Shooting a video with a bunch of children, with no acting experience in
freezing weather, with a limited budget, sound like fun? It was for the
directing duo of Kyle Shoup and Scott Fredette of Cincinnati-based
motion design/production company Lightborne who concepted and executed
a short film for "Summer Skin," one of the tracks on the new Death Cab
for Cutie album "Plans." The piece is one of 13 short films created by
a different director as part of the band's anthology "Directions."
Watch and listen to the the directors' commentary on "Summer Skin"
below.
To see the video with music and no commentary
Click
Here.
The videos were unveiled one by one on the band's website, www.deathcabforcutie.com, and will be released on DVD on April 11th.
The idea for creating a group of short films for each song was the
brainchild of otaku-house, the production company owned and run by
childhood friends Nick Harmer, bassist for Death Cab for Cutie, and
video director Aaron Stewart-Ahn. They saw the opportunity to make a
short film set to a Death Cab song, without adhering to the formula of
the traditional music video, so there would be no arbitrary performance
footage and the band themselves would not appear in the films.
For "Summer Skin," Lightborne proposed the story of childhood lost as
told through the lives of white-collar 9-5 working stiffs. Water
coolers, data entry, and melancholy complacency are revealed through
children acting out the typical office workday and set against idle
playgrounds.
Lightborne Co-Director Kyle Shoup was drawn to “Summer Skin" citing
singer/guitarist/songwriter Ben Gibbard's ability to write such a
bittersweet metaphor about finding happiness in life.
"Gibbard uses the metaphor of seasons changing (the end of summer) to
illustrate moving on, growing-up and compromising," explains Shoup.
"His voice in this song suggests that he's reluctantly putting one foot
in front of the other and marching on. It's like he's tended his
childhood resignation. I wanted to show the pressures of the workplace
- the fear of getting fired, awkward and frowned-upon office romances,
meetings and pointless tasks. But I also wanted to show that all it
takes is for one kid to remember what his summer 'childhood' was like
to realize it's time to get his life back."
Shoup decided to take a twist on Gibbard's lyrical imagery, which
suggest kids playing and swimming in the summer, and place the children
working on a playground. The Lightborne team ended up shooting at a
playground across the street from the studio Shoup credits the
youngsters for their amazing performances and good behavior despite the
freezing temperatures.
"I thought the biggest challenge would be working with kids that I had
never seen before the day of the shoot," comments Shoup. "At the
beginning of the day we lined up the available 51 kids, and I had to
pick who was who from a gut reaction. We had 56 set ups, which we
somehow managed to complete in 10 hours. Everything fell into place
nicely, and these kids were awesome! The entire day, we had parents
waiting just outside of the frame ready to put jackets and blankets on
the kids between takes. I was really pleased with how simple we were
able to keep this video, and how much of an emotional connection the
kids have made with those who have seen it."
Lightborne Co-Director Scott Fredette adds, "Our prep on this job went
very smoothly, so I felt comfortable that we could try and execute all
our set ups. And because the kids were so responsive and enthusiastic,
it made the shoot fun. In addition, the weather helped us, because it
was a grim gray day with nice soft lighting so we could move quickly
from set up to set up. It was the smoothest shoot of non-actors I have
ever been on.
"Among the other filmmakers contributing to "Directions" are Director
Lance Bangs; Director P.R. Brown; stop-frame animation maestro Ace
Norton; acclaimed graphic novelist Jeffrey Brown; longtime Death Cab
photographer Autumn de Wilde; writer/director Rob Schrab; music video
directors Laurent Briet and Monkmus, as well as Aaron Stewart-Ahn
himself.
Credits on 'Summer Skin'
Artist: Death Cab for Cutie
Label: Atlantic Records
Production/Post Company: Lightborne
Directors: Kyle Shoup and Scott Fredette
DP: Gary Bush
Art Directors: Rob Gray, Kyle Shoup
Executive Producer: Scott Durban
Producer: Amy Schaefer
Editor: Jeremiah Shuff
Assistant Editor: Nate Clark
Compositors: Dave Irion, Kyle Shoup
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