Verity In Stereo “One Shot” Video Premiere

Verity In Stereo is debuting the video for “One Shot” this Saturday, October 2nd, 2010 at The Saint in Asbury Park, NJ. Eat Sleep Breathe Music talked to the band members Kiirstin Kuhi (Vocals), Mikal Kuhi (Keys), Corinne Cavallo (Vocals, Clarinet, Flute), Craig Williams (Drums),  and the director Mateo Moreno to get the scope on the new video.

ESBM: Where was the video shot?

KK: It was shot in both New York City and New Jersey. We did quite a bit of shooting at the Estonian House in Lakewood, NJ. We thought we were only going to use it for the “concert” scene, but we wound up using it for 3 other scenes. We also were on the roof of my apartment building in Manhattan as well as in the hallway outside of my apartment. We did a bunch of scenes with me in front of a green screen at a studio on the upper east side aka Spanish Harlem 🙂 We even used my parents’ bedroom in Ocean Township, NJ for the final scene. Ha

ESBM: Who stars in the video and produced it?

KK: The video actually stars the band. We had a couple other actors that played small parts, Mike Ivers and Benjamin Gooch, but the band are the main actors.

Verity in Stereo produced the video. But we also had someone that is probably considered an executive producer which was Brendan Hinkle. He helped a lot early on in the video making process, but eventually his monetary and organizing duties moved to the band and our director Mateo Moreno.

ESBM: Can you tell us a little bit about the video for “One Shot” and the inspiration behind it?

KK: I can tell you a little about the video, but I’m going to give this question to our director and let him answer it because he was the one who came up with the concept. The video is basically a dream sequence. I keep mysteriously finding myself in different places completely confused as to where I am and how I got there. In many scenes Mikal, Corinne, and Craig are there, but they don’t recognize me or they don’t even acknowledge my presence, though I know them and am confused as to why they are acting so strangely.

MM: I purposely didn’t ask what they wrote the song about & I wanted to stay away from anything ordinary or things that are done a lot like the band simply performing the song. And since they’re a band from Jersey, I didn’t want them running around famous landmarks either. There are so many music videos out there that I really wanted this to be a memorable one. The lyrics in “One Shot” tells such a great story that I felt the video should tell a story as well, one that would be easy to follow and visually stimulating. And since Kiirstin and I had just worked on a play together, I knew what a great actress she was so we could tell a story through her eyes. Instantly I knew I wanted it to be dreamy, with special effects & several locations, some created entirely from a greenscreen. And having the band appear throughout in a strange manner. Listening to the song, I immediately got the image of Kiirstin being chased, hunted, and eventually shot. And from there, the concept just shot out.

ESBM: What was your favorite thing about the making of this video?

KK: My favorite part about shooting this video was probably all the special effects. We have attempted to do something totally different than what other indie bands are doing right now. I’ve only seen a couple scenes, and none of them totally complete, but all the green screen stuff we did and all the other effects which I can’t really mention without starting to give stuff away are going to look awesome and I’m excited to see it all.

CC: My favorite part was finishing it. It was an accomplishment to feel like we got it together and made things work even though it was sometimes difficult to get the shots we needed. In the group shots it was nice to work together in a different aspect than performing musically. It was an enjoyable experience for me.

MK: My favorite part was the rooftop shot because it was cool.

CW: Sharing the experience with friends.

You can download “One Shot” for free by voting for Verity In Stereo to win Reprise Rivalry.