Project: Rise & Shine
Production: VERTEX
Photographer & Retoucher: Jeff Thomas
Band: The Luck
Actors: Jenna Putnam & John Hoyos
Production Assistant: Colin McGuire
Manager: David Adcock
Behind the Scenes & PA: Colton Brandt
Location: Los Angeles, CA
The Luck – Rise and Shine
After quitting their careers in London, brother and sister Max and Esmay decided to pack their bags and move to Los Angeles to pursue their passion for music. They formed an acoustic duo called ‘The Luck’, and over the last few years have established themselves as successful musicians — creating music that really hits the soul.
I met Max and Esmay a year ago, and have worked on several projects with them. They have such an appreciation and admiration for creativity and both are so passionate about every project, it really makes working with them an awesome experience.
When ‘The Luck’ was recording “Rise & Shine,” they reached out and asked me to create a music video for the song — their only requirement being to have the video focus on the concept of rising up. In film, I’ve always been drawn to narratives/short stories with an abstract style. I’ve also really enjoyed stories that emphasize struggle.
I wrote the first draft for the video when I was on a trip to Copenhagen. Being away from home for nearly a month allowed me to reset my creative palette and focus on some experimental content. Once I showed the first draft to Esmay and Max, we further collaborated our ideas to really perfect the script to their liking. And once that was accomplished, we started production.
I prefer smaller productions, because the environment is more intimate and it’s much easier to focus on the creativity. There’s never any downtime, which keep the energy levels high. We only had five people on set, but we were agile. The whole video was shot over the course of two days, filming for about 12 hours in total. Being limited on time has a way of kicking my adrenaline into overdrive and getting me into my creative mindset.
Female leads are interesting to me, because they are rare and often times type casted to be very feminine roles. I wanted to avoid this at all costs; I wanted to empower our female character. As soon as I thought about Jenna Putnam for the lead, I couldn’t imagine anyone else. She has an incredible look that fits perfectly. She’s also is a photographer, who understands direction and can get into character with no reservations. I felt it was important that the two characters shared chemistry, so I had Jenna help me in casting John for the male character. We were very limited on time, so it was critical to create as much authenticity as possible before we started shooting.
It’s not often that a client gives you this much creative freedom, so I really took advantage of the opportunity and treated this music video as if it were my own personal project. I didn’t have to check in with the band on every decision. Since I wrote the treatment for the video as well, I felt very passionate with all other aspects of production — filming, directing, and editing — to make the concept come to life the way I envisioned it.
– Jeff Thomas
The Luck – Rise and Shine [Official Music Video]
The Making Of Rise and Shine
