In my day job, I work on a lot of music videos. Budgets these days range generally between $25k and $50k, with the occasional $60k – $100k being the white whale that those of us in the industry try to get. Billboard recently had a great article about the economics of videos in today’s post-MTV/VH1, streaming society. The gist was, unless you’re an artist that gets 100m streams of a video, you don’t make them to earn money. And with the days of televised music videos nearly gone, and the gluttony of content on YouTube overwhelming, why would someone pursue making a video to accompany their music?
Maybe just for fun. When I watched Vancouver-based power pop trio Autogramm‘s video for “Cool Kids Radio”, off their album What R U Waiting 4? I get the sense that the group gathered together friends and local artists they knew and shot this little indie video for the love of doing it.
Here’s what the filmmaker had to say about it: “The video was inspired loosely by 1974 Canadian psychological slasher film “Black Christmas”. Shot on location at Lakeside Motel and Campground on British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast. Marx says of the video,“I’ve always wanted to shoot a movie at Lakeside. It’s rustic simplicity seems frozen in time making it the perfect setting for a classic summer camp goofball comedy meets cabin in the woods slasher flick.”
A cheeky, retro-styled campsite-horror inspired clip, what the video lacks for in upscale production value it makes up for nostalgic imagery and fun shlock campiness. It doesn’t hurt that the song is a catchy, upbeat gem of synthy rock n’ roll. Watch the video above and stream the track below:
