If you haven’t heard of Cossbysweater yet, you’re in for a treat.   Simply put, she writes songs about things she loves (and she’s very good at it).

Here is the video we created together: watch video

Allison’s credits are tremendous.   She performed her music an episode of Netflix’s Season 4 of Arrested Development.  She’s graced the front-page of Reddit.  She’s rubbing elbows with all the right people and I wouldn’t be surprised if she became a household name in a few short years.   Needless to say I adore her and cherish our friendship.

Its worth mentioning that the audio from this video was recorded on set, on the first take.  No trickery or auto-tuning here.  Her voice is just that good.

Allison is a member of the youtube geek lab.  So we were able to shoot in the Youtube Space LA.  Basically its an entire studio that youtube owns, outfitted with sound stages, motion capture studios, green screen rooms, and tons of interesting nooks (one of which we chose for this intimate song).   If you know anything about me and my affinity for loft spaces, camera gear, and good lighting, you won’t find it hard to believe that i was a little dumbstruck when I walked into the space for the first time.   Perhaps in the future Allie and I will find a reason to use some cranes, a green screen or a soundstage, but we both agreed that the best place to shoot “sonny jim” was in a little hallway attached to youtube’s theater space.  See below:

You can see into the hallway we filmed in, which is framed by the wooden rectangle.

This hallway was behind the theater.   So we stored all of our equipment in here while filming.

Everyone in the equipment room was really helpful and friendly.  It was great being able to pick up gear at the space, rather than having to travel around LA to pick up a rental order.  We decided to shoot “sonny jim” on a relatively newer camera called the Canon C300.  It was only my second time shooting with the camera, but I really love it.  It performs really well in low light, which is one of the reasons I chose to use it for this moody intimate song.

Youtube space LA is located in Playa Vista.  Its a beautiful campus. 

 No big deal, just a helicopter sitting outside the entrance.  

Youtube is outfitted with so many spaces for video production.  This is just the tip of the iceberg here. 

And while we’re at it, here are a few more shots of the lobby.  I got to spend a lot of time here 🙂

Here is a video you can watch if you want to know more about  Youtube Space LA.