MAE's latest offering is a visually compelling piece of work for their new single "Sometimes I Can't Make It Alone." If the visual effects look familiar, then you're one of the few people who saw The Fountain, because they come courtesy of Chris Parks, who did a lot of the effects on Darren Aronofsky's trippy epic. MAE guitarist Zack Gehring fills us in on the making of the video.
On the experience of making the video: "The experience of making the video was relatively painless, and the band was only involved in the shoot for one day, at a studio in Queens, NY. It was all green screen; we just played along to the song for a few hours, did some close ups on each member and shot some extras walking on treadmills as well. It was fun, and at times a bit awkward. It's always strange to try to display the same energy you would at a live show, especially when you're playing to your own song, with a big green screen behind you and cameras and lights and whatnot. We had a good time, though; the directing team, Panoptic, was great to work with."
On the significance of the imagery: "We got in touch with Chris Parks for the imagery. Jacob had seen his work in the movie, The Fountain, and when it came time to shoot a video, we thought we'd try to get in touch with him and see if we could work together. The thing we loved about Chris Parks was that he got all of his footage without the use of CGI, and it looked beautiful and so unique, otherworldly almost. It was a good tool for what the video was trying to show, an essence, or precence of a common unity that exists between people that we aren't completely aware of. We wanted to show the hints of another dimension, another universe, a vibrant source of energy and life that interplays with ours."
On the inspiration for the video: "Dave came up with the initial idea and Jacob got in touch with Chris Parks via e-mail, and our management got in touch with Panoptic, and everything fit together nicely. The song is about the strength of community, the idea of the video was to illustrate the idea of a common thread that runs through everyone, and that maybe we should take advantage of that, or try to realize it at least. The title of the song is pretty evident of that, and we wanted the video to be an extension of it, we wanted it to be personal and more communal at the same time."
