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Suzy Solar "Ocean of Love" music video pics & write up
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| DjSuzySolar |
hey guys, i just got back from vancouver where i filmed my new music video for 'ocean of love 2007'. the video will be ready to air on music video stations around the world in january. when i get the final edit, i'll post it here before it airs. here's some photos brian took: http://www.suzysolar.com/ocean_of_love_video/ (yeeeesssss colleen that's jetstream!)
the road diary entry has not been posted yet so i'd like my fellow TAs to be the first to read the write up. enjoy!
suzy
Vancouver, BC, Canada - Nov 27th & 28th, 2006
Nov 27th
It wasn't supposed to snow in Vancouver today. It rarely even snows there at all. Yet, there it was, two feet of the white stuff taunting us as Brian (my partner/road manager) and I peered from our hotel balcony. We were waiting for a ride from our video producer, Mark Hemstock, to film my new music video, "Ocean of Love 2007."
After more than five years since its creation, "Ocean of Love" had recently been picked up by the US label, ESNtion, with three new remixes to be released in 2007. (The Odyssee Breakbeat Mix had been featured in the Grammy nominated Paul Oakenfold "Creamfields" album in 2004.) It's funny how the universe works in mysterious ways. Just as the label was talking about making new remixes, Jox & Dan Nitro from the Netherlands, who we didn't know, contacted us about wanting to make me a new remix. We got them into the loop. Then, just as the label manager talked about doing a music video, Mark, who we also didn't know, contacted us about wanting to make me a music video for his film school project. What are the odds of that? ESNtion got Jox & Dan Nitro to make a video edit of the music, as well as a DJ friendly version. The label also funded the video shoot, our flights, and our beautiful hotel room for four days, overlooking the water and snow capped mountains.
At 10:30am, Mark arrived on time to take us to the first location of the shoot. For the past three weeks, Mark and I had already been collaborating on the ideas behind the "Ocean of Love" script over the phone. He rented the nightclub, Shine, all day for the club scenes. Mark was concerned because many of the dancers had to cancel, due to the fact that the news reports warned people to not drive in the hazardous weather. The news even said not to go work! To fill in their spots, the crew had to stand outside and recruit good looking tourists from France, Spain, etc, who happened to be walking by.
I enjoyed getting pampered by makeup artist Jamie Kennedy and I was very happy with her work. The club didn't have the heater on, so it was colder than a witch's titty in there! I originally had open-toed heels and short shorts on, but I was frozen to the point of where my feet hurt too bad to dance. Also, I fell down right before we flew out and my whole left knee was swollen and dark purple. Thank goodness I had gotten to Vancouver two days early and went shopping. I had to change into my new below-the-knee length sport pants and my favorite silver Puma runners that I picked up in the Netherlands.
We filmed some scenes of the dancers, which was not too easy because they were freezing too, and of me dancing separately. I also danced with my headphones twirled around me in a 60's rainbow VIP booth that I had my eye on when I walked into the club. I had taken ballet as a child and won various dance contests so I wanted to be able to utilize some of my dancing skills, even with an injured knee. People aren't able to get the full effect of my movements when I'm behind the DJ booth so I wanted to make sure we got that footage.
Lastly, we filmed the DJ & crowd scene. To my surprise, there was incredible energy and bonding amongst the total strangers who had come together from different backgrounds. They were instructed to "dance as if you're ed out of your minds on E," but even with the absence of liquor or other things, they didn't need any instruction. The vibe was phenomenal. We all had such a great time that it was hard to leave the set when the filming for the day was over. Some of the extras even stayed around to help clean up.
Back at the hotel, Brian and I headed up to the revolving 5 star restaurant for excellent food and wine before we rested up for the grueling day ahead of us tomorrow.
Nov 28th
The snow had stopped falling and the visibility outside had cleared up with sunshine. That's excellent news to us because we were to film outdoors. Again, it wasn't supposed to snow, so we had to make rewrites to the video script. I didn't feel so bad after reading in the newspaper that other film producers in Vancouver also had to rewrite their scripts to include snow. One of the movies mentioned was "Battle in Seattle," and "Fantastic Four 2" was also filming within view from my hotel.
I was supposed to drive a brand new $100,000 Mercedes through the beautiful BC landscape, but the guy who owned the car changed his mind last minute. We were all disappointed, but I really don't blame him. There was still two feet of snow on the ground and the car would have gotten all messed up. A lot of cars even had giant blocks of ice on their roofs. Instead, Mark scouted a beautiful, pristine park with giant pine trees, so gorgeous and perfect it looked like a Christmas card. Now I understand why movie producers do a lot of filming here.
