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Schoolboy Q ft. E-40 'Dope Dealer' by Ryan Staake

Luke Bather - 10th Nov 2016

Ryan Staake's video for Schoolboy Q follows the humble marijuana plant in its life cycle from harvest, to buyer and the many channels, deals and deaths that have to go along with that.

It's an interesting POV video that makes the object in question the main character in the narrative - carrying on an aesthetic that APLUS started with their John Muir video a few months back.

RYAN STAAKE:

"I’ve always been interested in the idea of following an object throughout its lifespan, and what more exciting lifespan to follow than that of weed? We shot this film over three days—traveling from NYC to a Humboldt, CA grow-operation and ultimately finishing up in LA.

"Shooting this way was equally freeing and nerve racking, as many of the setups involved the talent operating camera themselves, with a blunt or nug of weed barely attached to the lens. The hardest shot to film was actually putting the camera in a vacuum-seal bag, that took five crew members and about 25 takes to get right.

"I will say that I took huge inspiration from intimate distribution sequences of Hollywood films, such as the “life of a bullet” in Lord Of War and Blow’s “blinded by the lights” still photo-montage, I love iconic, focused and visually unique sequences like that in big budget films, and hope a shred of that energy came through in this video."

Luke Bather - 10th Nov 2016

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Credits

Production/Creative

Director
Ryan Staake
Producer
Ryan Huffman
Producer
Kevin Staake
Production Company
Pomp & Clout
Executive Producer
Ryen Bartlett
Executive Producer
Ryan Staake
Production Manager
David Ledwith

Camera

Director of Photography
Kristian Zuniga
Focus Puller
Mario Mascetti

Lighting/Grip

Gaffer
Chris Gould

Art

Art Director
Clayton Beisner (la)
Art Director
Zebah Pinkman (ny)

Editorial

Editor
Ryosuke Tanzawa

Grading

Colourist
David Torcivia

VFX

Post Producer
Aaron Vinton

Agent

Director's Representation
Ryen Bartlett

Commission

Commissioner
Dave Free
Commissioner
Mark Bridges
Label
Top Dawg Entertainment
Label
Interscope

Other credits

Buyer

Sira P Kante

Dealer

Jonathan Gordon

Trimmer Girls

Brittney Goodman, Matalie Church-Nyberg, Juloni Euan & Katrina Arnold.

Dealer

Royal Martin

Thief

Michael Kelly

Henchman

Rube Lacrete

Girls

Char Edwards, Cree Johnson & Amy Jackson

DEA Agents

Kenneth Beck, Jim Jepson & Michael Mello

Cop

Frank Mercuri

Transporter

Sara Malakui Lane

Buyers

Kenneth Apel, Jordon Dion & E-Maginne Grant

Label

Top Dawg Entertainment & Interscope Records

Special Thanks To 4th Gen Farms, Sunboldt And FulSol Farm.

Luke Bather - 10th Nov 2016

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