Video Chats: Kevin Slack and Brian Dieck on 'Call It A Comeback' by Banquets

There comes a time in every music video where the money runs out. Even on music videos with six figure budgets, eventually someone ends up working for free, or for much less money than they deserve and the only thing keeping them there is because they believe in the project and have a passion for the work. This is especially true, however, on a video with almost no budget, like for the video “Call It A Comeback” by Banquets, directed Kevin Slack, where they didn't run out of money, but basically just had almost no money to begin with. We talked to Kevin and his DP Brian Dieck about working with Banquets on the project and how they were able to stretch such a small budget into something interesting and beautiful.

Doug: How did you guys get involved with the project?

Kevin: I’d worked with Banquets before on a video called "Sometimes a Wolf" a couple of years ago on their last album. We had kept in touch and then they came to me and asked if I wanted to do another video for their new album coming up, and I honestly wasn’t sure because I knew there really wasn’t money involved. Not just for me, but there really wasn’t money involved at all for the budget. But I heard the song and I heard the album and they pretty much gave me complete creative control. So, I thought, "Why not? It would be fun," and that was pretty much it. I pitched the idea to them and they loved it and it was just an easy process to get going.

Doug: When you know that there isn’t a budget involved, do you keep that in mind when putting together the idea?

Kevin: For this case, when I was coming up with the idea, I asked them, “Hey, do you guys have a house we may be able to shoot in?” I made sure that I had these things available to us before I really moved forward because when I say low budget, I don’t mean like a few thousand dollars. I mean like a few hundred dollars. So, I knew we would have minimal resources and have to pull favors and so I made sure it was something we could do. The house ended up being the drummer’s house that he lived in that he owns so we had total control over the place which was great.

Doug: How are you able to take a couple hundred bucks and make something seem like it cost more?

Kevin: First off, no one gets paid. Everyone thats involved has to want to just work and be on set. Brian had a gaffer that he’s worked with before, and we were all just kind of itching to shoot something, and so he was able to bring a gaffer on who owns a bunch of gear. Then I called the production designer who I worked with on a Gaslight Anthem video and she wanted to help out. She was an art director on that job but I hired her as the production designer on this one. So, it’s just a lot of favors, and trying to find people that are passionate about working and being creative and not just looking at pay rent.

Doug: So, what was your pitch specifically to Brian? What does it take to convince him to work on it with you? And Brian, what’s it take to get convinced to work on a job?

Kevin: Really, I think it was just the idea.

Brian: A cool concept and the ability to make some pretty images, and have some control over it.

Kevin: I think the black and white was a big selling point. We were both excited about it because we’d never shot anything in black and white.

Brian: It simplifies things and shooting black and white makes you think about the framing at all times. All the lines and everything end up being more important than any of the colors because you’re not seeing any of them.

Kevin: Really it was just a matter of it sounded fun. I think that was really it. It was just a one-day shoot. We were in the house a total of ten hours maybe, and that was it. So, we knew it wouldn’t take up a ton of our time. It’s not like we were going to lose money on the job. Which has happened in the past. But with this, we did it on the weekend so we didn’t lose any money.

Doug: What’s the casting process like? The video relies on a convincing performance, how do you get an actor in that role that’s able to work for a favor, but at the same time be convincing in that part?

Kevin: We looked at a few photos of people. I asked around for actors that I thought would work for free, or if my casting director friends knew anyone, and then really it ended up being the band sent over a photo of someone they knew. I saw him and immediately thought he was perfect. That was pretty much it. He’s not an actor, he’s a musician. He was just totally game. There was no auditions or anything like that. It was more of just, "I hope this guy can act. I hope he doesn’t look ridiculous on screen." When the band presented to him the idea of doing it, they said, “We really hope he wasn’t offended that we asked him to play this down and out, lonely guy," but he was totally up for it.

Doug: Are you giving a lot of performance direction to what he’s doing in the house? Or is it more trying to set up the look of the shot to help convey the message?

Kevin: I think it was both. Brian and the gaffer, Phil, would get the scene ready. Then Brian, the actor, would come in and we would do a few takes where I would maybe give him some direction of what to do because again he was not an actor. When you work with someone that’s not actually an actor, you kind of have to tell them everything I feel like. You have to be like, “OK, move your arm to the right. Turn your head to the left,” because they’re not really thinking about character and motivations and stuff. But, then I would do a take or so where I was kind of like just try whatever you want and actually he would, a lot of the times those would be the takes that I would use. He was natural in the loneliness of it. He played that part well and I think it worked well.

Doug: Brian, you also colored this video. What goes into coloring a video that’s shot in black and white, and how does it compare to coloring a video that’s in color?

Brian: I think you end up paying more attention to the contrast and of all the form and the shapes that are going on in the image, lines and things like that in general. Your white points and black points are a lot more important because you want everything to be balanced. I would say that’s probably the most important part is the contrast.

Kevin: I think on set too, that was actually the fun of it was that we didn’t have to give a fuck about what the color was, or the color temperature even.

Brian: Blue and orange, It doesn’t matter, and that makes it easier.

Doug: And what is the success of this video measured on? Is it highly based on just getting the band more exposure? How do you guys judge the success of this video?

Kevin: For me, if a few people discovered the band through it then I think it is a success. They are a great up and coming band and one of the reasons I wanted to do it is I love the guys. I wanted to help them out. That’s what I think is a success. Plus the band was thrilled and we were really happy with what we did with considering what we had. If a lot of people see it, that’s awesome. I think just turning a few people onto it, onto the band is a success for me. And if we all get laid from it. That’s why we’re in the music video industry.