Last month, we were on set with Nicolas Heller and D-Pryde on set of Lifted, and it was one of the most fun sets weve ever been on. There was money flying through the air, a dude dressed as a penguin, and lots of bubbles. It turns out, this translated to an equally as fun music video. Lifted features D-Pryde riding through Coney Island in a jeep with a chicken sandwich, and follows him through a fight with a bully, landing him in the coolest knock-out dream sequence that weve seen in a while. Not every rapper can pull off looking cool right after being knocked out, but D-Pryde plays it perfectly. We talked to Nick about the video, working with D-Pryde, and the difference between NY and LA.
Doug: Where did the original concept for the video come from?
Nicolas: The concept for "Lifted" manifested from my desire to finally shoot in a sound stage. I am not very experienced when it comes to conceptualizing performance-heavy videos with loads of glitz and glam. In fact, I have never written a studio set-up into a treatment. When I got hit up to do this D-Pryde video, my immediate reaction was to incorporate a flashy performance sequence. I had the money and figured it was time to try something new. I decided on a look, and that I wanted it to be a crazy party with lots of dancing, smoke, and fuckery. Then I listened to the song again with the vision in mind and realized it wasn't going to cut it for three and a half minutes. I needed to incorporate a narrative. I needed to find a reason why D-Pryde and friends were randomly partying in this dream world. That's when I decided on revolving the narrative around D-Pryde getting knocked unconscious and finding himself in this dream world.
Doug: And was all the crazy shit in the final cut, with the penguin costume and the little person with the sparklers. Was that all in the original treatment?
Nicolas: The original treatment called for about 15 of the weirdest party scenarios I could think of. Most of which didn't even make sense in retrospect. I figured my producer would only be able to secure at least three or four of the people/props I would need to be successful in achieving these scenarios, so I knew I would have to figure out a lot on set. I am pretty good at being resourceful and using what I have at my disposal, so the majority of the chaos during the party sequence is simply what I thought would look cool at the time. Sometimes my crew will throw out really good last minute ideas too. I think it was my key grip who suggested we have one of the dancers twerk uncontrollably in a handstand while the guy in the penguin suit held her ankles. (Unfortunately that shot didn't make the final cut, but it definitely influenced other decisions I made.)
Doug: Sometimes hiphop artists have the tendency to squash creativity and humor in their music videos, does that exist at all in D-Pryde?
Nicolas: D-Pryde was one of the most easy-going artists I have worked with to date. It's crazy because he is almost half the age of some of the artists I normally work with. He was very familiar with my work, and 100% cool with letting me do whatever I wanted. However, I know D-Pryde's demographic and wouldn't want to do anything to deter his fans from re-watching so I aimed to keep the content PG. The labels only concern with the treatment was that they didn't want Pryde to come across as wimpy. In terms of the story, it was very important that Pryde get knocked unconscious by the "bully" and I recognized it would be difficult to show this without Pryde looking weak. I struggled with this for a bit, but then realized that if I made the bully twice Pryde's size AND age, that it would be more cartoony and less realistic. Therefore, Pryde wouldn't be completely mis-represented. People would better understand it as a joke.
Doug: You had a pretty big, diverse cast for the video. How did you get everyone together for it?
Nicolas: Pryde has a huge 'tween fan base, and I knew I didn't want a scene full of these lil boys and girls. Partially because I didn't want to deal with them fanning out on set, and partially because it would make it look like just a regular house party. I wanted something different. I wanted a wide range of ages, colors and sizes. So the people you see in the video are people we searched for specifically on craigslist, or I had worked with in the past.
Doug: What's the idea behind the piece of friend chicken that D-Pryde has in his hand in the jeep scenes?
Nicolas: I wish I could tell you it was because we were running super behind schedule and the talent was required to have a "working lunch," but in reality Pryde rapping with the fried chicken was planned. When I was gathering reference images for the video, I stumbled upon a photo of D-pryde eating a piece of chicken. It was a really nice photo, so I decided to use it for the cover of the treatment. After seeing the photo every time I would edit the treatment, I realized that I wanted that look to be incorporated into the video. On another note, I feel strongly that "rap-hands" (a term coined by Evidence on one of your earlier podcasts) are a terrible thing to waste. I like keeping rap hands occupied because it encourages the artist to be more creative with their motions.
Doug: You've moved out to LA, but this video was shot back in New York. Do you find that shooting videos in New York lends itself to your style as a filmmaker, either in the scenery, the people you work with, or how things operate?
Nicolas: I moved to Los Angeles partially because I felt I used up what was left of my canvas. (That sounded very corny, but lets go with it!) I literally felt that I had stole interesting locations from everywhere I possibly could in NYC. Since being away from NYC for almost 4 months, I have realized how much more there is to the city than I thought. I personally believe it has so much more character than any other city I have been to. From the bodegas to the elevated train tracks to the skylines. New York has such a cinematic vibe that I clearly took for granted. Maybe it is just the nostalgia I am feeling towards my home town, but the possibilities are endless in that city. (And just to protect myself from ending this interview on sappy note, I am going to say one last thing: I just saw Hangover 3 and it was super butt. Really hope they don't make a 4th.)
