Nick Andrea & Gary Swan

Your project has entered in our festival. What is your project about?
There is a basis in truth to our film. Nic was playing in a band with a guitarist named Jimi who, during practice, in the middle of a song packed up his guitar and left, never to be heard from again. Nic’s imagination ran wild as to what might have led Jimi to act as he did. Before long, Nic had written a storyline and songs to tell the story as he imagined it. The overarching theme of the story is the drive some people have to check out and escape their problems.

What are your ambitions with your project?
We want people to enjoy the story and the music and reflect on aspects of their own deeper personalities. For us, our ambition is to entertain and intrigue.

Tell us something about your shooting? What pleasantly surprised you?
The way a wide array of people all pulled together for a common goal to pull together the shoot in two three-hour sessions. The production supervisor fell ill on the first night, the hardest rains in LA in twenty years made it a challenge for the cast even to get to the shoot. It fell so hard on the metal roof that we had to work mightily with the audio to preserve sound quality. But there was a sense we were working towards something special.

For what group of spectators is your film targeted?
Anyone who appreciates music as a storytelling vehicle, who thinks that listening to all of the songs from an album is an enjoyable endeavor. The concept album is a lost art and this film tries to bring back (on a more modest scale) the feel of music films like Tommy and The Wall.

Why should distributors buy your music video?
In the day of short social media reels and single music video releases, there is an untapped market for something which carries greater depth and dramatic impact. The film serves a platform for the music which is created by some of LA’s greatest session artists who have played with classic rock acts like Deep Purple, Chicago and America.

How would you specify your work? What characterizes your music video?
We would call it a classic rock film with an infusion of modern influences. What characterizes it is a love of storytelling.

Why did you decide to become a music video maker?
Over 100,000 songs are released per day, maybe more. We wanted a vehicle which would serve to separate our songs from the throng. Putting images to our music was uniquely satisfying.

Who is your role model?
Film-wise, Tarantino. Music-wise, The Rolling Stones.

Which movies or music videos are your favorites? Why?
Pulp Fiction was a film accentuated by music. Our project is music accentuated by film. We add Pink Floyd’s The Wall as a movie which is the classic example of melding music with story.  

Where do you look for inspiration for your projects?
In this case, we looked no further than real life, with Jimi walking off into the night. The other stories, Nic pulled his inspiration from his own life, an abusive mother, brushes with the law, people giving up on him when he escaped his own responsibilities.

Which topics interest you the most?
The darker side of the human psyche and journeys that life takes us through.

What do you consider your greatest achievement in your career?
The current project. People told us it couldn’t be done on the scale we envisioned for the budget we proposed. No matter where it does from here, this film is already a success in our eyes, anything that happens now is a bonus.

What do you consider most important about filming/music video making?
Above all, to tell a story. Add to that, tell a story with a point.

Which film technique of shooting do you consider the best?
We like to blend a variety of techniques, from close-up shots, to tracking, panning and point-of-view shots with the goal to keep the kinetic movement in pace with music.

How would you rate/What is your opinion about current filmmaking/music video making?
Current music films and videos do not marry the images with the songs the way it was done in the 1960s through the 1980s. There is definitely a “formula” today which while often commercially advantageous, loses a deeper, more lasting quality in the process.

Who supports you in your film career?
Ourselves, our family and friends, in that order.

What are the reactions to your music video? (opinion of spectators, film critics, friends and family)
The project has not been released yet but we have shared with some radio hosts who are very enthusiastic about what we are trying to accomplish.

Have you already visited any of the film festivals?
Not yet but we are looking forward to the special experience for artists that film festivals represent.

What are your future plans in music video making career?
Uncharted waters at this point! We are not looking any further ahead than this project. If it is loved, we love doing it, and that will equal more of the same in the future.