Artist Shoots Cell Phone Video

Lauren Rainey

Artists are always looking for ways to do more with less and often rely on technology to help accomplish that goal. However, when thinking Bee Productions was challenged by artist Lauren Rainey to shoot a video for her song “Crazy In Love,” using only an HTC 4G EVO cell and natural lighting, it seemed like the expectations were really too high.

“I absolutely love the song,” says Thinking Bee’s Bill Filipiak. “That alone had me in. To be able to play with new technology as well, spoke directly to the very reason we started Thinking Bee. Shooting a music video with nothing but a cell phone and a hot August sun proved challenging, but demonstrated how quickly technology is changing the way artists can promote themselves in today’s market place. Good music is good music true, but sometimes you need a creative spark that peaks an audience’s interest, especially for an indie trying to break out. Thanks to the advancement of personal video options such as Sprint’s Evo, artists now have so many more options for creating video and in turn more ways of getting their music out there with nothing more than a vision and a hand full of friends who want to help.”

According to Thinking Bee, “Crazy In Love” is the first country music video to be shot in this format and was captured in one afternoon.

“Producing a video with no crew, lighting, or soundstage was very compelling,” says Thinking Bee SVP Jo Hunt. “But we also knew going in that the camera loves Lauren and it’s a great song so we were confident it was possible with those elements as our baseline.”

Lauren Rainey came to Nashville via North Carolina in 2005, landed her own show on CMT’s broadband network “Loaded” and was a segment reporter for “CMT Insider.” Most recently she has been traveling with “Rascal Flatts” during their 2010 “Nothing Like This Tour” as the host of the show.