Music Video--Open Source & Proprietary Technology / Aristotle / Fashion / Story / Durham & Hollywood

Recently I shot a video for my friend Vaughan Penn, and the Artistic Entrepreneurship & Technology 101 class joined us for a few scenes.

Many of the students are looking to get into the music industry, so the Q&A session was great, with Vaughan explaining how being totally indie was actually an advantage--she gets to keep all her masters and publishing rights, and thus she sold the song Ready to Rise to Grey's Anatomy, MTV's Laguna Beach, and A&E's Roller Girls.

After the class one student said, "you mean we can record a CD and sell it just like that?"

You can.

And I got to thinking about the vast amount of technology that goes into shooting a simple, short video. Technology that wasn't afforable a couple years back.

We're lucky to be living in this day and age--a vast transformation is under way.

But still, the most important aspect of art is always story.

Think of your favorite music video. Chances are it tells a story. Chances are it has a definitive beginning, middle, and end

Think of your favorite songs and movies. They tell you someting.

Even a music video--which relies primarily on music and video, tells a story.

So we chose to tell a story about heading out to Holywood to make it, but then realizing that you already made it back home in Durham.

We told a story about facing down those inner demons that tell you you're not good enough to follow your dreams, and we had fun with a showdown scene, in which Vaughan wins with flowers.

We told a story about beauty & truth's triumphs--about the triumph of the higher ideals over the bottom line.

And contained within the simple plot was the underlying story of our times--the decentralization of production and distribution afforded by the digital revolutions.

The video was shot with a Canon GL2 and edited on a mac with Final Cut Pro.

It's hosted on a box running red hat linux in LA.

Besides the computer, server, and camera, which I already had, the video cost just about nothing.

And it'll be ending up on the A&E Roller Girls DVD, while also getting shopped around to MTV and other networks.

The whole point of AE&T 101 is to get out there and do it.

You might be in Durham NC, but you're in Hollywood now too.

You can become an indie multi-media conglomerate.

And make a living following your dreams.