After the delightful Plastic Little clip he shot and we posted last week, we wanted to sit down with Ted because he seemed like our kind of guy. As it turns out we got along great so here is a recap in word form of what went down.

Check the video if you haven’t seen it because it’s a riot in a sunshine on your face kind of way. Also check out his prior two videos after the jump.

(via Small Change Screenings)

[SRO] So Ted (getting right to it), are music videos your thing? What else are you into, your websites make you out to be quite the creative person? Is this true?

[Ted] I like to do things. In addition to film and video making I co-run both an experimental film screening series in Philadelphia called Small Change and a small DIY gallery space called The Padlock Gallery, which also happens to be the living room of my house. I’m also apart of the Space 1026 art collective.

I get excited fairly easily so I often pull myself in many directions with many different projects. It’s kind of the same with filmmaking. I wouldn’t call music videos my thing exactly — even though I really enjoy doing them. I just enjoy all “modes” of filmmaking: experimental, documentary, narrative, etc. and so far I haven’t found a reason to declare a focus.

Music videos are fun and it’s a great chance to collaborate with friends and/or artists who I like and it’s fun to have someone give you a framework to produce something within. They can also be good for my personal morale because they are short projects that usually demand a fast turnaround and just the act of finishing something can help energize me to finish my other projects.

[SRO] I definitely agree with the finishing idea. Feeling productive is a major incentive to motivate. So how did you hook up with Plastic Little?

[Ted] I’ve known Jayson and Kurt for years from just hanging out in Philly through mutual friends at Space 1026 and around town. When they decided to do this DVD project and get a bunch of people to make music videos for them they approached me about getting involved. It was actually the same week that Current TV called and asked me to do that spot on them.

[SRO] The video is great and I really, truly enjoyed it. Were there any struggles in making it? Can you tell us a little about the filming? 

[Ted] There were tons of struggles! Finding a hospital took forever (no one thought we’d be able to pull that off) and then once we finally found a place where we got permission we scouted it and I found a floor that I really liked. We started making plans and then a week later found out that we had accidentally checked out the wrong hospital and that there were TWO abandoned hospitals within a block of each other on the same road, in the same town, both run by guys named Al. It screwed lots of stuff up and we had to push back shooting to fix it, but in retrospect it was a really good thing cause the place we used ended up being a million times better and we really needed the extra time.

The shoot itself was pretty nuts but fun. I was running on three hours of sleep from doing last minute prepping the night before and was totally delirious. The wireless monitor we rented got lost in a Fed-Ex mix-up and I had to run behind the steadicam guy (my friend Joel) the whole time to watch the monitor on his rig without getting in his way. For the first shot we tried a different (not wireless) monitor, which was tethered to his rig so I had to run behind him fast enough to not tug on him and throw him off balance. If he did the sixty pound rig would have nailed Kurt in the head since it was hovering just above him going down the hall. Kurt did get dinged a little once and so we had someone run behind me to push me along so I didn’t get distracted by the monitor and calling the ques for the dancers and gurneys.

I had never done such complicated long takes before (as you may have noticed the video is actually three shots put together in an attempt to look like one shot) and we did each shot about 25 times before we got it right (not counting rehearsals) – except for the last shot which we only did about 10 times, but I probably would have done more if we had had more time.

The best part about making the video was that I got to be reminded what an awesome community of people I am surrounded by here in Philadelphia. Most everything in the video was either given to us for free or at a very discounted rate. A whole bunch of people joined in and gave a ton of their time, energy, and talents to pull this off and I’m really lucky to have that kind of DIY support network around me.

(Two friends Mike Fleming and Kelly Turso took pictures of the shoot which you can see on their websites here: Set Photos 1 / Set Photos 2

[SRO]When filming a video like this, does the realization that the the video will never be shown it its original form on MTV or the likes, something you think about? Or are you in it for other reasons, like, to win it?

[Ted] It never really crossed my mind that MTV or TV was even going to be an option for this video so I didn’t care in the least. Even if I did think it was an option I don’t think I would have cared though, unless maybe the group was really trying for that kind of venue. This was the idea that we liked and that was always reason enough to do it. Also I don’t watch videos (or anything) on MTV and so I kinda forget it even exists.

(Update) Now it looks like the video may show on TV and may show in a cesonred version (which is up on Youtube) and even though that’s not ideal in my mind I think it’s kinda funny. There are no real genitals shown in the video at all – what’s getting covered is high cut boys underwear with hair weaves sewn on to them.

