Blog: Shoot The Player

Lately our photographer friend Ed has been hooking us up with some terrific bands - first Jonathan Boulet, then Parades, and now Sleepyhands - some of whose members you might recognise from the Jonathan Boulet garage video. Sleepyhands wanted to make a video out near where they live, in Sydney's northwest suburbs. They wrote to [...]

Lately our photographer friend Ed has been hooking us up with some terrific bands - first Jonathan Boulet, then Parades, and now Sleepyhands - some of whose members you might recognise from the Jonathan Boulet garage video. Sleepyhands wanted to make a video out near where they live, in Sydney's northwest suburbs. They wrote to [...]

Coney Island took some convincing. Kate and Damon weren't exactly thrilled about the idea of performing on the Wonder Wheel, or the idea of an acoustic session mid air and 100ft above the ground. I totally understood, to me the Cyclone is akin to skydiving but can you do a Shoot The Player video at [...]

A couple of weeks ago Nightmare and The Cat ventured out into the rain with us on Ludlow St, New York. We did one take of this song walking up the middle of the road, dodging taxis and squeezing between cars pretending that the rain was going to leave us alone any minute... It didn't, [...]

Remember when it snowed so much all we could do was talk about the snow, think about the snow, take pictures in the snow and conceive of ways to collaborate with the snow? We called up Scott Matthew and asked if he'd be game to wander round the un-plowed streets with us and he did [...]

I've been wanting to film Fences since 2007. Back in the day when myspace was a way to find new music, I came across demos of 'My Girl The Horse' and 'Same Tattoos'. Both songs stayed with me as gentle, personal conversations that spoke directly to an imagined female character. I think Chris and I [...]

We've said it before: we love pianos. But it's not so easy to make Shoot the Player films with musicians who play them: the instrument isn't exactly portable, and they aren't generally found in the sort of places we like to shoot in, public places where musicians don't usually perform. (Take a look at our [...]

We've been wanting to film Luluc for years. Jonathan and I first saw them play a gentle, memorable set at the Hopetoun Hotel in Sydney in 2008; a venue that sadly no longer exists. We'd just come from filming The Tallest Man On Earth and were high from the experience. The Hopetoun was packed and [...]

Martin Place is downtown Sydney's central hub - a public square surrounded by gorgeous old buildings which house the city's financial elite. On a weekday afternoon, Martin Place is generally packed - officeworkers in business attire, lunchtime athletes in sports uniforms, bike messengers, shoppers, tourists staring at the spots where The Matrix movies were filmed, [...]

First Aid Kit: I Met Up With The King Like most of you, we discovered First Aid Kit over the internet. Their live one take cover of the Fleet Foxes' Tiger Mountain Pleasant Song gave the impression of two young, comfortable, relaxed musicians, effortlessly talented and warm in front of the camera. First Aid Kit: [...]

We're very excited about pianos. It's rare that we get the opportunity to shoot at a piano, we were spoiled by Luke Jerram's public piano project during Sydney Festival 2 years ago but since then there has been a lack of pianos on Shoot The Player - you can't easily carry one around with you [...]

Jonathan Boulet: Ones Who Fly Twos Who Die It started with an idea: Jono Boulet wanted do a video with as many of his friends as he could cram into his parents' garage. Now, we don't normally shoot things in peoples' garages, but we're great fans of Jono and his catchy, energetic music and this [...]

Family Cactus- Lake Abe I had wanted to film a takeaway show ever since I moved to New Zealand from Sydney. There are so many amazing local bands and so many beautiful locations, the country really lends itself to the whole idea. I have worked with Family Cactus before a number of times, and recently [...]

We were excited to shoot School of Seven Bells - to see how their dreamy, hypnotic, electronic rhythms would sound unplugged. Only problem was, when we showed up for the shoot they'd accidentally returned their rented acoustic guitars. Their management took up the challenge of trying to find replacements but at 5pm on a Saturday [...]

We were excited to shoot School of Seven Bells - to see how their dreamy, hypnotic, electronic rhythms would sound unplugged. Only problem was, when we showed up for the shoot they'd accidentally returned their rented acoustic guitars. Their management took up the challenge of trying to find replacements but at 5pm on a Saturday [...]

Vivian Girls: Never See Me Again Just days after the iconic Hopetoun Hotel was closed, the Vivian Girls arrived in Sydney on a wave of hype and anticipation only to find that their gig had been relocated to everyone's favourite fire trap, the Hellen Rose-Schauersberger LabOratorium. I hadn't made a shoot the player film since [...]

David Ross Macdonald: Time To Leave Musicians seem to be by nature late-night creatures. Their gigs start late; then when the gig is over there's always the long night ahead fueled by their post-performance-high & the perpetual jet-lag so often felt as the result of constant traveling. That's why their days generally start long after [...]

Tender Forever: My Love (Justin Timberlake) + Boyz II Men outro. I was in Portland for 48 hours. On our first night there Tender Forever happened to be playing a gig in a square downtown along with Nurses & some other bands. Her passionate Wii drumming & offstage unplugged ukulele playing had us hooked. We [...]

This video was made by our friend Emily in LA. We described Emily in our last post as a part time filmmaker & full time adventurer, shoulda mentioned you can check out her sailing solo around the world project here. Rachael Cantu: Far And Wide Emily joins the Shoot The Player team from LA and [...]

From: ..The Tallest Man on Earth.. Date: 02 Sep 2008 "Hello Amelia, I usually don't do things like these but since you want to make something beautiful, I'm in... Some great little films you have there... Let's talk some more closer to the trip over there, and I'll know more about my schedule, best, ttmoe." [...]