::everyone becomes invisible in the land of dreams::

Some of my favorite scenes from this past weekend up in Stanwood.

::It's official!::

Back when I was a young teenager I spent a great many hours obsessively watching Mtv, that is back when they still played music videos and not pointless teenage reality shows. My hey day of inspiration was circa 1997; Beck, Smashing Pumpkins, Oasis, Alanis Morissette, Foo Fighters, Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Anyway this morning was pretty exciting as the video for "Lost In My Mind" by Seattle band The Head and the Heart, premiered as one of Mtv.com's buzzworthy videos.
It's pretty dorky to say but it chokes me up a little watching this come to life, having been part of the crew who put this together. I must commend Director Christian Hansen and Producer Bobby McHugh for scouting out the perfect secluded spot for this. Shot in a small open valley just outside of Leavenworth, WA where the acoustics were so awesome; The Head and The Heart's harmony's echoing off the hills under the full moon as it got dark.
Little 12 year old me who was crazy about the way songs can become something cinematic, is pretty happy she ended up here.
P.S. the 'behind the scenes documentary' I made for this production can be seen here

The making of "Lost In My Mind"

Woo Hoo! It's done!
I got the awesome opportunity to film a small behind the scenes document of the making of the video for "Lost In My Mind" by fantastic Seattle band The Head and The Heart. I saw these folks open for Hey Marseilles (another fantastic pacific northwest band) at the Tractor Tavern back in May of 2010 and have been listening to them and attending their shows ever since.
I shot this with a Canon 5D Mark II 35mm digital SLR camera with a small shotgun microphone mounted on the camera's hot shoe; over the course of 24 hours in Leavenworth Washington 3 weeks ago. I really wanted to capture all the creativity, ingenuity, humor, and hard work that went into this production. The official music video directed by Christian Hansen will be released by SubPop Records this weekend just in time for Valentines Day.

Behind the scenes of "Lost In My Mind" from amanda allen on Vimeo.

::sneak peak @ the production of "Lost in my Mind"

The past couple days found me amongst a small crew of about 10 folks out in the Cascade mountains in Winton, WA just outside of Leavenworth. We headed out with a rickety old piano and 60 house lamps to assemble a set for the video of "Lost in my Mind" by up and coming/blowing up pacific northwest band, The Head and the Heart. This was such a perfect setting for this song, that I gorged myself a bit too much on this past summer, and which is so "up lifting" and inspiring. It was incredibly cold and a bit hard fumbling in snowshoes, burying lamps in the snow and having 2 cameras strapped on me as I was filming a tiny behind the scenes document of the making of the video, and also getting even a bit sunburned out there in the snow at a high altitude for 10 hours. I'm so excited to start working on the editing of my small video and see the finished product of director Christian Hansen-Sorrenson's vision soon....