Filming My "Blue Jeans" Music Video

Shooting music videos is always a bit stressful to me. There’s usually a lot to get done and not much time to do it. Plus a lot of planning and logistics go into it, much of which seems to fall by the wayside once filming starts. Add to that the fact that I’m usually filming on a budget and begging friends to work for free.

I had lots of ideas for the “Blue Jeans” video that I had to scrap because they were just too complicated or too expensive. My original concept involved me wandering through an old ghost town in the desert. I researched some ghost towns outside of LA and I fully intended on hiking out there. One of the key images I had involved me in a bathtub, filled with water in the middle of the desert. I liked the idea of taking everyday items or furniture and displacing them in the middle of the desert. In the grand expanse of time (the desert), these were remembrances of a relationship long gone.

But as I started planning, it became clear that this would require a lot of coordination, time, and money to execute. Finding a bathtub for dirt cheap is not easy, and then there was the issue of lugging it to the desert and somehow filling it with water. Baking under the desert sun in the middle of summer didn’t sound too appealing either.

So I went back to the drawing board. I listened to the song over and over again with my eyes closed. I kept having visions of a girl driving somewhere - her hair blowing wildly in the wind. That was the seed from which the rest of the video sprouted. Who was this girl? What was her story? Where was she going?

My good friend Jeffrey Cline shot the video. We support each other’s work a lot – I’ve helped with a few of his films, which are beautifully avant garde, so make sure to check them out here: https://vimeo.com/user2501671

My friend and roommate at the time, Brittany Hook, agreed to star in the video. She was perfect for the video – very expressive with the kind of bohemian style I was going for. She introduced me to Zack Peckinpah. They have great chemistry together and he’s got the look I wanted for this video – the tattoos were awesome!

Shooting went surprisingly smoothly. We shot my performance in the late morning by an overpass for the 405 not far from my apartment. I rented a sweet Les Paul guitar from Guitar Center. It’s probably the most expensive guitar I have ever played - ironically, I used it only for show and not for the actual sound it produces.

Then we shot all the scenes with Brittany and Zack. We were on a tight schedule so I had everything pretty much scheduled out. We got everything in just under the wire, thankfully. I managed to work the bathtub scene in, though no longer set in the desert and with Brittany in place of myself.

I ended up with tons of footage – some of which had to be left on the cutting room floor. It’s always surprising to me when you put footage in slow motion how much it expands. I edited the video myself and I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out.

I’ve asked a couple people what their interpretation of the video is, and it’s been amusing to see all the different reactions – especially to the part where Brittany falls to the ground, her hands covered in blood. Some people thought she fell and hurt herself, others that she had killed her lover, and (my favorite) a few people actually thought she had a miscarriage. Some interpreted it as a literal story about a tumultuous relationship, possibly where he dies at the end with her unable to say goodbye. Still others thought it was a supernatural love story where he has been dead the whole time, haunting her throughout the video.

While I have my own ideas of what the video represents, I like that it’s open to the viewer’s interpretation. There is no right or wrong answer and it is purposely vague. Regardless of what you make of the video, I think it captures the essence of the song. Just like the lyrics, there’s love and joy intermingled with sadness, longing, and nostalgia. 

I hope you guys like the video as much as I enjoyed making it. I would love to hear some of your theories! Here’s a link again to the video. Feel free to leave comments below.