Perhaps not MTV, but band members from the middle school were featured in a music video for the band, “death cab for cutie,” which will be released in stores next month.
By Hans Laetz / Special to The Malibu Times
The classroom full of Malibu junior high school students squirmed in their seats, while a contingent of twentysomething video technicians, makeup artists and cinematographers huddled and shuffled about. Shots were blocked, props were moved, directions were given. A light blew, plunging the room into darkness.
In other words, it was your typical low-budget music video production. But this one was at Malibu High School, and the rock stars in front of the camera were middle school band members.
Teacher Bill Bixler began conducting, the speakers erupted with the rock song they were tracking and the videotape rolled. A music video for the band called “death cab for cutie” was being produced, this one starring a contingent of local students.
Producer and director Autumn deWilde chose Malibu music teacher Bill Bixler and his students to be the on-screen images viewers will see when the indie rock band’s newest music video hits the screens early next year.
The 40 or so students were videotaped last weekend in the school’s band room, as they played along to a haunting and catchy symphonic rock song performed by “death cab for cutie,” a band that prefers its music name to be uncapitalized.
The Seattle-area band has been getting attention from such divergent sources as “The O.C.” on Fox, the MTV-U video channel, and a nationally Web cast concert produced by National Public Radio.
“death cab for cutie” was one of the headline acts KROQ’s “Almost Acoustic Christmas” concert Dec. 11.
NPR called it “arguably the most popular and critically successful independent rock band in the country.”
The junior orchestra was taped playing along to a song called “Different Names For the Same Thing,” a song that to one aging newspaper writer evokes The Verve in the early ’90s, or maybe an unpolished Electric Light Orchestra several generations ago.
DeWilde said her concept was for the school band to be shown playing the song to evoke the emotion in the lyrics.
“I’ve always been affected by kids singing serious songs,” she said. “There’s something about a kid’s take on a song that grownups wrote that’s just amazing.”
For the better part of a day, the students sat in their chairs while shots were blocked, lighting was adjusted, and videographers practiced. After the entire ensemble played through the song several times, individual musicians were shot playing their parts.
“I just want you kids to have fun,” exhorted deWilde as the day began.
By the end of the shoot, some were engaging in horseplay, including a sneak attack on the pianist. When the director saw that, she stopped everything, moved the cameras over, and had the students do a couple of horseplay reenactments for a couple of takes.
The unpaid video production crew, recruited among death cab fans, seemed to average just a few years older than the junior high students.
The “death cab for cutie” music video will be released in stores next month, and while the Malibu High song may not make MTV rotation, deWilde said you never know where it may turn up.
For Bixler, the school’s music department will get a contribution, exposure and a memorable experience. But like with all indie rock projects, the veteran jazz instructor agreed that the precise measurements of all three of those factors are still up in the air.
“We don’t know yet how much of a contribution we’ll get, but it’s whatever the label had budgeted for the music video,” he said.
As for the students, the ultimate benefit will be seeing their musical talents recognized on a DVD. As Bixler said, an experience that few other middle schoolers get.