Five local filmmakers, five local music acts, 48 hours. That’s the Holland Project’s music video challenge, in collaboration with the Nevada Museum of Art. Titled 4x4x48, the math may not add-up, but that’s because the name was already deployed when the event’s organizers decided to add an additional director and musician at the last minute the first year. As for not switching it up for this year’s second round, let’s be honest, 5x5x48 doesn’t quite have the same ring to it.
But the challenge remains the same. Holland Project selects local filmmakers of all ages and styles and chooses local musicians just as diverse in sound and demographic, and pairs them together to create a music video.
The challenge is not only that most of these filmmakers, like visual artist Alanna-lynn Berglund, are fresh to music video making, but that they have a mere 48 hours to bring the song to life, from conception to execution. Adrenaline rushes are a key performance enhancer.
To top it off, and throw a wrench into preplanning, the organizers have a joker up their sleeve. At the beginning of the challenge, the filmmakers are surprised with five items, dreamed up by last year’s filmmakers, which must be incorporated into the videos’ narrative. “Incorporate into the narrative” is the key phrase here, i.e. if one of the items happens to be an apple, the filmmaker is encouraged to not float it across the screen at random.
This year’s list of last minute story elements included at least two of the natural elements (earth, wind, fire or water), the number 11 or the time 11:11, a pomegranate, a reference to someone born on November 21 (the day of the screening), or a historical event that took place that day, and a triangle.
While the surprises are meant to be challenging, they often prove to be creativity enhancing.
“It was challenging trying to integrate what I had already conceptualized with the new information,” Jesse McCloskey, one of 4x4x48’s filmmakers, admits. “But it adds to the excitement of the whole project—it wouldn’t be the same thing without the unexpected aspect. The [random objects] made me explore avenues that I wouldn’t have before.”
Filmmaker Babs Laukat, who considers herself a collage artist, agrees. She says that being pushed out of her comfort zone in both time frames and surprise factors actually enhanced her final product.
“Normally when I make art, this is not how I work at all,” Laukat says. “I normally have it visualized, so I was freaking out all week. The unknown requirements were scary, but they ended up really helping come up with imagery, and I wasn’t expecting that to happen. It made you think on your feet and go with it.”
While 4x4x48’s creators at the Holland Project may have wanted to have a little fun and push the filmmakers artistically, they also wanted to help them create to the best of their ability (in 48 hours). They paired each filmmaker with an artist they felt was well suited for their individual style—making collaboration efforts ideal, such as Laukat’s collage skills pairing with ambient electronic musician Jamie Hemingway of Solterona.
“The subject matter was pretty easy to work,” Laukat says of the Solterona’s song chosen for the video. “It covers a lot of imagery, it’s dreamy, and I’m into surreal stuff so it fit right into my work which is also really feminine like her music.”
How all the other pairings added-up, under the pressure of 48 hours and amid five surprise elements, you’ll just have to wait to see at the unveiling, so start counting down the days. Ready, set, go.