“dirtysix” by mrs. hopewell

Family vacation is a time for rest and relaxation. It’s also a great time to put on a skeleton costume and make a music video while wandering through the woods. “dirtysix,” our latest project at Haunted Basement, was created by curiosity and a question: Can we make a music video while on a family vacation in Vancouver?

“dirtysix” is a new song by Chris Nicastro, a friend and former HB collaborator who releases music under the moniker mrs. hopewell. We wanted to try something new with this music video, something that sparked our curiosity and motivated us to work in a way we haven’t tried before. Creating a music video during a family vacation while staying on a houseboat and hiking through Vancouver’s lush trails felt exactly that: new, fresh, different. Of course we got some worried looks when A.J. put on a skeleton costume on a busy hiking trail and Bubba filmed him interacting with nature, but when you are trying something different you are bound to get some looks. It was a joy to watch our parents’ reactions transform from dubious to delighted as they became part of the creative process, suggesting shots and different actions for our skeleton hero.

Perhaps the most exciting thing for us about this project was incorporating film photographs into the music video. Our late grandfather’s Olympus OM-4 35mm camera sat collecting dust on A.J.’s bookshelf for years until curiosity got the best of him, and he picked it up one day this spring and decided to learn how to shoot on film. He brought the camera to Vancouver to shoot black and white and color photographs that we then developed and sprinkled throughout the video.

This new element of our work was sparked by our motto “You Must Be Curious.” It’s a statement. It’s a question. It’s a standard for all of our work. If you have a video project in mind and you are curious about trying something different, reach out to us at hello@hauntedbasement.video.