As a photographer, I often have the privilege of being behind the scenes in a variety of creative processes. Being part of a video shoot for Bay Area psychedelic-rockers Milk For The Angry was one of those special moments of creative fun.
The decline of San Francisco was apparent as we shot part of the band's new video on the city's famed Market Street, a once thriving and lucrative area that used to have a Starbucks on every corner and nary a "FOR LEASE" sign anywhere during the dot.com boom, but it is now home to many disadvantaged folks living an alternate life on the streets. So long economic boom, hello destitute city! What better location to film a video about greed and obsession with wealth and money?
In our four hours of filming, MFTA frontman Dana Lindstrom directed us while the wickedly brilliant Will Rushton shot the footage amid the smell of piss, drive-by's from cops (who, oddly, left us alone), interactive and curious street people and the ridiculous cacophony of the Blue Angels and Fleet Week to remind us of costly and ongoing wars.
The decline of San Francisco was apparent as we shot part of the band's new video on the city's famed Market Street, a once thriving and lucrative area that used to have a Starbucks on every corner and nary a "FOR LEASE" sign anywhere during the dot.com boom, but it is now home to many disadvantaged folks living an alternate life on the streets. So long economic boom, hello destitute city! What better location to film a video about greed and obsession with wealth and money?
In our four hours of filming, MFTA frontman Dana Lindstrom directed us while the wickedly brilliant Will Rushton shot the footage amid the smell of piss, drive-by's from cops (who, oddly, left us alone), interactive and curious street people and the ridiculous cacophony of the Blue Angels and Fleet Week to remind us of costly and ongoing wars.
Rushton and Lindstrom have collaborated on MFTA videos for ages, and it was incredible to see their synced minds create the scenes on the fly. It was a true cohesion of vision.
With about 8 MFTA fans and friends ready for action, our scene had us fighting as a group over a dollar bill flying over our heads; we were to push, shove, hit, pull and generally exhibit horrible behavior towards one another. Even as we shot the scene where we were kicking and hitting Dana as he lay on the sidewalk, pedestrians walked by with a mild air of "Huh?", but generally the vibe was "Hmmm, just another weird scenario in the City, I guess!"
In those four hours of shooting, we probably produced no more than a few moments of footage for the video. More hours will be needed to finish the filming, plus the editing and the finalizing of the end product. I have always known that making a video is hard work, and it was truly an amazing experience to be a part of that hard work and to see that hard work in action.
The video will be out in a few months! Keep an eye out, in the meanwhile, check out all other groovy vids from Milk For The Angry!
With about 8 MFTA fans and friends ready for action, our scene had us fighting as a group over a dollar bill flying over our heads; we were to push, shove, hit, pull and generally exhibit horrible behavior towards one another. Even as we shot the scene where we were kicking and hitting Dana as he lay on the sidewalk, pedestrians walked by with a mild air of "Huh?", but generally the vibe was "Hmmm, just another weird scenario in the City, I guess!"
In those four hours of shooting, we probably produced no more than a few moments of footage for the video. More hours will be needed to finish the filming, plus the editing and the finalizing of the end product. I have always known that making a video is hard work, and it was truly an amazing experience to be a part of that hard work and to see that hard work in action.
The video will be out in a few months! Keep an eye out, in the meanwhile, check out all other groovy vids from Milk For The Angry!
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