Milwaukee Record has officially kicked off their Prop-a-Ganza series this week with a music video for local Milwaukee band, Soul Low. Milwaukee Record has teamed up with Honeycomb Productions to begin a first-of-its-kind showcase of the musical and filmmaking talent the city has to offer. The video released on Thursday, April 17th is the pilot episode for what is to be a series of music videos pairing local bands with filmmakers in Milwaukee. Each pairing will receive $100 from Milwaukee Record to buy props at American Science and Surplus. However, there is a catch. Each band and director can only use the props bought with the $100 and will have to have their video finished within 24 hours of shooting.
The debut episode features a cast of young up and coming artists, a terrifying disfigured statue, and a plot twist straight out of an M Night Shymalan movie (maybe a little exaggerated)- all the ingredients for a successful music video. Kurt Raether of Honeycomb Productions teamed up with Soul Low to create a video for their song “Tammy.” Similar to previous work (see Fatty Acids) from Kurt and the rest of the Honeycomb team, the video is fantastically shot. The production quality within the episode is so visually intricate and pleasing to the eye that it is really hard to believe they only had 24 hours to shoot. Imagine what could have been produced with an open-ended timeline. The plot of the video is so strange that it would sound ridiculous to include in this write-up. So to spare you from my mumblings on lost love, take a look for yourself. Note- proceed with caution. The disfigured statue will haunt your dreams.
As the name implies, Prop-a-Ganza will undoubtedly be a circus, meshing together absurd props, crazy plot lines, and local music. However, the finished product will be something that is distinctly Milwaukee. If the pilot episode is any indication of what is to come, Prop-a-Ganza will be something to look forward to each month.
