A few months ago, I blogged about my artwork making it into the background of some random music video by an unknown band named Owl City. I tracked down contact info for the band and ended up doing some Owl City artwork for a tee. In the last few months, Owl City has exploded to #1 on the Billboard charts as well as on iTunes, LaLa, and many other sites. It’s an unbelievable story. Adam Young, literally, wrote the album from his parents basement and was too shy to be in the music video. After some convincing, he agreed to perform in front of the cameras for Endeavor Media. Read more here. I recently saw Owl City perform at the House of Blues and could not believe how tight/perfect the performance was! I felt as though I was watching a young band that had been reared by Disney productions and had been performing since birth. It was nearly a flawless performance. I hit up Danny and Steve from Endeavor Media to find out about their work on the Owl City video and see what else they are up to. Here’s what I asked them:

Endeavor’s done some amazing music videos for a variety of artists over the years. How did Endeavor get into doing music videos and how long have you guys been around? What is your role?

Danny: We got started when we were in school. We met each other there and started creating music videos there. It’s been almost 5 years now. I produce the music videos and do all the emailing and money stuff.

Steve: Thank You! We got into music videos almost accidentally. We did one locally about 5 years ago, realized that it was fun and decided to keep specifically pursuing it. We worked for a while building a demo reel and worked hard to shop it around to as many record labels as possible. We started with little to no budgets and just kept working our way up, still are. I direct and edit.

What have been some of your favorite videos to work on and why?

Danny: Owl City was fun because we got to go shopping for vintage toys that were things from our childhood. I mean, who wouldn’t be stoked to get to play with toys for a few days as a job? I also really enjoyed the House of Heroes video we did because we basically had complete creative freedom to make the video. I love my job, so I enjoy working on every video for the most part.

Steve: I really enjoyed working on Erin McCarley because it was in Paris. It was fun to walk around the city and film. After the shoot I had the chance to explore the city alone one night and ran into a large group of fire artists that were gathering from all over Europe to illegally perform on the streets. I also enjoyed Owl City. The noise and commotion from all the toys was hard not to laugh at, It just sounded ridiculous. The DP, Jeff VanderMolen, had his kids come to the set for a bit and their eyes lit up like christmas. fun times. The Chariot was fun because I got to animate and it didn’t matter if the animations were bad. It was like drawing as a kid again.

How did the Owl City video come about? Word of mouth?

Danny: We have worked with the label in the past and they asked us to write a treatment for the track. They ended up loving the idea and a few weeks later we were shooting the video.

The Owl City Fireflies video is really amazing. What is the creative process for that particular video? Do you develop ideas and present it to the band or did they have ideas already?

Danny: It all depends. Typically we develop the idea as a treatment and pitch it to the band/label/management – then they choose the director and treatment they feel best suits the song and video. In this case, we came up with the idea.

Steve: The label gave us some background on the artist, he stays up at night, lives with his parents and writes in his bedroom in their basement. They said they were looking for something to possibly show that side of him. After much thought and many listens to the song, the idea finally came at night, right before falling asleep. Thats usually how it goes. We get some general and vague direction from the artist or label and develop from that. We formally write everything in a treatment based on the budget and send it off.

Did you have any idea that the band would blow up the way they have? They were virtually unheard of 4 months ago. I remember when I designed a tee for them, they weren’t even ranked on iTunes and shortly after they launched up to #3… and now they’ve been at #1 for about a month or so. Do you have any other videos lined up for them?

Danny: We went into it knowing the song was very catchy, but I don’t think anyone totally expected it to reach as far as it did. He had a strong online following prior to getting signed, and that just exploded as his song hit radio. The label is probably going to let the current single live for as long as it can on radio before the release another single, but I’m guessing early 2010 they’ll have his next single off to radio. We’d love to work with Adam and Owl City again, so hopefully something pans out.

Steve: We really wanted to do the video because we could see that it had potential, but we had no idea it would get as big as it is. As I would show some folks the rough edit to get a general response, I started seeing that the song had a wide range of appeal. People would continue to sing the song after watching the video and hearing it for the first time. My nieces and nephews would get excited about the toys in the video and want to see them again and some of the older folks watching it would feel nostalgic about the older robots and stuff.

The video is shot in one room. Seems like a relatively simple shoot, yet the video is… well, epic! I think it really helped to put them on the map. Have you won any awards or are you up for any awards that you know of?

Danny: We haven’t won any awards but the video has reached #1 on VH1 Top 20 Countdown and that is a huge achievement for us.

Steve: No awards, just grateful that it is doing as well as it is. Can’t ask for more.

I was super stoked when someone tweeted they saw my Vertigo poster in an “Owl City” music video! At the time, I had never heard of the band. I’m super flattered someone chose to use it. What amazes me most is that each toy/prop in that room has a purpose. They are all retro toys and the video focuses on the elements in the room. At times, there are even close ups of the Vertigo poster. Did it just fit the vibe or how did that come about?

Danny: Our art director, Merissa Lombardo, is a mutual friend and she just thought it would be suiting for the set and vibe of the video and it definitely helped decorate the walls and bring the room to life.

Steve: I LOVE THE POSTER! It worked very well and fit the vibe perfectly.  The close ups made for nice texture that was true to the art direction. I also love the T you designed, very nice stuff!

What type of cameras/lenses are you shooting with? Are you using dolly’s or any other cool gear we should be aware of?

Danny: We shot this video with the Red Camera. It’s a pretty impressive HD camera that we’ve been consistently using for the last 2 years.

Steve: We shot with Zeiss superspeeds and some macro lenses for the ECU’s of the toys. most of the toy shots were handheld or set up on the fly with sandbags, toys, my leg, or whatever was in reach to set the camera on. We had to move fast, like bunnies, to get everything done.

Do you have any upcoming projects we should be on the lookout for?

Danny: We’ve just been writing a bunch of treatments waiting and hoping to land some of those as well as doing some misc editorial and commercial jobs here and there.

Steve: Nothing booked!!!

Any last words or advice to aspiring film makers?

Danny: Take every chance you get to learn and grow. We love answering questions and helping out people who are interested in perusing filmmaking and in what we do, so feel free to email us and we’ll gladly respond.

Steve: keep aspiring! Its the golden age for aspiring film makers. There’s plenty of opportunities, technology is in our favor, but there’s not as much money as there once was, which will challenge you to be innovative with what you have. We’re by no means groundbreaking, but we’re trying our best to make things happen independently. No reason why others can’t try as well. Don’t be intimidated by high brows that seem to know every video and film and who directed them. You don’t have to be a genius or the best to make films/videos (although I’m sure it benefits those that are). Keep fInding new sources of inspiration!!