The new idea of the video was to film me pondering in the snowy forest park, remembering things about my life, like clubbing and DJing, and dreaming of an ocean of love. In business, you always have to have a plan B on stand by. Even though the weather made us change our plans, I'm very impressed with the way Mark and his crew were able to smoothly improvise and roll with the circumstances.
Jamie did my makeup and hair in a van with a generator hooked up for the curling iron. I did not have proper shoes to walk in the snow, so I had to borrow a pair that were two sizes too big for me. Despite wearing two shirts, thick pants, and an ankle-length black suede overcoat, I was not dressed warmly enough for my Floridian blood. It felt like I was in a meat locker, standing on two blocks of ice. I did not wear gloves or anything on my head or face besides my Chanel wrap-around sunglasses. My cleavage area was exposed for sake of sex appeal, adorned with a huge crystal snowflake pendant (choice of jewelry was made by coincidence), and I knew for fact that I was going to catch cold.
I had to remind myself that it was my bright idea to have to have authentic outdoor nature shots for the video, and that I had to do what it would take to make it happen. I forced myself to forget about the below freezing temperature and looked around to take in the breathtaking view. I saw some amazing things, like a man feeding tiny birds right out of his hand. The woodland creatures had no fear of man. Squirrels came right up to us and let us film them. The crew filmed me in awe of the winter wonderland strutting confidently and pretending that I wasn't slipping on the ice. I had to be in the moment, so I laughed as I playfully whipped a couple of snowy branches with my bare hands towards the camera, with the snow flying from the trees glistening in the sun. It was so cold that it was very difficult to move the muscles in my face to do the icy breath coming out of my mouth effect. I couldn't even speak. It was too cold to even think.
Our final location was filmed at a nearby beach, so we could get some ocean shots as an obvious but necessary scene for "Ocean of Love." Underneath my coat, I wore a beautiful black outfit with very long, flowing, delicate see-through silk sleeves that I was dying to use in the beach scene. Even though I had another black long-sleeved shirt on underneath, Mark recommended that I not be that exposed in the sub-freezing temperature. I wanted to do it anyways. The beach area didn't have any snow on it, just around it, so we were able to fake a "warmer day" effect for that scene. We got amazing footage of me ecstatically twirling in slow motion with my sleeves blowing in the wind, switching directions a couple of times, as the camera man ran circles around me. Mark was on stand by to put the coat back on me as soon as we filmed that part. We had to do that over twice for a wider angle in the second take. That scene felt so liberating!
Looking at the photos that Brian took from our camera, I can see that it was worth catching the nasty cold that I got while on location in the snow. Due to family commitments, I couldn't hang out any longer to see any of the footage so I'm currently waiting for a rough edit of the music video. Mark also has someone doing psychedelic art to add to the visuals so I'm very excited for the outcome. The "Ocean of Love" video is scheduled to air on music video television stations around the world in early 2007. |
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| miamitranceman |
| Odyssee Breakbeat Mix :crazy: |
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| ClubGoddess |
That was a great read Suzy. It looks like it was a lot of fun and I can't wait to see the video!! :)
Miss you <3 |
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| ClubGoddess |
yay I see it!! muah!! |
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| stevieboy32808 |
| quote: | Originally posted by DjSuzySolar
...The club didn't have the heater on, so it was colder than a witch's titty in there! |
I laughed at this. What a funny way to describe the temperature.:stongue:
| quote: |
I originally had open-toed heels and short shorts on, but I was frozen to the point of where my feet hurt too bad to dance. Also, I fell down right before we flew out and my whole left knee was swollen and dark purple. |
:nervous:
| quote: |
Back at the hotel, Brian and I headed up to the revolving 5 star restaurant for excellent food and wine before we rested up for the grueling day ahead of us tomorrow. |
Pass the Courvoisier!
Alright from your entries you're obviously happy about the video production for Ocean of Love. It's not everyday people get to shoot videos. All I have to say is congrats on the new experience and don't forget to put my name in the credits, j/k about that part! |
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| J13 |
| Wow the pics are awesome. I can't wait to see the video. Looks like it was pretty cold for ya on Day 2. U rock Suzy :tongue3 |
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| bdr222 |
Great pictures! DJM800 :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes:
You have great cheek bones. |
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| DjSuzySolar |
thanks guys! it was quite an experience alright;-) i'm still in a daze. i'm gonna use one of those snow photos as my xmas card... lol!
it would have been cool to get brian to pee my name in the snow so i could get a picture of me in front of it zipping up my pants, but it was waayyyyy too cold for that... lol! |
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