Khatija Rahman never fails to prove that daughters can carry the legacy of their fathers.
Yasmin Nadiah
What I Learned Filming My First Music Video
“I can’t feel my feet!”
I uttered those words while filming the music video for “Within You,” a track from Southpaw’s debut country album “Unhitched.”
We’d aimed to depict all four seasons in the video but filmed the entire thing in the dead of winter in New Jersey. So when I frolicked with my bare feet in the ocean, feigning a smile as icy water slashed my ankles, I wasn’t exaggerating when I said I couldn’t feel my feet. The question is — was it worth it?
Prior to filming, my band Southpaw had recorded 13 songs for “Unhitched.” As an indie band, we had to maximize our marketing to get Southpaw’s music heard. In this visual age, what better way to promote Southpaw than with a music video?
My bandmates Colin McConnell and Sean Garnhart convinced me we could stay safe and save money by producing the video ourselves. Colin had a storied career in advertising, and Sean is an Emmy-winning sound engineer, so I knew I was in good hands.
Things I did not anticipate:
- How bad a spray tan can look onscreen (we scrapped a day’s worth of footage thanks to my orange glow)
- How difficult it is to perform slow-motion scenes (I had to lip sync 20 times FASTER than the normal speed of the song)
- How many clothes I’d have to borrow (my daily wardrobe of sweatpants wouldn’t cut it)
- How uncomfortable wet jeans are in 34-degree weather
- How hard it is not to blink with snow whipping your face
- How many hours of footage it takes to create a 4-minute video (50+ hours!)
- How much time I’d spend thinking, I have to pee!
- How long it takes to warm up after filming in freezing temps (um, forever?)
I can’t complain–I was lucky to be creative and collaborative during a pandemic when many were suffering. That gratitude buoyed me on tough days.
But was it worth it?
It’s not the 13,000+ YouTube views that tell me it was worth it. It’s a comment like this: “This song has an amazing uplifting message. I’m listening to it at a time when I really needed it. Thank you.”
That comment made the dozens of hours of filming in the cold well worth it. My song touched someone who might never have heard it if there hadn’t been a music video in which I couldn’t feel my feet.
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