The Love In Us

03.13.10

So I’ve written this entry twice already because I didn’t think it was clear enough how much we had to go through to shoot Plane.

So originally, I had a basic concept for the video and lot of people told me that I shouldn’t make the video the way I pictured it in my head. I guess you could call it, “going the safe-route” and film a green screen black-and-white rap video with skinny jeans. Anyway, my boy went to Mexico and I threw my idea at him before he left, and he came back with some new ideas of how we could shoot it. Everything was going well. At one point, we had everything we needed to shoot the video, [lighting, dollys, location, steadicam, slider, etc]. Everything was copasetic.

A week before the shoot date all hell broke loose. Hour by hour we called to check up on our assets and somehow they ALL fell through. People stopped answering our phone calls, we didn’t receive confirmation messages, and we didn’t have a resolution. I can’t stress enough how many hours we spent stressing over this video shoot. I tried not to be angered by people’s excuses and irresponsibility because I knew that this project was destined to be something great since someone believed in my vision as much as I did. So, we continued to trek on by changing the storyboard to accommodate what we lost. Soon things became worse and we almost decided to cancel the shoot altogether, but we didn’t give up!

After repeatedly hearing “No, no, no, no, no” we finally heard one YES and it gave us a sigh of relief throughout all these disappointments. We banned together to call almost everyone we knew to help out with the video shoot. In a matter of 3 weeks we lost everything and gained it ALL back THE DAY OF THE SHOOT, including our confidence and drive! The video was shot with no budget, no pay, and everyone who helped out was filled in at the very last minute. All the extensive equipment we had during the beginning of this project was GONE, and yet we still managed to shoot the video beyond our expectations. We knew this was going to be one for the books.

The location for our hotel scene was originally going to be filmed at HOTEL 41’s Hotel Suite, which was PERFECT for our scene but it wasn’t available for the date we scheduled our shoot. We couldn’t push the date back or forward because we already had actors booked for that day. We then decided to just move forward and shoot the video elsewhere. The next problem came about and we realized we didn’t have a solid place to shoot any scenes at all! After pestering all of our friends and relatives, we finally landed a spot at a friends loft in the Financial District. But now that it’s so short notice, we didn’t have enough time to tell people to come by to help play as actors for the scene!

Hours went by and people slowly trickled in through the door. After about 2 ½ hours we had a little party goin’ and we could finally start shooting! But wait! There’s another problem. We didn’t have a place to shoot for the following day! I waited for the phone call from a friend who was trying to book a room for us at a discounted rate. Finally the call came in and there was a bit of silence throughout the room. He told me that he wasn’t able to book a room and that it was going to cost a minimum of $700 to book a room for the following day. Ouch. So now we thought we’d have no hotel and we almost ingrained the idea that we’d only be shooting where we currently were. But then, we were given hope by a friend!

We looked online for a better deal that same night, lucked out and found a room at the W Hotel. The following day we lucked out AGAIN and were able to shoot the bathroom scene at a friends apartment.

All in all, we were knocked down a handful of times and we were still able to make history. Guys, look out for the Plane video release this Wednesday.