WHERE THE HEART LIES ... Johnson, Hyten, Golden & Bullis

[Norm Sanders]

I'm sure Mark, Tim, Steven, Scott, Vienna & Team are all out on the beach right now freezing, as I'm preparing things here for our own Super Bowl party. Originally I was going to shoot today with them, and when I realized what day it was, they were gracious enough to change he schedule around & let me travel up to shoot yesterday instead.

I have to say, this video is turning out more impressive than I ever could have imagined. Mark & Tim make a great team, and Steven is AMAZING at capturing the images he does. All great people to work with, and I will miss hanging out with them. I'd look forward to another opportunity to work with them all again soon.

Oh, and Scott, it was great being able to meet you too! This guy is an AMAZING cook, and kept everyone very happy! Helluva hard worker too!

Vienna is flat out possibly one of the coolest women I've ever had the pleasure to meet & get to know a little. Beautiful, talented enough to go VERY far in the music industry, and yet so down to earth that she'll do whatever it takes to get the job done & is an incredible team player (freezing beyond what the others thought she may be able to handle in that dress, etc.). Great sense of humor as well!

This music video is flat out going to rock, there's just no other way to state it. I'm so thankful to have been a part of it.

My ONLY disappointing experience with the whole trip up there, was that the download of the HD version of BERLIN didn't successfully pull all the way down, so the group only got to see the first 4 1/2 minutes of it. Oh well, soon ... very soon....

[Norm Sanders]

Originally Posted by Mark Johnson

We were deathly afraid of losing Norm into the pond early in the shoot as he had in opaque contact VFX lenses and, let's face it, he ain't the most graceful chap on the West Coast. Thus, Bullis pulled "Norm wrangling duty" and kept a firm grip on Norm during closeup shots as he dipped his hands into the water.

Lol. The only times I fell down during shooting is when you guys called for it & I had to throw myself down from a dead run onto the beach! Not graceful ... blah!

[Mark Johnson]

Thanks so much for those very kind words, Norm. We just got back from a full day of shooting on the beach and I read your posts to everyone. Today we got perfect weather (overcast but very little rain/mist). We were able to get all the detail shots we put off over the past two days out of a need to get primary coverage.

Right now we're waiting for Dean to get back from a gig in Seattle so that we can lug the piano back to the shop. As a side note, this video has become a reprieve for this old piano. Its fate was most likely demolition for parts or simply deterioration in the shed as being merely one of the 180+ old pianos Dean has accumulated over the years.

You see, last night Vienna gave an impromptu concert for the crew and a collection of local Whidbey neighbors. Dean's girlfriend brought her daughters (8 and 10 years old) and they were transfixed by Vienna's playing. When they got home they begged their mother to let them take piano lessons. After learning about this, Dean announced he would completely refinish and refurbish the piano and deliver it to their house as an inspiration for the girls to learn on. How cool is that? The Vienna Teng Whidbey music video piano will have a whole new life and, hopefully, many talented hands making music on it for years to come.

[Mark Johnson]

Originally Posted by Norm Sanders

Lol. The only times I fell down during shooting is when you guys called for it & I had to throw myself down from a dead run onto the beach! Not graceful ... blah!

Ha ha.... You are SO right, Norm. I take it all back. (I'm still worrying about a workers comp claim for that knee crunch you took at Tim's direction!). You were seriously cool and mostly graceful. However, I DO have that clip with you approaching Vienna's piano at the climax of the song and you took a big stumble that made us all crack up. Pay me $50 and I'll see that it disappears!

Ciao!

[Norm Sanders]

That is SUCH a cool story about the piano being refurbished for the girls, as well as Vienna's concert. Okay, now I'm disappointed about ANOTHER thing; never getting to see/hear Vienna play in person. DRAT! Missed it the night we arrived, and sounds like we left too early last night as well.

Oh well ... concert tickets, I suppose.

Ya got me, I totally forgot about that stumble. Darn weeds, lol. Actually, I would LOVE if you posted that as a blooper, as I'm sure it's a pretty funny clip!

Glad you guys got all the shots wrapped up ... can't wait to see it!

[Zak Forsman]

will this music video be available online later?

[Mark Johnson]

Originally Posted by Zak Forsman

will this music video be available online later?

Absolutely Zak. The label is waiting to see it before they decide the promotion strategy they'll use for it. Although nothing is set in stone, the indications now are that the video will be given a widespread on-line release as a means to get as much attention for Vienna as possible. The song itself is from her first album rather than being a new release. It has enormous popularity among her fan base and is among the most frequent requested by audiences at her concerts. She also played a version of it when she was on Letterman. Since this is her first video, the idea is to leverage the song's popularity while also providing a good vehicle to attract first-time listeners to her music.

Also, Vienna told me that she is on a separate label in Europe and they have expressed great interest in the video too. There may be different strategies by the two labels. My guess is that when it's released you'll see a low-res version on YouTube and the various music sites with a high-res version for sale on iTunes. If the response is good it will be likely that there will be production of a new video for one of the singles on her upcoming album (again, this is only my estimation based on the information I've been given).

When she played her impromptu concert here at Huckleberry Hill she played a couple completed new songs and some portions of works in progress. Although I'm obviously biased, I honestly believe the new album is going to be phenomenal based on those samples. I personally lobbied her to push the new song "Kansas," which was stunningly beautiful and, in my opinion, the equal of "Gravity." I'm a native of the state and for years I've kept a mental index of locations that are evocative of the beauty and desolation many people aren't aware can be found there. Vienna lit up at the suggestion because they drove through that very part of the state during her recent tour and she thought at the time that some of that landscape would be perfect for a video.

Obviously, you never know in this damn industry what will happen, but both Vienna and her management have expressed enthusiasm for the footage we've shown them from the shoot and seem sincere when they say they want to have us produce the next one. Given my strong feelings about growing up in Kansas it would be a real dream to be able to take a crew "home" to shoot a video for her eponymous song. Besides, I know where the best pool halls and bowling alleys are

Getting back to your question, we did negotiate the right to use this video on our own web site when we signed up to produce it. We'll obviously work with Vienna's team to figure out what resolution we should use but I think it's fair to say that one of the first things we do when we finish it is to post a thread here on DVXUSER.

[Matty_g]

are you poo pooers back yet?

[Mark Johnson]

Originally Posted by Matty_g

are you poo pooers back yet?

Not yet. The friggin' clutch went out in Dean's piano hauling truck so the f*cker is still sitting there on the beach and we're going to try to help him get it in the morning. So, we're here one more night and will hopefully be able to finally get home tomorrow afternoon some time.

Tonight was a very typical south Whidbey Island evening. We went to a guy's house who makes stilts. He had TONS of stilts of all sizes - including huge ones that must have been 9 feet tall. Inside the house in the living room was a trapeze and a long fabric similar to what you see Cirque du Soleil perform on. Even better was the "Tetrahedral swing" in the back yard. Seriously, this was one of the weirdest things I've seen. I almost got sick on it.

And there were all sorts of weird-ass new age stuff like crystals and meditation etc. etc. ... Everybody we met seemed to be into something a bit strange (by my background). Bullis got on the trapeze and performed admirably. That sucker is unstoppable.

[Zak Forsman]

great! cant wait to see it. friend of mine did a video for a local LA band called El Ten Eleven and it got picked up by Japanese MTV. they're big over there.