I met the dudes of Filligar at CMJ last year, and have been keeping in touch with them ever since. They told me about this really cool audio-visual collaboration they have been working on and how it’s really helped promote their band. I thought it was a really awesome idea, so I asked them to write up an article about their experience and process, and here it is! Check out their first episode of the series here. Enjoy – Tess
____________________________________________________________________Our band Filligar is self-produced under the label (Three One Two) Productions. This Chicago-based company was founded four years ago by the membersof Filligar and the Mathias sisters, Alice and Marian. Last spring, Alice and Johnny (our guitarist and lead singer) came up with the notion of collaborating with some of Alice’s classmates from USC film school on a series of ”music films” for songs off our most recent album “Near or Far.”
Alice pitched her classmates the idea and a ton of her peers quickly jumped on board. Eight students were selected as directors (seven from USC and one from DePaul in Chicago… a guy we used to play ice hockey with who is now a very talented director). Dozens more eventually volunteered to gaff, act, and design.
We invited the directors to do whatever they wanted with these videos, without our revisions or requirements. We were just there to help–– whether they needed us to be featured in the videos, or if they needed us to help set up lights or run errands. The eight directors collaborated when developing their stories with the aim of featuring interconnected and recurring images and themes. Each of the FAR music films is stylistically distinct, yet somehow part of the whole.
Because we were running on a low budget, we sought out locations, costumes, lighting, food, and actors for little or no money. We filmed at the Mathias’ grandparents’ home in Michigan, on the Dartmouth College campus in New Hampshire, guerilla-style on city streets and parks (and in a Santa Monica bar where they gave us a good rate just for being from Chicago (a Bears bar in LA is a rare find). Alice who produced all eight videos, scored significant discounts on 16mm film, a Bolex camera, a Sony EX3 package–– and perhaps most importantly, tons of weird costumes. We used whatever resources we could. We needed a huge group of extras for a woodsy party scene for the “Hounds” video. Instead of paying a bunch of strangers, we located the film at Dartmouth College’s campus, where we had a ton of friends all living in one highly concentrated outdoor area. We just emailed a big group and they bounced from the library for a video shoot study-break.
We’ve been releasing the FAR music films via YouTube, while promoting it via Facebook, MySpace as well as a surprisingly affordable iPhone application that was enabled by iLike.
So far, the project has generated buzz not only for our band, but for all the directors, costume designers, gaffers, photographers, make-up artists, and actors whose collaboration has made these “music films” exceed our wildest expectations. Film blogs, as well as music blogs, have taken an interest in FAR. According to The Dartmouth, the project promises to “redefine the music video as a collaborative art form.”
That’s pretty much what we’re going for. It’s clear that so many young artists are short on cash and loaded with awesome ideas. We at (Three One Two) are on a mission to make these ideas happen by working with our friends. FAR is our first shot at this goal, and not our last.
Check out these music films on our YouTube channel www.youtube.com/filligarvideos or through our website www.filligar.com/far.
- Pete Mathias, Filligar.
