Kimberly Stuckwisch
Title design for SOUR Prom; Dir. Kimberly Stuckwisch & Toby L
I got invited to Olivia Rodrigo’s SOUR Prom this weekend by my dear friend and celebrated music video director Kimberly Stuckwisch. I was the title designer for the 28-minute concert film, framing the dizzying and dreamlike ball set to Rodrigo’s anthems of teenage heartbreak.
I contributed title designs for Sharon Van Etten & Angel Olsen’s collaborative anthem “Like I Used To,” given electric cinematic life by the ever inventive director, Kimberly Stuckwisch.
Directed & Production Designed by: Kimberly Stuckwisch (@stuckwisch) / Produced by: Ian Blair (@ian_swank_nsour_blizair) / Cinematography by: Justin Hamilton (justinphamilton) / Costume Design by: Phoenix Mellow (@phoenixmellow) / Edited by: Ellis Bahl (@ellisbahl) / VFX Supervisor: Ryan Ross (@ryromofo) / 1st Assistant Director: Hayden Rusk (@haydenrusk) / Production Manager: Jon-Michael Burgess / 1st Assistant Camera: Joshua Kirkwood / Gaffer: Julian Janigo (@360grip) / Key Grip: Darrin Stuckwisch (@beastieboyness) / Swing: Michelle O'Shea (@michelleelizabethoshea) / Makeup Artist: Rebecca Abram / Hair Artist: Mara Roszak (@mararoszak) / Construction by: Jack Massura (@jackmassura) / Color by: Kaitlyn Battistelli (@kaitlynbattistelli) / Title Design by: Sean David Christensen (@seandavidchristensen)
an Invisible Inc production (@inv.isibleinc) / Special Thanks to Zebulon, Lisa Hiatt, Jessi Williams, and Ryan Ross for donating locations and Elisa Randazzo of Cameo Clothing for donating clothing.
“A man and his boulder…a journey through time.” So begins director Kimberly Stuckwisch’s description to her director’s cut (with Melora Donoghue) for “On The Road To Find Out,” an allegorical interpretation of the song by Yusuf/Cat Stevens. Re-recorded by Stevens for the 50th anniversary re-release of his classic album Tea for the Tillerman, Stuckwisch filmed the music video for this new take on the song in her trademark style, blending stunning locations with ingenious practical effects to create a singular vision.
Filmed on the coastal sand dunes of Pismo Beach in California, a boulder amalgamated from household appliances and other manmade scrap gradually grows in size as a man (Viet Dang) drags it across figurative “sands of time.” Grimacing as the ever-increasing weight slows his gait to a crawl, objects from centuries past fly through the desert and cling to this rock, a burden he has chosen to carry.
Viet Dang drags the burden of man’s progress behind him in Yusuf/Cat Stevens “On The Road To Find Out” (Director’s Cut) by Kimberly Stuckwisch & Melora Donoghue
“The video is an allegory for humanity’s journey for self-discovery and the historical events, art, and music that have influenced life and culture,” says Stuckwisch. “Through the video, we follow a man pulling a boulder that increasingly grows to represent these influences. It’s a story of our ability to break free from these burdens and our will to find inner peace.”
The fully COVID-compliant production was filmed in the summer of 2020 with a crew of ten, using all-natural light with no generators or electricity. Ensuring the music video’s carbon footprint was as small as possible, all the props used to create the boulder were donated for recycling after the production wrapped.
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Kimberly commissioned me to create hand-drawn titles & credits. Having collaborated with her before on videos for Broken Bells, Jeremy Ivey & Margo Price, we had developed an ease to envisioning what these sequences would look like in the final cut – almost before I would even put pen to paper!
End credits for “On The Road To Find Out” (Director’s Cut); Chisel-tip pen on paper.
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Suggesting we add an additional layer of artistry to embellish the titles’ design, I recommended award-winning animator Cassie Shao, who often collaborates with my band, Maggie Dave. Her illustrated blowing sands revealing the names created a storybook-like beauty to the fantastical world that Stuckwisch imagined with her cast & crew.
Preeminent music video director/friend Kimberly Stuckwisch brought me on as title designer for her visualization of “Someone Else’s Problem” by Jeremy Ivey, a haunting dirge to accompany these troubling times.
Hand-drawn lettering, line by line. More reasons (as I count every letter) that I need to finally create my own font!
Front page of the Country section of RollingStone.com.
