Underground Planet is an award winning production company based in Austin Texas. From concept to completion we develop, plan, shoot and edit amazing videos for some of the most incredible bands and artist that a company like ours could ever hope to work with.

Larissa Ness – Thoughts of You

Artist : Larissa Ness
Song : Thoughts of You
Album: Hello
Director: Raymond J. Schlogel
Producer: Ruben Cantu
Production Company : Underground Planet
See Extended Credits Here : Extended Credits Page

My first music video for a pop song! Not to mention my first with choreography! Whoot! I think I had watched too much “So You Think You Can Dance”, just enough to want to do this and just enough to drive our Choreographer Carly Bell crazy by asking her for all sorts of dance move things as if I knew what I was talking about. Can’t even begin to say what a blast this one was.

This would be more or less a dream sequence theme part of which was inspired by two pictures of Larissa that were taken by the award winning photographer Maria Bernal. One was of Larissa in which she was wearing a black bra, another was of her feet wearing high heel shoes resting on the keyboard. Those two elements became the first building blocks of the concept.

So, the concept, in case you missed it, is that Larissa is missing her guy. In her dream she wakes up and is living in this amazing mansion, she goes down stairs wearing only the bra and slip that she woke up in and finds that there is a party going on. Everyone at the party is formal, cordial if not a bit pretentious and putting on airs as they exchange frivolous banter. No one really notices her nor her lack of appropriate attire.

Her love interest is one of the hired help, a waiter who she makes eyes at after she makes her way to the piano and begins performing. The guests begin to dance, but even in their dance they are stiff, formal, lackluster. The waiter is seen, essentially going to her level, as Larissa is only wearing her undergarments he removes his uniform just before the breakdown in the song. He climbs atop the piano and extends his hand, she accepts and joins him. Whether its the music or in response to Larissa and the waiters chemistry or just because its a dream the rest of the guests follow suit and disrobe, shedding the formality, we see them more as individuals, they smile more, and the dance changes from the formal ballroom-esque style that they had been doing earlier to something more fun, sensual and free flowing. Larissa and the Waiter make their way back to the piano, they lay down and he covers her with his red jacket. We see a close up of Larissa singing the last few lines as the camera pulls back and we notice that the jacket is actually a blanket and she is in bed, alone, and thinking of him.

Didn’t get all that from watching it? No worries, I’m a fan of abstract and not being to literal and at the end of the day hopefully even those that don’t necessarily understand the concept will enjoy the visuals nonetheless.

This one truly was a blast, from Larissa’s willingness to learn to play the piano with her toes to the two months of practice and choreography not to mention shooting at one of the most amazing homes I’ve ever seen making this one was an incredible experience on every level.

Aron Dees – American Dirt

This would be my “America!!! F*CK YEA!” video. I received a very nice email from a very nice wife inquiring about the possibility of getting a music video for her husbands new song “American Dirt.” They were planning a trip to Austin and were thinking that while they were down here getting one shot might make the trip all the more worthwhile.

So they sent the song over. When Aron said the line “And I’m proud of the soldiers that fought, and the ones that are fighting right now” I was in. 11 months ago I did a music video for “Free Agent” just days before one of its members, J Brooka, shipped off to Afghanistan. (vimeo.com/24435370) We’ve been in contact via the web a handful of times throughout his time there and am always relieved to get a message. At the time of this writing he has a month left to go and I, along with all his friends and family, can’t wait to have him back safe.

For me that was the motivation. The video came together relatively quick to coincide with their coming to Austin. Initially it was fairly simple but then the thought of Aron getting an actual tattoo came to mind. Though he all but scoffed at the idea, Amanda (remember I said she was a very nice wife) loved it and somehow convinced him to do it. And of course I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention how awesome my tattooist Nathan Hebert is. Not just for the great tattoo he gave Aron for the vid but also for being willing to come in and do it on his day off. And big thanks to Atomic Tattoo on Burnet for letting us shoot in the shop. (atomic-tattoo.com) Note to Nate: We need to finish my sleeve ASAP! =)

You can check out Nathan’s other work or book him here: natestattoos.com

The night before we were to shoot I had yet another idea after being told they had their two sons coming with. I through out the idea that it might be cool, if we were even able, to find various public service type uniforms and have them more or less represent the either our future or a younger version of those in service now. They managed to get the costumes the day of the shoot and we bounced around Austin finding suitable backgrounds as we went. I feel I should apologize to all the women out there who take on the same roles as men and unfortunately are not represented in the video but these were the kids they had, don’t fault me for them not having a daughter! Do know that its as dedicated to you as to them =)

I also have to give a quick nod to Angela Lee for finding us the great location to shoot the band. (austinlocationscout.com) While I often don’t mind the fun of “gorilla” type shooting (just find a location and set up shop wherever I think might look groovy) it’s never fun getting kicked out of a location and with Aron and fam being in from out of town and not a whole lotta time to switch gears if something like that happened, it was nice having a great location with the landowners permission. Not to mention the landowner seemed to enjoy our little shebang and invited the entire band, cast and crew up to his house for a celebratory beer after we wrapped.

This was shot on a Sony PMW-F3 and edited in Sony Vegas.

http://www.arondees.com