[SRO] Yeah it seems sort of silly, but sadly youtube has arguably taken over video distribution on the web. What are your thoughts on this? Do you see/want a better form of distribution? 

[Ted] I don’t see things through MTV. I see the stuff I see through other channels: the internet, DVD comps from awesome distros, film festivals, curated screenings, and friends passing stuff along to me.

I think the web is a great distribution format. The only problem I have with it is that you can’t watch things at the size and resolution they were intended to be viewed in (I hate watching most things with the compression on Youtube) and so that’s where I see these other venues taking over until the technology catches up.

I personally love getting DVD comps or curated programs of short works and music videos and I’d like to see that continue and possibly see people start making more video mixes for each other the way we already do for music.

I also love screening events where you can watch work with an audience and I would hope that more people create spaces like that where people can hang out together and see work that has been sifted though with more of a curator’s touch. I think the group viewing experience is something that can never be replaced by the internet. Some pieces just work differently with a crowd and it’s a valuable experience.

As far as Youtube itself… I think there are many pluses to having a fairly centralized spot for viewing video content on the web but I also think that’s trouble and attracts entities that would seek to cash in and ultimately de-democratize it. So I think the more venues for work on the web the better. So definitely keep up the good work!

The only thing that frustrates me about the web content boom is that big companies think that people should hand over the exclusive rights to their work to them for free. There’s lots of entities like cell phone companies and others that try to get young creative people to make content for them for free or ridiculously cheap and think it’s ok to take advantage of them when really no web content provider can give you much more exposure than YouTube or even your own site.

[SRO] Do you think anyone outside of the radio rock/rap/county even care about MTV anymore.  To me it seems like such a rich-white-man’s club now, the same bands begettting the same bands begetting the same videos, year after year. I guess a few ‘indie’ artists get their shit shown now and again, but whenever I have my ’stay up late, drink, and make fun of music videos nights’ , it seems like we make fun of the same videos every hour, every night, on every channel. 

[Ted] I can say I don’t care about MTV. I’m not sure who really does. As an extension of the major music industry it’s always pretty much been a “rich white man’s club”. It’s just like any other commodified form of entertainment. The interests of making and creating things because you are excited about them or experimenting with them and then want to share them, is not the focus and so you end up with a series of commercials for products and it’s boring. The videos that stick out on MTV are made by the few people in that world who are actually making work from a desire to create work that interests them and not just to sell a product (and who have the freedom to have final say on their work).

[SRO] Lastly, do you keep up on other people’s music videos? Do  you have any recommendations or favorites out there right now? Or maybe even a top 5?

I don’t keep up on new music videos as much as I’d like to. I feel like I generally find out about new videos kinda late in the game. There’s tons of stuff out there that I love but as far as music videos, some I really like are: Matt McCormick’s “Past and the Pending” video for the Shins, Daniel Barrow’s “A Miracle” video for The Hidden Cameras, Peaches’ “Sex” video by Kara Blake and Shary Boyle, Joe Quinn’s video for The Exelar. I like the videos produced by WyldFyle (E*Rock plus Paper Rad) and Devin Flynn’s video for Pixeltan’s “My Minute Beats Your Year”. I also just saw this great video called “Daft Hands”, and I’ve always loved Tara Mateik’s (unofficial) music video for Michael Jackson’s “PYT”, which re-purposes the song as a kind of anthem for the time of “pre-genderized Peter-Panism” when we are little kids and not as rigidly forced into our gender roles yet.

Pretty sweet.

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We thank Ted for his time and answers. Here are two other Ted-directed videos just incase you haven’t had enough Ted yet.

Kimya Dawson [Lullaby for the Taken]

Music video for Kimya Dawson’s song “Lullaby for the Taken” off of her album, Hidden Vagenda on K-Records. The video was conceived and shot in eight days around Kimya’s 2004 mid-west tour schedule. Look for a special cameo appearance by the Bucthies and lots of kids from all over middle America.

(via Small Change Screenings)

Sweetheart [Finger Bangin']

This music video for the Philly based pop-dance band Sweatheart, stars Andrew Jeffrey Wright as a dedicated high school teacher trying to teach his students about finger banging. “Remember, God only gave some of us wangs, but he gave all of us fingers.”

(via Small Change Screenings)

Cheddar that!