Winded

April 2008

Winded for the band Rockchild looks at a relationship at its breaking point where the main character must decide whether he wants to stay or go.

The music video for Rockchild’s song Winded looks at a relationship at its breaking point where the guy has to decide whether his girlfriend's beauty and the occasional good times they have shared together outweigh her faults. The emotional chaos in the main character’s heart is manifested visually through the performance footage switching between day and night in sync with the theme of the song. Two parallel stories exist in the video, one with the guy and the girl together, always daytime footage and followed by day performance footage for the first three scenes, during their courting period and the ‘good times.’ The second story has the guy alone in the same locations, pondering his life without her, for better or worse. Each scene of the guy alone is set at night, with night performance following. During a flashback sequence near the end of the song, the guy considers all of his girlfriend’s past behavior and realizes she has acted inappropriately since the start of the relationship, but her beauty has obscured some of her faults. The video ends with a mix of day and night footage, indicating the continued indecision expressed in the song. Perhaps he is leaning more towards ending the relationship, but the song and the video leave both options open.

Winded represented a huge leap forward for me as a director, not only because of its quality and professionalism but because of the experiences I gained during the pre-production period and the difficulties I had to overcome to make the project come to life. It was also a great experience working with a larger crew than that to which I had become accustomed. I had a very talented team around me and enjoyed working with them all throughout the process. I gained a lot of confidence as a director guiding the project from concept to completion and attaining a quality video that has done well in film festivals and delighted audiences.

As a music video director, I try when possible to integrate deeper themes into my work than just the standard stories or performance-only footage that pervades lower budget work. While on the surface Winded is a fairly simple story, there are deeper elements that audiences can discover, I hope, should they look more carefully. For instance, little details like the timing of the switching between day and night performance footage, or the half-light, half-dark face of the protagonist as he glances into the distance at the Financial District in Downtown Los Angeles, contemplating his relationship. The lighting is intentional, playing on the theme of day and night that the rest of the video has established. Fundamentally, I think the goal of music videos is to be "cool," whatever cool is at the time or to the band. In the sense that trends change and "cool" does as well, music videos can be somewhat of a throw-away genre, at their worst, but I think infused with the proper story and care, a music video can be as worthy of an artistic achievement as any other type of film product.

I hope that Winded satisfies viewers on a superficial level for its visual style and flair, but I also hope that when thoughtful viewers look beneath the surface they see the care and detail put into the entire project, literally by the frame. The cuts are designed to follow rhythms, the switching between narrative and performance footage is specifically chosen to hit certain words or areas of the song, and the shot selection is precise to evoke a feeling of slight chaos (details like the lead singer's hair being wild at night, but under a hat during the day, for instance). No details were left to chance.

Winded required immense planning in pre-production for a small budget, one-day music video shoot. The initial location had too many obstacles to overcome, including a slanted roof, no working bathrooms, and no elevators. Eventually Bowen hired a professional Unit Production Manager, Aaron Rattner, to help with the planning and final producing responsibilities. Rattner helped choose a new location that allowed for a more elaborate story and better access to the rooftop. The original DP on the project was also replaced several weeks before shooting. The day before the shoot, having not heard from the actress despite multiple attempts to contact her, Bowen had to recast the role, which worked great as Catherine Mangan was a joy on set. Additionally, one of the grips who worked on Bowen’s last project was stranded in Chicago after an airline cancelation late the night before shooting, so the project proceeded minus a grip. As the complexity of the project increased during pre-production and the crew grew larger, the budget skyrocketed well over Bowen’s initial expectations. Because of the work that went into pre-production, however, the shoot day was one of the smoothest anyone on set had experienced, even wrapping about 45 minutes earlier than expected.

Director: Jonathan L. Bowen

Co-Producers:
Victor A. Davoody
Jonathan L. Bowen

Unit Production Manager: Aaron Rattner

Editor: Brendan Collins

Director of Photography: Eric Petersen

1st Assistant Director: Josh Garrell

“A Camera” Operator: Eric Petersen

“B Camera” Operator: Clay Delauney

Behind-the-Scenes Videographer: John Kramer III

1st Assistant Camera: James Dunham

Gaffer: Josh Day

Key Grip: Dwight Stone

Best Boy: Electric Tom Morash

Driver/Swing: Richard Leo Jenkins

On-Set Capturing: Brendan Collins

Hair / Make-Up: Daniela Richardson

Bartender: Liz Bowen

Bar Extras:
Powell B.
Joshuah D.
Erin T.

Production Designer: Jonathan L. Bowen

Set Decorators:
Sharlet Davoodi
Liz Bowen

Production Assistants:
Shane Schoeppner
Tom Whitehead

Band Members:
Vocals - Matt Roseman
Guitar - Nathan Galli
Drums - Brian Hansen
Bass - Zack Self

Catering Provided By: Cordelia Petersen

Special Thanks:
Luka Grip & Lighting
Atomic Production Supplies

Filmed On Location at Willow Studios