OK, here are some of the photos from the evening.
Last night we had the official unveiling of the new 8 Foot Sativa music video that I was proud to have had a part in making. My official title was co-producer and that involved me finding some sponsorship, getting the locations sorted, getting permission from people to film, finding props, sets, helping manage the budget and finding actors and things. The reality was that I did all that as well as lug gear, build sets, work lighting and a myriad of other odd jobs.
We initially weren’t sure if we were going to do anything after finishing the video but decided that seeing as we’d put so much effort into it we should unveil it with a bit of an occasion. I’m very glad we did.
The launch went off really well with about 60 people attending. We had speakers from New Zealand Open Rescue who provided the undercover footage seen in the video, along with vocalist Ben Read from 8 Foot Sativa and the director Duncan Eastwood. Drinks and nibbles were had by all, a few showings of the video ensued and we had a jolly good time.
To be able to make a video for a band as popular as 8 Foot Sativa is one thing, but to make one with a strong animal rights theme is a once in a lifetime opportunity. I’m extremely proud of what we achieved (On almost no budget) and very excited to finally be able to unveil the video to the public!
Photos will follow once I’ve sifted through them and tidied them up (They were all shot by someone else at -2ev, so way underexposed) but for now, enjoy the video which is embedded below.
I’ve been holding off on posting about this subject for a while because I wanted to wait until the band had posted about it themselves on their own website. Now they have, I can announce that recently I’ve been fortunate enough to help produce a music video for NZ metal legends 8 Foot Sativa. The band has been around for a number of years and I first heard about them when I was watching a music show on TV a long time ago that contained this animated marijuana plant running all over the screen to this throaty but very catchy metal. Since then the band has had 2 gold albums, sold thousands of records and have a pretty dedicated following in Australasia.
Fast forward about 6 years and one day a friend of mine gets approached by the band who are after some footage for a video they want to make. She tells her partner, a director, and he offers to make them a music video. The band is keen and he asks if I want to help produce it so over the last couple of months we (Sunset Studios and Meat Free Media) have been making the video for their latest single, ‘Sleepwalkers’. The last shoot day being this Wednesday gone, 3rd December 2008.
The shoot has been a mix of band performance, staged scenes and docco style footage, shot on a shoestring budget like all of 8 Foot Sativa’s videos. Even after 10 (now 11) videos and success here and in Australia, NZ On Air still won’t give them money due to them not being “Commercially Viable” – go figure. So money for the shoot came from two main places; the director’s pocket, and from animal rights organisation Save Animals From Exploitation. We can’t thank SAFE enough for supporting Meat Free Media’s production of the video.
8 Foot Sativa
The most “exciting” day of shooting was the day we shot the band performance. Not only was it great to finally see the band perform to the song, but some of the photos I took that day were probably the best I’ve done to date thanks in no small part to the awesome lighting the cameraman did for the band. I was also quite chuffed that one photo in particular, of the band posing, made it’s way onto the 8 Foot Sativa MySpace page as their band image and may end up being the shot used for the cover of the single. If you want to check out a few more, I’ve put a couple of my favourites on my home page.
Anyway, I can hear you saying ‘OK, that’s great and all, but what’s the video about?’. And to that I say “sorry I cannot go into details until it’s released” which will be timed with their new single due out early next year. Until then, you’ll just have to wait…