L-R: West Seattle filmmaker, Jamie Chamberlin, cameraman Brian Liepe, & Burien still & video photographer, Carrie Robinson (No relation to Robinson Newspapers) shoot a rock video scene at the Mission Latin Bar. Musical artist is James Germain (and the Grey Gray Days). SLIDESHOW: CLICK ON PHOTO FO
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If you entered the Mission Latin Bar and Restaurant in West Seattle yesterday you would have passed through a long black cloth draped over the entrance, there to obscure daylight from entering the popular North Admiral destination as it was transformed into a film set. The bar's Spanish, folksy ambience was utilized, and a stage was set up in the far righthand corner of the main floor for a live performance.
Burien filmmaker and photographer Carrie Robinson collaborated for the first time with West Seattle filmmaker Jamie Chamberlin. The West Seattle Herald has featured Chamberlin filming ZZ Top, Duff McKagan, Victoria Wimer Contreras and others, this time was producing and directing a video for Seattle band James Germain and the Grey Gray Days. Some may recognize the lead singer who is a part-time bartender at Shadowland Bar & Restaurant at Oregon and California. He also works part-time at Sarathan Records, an indie label in Seattle.
"This is the first time I've worked with Jamie," said Robinson, who has a photo studio in Burien. "I'm really excited about it. And it is the first time I am shooting with the Red camera so I am super excited. It offers beautiful footage."
Robinson recently shot a music video for Lindsey Fuller, "One More Song".
"I studied still photography at Brooks Institute in Santa Barabara," Robinson added. "I started shooting video about a year ago and found I have more passion for video than still photography."
You might still notice some passion in her portraits if you visit her website.
"We just finished recording an EP at Bear Creek Studio (in Woodenville) and wanted to do a video, a digital press kit," said Germain, 28, of Wallingford, who said he likes the music of Ryan Adams, Lucero, and the late Elliott Smith.
"I met Jamie through Ben at Shadowland," Germain said. Ben Jenkins is co-owner. "I like this little West Seattle community. You meet one person, and then you kind of eventually meet everybody."
"This video is a voyeuristic treatment and will feel like one continuous shot," said Chamberlin. "It portrays the relationship between three friends over the course of six months. The video has two different components, live performance, and a montage of scenes in this (restaurant) booth where the friends hang out and see their local bands. We see the beginning of their relationship, the middle, the deconstruction of it, then them going off their different ways.
"I am just directing and producing," said Chamberlin. "All the visuals are being handled by (other) professionals. We're stepping up the visuals on this. My friend Brian Liepe brought in the high end, Red camera. Steve Haverly (with Triple ONE Productions) is handling most of the B-roll, and filming behind the scenes documentation. He's been involved with many of my shoots lately.
"It's a difficult video in trying to create this single take feel in the course of four minutes," Chamberlin acknowledged. "We use a devise called a 'swish pan', a dolly move, today going from left to right. It allows you to go to the next shot seamlessly. Richard Linklater's film 'Slacker' relied on a single take, voyeuristic style."
Preston Walker, a heavily-tattooed 25 year-old, and West Seattle resident of Morgan Junction, appears in the video. He gets dumped in the love triangle by actress Aubrey Shepherd, whose real-life uncle is Soundgardern's Ben Shepherd.
"Yep, Uncle Ben," said Aubrey, a Georgetown resident. "He's my mom's older brother. He's a good person.I might do a movie with him soon where we both get to drive old hotrods together."