Straight from the Lion’s mouth, Amy talks about the nighttime shoots with Director Brittin Richter and finishing The Valentines’ first video shoot together.
See the video here!
Director Brittin Richter made the hitchhiking shots on day 3 the most fun. Well, riding in the back of the car singing with the camera on the dashboard was really the most fun. It took multiple takes of me walking down the street singing with my guitar and the band driving around the corner to make it work. For a second, the car wouldn’t start, but Jackson got it running again.
Two Wayne State University cops stopped by to check us out, I wasn’t sure if we were getting a ticket or what. When Brittin told the police officers that we were shooting the ‘new Amy Gore video,’ they knew who I was and that I had a new group! They notice me standing on the corner and I started laughing. I said, ‘Hi, I’m Amy and this is my new band!’ There were also people driving by and stopping while we were filming at night in the field with the cars, too. We couldn’t tell at first if we were going to get stopped or robbed. This is Detroit, remember, we’re things are done guerilla – DIY style. The art is yours for the making or taking … if you can take it.
The nighttime shoot felt the most wild. We were a bit strung out from shooting in the sun the days prior. The band and crew literally packed cameras, lights, instruments and gear into cars and drove out to a field, set up, and started shooting. We did so many takes with the smoke machine going in front of the car lights –which were all our cars parked and running – playing and singing. It was fall so it got cold and Leann and I weren’t dressed properly. I think I had a bathing suit on. Leann and I had heels on, which were sinking into the field. We had to stay on tip-toe while performing so it looked right. It might look easy, but it was a really long day and our legs were getting tired! It didn’t matter, though; everyone worked hard and soldiered through it. Someone brought back hooch from the party store and things got warmed up, but the band didn’t have a drop until we were done. We’re professionals!
Shooting the video was an incredible amount of work that we couldn’t have done without the brains and brawn of Brittin and his crew. Everyone worked so well together: playing, singing and goofing around during the shoot. We worked about 12 hours a day from start to finish, it wasn’t easy, but it was a great time! Thank you Brittin, Nikki, Ronit, Yvonne, Marcie, Tommy, Scott, Leslie and everyone else who made it possible!
And there you have, “Drivin Around.”
-xoxo