There are few things cuter than a bunch of elderly folks, boogie down to some funky tunes. Just out there getting their geriatric grove on, as a cool band jams on stage. Even a photo of Anderson Cooper holding grumpy cat is less cute than that. So, it is no surprise that when Allen Stone asked director Jon Jon Augustavo to make him a cute video for his song "Celebrate Tonight," Jon Jon went with a good ol fashioned 55+ sock hop. We talked to Jon Jon about the video, featuring his brother and grandmother in the video, and why he really loves this video.
Doug: Where did the idea for this video come from?
Jon Jon: Originally Allen Stone and BJ, his manager, came to me and brought me an idea. They said they wanted the video to be just one word: "cute." And thats all that Allen wanted. Allen said he wanted to party with old people - so I just took the idea from there. It was just taking his whole idea and developing it into a little narrative that I hope was cute and made you smile.
Doug: Within this idea there is a brief backstory there at the beginning and near the end with the one elderly man in his broken glasses. What was the idea behind putting that element in there?
Jon Jon: The idea was to play on the idea of nostalgia. However, a very brief nostalgia at that. Im not talking necessarily his childhood, but more of an old man in his retirement home bedroom looking at his broken glasses, and then the viewer finds out how that happens. You see that it actually was a good thing, the broken glasses were a sign of good times, like part of the day of his life that led up to that.
Doug: Is everyone in the video an actor or did you actually go to like a nursing home and get some partying old folks?
Jon Jon: They're not actors. Actually my friend, Honna, who produced it, her mom works with a lot of elderly folks and she just had friends that did it. They were all people who live at retirement homes and she was able to get a hold of a lot of them. A lot of them didnt even know what a music video was at the time, but they just wanted to do something different. Actually, my grandmother is in it too. Shes in there just doing her thing. In the beginning, I thought that the hardest part was finding enough people, but it was actually really easy.
Doug: I noticed in the credit sequence there at the end there are a couple of people that share your last name, and you mentioned on twitter that your brother is in the YouTube screenshot. Did you intentionally have your brother on set and it just worked out then he found his way into the video?
Jon Jon: My little brother Nick is a firefighter and he's an EMT. I asked him if he could get the day off and I would pay him to be on set in case something went wrong. To help give me peace of mind. Then I was just like, "You know youre already dressed for it. Why dont you pretend to be an orderly?" Hes actually a fake orderly and hes pushing my great aunt around like hes walking with her and they turn around and smile. However, it turns out my brother happens to be someone who could save a life for real. His skills really helped me out.
Doug: And about that kind of full-length credit sequence that comes at the end of the video. As a music video database obviously we love that, but Im curious why you guys decided to put that in there?
Jon Jon: There are a couple of reasons. I wanted to give the people who were in it some credit, to put their name up there they would be excited about that. But also I thought it would be a cute way for it to continue, like play with the narrative and then highlight some of the set. The actual set was just a huge empty room, and the production designer, Lauren, who is very talented, was able to go shopping at thrift shops in Seattle - which Im an expert on now - and create what is a believable retirement home. So, I thought it would be a good idea to have those credit titles because it was a chance to have more inserts of some of those cute and well-designed areas.
Doug: This was probably one of the happiest videos Ive ever seen. In addition to cuteness, was happiness one of the other main goals what you guys are after?
Jon Jon: Oh yeah. I recall our first conversation and Allan saying, I want a shot to be dancing with those people and maybe hitting the guy on the butt." He wanted it to be cute in a way that got people to smile ear to ear. My only goal from there on was to make it a narrative and make something that would hopefully have you smile at any point in the video and remind you maybe of your grandparents. Or someone in your life of that type. Im hoping it was successful.
Doug: And you mentioned to me that you really really love this video. Is that the main reason why?
Jon Jon: I love this video for that because I think it is very genuine and happy and it highlights a group of people that dont usually get screen time. Also I think because I have family members in there, it is more important to me. It has my grandmother in it and I think its amazing to get people in my family involved in what I do. And again, it's another local Seattle type thing and I always enjoy doing those projects.
