PA'ing

yeah it's necessary to learn the ropes yeah everybody should start at the bottom and work their way up blah de fuckin dah but doesn't it suck to be at the lowest link of the food chain? i've been lucky enough to hold a wide variety of these bottom-feeder jobs, clearing away the muck left by the superior ones and other exciting bullshit. if everything were to continue going according to plan, i will ideally have some sort of a career in the visual arts. what exactly this will be, i still don't know, but it turns out that nearly any profession in this field is usually prefaced by many hours of interning and PA'ing. Production Assistanting. An extra set of hands. just in case y'all tryna step to my street creds, let's take a look at some of the legit music videos i've had a menial role in the creation of, with colorful director's commentary...

1. Rob Thomas - "Little Wonders"

This was the first Hollywood production I was ever involved with. I don't even think I was technically a PA yet, just sort of there through my internship. My duties included moving some things, idling between areas of the set, and lunch. The whole thing was shot in a large green-screen studio on the Jim Henson lot. At one point the assistant director asked me to be Rob Thomas' stand-in so they could frame up their shot before actually fetching Rob Thomas (Matchbox20!!!). I got to sit with Mr. Thomas' guitar on that rooftop set you see at about 1:30, which in reality was just a box in front of a screen. They dollied and jibbed around me and I sat there uncomfortably until Rob Thomas (Matchbox20!!!) showed up and we actually had human contact when I handed over the guitar and he nodded at me (!!!). He was actually a pretty cool guy.

2. Christina Aguilera - "Candyman"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIfEgv7EExw
YouTube won't let me embed this one (fuckers). You know, it's that 1950's one where she's like a USO girl and shit. I got a walkie-talkie and everything for this shoot. We filmed it at these giant airplane hangars that were hours outside of LA in like Fresno or some shit. One hangar had two stunt planes set up inside and the other was used to build the diner and club sets. Christina was a lot shorter than I thought. She had a huge entourage, including a large flamboyant man who was constantly fanning her. I actually made a cameo on Entertainment Tonight thanks to this one. They interviewed Christina with the set as a backdrop and you can clearly see me in the background sweeping up the confetti used in the last shot of the video. I've arrived!

3. Linkin Park - "What I've Done"

I actually had a significant role in this one. The main part of the video was shot waaay in the middle of nowhere on a dried-out lakebed, which was as cool as it sounds. There were helicopters and trucks and barren wastelands and Linkin Park was there, it was straight out of Dante's Inferno. My big contribution came in the form of the b-roll clips littered throughout the video. I was tasked with compiling a bunch of these, as were several other people, and then the director (also the DJ in Linkin Park) made his pick of the litter. In the end, about 30% of those clips were those picked by yours truly, including some of the atom bombs, the KKK, and other terrible shit that's supposed to make you think about life.

4. Pretty Ricky (feat. Sean Paul) - "(I Wanna See You) Push It Baby"

I think I had just heard about Pretty Ricky like a week before I found out I'd be working on this video. My roommates and I were watching a lot of MTV jams at the time, and that song was always on that goes "it's fiiive in da mo-niiiiin". It became our coke jam. Then suddenly I'm entering the late night special world of Pretty Ricky. I actually had nothing to do with the Pretty Ricky part of the video, but I was all about moving some stuff and eating craft services for the Sean Paul section (which, unlike Pretty Ricky's Prague shoot, took place in a parking lot in Santa Monica). Basically it was Sean Paul rapping while scantily-clad models hung out in Eyes Wide Shut costumes. Everyone was high for this. It was the final video I worked on before returning to the east coast.