Young Sid 'YOU' music video.

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays to everyone from goodLife. We thought on this day where we celebrate & value our family & whanau, it was a good time to release & recall that not everyone has warmth & love in their homes. This is a crucial song, one of Sid's best & a video I'm very proud of & in many ways is a sibling to the video I made for Smashproof, 'Brother' two years ago. It premiered two days ago exclusive to the NZ Herald. Catch his words & hava safe holiday, which is all that kiwi kids can wish for.

director :           Chris Graham @ goodLife.
producer:         Claire Campbell
dop's:                Brett Nichols, Andrew Stroud
cam asst:         Sophie Musgrove
lighting:            Richie Pause Rich
editor:               Nathan Pickles
colourist:          Dave McClaren
flame VFX:       Andy Dill
post pro:           Amy Molloy, Steen Bech

Thanks for the support from : goodLife, Oktobor, Maori TV, Fat Productions & Stich, 
Haley & the cast of youth from Clover Park School, Otara.   

Stills from the Young Sid vid shoot for YOU.

Second night in a row that we are editing through the long morning hours, a reflection of just how busy December is. YOU has been an unconventional formation of a video, since it started when I shot Sid & Sicc at their house in Otara back in May for the 'Sounds of Hope' about NZ's child abuse pandemic. [You can see scenes from our Doco here.] Then Kirk Harding called asking if I could make a music video out of the Doco footage we shot of Sid's acapella of the song YOU. The sync drifted some but we figured we could. So we shot Deach the week after. Then I got busy in Ad land, MTC hit up NZ on fAir for funding, I was down with knee surgery & 6 months later in November we shot the other half of the video.

Hayley & the good fam at Clover Park school in Otara helped us find a dozen great kids to memorise the song over a few days, then we returned to shoot these kids deliver Sid's crucial message. As you can see, a wide range of talented & gorgeous youth learnt the song for the shoot, although most knew it already as Sid being a local hero having attended this school as a kid. He was in NYC working on the new album when we shot this, but Tyree, Juse & Aaron repped. It was a great day in the SA sun, thanks to a generous & skilled crew,   the school, Twice as Nice for a emotive beat & Sid for a deep track, silver scroll worthy. Its also my first music video in nearly two years since I made this one. No doubt, after we complete post, MTC will announce when they will drop this video next week sometime for You.

Local Vid of the Month : MoveTheCrowd. [Vince McMillan]

Damn.  which label better than this?     now thats a local roster.

Mr.Diamond's album out finally & showcasing it tonight.

the talented Sidney Diamond drops his album today after years of work. When I say years, its been a while coming, as I remember shooting him in the studio with Emile in December 08', right after I shot the Savage video for 'Wild Out' on Malibu beach. In fact I landed in NYC to stay at Kirk's place on the day of my 37th birthday, as Sid was already there & so we hit some Manhattan clubs, where I have blurry memories to introducing Sid to his 1st night on my personal favourite, scotch, where we danced with some local ladies just at the time when the crowd was going nuts to 'Arab Money' by Busta. Heres some clips from our time there. Brings back good memories. Anyway, it seems like a short age ago, but today the album's out, in fact the same day as Mr.Wadams album, which recalls when Curtis & Kanye dropped the same day. Tonight the Young one plays his album showcase with a full band. I caught up with him on thursday & he is amped for the gig, to play with a band & the release after all this time. Congrats to the Bro & MTC & Kirk. I'll be up in there.