Not long ago, a group of young filmmakers contacted us to show us their latest project, an incredible video featuring our song, “Can’t Stand the Rain.” We were blown away by the results, and decided right away that we wanted to be a part of it and release it as an official Rescues video. The video is the brainchild of Colin Duffy, who directed and edited; Joe Sofranko, who plays the “Sad Clown”; and Lili Fuller, who plays the “Rag Doll,” as well as choreographed and costume designed the video. Leading up to the release of the video, we asked the group to give our fans a behind the scenes look at how the video came to be.
How did the idea come about to start doing a video?
Colin had wanted to do a music video for a while, but it wasn’t until he saw Lili and Joe’s production of “NeverWonderLand,” a dance-theatre show with Boom Kat Dance Theatre, that it all clicked. It was there that we decided that we needed to come up with a great project to work on together, and over the next few weeks we discussed some various things but kept coming back to the idea of a music video. After some brainstorming, Joe mentioned that he had a connection to Gabriel Mann, who helped his college a cappella group at USC, the SoCal VoCals. We all loved The Rescues’ music, and we decided that they would be a great group to make a video for.
How did you decide on “Can’t Stand the Rain” as the song?
We tossed around concepts for various Rescues songs, and one of those was “Can’t Stand the Rain.” We were very intrigued by the meaning of the song — the feeling of constantly being bogged down with no hope in sight, as if the rain is never ending. The music and lyrics inspired for us a story of four different characters who exist in both the real world and an imagined vaudevillian world. We liked the idea of having four characters parallel the four band members. Despite the feeling of hopelessness, the song remains light and witty with the instrumentation and a cappella sections, yet still holds on to the rock edge and power of The Rescues. We liked this juxtaposition and it really helped motivate the choreography and world of the video. We were first inspired by witnessing a parking lot attendant who was yelled at by an angry customer complaining about an overpriced ticket. Though our story contains no parking attendants, this idea helped inspire the rest of our story.
What were some of the challenges of the filming?
Most of the video was shot in November over the course of two days, and even on the biggest sets our toughest obstacle was time. We had four locations all spread across the city—not to mention different rooms within each location. There were six dance sequences… and… it was just a lot to get done in a short period.
Months later in March, we did all the audience shots with the band playing. It was a challenge to try and match the footage from November with the new band/audience footage, and then go back into the editing room and add in this whole other aspect of the video. But being able to see the band and the audience is a lot of fun and really made any pain caused by the re-edit totally worth it.
It was really befitting that while shooting a video for a song called “Can’t Stand the Rain”, it managed to rain every day we shot— and this is LA where it NEVER rains! Except of course, on the one day we were shooting outside the theater really wanted it to be raining, it DIDN’T rain. So naturally Aaron [Moorhead, one of the DPs on the project], had to digitally replace the sky and add in rain. And that was in addition to all of the rain in the kitchen that he already had to put in. We toyed with the idea of doing rain practically in the chef scene, but it just was going to be a huge nightmare to do on set. So instead we just had everyone wet their hair down, put water in their pots and pans, and before each take Joe would splash water on the wall so we could see it dripping. It was pretty hokey in the moment, but once Aaron put the rain in there it really helped sell the effect.
Check out the teaser for Can’t Stand the Rain here:
About the cast and crew:
Colin Duffy, is a graduate of the Florida State University film school and is currently in the Director’s Guild of America training program. He is the co-creator, along with Aaron Moorhead, of the budding production company The Norman Invasion. For a peek at what he’s working on now visit: http://www.colinhduffy.com
Joe Sofranko has a BFA from the Acting program at the University of Southern California where was also a member of the prominent a cappella group the SoCal VoCals. He has appeared in the films The Whisperer in Darkness, and The Daughter as well as TV’s Rules of Engagement and The Sing Off. His regional theater performances include the Utah Shakespearean Festival and Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park. He is an actor/combatant in the Society of American Fight Directors, and is a member of Boom Kat Dance Theatre. You can check out more of his work of his work at: http://vimeo.com/25386705
Lili Fuller, graduated from the University of Southern California’s School of Theatre. In addition to being an actress and choreographer, she is also the Artistic Director of Boom Kat Dance Theatre. For more information, visit: www.lilifuller.com and www.boomkatdance.org