What a crew to be a part of! Thanks Kimberly:
Directed By: Kimberly Stuckwisch / Produced By: Ian Blair / Production Company: Invisible Inc Cinematography By: Eric Vera / Production Design, Costume Design, and Edited By: Kimberly Stuckwisch / VFX By: Brenten Brandenburg & Noah Dains / Starring: Max Baumgarten Steadicam Operator: Jose Espinoza 1st Assistant Camera: Jordan Sakai 2nd Unit Cinematography By: Brett Carlsen Archival Producer: Jessi Williams Color By: Dylan Hageman Title Design By: Sean David Christensen Song Written By: Jeremy Ivey & Margo Price Courtesy of ANTI-Records Salesman: Freddie McClain Preacher: Glenn Ratcliffe Police Officer: Bruce Van Patten Man Arrested: Leo Claude Street Cart Vendor: Crystal Lujan Street Musician: Lily Goldsmith Trailer Man: Michael Benard Business Owner: Melora Donoghue
My friend Kimberly Stuckwisch, a director gifted with boundless creativity and ingenuity, has truly outdone herself with this music video for Margo Price. I’ll let her take it from here:
"We bought a cheap '80s travel trailer with a bathroom, kitchen, and a propane powered refrigerator, so we wouldn't have to go inside anywhere for food or bathrooms. We were able to abide by the 6-feet social distance CDC recommendation as we set up a remote head for the camera that we operated from a closet outside of the room. We wore masks the entire time and Margo supplied us with multiple bottles of hand sanitizer and spiked seltzers. We parked our RV in her driveway and worked solely out of there and the room we were filming in. We wanted to speak to what was going on at that moment, to a world that was/is shut down, to the fear we all feel, and to the hope of breaking free."
Stuckwisch has always marveled me with her peerless ability to command a creative team to their fullest potential. Here, her vision shines with key contributions from her camera (Ian Blair) and visual effects departments (Ryan Ross, Jeff Desom & Ian Blair) who helped craft this seamless work under the most uncompromising and difficult of times.
Directed and Production Design: Kimberly Stuckwisch
Produced, Edited, and Cinematography: Ian Blair
Production Company: Invisible Inc.
Choreography, Hair, and Makeup: Kylie Price and Margo Price
Costume Design: Christina Flannery
Visual Effects: Ryan Ross , Jeff Desom, and Ian Blair
Art Direction: Hugh Masterson
Scenics: Kevin Black, Bob Tyler
Locations & Concept Inspired By Photos From: Jeremy Abbott
Color: Alastor Arnold at Fotokem
Socially Distant Remote Cinematography Advisor: Todd Banhazl
“Broken Bells - Good Luck,” Directed by Kimberly Stuckwisch and Nelson de Castro
Light emanates through cut-out silhouettes of people extracted from the real world in this eerily beautiful music video for Broken Bells. “Good Luck,” directed by Kimberly Stuckwisch and Nelson de Castro, was envisioned with the help of a creative team I had such a pleasure to be a part of.
A ghostly figure hitches a ride in “Broken Bells - Good Luck,” directed Kimberly Stuckwisch and Nelson de Castro
Stuckwish shares the intricacies of pulling off this stunning analog effect: “We laser cut over 4000 frames [of film] and used a practical stop motion light ray effect achieved by mixing old school animation techniques and practical smoke and haze over live-action footage, to create an eerily atmospheric new dimension.”
“Ryan Ross (Visual Effects), Mark Nicholas (Special Effects Supervisor), and Ian Blair (Producer) locked themselves in separate rooms for weeks rotoscoping, with Ryan animating, and Mark laser cutting card stock for each frame. Nelson [de Castro, co-director] then took the laser cut frames and put them over a light box, shooting haze & light through.”
“All of the light and haze permeating from the characters was done practically - giving it the texture you see in the video. I’m pretty sure Nelson’s house is coated in oil forever from the hazer he had going for weeks filming all the light box stop motion still frames during the quarantine! Ryan then overlaid the light and haze back in for each frame over the original image…Every shot called for it’s own unique post workflow and my brain still hurts from trying to figure this all out.”
Flynn Zanco portrays a young boy disintegrating into this “atmospheric new dimension.”
A one-of-a-kind experience, it further reminded me that great things can be achieved through perseverance and teamwork. See the entire film on Tidal, and stick around to see what I was able to contribute to this extraordinary world. No spoilers!
Directed by Kimberly Stuckwisch and Nelson de Castro
Produced by Ian Blair
Cinematography by Andrew Droz Palermo
Production Design by Jade Spiers
VFX Supervision by Ryan Ross
Special Effects Supervision by Mark Nicholas
Edited by Nour Oubeid
Costume Design by Kimberly Stuckwisch
Starring: Flynn Zanco, James Forbis, Chad Carr, Linda Michaels, Kathy Gorlick, Teddy Williams, Codey Huckins, Brice Owen, Steve Zanco and C. Jobe
1st AD: Jeff Cobb
PM: Christina Jobe
1st AC: Ryan Sax
2nd AC: Caitlyn Brown
Gaffer/2nd Unit DP: Justin Moore
Best Boy Electric: Monty Sloan
Swing: Khoi Nguyen
Art Director: Steele O’Neal
2nd Unit Camera PA: Haley Meyers
Color: Alastor Arnold
Animation: Nelson De Castro
Additional Special Effects: Spencer Hall and Nicolas Putnam
Titles: Sean David Christensen
PA’s: Eric Weed, Isaias Rojano, Ted Morissette
Shot on Kodak film and processed by FotoKem in Los Angeles.