The Songs
Stagnant Water video
This was a self-indulgent ongoing journal of the planning and production for a music video that never happened:
10/04 - Multiple set-backs. Rain washed away the stagnation at our locations, and daylight-savings,
coupled with shorter days, has pushed daylight shooting into the early afternoon, when more schedule conflicts
arise between our various real jobs. With other things on hiatus, this may be pushed to the back-burner until
we can discuss new ideas in detail as a group, but Rowland isn't about to give up the whole idea.
10/9/04 - After a week mulling it over, we decide to work on shooting individual players and worry
about a group shot later. Scrambling with last minute details (like batteries) gave Rowland and DJ a late
start shooting him in daylight, so one locale was skipped and we did several variations on the verses in
another. Then Sam and Dave joined them for some night shooting, but a delayed start again resulted in it being
too dark for shooting. We did anyway, and Sam and Rowland had some creative friction over what was worth doing
and what wasn't. Back at Sam's, we immediately loaded footage into his computer and did a little rough editting
to see how things looked.
10/2/04 - Intended principle shooting day: NOT! With a list of reasons, the primary one being that
Dave was still sick with the flu after several miserable days, we pushed the shooting back to October 10th.
Rowland, Sam and Dave went back down to the site and discussed alternative ideas about loading the gear in that
were less likely to get us in trouble than driving in a truck on the bike path. This includes the possibility
of picking a new location.
10/1/04 - Phone calls to no avail, as the County Public Works Department is closed on Fridays.
Undaunted, Rowland stills works on cardboard pads for Dave's drum-heads anyway, then bikes up and down the
bike-path to see if other access gates are unlocked. Several are, so panic subsides. We may get in trouble
driving in to unload the gear, but the quicker we do it (with only one vehicle) the more likely we are to not
have a problem. It's also confirmed the park's flood-lights will not be in use.
9/30/04 - Rowland finally writes down details that have been in
his head for weeks, and burns a CD breaking the song down into different parts. Phone calls are made to ensure
everyone knows the date and time to be there. He then goes back to the site to judge what times are
appropriate for light and dark shooting, and notices that the flood-lights in the adjacent park completely ruin
the desired effect. While there, he also notices that the always unlocked access gate is now locked, and panic
ensues. A new location may need to found, and quickly.
9/25/04 - Discussions on wardrobe and meeting times. We also try to work out how to make Dave's
playing look authentic without him drowning out the playback CD.
9/10 to 9/17 - Everybody slowly convinced this is a good idea. Date of shoot set for October 2nd.
More storyboards, with several visual ideas slowly coming together.
9/9/04 - After several phone calls and transfers to other departments, Rowland got the permission
to shoot the video from the LA County Public Works Department. A permit would not be required (which is cool,
cuz a permit is $300 a day!) if certain guidelines were followed. Then Rowland and Sam went over some ideas
and drew more storyboards.
9/5/04 - Brian joins Rowland and his daughter for a little night shooting tests at the location.
8/29/04 - Based on Leslie's suggestion, Rowland begins doing a few storyboards of the ideas that
have been suggested so far.
8/27/04 - Troy discusses new concept suggestions, but is unable to join Leslie, Richard and
Rowland at the location. Leslie takes a few sample photos to get an idea of
how things will look because we intend to have her take new promotional photos during the video shoot.
8/26/04 - Dave and Rowland shoot test video of the newly decided upon final location for the
primary set-up of the band. Dave also suggests various other places and angles for individual shots of
each member, and they also shoot a long-shot off the freeway overpass while driving by.
8/24/04 - After showing the test video to Chrystal, Sam and Dave, Rowland goes back to the
location, but on further inspection realizes it has access problems, and chooses a better location that fully
meets all the desired requirements.
8/23/04 - Rowland starts scouting a variety of possible locations along the Los Angeles and San
Gabriel rivers, shooting test video with various effects and shot ideas. What's necessary is both the right
look creatively for the desired atmosphere as well as the logistics of accessability for the equipment.
He finds one particular location that seems promising and shoots it from several angles.
8/14 to 8/21/04 - After brief conversations between Rowland, Mike and Sam, we decide to shoot a video
for Stagnant Water. Our initial performance concept is to shoot the band performing down in a
river-bed, with the appropriate stagnant water as a back-drop.
Long Beach's best hard-rock!
