Wind & Snow

Music video production for singer/songwriter Mary Kaye’s song “Wind and Snow”.

Wind & Snow

Music video production for singer/songwriter Mary Kaye’s song “Wind and Snow”

48 hours and 80 lbs of fake snow.

This music video production project was a whirlwind. Mary Kaye approached us towards the end of November, asking if we could collaborate with her on a music video for her album to release just before Christmas – only weeks away!  It would be the fastest turnaround we had ever tackled, but we were up for the challenge and we were going to dream big. She was initially hesitant to use livestock in the production due to time constraints, but that lost calf was the emotional crux of the song. It had to be on screen, and we were going to do it.

We had one week for preparation, where we tracked down locations where the snow hadn’t melted, bought a live calf, hired real cowboys (Mary’s neighbors), and came up with a plan to make a convincing blizzard with an industrial fan, a generator, and 80 pounds of potato flakes shipped directly from Idaho.

December 12th on location in Escalante, Utah – it was time for production. We shot on location day and night for 48 hours, capturing live performances, cattle, and cowboys on horses during the day, and shooting staged live barn sequences at night. It was 48 hours of intense work, but we came out the other side with beautiful footage and a compelling story to accompany Mary Kaye’s music and lyrics.

After the shoot, time was ticking. And with just one week for post production our editor volunteered to work every waking moment editing, creating graphics, designing special effects, and color grading.  By week’s end the film was complete.

Mary Kaye released the music video on social media along with her Christmas album and it was an instant hit. It quickly shot over 100K views and helped Mary Kaye take her career to the next level.

We jokingly called the two-day shoot “48 hours of fun.”  This was award-winning western music meets MacGyver.

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