BY Huge Shark
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA: Hello from Huge Shark! California has had lots of rain, but I’m splashing around just fine in my part of San Diego.
While we’re all getting through our various winters, I thought I’d tell you a little about the process of making a music video with a random person I met online!
On Mastodon (find me there as @hugeshark@sonomu.club), I noticed the postings of Skaly, a young person in London who was selling handmade jewelry. I don’t wear a lot of jewelry (doesn’t look great on a fin!), but I noticed they were also sharing “Redundant,” one of their music videos. I checked it out without high expectations, only to discover that they not only had a great voice but had created a very striking and moving film. And then I saw that they were up for directing the music videos of others.
Skaly lived in London and obviously, I was here in California, but I didn’t really want the typical shots of me playing and singing, anyway, so I sent them my track “He Dared Me” and asked if they had a vision for a micro-movie. They responded with an idea that not only fit with the song, but expanded it in a lovely direction. They sourced an actor and cinematographer and editor, all Skaly’s friends and very talented individuals, and they went down to a beach near Brighton, UK and filmed an incredible short story in music video form.
They sent me an early draft, and I made a couple small suggestions which they incorporated. Then they edited it and color-graded it — color grading is a video technique that allows the director to select a particular color palette for the film, and subtly tint all the images to tilt in that direction. For this video, they wanted a slightly-vintage, 20-years-ago look that makes you think of faded jeans and far-off summers. It lends a whole mood to the video.
We entered the video in some film festivals around the world, and were thrilled to be an official selection of three festivals and a semi-finalist at another one. You can watch the video below and see how a chance encounter on the Internet turned into musical magic!
Till next time:
Huge Shark
