributed to the challenge of making ambitious videos on lower budgets (by industry standards); you push beyond your perceived limits. What is unique is the dynamic that Pope, Amanda and this team creates on set, one where everyone jumps in to do what is needed regardless of title, where every person is vital. When our dancers and crew were freezing in the pool, everyone else was brewing and running hot teas out in cycles, keeping dry towels constantly on hand to swaddle them. At one point I realized - it feels like we’re giving birth and we’re all acting as midwives. Perhaps that was Coco’s pregnancy and being surrounded by water, but it was also that sense of community focused on caring for each other while catching the truth and intensity of the performance.
I am very grateful to the cast and crew who worked so hard and kept such great attitudes throughout the shoot, and a special shout out to Michael Cooter, an intensely talented carpenter and problem solver who built our giant wading pool, figured out how to submerge a piano and kept saying “that’s easy, what’s the hard part?” Thank you Pope for the alchemical experience and thank you Amanda for creating art and experiences that open up the locked places inside of me.”