Bleed Me Dry

by SAm Dennis

SYNOPSIS

A troubadour makes a visit to the race tracks after an unanticipated break-up.

Filming at the Racetracks

One of the greatest opportunities of this shoot was getting an All-Access pass to one of the most infamous tracks in the country: the Del Mar Racetracks in San Diego. To no surprise, this whole music video was shot in one day, during the span of eight races. Little did we know that there would be no “warning” for when each race would start, only that they would start at every half hour. In anticipation for the first race, we set up our shot, and waited to hear “on your marks!” or some kind of signal, but instead we just saw the starting gates bust open and the horses take off. The record button was never pressed, our faces were in disbelief. Only 7 races left to get some racing footage… We spent the rest of the day as guerrilla filmmakers as we moved at an incredibly fast pace, always on the lookout for what we could shoot next. The end result came down to an editing process that combined all footage we had of the day with an eccentric style consistent to the song.

Co-Directing A MUsic Video

After collaborating with my producer, Brianna Brinzo, for my narrative thesis, The Third Death, we realized that our creative tastes blended well with each other. I respected her opinion just as much as she had respected mine, which is a key aspect of creative collaboration. After seeing her strengths flourish during the thesis films’ production, I knew I wanted to collaborate with her in a more creative role. Shortly after approaching her with the opportunity to work on a music video, we decided that we really wanted a unique location for the project, so she gained access to the Del Mar racetracks for us. Everything that came afterwards was very fluid. We agreed on a general tone, I talked about what shots we needed, she worked with Sam, and in no time, we had made something together.