Street Lamp, a long-time Del Rio band that’s gone through several lineups since 2010, is making its first music video.
Del Rio’s Paul Poag theatre was turned into a production house as lights flashed, cameramen filmed and of course, musicians played.
In fact, they played, What’s it Gonna Be, a song written and sung by lead singer Sabrina Cioffi, over and over again, more than 50 times in the 10-hour filming window.
Jess Garcia, a Del Rio native who has gone on to work with Jimmy Fallon, made Super Bowl commercials, worked with Samuel L. Jackson, Spike Lee and numerous other highlights are producing the video.
“It was a full-gear production with a filmmaking team,” said Garcia. “It was very guerilla-style filmmaking but we brought to the table everything we’ve learned working on our big productions in Austin.”
Guerilla style means he’s trying to ensure the production is done professionally but within a budget. In Austin, the production would cost more than $10,000, Street Lamp is trying to keep the production under $5,000.
Saturday’s set-up included more than $10,000 of equipment that included numerous lenses, monitors, lights — basically, everything you need for a fast-paced 10 hours of shooting.
Much of the 2-day shoot consists of the band playing a song, lead cameraman Nick Piper shooting an angle, then the band playing the song again and the cameraman shooting from another angle.
Saturday consisted of the film crew shooting the theatre portion of the video and Garcia’s team will return in a month and shoot the portion around Del Rio.
Leo Zulayka, the band’s bass player, said the shoot had given him a deeper appreciation of music videos.
“I always wondered how they did it,” said Zulayka. “Now I know.and it makes me appreciate the videos even more.”
Nick Garza III, the band’s lead guitar player, said the production was, “tedious, but fun.”
Rounding out Street Lamp is Del Rio music staple Ed Hernandez on drums.
