Our fourth video in our year-end shoot marathon could not have been more different in every way; theme, setting, equipment, approach.  Where our Rocket Scientist videos are structured and meticulously laid out (see my Reel tab), our shoots for Ted Wulfers reflects the laid back, beachy nature of his latest album. Not to say there is not plenty of structure behind the scenes. We had come up with the concept for Ted’s latest song two months ahead of time and I had been steadily gathering props, costumes and supplies, testing paints for effects and coming up with a look in collaboration with our model, the radiant Stacy Sellers.

Naturally, the optimal shoot day for Ted and crew was the day after the Rocket Scientist three video marathon weekend. But because I’d done so much prep and I knew the day would be easy going because that’s how Ted is. I was able to relax and enjoy (read: not totally panic).

We drove out to a Malibu beach to catch the golden light of a mid-winter afternoon and things came together better than I could have imagined. My partner had pared his equipment down to a mobile single backpack so we were very unobtrusive on the beach. The model turned on her special inner light and we filmed her frolicking on the beach. As whales spouted and pelicans swooped behind her, it was all more beautiful than we could have imagined.

Then we shot Ted playing, grinning and strumming in the waves. In the footage you can see that he genuinely wants you to enjoy that beautiful day as much as we did. It helps so much to have a client who is willing to trust our vision and be open to play. Despite the December sea, Ted was willing to throw himself, fully clothed, into the waves as the sun set.

The hardest thing about this edit will be narrowing down all the lovely footage we got. And I’m still sure there will be stuff we wish we had shot. There’s always another day, another beach, another song.