Jon Foreman and I had a chance to brainstorm some ideas for their latest song, All I Need. This song is so heartfelt and almost nostalgic, that I wanted to make it more of a narrative piece, with some fun VFX, of course. We had a bunch of amazing footage from their recent trip to India and Bangledesh, so we had to find a way to make a narrative that could include some of that footage, while still being in the same universe as the other two videos. (We really had fun time trying to make subtle links between the Native Tongue, Voices and All I Need videos)
So we came up with this concept, which was the most ambitious one yet, since it involved young actors, not a lot of band screen time, and a monster of a practical effect. (people say working with kids and animals is the worst, but having directed dozens of Youth Theater productions in my past, I felt good about it.)
I had some kids submit audition videos, and the band and I all agreed on Sophia being our awesome main character. She was so fun and easy to work with, and she put in a LONG day. Jadyn and Abraham were also so great to work with, and they brought of energy to the set.
How to come up with 30 Old Tube Tv’s, though? I called around to some different electronics recycling centers, and found one that was up for letting us rent them, so major thanks to Universal Waste Disposal! TV’s used to be very heavy and stupid, btw. My genius friend Jackie Valentine was on props and Practical FX, and he made the TV wall, and made a device that safely sparked when Sophia plugs in the Extension cords. I’ve had Jackie make a few random things for me, and he always figures out a way to do it and blow my mind.
I wanted to go for a Cinematic look for this one so I hired Steve Cachero as DP (a guy who I’ve been wanting to work with for a while, you can see why in the video.) and my good friend Nate Riedel who is a master DP and Gaffer. It really is one of the best feelings to have such a strong team surrounding you.
Maybe the craziest part of this video was finishing up the edit and VFX from tour with my band. Not recommended, but it is possible to upload a low res video over a hotspot while driving (but it takes a WHILE).
Overall, super amazing to get to work with talented young actors (and their gracious parents) and have the trust from the Switchfoot camp to make this one. Love those guys!
