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
Credits
Featured here in the 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)
Wardrobe
- Wardrobe
- Jessica Galvan (ny)
- Wardrobe
- Cherokee Neas (la)
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