EDWARD SHARPE & THE MAGNETIC ZEROS
"KISSES OVER BABYLON"
Community Records
When Alex Ebert (aka Edward Sharpe) approached me to direct a video for him, it came with the entire cosmos in tow. Ebert wanted to create a feature film based on his album Up From Below. He played me a set of rough demos as we drove to Eagle Rock and I completely fell in love with the music and instantly felt like I was going to be part of something special. For the next month Ebert and I wove a feature length script with each song playing as a musical chapter in that story. So with the first video in tact (Desert Song), it happened to be that Kisses Over Babylon would be the next chapter in that story, so we set out, with very little cash and unstoppable ambition to create it. Honestly it was one of the hardest and most awesome things I have done in my life. It took an entire summer to produce, shoot and edit. We used every favor we had, shot like our lives depended on it, hired our extras at Home Depot, built massive machines in parking lots, and in the end, finished each frame and effect by hand. I still can not believe how hard everyone worked, from wardrobe to location scouts, to Miguel's final score, and how amazing the cast performed (with an insane performance from Ebert himself). This video was my graduation into being a grown up filmmaker and it proved to me that with enough time, money isn’t a huge factor in making something great (and on all my other videos since have proved that the opposite is also true). With chapter two complete we pushed forward to get the full film made, but so far we haven’t found the right angel investor to risk their cash on our experimental film. These days however, every time I get an ichat from Alex, my heart races with fear that he may have found that person.
CREDITS
CAST:
Edward Sharpe: Alex Ebert
Minors: David Strathairn & Stephen Mendillo
Warden: Dermot Mulroney
Brother: Orpheo McCord
Clerk: Sandy Martin
CREW:
Director Isaiah Seret
Co-Director Alex Ebert
Editors / Writers Alex Ebert & Isaiah Seret
Cinematographer Eric Maclver
Executive Producer Bryan Ling
Executive Producer Danielle Hinde
Executive Producer Sara Cline
Producer Michael Shifflett
PM Tara Tortorello
Visual Effect Benjamin Kutsko
Supervising Sound Editor Peter Aaron Fineberg
Location Manager Caleb Duffy
Production Designer Katie Byron
Art Director Ishi Glinsky
Wardrobe Stylist Eliot Hazel & Diana Contreras
Make-up Sarai Fiszel
Opening Score composed by Miguel Atwood Ferguson
Production Company The Masses & Community Records