Authenticity

   I still believe in authenticity. In an age of digital recreations this is becoming more rare. Some may argue for an easier slight of hand.

   I prefer to go the distance to find something that not only reads as authentic, it is authentic- and in that way brings at least a bit more truth to the work, even if I am the only one who knows it.


    In the case of our music video for Michele's song COLD WAR this philosophy delayed our project until two authentic elements were in place. #1. we waited for Michele's hair to grow out so that we can cut it back during the filming of the video in order to show the passage of time. Therefore, we are filming it in reverse sequence. And #2. we wanted to film the final shot in one of the most desolate places we could find to represent an imaginary landscape in a post nuclear world. What better place than the landscape where the very first atomic bomb was dropped - White Sands, New Mexico.

  One could argue that the Cold War began before the hot war of World War 2 had even resolved.  On July 16, 1945 Oppenheimer's Manhattan Project culminated in the first successful nuclear blast ever detonated, code named TRINITY and exploded near Alamogordo, New Mexico. Today the USGov continues to operate a missile and space testing facility in the region of White Sands, and the National Parks Service runs White Sands National Monument which shares ground with the missile testing facility. At least twice a week roads are closed here for missile testing even today. This is the place we felt most deserving to be the final image of our video, a place where not only did the Cold War start, but a place in which, if there is an ongoing or resurgent Cold War, it is continuing now.

    The fact of the matter is White Sands is a geologically, not a nuclearly created visual landscape. Whatever scars the TRINITY left on the land are long gone except for those remnants still detectable on a Geiger counter. The bomb was detonated about 30 miles north of where we filmed. The history, to me, is important - and the fact that White Sands not only visually represents the desolation and cinematic harshness we were seeking, but it also adds the layer of historical importance behind the frame - made the 36 hour drive out west for a single sequence well worth it for the project.

    The stars look amazing from a tent in White Sands too. We backpacked in with our equipment to get the most remote imaging possible. In White Sands, very little life can survive and therefore it is eerily silent - there are almost no bugs or birds. I suppose in a post nuclear world that would also be the case... I would never even thought of that had I not visited White Sands.