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.

Bandita Couture – The Video

Direct/Shoot/Edit] Raymond J. Schlogel
Model] Alexis Eden Feldman
Swimsuit Design] Stacy Zeiler Kenyon
Music: Honey by El Presidente
Stylist : Rebecca Powe
Hair & Makeup] Kat Johnson
Production Assistance] Matthew Iha
Production Assistance] Tony Hubbard

Subtract my name from the list above and you have the people who really made this little whole project as bad ass as I personally think it is. This was kind of a unique project for me in that Stacy had contacted me to do a photo shoot for her Bandita Couture bikini line when I don’t by any stretch consider myself a photographer, it was all about the pictures and the video was secondary. I don’t want to repeat myself too much but you can read more about that and see more pics here:

Bandita Couture – The Photos

Bearing that in mind she did want a video but on the day of the shoot that totally took a back seat. At the end of the day I think I had shot maybe ten minutes if I was lucky of vid and was beyond convinced that we didn’t have enough footage to make anything decent. It was pretty obvious that I was going to have to integrate the photography if I was going to make anything even close to substantial. From the start I knew that I wanted all the vid to be slow mo so the video snippets I did get were all shot on the same Canon 7D that I was using for the photography in 720/60p.

First thing was to get the photo’s in order, Stacy and I picked our fav’s and I went about doing the little various Photoshop techniques it took to get the continuity in order and ready for print. That accomplished I started playing with the pics and footage in the edit. Even though I had some good moments it seemed to take forever to wrap my head around making it all come together and feel cohesive to me. I tried a good hundred various stock songs that I have on hand and just couldn’t find my groove so to speak. For whatever reason this great song “Honey” by El Presidente came to mind. It was one that I had heard years ago and had kind of bookmarked in my head that I’d really like to use somewhere down the line. Popped it onto the timeline and literally like magic all the pieces fell in place. The look, feel, mood, texture, pacing just came came together so naturally and organic that I it felt more like I was just coaxing things into place instead of the usual feeling of the edit. As I used this without express permission it’s my sincerest hope that anyone and everyone who watches this vid immediately falls in love with the tune and go buy it! Gotta support these incredible artists. Find out more about them here:

El Presidente

El Presidente if you ever by chance read this know that you provided the inspiration behind every choice of imagery, every nuance, and every single solitary decision that I made while putting this together.

As I said I don’t want to be too redundant from my other posts elsewhere but I simply have to give one more deep and never-ending thanks to Stacy for trusting me to do something I wasn’t sure I was capable of. You perpetually impress me beyond words and I’ve sung so many songs of praise in your name that my throat is delightfully sore. Alexis, you are a golden drop of sunlight and having met you I can tell everyone that in real life you embody everything that I love and find so profoundly bold, elegant and beautiful about this video. Rebecca, you have effortless way of bringing harmony to the chaos and lighting up everyone around you with your presence. Kat your talent cannot be praised enough, you are the unsung hero and saving grace of every project you do. Matt and Tony, I never have to worry if you guys are on set. Your passion and dedication are everything I need and truly you guys deserve more credit than I because I would never be able to even hit record button or snap one frame without you.

Everyone else I truly hope you’ll forgive the brazen and shameless public display of affection, I can’t help but but notice that it seems every project I do I’m surrounded and lifted up by some of the most amazing and talented people in the world.

A few behind the scenes pics taken by Kat Johnson of Alexis, a goofy lookin guy and the most awesomest puppy in the world:

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