Videos . Dead Meadow - At Her Open Door . Production Stills . Premiere
Dead Meadow - At Her Open Door
click to watch the videoI've known these guys for a while, and really liked their band. Steve Kille had seen my other stuff and had asked me to do a music video for their upcoming record. Initially Scott and I had thought about having them perform in a new 'Sexy Stories'-type of film, then we considered them as a principal plot element for a 'Giallo'-styled film. But somehow they didn't seem quite right for either. I thought they needed something appropriately dream-like that could stand on its own. We took a while to think of what we were going to do. Then Scott suggested I watch 'Picnic at Hanging Rock', which if you haven't seen is about some Victorian-era Australian school girls who disappear mysteriously in the outback. It's a great film, with a lot of subtext and a very specific 'feel' to it. Scott and I watched it together and came up with a sort of framework in which three Victorian-era girls somehow experience a sort of cosmic dislocation and encounter Dead Meadow.
For a set, we used the old Walter Reed school which is somewhere between DC and Maryland. It's basically a complex of decrepit buildings with classical architecture as well as a lighthouse and pagoda-styled buildings. Sadly, the place is in total disrepair and full of asbestos, and ear-marked for condominium development. We decided to shoot the band performance first, once again without any permits, on the Walter Reade grounds. This went fine for several hours, with Scott fielding some cop's inquiries as to what we were doing (we were 'student film makers', possibly the world's oldest). Everything was going just great...until the groundskeeper came and told us very pointedly to get off the property in 10 minutes since a tour of the grounds was coming through. Scott managed to convince her to let us wrap up a few shots, and got her number. He also defused what was potentially a pretty troublesome situation and subsequently convinced her to let us come back to the location and finish. Go Scott. While we packed up a throng of people came through, which we overheard talking about 'a rock video for Ned Meadows' being filmed on the premises. Ha.
To give an idea of how serendipitous this thing was, the day before the shoot one of the band members requested a smoke machine. The next day, we had a smoke machine, courtesy of Scott's girlfriend Melanie, who just happened to have one for her Halloween party. The band brought a plastic horse for the shoot (?) and their own clothes and props. Dan (one of our camera men) brought a collection of lenses, two of which we used the hell out of It (starlight and diffusion). It all came together. Then Corey disappeared for the second day's shoot for reasons unknown. We filmed without him, without any real consequence other than his leaving me a voice mail about proceeding without him.
For the Victorian-era girls I figured I had to know somebody who could fit the bill. I contacted Karie, who in addition to being extremely photogenic also happened to work in a vintage clothing store that, by sheer coincidence, carried quite a bit of Victorian-era clothing. She referred me to two of her friends, Gosia and Vivian, and got them to pick out appropriate clothing for the shoot. Karie was recovering from an illness while we were shooting, and stuck it out even when obligated to look casual and relaxed in sub-zero temperatures in totally porous clothing. Karie, if you're reading this, you totally rock. Actually, all three of you totally rock my socks.
This played on Italian MTV as well. And Greek MTV. And possibly elsewhere. Since I have no publicist/agent/whatever keeping track of appearances it could be in heavy rotation throughout Europe as we speak and I wouldn't know. The NYC premiere was at the CMJ Music Festival in NYC on Sept. 14, 2005.